"Those" Parents (with Pictures)

It happened this week, Jason and I became "those" parents, the ones you roll your eyes at in annoyance or worse, wrinkle your forehead at in concern for their poor children. 

The setting for our fall from grace was a whirlwind trip to KC.  As soon as we found out I had a permanent job, we scheduled a trip back to meet Charlie's new baby cousin, Landon, and his best friend Tom's new baby sister, Abby.  It was so much fun to meet the babies and see so much family.  In addition to seeing most of Jason's family, we were surprised by Charlie's Great Aunt Jan and Great Uncle Sam when we met Great Uncle Jim for breakfast on Monday. 

Our slide down the slippery slope began during our layover in Atlanta.  Charlie was getting a little bit fussy, so I started to pat his mouth when he whined.  Well, he and I both got a huge kick out of the "wah-wah-wah" noise it made -- the rest of the passengers in line to board the plane, not so much. 

Next, upon arriving in KC we coerced our very sleepy baby into staying up past 10:00 central time, more than 3 hours past his bedtime, just to play and smile at his aunts, uncles and grandparents.  Then when he woke up at 3 AM, rather than calmly and patiently easing him back to sleep, I snuck in an extra feeding to quickly nurse him into oblivion. 

The next couple of days were full of on-the-go, abbreviated and some downright skipped naps, late bedtimes, and all the junk food we could get past those perfect little lips, including: cookies, frosted animal crackers, goldfish, angel food cake, custard, french fries, cran-apple juice, pickles and more.

Then on the way home I, Charlie's devoted mother, neglected to sanitize the seats, tray tables, arm rests, windows and video screens on either plane (unlike on the trip out).

To top it all off, though, Jason and I -- loving, responsible parents that we are -- allowed Charlie to be "the snot-nosed kid".  You know, the one that you see out in public with boogars on, in and smeared beneath his nose.  Yep, that was us.  Charlie came down with a cold, the prime symptom of which was continous, spigot like dripping from his nose, and we didn't wipe it every single time he glanced our way.  As Jason put it, "There is a time and a place for the shrieking that accompanies a nose wipe, and a weather delay in Row 28 is not it."

If anyone had told me 3 months ago that I would wreak this havoc in my baby boy's life, I would have been shocked and riddled with guilt, but interestingly enough, I'm fine with it.  In fact, I've learned that too much sugar will not send Charlie into a frenzy, missed bedtimes will not turn him into a terror and at 8 months he is still able to nap in the Baby Bjorn.  Most importantly, though, I learned that even babies can relish the decadence and upheaval of vacation and thrive on it, as evidenced by his flirting with a sweet little 2 year old in ballerina jammies as we waited for our luggage.

Lest anyone be concerned, Charlie had pineapple with his cereal this morning, not cookies, and is back to his normal routine -- nose wipes and all.  I have to admit, though, that it is possible that some of "those" parents are just letting their kids have a little bit of fun and freedom, and that might not be so bad.


Some pictures of our fun:

Kissing Cousins

Standing around with Demetrius

Breakfast with Uncle Jim, Uncle Sam and Aunt Jan