A February Happened, Too

Did you blink? I think I blinked. Because just like that (poof!) February is practically over with the same staggering speediness that January passed with, and it’s starting to feel like we can (almost … nearly …) dare to begin thinking green-tinged thoughts of spring. (But definitely don’t say it out loud, or you’ll jinx it.)

Rather than try to remember everything that’s actually happened over the past five weeks (a trip to SF here, a weekend with LJ’s grandparents there), I thought it might be more fun to share a little about the sweet (but defiant), thoughtful (but willful), charming (but cunning) little man that Lachlan is becoming.

• His obsession with cars and Cheerios persists. And occasionally those obsessions collide — like at breakfast this past weekend when he was served Cheerios in two small boxes, which he immediately declared “garages” and started shoving cars into.
• He is more and more and more into playing with other kids — cousins, friends, and strangers alike. Two older boys he shared cars with at the airport on a recent trip were an enormous source of sadness when they had to leave to catch their flight. “Oooh … there go my best friends,” Lachlan said. “What are their names?” I asked, maybe smirking. “Oh … I don’t know, Mommy.” Thankfully, between preschool, swim class, a gaggle of cousins, trips to the library, rainforest at the zoo, and local play group activities, he’s got lots and lots of opportunities to make new best friends.

• The boy is exceedingly polite. He tells me, “Thank you for making this for me,” when I give him breakfast and dinner, and is quick to default to “please” and “thank you” with only occasional need for reminders. Sometimes his extreme of politeness is really shocking, but it’s also just sweet and pleasant. He is very sensitive and empathetic to how his actions make people feel, and is good at repeating good behaviors based on even a small smile of positive reinforcement.
• He also knows when he’s (safely, like a little science experiment) pushing my buttons. He corrects me constantly. (That car isn’t red, it’s ORANGE. This road we’re driving on is definitely a highway. Monsters are real, Mommy. And tanker trucks CAN swim in the water.) His new thing is to tell me (as he’s heard a time or two), “I don’t want to hear that tone out of you, Mommy. We do NOT talk to our LACHLAN that way.” And his ability to know just how far enough to needle without going too far over the edge would be really impressive if it wasn’t so thoroughly galling. (Am I really that easy to read and nudge? So much so that my three-year-old is consistently besting me?)
  
• After a recent extended visit from Damon, Lachlan is a MagnaTiles construction EXPERT, though his favorite part will literally always be the part where he gets to knock the whole thing down. (Kick. Stomp. Destroy!)
• His train obsession has also deepened. On a recent trip to the Science Center with the whole family, we visited the train exhibit, and a local model train group was there doing a demo. Lachlan got SO EXCITED to see the trains and interact, the man running the exhibit smiled at me and Damon and said, “He’s really into this. I think he’s one of us.” And proceeded to tell me about how his high school aged son got into model trains and started going to meetings and it taught him STET lessons (he’s going to engineering school in the fall) as well as how to engage with folks from other generations and brought him out of his shell. It was a really cool experience, and I could definitely see Lachlan getting into something like that when he’s older. (And if he doesn’t and it turns out he leaves the train obsession in his preschool years … meh, that’s fine, too.)

 

• If he could have his way, Lachlan would eat rice and beans for every meal. It is — hands down — the most-requested meal in our house. But aside from always wanting rice and beans, he continues to be a pretty good eater of good food with an appetite that makes you wonder how in the world he stays so long and skinny.  (Hint: I think it might be something to do with his genes.)  As far as types of food goes, he likes salad, but only with no dressing. Loves blueberries, oranges, apples, peanut butter toast, Cheerios, waffles with peanut butter, pasta, french fries, hot dogs, pickles, green beans, rice, beans of all kinds (especially black), avocado, tortilla chips … and lots of other good stuff. In fact, the only thing he doesn’t seem to like consistency is melted cheese — including a distaste for mac & cheese, which sort of breaks my heart.

