Trip report

Things Andy learned on his brief trip to Lexington:
1) Elevators are fun and buttons should be pushed early and often.
2) Hotel room doors are fun to pull on and open, especially when the door unlocks upon pulling on the lever door.
3) High school boys are great entertainment.
4) Sharing a room with adults means he can wake up and demand to be entertained several times a night.
5) Waffle House has good hash browns (a kid after my own heart).
6) Swimming in the big pool is fun.
7) Travel is exhausting.

College, baby

We had a nice trip down to Lexington for a tour of VMI for the boys and a tour of a nice Italian restaurant with our friends Mark and Michelle. The only real bummer of the trip was the "suite" I had arranged at the hotel was tiny so it was a cramped evening for us all. On the way back, we stopped in Charlottesville to check out UVa for comparison's sake. Virginia does haves some pretty colleges, that's for sure.

Bad service gene or a bad move?

So all week I've been trying to get over to check out the preschool/daycare where Andy's been accepted for the fall. The admissions lady was out all last week so we made tentative plans to get together this week. After exchanging phone calls and e-mails about trying to get together Wednesday or Friday, the correspondence trail stopped cold. Is it me? Or is this a sign that this isn't a good place for us?

Granted, I tend to get bad service everywhere I go so this is pretty typical for me (I swear it has something to do with me being short, but I digress). I had initially asked the admissions lady about coming by to check things out before committing and she acted as if that was a totally unheard of request. I love my son, but I hardly think I'm over the top with this one. When I asked my coworker who is way more anal about this stuff than me, she said that the school should have something like an evaluation day where Andy and I would come over for some time to see how we liked it. In fact, she'd even done it at this preschool before. Just last year even. I called the woman twice yesterday and e-mailed her trying to confirm a date for today; I gave her my home and cell phone numbers and my e-mail and nothing. Now I have to decide if this is a bad fit or just a bad admissions person because if they treat me like this before we even go, what does that mean about our future relationship? Grrrr.

All grown up?

I knew it was happening - that Andy was growing up - but somehow I didn't really believe it. This morning, we were getting ready. I had already changed him into his clothes and I was trying to let him know that I was leaving (I'm trying not to just sneak out, as I think that makes him more freaked out). After I told him that, he sprinted to his room, got his sandals and brought them to me. It was a pair of shoes - not just one - and they were his, in fact, the ones he wore yesterday. He then climbed up onto his chair and sat calmly while I put them on. Seriously, when did he get this big and grown up?

This weekend we're taking a trip down to Lexington, Va., so Mark can look at a college. Andy and I are tagging along so we can look up my college friend, Michelle, who it turns out has her own Web site and everything. Talk about grown up - when did we get so old?

Daycare dilemma

I got the call that we've gotten into the daycare/preschool of choice for the fall. We've been on the list for ages so I had sort of forgotten about it. Of course, now that it's here, I'm having all sorts of anxiety about it, partly since the last time I took a look was back in December, I think. Andy was a totally different kid back then it seems. I still like the idea of a real school environment where he can start to learn more and have more structured activities (I can't wait for that first "art" project). That said, I'll miss the one-on-one mothering he gets with his babysitter now. Of course, I'm also dreading having to break up her since I really like and appreciate her. For now, I'm going to take another look at the school this week and start thinking about next steps. The whole thing makes me want to throw up. I have no idea what I'm going to do when he goes to kindergarten. And yes, I realize that's four years away, but in my mind, it's never to early to stress.

What a tool

So I scored an awesome purchase this weekend - a Little Tykes play workbench. Andy loved my niece's play kitchen so I was thinking about something like that only to come by a yard sale on Saturday. I stopped just to ask how much and when she said $3, I HAD to get it. Right? It's actually not quite as fancy as the one in the picture and it doesn't have the fun tools to go with it, but those are probably easy enough to get. He so far seems to like it. We walked through the yard collecting rocks Saturday before going out to dinner (we got a sitter and everything!) and he promptly put the rocks into the bench so he's definitely interested. Now I'm excited about the fun I'll have finding fun tool sets to go with it.

King of the Poopy Diapers

The good news is that Andy is really warming to the pool. The bad news is that it seems to, er, relax his bowels. It's like clockwork for the past three days, within the first 10 minutes, he has soiled his swim diaper. Not only is that totally gross, but those swim diapers don't seem capable of absorbing much so it ends up being pretty messy by the time I get home and get him (and me) cleaned up. Fortunately, I've noticed it before he contaminated the pool. No one wants to be the folks that contaminate the pool.

We started a "tumbling" class at My Gym today. It wasn't what I expected. I think I thought we'd be practicing somersaunts and stuff, but instead it was more a free for all with their gym stuff. And per usual, while I had arranged for us to come this morning, the woman on staff had no idea who I was and was a little snotty about it. I'm not sure I would go back, but now that I've paid for the season AND the $50 membership fee, I'm stuck for a while.

Toughen that boy up

It's odd, I've been telling people about my trip and how Megan really was man-handling Andy and I've been surprised the number of people, especially women, who say I need to "toughen that boy up." As a joke, that's fine, but several seemed pretty serious. What, they want me to teach my son to hit girls? I figure he's got the rest of his life to be bothered by other kids taking his toys and shoving him around so if it doesn't bother him, why should have bother me or anyone else?

