Prince of Naps

A year ago, I was fretting and reading and trying everything to get TLB to nap during the day. He's been a good nighttime sleeper from Day One, but until late July last year his napping left something to be desired.

Just when I'd gotten him on a decent nap schedule (after some sleep training for him and behavior modification for me), he started day care, which threw everything all out of whack again -- a different environment with different distractions. TLB adjusted, though. He's a trooper.

Toward the end of the school year, TLB was only taking one nap at day care. I was afraid this would stick, even though I was pretty sure he could use a morning and afternoon nap. Around the start of summer vacation he was teething like crazy, too, which didn't help at all. It disrupted his naps and night-time sleep as well. I thought I was in trouble.

I was wrong.

My son has become a napping machine. No matter what I have planned during the day, he'll be ready for naps at 9:30 am and 2 pm. No fighting, no fuss, no preparations necessary. He'll climb into my arms, put his head on my shoulder and stick his thumb in his mouth. "Put me in my bed and take a break, Mommy," he says -- or he would, anyway, if his vocabulary consisted of anything more than "Mama," "Dada," and "ball." He sleeps 1.5 to 2 hours per nap, which gives me plenty of time to pick up around the house (yeah, right!), check Facebook and watch World Cup Soccer. God bless my son for letting me watch the World Cup.

48 Hour Film Project

When TLB is napping, I pretty much live on Facebook. Yes, I know there are chores to be done, but I totally need to see what all my friends are up to RIGHT NOW, because I am absolutely incapable of picking up a phone and actually being in touch with people and having real, functioning relationships.

Anyway, over the weekend I received two separate invitations to one of the Jacksonville screenings of the 48 Hour Film Project. One was from a kid who was in my 8th grade technology class my first year teaching. The other was from a guy I know through the local community theater. To make a long story short, I had no plans that night, my husband would be working late, and my dad was available to watch TLB, so I figured I'd go.

(Notes to self:

1) Next time, don't buy tickets online. It's not like it's going to sell out, so it's not worth buying in advance and paying double your ticket price in online fees.

2) Next time, bring a friend. It would be more interesting having someone to talk to before the screening and at intermission, and it would be a lot safer having someone to walk back to the parking garage with at 10 pm. )

The 48 Hour Film Project itself is a really cool idea. At the kick-off event, which is held on a Friday night at 7 pm, each team is assigned a genre, and all teams are given a list of components that must be included in the film (this year they were: a character named Tony or Tina Daubert, who is a wine connoisseur; a line of dialogue - "I love a good challenge"; and use of a lamp as a prop). The teams then have 48 hours to complete their films (the only work that can be done in advance is essentially assembling the team and procuring the equipment), which they must turn in by 7:30 pm on Sunday.

So yeah, in theory, this is a really cool idea. But remember those video projects people did in high school? You'll be seeing a lot of this all over again. Some of the films weren't that bad. Some were actually edited well. In some of them, the sound didn't completely suck. Some even had legitimate actors. But for the most part, when a film would start, 30 seconds in I'd be waiting for it to turn into porn.

DISCLAIMER: I am, by no means, an authority on porn, but come on. Admit it. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The bad sound. The thin plot. The horrible acting. All some of these films needed were a bed and the "Lay That Pipe" soundtrack music.

As people entered the Florida Theater, they were given ballots to select the "audience favorite" film. Everybody was require to vote for THREE films -- so people could vote for their own films and then two others that they actually liked. At first, I started to automatically check off the two films I'd actually been invited there to view, but then the critic in me convinced me to actually watch the films and select my REAL favorites.

One of the films I chose was a musical. Anybody who knows me is thinking right now "Well, DUH!" but seriously. They had to make a MUSICAL. With music and lyrics and stuff. And it wasn't painful at all, fairly clever and somewhat compelling.

Another film I chose was a comedy. Oh, many of the films were comedic in one way or another (whether or not they were intended to be), but this one was actually in the comedy genre and I enjoyed it. Admittedly, I think "comedy" is probably one of the easiest genres to do, but the director chose a format really suited to the actors and it played out well. The only line that really sounded scripted was the obligatory "I love a good challenge."

The third film I chose WAS actually one of the ones I was invited to see, but I'm not going to say which one. It doesn't really matter, because I left in such a hurry so I could beat the traffic out of the parking garage (ha ha, joke's on me!) that I forgot to turn in my ballot. Sorry guys.