• LJ is thriving at school, earning a “ticket” for good behavior almost every day. He likes his friends. (Except for “Little Liam” because he apparently always takes Lachlan’s toys … sharing is HARD, man.) He adores his teacher, Miss Suzie. He likes telling me things he learned, and gets so excited about show and tell every week!
• Leading up to the winter, I was worried we’d struggle to find ways to fill our time this season, but we’ve had lots of fun playing board games, having dance parties, reading lots of books, pretending elaborate stories, and going on adventures.

• Lachlan has started to care about what he wears to school. He likes to pick out his shirt and gets excited when he gets to wear his black pants (ahem … I bought three pairs of those black pants because they’re the only ones I’ve found that are long enough and will stay up over his skinny booty, so I’m really happy that he likes them so much). Every single morning, he tries to talk me out of wearing his warm winter coat because he wants to wear his lightweight “stripey jackey,” and every morning I have to tell him that it’s too cold for that jacket, but he could wear it as a shirt with a t-shirt underneath. Literally guys. We have this conversation every damn morning.
• I bought him a dragon hat in November. It is hands-down the single best purchase I have ever made in my whole life.

• “Watch this.” He says. About a thousand times a day. Before he does LITERALLY NOTHING. But if I dare to look away for even half a second after he’s said “watch this” … look out!
• He is starting to understand how jokes work. Sort of. Which is hilarious in and of itself. But … have you ever tried to explain a knock-knock joke to a three-year-old? Because there’s a lot they need to understand — including the concept of puns — before they’ll really “get” even the most basic joke. But Lachlan’s utter lack of understanding is in no way a deterrent from telling jokes. If anything, it emboldens him. 🙂

• In summary, Lachlan is: Silly, sweet, affectionate, empathetic, charming, curious, serious, smiley, smart, friendly. He’s embodied a lot of these qualities for a long time now, but it’s nice to see how they’re growing up with him. My four-month-old who squawked nonstop is now my chatty, happy, three-year-old who has a thousand questions about how things work and who gets frustrated with me when I don’t instantly understand him. (“You need to try again to explain it, Monkey, I want to understand,” I say at least a dozen times a day. And he sighs and says, “But I don’t even want to tell you anymore, Mama.”)

Christmas Happened!

Christmas happened! It truly did. We didn’t forget it or overlook it or misplace it … I’ve just been too crazy busy since we got back to Westlake to catch my breath and talk about it. (I’m in the midst of our planning cycle for next year and it’s workplace madness!)

This year we went to Atlanta for Christmas and stayed with Damon’s sister Kelly and her (amazing) family. Lachlan found a new insta-BFF in his big cousin Stunner. (They played nonstop for a full week!)

It was warm and happy and relaxing and chill … and festive and fun and lovely. Other than being a little miffed to miss the holidays with my side of the family (sigh … we can’t be two places at once), it was practically perfect. So many great memories … as evidenced by the photos below.

Happy new year!

Making Our Own Christmas Traditions

Next week, we will be in Atlanta, Georgia with the greater Brennen clan celebrating Christmas, but in the meantime, we’ve been busy making the most of the approaching Christmas season here in cold, snowy Cleveland.

First step — after buying all the right clothes to keep us toasty and warm this season — was to get a Christmas tree and string some lights. Just brightens things up — especially now that the whole wide world is dark around 5pm every night.

Lachlan LOVES having the Christmas lights on — possibly too much, he’s likely to throw a full-on Chrismas fit if for some reason they aren’t on. Like if we’re walking out the door and I have deep-rooted “let’s not burn the house down with Christmas lights” fears, but I digress.

The weekend of December 9-10th, we headed to the west side of the state to get in some early Christmas celebrations with family. To kick things off, we got to spend a whole day enjoying Grandma Nora and Papa Joe and their cozily decorated home.

We popped in with Grandma Nora to visit my Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Bernie and got to visit with my Great-Aunt Marilyn (Lachlan’s Great-Great-Aunt), as well. Lachlan and Grandpa Bernie played cars in the living room and we sipped coffee and ate Grandma’s delicious Christmas cookies and caught up. It was warm and cozy and sweet and lovely … and we were so happy to be there.

