Sorry for the (very) long wait. Been extremely busy doing other things. To make it good, here's a very long chapter (and a little celebration to my 4000th post - WOW!) 
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CHAPTER 8: Pitnick and ife cleam ------------------------------------------------------------
Two weeks later we could finally take Aidan home from the hospital. He was not allowed to go to daycare yet, because of the danger of infections after an open heart surgery, so I had to stay home with him for a couple weeks until the wound had healed properly. Lily was really happy about that, since it meant both she and Erica could stay home, too. I didn't want the two of them to drag home any germs when Aidan's immune defense was not on top. At least Aidan had someone to play with when the girls were home. Tony was not happy, since he still had to go to school.
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"Can we go pitnick?" Aidan asked me one Friday, as I was cutting up some vegetables for dinner. He'd been restless all day, and had grown tired of his usual activities, which included anything that didn't require too much moving around.
"Picnic, you mean?"
"Yeah, pitnick. With cake and ife cleam and froot and zrofen piffa. Can we?"
I smiled at him. "Maybe this weekend, so everyone can go."
"Best mommy," he said, and hugged my leg - before waddling away into the living room again.
That boy... every other week he asked me if we could go for picnics. He loved the park, where he could smell the flowers, and of course bring a bunch of them to me or Peter.
He loved to watch the birds, and feed them with the stale bread I always brought (or tiptoe up to the poor creatures before jumping out and scare them, giggling when they quacked and skidded along the water surface to get way), and he loved to scare Erica with the insects she couldn't stand - wriggling them in front of her face until she screamed.
They all loved the park, and I knew Aidan's suggestion would be welcomed.
Tony enjoyed playing football and other games with the other children his age.
Erica loved to make sand cities and rivers in the sand box at the playground (and smash them up playing dinosaur afterwards).
Lily couldn't get enough of the ducks, and would stare at them for hours, giggling while feeding them, or screaming if one of the ducks decided to run after her. If she found ducklings in the grass, she would and follow them around making quacking noises until they jumped into the water.
They all loved the food.
And I loved to be a part of one of the happy families there.
I wrote down a new shopping list and almost had to throw Peter out the door to go to the grocery store (football game on TV - says all...), sending Erica and Tony with him to get some peace and quiet.
Erica because I needed to separate her and Lily since the two of them had just gone berserk at each other again, arguing over some toys; and Tony because Peter could need some help with finding the groceries and carrying bags.
The next day, we packed the diaper bag, the cooler and the picnic basket, dressed the twins, and then helped Erica get dressed (she insisted on doing it herself, and I ended up spending ten minutes untying her shoelaces which she had somehow twiddled together).
Then I yelled for Tony to hurry while Peter put the twins in their stroller. When Tony finally had the decency to tear his face away from the computer screen and drag himself downstairs, we all went outside and headed for the park.
After yelling for everyone to stay within eyesight (and remind Tony to watch his siblings for the umpteenth time since leaving the house), we sat down near the water so we could keep an eye on Lily and the ducks.
After sitting there relaxing for a while, hunger eventually took them all, and I unpacked the food - cakes, muffins, fruit salad, ice cream, sandwiches, pizza and a lot more.
They all ate in a hurry, and took off again.
Picnics were a brilliant chance for Peter and me to be a little romantic. With four kids, romance wasn't much of a priority most days.
We didn't take it too far of course. Just a little kissing and cuddling - while at the same time trying to keep an eye on the kids.
Peter was just in the middle of feeding me some grapes, when Erica came running. She looked rather upset.
"Mommy, come!"
"What is it, dear?"
"Aidan fell down from the monkey bars, and he's crying!"
I jumped up, and ran after Erica.
Over at the playground, several children stood around someone on the ground. I ran over.
Aidan was sitting with his back against the monkey bars, wailing and holding his forehead.
"There, there. Mommy's here now," I said. "Where does it hurt?"
"Owie head," Aidan sniffled, and I carefully took away his hand. He was bleeding a little, and he also had a scratch on his chin - but it didn't look like he was going to need stitches or anything, since the cuts weren't deep.
I'd have to watch him for a few days - just to make sure he hadn't gotten a concussion or something. You never knew, especially when kids hit their head. What seemed like a small scratch could turn out to be something a lot more serious.
I scooped him up in my arms, and hugged him, comforting him until he'd calmed down a bit.
Then I carried him over to where Peter sat, and took out the mini first-aid kit I always brought with me to the park. Four kids had taught me to always come prepared.
I cleaned the wound, and put on a Sesame Street band-aid. He had a few other scratches too - but nothing serious. Luckily the monkey bars were low, and the ground was soft underneath.
"Does it hurt other places," I asked him.
"No," he sniffled.
"What happened?"
"Lost gwip."
"You lost your grip?"
He nodded.
"You have to be more careful, Aidan."
"Was! Said lost gwip!"
"Well, no more climbing or running around for you today. You can feed the ducks with Lily if you want."
He threw me an annoyed look, but didn't say more. I handed him another ice cream from the cooling bag, before he waddled over to steal some bread from Lily.
We stayed a little longer - just long enough for Lily and Aidan to use the rest of the bread to feed the ducks, and for Tony to finish up a football match with his buddies. Then we packed our things and went home.
As I was playing with the twins and Erica after dinner that evening I noticed Aidan moved around very stiffly - at least compared to Lily. While she was running around, Aidan still had troubles keeping up with her, doing more of a waddle than a run. I guessed Aidan had gotten a few more bruises than I'd noticed from the fall.
But when I changed his diaper before putting him to bed, there were only a few purple bruises to see - none of them big.
Though, his calves looked a bit swollen for some reason.
Strange.
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Hope you liked it 
