The Boys Take a Vacation and Ben Fares Poorly

Last week, we took the boys down to Myrtle Beach for what was supposed to be a relaxing time.  Saturday morning started out promising enough.  A rainy drive down, but both boys were happy and cooperative.  That lasted about an hour.

Luke was a champ the entire drive.

I tell this kid, “Take a nap.” He literally closes his eyes and doesn’t open them till he has completed a nap.

Ben, on the other hand, was a total mess.

I tell this kid, “Take a nap.” He does whatever he wants. No nap.

After about an hour of sitting, he would slouch horribly.  The slouching made him cranky and unreceptive to any sort of self-play.  He required attention 100% of the time he was awake.  I drove while Zach took over kid-duty.  Nothing screams, “Father of the Year” award, like soothing a pissed-off baby for 12 hours.

The week did not get better for Ben.  He had another really bad asthma attack when we arrived in Myrtle.  Even with all his preventative meds and albuterol, he eventually needed to go to Urgent Care.  He did get better and we were able to avoid another trip to the ER.

Ben refused to sleep in his pack-n-play, and would wake up all panicky, every time he found himself in it.  We would lug him off to our room so that Luke could sleep peacefully, and Ben would end up sleeping restlessly between us.  His favorite position involved sticking his feet right in my face, and randomly kicking every hour or so.  The three of us did not sleep well in our room.  Luke slept like a log.

The beach was like a Venus Fly Trap for Ben.  Enticing.  Colorful.  Safe.

This peaceful scene lasted about 5 minutes.

And then he would rub sand and sunscreen in his eyes, and it would be all over.  Let’s not even talk about a wave washing over him.  We ended up splitting the kids up.  If Ben was on the beach, he was mostly napping.  Luke, on the other hand, was literally rolling in the sand, laughing out of complete happiness.

One of our many evening, beach trips.

We had some really nice meals out.  Luke tried, for the first time, mussels, octopus and oysters.

“Try the oysters rockefeller, Luke.”

Response for all new seafood tasting: “It is very good. No, I do not want any more.”

Ben mostly refused all food and learned how to obnoxiously squeeze his milk box, making an impressive fountain.

On our final day, Ben really came around.  He slept almost decently, and was happy most of the day.

Yes.

It was unfortunate that he decided to recycle one of his shoes, and even more unfortunate that we didn’t realize he opted to recycle his shoe until after the recycling had been taken out for the day.  On the bright side, we caught him trying to toss out my shoes and put a stop to that in time.

On the drive home, Ben again had his slouching problem.  He barfed right on Zach’s foot when we stopped for breakfast.  At one point, I took pity on Zach, and offered to entertain the kids for a few hours.  It was rough.  I did not fare well with the kids or my stomach.  At the end of my stretch, I barfed too.  I have never been so grateful to slide into the driver’s seat when we started driving again.

I think it was a good vacation.  It was definitely trying on Ben, but Luke had a marvelous time.  Zach and I were exhausted, mostly from having to sleep with Ben.  But you can’t beat holding a napping baby on the beach.

That magical moment.  Cranky baby falls asleep.  Happy baby wakes up.

Here’s hoping he has a better time next year.