Times are Changing...

Happy (belated) Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there and especially to my dad, my father-in-law, and my hubs! We invited everyone over to our house for a Father’s Day lunch Sunday, and it was so nice to have a low key gathering with our families. I loved having my father there, with Cam’s parents, and even Colby’s (Lisa’s husband) parents – who are definitely family, as well! Gates always loves having visitors because he loves to show off all of his toys and get extra attention from the guests – and he is almost always on his best behavior. But let me tell you about the morning leading up to our lunch. ….
Holy Terrible Twos – you are not welcome in the Franz household!!
Gates woke up cranky (and this rarely happens). Let me start by saying that Cameron and I often brag about what an EASY baby Gates was and what an easy toddler he has been. All transitions have been so EASY with him. He slept in his crib from 4 weeks on, slept through the night early, transitioned from bottle to cup without a problem, from baby food to real food, etc. I mean the kid has been EASY! Well Sunday morning, all that went out the window. He was a nightmare. Nothing we did was right. nothing made him happy. I would have sworn he was sick (or possessed) but Cameron just kept saying “nope, this is a tantrum and these are the terrible twos.” I shuttered to think about it. You mean to tell me there is no real cure for this? This is just how it is going to be for a while? Can we ship him off somewhere until he is over it? Y’all, I don’t know if I can handle this! I will be sure to keep you posted as things progress at home. We will be introducing Time Out – which should be real fun. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to share.

Anywho – as the guests arrived, he seemed to pull himself together and act like the sweet boy he is was. And how sweet that Granddad (Cam’s dad) took Gates swimming on Father’s Day, after everyone had lunch and took naps. This was the second day in a row that Granddad came to pick up Gates and take him to the club. They swim, play with the other kids, go down the water slide, eat popsicles and have so much fun!!! It really does melt my heart to see the two of them bonding the way they do. When Joe dropped Gates off yesterday evening, Gates wanted nothing to do with me, Cam, or our house. He took off running down the street - I’m not kidding. you would think I beat him.

Man, this blog is all over the place but there are a couple more things I want to include:

I wish I took a picture of this but, to be honest, I am not sure I like the way I am looking in pictures these days. I mean, I know the camera adds 10 pounds but still. ;) Saturday night Cam and I headed to the Woodlands for our 4th Widespread Panic concert together (probably Cam’s 50th – no exaggeration). I wasn’t dreading the evening but I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it – but we ended up having a really great time. It was fun to have a night out with my husband and I really do enjoy WSP, especially live. And I think baby boy Franz had a good time, too because he was really active all night.

And finally – along with the terrible twos, Gates has finally started TALKING. Can you believe it?! we can’t. he has been saying momma, dada, ball, NO, etc for a while now and he has a full understanding of what everything is but just WOULDN’T talk. But yesterday morning, before I saw the terrible twos rear its ugly head, he said juice! He was sitting in my lap, after he first woke up, and was pointing to the kitchen and I had no idea what he was pointing at (he has always been a big pointer and I am sure that is part of the reason he hasn’t felt the need to talk yet - he points to something and we get it for him). I kept trying to guess but he kept shaking his head. Well, I guess when he realized that pointing wasn’t going to cut it, he decided to TELL ME (novel idea) what he wanted. JUICE! My heart was swollen with pride. It sounded so funny to hear him articulate what he wanted. I LOVED it! but we will talk more about that when the terrible twos mix with his new found voice.

Have a great week everyone!