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!
Amazingly we started off on schedule—and if you want to be technical about it, we were actually seven minutes early. And we didn’t think of anything we forgot…
The barrette lasted a whole hour—which doesn’t seem like much but her previous record was about three seconds.
Things went pretty well until Katie got a little screechy. But Owen was SO awesome—he’d start talking to her, singing the ABCs, playing peek-a-boo (which usually resulted in giggles), and clapping (at which point she’d clap in return). But then it turned into hunger screeches meaning she wanted her bottle—which sounds easy…but isn’t. She can physically hold the bottle—but can’t understand she has to tip it (she wants it to work like a straw cup). We tried putting her formula in the straw cup…and then she doesn’t really want it. And even though it’s attached to a strap so it can’t end up on the floor…it ends up hanging or upside down…dripping milk. Sigh. At this age, Owen was definitely holding his own bottle—great for road trips.
So I tried giving her a no-spill snack cup…which lasted all of five minutes until she a) figured out how to hold one flap open and tip most of it out and then b) got the entire lid off! Joy.
No-spill snack cup: 0
Katie: 1
So we figured our good little eater would snarf down some mac and cheese for lunch. Nah. Not interested today. REALLY?! Also not really interested in any of our foods, including one of her favorite baby foods. GRRR.
The good thing about lunch is that the owner—after chatting with Tom—comped our meal as a thank you for his service. So a nice shout out to Prissy Polly’s BBQ in Kernersville, NC.
Neither kid napped well. Katie got maybe an hour each before and after lunch and Owen got maybe an hour total with his catnaps.
Then there was a sibling sharing game, played with the lid to the snack container. Owen would hand it to Katie, she’d hand it back, lather rinse repeat. Owen kept saying “We’re sharing! We’re talking turns!” 🙂 He’s such an awesome big brother.
When we finally got to the hotel, Owen helped daddy with the cart (it was too bright for a good picture!).
And Maggie’s bag…which was about half his size.
Katie was having a blast crawling/zooming across the bed. Of course as soon as I tried to record her, she stopped.
Then she learned how to get off the bed. Just like that. (Just like she learned how to slide off the couch.) She’s a smart cookie.
Then it was off to dinner. We ate at the hotel just to make life easy. Katie ate seasoned curly fries, regular fries, and beef brisket (in addition to her cheese slices, green beans, and yogurt). Yes, BBQ beef brisket. Owen? The triple-decker PB&J and yogurt we packed from home.
Then it was FINALLY time for the pool—Owen had been asking most of the day but had really started asking when we got to the hotel. He was VERY excited!
Catching a ride and kicking it with daddy…
Watching daddy and Owen in the pool:
Then I took Katie outside for a stroll since it was REALLY warm in the pool area.
It took a minute to get a smile.
Then it was back to the pool, where daddy nommed some Katie toes.
I love when I get an unexpected shot. 🙂
Back at the room, we turned our backs for a minute…and this happened.
Yes, she opened the drawer AND got in by herself. And she was SO proud! Of course, she got out by herself, too.
Unfortunately, there were a few tiny snafus.
I thought I did really well by packing overnight bags so we didn’t have to haul everyone’s suitcases in…but I apparently forgot obvious stuff like jammies and Katie didn’t have her burp cloth.
I rolled the stroller through something in the hotel (they had some construction areas) and tracked it all over our carpet. It looked like putty, and thankfully it was still wet enough to easily wipe up.
Owen picked a scab and bled all over the white sheets. I had no band-aids…either on me or in our med bag. Tom had to get one from the front desk.
I haven’t had reflux in a month…so of course tonight was the night. And I forgot to take my nightly meds before putting Katie to bed, and I really didn’t want to get up because it took her 25 minutes of SCREAMING to fall asleep and hell if I was going to be the one to wake her up.
Also, the room next door has a bird and a yapping dog. Luckily it didn’t wake Katie up…but it woke me up about 10:30, and them continued to bark randomly until the owners SLAMMED back into their room around midnight.
Oh, we also got the last non-smoking room and it’s…not great. The bathroom smells, the bathroom counter is chipping, the toilet runs, and the sliding bathroom door (handicap accessible) is off the track so it can’t close. But we got a military discount!
As mentioned previously, Owen just LOVES Katie’s pool and wanted to play in it after dinner. I then had the bright idea to get out his old slide so he could slide into the pool. And he LOVED IT. 🙂
And then I told him to try sliding down on his belly…which, as you will see in the video, it took him a minute to figure out just how to do it. But after that, it was GAME ON!
And a few more butt slide shots!
And a comparison to just over three years ago…May 2010 and June 2013.
We finally got out the small pool I had bought for Katie about two months ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t look really closely at what I bought, and it’s not so much a pool as a splash pad—which requires a constantly-running hose to keep the side of the “pool” up and the sprinklers going. (I had just thought we wouldn’t use the hose for the sprinklers part…but if you don’t, the sides don’t fill up to hold the water.) So…we can’t use warm tap water in it so Katie gets chilled pretty quickly—even when it’s 85 degrees out. But, she still liked it. And, of course, Owen LOVES it. He was more enamored with it than his big pool!
Today we went to a friend’s birthday party (the husband of one of the mommy group moms) and they had borrowed a huge inflatable water slide. Owen just wanted to splash in the water…but eventually started going down the slide. And then we couldn’t get him off! He was SO happy! And it was great to watch!
