what I did on my summer vacation

Whoa, five months since my last post...I think that's a record!  Not coincidentally, this is about the same period of time I devoted much of my energy to marathon training.  Well, I'm happy to report that that goal has been crossed off the pre-pregnancy bucket list.  Now on to more important things like blogging instead of working!

Eli enjoyed his first s'more over the weekend and I thought, before it's officially summer around here again (although, who am I kidding - a few nice days and we're more or less in summer mode already!), how about I let you all in on what we did on our summer vacation...finally!

Kinda like we're feeling now, we kicked off our "summer" of travel in late spring with a day trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (still trying to plan a return visit when we'll hopefully stay overnight and check out that crazy playground), via a brief donut detour to San Jose's Psycho Donuts, where they hand out bubble wrap while you wait in line. 

The donuts were a bigger hit, of course, but only slightly.

As I probably mentioned here and there last summer, we went on two road trips and hosted family for a week in the middle.  First up was a somewhat last-minute trip to Bend, Oregon, to visit my Dad and Grandma and enjoy a small-town 4th of July celebration. It was the best 4th I've had in a long time (confirming my belief that 4th of July is one of those holidays best enjoyed in small towns).

The nice thing about road trips, of course, is the extra cargo space. We brought Eli's scoot bike on both of our road trips and it proved really useful for keeping him entertained and moving without necessarily going anywhere.

At this point, of course, I don't remember everything we did on that trip (or the two other trips/visits I'll write about, for that matter) - there was some hiking, a visit to the High Desert Museum, a little wading in the lake above (but absolutely no interest in renting a boat), and, of course, 4th of July shenanigans.

We went to Bend's downtown area to enjoy the parade (the highlight of which was this floating dog, a la Up), then walked to Drake Park for the carnival and tour of one of the city's firetrucks.

Ah, fire science - always a hit with Elias. The grand finale, of course, was letting him stay up until about 10 p.m. to view his first fireworks.

We got him ready for bed and let him watch most of Happy Feet to kill time and if this kid can do one thing well, it's stay awake.  He crashed on the short drive home and, for possibly the first time in his life, transferred from car seat to bed without waking up.  We'll never know how late he may have slept in (probably not very) since we got up at the crack of dawn the next morning to begin our return drive home.

Next up was a visit from my brother and his kids plus a weekend overlapping visit from my Dad.  It was interesting trying to come up with things to do to keep three kids, ranging in age from 3 to 14, entertained.

We mostly kept it local and low-key, checking out favorite playgrounds, for example, and hitting the Oakland Zoo, of course (where Eli enjoyed his first trip on the Safari Sky Ride), but we did spend one day in Six Flags.  There's definitely a lot to do and for all ages, but the areas Elias enjoyed were, not surprisingly, completely separate from those enjoyed by the older members of our group. So while I'm glad we went, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for a mixed-age group unless, of course, you want some time apart!

For the kid who hasn't sat in a stroller in years, the amusement park creates a pretty good workout for Daddy.

Future babysitter?

I remember in writing about our trip a year before describing how Elias was instantly smitten with my niece Adriana, now 11. I think it may have gone from adorable to a little annoying on this trip but my niece was a great sport and tolerated her little shadow pretty well, even letting Elias help her pick out nail polish, above.

Our final trip/visit of the summer was also the break between daycare and preschool.  Eli's daycare buddies Hazel and Jack, above, both went to different schools (and Hazel has since moved with her family out of state - something we're all pretty bummed about). But I digress...

For our final trip/visit, we drove south to Escondido, primarily to visit Neal's brother and his family, who had just added a baby boy to their brood.  Grandma Joanne traveled with us and, being the larger group that we were, we opted to stay in a vacation rental in central Escondido.  Other than an incredibly noisy air conditioner, the house was a huge hit all around. Everyone had their own room, there was a living room for morning TV and evening relaxing, a full kitchen and dining area for the miserly traveler's breakfast cereal eating and picnic lunch packing (and the most family-friendly Trader Joe's just a few minutes drive away - miniature shopping carts, coloring pages, extra samples), and a nice outdoor area for scoot bike riding, mentioned above.

Better yet, the house was just a few minutes drive to Peterson's Donut Corner, home of some of the best donuts I've ever had (we really don't eat that many donuts, I swear...okay, maybe we do).

On our first full day, we'd planned to get together as a group (Moms and Dads, a three year old, a two year old, a newborn, and Grandma) and have professional photos taken. Elias fell asleep during the half-hour drive, if that, there, and above is how he stayed for the first half of the photo shoot, even staying asleep through several transfers from Mommy to Daddy and back again. After he woke up, he was cranky and uncooperative.  We did manage to get a few great pics, though, of various family groupings and individual, candid shots.

