Keeping It Fair: Take 8,085

So, this is something that I deal with all the time. 8,085 times, you ask? Sure. Took the approximate number of days that I have been the mom of more than one child and multiplied it by 7: the average of times a day that I have to think about whether my little darlings are getting fair and equal treatment. It's probably more than that, but I'm not counting those little things like when Bear's cookie is 1/4" bigger in diameter than Monkey's.

Monkey went to camp last week and will continue this week. Camp for preschoolers, starting at age 3. He went last year. Yes, I sent my 3.5 year old to camp. In the woods. For four hours a day. And he loved it. This year, he's in sports camp.

Bear is 3...why isn't he there, too? Well, because he is a young 3. Not fully potty-trained(probably enough to be able to fool the camp counselors...but still, I'd feel guilty about that).

And, he has yet to learn how to curb that urge to run.
Run to see the playground.
Run to play in the creek.
Run to the woods to play his own personal game of hide-and-seek.
Run to do whatever it is that catches his attention at that exact moment and not really get the whole needing-to-stay-with-the-group thing or even the come-back-when-my-name-is-called thing.

Sooooo, he'll go next year.

Still.
I feel guilty.

Big bro' is in sports camp, doing all the things that Bear loves: soccer, t-ball, gymnastics, swimming. He doesn't understand why he can't stay at camp.

So, it's yet another game of trying to keep it fair.
Mission: Impossible.

Trying to do fun things with Bear during the week to make up for it. (Btw, Cub is dragged to all of this and doesn't care- but he's only 14 months, so it's not a concern...yet.)

Went to playgrounds, the splash pad, and the "cookie store", but also had to go to the dmv, the grocery store, and other not-fun errands.

Thought that it would be a great idea to take Bear and Cub to the zoo one day. Bear loves animals, but is often forced back into the double stroller or at least on his backpack/leash contraption in the interest of being able to leave the zoo with the same number of boys with which I arrived.

This would be his chance to be able to walk, see whatever animals he wanted, and have a special day, while Monkey was at camp doing all of Bear's favorite things: swimming, soccer, and hiking in the woods.

But.
We go to leave that morning and Hubs asks me what the littles and I will be doing while Monkey is at camp.

I tell him that we are going to the zoo.

His reaction?

"Poor Monkey!"

What?????

Poor Monkey?
Who gets to be at camp, having fun?

I felt like banging my head against a wall.
It's official.
I can't win.

At least, next summer, both Monkey and Bear can go to camp.
And I can hope, that as a young 2, Cub still won't mind that he's not able to go yet.
What are the odds of that?

Our Vacation in the Car

Really, it feels like that's where we spent most of our time.

Started out with leaving around dinnertime on a Thursday and driving for about 5 hours and stopping for the night. Get up early Friday morning and drive 5.5 hours to see the in-laws in SC. Stayed there until early Sunday morning, when we drove another 5.5 hours to Disney World. Stayed there until early Thursday morning, when we drove 10 hours to NC to visit yet more in-laws. Stayed there until early Saturday morning(which happened to be my birthday), when we drove the 10 hours back home. Happy Birthday to me.

While you might look at that schedule and see lots of holes where we obviously were not going on a long drive, but doing things with family or enjoying Disney World(more on carting three boys 4 and under through that magical place later), it was still A LOT of driving.

Thank goodness that the day we left, we received 2 portable dvd players in the mail from Grandma. Those, coupled with lots of snacks, got us through. Not always happily, but through, anyway.

Hubby prefers to drive, since he drives much faster than I do, but the few times that I did take my turn at the wheel, Hubby would promptly fall into a coma and then we would encounter either a construction zone where we could only go about 25mph or an accident, where traffic would come to a standstill. The older boys would decide they wanted a new dvd, a snack, and a potty break, while the baby would throw his binky where I couldn't reach it and then loudly demand it back. All while Hubby remained in his coma, snoring loudly. There was the time when a storm hit and I couldn't even see past the front of the truck. All during my turn at the wheel.

We did have a great time on our trip, but the driving portion of it tends to overtake the good memories. But, I can't imagine if we had actually taken a plane to get there. With all of the stuff that is required for the boys and the two of us...car seats, pack and play, toys, diapers, clothes, food, etc....I can't imagine how we possibly would have been able to lug all of that into an airport and not have lost a child or two along the way. So, we'll stick with driving for a while.

Potty Training Backsliding

I have finally hit that preschool-starts-in-a-little-over-a-month-and-you-need-to-be-potty-trained-to-attend desperation mode of potty training with my middle son, who is a little over 3 now.

We started last week and he's actually doing really well. Gets the whole peeing in the potty thing. Not really the pooping thing, but I have hope. He does think that he needs to be naked from the waist down in order to go and he can't dress himself afterwards, so I'm not really sure that counts as potty trained, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to work those things out before preschool starts.

Despite the fact that it's my middle son who is potty training, this really isn't about him. It's about my oldest, who has been potty trained for about 15 months now. I waited until he was almost 3.5 to potty train him, so he did it very quickly: a day and a half and then no more accidents. Ever.

But, now that he sees all the attention that his younger brother is getting, he all of a sudden is claiming that he needs help going to the potty or that he can't make it.

In fact, this afternoon, while the baby was napping and the two big boys were supposed to be in a Phineas and Ferb trance, he burst into the bathroom while I was taking a shower to announce that he had pooped in his underpants.

Seriously? While I was actually getting to take a shower? Now, I have to get out and deal with a four and a half year old who has poop in his pants? Seriously?

Maybe I'll have to change the wording in the rewards I give my middle son for using the potty- tell him he gets a gummy bear for keeping his underpants clean instead of just saying for using the potty...I don't know, something.

I was just beginning to see the light at the end of the diaper tunnel...not really- there's still the baby...I was just beginning to see the light at the end of the two-kids-in-diapers tunnel and all of a sudden I have THREE boys who I have to worry about?

Please let this be a passing thing. Oh, please, please, please.

Back from Vacation

Though our vacation just lasted about 10 days, it seeemed to take up about a month and a half of our time. Getting everything and everyone ready, going on the actual vacation, then adjusting to normal and doing 37 loads of laundry= a month and a half.

We did enjoy ourselves, though I'm not sure I'm even ready to talk about it yet, since it will probably bring back more of the traumatic memories rather than the good....