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Grady has been wearing the same shirt for about three days now. He won't let me take it off of him. It's a blue Mickey Mouse t-shirt that my mom got for him when she was in California. He has a song he's been singing too, and it goes something like this:
"Baby brudder!
Baby brudder!
Gray-dee and
Eh-van
Mickey Mouse!
Mickey Mouse!"
These last few weeks have been exhausting, and I'm hoping to return to some normalcy this week. Our latest adventure was a week in Cleveland with the grandparents while Mike presented at a conference in Atlantic City. The boys and I had fun during our visit--Evan and I even got to have a date day at Soak City. He had a fantastic time and I'm glad we got the chance to do that. Unfortunately, I got a sunburn (yes, I applied SPF 50 3 times that day, so not sure how that happened) and the trip made me really want to go to Cedar Point. I miss the big coasters!
Luckily, we have two Waldameer days planned in August, as well as two family reunions, a class for Mike, a trip to Grady's allergist at Children's, and who knows what else. You can see why I'd like this week to be a quiet one. And believe it or not, the first day of school is just four weeks from Wednesday. But I swear I'm not counting.
It's hot. I walked Evan to camp this morning at 8 and came back dripping sweat, and it's only a few blocks away. I hope the coaches take it easy on the kids today.
Yesterday was the first day Ev came home from camp really tired. It was funny--they can run that kid all day long and he still wants more. But yesterday he was whiny and moping around, and I could tell he'd had enough. He perked up a little when we went to a party for one of Mike's co-workers, but that was about all he could muster last night. Still, he didn't fall asleep until after 9:30, when I'm sure I could have gone to bed happily at 8.
I've been having trouble getting Ev to eat also, and it has me worried. He needs to eat, especially when he's so active, but it's just not a priority for him. The other day, he had three spoonfuls of cereal for breakfast, a handful of crackers for lunch (didn't eat the sandwich, cookies, or juice I packed) and then had two grilled chicken legs for dinner. I don't think this sounds like enough food for a very active and underweight six year old. I'm trying not to make a big deal about it, but he just gets me going sometimes.
Grady, on the other hand, will eat anything that's not nailed down. If we deny him something, he will find a way to get it himself. More than once I've caught him on the top shelf of the food cupboard, having dragged a chair over to get the needed height. We got our first load of veggies from the farm share we joined this week, and Grady was excited to see a pint of raspberries in the mix. He's also thrilled with the cucumbers, but I'm not sure he'll be as big a fan of the hot peppers.
Evan started day camp today, and I have to say it felt weird just being me and Grady at home again. I think G enjoyed the extra attention, and I was glad to only have to worry about one kid for the day--we had a pretty busy weekend and I'm still recovering. Beth's shower and bachelorette party Saturday knocked me on my butt (and I didn't even drink), but it was a lot of fun and totally worth it.
Ev had a great time at camp too, and he didn't want to leave at the end of the day. The camp is run by the college coaches, and the kids do sports stuff all day, so I figured Ev would be really wiped out by the time he got home. Boy was I wrong. Somehow he still wanted to ride bikes and go to the playground after dinner, and even though I put him to bed at 8:30 he's still awake now, an hour later. Not sure what it's going to take to wear this kid out. Maybe by Friday he'll be tired enough.
He's recently made friends with the two boys down the street, ages 6 and 8. He eagerly waits to see if they come out to ride bikes or scooters, and tonight we walked down to the playground with them and their parents. I'm glad Ev has started hanging out with them--they are good kids and their folks are always around and have an eye on everything. I'm so used to the neighborhood kids just being allowed to run crazy with no supervision (that's how it was around our old house), so it's refreshing to meet other families with parents who are involved.
While I've been typing, the sun has set and the boys have settled down. Here's hoping for a quiet night and that we all wake refreshed in the morning.
We're slowly recovering from the last two weeks of being away from home and having visitors and running back and forth. The boys need a bit more sleep (I think we all do), but this week is proving to be pretty quiet so far and that's good. The weekend is going to be another busy one, but we have a day or two before we have to start gearing up for that.
Grady is doing very well. He's talking a lot more--more new words, longer phrases, and he's becoming easier to understand. I noticed over the holiday how tuned in I am to my own toddler though. I couldn't understand my nephew (a few months older than Grady) about half the time, even though he speaks perfectly well. My ears are just trained to a different two year old dialect I guess!
We're finding out that G's also a big fan of summer fruits. He eats blueberries by the handful, and he can't get enough of the raspberries right off the bush in our backyard. Sadly, those bushes have a serious Japanese beetle problem, and I'm afraid he's as likely to eat a beetle as a berry. G also put a hurting on the watermelon at my brother's house on the 4th of July--he must have eaten five slices. I bought another whole one today that I'm looking forward to sharing with him.
Evan is doing fine too. He was at the emergency room on the morning of the 5th--he woke up with a swollen finger that he got from playing baseball with my brothers at the picnic the day before. Luckily, it's only a sprain, and a few days of a splint seem to have taken care of that completely. I'm glad too, because we didn't want anything to stand in the way of him going to day camp next week. He's really looking forward to it, and I think it will be a lot of fun for him.
The sky is darkening, and it looks like another summer storm is headed our way. I feel like I'm regularly racing around the house to shut the windows before it rains. I always wait until the last minute.
It's a busy week here, and today I'm in between a long weekend at the in-laws and a long weekend with my family. The boys had great fun in Ohio with their cousins--Evan rode his bike and went in the pool and ran around like a wild man, while Grady didn't wear more than a diaper for most of the weekend, climbing and running and jumping endlessly.
But now I have to head up to my dad's and help get a room ready for my new nephew to come visit. Jerry, I am cursing all of your books right now. I hope to be back with lots of fun to share after the holiday.