This being the Labor Day weekend, most families are grilling out, celebrating, and hanging out with extended families and friends. Over the weekend, we were able to get out and have some fun with some minor accommodations. For one, we went to a state park and walked some trails, just me and the kids (dad got to go golfing this weekend). The kids had a great time. Ewan was a little nervous when we walked by the lake but he did great on the trails. Walking on the rough terrain was some good exercise and provided some great ‘proprioceptive’ input. Needless to say, he didn’t need to jump up and down as much after that hike! 

Of course, being out in old Mother Nature doesn’t always allow us to use a nice, clean bathroom and Ewan got to experience first hand the port a potty. One was at the state park and the other was at an annual pig roast a local family holds every year. This was certainly interesting as Ewan is really just now getting the hang of using the potty and it’s really not consistent yet, we have to remind him to go try all day. But, when he asked what that little building was, and I said that was the potty he decided he needed to go. I warned him that it might smell a little and when we walked in, he looked at me with a face that said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding’! His biggest objection was that there was no handle to flush the toilet, which in reality, is everybody’s objection to the port a potty concept! 

 

So, Ewan got to experience the thrill of peeing in the woods. What person hasn’t had to do this once in their life! Let’s just hope that he doesn’t want to try this on the playground, because then we’ll really have some explaining to do. The state park was actually pretty quiet but the pig roast was a bit more rowdy. Lots of kids running around, music playing, and basically just stuff everywhere. He had a great time, mostly because his cousin Brody was there and Brody’s older and well, just plain cool. It doesn’t hurt that Brody is great with kids despite being a pre-teen boy. Ewan did really well with all the different types of kids, mostly because everybody just ran around. If there’s one thing Ewan excels at right now, it’s playing chase. It doesn’t require much in the form of communication and you get to run around like a madman for hours on end. Who wouldn’t love that?

 

The only problem we had this holiday weekend was when we got lost. We were trying to find our way to another stop off in the country before the pig roast and I got lost. Plus I was running low on fuel and when I got to the nearest gas station, I realized I had left my wallet at home! Definitely, not good. So we had to go back and we just barely made it home as my car coughed its last breath! Of course, Mr. Directionality (aka Ewan) knew we were turning around and we were going home and just lost it. We tried to explain what was happening but he was too wound up at that point. Missing out on seeing his idol Brody was too much. So most of the evening was spent trying to get him back on track. 

 

The next day, we set off again for pig roast, this time with a full tank of gas and no stop offs. I have no doubt in my mind that Ewan remembers exactly how to get to pig roast and I will not need directions next year. If there’s one thing I’ve always known about Ewan, even before he could speak, was that he was a geographical whiz. He only needs to go somewhere once before he knows that you need to turn right after the red store to get to so and so’s house. 

 

While Ewan had a great time at pig roast, he certainly had a hard time leaving. His sister had a meeting to go to and we had to head home after an hour or two. I think we could have stayed two days and Ewan still would not have wanted to leave! We tried telling him what was next, where we were going, why we were going, even bribery—none of it helped. He just couldn’t get that train back on the tracks. So when he spilled his water on his shirt and his car seat on the way home, that was just enough to send him over the edge. When we got back, I think we all knew Ewan needed some down time and as soon as we walked in, he started humming his new favorite song, ‘Move Along’ by the All American Rejects (it must be his older sister’s influence!). This is fine, because he’s now moving away from the infamous three note tune (although if you listen to the song, it’s got some similarities to repetitive notes). After some chocolate milk, some music and some trains, and a few hours life was ok again.

 

Today, on the actual holiday, we’re hanging out watching The Polar Express (can you see the train theme in our house!) and maybe we’ll squeeze in a bike ride. It may be a holiday, but we’ve all got our limitations when it comes to changes in routine and you’ve got to learn to mix the two with just the right amount of new and old stuff.