We are now nearing the end of Ian's Winter break from preschool. We were thrown a bit of a curve ball by being given 3 extra days by Fairfax County because of the blizzard. But, we rebounded nicely and survived. More than survived, we had fun. Lots of different activities were planned and playdates organized throughout the 12 school days we had now free.
One of the highlights of the break was our two day excursion to Baltimore. Jeff's parents live just outside of Baltimore in Pikesville, MD. We made plans to go to Port Discovery (the children's museum) on Sunday, spend the night at my in-laws house and then go to the B&O Railroad train museum on Monday. Jeff came with us the first day and then went back home after dinner so he could go to work the next day. My in-laws joined us for both outings, not to mention cooked a fantastic, tasty (gluten-free) dinner and got some wonderful quality time in with the grandkids. Family is so important to me and in my opinion, you can never spend enough time with them. I jump at the opportunity for Ian and Sam to spend time with the grandparents. Everyone had a great visit and fun was had by all.
But, apparently you can have too much fun. I now know exactly how far we can push Samantha without allowing her to take a nap before she has had enough. We can go one day. She was a rockstar at the children's museum and did a good job of keeping up with the crowd. But by day 2, when touring the train museum, we lasted about one hour before she started crying and couldn't stop. Holding her didn't help; pushing her in the stroller didn't help; offering her a drink did nothing. Sam wanted to leave and didn't care who was around to hear her displeasure. She worked herself up into a tizzy and couldn't calm down.
My mother-in-law and I decided to take Sam to the car and hang out while Ian finished looking at the trains with his grandpa. Once Sam was strapped into her carseat, a calmness came over her and you didn't hear one peep out of her. She was ready to leave and just knowing that she was headed in the right direction was all that mattered to her.
It is a well known fact that babies and kids crave a routine and consistency. Every day I am lucky enough to give Sam just that by putting her down for a nap from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Every now and then if something comes up, I can push the time she goes down and she easily adapts. But to ask her go two days (in a row, no less) without a nap was asking way too much of her.
I can't really say I blame my sweet, little girl. If I was given the opportunity to take a nap each day too, I'd take it. And if someone was trying to take that away from me, I'd probably throw a fit over it too.
And don't get me started on what happened when we went to Tyson's Mall and it was 3:00pm before I realized I hadn't given Sam a proper lunch. It wasn't a pretty scene in front of the Lego store. And, the family is fully aware of how much Sam enjoys her bedtime of 6:45pm/7:00pm and shouldn't have taken her to the National Zoo for Zoo Lights on the night of the 30th. We were doing great in the 25 degree weather, up until 6:30pm or so when Sam realized she was nowhere near her house or crib. Jeff and I got a great workout power walking up the hill at the zoo, walking back to the car.
Ah, good times! The girl knows what she wants, when she wants it and whatever you do, don't get in her way, no matter how much fun is going on around her.
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