Motivation

For weeks I had been trying to get Andrew to blow kisses. I would demonstrate, and he would shake his head and laugh at me like a little rascal. I thought he just wasn't interested in blowing kisses, but as I found out, he just hadn't found anything worthy of his air kisses. That is, until Saturday, when Andrew saw Shamu for the first time at Sea World, and he blew kiss after kiss at the unappreciative killer whale. I have never seen a one year old so fully captivated by anything before. He bounced on my lap, waving his arms wildly during the entire 25 minute show, and at the end, he blew those coveted kisses until Chris carried him from the stadium kicking and screaming for more.

 

Needless to say, Andrew loved Sea World. I was massaging my wounded ego over not being the first recipient of air kisses, justifying this slight with the magnificence of a huge killer whale doing tricks for his enjoyment, when I caught the little rascal blowing kisses at a nonperforming shark. A shark! I now officially rank lower on the "cool enough to receive air kisses" scale than a shark. Ouch.

There was only one thing at Sea World that Andrew did not love--watching his brothers enjoy the rides. And Benjy and Jacob wanted to ride them all. Andrew patiently suffered through waiting out the first one, and I was able to distract him with sea stars and sea turtles while Chris took the older two boys on the Shipwreck Rapids.

Benjy was so excited to be tall enough to ride the raft-like inner tube that it never occurred to him that he might not enjoy the side effect of a water ride--actually getting wet. He was all smiles until the first wave of cold water flooded into the boat, and he gasped from the shock of being drenched. He was inconsolable for the rest of the ride, no matter how hard Chris tried to shield him from anymore splashes. While the ride only lasted a short five minutes, it took more than three hours for Benjy's sopping clothes to dry out. In an effort to speed up the process, we fed $5 to a machine that promised to dry him and tried to ignore the commentary of passersby that were shocked that we would be suckered into using the dryers. Apparently they've never had to deal with a wet three year old. All fun was not lost, however. Jacob loved the ride and begged to go again. Benjy, of course, was not interested.

After waiting out the first ride, Andrew was fed up with being left out of the fun, and when the boys and I rode Abby's Sea Star Spin (think teacups), Chris had his hands full trying to contain him as he arched his back and flailed around to escape Chris's hold. We decided that was our cue to go home, but not before one final photo with Sesame Street's oldest roommates, Bert and Ernie.

Since Saturday had gone so well and since Sea World has an awesome deal to pay for a day and play all year, I decided to take the boys back on Monday-- by myself. I made two critical mistakes. 1. I forgot my money in the car, and 2. I underestimated my ability to keep up with three children going in three different directions.

First Jacob and Benjy rode Oscar's Rocking Eel (think roller coaster meets pirate ship) while Andrew and I watched from outside the gate. By the end, both boys had their hands in the air, defying the ride with their braveness, and Andrew was done with being confined to the stroller.

So I settled him into the toddler play area, issued Jacob and Benjy strict instructions to stay together and sent them off to climb the cargo netted play area. Andrew's only interest in the baby area was how fast he could get out of it, so I did my best to keep him corralled while keeping an eye out for the other two. That's when I noticed Jacob climbing alone, with Benjy no where in sight. I scooped up Andrew and went looking for Benjy, all the while trying to get Jacob's attention, who seemed happily oblivious to his missing brother. It only took me a minute to spy Benjy who was in tears and being escorted by a staff member to find me. He had felt overwhelmed by the massiveness of the play area and had refused to climb up. Jacob had left without him, completely disregarding my rule to stay together.

We met Jacob at the exit to the play structure, and I'll leave it to your imagination the lecture that greeted him. Let's just say, he didn't leave Benjy's side again.

By the time lunch time rolled around, I was more than happy that I had accidentally left the money in the car and had an excuse to leave the park, since I had spent most of the morning trying to keep Andrew from getting stepped on as he put his head down and crawled as fast as he could away from me. I let the boys ride the teacups one more time before we left, and again, Andrew tried his hardest to break free from my arms, climb over the rails and join his brothers on the ride. The rules for the rides clearly state that a child must demonstrate the ability to walk unassisted in order to ride with a parent, so I did my best to comfort him with the hope of later rides.

"You have to learn to walk first, Andrew," I said. "Maybe next time."

He must have taken my words to heart, because he came home and started practicing. He could take three steps unassisted by the end of Monday. By Tuesday, he was up to six steps. Today, he is still crawling, but he just might be able to fool those Sea World workers into letting him ride. Little rascal.