Beach Week

Well, two thirds of the Wallace family is recently returned from the eleventh annual Lundberg Family Beach Week Extravaganza, which was, as always, a blast. James and I were the two thirds able to enjoy it. Patrick had to stay here to do his new job at Camp Twin Lakes. So like him to be all altruistic while I'm off "relaxing" (anyone who has been responsible for a toddler in a non-babyproofed house full of people who insist on leaving expensive electronics on the floor knows that the experience is anything but), but that's why I love him. Although we missed him, James, it turns out, loves the beach.

We drove up there with my mom and my cousin Erik, and it took less than three lifetimes, which was an improvement over last year. We were still the last to arrive, so when we got there, my grandfather, father, two uncles, one aunt, two sisters, and one other cousin were already there. Erin's boyfriend Min met us there later in the week, so I suppose we weren't technically the last to arrive. The house we stayed in was great. Its very best feature was that the beachfront porch had a gate that James didn't know how to work, which meant that when we were out there, I could sit down for approximately three seconds. Of course, we didn't spend very much time in the house anyway. James LOVED the ocean, and he wanted to be running around in it the entire time we were there. He ran through the waves, swam (with some assistance) on calmer days, and had a bevy of family members help him jump over the waves. He loved when people would bring their dogs to the beach and he could pet them, and he very much enjoyed stomping down sand castles that the rest of us made. On top of that, he learned all kinds of new things, one of which was blowing bubbles.

The week went by quickly, and James slept very little, but had the Best Time Ever.

When we got back, James eagerly received the gift of a fire truck that Patrick had gotten him, and he learned how to do something vaguely resembling a siren sound.

Another outcome of our trip to the beach was a hunger strike on the part of my twenty-one-month old son. You see, James has never really been a great eater. We have been horrible parents and resorted to letting him watch television while he eats because the dulcet tones of the Veggie Tales and Phineas and Ferb lull him into enough of a stupor that we can shove some food in him without having to hold him down screaming. The plan was that while we were at the beach, we would get him off the television while eating thing. There would be lots of people there, and they would provide enough of a distraction that James would eat there more easily than here, and then, by the time he returned, he would be a champion eater and would scarf anything we put on his plate.

Sadly, that was not to be, and I blame my mother for that. She was helping out the afternoon after we arrived by feeding him lunch. He was, as usual, being difficult and refusing his food, and my mother, whose intentions are always noble, knew that I would be upset if he didn't eat well. In an effort to keep everyone happy, my mother let him play with her iphone while he ate. Her iphone has games like Old MacDonald and The Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider and Fish School, all of which James loves. He was enthralled, and he ate fantastically. All week. With the aid of the iphone. He also learned to take pictures with the phone (cousin Jason taught him that one) and took about forty pictures of his feet, and a good number of the tray on his high chair. Everything went beautifully. Until we got home, that is. Tragically, neither Patrick nor I have an iphone. We do not have The Wheels on the Bus or Itsy Bitsy Spider or a camera that is operated with a touch screen. What we did have was a child who screamed for as long as we made him sit in his chair to eat. We tried everything. Below you will see a video of one of the things we tried. It worked that night and hasn't worked since, but it sure was entertaining at the time.

'

Well, that's all from the land of Wallace for today. It's late, and I'm tired. I'll try to post again soon. James is more and more fun every day, and Patrick is good at catching his cuteness on video. It seems unfair to keep something so adorable all to ourselves, and I'll make an effort to be better about sharing him with the world. :)