Cape Cod Weekend

We just got back from a lovey weekend on the Cape--thank you Sue and Tony for letting us use your house! We drove down on Friday night, knowing that we would have to lift a sleeping Dashiell out of the car when we arrived. The traffic to the Cape is still pretty heavy since there is work being done on the Sagamore bridge--even at the late hour we got there we still had a 2 mile back-up that seemed to move at a snail's pace.

Dash didn't sleep particularly well that night--we made sure that he woke up enough to familiarize himself with the room he was staying in before going to bed, but he still freaked out a bit at around midnight and cried and cried. My poor guy! And seriously, we didn't really know what to do since D is usually such a good sleeper! It's been ages since he's woken up in the night crying! So we went in to comfort him, laid down with him awhile, put a book in his crib with him, and debated whether or not one of us should sleep in one of the beds in the room. Then we bit the bullet and said good night to him, left the room, and he cried for about 15 seconds before quieting down and going back to sleep. Whew! After that he had no more trouble sleeping.

We had a fun day on Saturday, which was a lovely sunny fall day. We went down to the beach after breakfast and played in the cool sand for an hour or so, then went back to the house for lunch and a nap (which meant a nap for me, too!). After the nap we drove down to Provincetown and wandered aimlessly, stopping in various stores and walking down to the beach there as well. Dashiell didn't like the fact that he couldn't play in the water (too cold, no change of clothes or towels), but he got over it. We saw many dogs in P-town, which was of course very exciting. After P-town we drove up to Wellfleet and had dinner, and I have to say that Dashiell did so much better at the restaurant than I thought he'd do! I kept trying to formulate our "melt-down" plan, which I never did come up with because we didn't need it! He was so fascinated with everyone in the restaurant that he kept himself entertained trying to see people. Thank heavens!

Sunday was mostly a repack and travel day, which was fine since it was rainy and dreary. Once we got home we headed over the the Hanson's to see Elizabeth, who was here to work at a trade show. It was good to see her again, and Dashiell had a great time playing with her. She was still in town yesterday, so Dash and I were able to see her again last night.

Now we're all still exhausted, but recovering. :) What's in store for next weekend? Only time will tell!

This sidewalk looks a little dry...

...I'd better water it!



Dashiell's new favorite yard-based activity. Of course he has to be as close to the garbage as possible; he is a boy, after all. :) When he tried to water one of my flower beds, I praised him and thanked him profusely, and in return he ran up to the porch and tried to water my basil plant as well! Such a helpful little guy!

Yummy!

I'm happy to report that we've finally found a brand of yogurt that Dashiell likes! We tried many yogurts way back when Dashiell was first eating solids, and again when he first started feeding himself, all to no avail. I think at first it was the texture and temperature that turned him off, then it was the taste--too "yogurty". So finally I decided to try out some new yogurt again--someone had told me that Greek yogurt is much creamier than the regular kind, so I gave it a shot. Nope, Greek yogurt didn't cut it. BUT, then we tried coconut milk yogurt and that, finally, hit the spot (So Delicious brand, raspberry flavored)! I even got a "num-num" from him while he was eating--woo-hoo! I think the winning point came when he realized that not only does it taste good but he can feed himself with a spoon when he eats it! Pretty much anything else he tries to eat with a spoon will fall off before he gets it in his mouth, but yogurt clings--very exciting! Of course there was yogurt covering nearly every inch of him by the time he was done but it's worth finally finding something else that he'll eat for breakfast. I was getting bored feeding him fruit and toast or Cheerios, and he didn't have any interest in the mini-waffles we tried last week (though I personally find them delicious!).

Dashiell has also been sharing his food (not the yogurt, thankfully) with his toys, especially his doggies. He has two stuffed doggies that he LOVES, and now he loves to try to feed them his snacks. The other day we were eating Kix in the living room, and he kept sticking the head of one of the doggies into the bowl of Kix. That's how doggies eat. :) He also tried to feed a grape to an animatronic bear over at his nana and grandpa's house yesterday. Since the bear's mouth actually moves, I'm surprised the grape did not get squished.

Sit! Sit!

Dashiell's latest craze is sitting in chairs. Which doesn't sound all that exciting, but he thinks it's the bee knees! He'll go up to whatever chair is nearest, clear it off, pat the top of it and say "Sit! Sit!", all with a huge, expectant smile (unless you don't realize that's what he wants, at which point the smile turns into a furrowed-brow, and the "Sit!" becomes more urgent and often whiney). So we plop him into the chair, he grins and claps, and he's happy there for a minute or so. If we remember to give him a book or toy, or if the Wheel is on TV, we might even get a couple minutes of sitting! He's figured out how to get down from nearly any chair--the only exception being not a chair but our bed, which is high enough off the ground that even my feet don't touch the floor when I'm sitting on it--but is still working on getting up by himself. I suspect that will happen pretty soon, especially once he realizes that he could use his little step stool to make himself taller. Currently his little legs don't quite reach on their own, and he's never been one to use his arms to climb on anything.

The pictures are of our little guy enjoying one of his "peek-a-boo" books in the rocker in his bedroom. The rocker is an extra fun chair to sit in since it MOVES. Wow!