Other than visiting family, highlights included Balboa Park - checking out the model train museum, taking a train ride and carousel ride, and enjoying a picnic lunch in the courtyard of the art studio area - the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Legoland.

Navigating our way through the safari park, previously known as the Wild Animal Park.

Legoland photo op!

Legoland was a hit, as I figured it would be for a three year old, and cousin Maddie, who had just turned two, looking very glamorous here in her pink shades.

My only complaint is that the park is really geared toward families with an even number of family members, i.e. four seats to a ride or two plus two.  There were several rides where one of us would have to ride solo, or with Grandma, and since Eli was on a total Daddy kick that week (that week - ha!), it was usually me.

In addition, we were able to rendez-vous with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Tom who were in El Centro at the time. We met them on Coronado island for some frolicking on the beach, lunch at a great BBQ place, and some overdue catching up. It was such a nice bonus to be able to see some of my family - anyone who's familiar with the area knows that El Centro is a solid, and probably very hot, two hour drive. I was really appreciative that my aunt and uncle met us down there and just love that last picture of Eli with my Uncle Tom.

Phew, busy week, busy summer! And a long post. I really need to do this blogging thing more often! Hopefully I can get completely caught up on holidays and other winter shenanigans before another busy summer begins!

roast belly with a side of spicy chicken wings?

I solo parented this past weekend and at one point yesterday afternoon as I was getting ready to head out to a birthday party, Eli, who'd been playing in his room while I wrapped the gift, got really quiet.



Sometimes you think you're going to get a cute video of your kid doing something hilarious and it flops (they don't always perform on demand, unfortunately). Then there are times when you luck out and capture something even kookier than you planned! I especially love how he's cracking himself up toward the end, inspired by this book that we have on loan from the library at the moment. What a ham (mmm, that would go well with spicy chicken wings...).

added to the pregnancy #2 bucket list: run a...marathon (?!)

You read that right, folks. Not only do I want to lose a few pounds, apparently I want to get in the best shape ever and complete the Oakland Marathon next March! Duly added to the pregnancy #2 bucket list.  Along the way, how 'bout I raise a minimum of $1800 as well? No problem!  I've signed on with Team in Training for a second time (I "ran" the Big Sur Marathon in 2001 with the help of TNT...and raised over $2K) and you can help!  One thing that's changed in the 10+ years since I did this the first time is that each team member now has an online fundraising site, which makes it a lot easier to donate. Check it out, won't you?  And to encourage you to donate a little by November 30th, the first fundraising incentive, by which time I'd like to raise at least $500 (as of today I'm halfway there!), I have a spa gift set to raffle off to anyone who donates by then!  Generously donated by fellow Bay Area Etsian AngelMade, this eco spa gift set includes a Spiced Lavender Foot Scrub Set, a Chai Spice-infused Coconut Oil and a Chai Spice Lip Balm (a $30 value!).

Doesn't that sound nice? Or, if you're not into self-care so much, wouldn't this make a great hostess gift for all those holiday parties you'll be going to next month?  At any rate, you'll get 1 raffle entry for every $25 you donate! The winner will be announced on my other blog on December 1st.

I'm so behind on updating this blog with actual news of the 3 year old variety, but in the spirit of running around and stuff, how about a short video from preschool soccer last month?



More on that and what we did on summer vacation very soon, I promise!

Let the Halloween shenanigans begin!

What is it about Halloween and my inability to celebrate in moderation and thus not completely burn myself out by Monday, October 31st?!  We've already been to one pumpkin patch (his first preschool field trip! pics to follow) and we're off to another this weekend.  And we've been reading our two different versions of Five Little Pumpkins back to back just about every night since the month began.  Elias knows it by heart:


He embellishes here and there ("the first one says, 'let's run and run and...poop?'") and I can only assume he's picked up the hand gestures from preschool.  When people say this is a fun age, this is what they're talking about. I mean, really, we should all begin our days like this, regardless of how old we are. Don't you think?

cat in the hat birthday shenanigans follow-up

Only because I've been getting a lot of traffic from searches on Cat in the Hat themed birthday parties (and because the one interview I got from the thirty job applications I've submitted in the last two years did not result in a job offer - mama's got to bring home the bacon bits, after all) I'm doing a little cross-posting today to add the invitation and some faux swirl lollipops I added to my two Etsy shops this week.  First up, the invite:

Next up, the pretend lollipops I made earlier this week, one of several projects intended for the party that had to be edited out in the end.

If you'd rather make these - or something similar - yourself, hop on over to my other blog for a little tutorial!

this is your toddler on preschool

I thought I'd have you all caught up on our summer travels and visits with family by now but preschool, which started for Elias just two days after we returned from our third and final trip/visit, has taken us for a bit of a loop. What a surprise!