We also got to spend Saturday with Pawpaw Jim, Grandma Annie, Uncle Adam, and his kiddos — including his girlfriend Amie and her two kids. The whole day was full of fun — by design. The kids played and made some holiday crafts. Presents were kept minimal, and the day was really all about coming together and spending time enjoying each other. (And, in my case, eating entirely too much ham. But ham is delicious, so whatever.)

After that, it was back to Grandma Nora and Papa Joe’s for cookie decorating and playing with the extended-family of cousins. Sugar frosting was licked. Fingers got sticky. I have it on good authority that several days later, playdough was being cleaned from cracks and crevices, but I’m also pretty darn sure that each and everybody had a really, really nice time. 

Back at home, to keep the celebration going, we had our friends Misty and Eddy over for an easy, breezy holiday dinner. We chatted and caught up while taking turns playing cars with Lachlan on the floor (Eddy brought him a specially selected Hot Wheels Porsche that Lachlan keeps insisting is Eddy’s and he forgot it.) We drank delicious wine — including a local, Ohio Cab that was incredibly impressive. (An upside of global warming is that Ohio can now pull off old world varietals with the right weather conditions.)

The real deal is next week, and we’re excited to join up with Daddy D in Atlanta and to celebrate with the rest of the crew, but we’ve done a good job marching towards the holiday with preschooler-exhausting joy!

We are Thankful

We’ve been so busy — traveling here and there, hosting guests, working our buns off.

We were in Tahoe for Thanksgiving and it was lovely. Food. Friends. Fresh air. Kiddos playing in the background. More food.

I’m feeling lazy, so I’m going to call this post a photo essay and leave it as that.

We are very thankful. xo

Parade of Wonderful People

I feel like *most* days are pretty good days to be Lachlan James, but the past few weeks with our parade of attention-granting, full-on-spoiling house guests, it’s been even better than usual to be Mr. Lachlan James.

Our first November guests were Grandma Nora (aka Gwama Nowa) and Papa Joe. They braved a long-ish drive and a blustery, rainy fall storm on the return trip to visit, and we were so glad they did! They arrived on Saturday late morning ready to check out our Ohio home (I think it passed the sniff test …) and play. Lachlan spent the morning charming his Indiana grandparents and trying to lure everyone into his room to play. (Anymore he’ll just take your hand and gently drag you in there before you really know what’s happening.)

Saturday night, we went for dinner in Rocky River, which is quickly becoming my favorite western suburb. (Between the Rocky River Reservation, the cute restaurants and cafes, a legit bakery that makes the best crusty bread I’ve found here so far, I’m smitten and apt to do a wee bit more exploring there over the next few months.)

The next morning, we risked the elements and took off during a break in the storms to take a quick stroll in the Rocky River Reservation. Aside from an end-of-walk downpour, it was mostly pretty paths and colorful leaves that abounded, and we made the most of the less-than-ideal weather and enjoyed ourselves.

The next weekend saw more cooperative weather and a visit from Jamie. I take no responsibility for the fact that, two minutes after we picked her up from the airport, Lachlan was asking Jamie if she had any cookies in her purse. (That’s all Damon’s doing.)

Our weekend with Jamie consisted of a brisk morning woods walk in — you guessed it! — Rocky River Reservation followed by some fancy hot chocolate at the Erie Island Coffee shop — which was cute as a button and served up some very decent coffee.

We took a little stroll to check out some of the local shops, but Lachlan’s attention span for shopping is … well, it’s about what you’d expect. Ha!

Later that evening, we went to Ohio City and showed off the West Side Market and got some hot soup to eat for dinner at the Souper Market. Along with that, Lachlan and I put on a show — tentatively titled, “Mommy Says Go to School; Mommy Came Back” — in the Ohio City square, where a raised platform inspired us theatrically. We maybe also sang and danced. Our performance was very well received by our audience of one — Jamie.

Sunday morning we went to the Cleveland Museum of Art — which was big, beautiful, recently redesigned, teeming with activities for kids, and … FREE! So I only sort of minded that Lachlan flat out refused to look at any of the artwork — not even one gallery — and I had to just color pictures in the big, bright atrium instead. (But the atrium is great for natural light and big open space, which we’ll find ourselves hungry for this winter.)

