Last friday we went out to dinner as a family. It was the first time we totally bailed on our situation. Tom came home and was looking nice. He had a new outfit on- his birthday outfit. A new WHITE shirt, cute tie and new pants. He was looking and feeling good so we decided to try to go out to dinner. Jack had taken a late nap and I grabbed my hooter hider to get Sophie through the dinner. Tom decides not to change and to keep his nice outfit on since he is lookin' good. Sophie is a little fussy in the car, but we've been here before. I can make it with the hooter hider. We did call ahead seating so just a few minutes. Jack is running around like a mad man... but again, we've made it past this before. Especially if he's hungry, he will settle down when the food comes. In less than 5 minutes our buzzer goes off- nice. As any parent knows you don't have precious time to wait on a table. We sit down in the back of the restaurant. We call it the "kiddie section" because every time we go to texas roadhouse with the kids we end up in this section with other families. That helps so we can all annoy each other. Plus, our kids can look at each other, and you get sympathetic looks instead of glares when your child is screaming. Then the problems start. Its about 90 degrees in the restaurant. Tom is BOILING in his pants and long sleeves. Jack is starving and in a bad mood. Oh... and then Sophie decides shes hungry. We are in a small, tight booth, but I get her out and put her on my lap. Using my hooter hider, I begin to nurse her. My hands are tied now with her. Then Jack starts. Peanuts, rolls, ketchup, menus, salt. He is grabbing peanuts and eating them whole. Then he wants ketchup. KETCHUP!!!! I mean NOW. Ketchup. OK. So we give him ketchup. He wants to dip EVERYTHING in the ketchup. Rolls, peanuts, his hands. Wait? Why does he need to dip? He can just eat it straight up. Salt shaker? Oooh, this is fun. Shake, shake, shake. All over. Menus, thrown at me, at dad. He wants down. Grabbing daddy, with ketchup hands on Tom's new white shirt. Dad is sweating, boiling. Patience is lower when you are SOOOO hot. We get our salads. Ok, food is here, he should calm down. WRONG. He wants to walk, he wants to get up. He doesn't want to look at the little girl next to us. I sit Sophie down. Want to sit with Mommy? Ok. He lays his head on my shoulder. Maybe hes tired. Sophie starts crying. Jack is done cuddling after three minutes. Disaster. We can't eat. We are fighting both kids. I need to hold Sophie again. Dad is avoiding Jack's ketchup hands like the plague. Jack is impatient. He wants down. He's not hungry. He's busy, busy. Finally we fold. "To go please?!" we both say in unison when the waitress comes back. Dad chugs his 8 dollar drink and we bail. In the car, the kids are sort of calm. Oh well. We get home and set the food up at the table. We are still going to eat and if the kids want to cry and run around at home, we can handle it for 10 minutes. Jack points to his high chair. Ha. NOW he wants to sit in it and eat. Of course. And sophie relaxes in her swing while we eat. The food is still sort of warm and Jack pigs out. I guess they just didn't want to eat out. I'd say for the many other times we have made it out to dinner and to clippers game, this one fail isn't so bad in the whole scheme of things. Kids 1 point. Parents still ahead. :)
These days Sophie is awake more and more and entertained by things going on around us. She likes looking at faces and smiles all the time at us. She can go about 2 to 3 hours without nursing. She enjoys her swing and bouncy seat. Sometimes the swing can be used for about an hour or more of time alone for her. The bouncy seat vibrations work and she likes to sit in front of the tv or in the bathroom while i shower. I think she likes the colors on tv and she likes the sound of the water in the bathroom. The car usually works to calm her. She seems to quiet when we put her in her chair, like she knows she is about to get in the car. Her cries are less piercing, and start out slower. Its like she trusts us to figure her out. They start out slow and give us time to change her diaper, feed her, hold her... see whats the matter. They don't go into melt down mode immediately. She still likes her sling. I took her to the ox roast and nursed her most of the time. My sister and Tom didn't even know I was nursing until I said something. She fell asleep and was content being in my arms. She is also a good sleeper. She sleeps every night from about 9 or 10 to 5am. We had a few nights where she slept til 7am. I think its because she is not a very good napper during the day.
Jack is the busiest kid. He is either on or off. Running, running, running. He can wear out 4 adults in an evening. He is learning so much. He knows so many words but doesn't say anything. We were looking through his book of first 100 words, and he knows so much these days. Duck, ball, shoes, clock, tv, couch, house, monkies, kitty, doggie, bike, airplane... but only pointing. We also look at magazines for new words and he likes learning new words. He still only says car. I say, "Mama" he says "Car". I laugh, he laughs. I say, "Mama" he says "Car". I laugh, he laughs. I say, "Mama" he says "Car". I laugh, he laughs. And round and round we go. It will come... he knows exactly what we are saying. He understands commands. I can tell him to put things away, give the doggies a treat (and he knows which is ellie and which is maya), to turn on the light, to push a button, to let the dogs out, to bring me my phone, to bring me my remote. He is a little helper. He is also obsessed with holding "Cry's" hand. He loves his sister so much. He always holds her hand. We can all be laying in bed and I see him reach over and hold her hand as they are both falling asleep. It's priceless. Jack is sleeping with us more and more. We are losing that battle. He keeps waking up in the middle of the night, even in our bed, and crying. I am wondering if he is having bad dreams? Jack is also obsessed with playing baseball. He plays baseball with daddy every night. He loves to pitch it to dad and then dad hits it. We are working on catching. I hold his hands and daddy throws to us, and then he catches.
Kids are doing well. I go back to work in just a few days. Worried about it, but know they will be fine and so will I. I have enjoyed the days home with them and each moment is precious. They are growing so fast already, and I just try to freeze each memory in my mind.
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