Monday, August 16, 2010

8-15-10 We made it to the beach!




We took our first adventure to the beach with ALL three boys. I had been apprehensive about this, figuring the chances of it being a relaxing day were very slim. We knew going in that things could turn stressful fast -- traffic, inconsolable crying, baby too hot, toddler not liking the sand, and basically only two parents potentially being pulled three different directions. Half-way through our Sunday, against the advise of the coin, we decided to just do it. We packed up and were on our way. . .




Knowing how many things could be unpleasant about such an outing has put going to the beach very low on my list of priorities this summer. Hence, mid-August and our first trip. For all of the things that could have made the trip unpleasant, not a single one of them came to fruition. . . I didn't even mind nursing in the heat. The boys were troopers and just enjoyed the day. I think all three of them are meant to be by the beach (I know their parents are!). Caden happily hung out under the umbrella. Max played in the sand and ran toward the water to get his toes wet as the waves came in. He was giddy with joy when he was further out in the water and Joe let him lie on the boogie board. And Conrad, he's an official surfer-dude now. He was "catching waves" on his boogie board and traded in his child size board for an adult one early in the day. He also used the word "dude" quite a bit. Joe blames me for this flashback to the '80's.

I am so glad that we went. I got a little bit of sun and felt refreshed. Plus, I got to watch my husband and my boys having a great time. That fills me up.

Conrad's already asking when we can go back to the beach. Now, I'm thinking of it as no problem. We can do it again. I've learned not to try to recreate times like this because it only leads to disappointment. Instead, I'm going to remember this day and enjoy it for the memory that we made. And let future trips be their own unique experience.

Monday, August 9, 2010

8-9-10 Caden Eats Baby Cereal for the First Time


Oh, who needs to rent a good comedy when you can watch your almost four-month-old eating cereal for the first time and watch your seventeen-month-old try to relive the experience! Caden started waking in the night recently and I could tell he was ready to add cereal to his menu plan. So tonight was the departure from me being his only food source. Cereal entered the equation and Caden seemed very happy about it!

Caden ate a good amount of the single grain. I new these would be moments I'd want to catch on film and even debated waiting until tomorrow night to start cereal so I could charge my camera; instead, I grabbed my phone and used the camera on that. It only took a few bites for Caden to get the idea of how to eat this new food. It also started out as a rather clean experience, then I asked Max if he wanted to help me feed the baby. He was happy to assist. As we guided the spoon to Caden's mouth, I was mostly pulling it back and Max was plunging it forward. Then, Max asked for a bite. I gave him one, expecting him to be hugely disappointed. I was wrong, he liked it. It really surprised me since he could barely stand to eat the stuff when he was a baby. Max liked the cereal so much that as I was moving the spoon toward Caden, Max's mouth was following it! He made me laugh out loud with his mouth open like a baby bird and going toward a moving target. I let him have a couple of bites and then told him the rest was for Caden. Apparently, Max took that to mean that the rest that was on the spoon was for Caden because as I was holding the little bowl, Max put his face down toward it and stuck his tongue in the bowl to get more cereal. This really had me laughing. He didn't quite finish his dinner but he was going to such measures to eat something ,that seems to me, would taste like paste.
Did he really want this paste-like substance or did he just want what Caden was getting? Isn't that the model for many sibling questions??








Tuesday, August 3, 2010

7-15-10 Bye-Bye Pull-Ups

So, a couple of weeks ago I took one of those colossal parental leaps. I let my three-year-old wear his underwear to bed instead of a pull-up. Conrad has been potty-trained for a year now (which still makes me break into the happy dance!), but the nighttime pull-ups have been my security blanket; afterall, I'm the one that has to wash soiled pajamas and bedding. Since Conrad was still waking up with a we pull-up about 40% of the time, I honestly had no intention of giving up the fabulously absorbant , "pants" any time soon. However, my husband had other ideas. . . and on this particular day, he declared that "we" were done using pull-ups. In a moment of weakness, all I said was, "If we're going to do it, we may as well start tonight." Easy to say at 2:00 in the afternoon.



By the time bedtime rolled around, I wanted to layer Conrad's bed with extra towels and was wondering if it was too much to put plastic down. I didn't do this because I didn't want my son to sense my fear: more laundry on top of the already overflowing hampers. Plus, he had been asking for a while if he could wear unerwear to bed and doing his best to convince me that he wouldn't wet the bed. So, we did it. No water cup at bedtime any more and I tucked my preschooler into his inadequately waterproofed bed and hoped for the best.



It worked! Can you believe it? It worked for weeks. I would love to delve into the psychological implications of him regularly wetting during the night when he was wearing a pull-up and then not at all once he started wearing underwear. Actually, let's be honest. . . I don't need to know why it worked out that way I'm just glad it did. Well, it did until the other night.



I got a little too comfortable and was basking in the reality of only buying two sizes of diapers and not having the additional cost of pull-ups and without thinking, I let Conrad take a water cup with him to bed. Since we have three kids three and under, nighttime at our house is sometimes eventful. This was the case one night last week. Caden woke up in the middle of the night and apparently while I was feeding him, Conrad went and crawled into our bed. When I saw him there, I decided I would be more comfortable if I went and slept in his bed instead of squeezing onto my side. I was completely unsuspecting when I slipped into his bed just wanting to get back to sleep and felt moisture soaking through my clothes. I launched myself out of the twin bed and marched down to my room to wake my husband to tell him that I was right. "We" should not be done with pull-ups! When I saw my pillow, I lost my enthusiam and, again, just wanted to get back to sleep. I pushed Conrad over a few inches and as my head hit the pillow - it was deja vous: wet clothes. He had peed AGAIN in my bed. At that point, I was awake -- wide awake and went straight to the shower.

And so began my day while it was still dark.