It seems like just yesterday I was bringing home my little 8+ pound of joy - and quickly discovered that I had absolutely no idea what the heck I was doing. Somehow we both managed to survive, even though I was told Domino was "failing to thrive" while I was breastfeeding and I was instructed to wake him every 2 hours to feed him - setting up a horrible sleep pattern that continued for the better portion of his first year of life. Thankfully he morphed into a sleep champ because I'm not so sure any of us would have survived, and we certainly would not have thrived, had he continued screaming bloody murder every 114 minutes all night long.I started out this summer terrified of what the boys and I would do all day, every day, without the MWF joys of preschool. I made charts and schedules of places to go and times they were open, lists of ideas of things to do when we got stir crazy (or just plain crazy), and I never used any of them once. The kids probably (definitely) watched more tv and played more computer games than they (probably) should have but I decided to have a "go with the flow" summer and let the kids decide what they wanted to do and followed their lead. Their lives are going to be hectic enough when the school year starts and it has been very nice to just hang out at home and hang out with each other.
Even with a lazy summer attitude, we've managed to make some really great memories. Some of my favorites of the summer....
Our weekly playdate with "school friends" every Friday afternoon at a park in Napa. It's been something for us all to look forward to each week. One week in particular, Domino's favorite friend (obsession!) showed up at the playdate unexpectedly after several weeks of missing her. Domino was so overcome with emotion when he saw her that he ran over to hug *me* and started crying "I'm just so happy!" and then he announced "I just need a few minutes to calm down". Once he got himself settled he ran over to her, gave her a big hug, and then proceeded to follow her all over the park holding her hand. Can't wait to see what the teen years have in store for us when he really experiences his first puppy love. (photo courtesy of Tracy and her shiny new iPhone!)
Another summer favorite was hitting Great America. Rascal still isn't quite tall enough to go on a lot of rides, but there's a roller coaster there that he just meets the height limit by a few hairs. As the coaster started going up (and up and up!!!) I remember thinking to myself "oh lord, what have I done?!" and I knew he would freak out. When it started to zoom down (and down and down!!!) I turned to look at him and sure enough, he looked scared to death. At the bottom of the first drop the coaster goes through a mist cloud and then brings you back up high with a sideways turn looking down at the ground below, straightens back up for another dip down, there's a huge hairpin style turn, a few more jerky hills and dips and then a screeching halt into the station lurching your whole body forward and then violently whipping it back. I was certain that would be the last roller coaster ride Rascal would take until his early 20's. But as Rascal has been known to do on more than one occasion, he surprised the heck out of me. We arrived back at the coaster station and he announced "AGAIN!". There wasn't a line for the ride so we just stayed in our seats and took another whirl. And another. And another. Can't think of a better way to be surprised by Rascal.
A recent family fun adventure was hitting the Prewitt Family Water Park in Antioch. Water slides and kiddie pools galore. Domino was the shocker that day and went down 2 fairly adventurous water slides solo. I attempted to catch him at the bottom of one slide but he came down with such a force that he sent a tidal wave over my head and we both went under water. I grabbed him by the life vest and pulled him upright as he sputtered "Mom! You drowned me!" Historically, Domino has not been eager to try new things, especially involving water. The fact that he went down a big kid water slide, a tunnel at the top with no visible landing point that dumped into a deep pool, was a huge step for him. Adding in the fact that he went under water and was still excited about going down the slide again was astounding.
There the kids also learned how to use our camera and took their first picture of Tony and me. Cheese!
This summer also had some great Discovery Kingdom days with my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew. We don't visit with each other often enough so it was great to see the kids hanging out having a fun time. Domino has usually avoided the kids play fountain area of the park but through my niece's example he enjoyed splashing and dashing along with the other kids. I think they both came out of their shells around each other.
One day a week the boys went to a summer day camp at Connolly Ranch. For 5 hours the boys played in the mud, fed chickens, brushed donkeys, milked goats, harvested fruits and vegetables, went on nature hikes and created unique crafts like crowns made out of branches and flowers, "stick"y bird feeders out of branches, sap and seed, and felted soap balls out of the resident sheep's wool. They came home as filthy as the animals at the farm. That's not the greatest photo to demonstrate the layers of muck they would come home wearing, but the sock was once upon a time white, as well as the ankle. Rascal's foot though inside the shoe was as white as could be because he had jumped into some sort of barrel of water at the beginning of the day and had been wearing those shoes soaking wet for 5 hours. His foot looked like one massive raisin!And during those 5 glorious hours while the kids were at camp? Tony and I enjoyed going out to breakfast, catching movies and wandering aimlessly while enjoying each other's company. On the week when Tony had to work on camp day, I treated myself to a haircut and color, a manicure and a pedicure and still manged to have an hour left over to grab a Starbucks and surf the net in silence. We cherished those 5 hours together. I think we've both been longing for them for 5 years.
But in retrospect, I can see that I have also been cherishing the other 1000+ hours this summer as my last long weeks with my "first baby" before he heads off into the big world of kindergarten. He's more than ready to go and I know that he's going to enjoy it - far more than he'll enjoy hanging out with me.
I love you Domino. And as Marlin says to Nemo - "Go have an adventure!"I'll be ready to catch you at the bottom of the slide...
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