Back at 'Er

Hello Blog Friends, I'm back! After what felt like forever away, it feels good to finally be home! I swear, every time I go visit my hometown I feel like time is going backwards. At one point in my life I had appreciated that feeling, but when you're dealing with a toddler going through his terrible twos...yeah...time couldn't go by any faster!!

I wish I could say that this trip was heavenly and pure perfection, but I can't even call it a vacation. Yes, it was that bad! I'm thinking I need a vacation from being on that vacation! To make a long story short: the drive to the Kootenays would have been ok had the Munchkin not gotten car sick and puked all over himself, and then proceeded to refuse to get out of the pool of puke that had accumulated in his car seat. My cousin ended up just removing the seat from the car with the Munchkin still sitting in it! Not even the downpour of rain made him get out of his seat! Once he finally got up it was another fiasco trying to get him out of his puke covered clothes. I'm not even joking when I say half an hour and a meltdown later he finally agreed to step out of those stinky clothes...only to spend another half hour naked (except for his diaper) standing in the middle of the sidewalk that led up to the cafe that we had stopped off at to clean up the puke. The whole vomit catastrophe should've been a hint as to what was to come...

The rest of the week was spent with each day containing at least 4-5 tantrums and meltdowns, non-stop whining and crying, several blatant anti-social moments, and refusing to eat at every meal. The Munchkin kept an eagle-eye watch on me and knew the second I had left the room. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without him freaking out! And don't even get me started about diaper chances and bath time...let's just say that in the 8 days that we were away the Munchkin took one and a half baths. If it weren't for the fact that he has such bad eczema I would have said "screw the bath!" but with the muggy weather, sweating, outdoor elements, sunscreen and lotion buildup, and all the fall to the ground protests this kid was one big ball of gross.

I am by no means a perfect mom, and I do not try to portray a perfect life. So let me tell you that during the half bath attempt ended up in an autistic-like tantrum that left the Munchkin crying for at least half an hour afterwards, my cousin taking him off my hands to try to console him, and me crying in the bedroom cause I was beyond frustrated. There were several moments during the trip where I felt like bursting into tears and the Munchkin would freak out cause he didn't even want me to look him. My only saving grace this entire trip (and the one thing that prevented me from going ballistic) was when my cousin offered to look after the Munchkin while I go have a day to myself. I jumped on the opportunity since my cousin is the only person the Munchkin trusts and will turn to if I "disappear". All previous attempts at family members trying to take the kidlet off my hands ended up with him balling his eyes out for literally hours in which no one can touch him, which would then make said family member call me up to get my butt back home. So I thoroughly enjoyed the alone time that I had. I walked into town, went into every store that looked interesting to me, shopped for yarn, and enjoyed a coffee with a chocolate cookie while I sat and knit at a corner cafe. It was soooo relaxing and blissful!

I'm quite sad though, cause the Munchkin returned to his usual giggling, goofy, crazy self the day before we left. I feel like no one got to see the person that he really is. No one got to see any of his cute dancing, his sweet gestures, or his funny jokester side. Instead, my family only saw the angsty, anti-social cry-baby side. This was all amplified even more since my cousin's daughter, who is a week younger than the Munchkin, was always around and comparisons were inevitably being made constantly. The two kidlets were definitely night and day and maybe I'm just being incredibly sensitive but I swear there was some obvious favouritism happening. I mean, who wouldn't want the happier, giggling, talking toddler around? Mind you, she was also a bully and was quite mean when adults weren't looking (which is why the Munchkin didn't like having her around) and she did her freak outs and tantrums when no one was around. Again, maybe I'm being sensitive, but I know a lot of the Munchkin's frustrations came from having his cousin take whatever she wanted (even if it was from his hands!) and had everything handed to her, and was forced to share his things with her...and then when it came time for him wanting to play with something of hers everyone jumped on him about how it wasn't his toy. That last part irked me and as much as I want my son to learn how to fend for himself, I definitely snarled back about the unfairness of everyone making the Munchkin share when the other toddler didn't have to.

Anyways, if anyone is still reading this (cause seriously, how often do I talk about kids on this here crafting blog?) I'm sorry for carrying on. Venting done. Just had to get it all off my chest. Now it's time to move on and start working on the several loads of laundry that has to be done, finding room for all the new stuff that was brought back, airing out/cleaning and then storing all the luggage (since some still has puke on it!), and most importantly - getting back into the normal routine of daily life.

I took some photos (when I remembered that I had the camera with me, that is) but a lot of them still need to be uploaded to the computer, so that'll have to wait for another day, another post. In the meantime, I'm going to make some coffee and try to enjoy the few minutes of quiet that I have before my boys (as in Brett and the Munchkin) wake up!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far...what have y'all been up to?