Not Sure I Can Parent a Boy

I have a boy and not sure if I'm up for the challenge.   We were out and about today and Jeremy wanted to take a test ride at Harley Davidson.  We indulged him since he was kind enough to sell his bike when we had Holden.  Plus they always have free food at those events.   Holden and I were getting him a hot dog and he wanted to go sit down.  As I'm making his hot dog up (i.e. Ketchup) he is about 10 feet away and tumbled from the picnic bench to the asphalt.  Normally this wouldn't phase me too much, a little crying and calming of a little boy's nerves usually does it with a tumble.  Not today, he cut the back of his head when he fell and I'll tell you a head wound is REALLY bloody.   I felt terrible.  He's fine and recovered well after being shook up a little.  But I'm not sure I'm going to let him do anything for himself again (not really that would cause more temper tantrums then necessary).  

I got all kinds of advice from strangers about rushing him to the ER.  Instead I called my mom.  They offer the best advice right?   Anyway, he seems to be just fine, case in point, I better just accept that I have a boy, and in 2 short years we have a dislocated elbow and a head wound.   Can't image what will be next.

And now for an update on the cuteness.

 Helping Dad loading the empty Keg.

 

Our Little Cowboy (the boots are most likely the culprit for the fall today)

I have found the most wonderful place

On the Internets there has been a buzz about a site called Pinterest. So I finally checked it out this weekend. It is the most wonderful, happiest place to waste time. It is a total time suck, not blocked by my company's IT department. AND I have already found an idea for my sister's Christmas presents, and Holden's third birthday cake.

I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but if your even later than me, totally look at it. A great place for new ideas.

I am a Warrior

I survived Warrior Dash and will sign up again next year. I did the 3.1 miles and 11 obstacles in 1 hour 10 minutes. We didn't run much but the obstacles took the wind out of you so running was not really happening.

Before

Here is taste of our obstacle course, I have photos of the last few courtesy of our friend Diane but that is the only place for non-racers to stand and cheer:

• 5 foot walls followed by crawling under barbed wire
• Up and into and over 4 roll off dumpsters (empty) with tires between. This was difficult, I'm about a 1/2 foot taller than the side of the dumpster so on the outside there was a foot hold, on the inside there wasn't. A kind competitor helped me on the last 2 to get my leg swung over the side
• Balance beam like the ones you see on survivor
• 11 foot wall with a rope. This is the one obstacle I couldn't do. Tried really hard but couldn't get started. However, Stacey did awesome and conquered not only the wall but her fear of heights.
• Cargo net
• Crawl through a dark tunnel
  
• Scale a platform and slide down a fire house pole
• Waist deep pond (green algae and all) and up and over logs
• Soaking wet up and over another cargo net
• Scale another platform and over
• Jump over fire
• Crawl in mud under barbed wire
  

After

A taste of the characters at the Dash. We also saw a group of men in superhero boxer briefs.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Preparing to be a Warrior

Tomorrow I am running (walking?) the Warrior Dash with some awesome women. I have no illusions of grandeur that I will be crossing the finish line without collapsing. However, I have been running/spinning/lifting for five days a week the last 10 weeks. Even though I don't expect I can run all 3.2 miles in August Carolina heat and humidity, I feel like I'm headed into the race with the overall fitness of above average.

My race day gear includes:
Clothes and shoes I'm willing to toss after the race
A colored bra so I can change in the parking lot
A towel to put on my friend's car seat for the ride home
A change of clothes and shoes

Our heat is at 10am, and the Dash is a place for us amateur athletes to run through some mud, crawl under some barbed wire and jump over fire. And when its all done, we get to eat turkey legs and drink beer. My kind of race.

I am excited (suppose I should be more scared than I am). My awesome women and I are going to do the course together and finish together. We didn't find awesome costumes to wear but I'll make sure to get some photos of other competitors. Holden and a friend kind enough to watch him are going to cheer us on at the sidelines (Jeremy will be drinking beer at the Nascar Race in Bristol). Stay tuned for a follow-up post with photos of the Warriors!

