Smiling Mom » Vacation

Camping in style

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:07:21 +0000

We recently returned from our ‘maiden voyage’ in our tent trailer.

We finally got one last month! Squee!

This was our first of four planned trips for the summer. Let me just say that camping in a tent trailer beats tent camping by a mile and a half! Especially when one decided to camp in Northern California near the beach.

It was cold.

During the day we expored local tide pools and in the evenings Steve and I played games as the kids slept away.

The game of choice? Boggle. A game that I fondly refer to, in my head, as Suck-oogle. Because I SUCK at that game.

It would be one thing if my meager brain was pitted against another meager brain, but unfortunately that’s not the case in my family. Steve’s super power brain ran mental circles around me. It’s probably because he was a spelling bee champion in 4th grade.

DAMN whole language!! You cursed me!

Anyway, we pretty much came out of the trip unscathed minus a few broken pieces on the tent trailer, and ready for our next adventure.

Camping in style

Four year old tantrum

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:40:18 +0000

Things have become increasingly calmer around our house lately. Thank God. The stress of this past month has been enough to nearly knock us out.

Let me back up. We’ve been dealing with some pretty shocking 4 year old tantrum behavior from our son. It started back in August, just a month after his fourth birthday. I immediately began researching (thank God for Google!!) tantrum behaviors, anxiety, and just about anything I could find related to the subject. The results were minimal. Not much seems to be written about this stage in life.

BC’s behavior and the root cause of why he was acting out consumed us. It’s all we talked about. Not knowing why was about as hard as not knowing how to stop the actual behaviors. I started reaching out to friends. Asking if they dealt with similar problems when one of their children was four.

The resounding answer?

Yes.

Most every mom I spoke to had or has a child going through this phase. With this realization, about 10 pounds lifted off my shoulders.

My son is not broken. He’s testing.

I can deal with testing. Broken? No. Testing, abso-freaking-lutely!

Once we realized the root of BC’s tantrum behavior was a struggle for power I was able to jump into action.

Tantrums at our house happened generally during three different times.

1. School Drop-Off

During the drop off at school BC’s behavior went from sweet, loving, and outgoing to horrible, thrashing tantrum behavior. We called ahead to the school, let them know of the new developments and created a plan with the teachers. We’d bring BC to school (kicking and screaming) and the teachers would peal him out of our arms. We’d quickly say goodbye and leave.

And then I’d cry.

Each day we applied this technique, it took a total of 10–15 minutes before he was calm and playing with the other kids happily.

This lasted for 4 class sessions. At that point, BC decided to attend school happily. Phew!!

2. Time Outs

One day BC decided that he would not sit on a time out any longer. This is when all negotiations in our house came to an end. He must obey. We attempted the Supernanny technique of putting the child back to time out without any eye contact, emotion, or communication.

This was hard. I got mad. I was tired. So was my son.

But I did it. The first time it took 57 minutes of continuously putting him back on time-out. There a LOT of screaming, crying, kicking etc. before he’d stay. But he stayed.

This was by far the hardest thing I’d ever done. But I did it and it made each additional time-out we dealt with so much easier.

The next time-out took 17 minutes of ‘put backs’ before he stayed.

That was the last time he tested so severely during his time-outs.

3. Bedtime/Nighttime

This was the hardest tantrum for us to break. First we were very concerned because we knew that our son was effected by my grandmother’s death this summer. Her funeral was the first time he saw me cry. He knew my grandma and missed her terribly. The nighttime routine became torturous for us. It began to take about an hour to put BC down, and there were still no guarantees that our tactics would work. Half the nights ended in a full blown hour-long tantrum as we attempted to leave the room. By the end of the fit, we were sitting with/ laying with/ holding our son.

Totally ineffective.

This was our final frontier. We had to move past the nighttime tantrum in order to be freed from this horrible weight that was effecting our entire family.

We finally decided that enough was enough. I let BC know that then next time he didn’t stay in bed at nighttime he’d be put back to bed over and over again until he stayed. In addition, I would not talk to him.

At 12:30 a.m. a following day the tantrum began. In Supernanny fashion, I said, “It’s bedtime darling.” and placed him in bed.

The second time he got up, I firmly said, “It’s bedtime.”

The third through the 75th time he got out of bed, kicking, screaming, etc. I simply picked him up, put him on his mattress without a word or eye contact.

He was pissed.

But after 35 minutes, he stayed.

That episode was well over a week ago and the last time we had a tantrum in our house.

Helpful Tip:

If I could suggest anything to you as you go through this phase it would be to completely disconnect, emotionally during these episodes.

If you don’t, you may hurt your child, inadvertently, or make the tantrum worse and last longer by reacting.

Disconnect and prepare for a long, drawn out fit. Because when you decide to change your behavior, your child will push harder to get what he wants.

Disconnect. Then reconnect when the episode is over.

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Thus concludes my first episode of Learning Through Experience! Stay tuned for the next episode when I say, “This is NOT a democracy!”

