Toddlers and Time Changes

Hannah has been sleeping wonderfully during this trip.  (We stayed at a friend’s place the night before our flight so we’ve been away 3 nights at this point.)  Naps are going well too.

What is still a bit of a struggle is that her little body is waking up ready for the day at 5:30am local time!  Even though she’s been up late, her little body still wants to be up on Ontario time which is early when you convert it to California time!  I was reminded this morning that it often takes 1 day per hour of time change for our bodies to regulate themselves so possibly tomorrow or Monday she’ll begin to sleep a little later?

This morning she was awake, cheery, talkative and ready to go.  Rather than risk waking the rest of the house up I remembered seeing the keys to the van on the counter when we went to bed last night so I helped myself and we were on the road shortly after 6am.  I wasn’t sure what would be open but knew there was a McDonald’s not too far away that might do the trick.

We ended up finding a grocery store that was open which was perfect.  M3 and TubaDad are hosting a big 4th of July party tomorrow so I wanted to make a salad to add to the mix.  Hannah and I visited the grocery store, took our time looking around and touching different things and then eventually headed home shortly after 8am.  Who knew it was possible to spend a fun hour and a half in a grocery store without buying much of anything?

We started our adventure with a ride on the carousel outside the store.  A huge hit for sure!

Next we grabbed a cart and our adventure began!

We weren’t even in the store when she began to shout, ‘Ben’s Cars Mommy!  Ben’s Cars!!’  Her little friend Ben is all about the first Cars movie (Mater in particular) and she’s always on the lookout for things that he might like.  Today she spotted this great Mater balloon that she played with for a bit.  She’s sorry Ben that she can’t bring it home to you on the airplane but she did want to show you a picture of it!  Isn’t it a great balloon Ben?

The large helium balloon was too big for us to carry around the store but we did find a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse balloon on a stick that was right up her alley so she carried it around the store for our entire visit even though she knew she’d have to put it back in the end.  (This is something we do quite often and Hannah handles it really well.)  It was fun for the time that we were there and as soon as I told her it was time to put it back she said, ‘I find it!’ and she was off to find the spot where we’d first found it.  She put it back without a moment’s upset.  What a good girl she is!  Mommy was so impressed with how well she did that when she spotted a Mylar Mickey Mouse Clubhouse balloon that we could take home and have blown up there, it jumped into the cart and will come home with us for future fun! 

During our visit we played with cake sprinkles, listened to the different sounds they made when you shook them and sorted them into colours.  We had a minor explosion of slivered almonds but that was ok as we were buying the bag anyway.  We looked for different colours around the store and talked about some of the things that she recognized from ‘Mommy’s house.’  It was a fun way to spend time together while everyone else slept.

After the grocery store there was time for another ride on the merry-go-round and then a walk to a pharmacy that was also in the same plaza.  Who wants to walk on the boring sidewalk where there are walls that can be scaled?

Our final stop was the pharmacy where she found a book to read for a few minutes.  It was all about potty training which we’ll attempt later this year or early next year so we may be on the lookout for this book again in the future.

She looks so grown up!  What happened to my little baby?Once we were fairly sure the house would be up and moving when we got back we headed home.  Sure enough they’d been up for just minutes and were eating breakfast.  It was a win-win for both of us.  They were able to sleep and I was able to spend some precious time with my baby girl!

That being said, I hope tomorrow her body decides to sleep in a little later and that we soon find ourselves on CA time.

On a funny, similar note, Friday morning Hannah andI were also awake early.  We were hanging out in our room when she went around the corner to the en suite in our room.  I quietly heard her little voice say, ‘I stuck Mommy!’  Sure enough when I tried the handle it was locked!  I said, ‘Mommy will be right there’ and quietly scooted down to the kitchen in search of a skewer.  I found one easily enough but wouldn’t you know it….the doors are not the type that this method works with.  Thankfully TubaDad was up so her came upstairs and took the door handle off the door to our bathroom.

She stayed very calm through the entire process and even helped pull off the other side of the handle when Uncle TubaDad asked her to.  That handle is now safely stored on top of a cabinet in our room for the remainder of our trip. 

Toddlers and time changes.  I wonder what adventures will await us when we travel home next week?