The Small Family     

First and foremost, I want to wish all the mamas out there a happy Mother’s Day! You know who you are, mothers of two-legged and four-legged kids! Hope you had a wonderful day! My super hubby brought me stargazer lilies (LOVE how they smell!) and a tiny Eiffel Tower necklace, in honor of the best part of our honeymoon (Paris). My super son brought me a blue bracelet that says “Joy,” for all the joy he brings me. I was a happy mama!

We spent the morning/early afternoon of Mother’s Day with my Mom. Chris, Theo, Grandma Diane, and I all went to the Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, and then we had lunch at a favorite place in Sacramento: Opa! Opa! (It’s a delicious, casual Greek restaurant with a yummy, yummy bakery named Sweeties right next door. Chris and I ate there almost every week before our birthing classes when I was pregnant with Theo, and it’s always yummy. And casual, which is a beautiful thing when you’re dining with an unpredictable toddler!)

Theo was rather feisty on Mother’s Day, which came as no surprise given our busy day the day before (more on that in a bit). So the Railroad Museum was sort of hit and miss. Theo usually loves to look at the trains, but he was rather cranky and uncooperative in the main part of the museum. However, he really cheered up when we went upstairs to the play area with the train tables, and he had a lot of fun playing there. We even managed to get a picture of him sharing a train with another little boy--yay, Theo! We’re so proud of what a generous little boy he is!

I had low expectations for lunch, given Theo’s semi-crabby mood, but he turned out to do quite well. We plied him with French fries, which is usually a surefire way to keep him happy, and the four of us were able to enjoy a delicious and fun lunch. :-)

Theo took a looooong nap when we got home and was much cheerier upon waking, which proved to me that his crabbiness in the morning was probably indeed that of an overtired little boy. No harm, no foul.

So since I started with Sunday, let’s work backwards. On Saturday, we drove to San Jose to spend an early Mother’s Day with Chris’s mom and family. We spent a couple hours at Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom’s before heading over to Auntie Tanya and Uncle Steve’s house in Willow Glen for the afternoon and dinner. It was a beautiful day on Saturday (unlike Sunday, which was rather dreary and rainy--blah!), so Theo and Nik enjoyed playing out in the backyard in Nik’s sandbox and on his play structure. Theo didn’t have a nap on Saturday, which meant that by about 3:00, he was kind of overwrought. Those of you who’ve been around toddlers can imagine what I mean--when every little thing makes them start wailing. So Chris and I took him for a walk, hoping he’d fall asleep in the stroller. No luck on that front, but we did enjoy the walk to downtown Willow Glen, strolling around looking at the beautiful old houses and the big, gorgeous trees. And the walk seemed to at least mellow Theo out, so he enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. I think he’d probably very much like a sandbox of his own to play in, although he seems to like to eat the sand, so we’ll see about that. (He he he--our beach trip next month should be fun. A whole beach worth of sand to eat!!)

We left at 7:00 p.m. with one very tired little boy, shortly after the Revenge of the Footie Pajamas occurred. I had dressed Theo in his PJs for the ride home, but before we left, he and Nik were chasing each other in the living room. That room is mostly covered in carpet, but there is a hardwood area right by the front door. Lo and behold, Theo slipped, and the final score was Theo 0, hardwood floor 1. He had a lovely purple knot on his noggin within a matter of minutes. It has faded today, but it’s still a pretty impressive bruise. We call this “Revenge of the Footie Pajamas” because Chris suffered a similar fate in footie pajamas as a child, only his resulted in a rather sizeable scar on his upper lip. (In Chris’s case, it was Chris vs. the coffee table.) Ahh, footie pajamas…does any child escape from those unscathed?

So we had an eventful weekend, but the rest of the week had its moments, too. Theo was class clown at Little Gym this week, making everyone laugh with his silly antics. He’s now one of the oldest in his class, so it’s kind of fun to watch him as sort of a “leader.” He still keeps to himself for the most part, but he does seem to attract a following from the younger ones. (All the kids are within a few months in age, but at roughly age 2, the developmental differences from month to month can be pretty significant.)

And, big news: Theo’s float lessons began this week, and he was a rock star! Miss Deborah switched him to Miss Monica (her daughter, who has been teaching with her for years) to see whether he’d be more comfortable with her. And indeed, Theo seems to be a big fan of Miss Monica. Tuesday he did quite well in the water. Wednesday we had no tears, no fussing, and even some laughing, so Mr. Theo earned himself a sticker, which he wore proudly all day, even showing Daddy when Chris got home from work! Thursday he was a little antsy and fussed a fair amount, but he was also doing some floating on his own for several seconds at a time. I have high hopes that we’ll get him graduated before half the summer is over, given how well he’s doing with Miss Monica.

The other big news is that I am loosening the apron strings next weekend. That’s right: For the first time since he was born, we’re leaving Theo overnight. Chris’s birthday is coming up (on the 18th), and he has been dying for a short getaway. So, I planned an overnight trip to Reno for us, with dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, and Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom will be staying Saturday night at the lovely and palatial (ha!) Chez Small with their towheaded grandson, who is sure to have a crazy-good time. I think Theo sometimes gets a little bored of just Chris and me, so he’ll really dig having a new audience for a whole 24 hours!

I know some of you are going, “I can’t believe she’s leaving him overnight!” and others are going, “I can’t believe she took this long to leave him overnight!” For some reason, two years always stuck in my head as the time I’d feel comfortable being away from Theo overnight. It had nothing to do with thinking I’m the only one who can care for him or anything like that…instead, it had everything to do with me liking to look in at my sleeping baby before I go to bed every night. When Theo was an infant, he screamed and cried so much that it was only when he was sleeping that he looked truly peaceful. And so I loved to look in on him asleep and at peace. It just made me happy, and I had no desire to miss that for a night. (Maybe it’s because for a long time I didn’t know whether I’d ever be a mama, but now that I am one, I never want to miss a thing, you know? It’s one of the reasons why I’m so, so grateful that I’m able to work at home with Theo. I get to be there for everything, and that is just priceless.) And even now, I look in on him every night while he’s sleeping peacefully, and it makes me happy.  But Theo is not that screaming, uncomfortable infant anymore--he’s a pretty happy little toddler. And so, I think I’m ready for my baby (no, my little boy) to go to sleep for one night without me peeking in on that sweet little sleeping face. And frankly, I think Chris and I are going to have a ball with our 24 hours of adult time--even if we undoubtedly will spend half of it talking about Theo!

So, until next week…happy days!