Weekend fun

We are Bank of America customers and they are running a promotion that on the first weekend of the month they pay the entrance fee to hundreds of museums. We have been wanting to check on the Nascar Hall of Fame here in Charlotte and it was on the list of free museums through BofA. So we took advantage of being BofA customers since there isn't much else in the way of advantages to big banks.

It was a good hall of fame and I would recommend it to race fans and visitors to the city. Its very interactive. Holden loved all of the race cars and I'm pretty sure he is going to follow in his Dad's footsteps when it comes to the love of all things mechanical. And their mutual love of Kyle Busch the driver of the Number 18 M&M car.

Also, we learned this weekend that Holden is over his fear of bubbles. Just like that he wanted bubbles in the bath and has so much fun. He's a strange one sometimes.

2.5 is hard

Holden has been really frustrating lately. His need to be independent coupled with his lack of compliance/listening has been trying our patience the last few weeks. There seems to be so many things to teach him at this age that I'm finding it hard to focus on things and want to throw my hands up and say hell with it. Also, the hitting mom phase is back as are the timeouts. He doesn't hit with any authority, just when he doesn't like what I tell him, he couples a "no" with a slap.

Lastly, I'm uberfrustrated with potty training. We seem to be getting nowhere fast. We went and bought training pants and underwear for him as I think pull ups do not serve the purpose they are intended for. Holden does not act any differently when wearing pull up than a diaper so we thought training pants/underwear would give him some self awareness or at a minimum let Jeremy and I know more accurately his "timing". But here is where my frustration lies, he has gone through 8 pairs of training pants in 2 days (this is only while at home, there is no way we are leaving the house without diapers yet) because he pees and then tells us. No acknowledgement before peeing. I guess I should be happy he acknowledges when he pees in the underwear that is at least a start. Maybe I'm still rushing it? He has peed in the potty several times but not really on his own accord, just when I've sat him on it in the morning. Any advice from seasoned moms would be welcomed.

Oak Island

The Beach House was a great time, but all great things have to come to an end. However, we have all decided we will be making it an annual occurrence. We spent the week at Oak Island, NC with our close friends, Katie and Jay. Holden had a blast, he sang the Beach Song "going to the beach, going to the beach" every morning running circles around the living room. It was truly a vacation for Holden, he got to watch movies all the time (The Incredibles were watched daily), had a menu of hot dogs, mac & cheese and PB&J pretty much every day and endless bike rides.

Holden loved the beach, its still amazing how much he likes the water compared to last year. He's a bit fearless so we had to go and buy a life jacket after the first day as he wanted go in deeper water with Dad. Jeremy took him into deeper water the first day (before we had the life jacket) and I freaked out. Not that Jeremy wasn't holding onto him tightly, or that I didn't trust him but I could just see a wave take out Jeremy and he lose his grip. Its been a while since I had a moment like that but that is why we now have a life jacket, and surprisingly Holden didn't mind wearing it to go out and swim with Dad. Good thing we are in swim lessons.

Holden would get to our spot on the beach, immediately take off his sandals and run towards the water. Fearless I tell you. I can envision visits to the ER in my future.

Jeremy burying Holden in the sand

We took a road trip one day to Fort Fisher, the NC Aquarium and the USS North Carolina Battleship. Holden took his first ferry ride and loved it. Jeremy obviously loved the battleship (see the photo with him shooting the guns). Katie and I also got to spend a day shopping in Southport and have a nice relaxing lunch.

Southport to Fort Fisher Ferry, being cool like Dad.

NC Aquarium, we currently really like Alligators

USS North Carolina deck

Our childhood friend, Nick, showed up on the last couple of days to join in the fun. It was his first time hanging out at the beach as he has only lived in the Charlotte area for little over a year. Needless to say, he made the classic rookie mistake and got really sun burnt. Although, the rest of us seemed to make the same mistake on the last day also, funny how that happened. I'm just glad the sunburns didn't occur on Day 1.
I had to add this last photo, which classically shows how cooperative Holden is for photos lately. We can't wait to do it all again next year.