Sometimes You Just Need Your Blankie

Christian was my first blankie baby.  My older two never became attached to one, but he was passionately attached.  It was his best friend and I cursed that blanket many, many times when it's disappearance led to delayed nap/bed times or temper tantrums.  In fact, when Christian stuffed it in the downstairs utility sink and then forgot he did that, I really wasn't sad it was gone.  Christian never really got over the loss of blankie.  For months he would frequently sigh and say, "I wonder where blankie is.  I miss him."  When I discovered him by accident, I made sure not to tell Christian.  I know that makes me sound like a monster but I was so relieved that I wasn't spending every evening scouring the house looking for the stupid, mangy thing.  It had become so threadbare, it was disgusting. I quickly hid it away in my closet and only a couple years later did I "magically discover" blankie again.  By this point Christian had matured and although he was thrilled to find blankie again, he understood that he needed to remain in bed and he never went missing again.  He's still a nightly companion, but no longer a day-time one.  Now, 10 years later, I have another little blankie obsessed little boy.  Peter adores his blankie.  Every morning when I go into his room, I can't just pick him up.  I also have to pick up blankie and the three of us cuddle together on the couch.  Then blankie has to come into the living room with us to say good morning to everyone else and then he goes around the house with Peter.  Today Peter had a hard day.  He is transitioning naps from 2/day to 1 and some days he's fine and some days are awful.  Today his morning nap was only 30 minutes so he got tired long before bed time, but didn't want to go to sleep again.  So we suffered tired Peter for several hours.  By 5pm he was too tired to eat and too hungry to sleep and a complete wreck of a baby.  I tried and tried to help him one way or another, but he wasn't having any of it.  He just wanted to scream. I was trying to make dinner and I was getting frustrated, so I picked up blankie and tossed it on his head just to dampen the noise.  When I looked back over, I saw this

His favorite way to cuddle with blankie is to take a corner into this mouth and suck on it while he cuddles with the rest.  He did this for about a minute and then he started playing with his toys, tear free.  It only lasted about 5-10 minutes, but it was so cute how just a little time with blankie was such a comfort.  I guess there are good things about blankies.

Thank Goodness for the Outdoors

I can't remember ever spending so much time outside last summer as we have this summer thanks to Covid.  There's no where else to go and nothing else to do, so we spend a lot of time just playing outside in our neighborhood.  Frankly, I love it and I hate it.  I really, really miss all the fun museums, libraries, Greenfield Village, the zoo, and other indoor play places we used to frequent.  However, I love the money and gas I'm saving and I love how much we've come to appreciate the beautiful place that Michigan is.  Especially this week - the weather has been fantastic.  It helps me feel a little better when I'm mourning the village and my beloved model T rides and historic baseball games.

Every morning we go running.  Today I ran a 10k and Christian biked with me.  He got a new bike a couple days ago since he'd woefully outgrown his old one.  He was so excited to ride his new one and I love that his new one doesn't have that awful squeak that was the soundtrack to all my runs in the past.  Then we went to the Farmer's Market to check out a friend's stall.  The Farmer's Market was far, far less enjoyable with all the rules about what direction to walk, where to enter, where to exit, and the mask requirement.  My face was soaked in sweat long before we were done.  Normally I love to browse the market and talk to vendors, but this time, we came to the one stall because we promised we would, bought a few of her items, and went home.  After that we enjoyed the outdoors mask and rule free - biking and playing cards in the back yard.  Finally we  visited Benjamin at scout camp.  He's been at camp since Weds.  Normally they would have gone to a large camp with a thousand local scouts and had a whole week of wonderful activities, but thanks to Covid, his troop had to hold a troop-only camp at a local metropark and, of course, that meant not nearly as many activities, people, or fun.  However, they invited the families to join the last campfire of the week and watch some skits and have s'mores.  It was fun to see him with his troop.  Wearing masks the whole time was hard, so I sat myself far enough away that I could take it off.  I noticed the boys were pretty loose about wearing theirs despite the Scoutmaster's repeated appeals to put theirs on.  I get it.  Masks are miserable and they've already been around these same boys all week.  During one of the skits, I was called up to help too.  Having been a cubmaster, I know pretty much all the usual scout skits, so as soon as he asked me and the other mom to hold the stick, I thought, "Oh, we're doing the 'suckers on a stick' skit."  Turned out I was right.  I like that one.  It's cute.

