A Far Birthday Trip - C
On the birthday trip for my now 2 year old son L, my 5 year old son C was a challenge. He was really testing some boundaries and constantly fighting with his 7 year old sister E. It was difficult to wrangle C in the first half of the trip and I think he was just wanting any kind of attention - even if it was negative.
We had to turn the ship around, so I started to try and spend some quality time with him. He would be up early and on some mornings when my wife would take E and L to go get breakfast, I would stay in the hotel and do a ‘paint by stickers’ book with C. He loved doing the sticker art with me and we were cranking through all these different vehicles. It was super fun and I wish I got to do those kinds of things as a kid (but they didn’t even exist back then!). We got to just talk while doing the sticker art as well and I remember one morning when E and C got back, they all jumped on me and we wrestled. Everyone was laughing and my wife even got in the royal rumble. That was a great morning.
C then wanted to spend more time with me, so he was my buddy for any food runs. We would go grab lunch or dinner for everyone else and just walk around or drive while enjoying each other’s company. Just hanging out with him and spending quality time is what he wanted and needed. I also wanted and needed that time with C. It was awesome. He told me he usually plays soccer with his friends and we talked a lot about school. I reminded him that he should try to be friends with everyone and he said he usually didn’t like playing with the girls because they didn’t like the same thing. I said when I was his age, I loved playing with the girls and he asked me why that was the case. I asked him to figure it out and he guessed it was because I ‘liked’ them. I said yes of course and he laughed so hard in the backseat. It was a genuine moment between us.
On the last day, C was the only one that wanted to go to the beach with me while everyone else stayed at the hotel pool. Since it was just him, I took him to the sandbar on the tube we had been gifted. I told him not to tell Mommy and definitely don’t tell E since she will be jealous. We went all the way out there and I held him extra tight since I didn’t want him slipping out. We rode some crazy tides and mini waves out there. We swam out a bit further and at one point, we were the furthest people out. C had a blast and we eventually needed to make it back to the beach. He didn’t want to leave quite yet, so we ended up digging a trench some started a bit deeper. We got really sandy and needed to get cleaned off. It was a really good last adventure.
After the beach on the last day, C wanted chocolates, so I nudged him to go ask the hotel front desk by himself. He actually went over and communicated with them. They were so amused that he came back with a box of chocolates! Since the treats were secured, we went to grab all the food for dinner for our last food run. It was great spending so much time with him and turning a rough start to an amazing finish for C’s time on the trip. It was a great trip.
