Travel Worries

Sunday I'm packing up and flying to San Francisco for a few days. I wish that I could allow myself to feel excited about the trip. Instead I am worried and fretting over leaving the boys and scrambling to get everything covered in my absence. If it wasn't for my Mom, I'm not sure what I would do!  

With Scott back at work, my Mom has (again) stepped in to fill a childcare void.  The boys are going to spend a few days in Pennsylvania while I'm away for work. With Robby's cousins back in school, he may be bored during the day. He has thoroughly enjoyed spending his summer days playing with his cousins and I know that he'll miss them while they are at school. 

In order to save my Mom from having to deal with a bored tween, I've given Robby permission to spend the time on the computer playing video games with his friends. While not the ideal way to spend a few days, he will be occupied and happy. Given the circumstances I think that extended computer time is probably the best option.

Timmy will be considerably higher maintenance. He has been clingy lately and is not going to be happy being left, I worry about how he is going to react to my absence. I'm really hoping that having his brother there will help to soothe his anxiety but I'm not terribly optimistic. 

Ultimately Timmy will be fine and won't remember my leaving, but I worry about him being difficult for my Mom.  Being responsible for a cantankerous toddler is not easy. I've been trying to pack little surprises to distract and entertain Timmy long enough to give my Mom a break.  Robby and I have had long talks about helping his Nana and playing with Timmy during my absence. He is a good kid and I know that he'll log off the computer to help.  

In reality, I can't control Timmy's reaction when I am gone. I can arm my Mom with supplies to help, and I can prep Robby for his responsibilities. Who knows, maybe he'll be fine and surprise everybody! It could happen, right?

Ouchie Foot

I spent the majority of yesterday hobbling around, desperately trying to get everything done while silently (okay, maybe not so silently) cursing the water park. With my biological foot covered with large and painful blisters from the burning sidewalks, my prosthesis has become my "good" foot. Each step was a painful reminder of an adventure gone horribly wrong.  I have no desire to ever visit the water park again, but if I am convinced to take the kids I will definitely invest in a pair of water shoes. 

Timmy seemed to sense my being on the injured reserve list because he took full advantage of my sluggish reaction time. I am barely able to keep up with him when I'm healthy. With my foot injured, he can quickly slip past me to wreak more havoc.  Thankfully Robby is still home because I needed his assistance on more than one occasion.  Hopefully someday Timmy will recognize an injury and feel empathy instead of sensing an opportunity. 

As the day wore on, my misery was increasing. I felt badly because I dumped a lot on Scott when he came home from work. I know how hard it is to resume the teaching schedule, and I try to keep family responsibilities light for the first few weeks after summer vacation ends. But yesterday I simply couldn't walk anymore by the time he came home from work, and I needed his help.  He took one look at my face, and then my bloodied and swollen foot, and knew that I had reached my threshold.  

I'm hoping that my foot is feeling a little better today because my to-do list isn't getting any shorter. I'm leaving for San Francisco on Sunday, and I have a lot I need to do to get ready. I don't have time to be injured-  Stupid stupid water park!

Burning Hot

This August has been unseasonably cool. Between the dipping temperatures and the seemingly constant rainstorms, we haven't been to the pool since we returned from our Florida adventure. Finally the weather turned in our favor yesterday with hot and dry air. I decided that we should spend one of the final days of summer vacation at the water park to enjoy what is perhaps the last outdoor swim of the year.

Robby (and Timmy by default) were excited about going to the water park because I've been promising a trip all year. In order to save my sanity and to ensure that Robby had fun, I allowed him to invite a friend on our adventure. I knew that he would probably enjoy breaking away from Mom to hang out with a buddy, but my reasoning went beyond his preferences. Robby and Timmy have a rather large age gap. While I know it won't always be an issue, right now there is a huge difference between the abilities and activities of a three year old compared to an 11 year old.  Allowing Robby to invite a friend freed me up to take care of Timmy, who requires contact supervision in a crowded water park.

By early afternoon I was splashing in the toddler lagoon with Timmy while Robby and Janna were sliding and splashing in the deep pools.  The pair didn't even say goodbye after I paid the admission. Instead of making plans to meet up, they piled their towels and clothes in my arms and took off towards the corkscrew slides. I figured that they would know where to find me when they were hungry, which would be the only time I would see them until it was time to leave. 