Right now we're anxiously awaiting the school district's decision on how next school year will run.  Some districts have already announced their plans and every single one is different.  I'm really curious what will happen. 

A Perfect Match

Several times during every day I'm trying to get something done - load the dishwasher, cook dinner, etc and Peter will decide that now's the time he needs attention/food and will start to cry.  If Christian or Bella are ever around during these times they will almost always hear me struggling and come get Peter for a few minutes to allow me to finish my task.  I sooo appreciate that.  Today was no exception.  Christian was in the middle of doing math on the computer, but he wanted to help so he sat Peter with him and held him while I cooked.  As I looked over, it was just so sweet to see them together.  Christian really loves his little brother.  As he puts it, he loves him most when Peter is happy.  However, he's good with him all the time.

I saw a part of a show yesterday called "Married At First Sight."  The show's concept was that people were interviewed and then matched up in what the hosts deemed would be a compatible marriage for life.  The people were then legally married and the first time they ever see each other is at their wedding.  They are given 8 weeks of marriage to decide if they want to stay together or get divorced.  In the show I watched, half the couples stayed together and half got divorced.  Overall, according to a google search, the show's success rate long term across the 10 seasons it's been running is 26%.  That's pretty poor.  As I watched this craziness, I wondered if Kelly and I had been in this interview pool, if they would have matched us up.  I concluded that probably not.  They go based on common interests, backgrounds, goals, etc. and in a lot of ways, when we met, we were very different.  I don't think, on paper, we would have been a terribly good match.  However, I think the flaw in this show is that it isn't always the person with whom you have the most in common that's best for you.  I think what I loved so much about Kelly when we first met was that he was good at all the things I wasn't.  He knew so much about things I didn't.  I would have loved hanging out with someone who loved classical music, Shakespeare, travel, reading, running and languages like I did, but I also loved that Kelly took me camping, rock climbing, and water skiing.  The fact that he hated running, reading, and Shakespeare didn't really bother me.  He was willing to engage in those things for my benefit sometimes and I got a whole new set of hobbies.  Now I can cook a pot roast w/gravy, bottle my own peach jam and apple sauce, change the oil in my car, and tow a kayak trailer, all thanks to Kelly.   Don't ask me to drive a 4-wheeler, though.  Never doing that again.   I guess it just goes to show that God is really the best match-maker.  He knew I needed Kelly.  Yes, my basement looks like an episode of Hoarders, but I have an amazing husband who is such a great example in so many ways and such a sweet companion and father.  I love also how much he loves Jesus Christ.  Having our faith in common and knowing that our marriage isn't just between us, but also includes the Lord, is incredibly powerful.  I'm incredibly blessed.

A Storm Too Good to Pass Up

There was a massive thunderstorm today.  Full of rolling thunder and repeated lightning strikes and pouring rain.  It was classic Michigan and so fun to watch.  I was standing at my bedroom window enjoying it when I heard Christian yell from the living room, "This rain is awesome!"  I went in and found him standing by the window too.  "Wanna come outside with me?" he asked excitedly.  I scooped Peter up and out we went.  Peter didn't like getting rained on, though, so he and I, and eventually Bella, sat in the garage, just on the edge of the rain so he could feel it on his feet.  He really liked that.  He liked watching Christian too.  Christian went out and enjoyed it fully.  He switched back and forth between bike and on foot and made the most of the puddles and the downpour.  It was so fun.

