Weekend Review

Despite the fact that it was a rainy, miserable, cold weekend, we managed to keep ourselves occupied and have some fun.  Friday's night's movie night (per my last post) wasn't exactly ideal, but in retrospect I take some solace in the fact that he probably didn't bother other people too much with his antics.  Much preferred to the screaming child or something worse, you know?

Saturday was a pretty low key day.  It was so awful outside that there wasn't much reason to leave the house.  I spent a good chunk of the morning sorting through Jacob's clothes, doing the much-dreaded every-few-month try-on to see which things from last season still fit.  I cleared out enough space in his closet to put in the new/hand-me-down stuff for the fall, and as the weather officially cools, I'll take out the rest of the summer stuff and stow it away until next spring's try-on session.  I also did a bit of work on my own closet, taking out the sleeveless stuff and selecting a few things for donation that I either haven't worn in ages and won't wear again, either due to style changes or (more often) my post-pregnancy belly that won't quite go away.  It's pleasantly freeing but it's still a bit of a melancholy process because it either feels wasteful or sad when the clothes no longer work for me.  I also worked on getting out the Halloween decorations and made a fantastic dinner--this really great creamy chicken casserole we fell in love with when someone gave us a batch during the week my grandma passed away.

We needed to go out to pick up milk anyway, and I had noticed that the coupon I had set aside for Jacob's Halloween costume expired that day, so we decided to head out in the evening to get Jacob's costume.  After originally insisting that he wanted to be a ghost, at some point in the last few weeks he settled on Batman.  As you may recall, he started on this Batman kick after the Labor Day long weekend trip with Craig's family when he saw some Batman DVDs and got Batman pajamas.  He now requests to be called Batman ("I'm not Jacob, I'm Batman!") and refers to Craig as "Robin".  Since he seems to be pretty deeply entrenched and Craig is fueling it (the weekend viewings of the old school Batman TV show on this new channel we have were among his fuel), I figured we could take the risk to buy the costume this early.  The coupon made it within my threshold, though not nearly as cheap as the few bucks we spent last year on his fire helmet (he already had received the jacket as a gift).  So much for attempting to make it through his childhood without a major branded obsession.  At least it's one that's stood the test of time, right?

So, off we went to Party City, where I had a $10 coupon and had pinpointed an acceptable costume.  There are many preschooler Batman costumes out there, but most of them are pretty odd looking.  Admittedly, so is the one we ended up with, but I think ours is exaggerated enough that you laugh more than thinking how pathetically store-bought it is.  We tried it on Jacob before we left, and I couldn't even get the mask on without laughing.  Once I got the mask on, I had tears.  So funny.  In a good way.

Check out the six pack!

Too cute!!

Now if we could just get him to stop asking to wear it.  I don't trust its durability and I am NOT buying another one if this one rips while he's messing around in it.

Sunday we met my parents at their friends' house out in Victor (east side of Rochester), where their daughter Laurie was visiting with her two kids.  You may remember them from our last day of vacation, when the boys got to play and I got to hold her new little girl.  Our parents had just returned from two weeks together in Alaska, and it was my first time seeing my parents in over a month, which is a pretty long stretch for us.  Colin was very excited to see Jacob, and the boys got right to playing...

One big McQueen, one small McQueen...the big one had to be shaken up and then it took off very fast!  They got in a pretty good groove taking turns, since the second shake-n-go car (Mater) was losing his battery power.

Eventually playtime headed to the basement, and they continued to have fun...

Puzzles...

Togetherness in the car!

They even set up a "gas pump" for the car, using an unplugged shop vac...

Fill 'er up!

They played very well together.  As usual there were a handful of sharing issues but they were very well-controlled.  They still did some parallel play, but that's to be expected since their interests are a little different overall.  Jacob was completely happy to throw a soft football to anyone who would play with him, though he probably got more than he bargained for when Colin tackled him!  They were both good sports, though, and in the meantime the moms got to chat about the joys of three year olds...potty training, ill-fitting pants (tiny waists, long legs), and tantrums.

I got to hold sweet little Kelly for a while, and later on I hung out next to her spot on the floor while she contentedly stared up at the baby gym.  Oh, how I miss that age, where they smile at your goofy faces and lay there completely content, unable to roll or crawl away.  I know there's a lot of hard stuff that goes along with that age, but she was just so sweet...and I even caught a smile!

urprised at how functional he was while we were there.  By the end, though, I could tell he was starting to crack.  We snapped one last picture of the boys, and then headed out...

Such big boys!  They're almost exactly the same height, despite how it looks here.  Let me tell you, they're both a far cry from our first visit!

We got in the car a little before 6:30, planning to go home, have some dinner, and meet up with Craig, who'd spent the afternoon at a lacrosse tournament.  Jacob fell asleep by the time I hit the end of the driveway (it was a longer than average one, but still!), and barely woke up when we got home.  I plopped him on the couch to get myself settled, but when I went to try to wake him up, he just snuggled into the couch more.  I left him for a bit and tried again a little later, but again, no dice.  Craig snuggled up to him at one point, but I decided that we really needed to do something--namely, get him up to his room and see if that woke him up--since normally the second he hits his bed, he decides he wants to be awake--or if he was really down for the count, despite not eating dinner.  He settled right into his bed and I left him just like I would at bedtime, but fully expecting him to wake up at a really inopportune time in the middle of the night.  Right before I went to bed (early--just in case we had a long night ahead of us), I changed him out of his jeans and into his pajama pants to make sure he'd be comfortable.  He slept right through that, too.  I was still convinced he'd wake up in the middle of the night or really early in the morning, so off to bed I went.  But sure enough, I didn't hear a peep out of him until just before 7am!  He slept nearly 12-1/2 hours!  Normally he sleeps about 10-1/2, no matter when he goes to bed.  I was hoping all that sleep would deliver us a perfectly sweet child, but no...he was perhaps more difficult than usual.  Other than dinner, that is.  He inhaled his dinner, which doesn't surprise me one bit considering his missed meal last night. 

So, yeah...crazy weekend, but really good.  It was nice to see my parents as well as the Dohertys/McDonoughs, and I feel happy knowing that we got Jacob's costume in case we want to take advantage of any pre-Halloween events, like the one at our zoo that we're always missing because I'm figuring out his costume at the last minute.  The weather was a tough reminder that winter will be here all too soon and we'll be stuck inside (or freezing outside) for months, but at least I got a jump on that too by organizing clothes.  On to another week--ridiculously busy at work yet again--and at least one adventure to look forward to this weekend!