How I Spent My Thanksgiving Vacation
Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. All I have to do is eat, and as you can tell from yesterday’s post, I’m quite good at it. Takeru Kobayashi may be able to eat 53-3/4 hot dogs in 12 minutes, but I’d like to see him down the equivalent of half a pumpkin pie on top of a quarter-bushel of sweet potatoes. I’m fortunate enough to still have enough grandmothers in my life that I don’t have to do anything for preparation. That’s good, because if I had to prepare Thanksgiving dinner in between caring for children, I’d be carving the holiday bratwurst to accompany our bounty of blue box mac and cheese.
In order to reach grandmothers’ houses, we had to drive three hours. There no longer is a good time to travel since the kids don’t sleep long in the car and everyone gets fidgety before finishing DVD #2. We headed out the door Wednesday afternoon, hoping to catch the kids in their afternoon nap. Everyone fell asleep before finishing DVD #1. That took us farther down the road than usual since we had to make a pit stop to purchase forgotten toiletries at the last stop of far metro Des Moines, giving me the chance to restart the DVD while still calling it DVD #1.
I enjoyed about 90 minutes of silence as the kids enjoyed their flickering images before falling asleep. Then they woke up. At first they were content, convinced daddy would stop and whisk them into their beds at any moment for a suitable nap. Then they started squawking, just in case I’d forgotten about them. Then they started screaming, just in case the squawking wasn’t carrying into the front seat. I spent most of the last half-hour listening to a combination of road noise, engine hum, radio, DVD player, and of course between one and three children screaming simultaneously.
I arrived at grandma’s house in desperate need of a nap. Sadly the kids had other ideas. I like staying with grandparents because their homes are immaculately kept and more childproof than the homes of the non-retired. I discovered on this trip, though, that grandparents tend to have a lot of pretty fragile things within children’s reach. I spent most of the night bouncing between children, pulling things out of their hands and mouths, trying to fix what they just broke, and figuring out how to childproof something else before I had tend to another grabby child. I remember screaming in terror with a mouthful of water as I watched Ian pull a piece of china out of a kitchen cabinet.
The next day, Thanksgiving, was easier, and not just because I left the kids with Ellie for a few hours while we did split Thanksgiving dinners. Food surrounded us all day, and whenever a child complained, I could shove something in the mouth, schedule be damned. The boys are at a fun age, still willing to eat anything we put in their mouths. We missed that with Abbie since at 6-months-old she was too young for most solids at her first Thanksgiving, but old enough to realize we were trying to poison her at her second Thanksgiving.
The boys were in full garbage disposal mode throughout the day, eating turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, various vegetable-free salads, a little pie, and anything else they could swipe off of plates left dangling to low. Abbie was more challenging, but we still found enough crackers and Snicker salad to keep her occupied.
Friday we drove home, but only after one last family get together that was so informal they served sloppy joes. That was a great lunch for the boys, but the since the meat wasn’t processed into nugget or frankfurter form, Abbie wouldn’t touch it. Fortunately my family was ready to help, quick to give Abbie a potato chip, fruit snack, or drink of soda pop whenever she looked hungry. Or bored. Or sleepy.
After chocking Abbie full of salt and sugar, we packed up everyone and drove home. Perhaps buoyed by the carbs, everyone stayed awake longer on this trip, waiting until DVD #1 finished before falling asleep. When everyone awoke I started DVD #2. It must have felt like DVD #1 because no one complained for the rest of the trip, and since I set it to “repeat play,” I didn’t have to worry about switching to another DVD. When we arrived home, we unloaded, changed diapers, and gave the kids dinner of mac and cheese.
In order to reach grandmothers’ houses, we had to drive three hours. There no longer is a good time to travel since the kids don’t sleep long in the car and everyone gets fidgety before finishing DVD #2. We headed out the door Wednesday afternoon, hoping to catch the kids in their afternoon nap. Everyone fell asleep before finishing DVD #1. That took us farther down the road than usual since we had to make a pit stop to purchase forgotten toiletries at the last stop of far metro Des Moines, giving me the chance to restart the DVD while still calling it DVD #1.
I enjoyed about 90 minutes of silence as the kids enjoyed their flickering images before falling asleep. Then they woke up. At first they were content, convinced daddy would stop and whisk them into their beds at any moment for a suitable nap. Then they started squawking, just in case I’d forgotten about them. Then they started screaming, just in case the squawking wasn’t carrying into the front seat. I spent most of the last half-hour listening to a combination of road noise, engine hum, radio, DVD player, and of course between one and three children screaming simultaneously.
I arrived at grandma’s house in desperate need of a nap. Sadly the kids had other ideas. I like staying with grandparents because their homes are immaculately kept and more childproof than the homes of the non-retired. I discovered on this trip, though, that grandparents tend to have a lot of pretty fragile things within children’s reach. I spent most of the night bouncing between children, pulling things out of their hands and mouths, trying to fix what they just broke, and figuring out how to childproof something else before I had tend to another grabby child. I remember screaming in terror with a mouthful of water as I watched Ian pull a piece of china out of a kitchen cabinet.
The next day, Thanksgiving, was easier, and not just because I left the kids with Ellie for a few hours while we did split Thanksgiving dinners. Food surrounded us all day, and whenever a child complained, I could shove something in the mouth, schedule be damned. The boys are at a fun age, still willing to eat anything we put in their mouths. We missed that with Abbie since at 6-months-old she was too young for most solids at her first Thanksgiving, but old enough to realize we were trying to poison her at her second Thanksgiving.
The boys were in full garbage disposal mode throughout the day, eating turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, various vegetable-free salads, a little pie, and anything else they could swipe off of plates left dangling to low. Abbie was more challenging, but we still found enough crackers and Snicker salad to keep her occupied.
Friday we drove home, but only after one last family get together that was so informal they served sloppy joes. That was a great lunch for the boys, but the since the meat wasn’t processed into nugget or frankfurter form, Abbie wouldn’t touch it. Fortunately my family was ready to help, quick to give Abbie a potato chip, fruit snack, or drink of soda pop whenever she looked hungry. Or bored. Or sleepy.
After chocking Abbie full of salt and sugar, we packed up everyone and drove home. Perhaps buoyed by the carbs, everyone stayed awake longer on this trip, waiting until DVD #1 finished before falling asleep. When everyone awoke I started DVD #2. It must have felt like DVD #1 because no one complained for the rest of the trip, and since I set it to “repeat play,” I didn’t have to worry about switching to another DVD. When we arrived home, we unloaded, changed diapers, and gave the kids dinner of mac and cheese.
posted by Matt at
11:21 PM
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