Seashells

Daniel and I started a new beach vacation tradition: Looking for seashells together.  Just me and him. 

The best part?  We went on our adventure after Annabel was asleep and it was “really, really late.”  Like “super late.”  Like the only other kids awake at the same time were the “big kids.”

Bean thought it would be “really, really dark” so we had to bring a flashlight.  (It really wasn’t that dark out at 8 o’clock, but he didn’t mind.  He still used his flashlight. )

It was perfectly warm with an awesome ocean breeze as we searched the wet sand.   He was in his jammies with blue Crocs.  He held my hand as we walked but then he would let it go to run after a piece of white or black or silver shell he saw floating in a foaming wave.  We carefully placed our treasures in a mini blue  pail.

The best part?  It was just me and him. 

Just him and me.

Family Beach Vacay ’10

I FINALLY downloaded all my beach vacation photos and it was so nice to relive it all again.

We stayed at the super family friendly Dunes Village Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC.  The key feature for us was the nice covered pool area. (This is very important for my pale family.) 

The pool area also has a lazy river…

and TWO water slides.

Bean was in heaven and could not get enough of it.  Annabel was a little hesitant of all the pool stuff the first day. But by the second day, she was a little princess mermaid.   She would sit with me for an hour in the kiddie pool area and just swim around in circles.

She also liked to lounge with me at the beach.  I could not ask for a better companion.  Something about the salty ocean air must really mellow a crazy 2 year old because she was my beach chair buddy.

Daddy and Bean did a lot of sand castle building and wave jumping.

And each day ended with ice cream on the balcony. 

Annabel always had “pink” (strawberry) ice cream from the ice cream parlor.  Bean always wanted a fudge bar from the freezer because that’s what he picked out from the grocery store the first night we arrived.

Family. Pool.  Beach.  Ice Cream. 

Perfect.

Pump Up The Volume

I definitely need a vacation.

Well, what I really need is some QUIET time.  Alone.  In a room. With a blanket over my head.

It’s weird but this is the first time I’ve really felt the LOUDNESS of my life with two kiddies under the age of 4.

And I think it’s because it just got a lot louder LATELY.

Today at lunch I had to tell Bean “Shhh…quiet.  Just EAT.”  I’ve never done that before.

This morning, before lunch, we had to run a quick errand to the library to drop off some books.  The entire two mile trip in the car was just…LOUD.

Bean asks a million questions.   I encourage his curiosity,  I do, but sometime it’s just SO much.  So LOUD.

“Mama, see that cloud, Mama?  That cloud is dark, Mama? Why that cloud so dark, Mama? ‘Cause it’s going to rain, Mama?  Yes, Mama?  YES, MAMA?  YES, MAMA??!!”

“YES, BEAN. Shhh….”

“Mama, see that car carrier, Mama?  Why it have cars on it, Mama?  Where it going, Mama?  Mama, you see it?  See it, Mama?  MAMA!?”

“YES, BEAN.  I see it.  It is carrying those cars to the car place.”  (Car place?  Hey, he fires them fast.)

“Mama, is it going to rain, Mama?  Is it going to thunder, Mama?  Why it thunder, Mama?  And lightning?  Why it lightning, Mama?  Do you hear thunder, Mama?  Is it going to rain?  Is it going to rain NOW, Mama?  Mama?  MAMA?!”

Then combine this with my 2 year old daughter who just WHINES.  “MAA-MAA…MAA-MAA..”

All the time. 

Then, I get tired of hearing MY voice constantly ask HER, “What, Annabel?  What do you want, Annabel?  Use your words, please. What do you want?  What?

“WHAT?!”

I find myself enjoying the 2 hour nap/stay-and-play-quietly-in-your-room time more and more lately because it’s finally QUIET.

Shhh….

Well, great, now it’s thundering.  It’s really LOUD.  I’m going to go lay down.  With a blanket over my head. 

Just for a minute.

First Time Bowling

Bean’s very first time bowling…

Feel The Heat

It’s HOT. 

The high was 100 degrees today.  And yesterday.  I KNOW that I live in Florida, but the heat just sneaks up on me every summer.  I feel like Spring is five seconds long and then we just zoom into four months of sticky, uncomfortable heat and humidity.  I know all my family and friends up north are laughing at me because I don’t like the cold either.  But the EXTREME summer heat is what gets me. 

It’s also a challenge with the kiddies.  It’s now too hot for our morning park play dates. It’s two hot for long bike rides. It’s too hot for strolling around the outdoor town center.  And when we ARE outdoors, I just chase them around with big hats, SPF 50, and bottles of water.

Thank goodness for our neighborhood pool, cold smoothies, our backyard baby pool, and slip ‘n slides.

Artist

It’s funny how your child’s interests just slowly start to define themselves.  Daniel never was a big fan of crayons when he was a toddler.  I would put one in his hand to show him how to scribble back and forth. He would do that for a few seconds and then it was off to the next adventure.

But recently he has become obsessed with art projects.  He ASKS to color and paint.  Then I started to notice that he will sit and carefully think about the crayon color choice or what he wants to create.  I started to buy him different coloring books and giant art sheets.  

