So, any tips to make sure kids chew their food? And to impress upon them the importance of chewing so they don’t choke and vomit all over the place?
😐
Yes, Tom is cleaning the current multi-spew fest (through the dining room and kitchen—at least nothing on carpet so he got off easy) thanks to Owen apparently trying to swallow a whole cashew.
😐
I told him if he can’t chew his food he’ll get milk and baby food…but seriously, we may implement a new rule about the number of times you need to chew food before swallowing. Because this is ridiculous.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but it should be a rarity. But I guess I’d rather have him vomit than actually choke, right?
The only good thing about driving too far the first day is that the second day is a lot shorter. BUT…the day started too early with Katie screaming good morning about 6:15. 😐 But it meant we were on the road at 7:30 again.
As usual, we stopped at our favorite park near Raleigh and Owen had a blast.
He’s getting SO much older. Now, he just takes off across the park without telling us…so we had a few chats about that. 🙂
And here’s how packed in things are—including Maggie! And it’s missing the last outside row that we had to take out at the park (the stroller, backpack, Maggie’s bag, etc.).
Look at that pathetic face. But don’t let her fool you…she’s perfectly happy. We had to literally DRAG her out when we stopped at the park.
Also, does Katie want her bottle at the park, when it’s convenient to do so? Of course not. She wants it 10 minutes later as soon as we’re back on the highway. Babies are annoying. But at least it put her to sleep so both kids thankfully napped almost the last two hours home…
Owen summed up the day nicely about 10 hours in: I am not happy. No more road trips.
Best case scenario it’s a long day but it was made even longer since we decided to push the mileage to get to our favorite hotel…and then it was full so we had to go an hour farther. 🙁
And I tried to make Katie a bottle of formula…with apple juice. Because I just wasn’t thinking and thought I had filled one of Owen’s cups with water. WRONG! So Katie was REALLY not happy the last hour, though I tried to keep the snacks coming her way.
Then I tried to check in to the wrong hotel. I just saw the Q and assumed it was La Quinta. Nope, Quality Inn. It’s a good thing Tom didn’t get anything unloaded…
Then we had horrible take-out Chinese food (Mongolian Beef and General Tso’s Chicken are hard to screw up, but they did) which just added to the day.
Owen perked up once he got to play in the pool.
But since we arrived late, dinner was late and Owen getting to and back from the pool was late…which meant a super tired Katie—who should have gone to bed early at 8—couldn’t go to bed until they were back in the room and ready for bed…about 9:15. At least she only screamed for 10 minutes before falling asleep!
This is Owen’s new response to just about everything…even when he sometimes knows the answer.
Me: Owen, do you know how to unzip Maggie’s crate?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Who gave you those Legos?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Owen, where’s your B?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: What did I just tell you?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: It says pbskids.com.
Grandma Jean: Do you know what that is?
Owen: I got no idea.
Me: Owen, if you’re a good boy tonight and don’t cry when Katie cries and you’re quiet and stay in bed, we’ll give you a Lego tomorrow. Okay?
Owen: Shakes head in agreement.
Me: What did I say?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: [Playing on the iPad.] I spelled cake!
Me: How do you spell it?
Owen: I got no idea.
Owen: What do you want for a treat tonight?
Owen: I got no idea.
Of course, after two weeks of bad (to us) movies (Hangover 3 and Fast & Furious 6) at our local theater, now that we’re headed home they are playing two shows we’d want to see (Epic and The Internship). GRRR! It would have been really cool to take Owen to his first real movie at the same theater where I saw my first movie (AND where Tom and I saw our first movie together)!
Doug and Marie added a day to their vacation to be able to stop by before we had to leave. It was great seeing them—and the kids loved each other!—but the visit wasn’t nearly long enough. 🙁
In the past month or two, Owen has taken to whole chicken butt thing (Guess what? Chicken butt!) but also morphs it into chicken —from chicken Katie to chicken table. He finds it HILARIOUS, as most young kids would. But this morning he went to another level.
Katie still has diarreah…and this morning was a bit worse than normal with three full diapers before her morning nap (it’s been maybe once per day up until now). This, of course, necessitated two outfit changes as well.
Then.
THEN.
