Maternity leave with Crosby rolled into summer break. I printed off a checklist I found on Pinterest of fun ideas to make this summer enjoyable for the kids.
Beautiful dancing, colors, and music at the Asian Festival commenced our summer. We heard a guzheng performance, saw dragon kites, and ate lo mein noodles. We watched a Tai Chi studio performance; the movements were so fluid and mesmerizing. Millie danced with an Asian exercise dance group; Wells started to but quickly found his way back to holding my hand. Both kids got their faces painted for the first time; Mill got a rainbow arching from her forehead down her cheek and Wells got a Spider-Man web. He wasn’t thrilled that the artist was touching his face but he was happy when he looked in the mirror. They both colored Japanese opera masks and painted cherry blossoms using the bottom of a coke bottle. I bought an umbrella tree bonsai plant that Mill named Bonsai Bonsai the Bonsai.
During our first week together, we painted rocks for the garden; we painted a lemon slice, a rainbow, and a purple rock that said, brave. Millie and Wells both helped me in the kitchen; Mill helped by chopping vegetables for dinner and Wells helped by putting parmesan cheese on the garlic bread and dividing salad into bowls (not for him though because Wells doesn’t like salad).
We went to the library to register for the summer reading program and to see a children’s comedian, Mike Hemmelgarn. During his performance, Mr. Hemmelgarn juggled balls, performed magic tricks, and told jokes with balloons and puppets. Wells’ favorite part was when the skunk puppet sprayed (squirt gun) and Mill’s favorite part was when Mr. Hemmelgarn drew a face on a dry erase board and that face became a moving puppet!
After the show, Millie and Wells played with legos while I picked out some books; a ballerina book for Mill, a shark dog book for Wells, and a book called, Saying Goodbye to Lulu (we’re getting ready to have to say goodbye to my family dog, Brandy). I heard Wells say, “Mommy? Mommy?” We had to leave the library early because Wells had an accident. I was proud of him though, for telling me, and that he mostly held himself all the way across the library until we got to the bathroom.
Once it was officially strawberry pickin’ season, we took our buckets and went to the fields. My friend from work, Madison met us there. Wells would pick a berry, take a bite, and chuck it as far as he could throw. If he wanted to keep the berry, he’d toss it into the bucket and yell, “goal!” Crosby was perfectly content in the carrier, even as I bent down to pick berries. The strawberries were delicious and we shared them with my mom and maw.
We had a fun day swimming at Maw’s pool. It didn’t get warmer than 75 degrees but the kids swam until their lips turned purple. Wells hit the weight requirement for his puddle jumper (it’s blue with a shark on it) but he won’t trust the float. My mom held him in the pool all the while wearing the puddle jumper. Millie swam all around with her puddle jumper on and even floated on her back. Wells tried jumping into the baby pool but the bottom was incredibly slippery (last year Maw slipped when getting into it). He landed his jump but his feet slid from under him. He hit his head on the edge of the baby pool and we watched for concussion symptoms all night.
Millie had no interest in Taylor’s (my step-mom’s, granddaughter’s) softball game. Instead of watching, Millie spelled her name in the dirt with little sticks. Wells found larger sticks and played, “swords” with whoever would swing them around. After the game, we went to the Columbus Arts Festival and got the kids snow cones, pretzels, and lemonade. Millie saw her dance teacher and spun the prize wheel at her company’s stand. She won free tickets to the Nutcracker! Both kids rolled down the hill by the river with my dad. It was a good day.
Week two of summer vacation started off rainy. We played board games; Hi Ho Cherry-o and Candy Land. Millie started VBS at our church, that was cowboy themed, so I got her a new pair of boots to wear. She was so happy to see many of her friends from school. Each day they read scripture and prayed about trusting God in difficult situations. On her last day of VBS, Chris asked her what she learned and she said, “A lot and nothing.” VBS family night included songs (and dances) of praise, bounce houses, and a petting zoo that had a zebra. Millie was not scared to go down the big, blowup slide. The kids met a police officer and sat in the driver’s seat of a cruiser. My favorite part of the night was Wells doing the “cowboy dance” in the middle of the aisle. It was awesome to see both kids having fun while worshipping the Lord.
Wells continued to go to speech therapy twice a week. Since Crosby’s birth, in March, Chris has been taking Wells to his speech appointments. Wells is working on the f, c, s, sh, g, and t sounds. The toughest part of therapy is making sure Wells doesn’t fall asleep on the car ride there! When he wakes up from his car nap, he is not happy and the first ten minutes of therapy are useless. His therapist, Jody suggested that we only have appointments once a week instead of our usual twice a week. I was not keen to this notion as aggressive speech therapy is the best way to help with his Apraxia. People who hear Wells speak, continue to praise him for his hard work and how well he is sounding.
