On the Road Again - Day Three

After a fitful night's sleep (Tate ended up in bed with me before midnight and tossed/turned) the little man woke up right before 6 professing "I had a good night time!" Sigh...I wish that had made two of us.  But I got us up and packed.  I wanted to be on the road by 10 in order for him to take a nap around noon and to arrive back home by 2:30 or giving us time to unwind, relax, grocery shop and be home before the work week started.  I have quickly learned that though an early exit greatly dampens our visits, having the time at home in the afternoon is essential in relieving my stress level, and since Tate loves being at home it works for both of us.

We headed downstairs to get some breakfast, for Tate :)  About 30 minutes later O joined us while Angela dozed.  Uncle J entertained both kids while I made several trips to load up the car.  

Tate obviously made himself right at home.....

Angela had wanted me to do an exam of O's teeth for her.  First O wanted to show me what a great patient she is for her Dr. Mommy.  I have to say the dental exam was not nearly as peaceful (yes I brought a mirror and explorer from my office).  But no cavities were found, and I gave her a clean bill of dental health!

And then O decided she needed to wear some of her mother's shoes.  Tate was not about to be left out. What commenced was a fashion show to end all fashion shoes.  'Project Runway' watch out!

But first admire this absolutely stunning chandelier hanging in Ang's bath.  Just gorgeous.   

On to the show...

Yes the trains were a manly necessity.

Angela has taught O how to pose.  They gave Tate some quick pointers..."Hands on your hips Tate, put one hip out!"  Ummm look how quickly he understood.

O says..."Move that foot out just a bit more Tate"

He's got it going on!

Tate asks..."Do these shoes make my butt look big?"

Down the runway, umm hallway in the next offering.

And lest anyone think that these two kiddos were on their own all weekend, Angela and I finally took some pics together with our babies.

And we had to outfit them in yet another pair of shoes.

And even after this....

Tate still adores his Princess O....

Tate and I were on our way home shortly after this.  A stop to gas up and we headed out of Dallas by 10:15.  Tate was amazing the entire trip home.  We played alot of Bon Jovi and the little girl.  He entertained himself in the back seat with his books the ENTIRE ride home.  Note I said entire.  Yes, because he did not take a nap.  I tried playing lullaby music.  I gave him his beloved hippo.  Nothing worked.  And today 8 days later I cannot for the life of me remember what he did the entire time.  I do know that the first 90 minutes or so he sat back there sulking for reasons unbeknownst to me.  He had said over and over again that morning he wanted to go home.  Maybe he thought it would be a five minute jaunt, but he never cried or fussed.   Finally, a little before noon I stopped at a McDonald's to get myself a hamburger, and I got him some french fries.


Yes...Tate's first taste of fast food.  He has never had fast food before.  He's never been through the drive-thru at McDonald's, and though he has been through the Chick-Fil-A drive thru, I've never gotten anything for him.  So he has no concept of what those yellow arches mean, and I'm 100% sure he still doesn't.  I got him a small order of fries, and he was happy.  I don't see us going back anytime soon though. 


Once he had a full belly, he was in a fabulous mood.  No cajoling would get a nap out of him, so I just gave in after 20 minutes of lullaby music lulling me to sleep and drove the two of us back to Houston.  Four and a half hours later we drove into the parking lot of Whole Foods and shopped for the week.  


And finally home to Vincent.


Such an amazing adventure.  I'm so very glad we went, and so blessed to have such a good little traveler. I remember saying in a Christmas letter the year he was born that I was going 'to strap this baby to my back and see the world.'  Well we haven't quite seen the world, but we've seen some of these United States together, and I intend to keep traveling with him.  I want him to enjoy our travels together, get used to being just the two of us on the road, in the air or on the rails, so that when he's older and thinks I'm not cool he'll still want to see some cool places with his mommy.