Jamie taught Lachlan that he wasn’t allowed to touch the art, and added a bonus “don’t eat the art” lesson to compliment the first. He found it HILARIOUS!

We got to keep Jamie around for an extra night (woo-hoo!), but had to send her off to the airport Tuesday morning. (Bye Jamie! We miss you!)

And then this weekend, my friend Jen came to visit from Chicago. The weather was MUCH less cooperative for her visit, and as a result, we had to get a little more creative about our activities. The Bay Arts center was having a holiday art show, which we checked out. It involved a lot of steering Lachlan away from breakable things and drawing on pages that were really meant to be used for other purposes. (Fun fact: Apparently Lachlan knows how to draw very good strawberries, complete with stem. He also drew a pear and about 14 “D”s for Daddy — his favorite letter. (“Is that a D for my Daddy?” he asks, whenever we see a D written anywhere.)

We hit Flip Side burger for lunch with LJ, where he colored and colored and colored even after we had paid the check. (At one point I started putting his stuff away, and then was like, “What am I doing? This is basically a miracle. I should just sit and enjoy it.” And I did, and we got in another 20 minutes of visiting before he was done coloring. Seriously. Miracle.)

On Saturday night, we decided to see what kind of takeout we could get in the western suburbs, and were rewarded for our efforts by getting some tasty dosas to eat. Sweet!

Sunday we went to the Cleveland Flea, but Lachlan was a little too tired to even try to hang, and after a few behavior-splosions, we packed it up and headed back home where he took a long nap and woke up a much happier human. It started snowing just a little bit before we had to take Jen to the airport, and for fun, I took a long-cut detour to the airport through — wait for it … — ROCKY RIVER RESERVATION, so she could see it for herself. And with a little snow falling and a dusting on the ground, it was like the whole place had changed clothes for the season and was ready to show off its winter style. So lovely. I’m looking forward to exploring it this winter! (If that isn’t ridiculously obvious.)

And now, we get ready to pack up for Thanksgiving, which will also be fun and lovely in a totally different way.

Busy Busy Threes

Whew. Lachlan is one week deep into being three, and already it’s been a crazy busy ride. After an **EPIC** third birthday party, Lachlan started a transition week from daycare to full-on big-boy preschool at the Montessori. (They do partial days for a week to help ease the transition, which has definitely helped smooth things a bit.)

On Tuesday, after I picked LJ up from school, we scooped up big Daddy D and told him to get in the car, we’re going on an adventure. (LJ was in on the surprise and could barely hold in the adventure secret! He was bursting with it.) We whisked Daddy D off to Rocky River to show him our new favorite place. Along the way, we saw four deer, a crane, a family of ducks, and went on a super fun nature walk until the sun set and we had to leave. Then we had dinner “at a place,” which is what LJ calls it whenever we eat out. (Sometimes he specially requests to have dinner “at a place,” and it cracks us up because he truly doesn’t care WHICH place, only that we’re going to a PLACE.)  We picked Market in Rocky River, which had a laid back vibe, tasty food, and yummy local beer.

After that — by Lachlan special request, even though it was a cold, windy night — we stopped in at Mitchell’s for ice cream. It was an adventure night … you don’t say no to ice cream on an adventure night!

The next day, I had to fly off to Dallas for my company’s big annual meeting, so the boys were on their own for a quick 48 hours. (#NOGirlsAllowed)

When I got back on Friday afternoon, I unpacked, repacked, and we scooted out the door to head to Pittsburgh, because the short film that Damon and his partner made last year had gotten in to a short film festival there.

As a small leap of faith, we decided to take the whole family to the showing, with the caveat that if Lachlan couldn’t hang, I’d scoot out of the theater with him and find Damon after. But we needn’t have worried. Even though the shorts block was the length of a full feature film (about 90 minutes) and the topics were well over little man’s head, he was totally content to sit and watch the movies in the theater, and got all excited when he saw our San Francisco apartment featured in Damon’s film. (“That’s Daddy’s bed,” could be heard in the otherwise quiet theater.)

He did such a good job, that we ended up extended our stay in Pittsburgh an extra day so we could participate more in the festival and see the all-ages shorts on Saturday — which he was also a total angel for. (Atta boy, LJ!)