Millie received a birthday party invite from a friend in her pre-k class. It was held at the play place at our church. It was very much a “little girls” party; pink, sparkly, unicorns and rainbows. When a new girl would come through the door, the girls would run, scream, and hug each other. Millie wanted me to go with her in the play area but my gosh, it smelled like dirty feet. Still, I gratefully followed her because one day, she might not want mom to be there with her at parties.
On the same day that Millie had her friend’s birthday party, we had our cousin Lily’s 7th birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese. This was the first time my kids had ever been there and the first time Chris or I had been in over 20 years. There wasn’t a ball pit or jungle gym like we remembered; it was completely modernized with Kidz Bop projected on the wall and swipe cards instead of tokens. Millie and Wells played shooting games, rode on a small carousel, got into a machine that dumped balls on their heads, and rolled a ball that made a monkey eat bananas. Wells’ favorite part was the shark projected on the floor; he ran around trying to stomp on the fish. Millie ate three pieces of pizza with the cheese off. Both kids had a great time.
We rarely make it over to the East side of town so after the birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, we took the kids to the outdoor mall. They were impressed with the life-sized, Lego giraffe and Lego Barbie creations. They both laughed when the stone frogs would spit water in the outdoor fountain. Wells wanted to take the coins out (he almost fell in). We took Millie to the American Girl store and she was so excited. Chris didn’t like being there however, my inner child was just as excited as Mill. She knew exactly what she wanted to get – the bitty, bitty baby from the Christmas catalog. She got the baby and a new pair of shoes for her doll, Kit.
After treating Millie, we went to Build-A-Bear for Wells. He had never been before. He chose a great white shark with a huge head. He threw it on the ground; mad. He said, “It’s flat!” He didn’t understand that he was going to get to stuff it. We looked through the different sound bites but we landed on puppy noises so that he could be, Shark-dog. We’ve been reading the Sharkdog books from the library. Chris and I were so impressed that the lady helping with the stuffing understood Wells when he said and spelled his name. Millie and Wells both put hearts in Sharkdog. The joy on Wells’ face was everything.
The weekend before Father’s Day, Chris and his dad took Millie and Wells to Home Depot to do a Kids Workshop activity. They wore orange aprons, painted, and had a lot of fun assembling table top putting greens. (During which I got some quiet, alone time with Crosby.) For Father’s Day, Millie gave Chris a mug that she picked out that said, “Dad Joke Pro” and he loved it. We went to church and the kids danced in the Praise House to the Cowboy Dance song; Wells is obsessed and his lasso moves are the best. After church, we spent the day with Chris’ parents, watching the Navy’s Blue Angels fly right above the rooftop. The Air Show was held in Columbus for the first time in over two decades and you could see the flights from my in-laws house. Neither kid was particularly interested in the air show; they were busy playing with badminton rackets. We ate a dairy-free, chocolate cake that Millie helped me bake and the kids fell asleep on the car ride home.
It rained everyday for the remainder of June. We did in-door activities to pass the time. We decorated cookies; Wells decorated blue dinosaurs and Millie decorated pink, sparkly tiaras. They were both most interested in eating the sprinkles. We created pictures using dot stickers, played with sensory bins (cornflakes and construction vehicles), sent cards to family members, built houses with magnet tiles, and read lots of books.
The kids were so excited to have a getaway weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. We planned to show them the Arc Encounter, the Newport Aquarium, and the Cincinnati Zoo. Unfortunately, the night before we were set to leave, Wells threw up and had diarrhea. I was really worried because his vomit was black and everything I found on Google said that could be a sign of internal bleeding. I called the pediatrician in the morning and she reassured me that the color was because of the amount of black food he ate (Oreo-O’s, black beans, Oreo cookies). She said that his symptoms sounded like a gastro-virus that would run it’s course within 72 hours.
Even though Wells was feeling under the weather, he still wanted to go on the trip. We packed up my in-laws new Expedition and drove to Kentucky. During the car ride, we found that Bob Marley’s, Three Little Birds, soothed Crosby when he would fuss; it was instantaneous. Millie practiced her sight words with Grandma in the third row. Wells slept.
At the Ark Encounter, the kids were scared of the sounds inside the exhibit and they did not want to look at the wax animals. Their favorite part was the playground. Wells said, “Thank you, Mommy for taking me here.” He led me through a maze, we raced, and we went on the see-saw together. I was super proud of Millie because she went on both zip-line rides (something she was too scared to try last year). Wells stayed hydrated by eating ice chips but by the time we got to the car, his temperature was 102.
We drove an hour to Cincinnati and checked into our hotel. We had an awesome view of a clock tower and we were on the same floor as the grandparents. We weren’t there 10 minutes before we changed into our bathing suits and went to the in-door pool. The water was the perfect temperature for Wells. It was the first time that Wells trusted his puddle-jumper and floated on his own! I sat on the steps of the pool, holding Crosby, and watched Chris swim and have fun with Millie and Wells. It was a beautiful time.
