First vacation with kids, Bathroom renovation, and some recent Conversations with Clara.

When we found out I was pregnant with our second child we decided it was time to go big or go home.  Our falling apart bathroom...literally falling apart....needed to be renovated before we became a family of four and GOSHDARNIT, we needed a vacation.  With the exception of a few visits to friends and family, our last vacation had been when I was pregnant with Clara, 3 years prior.

So if your one bathroom needs a gut renovation and you need to be out of the apartment for it, why not go to DISNEYWORLD!  We were pretending we were rich from a recent sale of Gerald's old apartment so we booked a 6 day trip to Florida with the rest of Gerald's immediate family.

Now I have never been to Disney, or Florida for that matter, and neither had my sister in law's fiance. But the rest of the clan had been to Disney on many, many vacations over the years.  I started hearing things like "We're having dinner in France on Thursday, and we're going to Mexico for lunch." (what?) "We're staying in Old Key West instead of Fort Wilderness." (??) "We couldn't book a breakfast with Cinderella." (thankfully Clara is young enough not to care, as I wiped away a stray tear.)

I don't know which of us was more excited.

Before I knew it everything was booked, reserved, and we were on a plane ride (Clara's first) to Orlando. Over our trip we visited every park at Disney and Universal Studios.  We averaged 6 miles of walking a day, and Clara decided vacation was just too exciting to take naps.  Clara was tall enough for most of the rides - clocking in at an amazing 39.5 inches for 2.5 years old.  She swam in a pool for the first time and fell in love with swimming.  Her take away advice from It's A Small World  after seeing the Hawaiian dancers doing the hula in bonfires.was: "Mama, Dada...don't dance in the fire."  

Spinning Teacups Ride

She requested a second time around on only two rides - the Spinning Teacups ride which she found hilarious, and bizarrely, the still chugging along animatronic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Ride.  She loved flying on the bicycles and waving and talking to all the little E.T. aliens she had just saved from extinction on the Green Planet.  She thought the Haunted Mansion was "spooky" and laughed at the dark. She rode the Hippogriff Roller Coaster in Hogsmeade (an adult ride), with her Aunt Margaret, and her only comment at the top of the hill was "Wow, this is high."  While she rode the roller coaster, Gerald and I tried Butterbeer...which was actually pretty gross but made for a nice photo op.

Butterbeer mustaches.

She also loved the Dumbo Ride which has ingeniously installed a Dumbo's Circus Playground for kids in lieu of making kids wait on line while you wait to actually go on the ride.  All the kids were vying to sit in this fire engine.  Clara finally got a turn with this little boy.  He was pretending to drive when his mother said "Johnny, it's our turn to go on the ride."  The little boy cried out "SON OF A BITCH!" clearly irritated about leaving the fire engine, jumped up, and ran away to join his mother. Totally surreal. Clara happily shifted over to the driver's seat.

Right before the outburst.

Fingerbomb high-five.

Clara kept it together until the final day when all the new experiences finally caught up to her.  We took her to Hollywood Studios where she was impressed but exhausted by the Little Mermaid Show, Muppets 3D,  and the Disney Jr. Live show.  Given any chance to rest she promptly threw herself down on the floor and refused to stand up. (I had sympathy because I felt the same way.)  This floor launching continued at the airport where we found our flight had been delayed an hour. and our bathroom renovation wasn't complete.  On the flight Clara moaned quietly in her car seat exhausted past all reason until she suddenly, without warning, fell asleep, head lolling and drooling.

First fireworks...at Epcot.

We arrived in NYC at 10:30 at night and found ourselves at my mother's vacant apartment, who was conveniently on vacation herself.  We lived out of our vacation suitcase for four days before I finally got to set eyes on my beautiful new bathroom. Back in our apartment and back into the swing of things, Clara continues to make us laugh with her new witticisms.

Last night, Gerald made milkshakes for dessert as a treat.  Clara had never had one and really, really loved it.  After drinking it up, she ran around the apartment shrieking and laughing for twenty minutes.  Shortly after she flopped down on the couch and said: "Mama, My brains are very heavy with all the sugar-milk. That means I need to take a nap."

Clara continues to pitch "Sister Grandma" as the name for her new sister.  My friend who is pregnant with a boy asked Clara for name suggestions the other day when she was over.  Clara thought seriously for a moment, then offered up: French Fry Girly" as an appropriate name.  

Next steps - big girl bed for Clara, Clara's 3rd birthday, and the arrival of our second daughter at the end of summer.  Can't wait to meet you, Sister Grandma.

Adventure Clara

Clara is into trying out everything these days and asking a lot of questions.  If she sees me doing something she quickly says: "I try." and tries to do it herself.

A few nights ago, I flipped over our leather swivel chair to tighten some of the bolts.  Clara saw the crescent wrench and said: "I try."  After watching me tighten one bolt, she went in with the wrench and actually tried to tighten bolts.