When it was time to go, we asked him how many more times he wanted to go down the slide and he stopped and was really putting some thought into it. His answer? TEN! 🙂
Then on the way home he kept asking about the water slide and saying he wanted to go back to it. I’m sure he’ll get to go on it again since we have play dates at the house that owns it. 🙂
So, as I’ve mentioned, Katie does not like to be left alone. But, I have to do it now and again to help Owen in the bathroom or prep dinner or something so she was kind of used to it. Didn’t love it but would get over it quick enough.
However, I think she got REALLY spoiled when the babysitters were here for the weekend. They mentioned she spent A LOT of time in their arms.
Great.
Now my life is hell. Okay, not really, but OH MY GOD she cries a lot. And I feel bad for being annoyed by it but OH MY GOD it’s annoying. Of course I feel like the worst parent ever for being (irrationally?) annoyed with the crying…but she’s not in pain, she’s not hungry, she’s not dirty—she just wants attention. And it’s a new thing (the quantity anyway) and it’s annoying. And have I mentioned it’s annoying? 🙂
We’re outside right now and she’s in her kiddie enclosure next to me screaming…so I got in with her and she stopped. I stayed for 10 minutes playing and she was happy. I get out and she immediately—IMMEDIATELY—starts crying. Sorry, kid, my knees can’t take being bent in there, I can’t let you crawl loose, but I need to be out here since Owen is in the pool. Those are the breaks. If I try to hold her on my lap the crying stops…but then she’s a wiggle worm that’s—I think, if possible—even more annoying.
This photo is therefore entitled “SOMEBODY PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!”
And this is what we’ve had to listen to on and off (but mostly on) for the past hour.
Seriously, kid. Mama has a headache. Cool it with the screaming already.
🙁
EDITED TO ADD: She must have known I was at my limit, because I picked her up and she did this. For just long enough for me to get a picture. 🙂
It was five missing pieces about a month ago…and now it’s up to 20+ and we’ve looked EVERYWHERE. I’m trying not to be upset since he is only four, but we’re usually quite vigilant about not losing pieces because Katie could get them. So it’s driving me mad that we are missing so many.
Here’s Owen matching them up to their photos:
And here’s what the half-assembled remaining bunch looks like—all missing heads, torsos, legs, accessories, or a combo of all of the above. Ugh.
Of course, the flip side is that Owen couldn’t care less…he loves mixing and matching pieces SO much. In fact, the other minifigs that we did fix this morning? Within 30 seconds of giving him the okay to play with them, they look like this:
Yep. I’m now that mom. Tonight’s bath was a dip in the pool. (Well, technically more than just a dip.) 🙂
Every time he says “Watch me mom! Watch me!” I think of all the hundreds of times I said the same thing about cartwheels (or thousands of times if you believe what my dad says).
He LOVES Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood-–an animated spin off, I guess you’d say, of Mr. Rogers. I knew about the show but hadn’t gotten around to recording it for him…but he managed to find it himself on the PBS app on the iPad! This is him singing the Good Morning song (eventually).
Even though I have my camera on me, I still miss shots. Katie was playing with Owen’s pirate hat and actually getting it on her head! Of course by the time I got ready to shoot, this is the best I got:
And then it looked like she might get it on again…except it was upside down. But her hop at the end is adorable. 🙂
So he was out playing on the playset while I was working in the kitchen. I looked out to see him on the swings—which was happily surprising since he’s not really ever liked swings. The next time I look up, he’s yelling at me saying”Mama! Mama! I’m swinging!” 🙂
Fast forward a little bit and I look out and don’t see him. Then I see his head pop up in the tower above the rock wall—which means he climbed up it himself! Which is amazing since he has only gone up it twice—both times of which he asked for help. So I’m silently screaming because I’m so excited…when I see him come running across the yard screeching “Mama! Mama! Come see what I can do!” Of course I didn’t tell him I’d seen him…
He was just SO damn proud of himself! I was, too…especially since I think the rock wall is a bit treacherous (it goes STRAIGHT up when I think it should have a bit of a slant to it). But he did it no problem!
She loves just laying on the floor and kicking her legs and rolling around…so today I just started nudging her with my foot. I love that you just never know what’s going to make her laugh.
I happened to check my YouTube Analytics this morning, and saw that this video has the most views—to the tune of 15,146. WHAT THE? REALLY? WHY? I’m intrigued.
Even the number of times other videos have been watched amazed me…the top ones have 400+ views. WHY!?! Who the hell is watching my videos? Not that I care, it just really interests me!
So, since I’m a single parent this week, bath time was challenging (obviously one of us stays with Katie while Owen gets his bath but that wasn’t possible). I do leave her alone for a few minutes, but didn’t want to leave her alone for his entire bath…so the only safe place for her to go was in her crib. Which we never do unless it’s sleepy time. She’s never even been stuck in a pack-n-play except to sleep… In other words…SPOILED.
Needless to say she WAS. NOT. HAPPY. This is a compilation of about two minutes of the entire 15 minutes worth of screaming. I thought she might not mind as much if I was in with her, so kept running back and forth between checking on Owen and cleaning/organizing her room. Nope. She screamed whether I was in there or not.
But at least she doesn’t hold a grudge. This is minutes afterwards. It’s enough to balance out the earlier screaming…right?
