Robert and I have decided to embrace a new form of parenting - it's based on the TV show
Survivor. Basically, it involves putting your child through as many difficult situations as possible in a short time frame. Advocates praise the "toughening up" of their children and congratulate themselves on "teaching their children how to adapt."
Challenges include:
- Restaurant sitting: No crying, no crawling, no eating what we're eating. Repeat - at least 15 times.
- Long flights: Sitting nicely on Mom or Dad's lap is acceptable. Anything else and you'll get a comment from the jerk across the aisle "Wow, this is a nightmare - and I've got a front row seat" (I hope that guy has kids one day and they show him what a real nightmare is...) Repeat - at least 8 times.
- Wedding receptions: Involves loud music, lots of people holding you and staying up at least 5 hours past your normal bedtime. Bonus points if you can endure the fact that Mom forgot to change your diaper before bed so you peed through everything in the middle of the night and everybody was too tired to notice. Oops. Repeat - 2 times.
You can spot the
Survivor parents anywhere you go. They're the ones downing the booze while someone else walks their baby around. (joking, joking)
The good news is, Peter has passed the challenges with flying colors!! We have had an amazing two months and Peter continues to surprise us by his amicability despite the fact that he hasn't had a semblance of a routine since mid-October. We have also been greatly helped by Grandpa and Grandma's unfailing love and patience, Uncle James's guitar lessons, Tia Juliana's energy (and her strong back) and Uncle JP's sense of humor, which helps us all relax.
Below are some recent pictures - and at the bottom is a video of Petey bird!
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| Hiking to the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles |
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| Peter Jr. loves Peter Sr. |
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| A Christmas gift: Grandma and Grandpa are setting the bar pretty high here |
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| The Poppleton wives |
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| Juliana and Pete |
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| Grandma and Peter |
From the West Coast Grandma and Grandpa Ville: What an incredible 2.5 months it has been. We saw Little Peter three times and the final time went for 10 days! Oh, we also saw his parents. Thanks Letty and Robert for gifting us with such wonderful times. And in the midst of all of this joy was the terrific joy of John-Paul and Juliana's wedding. It is hard to believe that we were all in Mexico 6 weeks ago. We heard that they are now back from their honeymoon and JP is back at work. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful family!!!!!
ReplyDeletei love the video of peter, he looks like he wants to run some laps, tackle you and then run a couple more. for now he must sit and gestulate wildy.
ReplyDeleteI know - he is dying to crawl/run. Now he can roll both directions so he spends hours on the floor just rolling to different toys and other stuff on the floor. Its hilarious.
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