That same day, in the playground she decided to try going down the slide feet first on her stomach while whooping in delight.  And then tried face first on her stomach but got her hands caught under her chest and did not whoop in delight - she cried - but bravely went and tried again.  That night in the bath she discovered she could flip over in the water - almost submerging her face - and float.  She kept saying: "Oooooooooh" I think to hear how her voice sounded underwater.

She is also constantly trying to figure things out.  Like crawling through this tube at the zoo.  First she had to see that Gerald was on the other end - now she bravely scrambles through on her own.

At the playground she spent 20 minutes figuring out how to pry up loose soil from the ground and then make tiny piles of dirt. She did not ask for my help, just worked at it intensely on her own. I love this exploration. I loved digging for worms as a child - I can't wait to show her how to do that.

She can also be a bit of a minx.  This is the calm before the storm at a recent demonstration art class.  Clara probably drew for thirty seconds before she picked up the glue sticks and ran around evading my grasp while eating the glue stick like it was a popsicle.

She is determined to understand everything.  Up until this week, Gerald has managed to cling to some tattered shreds of privacy by insisting on closing the bathroom door while he is in there.  I gave bathroom privacy months ago.  I am used to Clara pushing back the  curtain peremptorily while I shower - her gleaming mischievous eyes dancing  while she throws tiny toys into the tub at my feet.

Somehow this past week Clara muscled herself into the bathroom while Gerald was in there.  He realized she was in there when he heard her piping little voice say:"Pee Pee Stand Up."  

As the last vestiges of his  privacy blew away on the wind, Gerald was impressed by Clara's acumen. 

A funny thing happened...

Last night, Gerald, Clara and I were having a lovely evening together.  Clara and I played while Gerald made chicken parmesean.  I made a salad and we had a nice family dinner together.  After cleaning up the kitchen, I thought to myself:  Gerald is home.  I could actually take a hot shower with the bathroom door closed.  And that's exactly what I did at 6:20 last night. It was such a luxury to know that I didn't have to peek out of the shower every few minutes to see if Clara was unspooling the toilet paper roll, trying to open the toilet bowl lid, or pulling things out of the trashcan.

I got out of the shower and into pajamas - shorts and a tank top.  (this becomes relevant later)  Clara was already in her nightgown and overnight diaper and the three of us were watching a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while Clara took occasional sips out of her bottle. Clara toddled over to me and held up her arms: "Mama, Up?"  I picked her up and snuggled her in my lap for the final fifteen minutes before her bedtime.  Gerald took this opportunity to go into the bedroom for his version of what we call: "letting our brains fall out," which is basically any mindless (yet entertaining) activity we no longer have time for.  In this case - Gerald had to go send the heroes of Marvel Avengers Alliance out on quests.

6:58 PM.  Time to pick up Clara and take her to her room. She has handed me her giraffe doll and as I pick her up my thumb touches the inside rim of her diaper and comes away covered in poop.  Now I have a poopy thumb I am trying to keep away from the giraffe doll and the task of changing her into another overnight diaper.  But then I realize there's not just poop on my thumb.  There's poop squished up all up the inside of Clara's nightgown. That is enough to send my poopy thumb directly onto the giraffe doll's face as I reflexively flinch in horror. Poopy giraffe, poopy thumb, poopy baby.  All this I could have handled until this thought invades my mind: "Why do both of my legs feel wet?"  Yes.  There's poop running down both of my legs.

I call to Gerald for help and we go into action like a crack commando team who have been training for this for years. Ignoring my poop covered legs - Gerald takes the giraffe and nightgown to set them to soak in the sink and has the unfortunate task of wiping the poop I had been too distracted to see off the couch. At this point there is more poop than baby. I wipe Clara down with about 400 baby wipes and change her into a new pair of pajamas.  Through it all Clara is happy and cooing...I lie her down in her crib, pull out the spare giraffe from its hiding place, give her some milk and head to the shower to finally clean myself off.

Clara went to sleep without a hitch and that's all she wrote.

Except I am somehow ridiculously proud of us.  A year and a half ago we were bleary-eyed neophytes in the ways of parenting.  Everything was new and required instant learning curves.  Our world had narrowed to the minute details of Clara's every move.  Is she wet, hungry, or tired?  Is she sleeping?  Is she breathing?  Is she too cold or too hot? Does she have gas?  Is she sick? Is she happy?

I don't remember even once asking Gerald if he was okay, hungry, happy, or sick. It was the 24-hour Clara reality show.  

Fast forward to last night and Gerald and I are the A-Team.  Cool, calm and collected in a firefight that would send everyone else running for cover. It's been this way for a while and  it's nice to be able to have thirty seconds to string together to appreciate it.