A fine Thanksgiving, except ...

So the weekend before Thanksgiving, we had a pre-Thanksgiving with some of Amanda's family up in the Poconos. They do it every year as a way to see everyone but not get tied up in everyone having other things to do on Thanksgiving Day. It's a smart plan and it works great ... except the road crews in Philadelphia decided the Saturday morning (just before noon) was a great time to trim trees on the Schuylkill Expressway. In the end, our 2-hour trip turned into a 3.5-hour trip, followed by the 2-hour trip home. The 5.5 hours on the road (and 2.5 hours at the get-together) seemed like a great test case for what was coming, though.

We were going to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving to see my family ... first time back in Pittsburgh in more than a year, actually. The trip is a good 6 hours, so all the traveling before Thanksgiving (and Nathaniel's relaxed take on the whole thing) gave us hope it would all go well. And it did. The trip was virtually no problem.

Except Nathaniel seemed a little uneasy once we got to Pittsburgh. He didn't eat very well on Wednesday (day of trip) or Thursday (Thanksgiving). But he enjoyed running around like mad with all his cousins, which was really what we were looking forward to on the trip anyway.

Except ... he wasn't just not eating well -- he was sick. About 7 p.m. Thursday, he threw up. Then again about 8 p.m. He seemed better on Friday morning and finally ate something at lunch ... only to throw that up as well. We decided to drive home to be closer to a doctor if it was needed, and he threw up two more times in the car. He seemed to be doing better on Saturday, but still wasn't really eating much.

Then he seemed to be doing much better on Sunday, which was the day I got the bug and felt like garbage all day.

Finally we hit Monday. I had scheduled the day off for (a) the installation of a new shed (which was postponed) and (b) some recovery time after the trip to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, within an hour of dropping Nathaniel off at day care, I was called to pick him up because he threw up.

So, it's now 7 p.m. Monday and I'm exhausted. Nathaniel just ate dinner (solid food) and seems as chipper as can be. But who knows what tomorrow will bring.

The writing on the wall

Nathaniel was playing quietly yesterday morning, and I had a couple of things to take care of online before taking him to daycare.

Sounds easy enough, right? And it was.

Then I came home from work, and all seemed fine (Nathaniel running and yelling, Amanda preparing dinner for everyone (before anyone calls me a chauvinist, I always clear the table after dinner and straighten up the kitchen).

Anyway, it wasn't until about 20 minutes after dinner that I turned on a light in the living room and noticed the blue crayon scribbled all over the wall. I laughed about it and called Amanda over to see it ... and before she saw what I saw, she noticed more blue scribble on another wall.

Apparently, Nathaniel wasn't playing quietly in the morning so much as he was practicing his artwork. Lucky us!

How do they know?

Nathaniel has generally been sleeping well in recent times -- except for one night ... the night I worked incredibly late at work. What fun.

On election night, I was at work until about 2 a.m. keeping the website up to date for users. I got into bed about 2:30 a.m. At about 3 a.m., Nathaniel started screaming in a way he hasn't done for months (it felt like). From 3 to 5 a.m., either Amanda or I had to lay with Nathaniel on the couch. At that point, Amanda had to get ready for work, so I was lying down with Nathaniel while he was rolling and kicking.

Luckily, thankfully, Amanda took Nathaniel to daycare at 7 a.m., and I got to sleep for a couple of hours before heading to work.

But how did Nathaniel know that single day was the worst day?

Daylight savings ends ... no sleep

So I'm up at 5:15 Monday morning, the morning after we turn our clocks back. Why?, you might ask. Well, if you;re asking then I'm going to assume you don't have children.

At 5:15, Nathaniel is certain it's 6:15. He swears it, his body swears it ... and so he wants to know why Mommy and Daddy refuse to respond immediately to him. Eventually (within a couple of minutes), I give in to his protests ... and he immediately moves into the regular daily routine (where's breakfast, dad? It's 7 a.m. ....... no Nathaniel, it's only 6 ....... as usual, he wins).

How do you deal with this kind of stuff? I guess he'll slowly adjust, but the early waking will likely go on for another couple of days. On the positive side, he was absolutely ready to go to sleep at 7 p.m. last night, practically jumping into my arms to be placed in his crib.

In other news: This appears to be my 250th blog post; sorry for the delay since my last post; Nathaniel had another ear infection since my last post, but it's gone away after the traditional gross discharge; we're planning on taking a good long drive to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, so that should be interesting with an almost-2-year-old in the car.