The morning we woke up in Pittsburgh, Lachlan said — all in one breath: “Are we in Pittsburgh? Did we sleep in Pittsburgh? I like Pittsburgh! Can I have a burger?” The idea of Pittsburgh = burgers somehow got lodged in his brain, and even on Sunday as we were driving out of town and Damon asked him what his favorite part of Pittsburg was, Lachlan enthusiastically replied, “Burgers!” (We had precisely ZERO burgers in Pittsburgh.)

We didn’t get to explore *quite* as much as we would have liked. We were able to navigate to and from clearcut destinations in spite of the combination of crappy cold + rainy weather + a toddler, but meandering aimlessly was pretty lame. So in the end, on Saturday evening, we popped into a drug store, bought a box of crayons, a sketch pad, and a bag of green army men (we thought we were only staying one night, so weren’t totally prepared for toddler hotel entertaining) and hoofed it back to the hotel. We ended up occupying a small corner of the hotel lounge for nearly two hours while Lachlan colored and played and the Brennen parentals enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine. It was cold outside and warm inside and that was just fine.

While Damon was flying back to San Francisco early Monday morning, Lachlan was starting his first full day in preschool. As with all transitions, it’s had its bumps, but on the whole he’s doing well. He had a few potty accidents his second day, but his teachers are very positive about how he’s doing with the transition. And I got a graduation report card from his daycare teacher that showed him literally excelling in every area with a note that he is a fast learner and is “an all around awesome kid with a great personality, great listener, sweet and nurturing, very nice friend, and developing on point.” It was very nice to hear that his teacher sees some of the same qualities in him that we do. (And good to know that we’re not just hilariously biased.)

Tuesday night was trick-or-treat, and Lachlan donned Big Cousin Kye’s hand-me-down elephant costume — possibly the cutest, coziest, most wearable kid’s costume I’ve ever seen. We ended up tagging along with some new neighborhood friends while they trick-or-treated, which made the evening even more fun. Instead of being glued to me, Lachlan dashed along after the big kids and ran up all by himself from door to door, said “trick-or-treat” and “thank you” at every stop, and got a contact high just by being in the proximity of that much sugar.

Whew. Busy busy busy, indeed! And we’re just getting started! This weekend, Grandma Nora and Papa Joe are coming for a visit. Next weekend will guest star Aunt Jamie! And the weekend after that … my BFF Jennifer is coming from Chicago for a visit. Woo! And then two days later we head to Tahoe for Thanksgiving. I feel like I haven’t even blinked yet, and November is already completely accounted for. Not that I’m complaining. All this company is keeping us warm and cozy and happy — from the inside out.

And Then He Was Three …

Dear Lachlan,

Today you are three.

Well … technically speaking, you were also three yesterday, but we had a really, really busy day celebrating you yesterday (ahem … and the day before that), so let’s just agree to let me fudge the details ever-so-slightly, mmkay?

My sweet, smart, tall, skinny, silly, sensitive, curious, creative, boy … you are three, and maybe just about now you’re starting to realize how lucky you are.

You have a great big family full of people who love you to bits — from your Nene and Papa who were willing to drive so so far to share your birthday with you and your Great Uncle Mike and Aunt Renee (and Adriane, Haley, and Blake) who were willing to have a toddler birthday party descend upon their home like a happy, birthday-cake-scented hurricane so we could all gather to celebrate you. You have your Grandma Nora and Papa Joe, who hosted us and your Georgia grandparents so that everyone could be together and get the most birthday time possible with you. And — oh my goodness! — everyone else who either showed up and showered you with love and attention, or the family near and far who sent love and birthday wishes to where you are. (Ahem … and there may have been a few presents sprinkled in, too. Lucky, lucky you.)

My only wish for you is that you are wise enough (with a small exemption granted for your adolesence) to never take this big love you have for granted.

That you are grateful and that you keep on giving that big love back to the people who love you, every way you can, always is what I want most for you. And that you understand that it’s the giving back of love that will make your life the brightest. If I can only teach you one thing, this is what I want to teach you. (How to make a badass cup of coffee will be lesson number two. That will come MUCH later.)