The only sad part of the experience was when Benjamin came out to see the storm.  He saw Christian running around getting drenched and said, "That doesn't look like any fun at all."  That made me want to cry.  This is Benjamin - the boy who only a year or two ago was out there first in a storm like this, doing just what Christian was doing.  I remember when the two of them played in our flooded ditch out front for hours in the rain.  I remember when running across to our neighbor's flooded driveway and jumping around would lead him to laugh outloud.  This is the little boy who would roll around in the flooded puddles at the park year after year every spring.  Now he stood in the garage, disdainfully observing his brother doing that and then turned around and went back inside to his computer.  All day long, Benjamin finds no joy in anything other than the screen.  It makes me so sad.

The only other thing he seems to enjoy right now is motorcycling.  He will leave the screen if he can go motorcycling.  He and Kelly have gone up north for two days of cycling and he was very excited about it.  I just really miss the old Benjamin.  The fun, outdoor loving, athletic Benjamin.  Losing him makes me sad.  I really hope he enjoys our time up north in August.  There will be no screens and hopefully it'll remind him of how much fun the real world can be.

Rain or Shine

We'd just been at the beach so I wasn't expecting to go again so soon, but Bella saw the rainy, cloudy day today and thought it'd be the perfect day to go to the beach since no one would be there.  Since the weather was still quite warm despite the rain and there was no lightning, I agreed.  It was wonderful.  Warm water, beach to ourselves, but no burning sun.  We had a marvelous afternoon and our new tent was perfect for shelter when the drizzle became a bit heavier for a few minutes.  Peter has really become comfortable in the water and, of course, loves the seaweed snacks Bella always packs.

The kids have determined that they are going to turn Peter into a cello virtuoso.  They feel that the cello would be the perfect accompaniment to their piano.  Every day the kids turn on cello music on youtube so that he can hear it and be inspired.  Yesterday Christian was searching for cello music and came across a Yo Yo Ma's concert.  He had never heard of him, which surprised me.  I taught him about who Yo Yo Ma is and we watched his first concert in the US - his cello performance at age 7 for President John F. Kennedy.  Then we watched some later ones and a few interviews as well.  I hate the internet and all the evil it brings into our home, but in that moment, I loved what it provided for me and Christian - a marvelous opportunity for learning.  He loved listening to the music and really came to appreciate this great musician.  He decided to get out his own "cello" and play along.  So cute.

We were trying to find something else to do and I remembered our bottle topple game we'd received as a present a few years ago but hadn't played in a while.  Christian and I went out and played.  At first I was a miserable failure and more often almost hit Peter rather than the bottle.  Christian kicked my trash 21-3 the first game.  He was so stoked that he wanted to play again.  Big mistake.  By then, I'd warmed up and I won 21-3 the next game!  21-8 the next game and that's when he quit.  So we just threw the frisbee a while and then I got out the sprinkler to cheer him up.  We ended the afternoon happy and soaked.  It was a great day.  I'll see if I can get him to play again tomorrow and maybe he'll win again.

Peter has some funny habits.  Whenever I'm cooking, he entertains himself by emptying all my drawers.  By the time dinner is done, my floor is nearly impassable due to all the detritus.  I always try to include him in the clean-up process, but he always seems to think I've simply joined him in the campaign to empty the remaining contents.  Hopefully as he grows, he'll get it.  Also, when he's done eating, he lets me know by throwing the remaining food onto the floor.  I was giving him some food while I cooked and when I looked over at him, I saw this.  It was almost bed time and he was getting tired, but the all-important food chucking had to occur.  So funny.

