the kind of day i dreamed about

summertime is here.

i know what you're probably thinking..."summertime is here year-round in hawaii!" okay, yes - it is for the most part beautiful weather here on our little rock. but it has been so incredibly hot & humid these last few weeks that i feel like i'm constantly in a sauna when i'm not in my AC workplace.

anyway, back in my younger days (since today is my 28th. lol!) when life was simple and carefree, going to the beach was an almost daily scribble on my mental list of things to do. go to class? naaah, beach with the girls. work at pcc? "boss, i think the sniffles are coming on"...so of course, the only cure for that ailment was the medicinal ocean!

horrible habits, i know. rest assured, once marriage and a little one came into my eternal picture, so did the responsibilities and adjusting of priorities. i must admit though, when i look back -- i can't say that i regret those days. i loved the spontaneity of driving to mililani's walmart at 2am, or packing up the girls and heading to kaneohe zippys after a school dance, or simply just walking across the street to the beach in the middle of the weekday. that was the impulsive life i led with my friends. and although my priorities have shifted a complete one-eighty since my earlier years, it never obliterated that desire in me to spend hours at one of my favorite places in the entire world.

sooo, basically - we went to the beach last thursday -- and today...and hopefully again on saturday. which means i'm a happy camper. thursday was brandon's day off, and since he was scheduled to work today (my birthday) my boss let me leave work early to celebrate as a family. i packed up a one bag full of towels, sunscreen, extra clothes, lavalavas, beach toys - and another full of musubi, water, hot dogs, chips, and pake cake - for a full day of fun at hukilau.

not quite spontaneous, i realize...but watching the joy on my family's faces as they splashed in the clear blue water, or enjoying a few peaceful moments as they dug their sand holes together, or even admiring my hubby's beautiful bulging biceps (yowza!) - is better than any dream i could ask for.

*that boat you see in the distance is actually the hawaiian voyaging canoe: IOSEPA. ain't it a beaut?*

that vague, blurry line

it was a loong, hot, muggy, tiring night lastnight. for all of us.

after ahonui grew out of his colicky stage at 4 months i didn't expect another night like that until baby number 2 came along. granted, we've had our fair share of middle-of-the-night "mommy/daddy, hold me" episodes. but this particular incident began from 8:15pm....i know!

brandon was still at work, so i was left all alone with my little one who fell asleep on our way home from kahuku. he awoke an hour later crying and in the worst of moods (which he often does if he's not fully rested). i went into the bedroom to pick him up and cradle all 34 lbs. of him. but he wasn't havin' any of that.

hungry, son? screams.
want me to hold you? throws himself on floor.
sippy? nemo? au-au? daddy? cries hysterically with no audible dialogue.
okay, go night-night then. kicks AND screams.

oh well, i tried, right? after a few disciplinary reprimands, i let him wallow in his unyielding grief (aka: time out) for a few minutes before going back in to check on him. he looked at me with those bright, red eyes and tear-stained face that would break any mother's heart. so i go over to pick him up again -- only to experience the same tantrum with ear-piercing screams from my little boy's mouth.

hmmm...i anticipated that this glorious time of my son's first adolescence would come. however, i expected it to arrive a lot earlier than this. after all, he is now about two and a half years old.

then again, i always seem to question the centuries old studies of child rearing whenever it comes to my only child. is this normal? is he SUPPOSED to be acting like this? where do i draw the line to distinguish NORMAL wildly active toddler behavior from a just plain disobedient, undisciplined boy? i have a hunch that i'll be questioning things like this for quite a while...at least until i'm a well-seasoned mother of four. yikes!

to put your minds at ease, after we picked up brandon from work, the little guy settled down - a bit. my genius of a husband suggested that we take advantage of the beautiful hawaiian night and go for a walk around laie with our previously mentioned jogging stroller. once we got out into the cool evening air, it seemed as though all of our spirits were refreshed. when we returned home, we laid next to ahonui on the bed, and promptly fell asleep.

although ahonui woke up throughout the night in irritable moods, i tried to remember that this is just a chapter in all of our lives. tantrums are thrown, tempers will rise, boys will be boys, and lines will continue to be blurred. and although i understand that this phase won't last forever, any advice & tips from you "well-seasoned" (or even not-so-seasoned) people out there will definitely be appreciated!