Pre-Shabbat Picnic

Yesterday we were trying to decide what to do in the afternoon once the kids were home from gan. We considered going to the beach but decided it wasn't really beach weather. Eli started getting really cranky and needed a nap, so I told David that if he let me nap while Eli napped, then I would take the kids to the park later and he could take a nap (we like naps in case you hadn't noticed). He agreed and took Simon to the mall and I took a good 2 and 1/2 hour nap. Of course when I woke up, I had 10 million things to do to get ready for Shabbos, so I wasn't ready to go anywhere with the kids and then finally at 6:10 (Shabbos started at 7:05), David told me that I had no choice but I MUST take the kids out of the house so he could at least have 20 minutes of peace and quiet!
I decided to be smart about it and I made them each a plate of food and took them outside to have a picnic on the front steps of our building. Simon sat down and gobbled up his chicken leg, rice, brocolli and sweet potato thing. I was shocked! Eli fought me on it but eventually ate the rice and the chicken. We had a great time hanging out outside and then seeing a lot of our friends who started Shabbos early and went to the early mincha at shul. We went back in about 6:45 and the kids had a bath and Eli went right to bed.
Sharon and Yaron came for dinner and Simon stayed up for kiddush and then went to bed with no arguments so we had a very nice dinner. In sharp contrast to last Friday night's disaster at Abby and Jonny's when we made the decision to not go out on Friday nights anymore!
This morning Simon said he didn't want to go to shul, so David just took Eli. About 5 minutes after they left, Simon said "actually, I do want to go to shul." I am 99% sure that he wanted to go all along but he wanted to go by himself so he waited until David left to say he wanted to go. I just want to reiterate that we live directly next door to shul--my bathroom window looks into the sanctuary and the rabbi's office. And I can see the front courtyard place where the kids play from my bedroom and Simon's bedroom windows. So it's not like I'm sending off to some far away place by himself! Anyway, I told him he could go but he had to go straight to find David as soon as he got there to tell him he was there. He said ok, got dressed and ran out. I told him I would watch from the window and he was so cute as he ran into the shul he turned back and waved up at me. He found his friends pretty quickly because a few minutes later I heard him with Asher and some other kids. I was happy to hear Simon's part of this conversation:
Asher: Simon, I think I dropped your car that I borrowed in the street.
Simon: what street?
Asher: right over there. We need to get it.
Simon: We aren't allowed to go in the street.
In the end, the car was actually up on the roof of the shul or something like that. I didn't get the whole story, but I don't think Simon will be getting that car back anytime soon. Not like he doesn't have plenty of others!
After shul, we went to the park for a little while and Simon was VERY cranky. We were going to the Hassans' for lunch, so Simon and I went with Tania and Uri when they left the park to get lunch ready. We got to their building and then Tania realized that she didn't have the key. I took Simon and Uri to the park next to their building while she went back to get the key. Uri is around Eli's age, maybe a little bit older and he gave me a whole speech about bees and pollen and how they get the pollen. Turns out he knows that all from Bee Movie!
We eventually went in for lunch. The Grays were there too so there were lots of boys and they all played really well together. Eli only got himself one time-out and it's still possible that he was acting in self-defense but none of us saw the beginning of what happened.
Tonight I was putting Simon to bed and we were talking about dreams and thinking (or something like that). I asked Simon what he sees when he closes his eyes and he said "nothing. I can't see when my eyes are closed."