That Kid

Yesterday started out as a day of work. I sat in the study and billed 7 hours by 4:00 pm. Claire worked very hard at taking a nap and slept for 3.5 hours so mommy could be super productive. I appreciated her effort, but have to admit that around the 2.5 hour mark I started checking on her because she was freaking me out with all the silence and the sleeping. (Can I just note that I never once worried about that with Landon, my child who actually DID stop breathing multiple times in the NICU. But with Claire, my big healthy baby, I've made at least 200 unnecessary checks on her, most of them between 2 and 4 a.m. when I woke up with my heart pounding because she was just sleeping too well. Landon prepared us for many things, but he did not prepare us for a baby who slept.)

Anyway, while the girls worked hard in the house, the boys worked hard outside of the house:

They were working so hard, they didn't even hear me come out and get the picture. I love JP's tiny chair and the way their body positions exactly mirror each other.

Our day of work was going to be capped off with a birthday dance party for one of Landon's friends at 4:00. The birthday girl's parents had hired one of the kids' daycare teachers who dj's weddings on the weekends to come spin some Justin Bieber for the kids. He brings his DJ equipment to school every Friday for outdoor, all-class dance parties- even the babies get to come sit outside on their blanket to partake in the fun, so we were all very excited about this party. I made the colossal mistake of telling Landon about it before his nap, so he kept coming downstairs every 20 minutes to tell me "I tried" to sleep and "can we go to the party now?" I sent him back upstairs each time, and thanked god he doesn't do that at night. For whatever reason, Landon has never left his bed after we've said goodnight and closed the door. And after pausing my work every 20 minutes yesterday, I'm even more grateful for that than I thought I was.

He finally fell asleep around 3:30. And because we have learned nothing about being parents of a young child, we woke him up at 3:50 to head to the party.

It did not go well.

Landon is so easy going, he's really never been the kid who's crying or screaming or doesn't want to join the group. (Oh, he's had tantrums at home, but his general mellowness and the promise of cake have always prevented them from happening in public). But yesterday was our turn -- our son was totally that kid. He was a mess. It was almost painful to watch him try to pull himself together, only to fall apart five seconds later for no reason. First he couldn't decide if he wanted to be at the party, then when we said okay, we're leaving, he decided his very life depended on being at the party, but then he wouldn't play with his friends, he would only sit in the kitchen and eat watermelon, and then he wanted to dance, but not to that music, only to the OTHER music, then he wanted to bounce, but only by himself, he didn't want to hit the pinata, but his whole world fell apart when he didn't get any candy, etc, etc.

disaster in an orange shirt

JP and I just stared at him in awe. Who on earth was this child? Luckily it was a loud party with all the music and other craziness, so he didn't disrupt anything, and his outbursts were all crying on the sidelines- he's not a kicker, screamer, hitter, etc. But dude, it was exhausting. After an hour of trying to make it work, an hour we only attempted because as I said, he wasn't really bothering anyone but himself (and us!) and JP, Claire, and I were having fun, we finally decided it was time to go put him to bed.

Claire, on the other hand, had a fabulous time. She was wearing her party dress and her party bow and she rocked out to the music. With all the attention and smiles she got, I'm pretty sure left under the impression that the party had been for her.

Not directly relevant, but I love this picture because "Coach JP" is always surrounded by his adoring female fans. It cracks me up. A bunch of these girls had older siblings who swam for JP last summer on the local summer league team; the others were drawn in by the cute baby, whom they all referred to as "Biscuit." Does everyone know her ridiculous nickname?

not pictured: Landon crying 5 feet away because the sun was shining, or something equally disastrous

When we left at 5:30, Claire was worn out from all the smiles and Landon was worn out from all the crying.

We had both kids asleep in their beds by 6:30. I woke up at 6:45 this morning, listening to them play in Claire's room. When I got up there about 30 minutes later to start our day, Landon asked so cheerfully, "Can we go to Sydney's party again today mommy?"

If only, but today is going to be a better day, I can feel it.