Dallas Road Trip - Day 2

So once we were back at Angela's with 2 two year olds who did not nap, our day continued.   I unloaded the car and Angela managed the kiddos.  Tate, O and I regaled with details of our morning and then we shuttled the kids outside.  I had bought Tate's Strider bike with us to hopefully encourage him to use it if O was on one of her bikes...no dice.  He was however VERY excited about her tricycle.  I swear  about 2 months ago,  I had Tate outside on his tricycle that I can push behind, and he was absolutely clueless about what to do with his feet with the pedals.  I remember being so frustrated the he just 'couldn't get it.'  Then about a month ago I arrived at daycare to pick him up and lo and behold...

He was outside riding a very old, all-steel tricycle using the pedals!! 

 Slowly, but he was doing it!!  Every now and then he would pedal to a stop and have to use the Fred Flinstone method to get himself started, but once he got going he was pedaling!!  So very proud of my little boy!

Here he is in action on O's bike.....

And this is what happens when it's O's turn to ride the bike....

She kindly gave up her turn and all was right in Tate's world...

And then Angela brought out the big guns!!  Tate absolutely loved this!!  So. Much. Fun!

Angela had a massage therapist come later in the afternoon.  Also around the same time another one of our dear friends from college (another awesome ADPi sistergirl) came by with two of her 3 kids.  T and I were pledge sisters, so we were pretty close at one time.  I haven't seen her in more years than I can count...I believer her oldest daughter (now 14) was less than a year old.  We hung out with all of the kiddos outside while Angela enjoyed her massage.

You can see T to the right of the blue swing if you look real close, O and Tate on the slide, her daughter on the far left of the pic and her son going up the ladder.

We just caught up for almost 2 hours.  How blessed are we that though our paths have not crossed in more than a decade that we can be together and it not be weird or awkward or strange.  I always think to myself that that place, Southwestern University, was an amazing place.

I then had a glorious one hour massage whilst leaving Tate in the capable hands of Angela to feed him. He ate everything she put in front of him :).  I was worried initially, though I have no idea why, that he would miss me or cry, but I heard not a peep.  I so need to get better about leaving him with other people.  I need to let go of my fear, concern that he's not going to sleep or that he's only going to eat crap. ( I feel pretty confident that noone is going to feed him anything unsafe).  It's my insane need to control his life.  Ang recognized that and shooed me off.  I love her.

I got Tate to sleep earlier than Friday night by about an hour.  Dinner was waiting for me when I came back downstairs and Angela and I were able to spend the evening on her couch catching up, just the two of us.

We live for each other.

Day Out With Thomas

At some point in the middle of the night, Tate fussed, so I put him in bed with me.  That bed must have been more then 3 feet off the ground because his head was nowhere near the top of it.  So in preparation of him not being able to sleep through the night in a strange place I put pillow all around what would be his side of the California king, oh my goodness so very comfortable, dreamy, marshmallow like bed.  I could have stayed in that bed for days and days.

I digress.

All dressed and ready to go!

  

6 am and Tate was ready to meet his hero.  Breakfast, teeth brushing, outfitted, snacks packed, extra clothes readied, bags packed and we were all out the door by 7:40am  Angela had to go to a meeting, so I had both children with me.  Yes, we decided O would be fine with me whom she had never met for an entire morning.  And I was shocked.  She did not once cry, fuss or whine when we strapped her into my car!  I doubt Tate would have gone off with Angela and O so willingly.

We arrived in Grapevine which was literally 15 minutes from Angela's with plenty of time to spare.  I got the kids out, coats/sweaters on, my purse loaded up with the necessities and we were off to meet Thomas the Tank Engine!

I have never seen two more excited toddlers.

After taking their picture with Thomas, we stood in line for our 25 minute ride.  Then it was time to board!!  The kids skipped down the platform holding hands.  Such happiness.  I cannot express how much joy I had in my heart...for Tate, for Olivia, for me and Angela who have both always wanted to be mothers ... such an amazing blessing these two are.

Ready to go!!

 The train ride was lovely; pretty simple actually.  Thomas the Train music was piped in, some sort of story was broadcast along with Thomas 'talking' to the passengers over the intercom system.  We rode out about 13 minutes one way and then simply went back the way we came.  But you would never have known as the kids were thrilled.  They jockeyed for position by the window (which was a surprise for me to see Tate 'arguing' with someone' but O did not want to share the window, so initially I tried to let them work it out...work it out the toddler way of pushing and shoving...and I intervened with a firm 'be nice and share the window O or you'll have to sit on my lap.')  Other than that first tussle all went great :)


Once we detrained the kids then took on the Thomas bounce house!!