For dinner, we went to the hotel restaurant (they had an excellent soft pretzel). Wells ate a single french fry and threw it up later. Wells had a difficult night; fever and diarrhea. Crosby slept wonderfully for his first night away from home; he slept between me and Millie. Mill moves around in her sleep so I had to be mindful of how close she was getting to Crosby throughout the night. At one point, she hit her head on the headboard (it was really loud).
Morning came quick. We packed, ate pop-tarts, and loaded into the car on the way to the Newport Aquarium. Wells enjoyed looking at the different frogs; brightly colored poisonous frogs, big-eyed frogs, and frogs that stuck to the glass. Millie colored fish pictures with our initials on them with Grandpa. The fish were projected onto a digital screen. Both kids were super brave and walked across a tightrope bridge suspended over a tank full of sharks!
Before we went to the Cincinnati Zoo, we had lunch at an inner-city Skyline restaurant. The atmosphere was awesome and it was surrounded by brightly painted shops and a beautiful fountain. We went to the zoo and saw the hippos, Fiona and Fritz. Fiona was such a ham, kissing the glass and we saw Fritz kiss his daddy; it was so sweet. We got to see a tiger taking a bath, a snow leopard moving around the enclosure, and little lizards running around everywhere (I didn’t realize Ohio had lizards). Before we left, we stopped at the gift shop. Millie got a tie dye baseball hat that said, Fiona and Wells got a squishy ball in the shape of a shark.
July 4th was a special day. We had my mom and Maw over, Shauna, and Chris’ family, too. We ate and played corn hole. Once it got dark, we lit sparklers – Wells didn’t want to hold one; he tried on Memorial Day and didn’t like it. Millie did cartwheels in the yard while we watched the fireworks over the trees. Mawmaw lit Millie’s room with neon light sticks and the kids slept together through the sound of patriotic booms.
Millie would work on sight words at the breakfast table while Wells ate blueberry waffles (two, cut up, with butter on them, and syrup on the side). For every book that Mill read independently, she would get to add a pom-pom ball to her book worm, Maws idea, and she named it, Dotty. The word “the” gave her the most trouble. She could never remember it. Wells knew some sight words before the end of the summer; a, I.
Before lunch, we would play on the back patio in the baby pool and water table. The magnetic water balloons were the kids’ favorite toy this summer. They would trap their toys in the water balloons and throw them. Crosby got a water balloon to the cheek once – he’s a tough guy and didn’t even notice. Wells threw a water balloon at the back door at the same time that Chris was opening the door to ask me a question. Water got all over the hardwood floor but all we could do was laugh. It felt like heaven as Crosby slept on my chest, while I watched Millie and Wells water the flowers. Then, a fight would happen over the watering cans and I would heat up chicky nugs.
Dru and Uncle Nick wanted to take the kids putt-putting. This was their first time playing putt-putt golf. Millie of course, chose a pink ball. I was super impressed with how well she was lining up her shot and swinging the club. Wells mostly just ran all over the green. There were some arcade games in the lobby and Millie wanted to try the claw machine. She was impatient and hit the release button right over the drop shoot. She was devastated she didn’t win a toy (We explained to her that those games are rigged anyway). After the tears, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and found out that Mill really loves chips and salsa (she still doesn’t like tomato’s though, she thinks they’re squirty).
Millie was invited to an open house at her ballet studio for a dance exploration event. Chris took her and I stayed home with the boys. We both got the start time wrong so she was there almost an hour early however, Millie was able to have one-on-one time with instructors and older ballerinas in the company and was able to take pictures with them in their performance costumes. She was most excited about the ice-cream truck that came at the end. Chris said she did a really great job.
Wells had a good experience at his first dentist appointment! He watched Millie go before him. The tech gave him a pair of Spider-Man sunglasses to wear and she didn’t turn on her head lamp due to Wells’ eye sensitivity. I remembered to prepare him about the chair moving (I forgot with Millie). His cleaning didn’t last longer than five minutes and we found out that he didn’t have any cavities! I was nervous, the boy loves his sweets.
Both boys had an appointment with Children’s ophthalmology. Mawmaw came with us. Unfortunately, Crosby has the same genetic syndrome that Wells does and after the examination, it was confirmed that he has stage 1 dry eye. Wells allowed the cornea specialist to look into his eyes instead of squeezing them shut like he’s done in the past. I was so proud of Wells for doing a good job at this appointment that I took him to a trampoline park for a thirty minute jump. He would run across the trampolines and it looked so funny; his torso stayed still while his little legs moved so quickly.