The weekend we had couldn’t have been better if we picked it out from a catalog. Beautiful fall foliage. Perfect too-warm-for-October temperatures. Smiles all around, pretty much nonstop. Have I mentioned that you’re lucky?

And to top it all off, your Ohio cousins got to help you celebrate your birthday, too!

Sophie and Brady and Gradyn, who you’re getting to know as we spend more time with them on our Midwestern adventure, were there to play and bring their bright, busy energy. Birthday cake is delicious. Sharing birthday cake with your cousins — who managed to resist every urge they felt to try to steal your new toys — is a whole other caliber of wonderful.

Happy third birthday, my boy! And thank you for three of the sweetest years of my life so far. I could have never imagined you until you showed up. I was woefully unprepared for the impact you would have on my life … and I wouldn’t change a single thing. You make every day brighter (and a little more exhausting), and I’m grateful!

So much love to you always,

Your Mama xo

More Fall Fun!

It was another autumn-fun-filled weekend here in Westlake — and to make things a little extra special, we had a Saturday guest star: Heidi!

We kicked the weekend off with some spooky, seasonal theater in Geneva. Heidi and I carpooled and met friends Misty and Eddy for dinner theater while Lachlan hung out with his new favorite sitter. It was a late-ish night by the time we made it to Geneva and back, but all in good fun. And Lachlan was completely delighted when he woke up in the morning and found out that Heidi was still there! (She spent the night rather than drive back to Medina, and whenever Heidi and I have had plans, Lachlan’s first question when he wakes up is, “Where’d Heidi go?” This time I got to answer, “She’s still here!” And could barely hold him back from waking her up immediately.)

We had a big breakfast together and a lazy-ish morning. Lachlan and I went to the rec center for a little bit to give Aunt Heidi some elbow room to wake up, and then we all headed out to the last Cleveland Flea of the season. There was fancy ice cream (frozen Mexican hot chocolate with a giant marshmallow), delicious food truck burgers, dogs to pet, music to dance to, and waaaaay more sunshine than you’d expect from a Mid-October Saturday.

After a failed nap attempt — in spite of being tired, rather than sleep, Lachlan talked non-stop for nearly an hour — we threw in the towel and decided to get outside to play. Heidi had done some exploring in the Rocky River Reservation last weekend, so was up for playing tour guide for us — and I’m so glad she did! Within the first few minutes entering the park, I was completely and utterly smitten.

Guys … I think we might have found our new happy place!

Miles of beautiful park land that follows the Rocky River, full of lush woods, walking paths, bike trails, picnic spots, river views, and the best smelling autumn air I’ve breathed in a long, long time. Looking at the paths, I saw a whole big bunch of future adventures opening up for us — picnics and walks and sledding and exploring. It was just lovely.

We wandered in the park until the daylight started to fade, and then Lachlan asked very sweetly if we could eat dinner “At a place … with Heidi,” a request we were both very inclined to indulge. So we headed to Berea for dinner on the square, where Lachlan dined like a perfect gentleman, even though I thought he might be a napless-ticking-timebomb. (Nope. He was a very, very good boy!)

 

Sunday was a little quieter without our favorite guest star. We hit the park and the grocery store before noon, and had a long late morning FaceTime session with Daddy followed by a much needed looooooong nap.

The afternoon was autumn-rainy, but we made it out to the library to get some more books (!) and for an ice cream pitstop. (We might have a fairly serious frozen dairy addition problem in this house.) We spent the evening cooking up some food for the week to come, painting some pictures with “hand drops” (Lachlan’s word for hand prints that I can’t bear to correct) on them, and generally enjoying the heck of the last few hours of our weekend.

 

Ohio Autumn

One of the things I missed the most living outside the Midwest the past decade is autumn. San Francisco and Los Angeles were both dismal at producing an autumn worth mentioning. A handful of dead leaves and an imperceptible drop in temperatures … is that all you’ve got?

As a testament to my autumnal infatuation, on the drive home from getting ice cream today, Lachlan said, “Look at those trees, Mommy. Aren’t they so beautiful? I see red, orange, yellow. It’s so pretty.” (He was parroting me. The waxing poetic I’ve been doing as we drive here or there, urging him to take note. This is special! This is autumn! You should notice!)