I was standing in the kitchen talking to my mom when I look up to see Owen in the hallway just standing there but looking kinda…strange…and quiet. It didn’t register. Then he threw up as only Owen could do—basically just opened his mouth and it comes spewing out. That’s when I noticed the PILES of puke in the living room. Ugh.
Well, I immediately pulled him onto the linoleum, knowing that he likely wasn’t done because when he pukes, it’s not just once or twice—it’s usually at least 3-4 times. And if you try to move him, he’ll puke the entire way and you’ll have a bigger area to clean up. And yep, he puked three more times.
Luckily Katie was down for her nap. Unluckily Tom was out getting his hair cut. Luckily my mom was there. Unluckily she wasn’t feeling well, either.
I stripped Owen and gave him a quick bath then started the cleanup. During which I discovered he also puked on the couch and iPad.
😐
At least we had brought carpet and upholstery cleaner with us (something I’ve learned to do with two kids and a dog). So I was on my hands and knees scrubbing for 20 minutes and of course Tom walked in right as I was finishing. 🙂 Them I had to change clothes because I had puke splatter plus wet knees from cleaning the carpet.
As usual, Owen didn’t appear to be sick (before or after)…so who knows why he puked.
Then when Katie got up from her nap, she was sitting in my lap…and let’s just say I had to change clothes again. 😐
Then at dinner, Owen was eating too fast while simultaneously eating like a horse and not chewing well enough and he started coughing HARD…which—yep, you guessed it—leads to vomiting! At least he puked onto his plate and we had nothing to clean.
It’s rare he pukes at all, so to have him do it twice in one day? We wondered if he really might be sick (both Tom and my mom had a day of the icks) but he had no other symptoms and we knew the second time was from coughing. I think everything was just a big coincidence.
Tom bought some little firework-type stuff to show Owen…and also to hopefully desensitize him to those noises.
The poppers bothered him at first, but then he got right into it and loved it!
Then it was time for the snakes! He thought they were cool, too…and called them fire snakes and poop snakes (since they really quite look like poop when they’re done). And then of course he was being a ham.
Grandma Marsha bought Owen some Captain America missiles so Uncle Rob and daddy took him out to play before dinner. Grandma and Katie came out to watch.
A one-in-a-million photo: Grandma Marsha looking at the camera with her eyes open and nothing blocking her face! And as a bonus, Katie is ALSO looking at the camera with her eyes open! 🙂
A friend of the family invited us out to their place at the lake to go swimming since her granddaughter (about the same age as Owen) was going to be there, too. We’d been wanting to take Owen to the lake, so it was the perfect opportunity.
Amazingly, Katie stayed in my lap the entire two hours. I think she was just tired enough to be content—I wanted her to fall asleep for just a little bit but it just didn’t happen (she’s not the type to fall asleep outside her bed so I didn’t have much hope). But I really enjoyed the calm cuddles that I NEVER get.
Venturing out with daddy, Alice, and our friend Terri.
He and Alice got along smashingly.
Owen managed to play in the sand without getting dirty:
Daddy found a crawfish…and a HUGE snapping turtle:
I felt REALLY old because Alice (who is just a few months older than Owen) is the daughter of someone I used to babysit. Egads. But as the mom said, it’s cool that 30 years later our kids are playing together.
Then we saw the rain approaching from across the lake so we quickly packed up and headed home.
Owen was using one of Katie’s blocks as a pretend camera and then wanted us to use it taking pictures of him. So I asked if I could use my real camera. YES! So I’d say “1-2-3-Pose!” and he’d pose. These are the best two.
We took Owen over to Traverse City to one of the museums because they were having a Lego Carnival! When we asked him what he saw, he said “LEGO HEADS!”
A carnival sounds quite a but more exciting than it really was—basically just a few rooms of big pre-constructed Lego buildings and then a play area—but he enjoyed it. The hardest part for him was not being able to touch the minifigs that were with the buildings…especially the one that had fallen over. 🙂
But then there was the big Lego tunnel with daddy…
And then he got to the big Lego building area…and his running commentary was about like this: “Awesome. Awesome. This is amazing. Lets get going. Holy mackerel. Wow!”
Yes, I realize that the last picture should be the first picture, but I didn’t feel like redoing the whole collage.
And his final product!!
Then it was off to build cars! We got the base ready for him and then he did the rest. Daddy also built one!
Then it was time to send them down the slide to see if they survived (both did!).