Transitions

We're in the middle of the 2 nap to 1 nap transition in our house (though Rick is fighting it a bit). Dashiell does pretty well if he only gets one nap a day, right after lunch time. I've been trying to do this on the days I'm home with him, though this past Monday we did the morning nap instead so we could go play with our friends in Medford. Anyway, the previous Monday it worked out great. We went to the park in the morning, followed by lunch, then naptime. He did get a little cranky in the park when we were leaving but otherwise did really great! And his nap was almost 3 hours long, which is what I'd been hoping for since he normally would take two 1-1/2 hour naps. Yay Dash! Then last Wednesday we tried it again after yoga class, and the nap was definitely shorter--only about 2 hours. Which is ok but not great. Yesterday after yoga and lunch it was only 1-1/2 hours! It keeps getting shorter and shorter! As mentioned, Rick still tries for 2 naps since he usually needs to nap in the morning too, so hopefully Dash will catch up on all of his sleep today.

Surprisingly, D did very well with such a small nap yesterday. Of course I was hoping to nap then as well but since that wasn't in the cards, we rolled with it and ran errands in the afternoon. A quick trip to Marshall's to buy Dashiell some new pants and a couple of books (fyi to all who don't know this already--buy kids books at Marshall's or TJMaxx! MUCH cheaper than the big book stores!), then over to the library which is right across the street. Fun was had with puzzles and plush toys, followed by a bit of running in the stacks. We checked out more books to read and were on our way home when I thought to call up Meghan to see if Crispin would be up for a playdate. Yes! We ran around their house for about an hour, then headed home for dinner. I think the key to keeping Dashiell happy when he hasn't gotten enough sleep is to keep him occupied! If other people are involved that's even better.

I promised some yoga pictures, which are difficult to get since I'm supposed to be doing yoga at the same time Dashiell is, but here he is waiting for class to start:



Here he's practicing "fish" pose:



I should note that this was also before class. When it came time to do it during class he was busy running amok and had no interest at all in trying it. :)

Dashiell's new friend F was not in class yesterday, which was too bad. I really wanted to see if F would remember Dashiell and still consider him a friend. Guess we'll have to wait until next week!

Playing in the park!

Since the last 2 posts have been picture-free, I thought I'd make a quick entry with a couple of pictures Rick took of Dashiell at the little park near our house. We call it the "water tower" park--it's a small, fenced in park with a couple of swings, an airplane rocker, a little play structure that has a steering wheel and some gears that kids can play with, some big rocks to climb, and, what makes it kind of strange, a path leading up to and around a huge, bulbous water tower. Dashiell loves it, and will usually point to the tower when we're about a block away from it or anytime we drive past it in the car. Here he is climbing around the big rock:

And here he's riding on the airplane (which he's a little lukewarm about--sometime he loves it, sometime he doesn't care about it at all. This might have been a "doesn't care" kind of day...):

This park is often underutilized, but I suppose it's not quite exciting enough for bigger kids. When Dash and I went on Wednesday afternoon (when it was a BEAUTIFUL, perfect day) we were all by ourselves for about 30 minutes, then finally other families stopped in too. By the time we left there were about 7 other kids there, plus their parents. That's a big crowd for that park! We are happy to have this park near us, and hope the city will keep maintaining it. There is a park that is closer to us and is much larger, but it's all open space, no play structures, and no fence. It's lovely, but not great for toddlers.

Ommm...

Dashiell and I went to our first "Itsy Bitsy Yoga" class yesterday! It was so much fun, and I'm happy to report that the other moms in the class seem very down-to-earth and not at all competitive (you know, that competition between moms--"mompetition", can I coin that phrase?--that's so very annoying...there was not a single "my kid's sooo advanced" comment nor were there any designer sweat pants in sight!). Dashiell spent most of the class running around, trying to make friends or hide in cubby holes, but every so often he'd try out a pose. In addition to yoga, there was "parachute" time (which D totally dug), and bubbles (also a big hit). The bubbles were nice since that was "downtime" for the moms--we got to lie on the floor breathing deeply and relaxing while the kids clamored to pop the bubbles.

There was a little boy in the class (we'll call him "F") who was part of the toddler preschool/daycare program who was so shy and so hesitant to join in the yoga class, and from what I gather does not make friends easily. Dashiell was determined to befriend him! He went up to him before class and tried to give him a hug, which F wasn't too keen on. The preschool teacher asked him if he was making a new friend, and F replied "no, not yet", nearly in tears. Halfway through the class Dashiell went up to him again to play with him, and in the course of playing offered him a teddy bear. Suddenly they were best friends! The teacher asked F if he liked playing with his new friend Dashiell, and F said "Yeah!". At the end of the class the teacher asked him if he was looking forward to playing with Dashiell again next week, and once again he gave a resounding "yeah!", while jumping around and looking so happy! The teacher told me she couldn't believe that F was able to bond with Dashiell is such a short period of time--I guess this was unheard of with this little boy! It was really sweet, and I'm so glad my little guy was able to break through to him. Let's hope F remembers this next week and they continue to be friends!

I wasn't able to get any pictures during class this week, but I'll try to get one before class next week so I can post it (probably not with F, though--after all, I don't know his parents and I'm sure they wouldn't be happy stumbling upon a picture of their child on some stranger's blog!).