Vacation Observations

1. Until I become a mindreader, I will have to just accept the fact that sometimes toddlers just fuss.

2. It is better to sit in front of or behind people who look like grandparents on the plane and bus. Grandparents are far more accepting of my toddler's behavior than younger businessmen.

3. One sippy cup is not enough.

4. A well-rested toddler is happier travelling companion than a tired one. Don't expect him to sleep on the plane. He won't.

5. Hotel suite with 2 bedrooms, a living area and a kitchen is the best idea ever. Hotel that offers free hot breakfast in the lobby is the second best idea ever.

6. Hide-and-seek is just as fun in a hotel suite as it is at home.

7. So is bathtime.

8. If there are steps, he will attempt to climb them.

9. If there is a dance floor, he will be on it, even if he doesn't know how to dance.

10. A toddler will not enjoy touring lighthouses as much as I will (neither will my husband, for that matter, but he'll at least humor me), but he'll sure look cute in the pictures.

Tubes

So after pretty much near-constant ear infections since November, TLB had ear tube surgery this morning. In some ways, it was a very simple procedure. In other ways, it was quite an ordeal.

Our scheduled surgery time was 9:50 am -- which was horrifying to me when the surgery center called me and told me that, because I knew that TLB would not have eaten since his bedtime the night before, and was therefore likely to be cranky shortly after waking up. We had to be at the surgery center to check in by 7:45 am, which meant more than two hours of wait time once we got there.

I had read that they scheduled the surgeries by age, so I was shocked that they were starting so late, since I was sure that TLB, at his age, would surely be first. We checked in at the front desk and where led to the children's waiting room, where three other boys -- all younger than mine -- were crawling around playing with the toys. Another mystery solved.

In short order we were taken to our room, where we met the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and were given TLB's spiffy hospital gown. Baby hospital gowns? Hilarous.

There were plenty of toys and lots going on to distract TLB from his hunger... for a little while. At one point, one of the other toddlers beaned TLB in the head and knocked him flat on his Pamper. I maintain that it's funny when someone gets hit in the head with a ball. Even when it's my kid.


We made it until nearly 9 am, at which point there was a meltdown from which no amount of rocking, carrying or cajoling could save me.

Eventually (mercifully) the surgeon found us in the hallway and told us we were next. At 9:54 am, TLB was taken from my arms by a nurse and back to the OR. At 10:18 am, the surgeon came in to tell me how things had gone. Minutes later, TLB was back in my arms, heartily chugging a sippy cup full of apple juice (his second since waking up). The nurse warned me that he might be grumpy, and that he would need a long nap to sleep off the effects of the anesthesia. She was wrong about the grumpiness -- he ate a banana and chatted happily the rest of the way home. She was right about the nap, though -- THREE AND A HALF HOURS.

He earned that nap. So did I.

Cheesy Tots!

I'm sure it was just God's way of telling me to lay off the fried, cheesy foods, but boy oh boy, there are few things that irk me more than a snarky teen who's sure she's right when she isn't.

BK Chickie: Welcome to Burger King. Can I take your order?

Me: I'd like a 12-piece cheesy tots, and...

BK Chickie: Uh, yeah. Cheesy tots have been discontinued... for, like, a long time, now.

Me: Oh. Okay. They're on your board. So I guess I'll have...

BK Chickie: No. We have funnel cakes up there now.

Me: Um. Alright. But you have cheesy tots on your board, too.

BK Chickie: I'll have my manager check that.

Me: Cool. So, I guess I'll have a cheeseburger and a bottled water.

BK Chickie: We don't have bottled water right now.

Me: Oh. Okay. I guess I'll have... an orange Fanta and a cheeseburger.

BK Chickie: An orange juice and...

Me: No, no, a Fanta orange soda.

BK Chickie: We have Fanta Strawberry.

Me: Do you have Sprite?

BK Chickie: Yes.

Me: I'll have that. Small.

So I pull around, pay the girl, and as she gives me my food she informs me, "I don't know what you think you saw on the board, but my co-worker just checked and there aren't any cheesy tots up there."

What I wanted to say: Well, I'd tell you your co-worker's making you look like a fool, but I think you're doing fine all on your own.

Or: Then one of us is delusional. Maybe she should double-check, just to be sure.

Or: "Have a nice day" or "Sorry we didn't have half the stuff you ordered" would have been better.

What I DID say was, "Okay, if you say so," and drove off with the cheeseburger I didn't really want in the first place.

If I hadn't been in a hurry to get to my martial arts class, I would have gone in and spoken to the manager. After cooling down, I decided to just blog about it instead.

For the record:

Orange Fanta was on the board, too.