I kept them quiet in the bedroom for two more hours by letting them watch DVDs on the computer. Here they are sitting perched on the arms of the chair, Mary raising her arm to the music.
At 6:30, I let loose the penned-up children for breakfast and by 7:30 they were drawing with sidewalk chalk . . .
. . . while I continued some massive pruning I've been working on. It's a good project for while I'm here and the kids are playing outdoors so much!
Then at 9:30 we met Dad and The Gang for a bagel breakfast! Mary took a nap for about 45 minutes on my back in the Ergo while we ate (and I ate standing up and swaying--you mamas know about that!).
After breakfast, we walked to the park to let the children play.
Grandpa and Mary
My treasures!
My niece Maddie will turn six next week!
Miss Mary the Climber went even higher than this.
After some good hard playing at the playground, we went to Lynn's house for lunch. The children really enjoyed watering the gorgeous flowers in the back yard.
I think this was the first time John had played a real piano. He tested all the keys, and while pressing on the lowest octave keys told me, "These sound like thunder, but they aren't." Then he quietly tapped on the keys, "playing" a tune, while quietly and seriously singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." It surely made me wish we had a piano.
We didn't depart Lynn's till early afternoon--so ridiculously past the children's need for a nap. I thought my biggest problem would be that they'd sleep for the 20-minute drive home, then be unable to fall back asleep once we got home. But no, they did not sleep on the ride, nor could I get them to fall asleep for a desperately needed nap back at the house! I had by that point been awake for eleven hours, most of it spent outdoors in the heat, and was bleary eyed with fatigue, but I didn't get that nap break. I tried to adapt and overcome by setting up the kiddie pool so they'd play in it, occupying themselves and letting me sit down in the shade.
Then there was dinner time, followed by more back yard playing while I pruned mercilessly. The bright side to the tiring day was that when I put them to bed at 7:15, they took all of five minutes to fall asleep.
And in a potty training update, wow, is Mary amazing me! I knew she exercised more control than typical 18-month-olds these days because I'd been doing elimination communication with her casually since she was three months old. I was worried that taking this two-week trip in which I was going to keep her in diapers full-time would cause her to regress. But it seems not to be so! On her own, she had recently begun asking to use the potty, even when she is wearing diapers, even when we're out and about. She managed it even while flying across the country. And today she stayed dry in the same diaper for 13 hours, ending up wetting her diaper only once all day! I'm truly in awe. And I know she's not some pottying prodigy because I have heard this exact same story from too many of my friends and acquaintances who do EC.
Then there was dinner time, followed by more back yard playing while I pruned mercilessly. The bright side to the tiring day was that when I put them to bed at 7:15, they took all of five minutes to fall asleep.Let's pray the children sleep in later tomorrow. It should be a more relaxed day.
Mary looks like a big girl in those pool pictures!
ReplyDeleteOffering it up- Col. 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church-
may I ask how you handled both kids alone and bathroom breaks while on a cross country flight? I had a few long-haul flights where I had my mom up with me (but we had 2 lap babies - Rosalie and Andrew) - there was no way I could've done it without another adult! No space for even 2 people in those bathrooms, much less somewhere for me to put the baby...
ReplyDeleteChristine: Well, I wondered, too, how I was going to handle it. As it was, none of us needed to potty while on the flights. I made sure we all visited the bathroom immediately before boarding the plane, on layover, and immediately upon landing. At 3-1/2, this was the first time I flew with John in underwear instead of Pull-Ups just in case, but he did not have an accident. At 18 months, Mary was in a diaper, but she held it! If we had had to use the on board bathroom, my plan had been to put Mary in my Ergo on my back, to squeeze us all in. Then I saw that on the first leg of the flight, our seat mate was a seemingly nice lady and a mother herself, so I would have considered leaving John with her while I went to the bathroom and took Mary. But on the second leg, we were next to a seat mate I would not have wanted to leave John with. Now, it would have been very tricky if Mary had, say, a blow-out diaper and needed the use of the bathroom to clean up, because I can't put John on my back in the Ergo. I might have had him walk to the bathroom at the back with me, then stand in the galley (right word?) with a stewardess guarding him while Mary and I stepped into the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteNow, my friend Elaine flew internationally and did not want to use the airplane bathrooms because of unsanitary conditions. So she and her husband bought some kind of travel potty to use for their three young children from their seats! They were very discreet and nobody nearby would have noticed. But I actually forgot to ask if the kids ever needed the device or if they managed to wait to potty till they were in airports.
Now, another friend of mine, Sarah, was really bold. I recall she flew from Georgia to New York (about a two-hour flight) alone with her four children, ages something like newborn, 15 months, 2-1/2, and 4. SO BRAVE!
Anyway, I really think the Ergo is key in all my airplane travels.
The on the go potty device we used were called Travel Johns- little bags with absorbent material and an adapter. I just stuck it up under my daughter's skirt and she could go and it was all contained and no one was any the wiser. Also comes in handy when you are in the basement of say, San Callistus in Rome, amongst the centuries-old ancient ruins, with no public restroom to be found, and your 4 year old needs to go... NOW!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I know you are always so busy when you come to California but it never hurts to ask if you could spare time for a short visit! Let me know, and have fun visiting! P.S. Will STILL talks about John after their brief visit last year!
ReplyDeleteRachel: You've been on my list to call! I was just talking to my mom and stepdad about you tonight. I'll be in touch (or you call me)!
ReplyDeleteah - I can do the one hour hop from Bethel to Anchorage no problem with any number of kids. It's the 12 hour 5 leg thing from Bethel to Ketchikan (stopping in 4 different communities in between, where they do not let you off the plane) that scared me enough to have my mom come up specifically to come back with us!!! :D
ReplyDelete