Trippin'

Yikes, it has been a while since I posted. But I have a good excuse. I was in Florida for two weeks. With my mother-in-law. In a retiree campground. And I had to fly by myself with a two-year-old and switch planes in Chicago. And it was the best vacation ever!

How is that possible you may ask? Well, for starters I get along well with my MIL. And even though he might half-heartedly deny it, HS is her favourite (being the baby of the family). Although she has always been quite reserved with me, with Charlie she is a kissy-kissy, gooey, goofball. So of course he is absolutely nutso about her.

Second, my MIL rented a trailer in a retiree campground for all of us (my MIL, my MIL's sister, her husband, HS, Charlie and me). Uh-huh. That's five adults and one toddler (although according to Parent Center, Charlie is now a preschooler. Already? When did that happen?). I was pretty sure that wasn't going to work, because even though they have monster trailers that look like they've been tricked out by MTV's Pimp My Ride, they usually only have one bedroom. Maybe a pull-out couch. But since this was my MIL's first foray into the trailer lifestyle, I figured we sort it all out somehow. Luckily, after one night in the rental, my MIL rented us a two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen that wasn't too far from the beach or the campground. So we had some space (in the apartment and from the campground), Charlie had his own room, and my in-laws were spared Charlie's early morning yodelling. And y'know, there's nothing like spending a lot of time in a retiree campground to realize that maybe 34 isn't so old after all. And if you're toting a two-year-old around said campground, everyone is extremely friendly.

Oh bloody hell. Charlie is supposed to be napping right now, but instead he is bellowing his discontent with his crib. WTF? He's been napping like a champ since those two horrid days of no naps, and now we're back to this? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

I will finish my Florida post later. Because there's more! Outlet malls! Free beer at Busch Gardens! and Sand! A two-year-old's favourite toy!

Whew!

After two days without an afternoon nap, I was getting panicky. What if this isn't a blip, but a full-blown, permanent change in behaviour? What if Charlie has decided that naps are so 23-months, totally passe for a big-boy two-year-old?

Thankfully, we seem to have returned to normal. After another full night of sleep (7:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.), Charlie dropped off in the car at 11:30 this morning. And I got him into his crib without mangling any limbs, so he stayed asleep. And he has been sleeping for an hour and a half. Bliss!

I'm sure HS will be disappointed. He usually takes the early shift with Charlie, so he was all excited at the prospect of an extra hour or two of sleep. Too bad for you, but good for me. Mommy needs her afternoon break!

No no no no no noooooooooooo!

Argh! This can't be happening! Not when HS is away on business until late tomorrow night! Charlie seems to have decided to drop his afternoon nap. WTF?

It started yesterday. He fell asleep in the car after playgroup, a fairly common occurrence, but I bumped his hand getting him into the crib, and he woke up. And. He. Would. Not. Go. Back. To. Sleep. So after twenty minutes of praying, I gave up and hauled him out. And he stayed up all afternoon. In fact, he wasn't even all that cranky. When 7:00 p.m. rolled around, he announced it was time for a snooze, and by 7:45 p.m., he was fast asleep. His usual bedtime is 8:30. He slept until 7:15 a.m. His usual wake-up time can be anywhere from 5:30-6:30 a.m. So by dropping his nap, the boy had a lovely night-time sleep. But dammit, I need a break in the afternoon, not at night when I have back-up!

At the moment, Charlie is chatting away in his crib, where I placed him half an hour ago. He doesn't sound drowsy. This is not good.

Help!

Yee-haw!

Wow! I have comments! Two comments!

I really didn't think I cared if anyone read this blog, but I seriously got a bit of a thrill.

So thank you for your lovely comments! You made my day!

I think that's enough exclamation points for one post.

And she only makes $6 an hour

Comment from Best Babysitter Ever: "You guys have given me so much business, it financed my new iPod."

In case you are wondering, she got a nano.

She's worth every penny.

Dial up

Egads, it has been quite a while since I posted. Now I do have the Christmas/New Year's at the in-laws with dial-up excuse, and I had a lovely post about last-minute shopping, warm fuzzy holiday thoughts, and the impending nightmare that seems to be our trip to Florida, but dammit, I'm sick again. Ugh. Another cold. Luckily, however, the kids are still on school break, so I have a few hours of relief. We have The Best Babysitter Ever, and she's downstairs with Charlie right now, keeping him happily entertained. I'm off to bed (and then the bank so I can pay her) for a well-deserved nap. More coherent posts later.