Finally, mostly recovered

We had a good, low-key weekend.  All three of us were still tired from our travels and from our regular weekly routine, so Friday couldn't come soon enough.  With Juju in Cuba it meant I had to leave early to pick Jayden up from the backup daycare.  It meant I got less work done, but I wasn't too mad about starting my weekend early. 

Jayden and I ran a couple of errands (and got ice cream for his "snack"!) and then got home in time to play in the backyard.

Throwing the ball "up in the 'ky" in the backyard!

After Carmen got home we played outside a little longer and then went to dinner at a restaurant close by.  But before we left, Jayden said the funniest thing (or well, what he said wasn't super funny, but the context in which he said it and the way he said it was hilarious).  I hope I caught it.

(So, if you didn't catch it, at the end he said "I - I - I - I - I - I cannot bee-weeeve it down dere!"  The other day we were doing something and he said "I cannot bee-weeeeve it!"  And we both just started laughing.  This one isn't quite as good, but still pretty darn cute.  In case you were wondering, we were watching a caterpillar climb up the wall of the pool and all three of us were impressed that it wasn't drowning.)

Saturday was a mostly regular day.  Jayden, Jasmine and I went for a run/walk while Carmen exercised.  I love Carmen being motivated to work out, but it does end up taking away from my running freedom.  Oh well.  The three of us ran/walked almost 3 miles (2.8 according to my phone), so we still got our legs moving.  I was incredibly proud of Jayden, who made it the entire way without being carried.  He almost caved towards the end but I motivated him by going on a leaf hunt and jumping in the puddles.  Sometimes toddlers' ADD works in your favor.

Getting even this much of the three of us in the frame was a success.  Dogs and toddlers do not necessarily understand "get closer" or "bend your knees" or "see how your face isn't really in the picture?" 

Jayden had a wonderful swim lesson and then had a complete tantrum when it was time to get out.  I had to pull him out and carry him kicking and screaming to the bench where we changed him, still screaming and then to the car and then the whole car ride home and then upstairs to get him down for a nap.  It was awesome.  We both knew he was exhausted and that's where the tantrum was coming from.  But nobody else knew that.  He actually fell asleep pretty quickly, even though I had to tell a really quiet story to get him to stop screaming/crying in the beginning. 

I had a work event last night where I had to make a Spanish-themed pizza for 12 people.  My office had offered a small plates dinner catered by PLC staff at our last two silent auctions and somebody finally cashed in.  It was a bit of a pain, but the pizzas turned out quite well, so I was happy about that.  If anyone needs a Spanish pizza recipe with Spanish chorizo and manchego cheese, check out Williams Sonoma for a great recipe.  And I have a wonderful pizza dough recipe, especially for a crispy thin crust pizza, if you're interested too.  In any case, Jayden still wasn't awake at 4 when I left for the event, so he had a solid 3 hour nap, which I think saved him.  Carmen said he was pretty cheerful Saturday evening, which was nice for Carmen. 

Sunday (today), we switched roles and I went for a long run while Carmen took the two rascals on a walk.  They walked quite a ways too, probably two miles.  Then we took off for the park and for lunch at Islands. 

Figuring out how to climb around the chain in the middle, since he refused to use it.

We got home and Jayden passed out soon after again, with only a little bit of a fuss.  He slept for another 2-1/2 hours and woke up quite happy.  He actually woke up in his bed, rolled around for a while, and then moved to the floor and laid there for a bit.

He slowly made his way to the door, so I laid down on the floor in our doorway and looked at him.  He smiled and said "mommy, I poo-poo."  I just started laughing and then crying a little when the smell coming out of his bedroom proved him right. 

He was in a pretty good mood, bouncing off the walls in our room for a bit, and getting stuck in our bed:

He was throwing his baba all over the room and it landed in between the headboard and the bed.  He tried to climb down feet first to get it, which clearly was not the right way to go.

Then Carmen was fiending for a movie so he put on Space Jam.  Turns out that movie is scary for a 2-1/2 year old.  I'm trying to teach Carmen that lots of things that grown ups would never consider scary are actually scary for a two year old.  It's a process.  I think we're going to have to start sending Carmen to movies by himself so he can his movie fix in since there are so very few movies that Jayden can see, and when he does sit and watch a movie for a while he usually ends up grouchy.  I know I was only allowed 30 minutes of TV, or at most an hour because otherwise I'd get grouchy.  So usually I got to see Mr. Rogers, but not Sesame Street.  :)  I unfortunately cannot control how much TV he watches at Juju's because I can't seem to get there earlier enough to cut him off after an hour, so I just have to put up with some grouchiness on the weekday evenings.  But it's nice to avoid it on weekends. 

This week, as of now, we have no childcare.  We may end up with childcare on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but we don't know yet.  Tomorrow Carmen will take Jayden to work with him in the morning and then come home in time for naptime and on Tuesday I'll take a turn.  It will be an interesting week; I think it will be fine, just a little trying for Carmen and me with respect to getting work done. 

If anyone has young kids or is going to have young kids, if they decide they want to start waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 am when they get to toddler age, you have to get one of these:

It's called an "Ok to Wake" clock, and the parent sets it so that it glows green at a certain time in the morning.  You teach your early rising toddler that it's not time to be out of bed until the clock turns green.  And you teach them that it is so cool and exciting, and they're such big kids to have their own clock, etc.  And it's awesome.  The kid wakes up at 6:25, rolls over, sees the clock isn't green and stays in bed until 6:45 when he/she comes bursting into your bedroom shouting "it's gween! It's gween!"  We're really hoping this helps Jayden, not only to give us extra time but also to give him extra time.  So far, when he hasn't been an exhausted disaster, it's been a wonderful tool.  I got mine on Amazon, but I think other places sell them too.  So far, it's probably the best $30 I have spent.

So wish us luck on our adventure tomorrow.  We'll see how productive Carmen and I can actually be in the afternoons when we're home with Jayden.  :)