Next up...tattoos!!!!  Tate chose the Thomas tattoo and O chose Rosie.  Tate was very sure to keep watch over O as she got hers to make sure she was ok.

Next stop...the storytime/video viewing room.  These two sat spellbound while one of the volunteers read a story about Emily the train and one of her forays into working on the branch line with Thomas on Sodor.  (yes I paid very close attention, should a book report be requested).

Then then watched a 10 minute Thomas video.  Most of the other kids came and went in the room, but not Tate and O...they watched the entire episode complete with bouncing along to the song at the end.

We then stood in line for about 20 minutes to meet Sir Topham Hat.  By now the kids were getting a bit hungry.  O wanted a hot dog, and Tate was not pleased with the snack choices I provided.  However, noone melted down, noone cried.  They managed to entertain each other.  I was thrilled that they were really doing so well together.  I had been a bit worried about handling 2 two year olds on my own, especially one of whom I had met less than 24 hours prior :)  As soon as it was their turn to meet Sir Topham Hat these little guys ran up to him, hands extended for a shake.  They were so very excited and confident.  I was so proud of them.

And what would a day out with Thomas be without crappy fair type food.  I got O a corn dog by request and Tate devoured an ice slushie after eating a couple of chicken nuggets from home.

We then meandered over to ride what Tate called 'the little train'.  It was simple, but really cute.  We had another 20 or so minute wait, but the kids did great.

Cheering the other riders on!

Is it our turn yet?

I let the kids ride together alone.  Not a tear, not a whimper.  Such amazingly confident, self-assured toddlers Ang and I have.


Once they were off the 'little train,'  Thomas was visible in the distance returning from one of his jaunts.

Just a boy and his train.

By now Tate and O have had a couple little tussles complete with some pushing and Tate's cry of 'Get away from my mommy!'  As we stood in line to order a picture I looked down as they were fighting amongst my legs to see O on the ground crying, hitting Tate and Tate getting a few swipes in with his feet (I'm aghast!),  trying to get away from her.  I swooped O up in my arms while Tate then cried and begged to be picked up.  How anyone ever manages two fulltime alone I will never know.  Granted these two did really well together and this was the only time I had them both crying at the same time.  Most of their power struggles were of the normal 'I'm an only child of a single mother who has a big personality' toddler variety, so very much expected.  A few kisses and hugs (and a reminder to not hit) for O who did ask for her mommy allowed me to put her down and pick up Tate, admonish him for kicking and peppering his face with kisses.  And then it was like nothing happened....

Last but not least, we stopped in the gift shop.  Or shall I say Thomas the Tank Engine heaven.  Everything Thomas imaginable was on sale.  Yet, Tate and O actually did not ask for one thing.  They did not run around picking everything up and bringing it to me.  They did not touch everything in sight (which they certainly could have as the tables were on their level...such a great marketing ploy).  They both found one toy they liked (suggested by me) and we made our purchases and headed out the door back to the car.

Two happy toddlers

I got them loaded into the car, and we were on our way home.  O fell asleep immediately.  Tate was a bit more difficult, which totally surprised me.  We had been on the ground of the railroad for 4 hours.  I suppose he was over-stimulated, overwhelmed.  Who knows.  He fought going to sleep like noone's business.  Finally after driving around for 25 minutes he fell asleep.  Poor O was kept awake, though dozing through his whining and crying.  By the time we got home both had slept about 30 minutes and were wide awake and ready for the afternoon as soon as Angela came out the back door.


This was such an amazing day.  Seeing my little boy have so much fun and be so happy is what life is all about.  And certainly I don't want my life to revolve around Tate and his happiness, but what people used to always say...'I love getting to see life through their eyes'...is so very true.  Just watching him experience this brought so much joy to me, I almost couldn't believe it.  And trains are definitely not something I would have ever been into as the girly girl I am, so I'm getting to experience an entirely new realm of life because of my sweet boy.  I'm grateful for the opportunity.