Then he just wanted to play with his cars.
Then it was back to the Lego building tables to rearrange his car pieces.
Then we told him it was almost time to go and asked how many more minutes he wanted to stay. We never know what we’re going to get when we ask him open-ended questions (How many M&Ms do you want? is a typical one) so we all had a big laugh when he said “Five hours.” I don’t think he knows time that well yet but who knows. So we said 15 minutes and set a timer and when it went off, he just asked to run his cars down the ramp one more time so we did:
Then it was off to lunch at North Peak Brewery. Owen decided he wanted to eat outside and us three adults all looked at each other like “Ugh—it’s too warm” but we did it anyway…and it ended up to be REALLY nice as it was mostly overcast and there was a nice breeze! Owen passed the time putting together a new Lego set that Grandma Marsha had bought him for being such a good boy! (I helped him but he did most of it!)
On the way home, we were thinking about stopping for ice cream but thought we could go either way…so we let Owen be the deciding factor.
Tom: Owen, would you like a treat?
Owen: No thanks.
Me: Don’t you want to know what it is?
Owen: Okay.
Me: Ice cream.
Owen: No thanks. Legos were my treat. [Remember, Grandma Marsha bought him the Legos earlier as a treat.]
This isn’t normal for a 4yo, right? To give up ice cream?! He constantly surprises us. 🙂
Tom took Owen to stay at Grandma Marsha’s overnight and they went to the Kaliseum. Why does Kalkaska have something like this and Jacksonville doesn’t?!
Owen was having fun playing with the other kids and then even went down this big waterside by himself!! Twice!!
He had a blast there! He called it a hotel, though… 🙂
They all went to Big Boy for dinner, where Owen ordered his own hot dog dinner!
During dinner…
Owen: Guess what?
Uncle Rob: What?
Owen: Not you, I am asking your mother!
And then had ice cream back at Grandma’s.
And Uncle Rob tried to sleep with Owen, but Owen told him “No, Uncle Rob, this bed is my size.” 🙂
On the way home Owen asked to go to the park so after a pit stop to drop me and Katie off, they went back to town.
“Here I am!”
Then he approached a boy who was playing on the bouncy alligator…so they bounced together for awhile.
And then made fast friends with a little girl… She apparently gave him a Twizzler and while he did try it, he also tried to give it back to her when he didn’t want it anymore! (We’re still working on that.)
He has SO much fun with other kids…it’s awesome to watch!
We took Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob out for dinner to Traverse City and we picked Harrington’s On The Bay. It was quite yummy—and while Owen was really good, Katie was pretty good but got a bit antsy/squawky towards the end. Owen was a MUCH better diner than Katie is so far…but she’s a MUCH better eater (tonight she ate calamari, French fries, asparagus, filet mignon, yogurt, and chocolate cake).
We went to the playground at Hanson Hills—which was really nice equipment but all sand (which Owen doesn’t care for).
He’s also getting really good at climbing!
Sliding, sand, and more climbing!
More climbing! And I don’t even get nervous!
Then we went to Camp Grayling to check it out since I haven’t been there since my 10-year reunion (in *cough* 2001 *cough*) and we stopped at the beach. I bet Tom that I’d be able to find a Petoskey stone and he didn’t think I would…I found the first one within about two minutes. 🙂
Owen had fun wading and trying to skip rocks like daddy (so, basically, just throwing them in the water).
Then it was off to the AuSable Park in downtown Grayling where he had fun running around, playing with other kids, and drinking from the water fountain by himself.
And it all wore him out…because he took a three-hour nap once we got home!
I remembered to get out the Monkey Shirt in plenty of time with Katie…and Gramma Jean dressed her in it while we were out and about with the boy.
This is a tee that Grauntie Marge made for me when I was little that says “Auntie Marge loves Jenny” on the belly…and it got saved all these years. I forgot about it/had it well put away for Owen, so he didn’t get to wear it until he was a little too big for it.
And Owen, from September 11, 2011 (which, interestingly, I SWORE I blogged about, but it’s nowhere to be found).
Owen heard the sprinklers going so of course wanted to go out and play in them. However…he didn’t realize that the water temperature is NOT the same as at home in North Carolina so he was a bit shocked at how cold it was. He still managed to get a little wet, though!