All of my coaching is probably too overt. He gets when I’m pushing an agenda. In this case, “Love Autumn.”

This weekend got off to a rocky start. He was sooooo grumpy Friday night, that I put him to bed at 7:30 thinking he was just leftover tired from our Thursday night swim class — which both wears him out and puts us on schedule to get to bed late by the time we eat and bathe. Nope. He wasn’t leftover tired, he was coming down with something. I woke up to a vomit explosion in Lachlan’s bed, which necessitated a very delicate emergency bath operation. It might have actually been easier to burn his bed to the ground than to clean it, but instead, I scrubbed everything (gag) solid out in the tub before throwing it into the laundry and heading back in with a firmed stomach and a roll of disinfectant wipes to get to the rest of the dirty work. Bleh.

This was our second bodily fluid incident of the week. Ahem.

In an attempt to avoid having to try to poop on the potty, on Wednesday night, Lachlan spotted a “loophole” and thought he could get away with pooping during his bath instead. It’s not the potty, but it’s also not his undies so … genius? Ugh.

Of course, before he tried it, he emptied every single one of his tub toys into the bathwater (camouflage?), so not only did I have to scrub the kid and the bath from tip to top, I had to disinfect every single alphabet foam toy and the twelve Hotwheels cars he had in there too. (My efforts were intensified by the fact that I had listened to a podcast about antibiotic resistant bacteria the night before and was imagining all of the GI havoc his trickery was going to lead to.)

A few hours later, deep into our Saturday morning, Lachlan had a meal in his belly — oatmeal, which is easy on an upset tummy — and he was begging to go to the library. He seemed to have perked up, so — perhaps against my better judgement — we went. All was well — we played, read books, etc. — and then he said, “My tummy,” in that very specific whimper pitch. Uh-oh.

We hauled booty into the car to get back home, but didn’t quite make it in time.  Ugh. Car seat destruction. Another cleanup job. (He thought it was hilarious that I decided it would be easier to just carry soiled-him-in-the-carseat to the door rather than try to get him out of the carseat without making a bigger mess. Note to self: If properly motivated, I can apparently carry about 65 lbs of barf-soaked-toddler + carseat a fair distance. Good thing I do my pushups, eh?)

We got through the rest of the day without leaving the house. Lachlan stayed curled up on the couch with his “soft blankie,” once it was liberated from the morning’s wash. He watched more episodes of Bubbles Guppies than I’d like to admit, but it was a sick day, so we instituted sick day rules. We got through it. Sometimes that is the objective.

Thankfully, by Sunday morning, he had truly made a full recovery. Thankfully because no one wants a sweet, handsome toddler to be sick, but also because I had been planning to take him to a local pumpkin patch this weekend, and would have been bummed if we couldn’t make it happen. (Especially after all of the hype.)

Bonus: It lived up to the hype!

There was a corn maze, a hay ride, goats to feed, pumpkin bowling, a bouncy house, a straw maze, a straw slide, a corn box (sandbox but with corn kernels), a mechanical corn cob (to ride like a mechanical bull, we wisely opted out), a wooden train (that he said he was going to drive to Grandma Nora’s house), apple cider, and pumpkins, of course. It was so worth the trip and the $6 entry fee (total), and was a great way to spend a post-sick-day reacquainting ourselves with wellness and fun.

We stayed as long as we could stand it, until it was obvious that nap time needed to intervene, and then drove home and crashed out for the afternoon.

For a weekend that started off so rocky, we ended up having a really sweet time here enjoying my favorite (and maybe his future favorite?) season.

This was our first weekend at home in Ohio in almost a month. After two weekends in San Francisco, last weekend we headed west to Indiana for the weekend. Lachlan spent much of the time with Pawpaw Jim and Grandma Annie while I spent a rare day with my Mom, several of her sisters, and my Grandma. The sisters had arranged to take Grandma to Shipshewana for a play and lunch for her 80th birthday, and when one of the sisters couldn’t make it, the ticket was offered to me.