He also loves a blank sheet of white paper and his imagination.  He will watercolor an entire piece of paper.  I’ve never really seen a kid do that.  He likes to fill up all the white part and then will tell me what it is.  “This is the ocean, Mama.”  “This is a Fall day with leaves.”  It really blows my mind.

He will draw on his magnet board all the time too.  He will spend five minutes on something and then zap it all away to show me his next masterpiece.  He has drawn me, his Daddy, his sister, his dog, his cars, his trains, and even his stuffed animal friends.  This one is called “Hippo.”

It’s so fun to watch his creative mind at work.  He’s so GOOD at it.  He recently drew a picture for his GG and it had people and trains and pasta dishes and airplanes.  She could not believe her eyes.

Daniel’s other new creative outlet is his Daddy’s ukulele.  He thinks it’s his mini guitar and he will walk around singing songs that he makes up in his head.  He will sing in long sentences about what he did that day.  He asks to wake up his little sister in the morning by singing her a “sweet, sweet song.”  It’s the cutest thing ever.  He sings to his Daddy about how much he loves all the food he cooks.  (At least he sings to me about my banana bread.)

All of these talents are not too surprising because his Daddy is very creative.   He has his Daddy’s creative gene and it’s exciting to help nurture it.  I’ve already started researching art desks for his birthday.

Just remember to save your Mama a VIP  ticket to the art gallery opening or the sold out concert at the Garden, Bean.

Last Day of School

 

Daniel’s last day of preschool was one week ago today.  He’s now on “summer break” as we like to tell him.  I’m walking that fine line of letting him be totally relaxed and excited that he doesn’t have to go to school and reminding him that this is just a 3 month break before he has to go back.

You see school has been a little…um…rough.  Like all things with kids, the excitement of preschool took a little U-turn.  After his very first day of preschool, he was thrilled!  That continued for about two months. He LOVED his teacher and the teaching assistant.  He started making friends.  He loved to show me his drawings and glue projects.  He loved music class.  He loved using the school potty (one of my biggest early fears.)

Daniel’s 3 year old preschool program was only two days a week, but after about two months he started to get upset when I dropped him off in the morning.  I had to park and walk him into the small classroom. I liked that.  It gave me the opportunity to see his teacher and watch Bean put his backpack on the wall and sit down.  I felt comfort in leaving him when I knew he was settled.  But it became harder to leave when he would cling to me or cry.

It wasn’t sadness. It was more like a small anxiety attack.  He would ask for water or a tissue and get really upset.  God bless his teacher because she was great at bear hugging him into the classroom and shooing me away.  Then she would always tell me that he was “just fine” five minutes after I left. But STILL. It was HARD.

Bean is my guinea pig.  He’s my first baby.  He’s my first attempt at “crying it out.” My first one to eat the scary solids.  My first one to walk, to talk, to make a friend, to venture out into the big, bad world.  I had no idea what it would be like to send him off to preschool.  It’s been equally rewarding and stressful.

I would always feel better when I picked him up.  He would run to me and hug me and have a huge smile on his face.  It was part glad to see me and part excited to show me a project he did in school that day.   He was doing well.  He was learning new things.  He was happy.

But the morning part never changed.  It would vary in range from small sniffles to those crazy anxiety attacks.  He would worry about the littlest things like if music class was going to be in the BIG room that day or if one of his friends was upset the last time he was in class.  “I hope Madison is not upset today, Mama,” he would tell me.  “Don’t worry about her. She’s fine,” I’d say.  It was a lot of little questions and worry.  But he always went in the room.  He was ALWAYS brave.  “Mama, I was brave today,” he would say when I buckled him into his car seat at the end of the school day. “Yes, Daniel, you are my super brave boy.”

I think I looked forward to the last day of school more than he did.  I was happy to get relief from the anxiety of it all.  The thing is, Daniel is just like me.  I’m a worrier.  I stress.  I over think EVERYTHING. Even as a little girl I would be nervous about the smallest things; especially school things.  Sometimes I feel guilty because I gave Daniel this gene.  But at least I can relate.  Plus, he helps ME.  One example is his first airplane ride.  I was the one who was filled with stress, but I could not let that show so I calmed down.  It’s the same with preschool.  I feel anxiety every time I drop him off, but I learned to smile and sing happy songs all the way to the classroom.   It made ME feel better. (Of course having happy go-lucky little Annabel with us always helped too.  The cute lucky duck got that trait from her Daddy.)

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Daniel made friends.  Daniel did AMAZING in school.  The teacher told me he would speak up and answer questions.  His end of the year “evaluation” was awesome.  He knows his numbers, letters, shapes.  He can write his name.  He can use scissors.  I really have nothing to worry about.  It’s just that he’s my sensitive little boy.  He’s my baby.  He IS a baby.  He was the youngest 3 year old in the class because of his August 30th birthday.  (The cut off for school here is September 1.) His teacher and the Preschool director both think he will do even better next year in the the 4 year old program because of the consistency.

Because it’s EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Okay, I don’t even want to think about THAT right now.  Because school’s out for the summer. YA-HOO.

