Project 52 - The Zoo - Week 14

14/52

Originally, we thought we might spend some time up north this weekend, but the weather didn't look so great up there so we made new plans to go to the zoo. It was supposed to be quite nice close to home so we headed out early to beat the crowds... and so did a lot of other people. So it was a little busy, but as we left the cars were streaming in so it could have been way worse. The Minnesota Zoo is featuring the farm babies right now so that was our main goal, but we checked out a lot of other exhibits and even went on the new carousel ride.

The animals seemed extra active today and we even saw an amazing bear brawl. The two bears were right on the other side of the glass and were attacking each other. At one point one bear was in the pool when the other jumped right on top of him from the side of the pool. I've never seen anything like that at the zoo and my normally timid kid was standing right there watching it - not freaking out at all.

Later when I came home and was trying to decide which pictures to post (there were a lot) I realized I took a lot of photos where there were three of the same animals together so I am going with that theme this week. I used my zoom lens today which I haven't used in awhile and it had me wishing for something that extended beyond 70mm, but that dream will have to wait.

To see more zoo pictures, including the bear fight, check out here.

These Canadian Lynx were my favorite and were quite interested in something just outside their 'habitat'

Sleep, School and the Zoo

A while back Jesse and I were having some struggles with Riley going to sleep at night. I talked a little about it here and intended to give an update way before now, but you know... things get away from me. 

Riley had been going to bed just fine, but had been getting up once in the middle of the night for awhile. We set her up with a new bed as we figured she outgrew her other one, but this just made things worse. We'd put her to bed at 7:30 and she would proceed to fight it for 2 - 3 hours. 

And when I say "fight it" I mean she screamed for hours. Often, like she was being tortured. (But, at least she wasn't getting up in the middle of the night anymore.)

It was pretty heartbreaking as she would either cry super hard or yell for one of us. "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy...". One night after yelling for daddy and then mommy for some time without either of us going upstairs she bellowed "anybody, anybody, anybody, anybody, ANYBODY...". Broke my heart, but totally had me laughing too. It was just so dramatic.

Then there was the getting out of bed and sitting at the top of the stairs. One night I thought I heard her through the monitor, but then there was nothing. Later, I found her asleep at the top of the stairs. Thankfully, she hadn't rolled over and toppled down those stairs.

Jesse and I tried a number of tactics. We would take turns going upstairs to check on her, we'd lay in bed with her until she fell asleep (sometimes falling asleep ourselves), we tried to let her cry it out.... but it wasn't until we sat down and agreed to get on the same page that it started to get better. Jesse is a softie when it come to his daughter and would cuddle in bed with her all evening, but I thought this sent the wrong message and wanted to reclaim my evenings. 

Eventually, Jesse and I agreed to some middle ground. I provided Jesse with two options based on the research I did. We agreed to gradually remove ourselves from the situation (he didn't want to let her cry it out). We'd cuddle in bed for a bit, and then sit on a stool next to her bed for awhile (where I almost finished reading In Defense of Food), then stand by the door, and eventually leave. Eventually she caught on to the pattern and even once told me when I got up from the stool to go stand by the door (these kids are smarter than we think).

We had to make some changes to our original plan as she wouldn't let us turn off the light. We are still fighting that one (one table lamp on the floor, two night lights, and a lame $4 lava lamp that doesn't lava, if you know what I mean). But we were able to incorporate some new nighttime traditions like back rubs and "how many hugs and kisses" which basically involves Riley telling me how many hugs and kisses she wants (this has sort of replaced the kiss blowing tradition we had previously). Some of these new night time traditions I can totally get behind.

We are finally at a place where we can leave after reading, cuddles, hugs and kisses and she won't cry. It's fantastic. Sure she still has the light on, but it gives me an excuse to go into her room when I go to bed to turn off the light. There really is nothing like being able to see your child peacefully sleeping. I just want to stare at her all night.

Anyhoo, one other thing that helped up fight this battle was the introduction of rocks for good behavior. I had it one morning after a particularly challenging night and morning. As Riley was sitting in a time out I scoured the house for a jar and some rocks. I found a rather large vase (it would have to do) and a bag of rocks. I explained the concept to her: she'd get two rocks each time Jesse or I would see her doing something good - including sleeping at night without crying. That first night? Not a peep. 

We still had some bad nights after that, but we were on the road to sleep recovery. I was able to regain some of my time in the evening and Riley was also in a better mood because she was sleeping better (never mind that she only sometimes takes a nap - that could be a whole other post).

When we finally thought all was right with the world Riley started freaking out about going to school. She was about a month in at her new preschool when the meltdowns started. Jesse let her come home one morning after a bad drop off and it sort of tail-spinned from there. Not that his action caused it, but it was a sign of things to come. The next day it happened I ended up starting work late because I was determined to get her to school and, honestly, was afraid Jesse would let her come home again.

It was pretty traumatic. There was some forcing her into the car seat, some screaming, throwing, hitting. I may be the tougher parent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't tear me apart inside just as it does Jesse. It was killing me to see my kid upset like this. We used a gradual process with this and let her sit in the car, then sit outside and watch the other kids enter, then read a book in the hallway, etc. But in the end we had to leave and she screamed and cried and it was HEARTBREAKING. 