In other news, we went to the pool tonight and he loved it! I was rather surprised since it would figure that I didn't bother to wear a bathing suit since he never wants to get into the water. Tonight, he played in the plastic house for a couple of minutes and then was eager to get into the baby pool (after I shooed out the 4 and 5 year olds playing tag in there.) He was tentative since the water can get up to his chest, but he wanted to walk around NOT holding my hand (although that would have made me happy). He did slip once and get a face full of water. He recovered afterwards though. I had to finally take him from the pool at 7:30 p.m. screaming and trying to get out of the stroller. And it would figure that I got home to a swim diaper full of poops. Lovely. It's gross enough in a regular dry diaper, but in a wet one? Ick.

Mr. Crankypants

It's been a rough couple of days. Andy has had a cold and that has made him irritable, partly because he's been having trouble sleeping. I've been keeping him doped up on cold medicine and now he's not warm and his nose isn't running. He's still a little cranky though. We went ahead and took him to school though. He sobbed. I'm hoping the rest of his day goes okay.

Toddler wrestling

This video was the highlight of the trip. Sure, catching up with old friends and family, cool genealogy, awesome Texas events, but this was just fabulous. Megan is one tough cookie.

Meanwhile, we must have gotten off the plane last night for Andy to get sick. Poor guy has had a nasty cold since yesterday evening and is pretty miserable. Of course, this would fall right after a vacation so I am swamped at work and Bjorn has meetings stacked up. Sigh.

Dallas

There's lots to tell about the long weekend, but I'm tired. I had to go ahead and upload this photo though because even though it's not rally related, it's quite possibly the cutest picture he's ever taken. Megan and Andy were playing hide and seek. Well, he was hiding and she was poking at him. That's her grinning on the side.

Dallas

We survived the flight down to Dallas. Mechanical problems delayed us a couple of hours and I sweat the AC was down in the American terminal so I was sweating bullets as I tried to keep up with an increasingly tired 18-month-old as we waited and waited. The DVD player was a big hit. He couldn't quite figure out the headphones and didn't like them on his ears at all, but he did watch the screen for 15 minutes or so at a time. This is convincing me I need to find Jack's Big Music House on DVD since I think he'd really like that better than what we had to watch. By the time we finally arrived in Dallas and got back to my sister's, we were both exhausted. Andy has never been interested really in sleeping in the bed with me, but it has seemed the only thing that has worked the last couple of nights. It's nice for me since I never do it. I'm rationalizing that we're on vacation so we're not getting into a bad habit since we can go back to our old routine once we get home.

The rally has been good fun and nice to show off Andy and Megan to old friends. Tonight we're going to Old City Park, which should be interesting for the kids. It's been fun to be a tourist though. Having grown up here, I can't say I'd ever been to the Ft. Worth Stockyards or to the Mesquite Rodeo. Certainly when the kids get older, I can see taking them around to those places. In a couple of years, I could see him really loving the cattle drive and cowboys.

Megan and Andy have been great together. It's a strange phenomenon that it is actually less work to have two kids playing together rather than one that I have to entertain. So far, the biggest hit has been hide and seek. Andy loves to hide behind curtains and Megan has been having fun finding it. The shrieks of laughter are just great. I caught a little bit of it on video that I'll have to upload onto YouTube. It's good stuff. The other big hit has been the play kitchen. Both kids have just loved putting the plastic plates and dishes in and around. Some of the food is kinda freaky though. The french fry is a little too rubbery and feels a little real. Ooogy. They also both love the baby stroller. Megan loves the dolly aspect of the carriage, but Andy just loves to push it around. It's funny watching the differences between the two kids. He's definitely more interested in bigger, mechanical stuff and how it fits together (and the noise it makes) where she's more interested in the little pieces and putting them in her bag to carry around. I must say, watching a 20-month-old carrying a purse is really cute.

Bliss

They say this type of position isn't good for his knees, but how can you argue when he looks so comfortable?

We leave for the grand adventure tomorrow and I'm driving myself crazy packing, repacking, and doublechecking. We're taking a slightly new route and borrowing Mark's portable DVD player for the flight. I haven't given in to just letting him watch TV yet, but needing Andy to cooperate for the three hour flight seems to warrant this type of activity. We're traveling with a Baby Einstein video and Finding Nemo. Should be interesting.

Rally Baby

We're gearing up for a flight to Dallas on Thursday for the Egan Clan Rally. Andy and I have flown several times together so it shouldn't be that scary, yet I'm having trouble sleeping at night because I'm dreading the flight so much. Who knew that entertaining an 18 month old while not totally annoying your neighbors would be so stressful? I'm going through everything I have to do this week, including getting to the store so make sure I have proper snacks and treats to get through the stay at the airport and the flight. Plus, I need to be thinking about what toys to bring that will entertain him without being heavy or annoying. I also have to be thinking about what clothes to bring on the flight just in case he decides to throw up or have a diaper accident. And all those items have to fit into a bag that I can carry while carrying/pushing a wiggly 1 1/2 year old. See? I DO have a lot to stress about.

