We recently returned from a very nice family vacation in Florida. We unintentionally took Alex to the Magic Kingdom for her 3rd birthday (unintentional because it was a last minute decision that just so happened to correspond with her birthday); ventured around some sort of aquatic preserve that thankfully we got in for free because I can't see how they can possibly justify the $12 price tag; and took the girls to the Jacksonville Zoo which was just amazing.
The house we stayed in was amazing as well and had a pool with hot tub facing the green of a golf course. I was more than a little anxious the first day we were there when Marcus opened the sliding glass door and both girls began flitting about the outskirts of the pool. Josephine is a proficient walker but she made me so nervous with her sometimes wobbly steps and propensity for falling. "Marcus, isn't she making you nervous, she's making me super nervous!" I said to which he replied "If she falls in I'll go in after her." At this point I decided it was best for my anxiety and blood pressure to go back into the house because standing around waiting for the inevitable was killing me. And, yes, the inevitable did happen. Not but a few minutes after walking into the house a soaking Josephine and half soaking Marcus were standing at the door asking for a towel. At least, as Marcus's brother pointed out, Marcus did what he said he would and rescued her. Yeah.
Another aspect of the house was the girls slept slightly farther away from us without the aid of a monitor. We figured if anything happened we would certainly hear them crying and boy, did we. On the second night, the entire house awoke to screams of panic: "MOMMY! DADDY!! DADDY!!!!" accompanied by blood curdling screams. Upon first waking I thought it was our nephew who is 9 months old. Then, I thought it was Josephine at which point I was ready to completely ignore her. Then, I thought, wow, Jo sure can enunciate "mommy" and "daddy" really well all of a sudden. It was at that point I realized it was Alexandra. (In my defense, it's so uncharacteristic of Alex to wake like this it truly took me by surprise...and especially in the middle of the night.) Anyway, I imagine Marcus went through the same mental process because once he figured out it was Alex he bolted out of bed and went running. Apparently she had either falling into/sleepwalked/we really don't know what the hell she did but she had made her way into Jo's pack-and-play which was right next to the king size bed Alex was occupying. King size bed. How the hell did she manage to get herself into a position that eventually found her in Jo's tiny a$$ pack-and-play? It would be like me walking through a pair of open double doors but managing to still walk into the door jamb (or something like that). Despite her distress, and I felt really bad when I did, but I laughed.
Overall, the experience was great. Alexandra, who has a propensity for going berserk (i.e. have complete, and total breakdowns at the drop of a hat) in new settings, was able to keep it in check until the last day or two of our stay. Josephine seemed to enjoy herself and had only one or two meltdowns that I can recall. Believe it or not, I'll call that a success!
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