Jesse does most of the drop offs and pick ups, but I did a few in the couple weeks after that. The teachers tried to encourage Jesse to basically drop and leave, but Jesse wasn't totally trusting of their advice since they don't have kids of their own. However, he discovered that Riley was fine after he left, and happy all day long. And when he'd arrive to pick her up she would be in a good mood. He finally admitted to me that he needed to 'toughen up' with this one.

We utilized the rock technique with this one too and just stood our ground. We, of course, talked about it a lot too. Everyday she now proudly tells me how she didn't cry at school. We haven't had a morning of tears in a long time.

At any rate, this is a really long way of explaining that her reward for filling up her rock jar was going to the Minnesota Zoo. Oddly enough she whined most of the time she was at the zoo (scary noises, "I want to go home"...), and yet in the end she said she loved it. 

Oh, and hey... I took some pictures while we were there.

I can't wait to see what she picks for her next reward.

Edit: Curses! Curses! Curses! The very night I posted this Riley totally regressed and had us up in her room multiple times. The next night was the same thing, but for a different reason. In her defense, she wasn't feeling well, but both nights I laid in bed with her until she fell asleep. AND, the morning after I wrote this she had a huge meltdown at preschool drop off. So far so good since then, but almost never want to write about this again.

Summer Fun

I was recently looking at all my picture folders and realized I need to do some serious organizing and deleting. Plus, I found a bunch of pictures of our summer that I haven't shared. So without further ado...

Lake Calhoun

I don't know what prompted us to hit up Tin Fish at Lake Calhoun, but I know it was a last minute decision which I'm glad we made. I've been here, but never actually eaten here before and wasn't sure what to expect. Everyone seems to talk about how awesome Sea Salt is over at Minnehaha Falls, but I don't hear much about this place. I loved it waaaay more than Sea Salt. I had the calamari taco (I forgot what taco Jesse had) and we both had ceviche. Oddly, the ceviche did not come with chips as we are used to, but it was still mighty tasty. And Riley loved the calamari. She sure surprised me on that one.

Minnesota Zoo... again

Yes, we went to the zoo again. I know you are probably getting sick of me posting zoo pictures. Every time I go I am sure that I won't take any new pictures because what's the point, right? Never fails that I end up snapping off a few pictures anyway. With this family membership I think I've been to the zoo more times in this one year than I've been in my whole life.

My two little ham-bones

Speaking of the zoo, my husband recently went with Riley and his mom while I was at work and they decided to video tape their excursion. When I viewed their work I couldn't help but laugh because about half of what was taped was unintentional  - you know when you turn on the recorder when you think you are turning it off - yeah, they did that A LOT. One video was of my husband's knee. Another? I got to watch my mother in law walk for about 5 minutes through what appears to be the mesh storage area on the stroller. Makes me wonder how many times they thought they were taping, but actually weren't. I make fun of them, but in truth I am totally guilty of this as well.

Here is the compilation video Jesse put together (which also includes a little of our Easter egg hunt for some reason) (it's a little long): 

Camping

We are also planning on camping at the end of August so we decided to have a practice run with Riley in the back yard. We only have a two person tent so Riley and I slept in the tent while Jesse had the entire house to himself. I was sort of jealous about this, but I had so much fun that I forgot about being jealous.

We didn't get out to the tent until almost an hour after Riley's bedtime so I was hoping it wouldn't take long for her to fall asleep. I even brought my iPad (with headphones) as I thought I might be bored after she fell asleep and would want to watch some netflix. So naive am I. I think I might have fallen asleep before her, but even so she was awesome. It started raining around 4 am which woke us both up, but neither of us really cared and fell back asleep.

I woke a little after 6 am and snapped the above pictures. I rarely ever get to see her sleep so this was a bit of a treat for me. Plus, I was able to fall back to sleep and sleep in until 8:30. Simply a miracle that Riley slept that late (even with staying up until about 10 pm). Now we have a larger tent that has been lent to us, our reservation at the campground has been booked, and we have the confidence that our kid will do just fine.


Mall of America

We're not 'big mall' people... or 'any mall' people for that matter, but we've gone to the mega mall a few times this summer. Last time we were there we bought tickets for Riley to go on one of the rides at Nickelodeon Universe, but she decided she wanted to go home at that very instant. Since we still had the unused ticket band we thought we'd try it again. Jesse had taken Riley to the Como Zoo and Como Town a few days before and she loved the rides there so we thought we might have success at the mall. Not so much. I did get her on the train for one ride, but even then she asked to get off midway through. She was obviously overstimulated and did much better when we just walked around. I'm guessing the ticket band we bought will probably last us the entire year.

Apparently, we are a serious family.

Having fun at Lego Land

Randomness

I'm not sure what was happening here that she had this expression on her face... perhaps it was something I said.  

Just another summer day kicking the ball around in the backyard. This is perhaps a second favorite to drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.

