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We are back from our Florida trip! While I have nothing against Florida, except the alligators that freak me out, I am very glad to be home and hope that we won’t have to return soon. Let’s just say it wasn’t a “fun” time. The weather was colder than it had been for weeks, so no swimming or beach. My MIL was her usual self. She managed to insult my SO before the first five minutes had passed and I think she mentioned Nutrisystem about 10 times in the 4 days. Sigh.

Z had his first big ouchie. It was my fault. I set him on the table in his car seat and turned around. He kicked himself out of his car seat and onto the tile floor. Not even a red spot, bump or bruise. Thank God because we discovered how worthless our health insurance was. There was a pediatric urgent care center two blocks from my MIL’s house but the insurance company wanted us to take him forty minutes away to the next town to find an in system provider.

Of course my MIL used this incident to fuel the fire all week, speculating on how many brain cells we killed. Grrrrrrr. I finally turned around and told her she wasn’t helping. In the past, I’ve let her go. She’s not my mom. But not this weekend. I finally told her to shut up, she wasn’t helping things and she was in fact making it worse.

The highlight was that Grandma took Z for a few hours while we went out to dinner and a movie. It was our first Z free time since he was born. She said he threw one of his screaming fits for her and she put him down in his pack and play and started to walk away but Wendell (who came with us) wasn’t having it. He kept herding her back to the baby and making it perfectly clear that she was doing it wrong and she wasn’t allowed to leave the baby to cry. She wasn’t sure who was angrier with her, Wendell or Z.

I held my tongue. It didn’t hurt Z to cry a bit, but while we don’t pick him up whenever he cries, we don’t put him down and let him scream for 40 minutes. When he fusses at night and doesn’t calm down we might go in and talk to him, then walk away. He’s only 4 months old. He doesn’t understand yet.

Now Z does have this “I’m mad” shriek that is pure temper. Nothing is wrong with him. We are starting to set some limits, like Momma will not hold him if he shrieks for no reason. When he makes that particular noise, I say “No, we don’t do that,” and I put him down and sit down where he can still see me. He eventually stops the shriek and I pick him up. That’s different than letting him scream when he wakes up with someone who isn’t his parent or his sitter and is confused and upset.

Z enjoyed the visit, mostly, except for the long, long, long car ride. He did pretty well and only had one absolute melt down. Our main outings were to malls, but the malls in the Estero area are mostly outdoor malls. We did get some great bargains at the Carters and Osh Kosh outlets. We are pretty proud of the fact that except for his baptism suit, the suit he came home from the hospital in and his Christmas suit, we haven’t purchased any of his clothes at retail. We do the thrift store and clearance sales. When we told my sister-in-law this, she was obviously horrified.

That was one of the nice parts of our visit. We got to see our new niece. She’s beautiful but I have no idea how to spell her name.

The most fun? When we got home, Z opened his baptism present from his Uncle Steve.

I've never seen the like. They are "Mary" and "Moses" dolls from Kaplan Early Learning Company. My only problem is figuring out if it's a sin to let Z chew on the Blessed Virgin? Moses I'm pretty sure is safe munching, but Mary?