Bean’s First Airplane Trip

 

I desperately did not want to miss my Godson Luke’s 1st birthday celebration in Maryland, so I decided to fly up for the weekend.  His birthday was Friday and the big family party was Saturday afternoon.  I, of course, had to bring a kid with me. I decided to bring Daniel because he would get more out of the trip.  He loves to play with his cousins and, I will admit, I didn’t think I could handle a two year old little girl with “crazy” tendencies. 

I’m not a great flyer.  I have a fear of flying which I try to repress because, well, I want to GO PLACES.  I’ve had some really bad flights where I’ve dug my nails into my husband’s arm and screamed into his ear about how I hated him for making me fly and I swear I will never fly again.  (Sorry, ONCE AGAIN, about that, Baby.)  I get super irrational when I’m high up in the air and I feel like I’m having an anxiety attack.

But the desire to have my kiddies NEVER feel the same way has really helped me.  I have calmed down A LOT and, to be honest, there is NO WAY I can show my fear in front of my son.  He would get too freaked out.  He has flown with me before when he was 6 months old.  It was great because all he did was drink a bottle and sleep.

But I consider this time his first real airplane trip.  When we were heading to the airport on Friday morning, Bean was a little confused, a little nervous, but also excited.  He asked a million questions and he could not wait to see the airplanes.  Every experience was fascinating.  He loved when I got the boarding passes right from the computer check-in screen.  He loved that he could take off his shoes and put them in a bin that zoomed down a giant belt to the other side.  He loved the moving walkways.  He loved the pizza lunch.  He loved looking out the giant windows for our airplane to arrive. 

The trip up would be the big test and he was a champ.  He was a little nervous with all the loud noises during takeoff but I was there to explain everything.  I was so distracted by his questions that I really did forget to be nervous.  I was just enjoying his curiosity.  He loved the drink cart and thought it was super cool that he could order a juice with ice and a straw.  They even welcomed him aboard over the loudspeaker because I was sure to tell every flight attendant that it was his very first flight. I guess I just thought they would take extra special care of us.  I think it was a mental help for me.  It was like I was putting a final push of good vibes into the air.

Bean sat by the window.  He couldn’t see out when his seat belt was on, but when he could move about he would check out the clouds and the big airplane wing.  I had a small backpack filled with lots of books, coloring books, triangle crayons (so they would not roll off the tray.  Special thanks to a Facebook friend who recommended them), stickers, new cars, his favorite stuffed animal, and LOTS of snacks. 

I brought him juicy fruits to chew on in case his ears needed to pop, but it didn’t seem to be a big problem.  The best part was landing in beautiful Washington, DC and looking at all the monuments.  Bean could not believe we were there.  I think he was still processing the whole thing.

On the trip home, he was a PRO.  He was ready for security and he already knew what he wanted for his airport lunch. (A Five Guys cheeseburger. I had NO problem with that.  Ha.)  

He even started chatting with people. The flight home was great except there was a lot more turbulence.  I loved that the pilot actually gave us warnings when we would feel the bumps so I could explain to Bean that we were riding through clouds.  Again, this experience helped ME so much.  I was able to talk him through it and talk ME through it too.  When we landed, the pilot (who was informed by the flight attendant that this was Bean’s first time flying) invited us up front to sit in the cockpit so I could get a photo.

I could not ask for a better memento from the experience.

 PS: Please note tattered seat in cockpit photo.  I think that’s equally funny and disturbing.

PPS: On a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE, this is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of PopMommy.com!  I just can’t believe it.  Thank you to all my family and friends who read this website and a very special thank you to those visitors who I don’t know.  It means a whole lot to me that you join me here.  I’ve had a blast documenting my PopMommy life and I’m excited to continue doing it.

Hey, Soul Sister

Not only is this a great pop song, but it’s now officially my daughter Annabel’s “song.” 

Daniel already has a couple “songs.”  He has Daniel by Elton John and he has Daniel (in the Lion’s Den) which we play all the time on our Raffi CD in the car.  The Elton John version comes on the radio all the time and when it does, Daniel likes to yell “Daniel’s song!” and I turn it up so we can all sing along.

Well, there is no song called “Annabel” so we picked Hey, Soul Sister by Train for her because, well, it has SISTER in the title.  Plus, it’s a fun song with a great beat and you can dance to it.  Enjoy.

Weekend Fun

It was a super busy Saturday.  There was a Gymboree sports class and a Where the Wild Things Are art class and a pirate themed birthday pool party and a Mommy Group block party in the park.  I wish I had more photos, but here are some snapshots. 

I was lucky to get one photo of Annabel and it is so funny.  Please notice the pink plastic bracelet she is wearing that I bought her at JCPenney just hours before while Daniel was taking those sports and art classes.  She was my shopping buddy and she was an angel.  Daniel never stopped moving the entire day and he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.  We were all exhausted.  We all had a blast.  We spent Sunday just relaxing and playing around the house.  It was the perfect ending to a fun weekend.

PS: I really, really want/need an iPhone to improve my photo quality.  (Hmmm…Mother’s Day is coming soon…hmmmm)

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