Back from another weekend with the extended Wiley clan at
Great Wolf Lodge up in the Poconos. This was my first trip with Harry without his Pack&Play to sleep in, and needless to say, it was a bit of an adventure.
He's been doing incredibly well in his big-boy bed, content to stay in int until someone comes into his room to grant him permission to get out every morning, and since night 1 hasn't gotten out after we leave the room for the evening, to play with any of his toys. We've got a good routine going between the 3 of us, and we all hold up our end of the collective bargain.
So they have these rooms that come with a "wolf den" that consists of a neat little bunkbed room within the room.
Harry's bed at home is kind of his own little cave, so it seemed like a good idea. So into the car went his sleeping bag, and at home stayed the pack&play, and off we went.
We drove up to Cherry Hill Thursday night to drop Bailey off and spent the night with Harry & Sleeping bag on the couch, and Kim and I on an air-bed right next to him. As planned, he fell asleep in the car on the drive up, but only about 20 or 30 minutes out from our destination. Upon arrival, it was as if he was groggy from his afternoon nap, but soon was completely alert. We spent a bit chatting and catching up, but then all tried to get to sleep. Harry was having none of it, and didn't seem too happy about the shadows passing cars were making on the opposite wall. He finally drifted off, but only for what amounted to 30-45 minute spats of "sleep" interrupted regularly by 45-60 minute bouts of rolling, kicking, squirming, and general "non-sleep."
Needless to say, made for a tough drive for me the next day to the Poconos.
Once we arrived at the Lodge, Harry immediately dubbed it the Great Big Lincoln Log House. He quickly found his niche in the playhouse in the main lobby that resembled his own. He did pretty well in the fact that he was the first kid in, and several others came in while he was manning the door. He was very quick to point out the play fireplace inside, and noted to newbies that it was hot and to be careful.
Off to the waterpark, and as I'm' certain will be noted elsewhere, to the Blue Slide. The one on the left if you're looking down. I feel the need to point this out, as with all of the
other entertainment inherently designed in the park, Harry adamantly stuck to this ONE slide.
Which is not to say that he was greedy or selfish, by any means. In fact, after a single point of note to wait his turn, every subsequent trip from the bottom of the slide, thorugh the wading pool, up the steps and out, along the poolside, up the steps to the top of the slide, and into the "driver's seat," he made sure that EVERYONE else went first. I couldn't hear his conversations with everyone from where I was standing, but he looked to be clearly explaining and gesticulating to them that he preferred the blue slide on the left, and that he'd be happy to wait until they had taken their turn before he proceeded.
Needless to say, no naps on day one, and somehow he handled it all like a trooper, especially considering the lack of sleep the night before, limited snacks, and high chlorine content. Off to bed finally at around 8, after much sidetracking on my own art due to issues beyond my cotrol back at the office. Out like a light. Until about 12:30.
Kim and I stayed behind whilst PopPop offered the contents of his wallet to the Texas Hold 'Em game a few rooms down. We caught a
flick on the in-house PPV (a bit heavier than we had planned, but Kim wanted to see it), and at one point Harry definitely woke up with what could loosely be referred to as a scream. Not a blood-curdling shriek by any means, but a certain commanding presence to it akin to "Swiper NO Swiping!" that often comes up during the course of TV time.
A quick jog across the room and into the Wolf's Den to calm him down, ad the cycle began again. 30-35 minutes on the clock, and the slumbered whines and gyrations continued. Throughout the night. At about 2 or 3 in the morning, seemed like a good idea to move him and his guys to the pull-out sofa in the main room, as maybe the cartoon wolf pup mural in the Den wasn't helping things. I proceeded to be kicked, slapped, punched, and generally mauled by the sleeping slugger on the half-hours. Once again, another rough night.
Saturday was quickly met by much of the same, playing the the lobby playhouse, Blue slide (on your left, if you please), foreshortened lunch, a minor snack, and much pooltime. big buffet dinner in the restaurant that evening with the entire group (50+?), and Harry passed with flying colors, considering (although I do think his ingested "dinner" consisted mainly of vanilla soft-serve with chocolate sprinkles). Off to bed around 730 or 8, and right to sleep. Kim wasn't feeling like too much more (I think the chlorine was getting to her too), so I went off to try to get in with the various Tony/Dominic combinations within the group.
After almost beating Dominic's Toni (little Dominic's mom -- not little Dominick's mom), Big Tony, Little Tony (big Dominic's dad, who's big in his own right), Dominic's Toni's dad, Dominic's Toni's mom, Kim's dad, big Tony's wife, and Toni's Dominic's mom at some
new dice game they lured me into, I headed back to try to explain it all to Kim.
I'll give you one guess on how well Harry slept that night. You're right. He didn't. Which means, neither did I. More of the same backstroking across the sofa-bed, knee to the throat, elbow to the eye/nose/face (pick one), etc. Add to all of this, that somewhere along the line, he seemed to have picked up a lovely case of the sniffles, but still hasn't yet mastered the blowing of one's nose. So I had the sniffles going for me as well.
Sunday was check-out and drive home day.Surprisingly, we made it out of there very efficiently, and traffic was light enough that we made it back to Cherry Hill to drop of PopPop, pick up Bailey, and headed home to arrive by 5. Plenty of time to get Harry in the tub and his own bed, and still catch most of the commercials during the monsoon.
Thankfully, all he needed was his own bed. I don't know if this was the beginning of the dreaded night terrors that should be arriving any day now, or if it was just the unfamiliarity of the new bed(s), but whatever it was, it made for a crappy nightlife for me at east. But the look on his face all day certainly made up for all of it.
Smiles for Miles.