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If you liked this post, you may also like my post on Nighttime Potty Training.

Four year old tantrum

The View From Here, Finale

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:21:54 +0000

Hubby and I took our first real vacation together since we were married six years ago. And we took it without kids!! Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to reconnect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It was gorgeous!! Hubby decided to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going. I called this a blogging, he did not. Whatever. Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprinkle in a few additional pictures for your enjoyment!

Well, the time has come to go. It is 12:30 on July 31st. We are sitting in the hotel lobby ready to go. We anxiously await getting back to the kids, but will definitely miss the beach and solace.

Yesterday was a good and productive day. We got some shopping done, as predicted, but decided that we needed to spend more time at the beach. So, we laid out there from about 3:00 pm until 7:30 pm. Then got ready to eat.

Dinner was alright. I had the veal while Nette had the tuna. They were good, but nothing to write home about.

Our journey home is beginning. We will be traveling for the next 10 hours or so. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you all within the next few weeks.

And this, my friends, is the end of my husband’s blogging days. In the end, I’m really glad he narrated our daily activities. It will help me remember our wonderful time together.

Thanks Hubby!! Now if only we can take a vacation like this every year!!

The View From Here, Finale

The View From Here part 6

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:00:37 +0000

Good morning, everyone! It’s now 10:40 am on Wednesday, July 30th. Nette and I just got back from breakfast where we had much of the same as yesterday. The plan for today is to walk downtown. We need to purchase our bus tickets for tomorrow to get back to the airport in time. Apparently the bus sells out sometimes, so we’re buying the tickets a day ahead. Besides that, there’s some shopping we’d like to do for the kids.

Yesterday was awesome. From 9:00 am until 4:00 pm, Nette and I laid on chaise lounge chairs at the beach. Whenever we got too hot, we’d simply go down, take a dip in the water, and come back up to the chairs. We both got a ton of reading done and some pretty good sunburns (despite being shaded almost the entire time). At about 2:30 pm a rainstorm got us, but it was still warm enough for us to stay at the beach as it passed.

(Note to self… next time hide all evidence of you being topless on the beach prior to taking the only photo of your hubby on the beach…)

At 4:00 pm we got up, came back to the room, cleaned up, and relaxed from our “exhausting” day at the beach. Then, it was off to happy hour. You already got that photo, but you may not have noticed what we were drinking. Nette got a Mai Tai while I got something they named after the hotel. It was just about as foofy as they come — it was pink. I love me my foofy drinks!

Dinner was a BBQ complete with susage, ribs, chicken, flank steak, and all the Mexican fixins. It was delicious. After dinner we read some more and thus ended an incredibly relaxing day.

This picture is the view from our seats at the beach at about 6:00 pm last night. As you can see, it is still warm enough to go swimming late at night…

The View From Here part 6

The View From Here part 5

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:57:25 +0000

Back by popular demand, my feet. Happy hour, thank you for blessing us with your existence!

The View From Here part 5

The View From Here part 4

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:41:20 +0000

Mmmmmm breakfast. Nette and I thought we’d go native today and had a different kind of meal. We, of course got our fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffee, and assortment of melons, but wait, there’s more. Today we had Motulenos. It’s a fried corn tortilla topped with re-fried beans, three eggs over-easy, ham, green peas, tomato sauce, and goat cheese. Very tasty. Oh, and don’t forget the staple fried banana (at every meal).

This is the view from where I sit…

The above blog post email made me laugh until I cried. I told Hubby that next thing we’d know, he’d be taking the iPhone into the bathroom with him and doing a “View From Here”, narrating every move.… Apparently I laughed too loud and for too long because moments later he sent out this blog post email to our family looking for suppot. Heheehe!!

Nette is laughing at me right now. She says you’re laughing at me, too. She says you think I’m ridiculous because I’ve “sent like 82 emails since we got here.” You don’t think I’m ridiculous, do you?

By the way, this is just one example of the cool little things they make with our towels everyday. One day was swans, one was Eskimos and one was these elephants…

For the remainder of our trip, I narrated most every activity Hubby and I did as if I was writing a View From Here. “And here we are, walking to our bedroom (eyebrow wag) life is good with no kids…” “As you can see, this is a picture of Nette putting sunscreen on, it’s really hot out here!” “As you saw from the last picture, I was on page 152 of my book, now I’m on page 154…”

I can be SO clever sometimes!! Right?? Hey, if no one else thinks I am, I’ve always got me because I think I’m hilarious!!

The View From Here part 4

The View From Here part 3

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:10:09 +0000

Today we took the big trip to Chichen Itza. Rose at 6:20, van left at 7:45. 3 hour ride there with one tourist-shop stop midway. Once we arrived, we were certainly in the middle of the jungle. The heat was stifling.

The ruins were incredible.