I pushed all of our stuff into an overpriced locker and took off with Timmy to the Toddler Lagoon. I was halfway to the pool when I realized that the ground was painfully hot.  Timmy, who was walking in the tiny sliver of shade, wasn't bothered by the heat but my goodness it was hurting me. By the time I arrived at the pool I could already tell that I was developing heat blisters on my foot, and each step against the rough concrete pool floor only intensified my discomfort. 

After two hours I couldn't take the foot pain anymore and corralled Timmy to the Lazy River. There we floated for another hour, providing my foot with some much needed relief.  As predicted, Robby and Janna found me when they wanted money for ice cream. I felt like a fire walker as we made our way back to the locker! 

By the time I finally sat down and put on my shoe I realized that my foot was now completely covered with a series of blisters. I told the kids that it was time to go and I hobbled out to the car. I'm not sure why the asphalt was so hot yesterday, but the pool needs to do something to keep it cooler for their patrons. I'm definitely going to be feeling the impact of our pool adventure for several days.

Eclipse Fever

Like the majority of people in this country, yesterday we were swept up with Eclipse Fever. Robby has been counting down to the eclipse for several weeks and the excitement reached a fever pitch over the weekend. We decided that the best way to view the eclipse was to experience it with friends, so Sunday night I made some calls and arranged an impromptu party at the park. Most of his friends were overjoyed by the invitation, especially when I mentioned that we were going to share our viewing glasses, because those paper glasses turned into the hottest item of the year.  I'm so glad that I bought them in June so I didn't have to scramble to try to scrounge a pair!

Yesterday morning Robby and I made five pinhole viewers out of cake mix boxes. We then decided it would be fun to put the mixes to good use, so we whipped up a few batches of moon pies. (Okay, technically they were whoopie pies but we wanted to keep with the theme and nobody complained about the liberty we took with the name.) About an hour before the eclipse was set to begin we headed to pick up a tray of chicken nuggets and set up the viewing party at the park.

We had a great afternoon visiting with friends and meeting new ones. I was delighted with the number of families who went to the park with their glasses and box viewers, excited about watching this astronomical wonder. Robby and his friend took off through the park, inviting everybody who looked remotely interested to look through the glasses and to join our party. By the time the eclipse reached peak (about 85%) the pavilion was packed with family gazers, all excited and happy. 

I'm so glad that we decided to throw a party at the park. The eclipse was definitely more fun to watch with a crowd of people! I also have to note that it was nice leaving politics behind for a few hours and focusing my mental energy on something entirely different. Unfortunately eclipse goodwill was slashed last night by a Presidential news conference, so today we will be back bickering reality.

Choo Choo Dreaming

Over the weekend Scott and I decided that it was time to transition Timmy out of the crib and into a toddler bed. He is still relatively small in stature, allowing him to fit comfortably within his crib. However, he is now over 3 and we recognize that he is now old enough to say goodbye to the crib. He is getting too adventurous to be contained within the confines of his baby crib. 

As soon as we made the decision to pack up the crib I started to scour Craigslist and yard sale sites. I knew exactly what type of bed I wanted to get him, and luck was on my side. I located the exact bed in my area for a fraction of what it would cost brand new in the store.  I was delighted, immediately committed to buy it and hopped into the car to pick it up. 

Timmy was absolutely gobsmacked with his new Thomas the Train bed. He squealed and giggled when we began to put it together, and spent the majority of the afternoon climbing on it while singing "choo choo." With as much as he was enjoying playing on it, we knew that he was going to love sleeping on it.  

We were wrong.

Apparently Thomas is a lot of fun during the day but it wasn't nearly as comforting at night as his crib. We spent hours carrying him back to his room and trying to convince him to sleep. It wasn't until Robby crawled into the bed to demonstrate how comfy and wonderful it was that Timmy finally agreed to join him. After a few more nighttime escapes, he finally fell asleep on Scott.  He was carried carefully and deposited into his new train bed for the night, with the hopes that he wouldn't wake up excited or frightened in the middle of the night.

Our best intentions of delighting Timmy with train filled dreams completely backfired. He woke up every two hours, casually walking out of his room and looking to start his day. I spent the night scooping him back up and reminding him that it was nighttime. He might have become too old and adventurous for his crib, but there was certainly something to say with him being confined.  Hopefully he adjusts better tonight, because I'm exhausted!