Take Care of Your Own Kid!

When he can't get what he wants, Oli loves to throw a tantrum know matter where he is. I was removing his belt buckle on his car seat when he suddenly wanted me to give him his truck so that he can carry it around the store. I would have let him do it if it was small enough that he could just carry it easily. But I knew what was going to happen. He was going to either play with it in the middle of the store or have me carry it around. So I ignored him.

He screamed and screamed in front of the car and in front of the store. I started to show him that I wasn't going to do what he wanted by walking away. Of course I was looking over my shoulder the entire time as he's only 21 months. Plus I was probably about 8 feet from him. So he stood there in front of the store and screamed and screamed his heart out.

A woman at the checkout stand was also being as loud as she could be saying, "oh! where is his mother!"  She looked around as Oli started to run towards me. Then when he realized people were trying to talk to him, he started to try to get me to pick him up.

I had about 3 items to grab from the store so I didn't plan on pushing a cart around. Plus, Oli and I go to this store almost every other day and he usually loves to just follow me around, because he gets to be a little independent.

I didn't pick him up when he was wanting me to do so, because I feel as though I have to let him get over some of his fears of other people. He and I are indoors so much that when I get him out of the house he gets extremely shy.

Anyway, this woman somehow managed to annoy me. Now I completely understand why people don't like it when you tell them what to do with their own kids. No matter what.

"He looks really tired," the woman said. "Why don't you carry him?"

"He's not tired," I replied.

"If you got one of these carts, you can put him in it so he doesn't have to walk."

That pretty much did it for me. Usually I would have gone off on her, but I actually stopped myself. I just walked away and ignored her.

I know when my own child is tired or when he needs to walk. I don't need her to tell me what to do or why I should pick him up.

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What a Toddler Does When He Has No Place to Go

Here's an average day when we have no place to go but home. So we make the most of it. Oli starts with a morning session of milk and Yo Gabba Gabba:

Then goes around and plays pretend:

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A Day in Balboa Island

Cat was leaving today. I am going to drop her off at the airport for her 11:15 PM flight. So we did our best to make most of the day.

Balboa is a pretty little island next to Newport Beach. Some of the homes are really fun to look at as they are very close to each other, but are all very beautiful. They obviously all look like just vacation homes. Of course, it's also got tourist shops and fun little coffee and ice cream parlors.

Here is a picture of Oli and Cat:

We walked through some of the stores and of course stopped by a toy store. Yes, I know, I just don't learn. Cat wanted to buy an umbrella for her daughter. So we stopped in. Here's what Oli did:

Then of course as we had to leave, we went through the same routine of trying to get him out of the store. Luckily, there wasn't anyone else there except for the sales lady:

Cat also bought me a lovely going away present which I think is really cute, given that I love to record stuff:

We finished off the rest of our beach fun day at the beach at the Montage in south Laguna Beach.  My parents called and said they were coming over to drop some stuff off for her to take home, which they did. They bought her two little outfits for Jayda (Cat's daughter) and some boxes of chocolates, which Cat couldn't take home because she just ran out of room.

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An Exhausting Sunday

We drove Cat to see my brother today. Where? Well... here's an honest story that my parents don't like to tell. When my brother was a teenager, he got mixed up with the wrong crowd, who did a lot of crazy things,  including of course drugs. To make a long story short, he ended up in prison for the next 11 years. He's been there 6 years now and he's got just a little over 4 years left. So Cat, his girlfriend, whom he's known for about 12 years, has been coming to visit him.

A trip to visit my brother is very exhausting. You have to get there quite early as people line up at the parking lot to be the first. Since it's also a 3 hour drive, we have to leave quite early. Today, we left at about 6 am. My parents usually leave at about 4 am but it was just not going to happen.

The whole family, Owen, Oli, and I drove with Cat. We decided to leave early though so that Cat and my brother can have some alone time, which they didn't really get to have much of when they were there. We left the prison at about 12:35 PM and drove about 25 minutes into town have some English Sunday roast. It was quite nice. We were really exhausted though and Oli slept most of the time.

It was really nice. We had a few moments just to enjoy each other at the restaurant:

On the way back home, Oli just could not handle the long car ride home so we stopped by Ross to walk around. Oli sat down in the middle of the toys section and just played:

He was a bit grumpy so he didn't have a lot of tolerance for toys that were stuck in boxes.

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A Nice Day with Family

It was such a surprise that my dad and brother decided to spend the entire day at my house in Laguna Beach. Wow! It's like a cat and mouse learning how to be friends. Just something that doesn't usually happen. Sadly though, my brother is not really the type to go see and do things. He pretty much stayed in the house and watched TV all day. The kids did have a lot of fun though. We setup the portable, inflatable pool that I'd gotten for Alexis on her birthday, which they couldn't blow up in their house. So here they are:

The baby seemed to get along quite well with Nina:

Then we took Frankie to the beach, but struggled when we had to go home. She said, "I'm still having fun Aunty!"

Oli seemed a bit tired though at about 5:30 in the afternoon. Here he is with daddy:

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A Visit at Grandma's House

My parents live in the same house as my brother, his wife, and two kids. Their house is about an hour drive from ours. So we don't visit them as often as we'd like. Or well... maybe as they'd like.