More Beach Fun

I recently bought a beach tent to provide better shade and sun protection for Peter who refuses to wear a hat or sunglasses.  I was anxious to try it out and suggested to the kids we take a trip to the beach.  Christian was excited to go.  Bella, who has become a full-fledged teen, said she didn't care if we went, but if we did go, she'd come along.  Works for me.  The tent was a hit.  It sets up in seconds with a pull of the rope in the center and provided a wonderful place with enough room for all of us.  Peter seemed to really enjoy it too.  We also found out that he loves seaweed snacks.  Bella brought some for herself and Christian to share, but Peter ate as much of them as anyone.  His tastes are hard to predict.  Won't eat avocado, peanut butter, or apples, but seaweed, yes please!

Exercise Playground

The weather was so beautiful today that I couldn't bear to stay inside.  Christian wanted to go play at the exercise circuit area at Rotary Park, so that's where we went.  We biked through the woods to get there (and visited the house at the edge of the woods that we dream is ours) and then headed over.  Such a simple concept, but so much fun.  Christian invented some obstacle course races that we timed each other on.  We tried different exercises for the different pieces.  Mostly, though, we just enjoyed the cooler weather.  Afterwards we headed over to the regular playground and let Peter play on the slides.  He loves them so much.

Last Sunday At Home

Today was our last Sunday before in-person church meetings start back up.  I'm going to miss having sacrament at home and spending all Sunday in my sweatpants.  Christian and I started the day with a 5 mile run.  The heat wave has broken and it was such a wonderful running morning.  After that we played in the back yard sprinklers.  Christian kept running around and trying to dodge it but secretly loved getting soaked by it.  He also wanted to try again to sink a basketball shot from the trampoline.  He got close, but sadly never made it in.  Benjamin, however, made the "winning shot."  He grabbed my shoe while we were outside together (Benjamin's first time outside since his foot became infected) and tossed it jokingly up into the pine tree.  He expected it to come back down, but it got stuck, way up high in the branches!  It was so high we couldn't see it.  We both laughed at the craziness of it, but then I really wished I had my shoe!  Benjamin went inside chuckling and I decided I'd wait and let the wind bring it down, hopefully in the next day or two.  Christian, however, wanted to help, so he asked me to get a ladder and then he climbed into the tree and as far up as he could go until he found it and brought it down.  He got stuck on the way down and I thought I'd have to rescue him, but he figured it out on his own.  I was very grateful to have my shoe back. We played three games of 7 Wonders and Bella won every time.  It was crazy!  During the game I'd be so sure I was in the lead and doing great but then she'd announce her score and I'd be shocked.  We're going to have to have a rematch tomorrow. During Peter's afternoon nap we were all going to play MarioKart on the Wii, but I was so tired that I fell asleep on Christian's bed while the kids played.  Sad that I missed out on MarioKart, but the nap was wonderful.  I'm too old for this raising a baby business! :)  He's been really fussy these last couple days and it's worn me out.  I will be happy when he can talk and tell me what he needs.  I can recognize patterns in his cries and decipher many of them but all too often, his screams leave me baffled and frustrated.  The only thing that always works is to take him outside and let him play.  That cheers him up every time.

New Woods to Explore

Christian, Peter, and I went exploring in a new forest today.  On our run yesterday we discovered a forest we hadn't explored in years and decided we would try it today.  It was in the far back behind bicentennial park.  I'd been in it many years ago but had forgotten what it was like.  So fun!  They have easy to follow, color coded trails and they are well maintained but narrow so it feels very rustic and secluded, even though at one point, you're just across the fence from a golf course with loud, laughing men playing golf not 10 feet away.  We hiked for about a mile around in the woods and had a great time.  Then we biked over to the playground and I noticed that the play structure wasn't in the bright, hot sun for the first time in weeks.  I decided to take advantage of this and allow Peter his first experience on the play structure and slide.  He LOVED it.  He laughed heartily every time he went down.  I taught him how to crawl back up it and he did it again and again.  At first, I'd help him sit on the slide and go down on his bum.  However, at home, we've taught him to take the stairs feet first on his tummy, so after a few times of going down, before I had a chance to help him into a sitting position, he flopped down onto his belly and went down that way.  He loved that too.  So he was going down both ways and having a blast exploring all over this new place.  I love watching him discover new things and be so happy learning.  I tried to get a picture of him but I couldn't get far enough from him to take it without worrying he was going to tumble off an edge.  I asked Christian to hold him on his lap and slide, but Peter thought Christian was taking him off the slide and became hysterical.  He looks so upset in the picture, but I promise, he was having a great time.  I'm so happy that he's finally able to have some of these experiences that I've wanted so long for him to have.