That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Redneck baby

A couple of days ago, Andy got really messy while out in the backyard. Rather than drag the mess indoors, I took off his shorts and shirt in the backyard. I didn't realize how silly he looked in just a diaper and shoes so I had to take a picture.

Party pics

Here are some pictures (finally) from the party at Viv's last week. My favorite is the middle one of Mia chewing on Maddie's shoes. Those shoes were quite the life of the party in that all the kids seemed to want them. According to Mia, I think they were good enough to eat. It's funny to see Ewan in the Exersaucer with Andy standing on the outside. It's strange to think that's what he was like just a year ago.

Eyes

For weeks, we've been working on pointing to body parts (get your mind out of the gutter, I mean the obvious ones, like nose, mouth, eyes, ears, belly button.) He hasn't shown any interest except to smile when we play the game, but tonight as I'm putting him to bed, he leans across, points to my eye, says "eye" and clear as day and then proceeds to poke me in the eye. I was so excited I didn't mind so much.

Target practice

Andy is too young for proper potty training, but I'm putting him on his potty before his bath just to get him use to the concept. Usually, nothing much happens, but the idea is to get him comfortable. Then night before last, he actually decided to pee while on the potty. That would have been great, but the potty I have is apparently not designed for boys since he sprayed the entire wall. Having no experience with boys, I am not sure if I need a new potty or need to practice "tucking" once I sit him down. I can tell already this is going to be a long process.

I have the bad habit of going into Andy's room after he's asleep to compulsively check on him. Really, it's that I want to stare at him, rub his back and generally fawn over him when I know he's out. It's also my chance to quietly remove the objects from the floor so I don't break my neck, particularly if he gets me up in the middle of the night. Last night, I was on the floor quietly tidying and he woke up. Not an angry or want to play face, but his eyes were open and he was staring at me. I stared back and smiled, which made him laugh. which made me laugh. We did this for a couple of minutes. It was really something special. Then I quietly left his room and miraculously he went back to sleep. I wonder if he thinks it was a dream.

Parade

We went to the parade in Fairfax City today. It was sweltering in the sun, but there was a nice breeze in the shade. Andy seemed intrigued and a little scared by all the commotion. In particular, the noise from the motorcycles concerned him. Generally, he seemed really interested in checking everything out, particularly the other kids. It was an interesting event. Lots of high school bands, some churches, lots of firetrucks and police honor guards. My favorite was the ladies from the Fairfax County Public Library wearing their "Read" shirts and pushing decorated library carts as they did little formations. It was campy and they really seemed to get into the spirit. The strangest was the van from the Alzheirmer's nursing home. It was one of those mini-buses with the windows up and people in wheelchairs behind the tinted windows so you couldn't really see if they were waving or not. I totally get and support the spirit of it, but it was odd to see nonetheless.

The daily double

I must have had a bullseye on my chest yesterday. At the store, Andy decided to spit up the milk he had just ingested. All over himself and me. Gross. He spit up a lot as a baby, but somehow the quantities must have been smaller because I don't remember it smelling this bad. I got home, changed shirts and plopped him in the bath only to have him pee on me as I went to put on his clothes. At that point, I handed him off to Bjorn and got in the shower. Afterwards, I proceeded to have a nice glass of wine for my efforts. It tasted quite good.

Adult?

Today Liz and I went out for snacks and a stop at Borders. That's right, I went out child-free for two hours and we didn't talk about kids and diapers. It was nice to catch up. Stranger than that, when I got home, Bjorn had taken Andy with him to Barnes and Noble so I had probably 45 minutes in the house - alone. I took the time to spread some top soil around the backyard to replace what washed away during the floods last week. Of course, no sooner did I get the soil down, but it thundered and dumped rain for about 30 minutes. I do love a good summer thunderstorm though.

Meanwhile, I've just finished a fascinating book "In the Middle of Nowhere" by Terry Underwood. It's been in my house for ages, but I just grabbed it on my way to California a couple of weeks ago. It's a pretty rough autobiography (I generally distrust anyone who talks/writes about their spouse/boyfriend as "my man" just on principle), but it's the account of a woman living on a cattle ranch in northern Australia not near anything. She raises four kids and home schools them all since there are no schools anywhere near where they live. They also have no phone and certainly no TV. I think parenting is tough enough, but to do it all by yourself most of the without resources, doctors, parents, heck, even Oprah. Hard to imagine.

For some reason, some of my posts are acting kind of strange, and sometimes don't appear unless you highlight over them. If you know how to fix it, let me know.

Bubbles

My friend Viv invited us over yesterday. It was a bold undertaking on her part to invite the old timers over considering we all have kids and husbands now. I think seeing all of us reaffirmed to Viv that she's glad to be child free. It was fun seeing all the adults as well as the kids, the oldest of which is 2 3/4 and the youngest is 6 months. It was a lively bunch. Andy can now say "bubbles" which I thought was so adorable I ran out and got a bubble maker for the party yesterday. Little did I know it would be much more of a hit with the men (as witnessed above) than the children.