Flashback: The Long Hot Summer

It seems strange to be doing a recap of what happened this summer when it feels like the summer can’t really be over already. How is it not still July? How is October almost over, for Pete's sake? I was not prepared for how much faster time would go after having kids. Whether it’s the extra cooking and cleaning, the once free but now thoroughly spoken for time spent playing and reading books with the little monsters at the end of the day, or just the general state of exhaustion you learn to function under, somehow every day manages to spin itself out faster than the one before. I say this partly to reveal my true inner curmudgeon (I can positively be a grumpy old goat about my inability to keep up with the speed of time) and partly to explain why we didn’t do much this summer.

It started out strong. We hit the first local Music in the Park of the summer where we got to catch up with some great friends and Linc started a one man mosh pit. Apparently he approved of the performance, and I will say that the feeling was mutual because the singer announced to the crowd how cute he was.

We made a quick trip to Dallas to see Sam’s family and got to have a real live date night. Lincoln offered to babysit the grandparents while we went out to Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth to listen to music and do a little dancin’. He has a knack for keeping the grandparents under control. His control. Here’s photographic evidence of the around-the-finger-wrapping number he has done on them.

Then we sat around and sweated a lot.  Well, at least that’s what sticks out in my mind now.  Nico took swim lessons for the first time, which meant that Linc got to go to the pool, too, and swim with Daddy while Nico was with the swim teacher.  One day a week, they also did Linc’s occupational therapy in the pool, so by the end of August, I had three very tan boys on my hands.  Sticking to the theme of doing anything to stay cool, Linc was introduced to popsicles and became obsessed with all things water related.  He pulled off his diaper and climbed in the almost empty ice tub left out on the patio after my birthday get together.  He even learned to dump water out of his cups and smack his hands in the little puddle to spray himself with water.  Genius, in that creepy-laughing-with-his-hands-clasped-in-front-of-his-chest kind of way.

Just as summer was ending, we made a quick trip up to Oklahoma City to attend the wedding of Sam’s youngest brother.  It all started well.  I had three incredibly handsome dates.

But, by the end of it, Linc had taken over the dance floor (he likes the night life, he likes to boogie), and Nico was drinking from the chocolate fountain with a straw.  We knew we had to get back over the Texas border before the authorities got involved, so we headed back and spent most of Labor Day constructing one of those IKEA monstrosities that just about require an engineering degree and extensive experience with charades or some other kind of mime-like sport to complete.  Seriously, have you seen the strange cartoon figures on those instructions?  Who is that helping?  I’d almost rather read instructions in Swedish and try to extrapolate the meaning than stare at those cartoon figures and try to figure out what they are telling me to do.  We did it all for our big boy, though, who seemed just about ready to move out of his crib and into a real bed.  Because we are insane, we moved him into a bunk bed, praying the boys would at least wait a few months before breaking a bone falling off the thing.  As you can see, both boys were very excited (it made Nico so happy his pants fell off, apparently).

We survived the construction process and then settled in for a series of long nights getting Linc settled in the new bed.  After all, it took Nico almost a year once we moved him into a big bed to stop waking up screaming in the night.  Wouldn’t you know it, Linc fell right asleep and was out all night.  And the same the next night and the next.  The difference between the two kids is amazing.  The one you expect to be high maintenance is generally easy going and adjusts well to change, and the one you expect to be “typical” has nothing but special needs and has to be handled with kid gloves. Go figure!

With the excitement of the wedding and the new bed behind us, we said goodbye to summer and turned our thoughts to Lincoln's new school adventure, the upcoming birthdays, and this lovely little blog. Speaking of which, I've enjoyed including some highlights from the rest of our year. If I tackle the 31 for 21 challenge again next year, I think it might just become a tradition.