Today I was having a martyr day - one of those days when I just feel put-upon by the world.  I just wanted nothing more than to sit and read a book but I felt like I was just running ragged doing all the things that needed doing around a house with 6 people.  I didn't say anything, but Christian came up to me and said, "Why are you stressed?"  I asked him how he knew I was stressed.  "I can just tell by the way you're moving and you sigh a lot when you're stressed."  He's amazingly perceptive.  I told him how I felt and he said, "What can I do to help?"  So sweet.  He cleaned up the messes he'd made that had me frustrated and took Peter for a while downstairs so I could get some things done.  I really appreciate that guy.  Such a great kid.

Kayaking in the Rain

We'd planned to go kayaking as a family today since several weeks ago.  Due to Benjamin's infected foot, he was unable to go, so Kelly stayed home with him and kept Peter too.  That allowed me to take Christian and Bella again.  It was a warm, sunny day when we left the house, but as we pulled up to the river 25 minutes later, we saw dark clouds roll in and heard thunder.  We were excited because that meant that everyone else would be going home and we'd have a nice, shady, empty river to kayak on.  It was wonderful.  We saw only a handful of people the entire time, were kept nice and cool by the rain, and we saw quite a lot of wildlife - mostly turtles and large crane-like birds.  Of course, the favorite part of any kayak trip to Proud Lake, is always the portage.  The fish were so plentiful today that it was like a carpet of fish under the water.  Amazing.  The only downside was on the way back from the lake, I took a wrong turn in a marshlands area and landed us in some nasty, smelly, silty, shallow water that took us 30 minutes to paddle out of.  So frustrating.  I'm definitely a city girl when it comes to navigating.  Put me in a new, unfamiliar city and I'll have conquered the public transportation system and figured out the lay of the land in a couple days.  Put me out on a waterway or a forest and I will take the wrong path more than half the time.  Luckily the kids are better wilderness navigators than I am and I had my iphone, so between the two, we found our way to the correct stream quickly once we managed to dig ourselves out of that silty mess.

When we got home, Peter was in the mood for water play too.  I would have placed him in the bathtub, but Kelly did this instead. Tiny bit of water and a couple toys and he was thrilled. As long as someone was there holding the tub from tipping over when Peter stood up on the side, it worked.  All my kids love water.

Our Own Waterpark

Every morning as Christian and I go running, we see tons and tons of people's sprinklers running.  Christian is always fascinated by the oscillations of the different types of mechanisms and, of course, during this crazy heat-wave, jealous that they have water waiting to be jumped in.  We have built-in sprinklers that come on according to schedule and go off according to schedule and never really bring the kind of joy that these other sprinklers do.  So, today when I went grocery shopping, I bought him some sprinklers.  A rainbird sprinkler - the kind that fires in a 180 degree arc and then swoops back - and a rainbow type sprinkler that slowly arches back and forth.  He was beside himself excited about them.  He declared it to be like Christmas.  With the weather in the 90s, it was the perfect day to try them out.  I took Peter outside too.  Although the cold water bursts freaked him out if they were too direct, when in my (or Kelly's) arms and partially shielded, he had fun too.  Then we also turned it way, way down and let him explore them.  He seemed to mostly enjoy them, but Christian was my target audience, and I was happy to see that they were everything he'd imagined.  I wish I could give them a pool like they've all been begging for, but I guess this is as close as it's going to get.  (No pictures of the rainbird sprinkler.  I was holding Peter during that time and didn't think to take pictures.)