Busy week

So far, July has been pretty crazy here! On the third, Ronan and I drove to Pennsylvania to attend my cousin's graduation open house. My aunt and uncle live right over the border, so it was only about an hour's drive. Ronan did great and stayed awake the whole way there. It was fun to see my cousins and aunt and uncle. Then on Sunday, I was supposed to go to Tom's aunt and uncle's for a 4th of July picnic. I was in such a rush to get there after church that I forgot to look at directions, assuming I would just recognize the street I needed to turn on when I got there. That was a bad assumption. I drove around for over an hour looking for it, because I knew I was close. I tried calling people to get directions, but no one had their cell phone on them apparently. I even ended up calling my brother, having him access my e-mail in hopes that either the address or the phone number would be in the invite. No luck. So finally I just gave up and went home. Turns out that I had gotten off one street too early on the roundabout - hence the reason I couldn't find the right street. So frustrating. Plus, I had been wearing a sleeveless shirt and my shoulders ended up sunburned from driving around.

But then on Tuesday, my dad came to visit, which was wonderful. We spent Tuesday afternoon in Kent, first returning some books at the library, then stopping by Rays to get a drink, and finally topping it off with a trip to the ice cream shop. Perfect since the temp was in the 90s the whole time he was here. On Wednesday, my dad and I had fun playing catch while Ronan napped. We also took Ronan to the lake which he had a lot of fun playing in. After that, we went and looked at the fire truck (the lake is right behind the police/fire station). One of the firefighters came out and let Ronan sit in the truck (which he wasn't sure about) and gave him a sticker and a little plastic fireman's hat. Ronan was much more into looking at the wheels though. It was fun.

Then that evening my aunt and youngest cousin came to visit from PA (the same aunt whose house I went to on Saturday) and we had dinner and played around outside. On Thursday, Dad and I took Ronan swimming at a nearby park. Ronan wasn't entirely sure about the whole thing. He'd go into the water, but then turn around and climb back out. And of course, I didn't think to bring any toys, so he kept trying to take other kids' pails and shovels and the like. Eventually he came in up to about his chest, so that was good. This also is a good point for me to tangent off into a discussion on taxes, so either bear with me please or skip to the next paragraph. :) Obviously, I never paid taxes while living in MN (I always got a refund from my after-school/summer jobs), but I do pay taxes here. And frankly, I'd be happy to pay more in state and local taxes if it meant there were things to do around here for free. The lake we took Ronan to was a man-made one in a decent park. It costs $10/person to go in. The big lake that we go to all the time forbids swimming, even though part of it is public and used to have beaches (apparently people living near by didn't like the fact that kids were coming all the time and were - heaven forbid! - rowdy). In MN, of course, you can't go more than 5 miles without tripping over a lake, with free beaches open to the public. The Akron zoo costs money for each visit and it's not even a close comparison to the Como Zoo (again, free). And I find this kind of user-fee system a problem, not just because I hate having to shell out money for each and every visit, but because I don't think it's fair. Kids from all backgrounds should be able to go swimming in a lake or visit a zoo. These kinds of fees can really add up. If you have two kids over the age of 2 and you want to take them to the lake, you're looking at a $30 outing. And the people who can least afford that are probably also the people who don't have access to A/C or a pool or whatever else. Not to mention, even our public services seem to be suffering. One of the main things I took away from our chat with the firefighter at the lake was the while I completely trust the men and women who would come help, it sounds like the equipment isn't up to that same standard. So, moral of the story, taxes are necessary and they can do a lot of good.

Moving on. Ronan's currently in a bad sleep phase, which is tiring for me (though apparently not for him). The other day, he was in his crib for his nap and suddenly started going "uh-oh. uh-oh. uh-oh." and then fell asleep. Two nights ago, he woke up around 4:30 a.m. and was wide awake. He just wanted to get down and play. I finally brought him back to bed with me and around 5:30, we both fell asleep until the dogs jumped up on the bed at 8. This also brings me to my recent idea about sleep training. I don't discount the fact that it can work for some people. But I think that there's so much going on during the first couple years that sleep is never going to be a constant progression from little to lots. Sleep training (like crying-it-out) might work during the good phases of sleep, but then gets completely thrown out when the baby hits a developmental, growth, or teething spurt or gets sick. At least, that's how it is with Ronan. During his good phases, he'll immediately lay down and go to sleep as soon as you put him in his crib. He doesn't need anything. During the intermediary phases, he might need a bottle or to be held for a few minutes. letting him cry also works. But when the bad phases come, when he's obviously going through something, nothing really works. About a week or so ago, when this one started, Tom wanted us to let him cry for 30 mins. I (reluctantly) agreed to try. It made no difference. He was still going strong, screaming and crying at the end. So if we're all going to be suffering anyway, I'd rather that I'd just be in there, trying to keep him calm and not have to listen to crying. Usually at this point, I don't even really do much, but just stand in there so he knows it's ok. You can tell that he wants to sleep - he rubs his eyes, he tries to get comfortable, he snuggles up to you when you hold him (as opposed to trying to get out of your arms). There's just something preventing him from sleeping and no amount of crying is going to get rid of that. So why add to his misery? But man, I really do hate these bad cycles. It frays the nerves, to say the least. On the bright side, it's summer, so it's not like I'm spending the time I'm in there thinking "I really should be reading or writing right now." I just think "I really wish I could be on facebook." :)

And for a good chunk of the time I've been writing this, I've also been going back and forth trying to get Ronan to nap. He slept for about 20 min. on the way home from church, so getting him down is a struggle. But I'm going to get back to it. Wish me luck!