Joys and Ironies

This past Saturday, I took Caleb to The Children’s Museum. (Side note: I’m seriously kicking myself that I didn’t have a camera, but we’re going again next week, so I should get some shots at that point.) The irony is this: when Caleb and I are at home alone together, he needs to be with me every minute of every day. Right now, for instance, even though he was playing happily with his barn one minute ago, the second I got out of his line of sight, he flipped out and followed me ~ and is again torturing the fish. However, when we’re out in public and I need him to stay near me, I’m his least favorite person in the universe.

Anyway, we had SO much fun! I did have a few tiny cardiac infarctions because of the sheer amount of time that I didn’t have visual contact with him. There are so many fun places for kids to run, crawl, climb, hide and play that if I’d had about three more sets of eyes I would have felt much calmer about being there. But it was a wonderful way to wear him out! He actually lasted about three and a half hours, which was ninety minutes longer than I’d anticipated. However, he hadn’t had a snack or a drink in that long ~ and nor had pregnant and needy mommy. It made for a relatively cranky afternoon for both of us!

Let’s see ~ Grandma G came and took him away from me on Sunday afternoon. Jonathan is in Chicago, so this was a wonderful opportunity for me to have some ME TIME. Guess what? I don’t want me time anymore. How pathetic is that? I was so gosh darn LONELY! Me time = lonely time. Ugh, I better watch what I say or I’ll never get me time again.

I had planned on seeing a couple of movies, reading and taking baths galore. Instead, I read a couple books, saw Harry Potter, and spent the rest of my me time nursing a nauseating headache because I hadn’t used my eyes that much for reading and movie-ing in years. Also, part of the reason is that I saw Harry Potter at Imax in 3-D, so I think my old eyes are just getting a little testy. (But the movie rocked, right? At least I got to see it before it hit video!)

We had Caleb’s pictures taken at Portrait Innovations again, and again, I am blown away by how wonderful their work is. Caleb was uber-clingy and spent more of our time on my lap than with the photographer. It kind of made me laugh, since he’s becoming such a ham and even has three or four fake smiles for pictures now. But they did an awesome job, and I’ll be getting both real photos and e-mailed versions out in the near future!

While we were waiting for the photos to be developed, Mom and I took Caleb to Bounce! It’s one of those places with the giant inflatable castles and slides and things. It took him a while to warm up to it, but then there was a little guy named Isaac – only 15 months old – that was watching him, and you know what a performer he is! Then there was another little guy who was three years old, and he took Caleb under his wing. It was SO much fun! I can’t wait to take him again! He was SO BOLD! He climbed up the fifteen or so steps to the biggest slide in the place, and came down it all without prompting from me!

Again, the lack of camera is causing me to just kick myself. Jonathan has the digital in Chicago, but I could have gotten a disposable or something! Anyway, it was only three dollars, and Caleb ran and jumped for almost an hour and a half before we had to go pickup the developed portraits. It was SO much fun! Next time, I think we’ll go before his nap time to see if we can’t get him to sleep a little longer than an hour!

On Tuesday night, my mom and Caleb were sitting together eating some ice cream. Caleb had his little spoon and had just finished up the bowl of ice cream when he jabbed his spoon in for refills – on the sour cream that was sitting at the table. My mom started trying to stop him, and I, nasty old mom that I am, said to let it happen. Would you believe that he LOVED it?! Hardly a missed beat.

We gotta get on the road now! We’re going to visit Miss Terra and Dean! I can’t wait to see pregnant Terra again. She’s one of those “glowing” pregnant women. And I don’t hate her at all, I promise.

In one more piece of news, my Dad will be home so soon. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for his safety and sanity. It’s been a long road without him – especially for my poor Momma – but we know that what he’s doing is important, and we’re so proud of him we could cry. Praise God for the people who protect our country and our freedoms at the expense of their own comforts and happinesses!