The KidzBop Live Tour came through Columbus and we bought tickets because Mill is obsessed. She was pumped to be going to this concert; I let her pick out her outfit. She completed her look with a unicorn bow and a fuzzy, fanny-pack. The concert was held at the fairgrounds. Waiting in line to get in, I ran into a teacher friend and a current student of mine. I was wanded before entry and Wells was insistent on being scanned too. He was so observant; he held out his arms and turned around just like he saw me do. The whole fam went to this concert, including Crosby with his headphones. We arrived early enough to eat a funnel cake before the show. Millie was bummed only 4 kids performed. A little girl sitting in front of us shared beaded jewelry with Mill. I bought Mill a tour shirt and Wells a hat. We left shortly after intermission- it was hot and loud. Their new KidzBop attire read, “KidzBop Never Stop” and we had fun on the car ride home changing the last word of that slogan. Wells’ was my favorite, “KidzBop never poops”.
My best friend Lindsey invited us to spend a long weekend at Posey Lake in Hudson, Michigan with her and her family at her grandmothers lake house. Millie had been asking to go to the beach all summer so she finally got her chance to play in the sand. Wells pretended to give me ice-cream cones made out of sand. I was very impressed with how much Millie wanted to be in the water. It was awesome to see her and Chris play together in the lake; he would jump off the dock and she would score him. He taught her to close her mouth when waves came. We took pontoon rides around the lake and spotted turtles sunning on logs. Both Millie and Wells got to drive to boat with Lindsey’s help. We made s’mores at night; Millie liked her s’mores with a Reese Cup (it’s amazing that they make plant-based chocolate bars). Chris, Crosby, and I slept in a full sized bed while Millie and Wells slept in their sleeping bags on the floor. While we were sleeping on the first night, Wells managed to get his head stuck under the bed. I think the kids’ favorite part was jumping on the trampoline with Logan and Ben.
When we got home from the lake, our pet fish Shark had gone belly up. He wasn’t floating at the top but he was gone. We had an inclination that the ammonia levels were too high (I had been over feeding him and I didn’t know that could be an issue). Chris and I discussed what to do and we thought it best to be honest with the kids about what happened to Shark. We explained that Shark’s water made him sick and that he was dead. Wells was very upset; he cried. He cried when we buried him in the backyard under the pine tree. We all decorated the box Shark was buried in and we put his favorite plant in with him. Wells cried the next morning when he couldn’t feed him. It was incredibly sad. We decided that we will get another fish but not quite yet. Wells already decided that our next fish’s name will be Shark Junior.
The kids really wanted to go to the Ohio State Fair to ride on rides since they didn’t get to go on any when we were there for the Kidz Bop concert. My Dad agreed to help me take them. It was the hottest day ever. Millie was too scared to go on the roller coasters with Papa but they went into the FunHouse together. While they did that, I paid a man behind the darts counter to let Wells win a prize; to my surprise, Wells popped two balloons with the darts and he won a blue lemur! My Dad took both Mill and Wells on their first Ferris wheel ride; they were very brave. I took the kids through a Spider-Man maze (I almost slid into Mills back going down the slide). We shared a lemonade, French fries, corn on the cob, and a giant pickle.
We moved the kids’ rooms! Millie was moved into what was the guest room, Wells moved into Mills old room, and Crosby finally got a space of his own, in Wells’ old room. Millie’s new room is attached to the bathroom, which we felt was fitting as she’s the only girl sibling. Millie’s room was inspired by Sawn Lake. She has pink walls and lily pad curtains. There are ornate, brass details; her lamp, curtain rod, and side table pulls. She loves the space and it was fun giving her a “big girl” room. Wells is out of his crib and in a toddler bed. It was an adjustment encouraging him to stay in his bed through the night. Sharks are everywhere; a shark jaw bone, shark blankets, and hanging shark decor. Crosby is using Wells’ crib. I created his name sign for above his crib and Little Bear decor.
Sending Millie off to Kindergarten was easy because she was so ready. I was proud to send her to school with the knowledge she already had and the faith of how much she would learn. Going back to school myself was not so easy. Crosby was refusing the bottle and it was stressing me out. Chris was able to use his last weeks of paternity leave to watch Crosby while I started back to work. He was able to push through while Crosby learned that Mama was going to be gone for many hours during the day. Like the doctors said, if he gets hungry enough, he’ll take the bottle. After 3ish weeks, it was a non issue.
Some of my favorite summer highlights;
– Millie holding a tarantula
– Wells and I chasing after the bunny who feasted on my petunias
– Chris and Crosby surprising me at work on my birthday
Summer came and like that, it was over. It always goes by so fast. Those cheesy sayings, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” or “The days are long but the years are short.” are infuriating because they are absolutely correct. I swear, having three kids speeds up the time even more. I’m already thinking ahead to next summer – Crosby will be walking, Millie will have a year of school under her belt, and Wells will be getting ready to start pre-k. Until then, they’ll grow and I’ll continue dreaming of summer.
Mothering Millie 