Riley is allowed to take one book to bed with her at bedtime. I used to pick one out for her, but lately she's become picky and turns down every book I select. This night I told her if she didn't like her book she could get up and pick out a different one instead. She apparently took that as approval to grab as many books as she desired as this was the resulting scene I found when she woke in the morning.

Summer has been busy and full. Having a child certainly makes us more active as we like getting Riley out of the house so I am sure there were still be more photo dumps of things yet to come this season... now if we can just figure out how to use the video recorder correctly.

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Saturday morning of Memorial Day Weekend at my dad's. He had asked my husband, Jesse, to paint his kitchen ceiling since he can no longer do it. Riley and I spent much of the time playing and I attempted to clean a little, but didn't get nearly as far as I would have liked. While we were there I showed my dad some of the genealogy research I have been doing. I started the research 5+ years ago and then put it aside until recently. Between a conversation with a co-worker about her family history and my mom passing away it got me interested in the search again. I was able to show my dad one of his dad's WWI documents and one of his great grandpa's civil war documents. My dad was pretty impressed and I can't wait until I can present him with more information on his family. The great thing about this is that my dad is now sharing stories about his family that I would have never known otherwise.

After the painting was done, and lunch was eaten Jesse took Riley home and my dad and I headed over to Fort Snelling to see my mom's grave. My cousin gave each of us kids and my dad lily plants to plant in her memory and my dad wanted to bring the flowers to her grave... and one of her cows. I'm pretty sure that Fort Snelling has rules about what you can  and can't put at a grave, but whatever... he wanted to do it. Plus, even after giving the grandkids a bunch of her cow collection you can still see cows everywhere you turn at my dad's house. We also tried to find my great uncle Jack's gravestone. I had all the information about where to find it, but forgot the exact grave number at home. We wandered around for some time before giving up. Turns out we walked right by the back of it.

My mom's view.

On Sunday we tried to spend some time outside in the morning because it was supposed to get hot in the afternoon. Unfortunately, Riley was being fussy so we spent a lot of time trying to soothe her which meant that we let her watch more TV than usual. Thankfully, after her afternoon nap she was herself again. I've been needing some new glasses so we decided to go to the mall and finally get them. The pair I favored the last time I was there didn't work out as my mascara'd lashes hit the lenses. Oh well. There was a very helpful employee who worked with me until I found a pair that I liked (and she pointed out that I was the same age as her mom - wow, is it really possible that I could have a kid in her 20's?). I was excited to try something new and bolder, but not sure how crazy I wanted to go. In the past I have had solid frames, but for the last 3+ years I've had something that was a lot less obvious on my face. And it wasn't until the last handful of years that I stopped wearing contacts. So whatever I got I had to be used to wearing them all day long. So I purchased glasses and sunglasses, but wasn't able to wait for them to be made. Instead I would pick them up on Monday.

On Monday we decided to go to the zoo. We weren't sure what we would find on a holiday so we tried to beat the crowd by getting there first thing when they opened. It was busy, but the real crowds didn't seem to come until we were leaving. I know I just showed a ton of zoo pictures in my last post (which was from a couple weeks ago), but I have more. I actually didn't think I would take any pictures, but I did. Plus, we explored some new areas. 

Otter. Riley, for some reason, doesn't like to get close to the displays where she can see below and above the water. At a distance she liked this, but if I got her within 5 feet she started to freak out.

Grizzlies.

The camels above were all watching the camels below. You can pay to ride a camel which is what the below camels were for. The ones above seemed so intrigued by these other camels that it made me wonder what was actually going through their heads.

This is where I wasn't going to take a picture because I've already done it here and here, but then I thought it might be fun to take a picture of her with the goats each time we visit the zoo and then we could compare the pictures when she's older. It will be great... I can see her now when I have to bribe her to stand next to the goats when she's 16 years old. Ok, maybe this isn't the greatest idea after all.

Every time I visit the cows are chained up eating. Please, someone tell me that you've gone and seen the cows out wandering in a field or a pen?

Piggies were 6 days old! 

I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. I get a bit disturbed by trapping animals in enclosures. Sure they may attempt to replicate their natural habitat, but THEY ARE ENCLOSED! There is another, smaller zoo in town that I stopped going to because I couldn't stand to see the polar bears pace back and forth. Back and forth. Luckily, those polar bears have new digs at that zoo, but I still saw a couple 'pacer's' today at this zoo. At this display it had a note that the eagle had broken his wing and was no longer able to fly. The note sort of implied that the eagle was better off in the zoo. I sure hope so.

I don't know about you, but I find this picture creepy... and not because the lynx was right in front of us. I may be crazy, but I think there is something human like in his look...

After the zoo, and lunch I headed back to Lenscrafters to pick up my new glasses. I tried them on and had total buyers regret. "What have I done? Why did I make such a big change?"

Then I realized I was probably just freaking out because it's a change. I'm used to looking at myself like this:

But once upon a time I looked like this:

(with my co-workers, Jennifer and Erin in 2009)

And each time I get new glasses I feel like I am going through an identity change, but then I get used to them and life goes on.