The Boy and the Bulldog: Mom's Day Off

Grandma Trish needed a break this week, so I took today off and spent the 90+ degree day with Ian.

He slept well past 8 and when we opened his door to greet him, his leg was stuck in the crib slats. I got his ankle out just before resorting to dismantling the crib, but man was that scary. A coworker had to take a saw to his daughter's crib not long ago...and it makes me wonder why crib safety isn't a greater priority. Or, maybe it means he's almost done with a crib. Uggh. Shutter to think. He wasn't in a panic though, just laying there, and not only just laying there...but in a pool of pee. He had soaked almost every square inch of his bedding. We've never seen a diaper like this. It was shredded and a good 2 pounds or more. For the first time, I had to strip everything, including his TWO waterproof mattress pads. Lovely. So, with that behind us, and after another leg grabbing fit about 30 minutes later, we were outside enjoying the already warm day.

He has not wanted anything at all do do with his stroller for months and now suddenly wants to go for rides all the time. He goes to the back door and points to the garage saying "Ride!" over and over again. Granted, for him, it means riding for a few minutes and then asking for "out" so he can push it himself. He's actually getting pretty good at it (with me steering), and it wears him out...so go for it, kid. Sometimes it's well past bathtime and I have to tell him that the stroller went night night to convince him that it's OK if we don't go. He waves out the window "nigh nigh" and turns to walk away with a disappointed sigh. So cute.

So we went for a ride up to Starbucks and around the neighborhood. He finally met our next door neighbor, who is from Taiwan. She works nights and had never seen Ian before now. We continued to his future child care center where we found out that he has about another 4 to 6 months to wait until his name comes up on the list. I was disappointed, but there's not much I can do. A horrible thought ran through my mind that maybe more foreclosures would move families out of the community, thus moving Ian up the list... but that's pure evil. Shame on me.

After our walk, we packed up and headed out to visit my office. As luck would have it, our summer BBQ was scheduled for my day off and is only for employees, not families. I ignored the rules and took Ian anyway. They haven't seen Ian since a week after coming home and although I'm sure he didn't remember anyone, he had a great time. He was shy and quiet, but enjoyed the steel drum band playing and cared about nothing more than his bag of pretzels. He wasn't even interested in the Ben & Jerry's truck, which was unexpected. I thought he would be all about the ice cream.

Our sunscreen was wearing off and it was already well past nap time, so we only stayed an hour, then continued on to the nursery...plant nursery that is. They didn't have the plants I was looking for, but it's a huge nursery with tons of fountains and water features, so we hung out there for a while before heading home. He was tired, but enjoyed that place a lot.

Well over 90 degrees and after 1pm at that point, it was definitely time for a nap. He gave me no grief at all and slept until I initiated waking him at 4:15pm.

We went for another stroller ride in the evening and we counted today as a day of no tears (except for his leg incident in the morning which I don't count, poor guy). I could really see myself taking a day off every now and again to have good times like today.

Tomorrow, Shawn has a night dive and will be using my camera, so I won't have it with me to document our afternoon at grandma Trish & grandpa Tom's house. We are staying the night...all of us, including Polli, so it should be interesting.

Below are some highlights from our day (I took over 100 pictures today!). I'm sorry but I couldn't resist another before and after!

Hanging out with mom's coworkers

Jammin with the Jimmy Buffett cover band

Posing with the motorcycle we passed on our way to the car. He stopped and admired it like a grown man thinking about the sportscar he only dreams of driving.