Oh no, not again

It was bound to happen. We had a couple of good days together but the boys completely lost it again today. They were off the wall.
I didn't drive James to work today because I knew he would be coming to pick me up to run some errands (banking, etc) later in the morning. We still needed to get out of the room so we headed over to the basketball court. This sounds easy enough but Stellan is such a pokey walker. He stops and examines things along the way. We finally got to front desk where Jameson immediately walks to the side where there is a lower window. He politely (I make sure he uses please and thank you) asks for a tennis ball and a basketball. He decides to take the tennis ball and let Stellan struggle with the basketball. Stellan always wants to please Jameson so he gladly does as he asks. It's entertaining to see but I know that Jameson is well aware of the fact that Stellan is his little puppet. He knows how to manipulate him and often does it, just for kicks.
We got to the basketball court and Jameson started tossing the tennis ball into the net. No lie, he can make it in. I'm impressed. Stellan started complaining because he didn't have a ball. Uh, duh, that was my oversight. It's typically James who takes them so I forgot to bring our ball. So the three of us headed back to the room to get the ball. What should have been a five minute round trip easily took 10 minutes thanks to pokey. It doens't help that Jameson insists on being doorman so he always has to unlock the door. Stellan started feeling left out so he insisted on opening the door leading to our hallway. It's all about independence and competition.
We got back to the court and Jameson gladly resumed his game of basket/tennisball. Stellan, not athletic by nature, decided that he wanted to play the ever popular game of throwing the ball in the bush and then finding it. Woo hoo! He was quite entertained but I didn't like the idea of him rifling through the bushes. Now we started throwing the tennis ball to (not at) each other across the tennis net. I always tried to throw the ball so that it would hit just in front of Jameson and then bounce, giving him a chance to catch it. Well, I misjudged my throw and hit him right in the lower lip. Oops. (I honestly think someone is going to call child protective services on me. I can legitimately explain every single bruise on their bodies. Afterall, spend an afternoon with us and you'd see why they look abused, they are constantly throwing themselves down and running into things.) Well, this caused quite a loud screaming session (completely justified for once). Thankfully the courts are at the back of the hotel so only the cleaning crew could hear the commotion. Well, sad to say, Jameson now has a purple lip. It looks like he sucked on a marker (I only know this because he has actually done that in the past) and it left a slight stain. Poor guy.
Well, shortly thereafter, I decided it was time to head back since I was expecting James to come at any time. We went back to the clubhouse to return the balls. On the way Jameson remembered that he forgot his sunglasses at the courts. After dropping off the balls we headed back to the court. We then proceeded to the room only to find that our key didn't work. We headed back to the club house to get it reprogrammed. Back to the room. Key still didn't work. Back to the clubhouse. New key. Back to the room. It worked. Keep in mind that Pokey was with us slowing us down and even insisted on being carried (I was carrying a ball, sunglasses and a cup of coffee at the same time; no easy feat).
When we get into the room I had the boys sit down for, what I thought, would be a nice little snack. Well, it never quite turns out as planned. Stellan decided to squish the pear in his hand, sending pear bits all over the table. Jameson's laughter only made Stellan want to do it more. Then the peanut gallery (Jameson) encouraged Stellan to put his fish crackers in his apple juice. How entertaining..... I really don't love snack time, it always ends up being play time and a big mess results.
James finally picked us up (long story, much frustration with SS offices) and we headed out to the bank. This is one place we can actually get something done without having a SSN. Since we both needed to be there for our account, it meant having to bring the boys in. We always anticipate that this won't be fun but I was dreading this today in particular; the boys were especially antsy. We brought them into the glorified cubicle with our new banker friend (such a good friend I can't even remember his name). Everyone is initially charmed by the boys and says how cute they are. And then they quickly change their opinions. At one point Jameson was screaming so loudly (brought on by me asking him to stop crawling under the desk) that the entire bank heard his ear piercing screams (I'm not kidding). Another banker rushed in with a handful of suckers. Good timing. My schizo son was quickly placated and once again seemed sweet and charming. We got the account set up and I was quite relieved to head out and back to the van. We dropped James off at work and headed back to the hotel for lunch. Quick lunch, naps and I got to rest. ahhhhh
After naps we watched a video and then headed to James' work to pick him up. I wanted to take the boys to the park but there wasn't enough time. Stellan was quite put out by this and didn't understand why he couldn't swing. I decided to go into James' work to see the new office, a surprise to James. What a maze of cubicles! Jameson and Stellan love visiting Daddy at work so this was quite the adventure for them. The only problem is that Jameson is quite a tactile learner and insists on touching EVERYTHING in sight. The scotch tape seemed particularly engaging. Jameson taped his own mouth shut and then helped his brother with the same task. What a great first impression our troop must make. :) I met a few of James' co-workers and we were able to get everyone back to the van without any major incidents.
We headed out to the mall in our endless pursuit of a sectional sofa. The boys were given strict instructions how to behave and that walking with mommy and daddy is the only option. Once again Jameson insisted on touching everything he passed. He would then proclaim, "I like them mommy". Big problems when he gets his own credit card! Much to our dismay there was no furniture at this branch so it was a wasted trip. We headed back out, on our way to dinner. Jameson didn't want to follow the "walk with mommy and daddy" rule so he decided to try his luck and run/skip/jump/trytogetaway. Sheesh, these trips can be stressful. Can't wait until the stroller is taken off the truck so we can once again strap them in have some semblance of order and control. Quick dinner at the hotel and then off to the house.
I'll save that for the next blog, this one is already lengthy.