To be honest, I don't like to take Oli there too much. I think it's my own sadness or insecurity about how much my dad really cares about him. Sadly, my parents are the only grandparents Oli has here, but since they've got two others that they see every day, he doesn't quite get the same attention even though they only see him once or twice a month. Perhaps I should have him spend more time with them, but I still feel as though that won't really change anything.

My mom adores Oli though. He knows she loves him so when he does see her, he immediately wants her to pick him up. I think it makes my mom feel quite special.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday so Oli, Cat (my brother's girlfriend), and I drove to their house to visit them. I think it was a really nice day for her.

Today, Oli woke up quite early. Maybe because we sleep in my parents' room with my mom and they usually wake us up early. Today was at 5:30 AM! Charlie, my brother's daughter also woke up quite early.  Here they are at the crack of dawn:

 

 

 

 

There really isn't much to do at their house. They live in the middle of nowhere and have the added bonus of the desert weather. They do have a nice community pool, however. So after a nice nap, Cat and I took Oli for a walk to the pool. Boy was it hot!  But he seemed quite content as he somehow has had this fascination with pushing strollers around and since his cousin, Frankie, has one, he couldn't resist. Plus, she also has Brobie, his favorite Yo Gabba Gabba character.

 

 

 

 

Our walk lasted a good 10 minutes, but by the time we got to the pool, Oli looked like a lobster twin. He was so red! I thought I'd packed enough 50 SPF lotion on him, but it didn't seem to work very well. The security guard at the pool sounded a bit mad as he said, "He's red!" Hmm... Maybe he thinks I'm not a good mom cause I just let him burn.

 

 

Anyway, we spent about an hour in the pool before the weather completely changed from extremely hot to overcast to sudden sprinkles. Wow!

 

 

I couldn't quite handle the depressive tone the sudden change in weather had. So I packed up with Oli and drove home.  Oli must have been extremely tired because he didn't even wake up when I took him out of his car seat and transferre him to his crib once we got home. He just turned over and cuddled Mr. George.

 

 







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Can Heat Equal Cranky Toddler?

It's been a few days since I've written. My aunt came back to visit us on Thursday (8/2/12) and I dropped her off at her friend's party in Moreno Valley, which is probably about an hour away. It was really far.

Anyway, Friday was a real treat because she went into town with Jun (her son), Ann (my cousin), and Oli. They were gone about 3 hours. It was great because I love knowing that my son is out having fun. It's not like I'm just pawning him off on someone. He's actually having a good time.

It's really funny, but Oli loves to point at everything. He especially loves planes. He could be doing anything interesting but when he hears a plane, he immediately points and says, "pen!"

We finally had some quiet time on Sunday. Owen watched Oli for me while I got caught up with my book and all my blogging stuff. I have so much to do with each page of my site. The more research I do on search engine optimization, the more I realize I haven't applied half of those things.

Oli took an early morning nap yesterday. Here he is just after waking up:

Back to Oli. Yesterday was a miserable day. I took him to the beach, which he liked but he wanted to stay there for hours. I had to go into the pet store to buy some shampoo for the dog and as soon as I stepped through the door he started screaming. He just threw such a crazy tantrum. It's getting really embarrassing but I feel as though I have to just let him scream wherever he is. He's gotta learn that I'm not going to do everything he wants. So I continued walking into the store with one eye on him while he screamed just outside the store. He eventually followed me when he realized I wasn't going to pick him up and do what he wanted.

They have a great new shampoo for dogs that smell really good and you don't even have to wash the dog with water to use it.  I cannot stand her smell any longer. Owen can't take her to the vet because she doesn't have her new shots. We just don't have $150 to spend on dog shots right now. Yes, they require it before they provide services for you. So I decided to give her a bath myself.

I stupidly stopped by the toy store after the pet store. I don't know why I did that, because now he just went crazy. He wanted to sit in the middle of the floor and play with their toy trucks and just hang out there. When I tried to move him he screamed. Then he eventually got irritated with me and laid on the floor and started crying and screaming. It was so horrible and really embarrassing. My arms were full of stuff and could not pick him up fast enough.

We went home and I attempted to give the dog a bath while Oli hung out with me. I thought maybe he would like to just hang out outside. Boy was I wrong! The dog was really good because she didn't fuss much but Oli just did not like it when I turned on the water hose. Oh he screamed!

I finally just had it. I think the heat was really getting to both of us. We are both spoiled because the weather is always so fantastic in Laguna but when it gets slightly hotter than usual, we both get very hot tempered. So I took him into the bathroom, gave him a bath, which he enjoyed for a few minutes, and then just put him into his crib. He normally doesn't take afternoon naps but I think perhaps the beach, the heat, and all the crying got him so tired. 

He napped from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM. So that tells me he was really exhausted! Nice little break for me as well. I had time to catch up!

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Two Cute Toddler Videos

Thought I'd share some cute videos. Here's Oli with his cousin Frankie:

Oli loves to kiss:

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