Every time I go to Santa Cruz I marvel at the energy that little boys ages 4 and 2 have, and am reminded why parenting is for the young in body and patience. Thank God for Linda's patience and perseverance and cooking/cleaning skills.
I'm exhilarausted again (exhausted and exhilarated) after 8 days of acting like a parent -
* feeding (lots of cereal, frozen waffles and pancakes, pasta, beans, tofu, pizza, not much meat),
* bathing (lots of splashing, they don't like hair washing),
* bedding (a priceless time - reading, story-telling, watching eyes flutter closed),
* going potty (you don't want to know),
* playing (Grandpa Monster, baseball, rolling balls down the hill, walking around the block with the wagon, throwing rocks, card games, etc.),
* catching (they jump a lot! off of every thing - couch, chair, bed, table, stairs, - and expect to be caught - my shoulders hurt),
* driving (4 or 5 trips a day - often 5 miles each way on country roads - to school - two of them, to swim, to soccer, to play dates, to dinner, to put them to sleep, to the store),
* planning (food, clothes, shoes, lunch box, clothes bag, goodie bag, drinks, bikes, soccer stuff),
* coaching (don't hit, don't say bad words, don't bite, don't, don't, good boy! excellent job! you're so smart! you're so fun!),
* hugging (wow!),
* cleaning (endless dishes, endless clothes, messy table and floors), and more.
The highlights -
* getting naps every day (often with a 2-year old in my arms)
* sharing Frosties with the boys as rewards for good behavior,
* going to the bagel shop for breakfast
* watching 4-5 year olds play soccer - swarms around the ball,
* going to Santa Cruz beach with Linda on Friday and eating on the pier,
* playing at the park with the boys buddies and their parents.
* picking them up at school and seeing the love and care of the staff
The highlights offset the daily early wake-up call between 2 and 4 AM - the little one often will go back to sleep, but has to be "on" you - we slept on the bed, in the rocker, on the couch, and on the recliner.
We made lots of family history - and they darn well better remember it! I sure will!
My daughter's hubby is back from Iraq and comes into Long Beach next Saturday - they are doing Disneyland on Monday. Linda came back yesterday because she had a church event to lead, but I stayed on another day to make sure my daughter got back (on American Airlines) yesterday - it worked out fine.
When I got home, the computer would not connect to the Internet. Ooopps. My son-in-law added RAM while I was gone (my Christmas present finally came!). The laptop didn't connect either. So I called Cox and went through their online connection wizard (the voice is wonderful!) and was back online in about 10 minutes. The IP address needed to be renewed after the computer was apart for awhile, apparently.
I hope to get back in the swing of Genea-Musing posts soon - there were lots of interesting happenings in online genealogy last week. I also have to catch up with my CVGS activities.
What did I miss? What was the best or most interesting post of the week for you? Tell me, and I'll include it in my "Best of..." post later tonight.
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