Few things have upset my son more than our attempt at naptime today. When we got upstairs, I turned on his white noise/ sleep machine only to be rudely greeted by a flashing power light. Uh oh. I did some of the standard pseudo-technological fixes (i.e.- turning it off and turning it back on again), but had no luck. My son came over and took a look (seriously), but he couldn't figure it out either. Luckily, there's an app for that. I believe I've written about it before, and it was just about as successful as the last time we tried it. Part of the problem is that it just isn't loud enough. The other part of the problem is that my dogs can't keep their hairy butts on (or under) the bed.
About twenty minutes after he finally fell asleep, Ellie, also known as "The Worst" around our house at various times throughout her life, started scratching her way out from under the bed for no reason at all. Sure enough, this was louder than the sound machine and woke him up. He was NOT happy. Even more unhappy than before he actually fell asleep. It wasn't pretty. The only thing I was able to accomplish during the short break was find out what was wrong with the sound machine. Thanks to some helpful comments on Amazon, I found out that the issue was a faulty memory card. I called the manufacturer and they sent out a replacement right away. My wife picked up a cheap and temporary alternative on her way home, and we crossed our fingers that it would do the trick at night. Thank goodness it did.
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Today was the official first day of Spring, and that means one thing: free Rita's water ice! It was a very nice day, so we gassed up the stroller and traveled the half-mile to receive our prize. I got vanilla for me and lemonade for him (less mess), and we found a shady spot to finish it off. A few scoops in, I heard the unmistakeable sound of multiple gunshots- not the controlled and unrealistic kind you hear on TV, but very real and dangerous gunshots. Just a few seconds later, I heard and saw several police cars race around the corner. Other than one experience on in Philadelphia where a man ran by our car firing a gun, I think this was as close as I have been to a violent crime. Luckily for both my son and I, it was still several blocks away. Unfortunately for my wife, it was right down the street from her school. As far as I know no one other than the criminal himself was injured, but it was still a scary series of events. The worst thing that I actually had to deal with ended up being some sticky hands and cheeks from an increasingly independent eater.
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Someone was up sneezing and coughing throughout the night, and that same someone seemed find when he woke up in the morning. Someone else decided that someone was well enough to go to music class. That didn't work out so well for either of the someones. Ah well. There will be other weeks.
(KEY: Someone = my son; Someone else = me)
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I dropped off my car last night for inspection and had to pick it up today in order to make it to my wife's doctor's appointment later in the day. Completely disregarding the timeline, we walked to a nearby playground before lunch. Strangely, my son had little interest in anything but carrying around his diaper bag- both on and off of the equipment.
In between chasing him off of the adjacent private property and trying to calm him down by conjuring Swing Bunny, I received a call telling me my car was done. We packed up and walked the mile or so to pick it up, and I decided to take a quick look at the new cars on the lot while we were there. We're still in the process of looking for a new car. One particular salesman has dealt with us more than any others, and he was on me within 45 seconds. Luckily, I had the out of saying it was naptime. And it was.
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Today was one of the earliest mornings we've ever had (on purpose). Today was my school's "JJ Day", a day of activities named for a former student who passed away when he was in 8th grade. The morning activity is a talent show, and I always help out in some way. I was asked to do so this year, and based on my son's fantastic behavior at all other school events, I said I would.
I woke him up roughly two hours before he normally gets up on his own and gave him breakfast on the way. I also packed heavy (as far as snacks go) in an attempt to keep him both busy and happy. The show had already started when we arrived, as two 7th grade girls that assisted me with the sound for the Fall musical had also been asked to help out. Despite a few small miscues, the show would have gone on without me. I wasn't at all upset by this since it showed that I did a good job teaching these girls in the first place. It also gave me a chance to see what Taylor Swift has been up to (there were no fewer than three acts that chose her songs). As expected, my son made lots of friends- especially a certain row of 8th grade girls. The show was over before we knew it (and before the snacks ran out), and we packed up and left. We made a brief stop by my parents' house, but no one was around. Oh well.
We returned home with plenty of time before lunch. We took advantage of yet another beautiful day and headed to the playground. I made sure to hide the diaper bag this time. He went straight for the 5-12 equipment, and we were soon joined by several other childern aged 4 years or so. He tried very hard to have a conversation with them, flailing his arms all about while struggling to put words together. The targets of his tale just stared at him for a bit before continuing their playtime. It didn't upset him too much; maybe he was just telling them he wanted to be alone.
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