Here he is on day one, excited to go but camera-shy, which is a trend that started right before our trip to Escondido, conveniently right before our first shot at professional family photos. I've yet to see how those turned out!  But despite not wanting to photographically document this big day, Eli did really well...at preschool.  Other than not napping (again, no surprise there), his teachers all told us how well he was doing on days two, three, four, etc.  No drop-off drama, no disciplinary issues, no fighting or any weird aggressive behavior.  But when we got him home it was - and continues to be - an entirely different story.  He stalled when we came to pick him up, started tantruming like never before, and just generally made the precious few hours between the end of his day at school and bedtime, well, extra challenging, to put it mildly.  The couple of weekends since he started have been pretty good and all his daycare buddies (three others transitioned to preschool at the same time, and to different schools, I might add) have experienced some form of their own rough transition so hopefully we can feel somewhat confident that this is all preschool's fault (and not that the "terrible twos" have been replaced by the "tantrum threes"...no, no, I'm sure it's not that).

Most have had a hard time at drop-off, in addition to being more difficult at night, so at least we don't have to deal with both (knock on wood).  All of them seem to be letting loose and pushing all sorts of extra buttons at home. 

On top of all this, Eli's sleep totally fell apart, waking up three or four times some nights, waking up early to go #2, a couple of times waking up because his pull-up had experienced a little leakage and he essentially wet the bed.  In case you've never experienced it, let me tell you, changing the sheets (especially on the kind of bed he has) at 4 a.m. is no fun.  I'm pretty sure he is in a vicious fighting fatigue kind of cycle - getting thoroughly exhausted at school with no napping whatsoever, yet getting to bed a little late because of all of the evening button-pushing, etc.

Did you know Dr. Seuss wrote a book called the Sleep Book? Do you think there's any chance it'll help our situation? Doubtful. But in an effort to encourage napping at school, we've started a sticker chart.  We're so bad at these things (sticker chart, 1-2-3 magic, you name it, it never works) as we've already given in to what was supposed to be the punishment/reward (a nap one day meant he could watch his morning show the next...turns out that affects us just as much as it affects him, nor did it seem to work anyway), and have yet to figure out what the stickers will get him, if anything.  When I asked him what kind of reward he might want for getting so many stickers by the end of the week, he replied, "stickers." Hmm. Either he's really easy to please or neither of us gets how this sticker chart idea works!

On a positive note, again, Elias has been doing really well at preschool during the day, so no complaints there.  And so far, I love the school.  I love the four teachers and how different and yet complimentary they all are to one another.  I love that Elias gets to play outside for several hours a day in a truly beautiful setting, with a play structure, and a huge sandbox and a bike trail.  I love that after just two weeks of practicing on the trikes at school, he can now peddle his own tricycle, something he'd struggled with since receiving it as a gift for his 2nd birthday (hence, to some degree, his balance bike for year 3).  I love the little snippets of songs I don't know that I hear him singing, certain he's picking them up from circle time.  I love the other kids and how ridiculously adorable the 3 to 5 set is. 

Not surprisingly, Elias is drawn both to older kids and girls, generally speaking, which is a little frustrating to watch because the older kids don't seem to be as excited to play with the new, younger kids and the girl cliques apparently start around age 4 (yikes).  But just this morning when I dropped him off a couple of kids yelled out, "there's Eli!" and one other little boy (the other kid who continues to not nap) named Matthew said, "Good morning, Eli."  Eli played shy but it really warmed my heart to see that he is making new buddies, especially being suddenly separated from his daycare friends that he'd grown so close to over the last year or so.  Which leads me to my final, and perhaps most obvious point: preschool has been a pretty rough transition for me, as well.  And I'm not just talking about the tantrums and the night-waking and the 4 a.m. potty calls.  I was excited for the change and I still am but I underestimated how hard it would be to watch him enter such a new social world, with so many more kids to become new friends (or not), and older kids who, at 4, are so different than the three-year-olds.  Since his best friend from daycare is a girl, I didn't anticipate that the girls and boys seem to play separately already, at least when I'm there.  I didn't realize I'd worry so much about how he was getting along, whether or not he'd participate in the mostly optional (especially at this less structured program) art projects in the morning or forever play by himself, and whether or not we'd made the right choice sending him to a school where he has so much freedom to choose how to spend his time.  And I guess this is just the beginning of all that, isn't it?

Anyway, as with any transition, at the end of the day sometimes you just have to weather the storm.  And cherish the positive (and downright nutty) moments in between.  Here's a video of Elias that Neal captured last night, after a rough night, a busy day, no nap, and a late dinner:



How can I be frustrated with such a goofball, right?

potty train your toddler in one year!

