Sunday, August 23, 2009

Tales from the Shore and Sunday Talks

On Monday, Aug 17 we went to Island Beach State Park. The weather was perfect - hot and steamy. The ocean was cool and the breeze coming off the ocean was refreshing. We arrived at 10:00 and stayed til 5:00.

Ben was a fish, of course. He has taken up body surfing and loves it. Gabe spent the first several hours running away from the waves. Eventually he warmed up to letting me or Mike hold him while he kicked at the waves. The waves were pretty exciting too - not 5 foot waves like this weekend, but still some good body surfing waves crashing on the shore.

Before we left we headed to the showers to wash off the sand and change our clothes. I stood outside the men's bathroom waiting for Mike to finish up with the boys. There was screaming, loud screaming and I knew there was trouble that starts with a capital B. Ben came out (fully dressed thank heavens) and announced loudly that he hurt his penis for the fourth time. Apparently he had a bad case of shore rash on his nether regions. Also, according to Ben, Mike had been a little rough with the zipper (we had forgotten underpants) and nipped the little bugger where it hurts most. Hence the screaming.

Not only did I hear the sordid tale, but so did everyone around me - about 15 people or so. I love Ben's complete lack of self-conscience. Whatever is happening at that moment is his experience and it doesn't matter if the President of America is standing right there - if he needs to let it all out, he will.

Which also brings me to the next experience. Today Ben had the privilege of giving a quick talk in Primary. I was there to help him and prompt him - well how it ended up working is I told him what to say. Ben was acting very strangely during the talk - he was shaking acting kind of nervous. Also, he was grabbing himself - again in the nether regions. By the end of the talk he was shaking and I thought he was just really nervous. After the talk was over (about 1 minute long) he looked down at his pants, looked at me and I knew exactly what was going on. He was peeing his pants on the primary podium.

I tried to usher him out as quickly as possible. He turned around - with legs spread, and whispered to me, "I just peed my pants!" My goal was to get him out of there ASAP. The funny thing is, Ben wasn't embarrased at all! He was just telling me what had happened. He had peed his pants and now they were all wet and he wanted to go home and change. That's all. I suffered all the emotional consequences. I felt terrible for Ben and chastised myself for not taking him to the bathroom before primary. But, Ben was already putting it all behind him. I am sure that embarrasment will come in due time, but I wish it wouldn't. I wish I could be more like Ben and simply not care - or even think about being embarrased. Just deal with the situation and move on.

Tales from the Shore







This is about the only time that Gabe will fall asleep on me. He slept for about 2 hours like that. I loved it!

Our Setup - Umbrellas, beach chairs, lots of snacks, good book to read - I was feeling good!


By the end of the day Gabe was covered in sand from head to foot. He would roll around in it like a seal.







Friday, August 21, 2009

Day at the 4-H fair











While Mike was in CO having the time of his life without us we spent some quality time at the 4-H fair in Skippack. The boys loved the goats and chickens. The pigs were a little smelly and Ben, with his super sensitive nose, couldn't handle it more than 30 seconds.


































Beltzville State Park
















On some Monday in August (a couple of weeks ago) we drove into the Pocono's with the Anderson's for a day at the lake. It is beautiful there - picture perfect. A great way to spend a summer day!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Please Touch Museum Adventures

Last week we headed into Philly to the fabulous Please Touch Museum with Sophia, Sydney, and Tamara. Of course we had a fantastic time. We had a tea party with the crew from Alice in Wonderland. We journeyed into space. We were in drum parade. We rode on the carousel. Ben rode on a moving animal (a pig, not a horse) for the first time in his life. This is the boy who loooooves roller coasters, but apparently is terrified of a horse that goes up and down. Fun Fun Fun!!





























































































































































































Memories of Ben

I just think he was such a beautiful little baby - now he is a handsome little boy. It is fun to look back, though. It almost makes me want to cry - such a sweet little pumpkin!














Nostalgia poked around in my head today. I miss my little boys - they are still little, butI love the first stage of life - the one where they are like caterpillars - inching around on the ground. I miss the way words come together in funny ways.

I was thinking about the times when I got a little freaked out by events that had taken place and how they passed miraculously without any major injury or illness. One time, in Colorado, I was taking an oil painting class and I was doing a landscape painting in a local park. In order to finish it I had to go to the park with Ben, who was 1 1/2 years old. Ben was barely walking at that point and his life still revolved around what was on the ground. On the ground was a lot of goose poop. I picked a spot that was somewhat clear of goose poop and I set Ben up with some toys.

After a short while I heard a sound that I did not want to hear - Ben was making that "num, num, num" eating sound. Normally I love that sound. I love it when children hum and grunt while they eat... it is a pleasurable sound - we should all do that. However, it is not reccomended to make that sound while eating goose poop.

I grabbed him and pinched his cheeks so I could get easy access to the goose poop that he was swirling around in his mouth. YUCK! I flushed his mouth out with water, ruining Ben's fun. He was obviously enjoying the goose poop, not the cleaning process.

We left right away. I could paint another day. I called Mike and told him what had happened. He of course reacted like any concerned first parent would react - with terror. Should I take him to the doctor right away? We analyzed the contents of goose poop - grass, grubs, stuff that people in third world countries might eat. Hopefully his stomach would be able to handle it and hopefully I had reacted quick enough to remove most of the poop.

Needless to say he was fine. He is fine. Just one of those crazy parenting experiences.