Our tour guide, Sergio, was a wealth of knowledge, having been in the tourism industry for 28 years. He not only gave us details about the ruins, but he told us about history, geology, and anthropological facts that I’m certain weren’t widely disseminated.

He did the entire tour in both English and Spanish as we had people from Spain, Argentina, and us in our little 10-person tour group. Nette and I were amazed at the precision of construction, the sheer size and complexity of some of the structures, and the interweaving of science, math, and the calendar into all aspects of their life and building. Not to mention, the mandatory decapitation for the captain of the losing team for Mayan basketball was pretty cool.

(I felt a wee bit lame doing this…as evident on my face.)

After the ruins, we headed off to an “authentic” (translated: “dive”) Mayan buffet. The place was crappy, but the food was great.

Next stop was going to be an old Spanish town from the 1400’s, but while on our way there, it absolutely started pouring. When we arrived in the town (very quaint, by the way), all the streets were completely flooded. We drove once around the town square and headed out to our final destination.

A cenote, a limestone cave filled with fresh water. It was breathtaking. The bottom has filled with water up to 16 feet deep in some parts. So, naturally, we had to swim in it. We walked down many limestone steps maybe 100 feet underground or so and swam in a giant limestone cave. Very cool.

Then another 2 hour van ride back to the hotel. Total time: 12 hours.

Dinner consisted of an awesome shrimp-filled avocado appetizer, soup, a chicken main course, and a chocolate mousse dessert. Of course, I had to have my sangria with dinner (I love me my fruity drinks) while Nette partook of a piña colada.

We hit the sack right after dinner because we are so absolutely exhausted from the day. Hence, the view from here…

The View From Here part 3

The View From Here part 2

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:01:21 +0000

It’s now 6:50 pm on Sunday, July 27th. We are sitting at the beach awaiting dinner in 10 minutes or so. Our day consisted of a walk into town where we managed to only buy lunch, Nette a sarong, and some water to drink. Once back at the hotel we booked our spot in a van bound for Chichen Itza tomorrow. Then we spent the entire afternoon swimming in the Caribbean and reading under a palm shade.

This evening we couldn’t miss the sangria and mojitos at happy hour, then back to the beach where we now sit waiting for dinner.

There will likely be no update until tomorrow night as the van leaves at 7:45 am and doesn’t return until 7:30 pm.

Until then, enjoy the view from here.

The View From Here part 2

The View From Here

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:59:54 +0000

Well, it’s about 8:50 am on Sunday, July 27th. We just got back from breakfast which consisted of about 8 different fresh fruits (including Papaya and Mango), pastries, cereals, and Denny’s-rivaling combinations of eggs, bacon, sausages, ham, pancakes, and French toast. The coffee was rich and all the orange juice was fresh-squeezed. Total cost: $2 (for the tip).

We finally got to the hotel last night at about 9:30 pm (7:30 pm our time). The trip was relatively uneventful except for the tremendous a-hole sitting next to us from Dallas to Cancun. He didn’t bother us, but I was certainly impressed with the decorum our flight attendants showed with his never-ending string of bitching. He eventually ceased the majority of his entitled griping somewhere into his 4th or 5th round of drinks (he ended up having 9 or 10 rounds total on a 2–1/2 hour flight).

The hotel is beautiful. We are on the second floor of a 2-story bungalow. Each floor is one room with a bathroom and a walk-in shower. We have a thatch roof, fan, and the all-important A/C in our room. Our deck (not shared with anyone) is

where I write this from. There are two hammocks on our deck they installed when we got here. It’s hot, humid, and peaceful. Really, the only sounds I hear right now are the strange sounds of birds I’ve never heard before and the waterfall of a fountain in our courtyard.

Every path is covered over with sand. We are surrounded by palm trees of all different sorts, including coconuts. We will probably walk into town layer today (a few miles round trip) for some lunch. Our grandiose plans for the entire week consist of one trip to Chichen Itza (Mayan ruins), maybe some snorkeling, and a whole lotta nuthin’ else. We are going to read, relax, swim in the pool and the ocean, read, relax, sleep, eat, read, and relax.
For now, please enjoy a picture with a view from where I am sitting right at this moment. We send our love and are thinking about all of you.

The View From Here

Indian Wells

Nette @ Smiling Mom — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:56:23 +0000

We had the opportunity to tag along with my dad to his institutes in Indian Wells, California. His team an he have a powerful message they are sharing with teachers and principals throughout the country. Their message of No Excuses, and the notion that not only every child CAN learn, but should be learning. And it’s our (the schools) job to make that happen. Powerful. Like, change the face of education powerful. I attended a few sessions and now feel more of a sense of urgency to get back out to the school site and make changes happen… more on that later.

For now, some pictures.

eClaire hanging with Auntie Ali.

Cousin Mika, hamming it up.

Cousin CJ and BC. BC’s all, “AAYYY!”

But the majority of our time was spent sitting just like this in the pool, avoiding the 110 degree heat. Gotta love vacation!

Indian Wells