We spent this past weekend reinforcing in three days what we've been gradually working on for almost a year: Elias now pees in the potty. We're still working on #2 - despite the fact that he's done it on the pot a handful of times, he seems to have little interest suddenly, saving that duty up for naptime or bedtime diapers. But as of Friday morning he's only worn a diaper to sleep (which, of course, meant no daytime diapers all weekend since he no longer naps at home and we rarely even enforce the in-bedroom quiet time these days). Even though our process has been gradual and in the end we didn't stick to this too closely (wearing underwear instead of running around naked, for example, and making it out of the house 1 to 2 times each day), I did look up information on the numerous variations of the three-day program, which goes a little something like this:

Day one: stay home all day, run around bottom-less, put portable potties in as many rooms as possible, feed your toddler lots of salty snacks and juice boxes you'd normally limit, repeat.



(Here he is enjoying some post-dinner outside time with Daddy at the end of day one. First potty training, now chores??)

Day two: follow the program for day one, adding in a short outing very close to home, i.e. a walk around the block, etc., preferably with bottoms so as not to freak out your neighbors.

Day three: follow the program for days one and two, adding in a longer outing, let's say an hour in duration, even one necessitating a short drive from home.

And voila, you have yourself a toilet-trained toddler. Or, you can do what we did, which is begin the process very gradually as soon as your toddler (and I say toddler because I'm skeptical babies [and by babies I mean 0 to 18 months] can express this interest, but that's just my completely unscientific opinion) shows an interest. For Elias, interest in all things potty related started pretty early, I think primarily because there were three bigger kids at his daycare using the potty from the time he started there at 19 months. Two of the three continued on to preschool this time last year and that's when his interest disappeared almost completely, seemingly overnight, and conveniently right after we spent forty bucks on a training potty that sat in our bathroom collecting dust for the next several months. His best buddy from daycare, Hazel, four days his junior, sealed the potty-training deal over winter break last year so I was hopeful he'd regain an interest in the process after the New Year when everyone was back at daycare, with the minor change of Hazel now trotting up to the bathroom instead of having her diaper changed.

Not so much.

But several months ago, Elias once again showed an interest, not so much in him actually doing the deed, but accompanying Neal and I to the bathroom, picking out underwear, and adding an on-the-pot Dora the Explorer potty training seat to our potty training paraphernalia. So since about his birthday, maybe a bit before, we've been encouraging him to wear underwear on the weekends and on daycare days when there are fewer kids and babies, to try going on the potty, of course, all the while using preschool as our impetus for the timing and sudden urgency. When my brother and his family visited earlier this month, we dropped the program altogether and sure enough, after they left, he had very little interest in getting back to it, explaining to us that he'd wear underwear at preschool. Um, not exactly how it works, there, kid. Every day at daycare I'd ask Eryn if he wore underwear. Occasionally he'd don a pair after nap, because by then surely he'd done most of the day's business in his diapers, especially during his Eryn's-only 2-hour siestas. Then, at the beginning of last week, even knowing Thursday was his final day in diapers, he flat out refused, telling Eryn, "No thank you. I have until the weekend." But on Wednesday and Thursday he seemed to be mostly on board and the weekend went pretty smoothly. Again, he's getting out #2 before his nighttime diaper is changed in the morning and/or after he's in a new one getting ready for bed, but other than starting to go once in his underwear, we had no accidents and, as I mentioned above, even ventured out quite a bit.

We did offer "treats" along the way - fruit snacks, for example, and on Friday we shared a popsicle from the ice cream guy who cruises our neighborhood a couple times a day. We reminded him about his big reward at the end of the weekend, which could be either a trip to Fenton's or a new toy, book, etc. In the end he opted for a set of three new "vroomy toys" from Ikea (and one of our outings yesterday included a pit stop at Dairy Queen, so he really got both, in the end). Here he is somewhat reluctantly explaining his sweet, sweet reward for peeing in the potty all weekend:



We still have some tweaking to do. Elias doesn't want to sit on the potty but hasn't totally mastered the standing part. Instead, what he does is a sort of half-stand, half-squat, essentially straddling the potty while facing it. If he puts a step stool in front of either of our regular toilets, he can go there, saving us from the dumping/flushing/rinsing step. But of course he doesn't want to do that. In an effort to explain to him how he could, you know, sort of aim the stream as it came out without being directly over the toilet, I think I might have compared his penis to a fire hose. I have a feeling that one's going to come back to haunt me one day. What can I say, we'd just watched the Mighty Machines episode about fire trucks.



He also insists on completely undressing from the waist down but has a hard time getting his clothes back on.  All details we'll work on this week and next before he heads to his first day of preschool after the Labor Day weekend.

So we're not 100% there, but it's a solid start. It only took us a year to get here.