I didn’t commit at first — and thank you to my family for understanding my committment phoebia! I had a LOT of work travel on the horizon, and couldn’t promise I’d be there. But I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO GO! This is exactly the kind of family event that I’ve been missing, and I knew it would be important to be there. So last Saturday, while Lachlan played at the lake with Pawpaw Jim and Grandma Annie, I spent the whole day with my Mom, Aunt Julie, Aunt Lisa, and Grandma Bonnie, and it was lovely. A real blessing.

After the day’s festivities, I rushed back to the lake house to catch up with Lachlan. It turns out the weekend we were there they were hosting lake trick-or-treat for the kids before everyone heads home for the off season. Lachlan was helping Grandma Annie hand out candy until someone came by with a scary costume, and then he was a bundle of nerves. (I can’t blame him. A few of the costumes were really just too scary for a 5pm trick-or-treat event that was clearly aimed at kiddos.)

The next morning, before Pawpaw Jim had to get his boat out of the water, we went for a last-hurrah boat ride. Dad let Lachlan drive the boat — controlling the throttle and the steering wheel, which thrilled LJ. And then we poked around for a little bit longer, packing up and playing around until it was time to go.

We headed to Grandma Nora’s for lunch after that and enjoyed a few hours with her before we went back home. Lachlan slept the entire way — driveway to driveway — from Auburn to Cleveland. All that fun can really wear a kiddo out.

Even though we’ve enjoyed the last few weekends tremendously, it was so nice to be truly home this weekend — stomach bugs and all — to feel unrushed and easy and to just enjoy the sweetness of this season.

Lazy Post

The past few weeks have been crazy busy. A dash too much work travel on top of not feeling totally settled in with the new digs. I’m catching my breath. This post will be lazy and will not recap the (lovely … exhausting) week we just spent in San Francisco.

Lachlan Tidbits:

• He likes to reverse roll play. HE is the Mommy, I am Lachlan, and we reenact the routine parts of our day. He buckles me into my pretend car seat and gives me pretend pretzels and juice and tells me we’re going to the park. He puts me in timeout because I hit my Mommy and that’s a no-no. He takes me to school, goes to work, and then come back and tells me, “See? Mommy always comes back.”
• During our week in San Francisco, on several occasions he insisted on wearing his sun glasses well into night. “I can’t see!” He’d say, but refused to take them off, big, goofball grinning the whole time.

• We’ve been talking a lot about his upcoming birthday. He knows he’s going to be three soon and he tells lots of strangers about it. Today at the park, through a veil of thick mesh privacy netting, some kids were getting a tennis lesson on the neighboring courts. Lachlan yelled at them, “Hey! It’s gonna be my birthday party real soon. I’m two, but I’m GONNA be three … okaaaaay?”
• We are knee deep in potty training, which also involves him following me to the bathroom. “Yay! Good job!” He’ll tell me. “I’m really proud of you, Mommy! You pottied like a big boy!”

• He is really excited about autumn because I told him that the leaves are going to turn bright colors, and then they’ll fall off the tress. The trees will be nakey, it will snow, and then it will be spring and the trees will get new green leaves. (Long pause. Giggle.) “Mommy said the trees will be nakey.” So … nakey trees here we come!
• He “helps” me drive. “Mommy, look out for that big truck!” “Light is green, Mommy!” “Mommy, don’t drive on the grass, okaaaaay?”

• He’s fairly obsessed with the daytime and nighttime right now. That it gets dark outside and that the sun comes up and goes down. He always wants to know exactly what the sun is up to and is hyper aware of light transitions. At dusk he’ll ask, “Is it dark? Or GETTING dark?” And if it’s light out but the sun hasn’t quite risen yet, he’s very concerned. “Where’d the sunshine go?”
• “But whhhhhhyyyyyyyy?” x 1,000 times a day. I have a lot of patience for telling him why, but not *quite* enough to outlast his patience for asking.

• He was in bad need of new shoes, so we went to my favorite kids shop while we were in SF. I let him pick out which ones he wanted, so obviously he has the EXACT SAME shoes in the next size up. (“Red, Mommy. Red shoes.”)

</end lazy post>