Guess I'm Just Not Classy...

Mal's already been asleep for about half an hour. That's earlier than usual, but the past two days, he's taken his "morning" nap (typically started between 9:30 and 11:30) after noon, and only slept an hour and a half or so, and completely dropped the second nap.

So, he's gone to sleep earlier (and, sadly, been punch drunk, hyperactive, over-moody, and clumsy the last hour) BUT has slept until just before 8 instead of waking up shortly after 6. I'll miss that second nap if he drops it, but I appreciate the extra bed time for myself!

One thing I really liked doing with Daphne was taking her to story time or to her little gymnastics class, just a chance to get out of the house and do something together, and meet other parents.

Well, with Mal, we tried the free Emler Swim pre-Water Babies classes for four weeks. I loved the classes, and the teacher, and all of that... but Mal was DONE by 21 minutes into the half-hour session. He then cried that entire last 9 minutes (sometimes being distracted by stuff, but mostly just crying) and then he'd cry while I dressed him, and then myself, and, of course, he'd fall straight away to sleep once we were in the car.

After four weeks of that, I decided that it wasn't worth the hour it took to get ready, get there, and then return home for 20 minutes of swimming instruction/water access. And, now that he's older, he's actually gotten more comfortable in the pool with our living here than he did in those classes.

He'll spend an hour or more in the pool now, and the only thing that happens is that I get tired and need a break. He likes to be held, even though he wants to control where he "swims." He does not like the floatie thing I try to sit him in, and he definitely hated the Puddle Jumper my sister brought over for him to try (in fairness, it might have been too big).

Oh, and he's "jumping" off of the side of the pool into first my sister's and now my arms. He sits on the edge, then hurls himself forward. Over time, I won't catch him as quickly, so he'll start to submerge his little head. I know that's the next step in Water Babies, anyway.

So no worries about the swim classes.

One day when Mal and I were out, we met a lady at Pease Park who told me about Hike It Baby. It sounded neat, so as soon as we got moved into our new place, I joined a hike over in Bee Cave.

First, and most obviously, I was the oldest mom there. Second, Mal was not having the hiking backpack after about half a mile. He managed to climb up and out of the arm straps (is he too small? I don't know; they're as tight as they'll go) so that he was standing where his booty was supposed to be, with his arms on top of my head, playing with my hair.

If I trusted him not to lean over sideways and fall out, I wouldn't even have cared; but I don't, and I was scared, and so after a bit, another mom helped me sit him back down, and I just held his feet. At my upper sides. Not particularly comfortable, and he hated it, and kept squirming and fussing, so I ended up tapping out about 1/4 of a mile before the 2 mile walk was over.

Mal was playing on the playground when the others were finished and let their kids free to roam, too. I believe he was the youngest child. With the oldest mom. Yep. They were nice ladies, but I just never felt an "in" into the conversations. Also, I wasn't wearing Capri yoga pants; I didn't get the memo.

Ultimately, it felt like a long drive (15 minutes; I know, I'm spoiled from living downtown and not having to drive) for a thing that lasted half an hour plus play time, and maybe if I kept going back, I'd establish relationships, but... I'm super lazy about that kind of thing and need it to come a lot easier.

Another idea: I saw that a nearby library (though not technically local, so we can't get a library card; actually also in Bee Cave) had story time. Tuesday morning, I drove over to arrive a bit early and enjoy the library... then realized I'd shown up 15 minutes early if it were the same time as the hike had been (9:30), but it was actually an hour later. And the shopping center where the library is is dead until 10.

I ended up getting Mal's stroller out of the car and just walking around Hill Country Galleria for a bit. It kind of reminded me of downtown, except not dirty and there were no people and it had very little personality, except for a park area in the middle.

Fortunately, Dick's Sporting Goods actually had opened at 9:00, so we got to spend some air conditioned time in there, and Mal ended up with his own CamelBak, because he's always trying to steal other people's... and I didn't realize until we got home that with that particular brand, you have to bite down a little on the straw to open it. It seems like a bad precedence while I'm still nursing!

We killed the last of the time by my pushing Mal in the stroller really close to the fountains, so he couldn't crawl through the splash pad and get soaked, but he was able to reach over with his hand and get water everywhere until I pulled him away.

We were in the library just as it opened, and played and had a good time exploring, including meeting a sweet girl who was 16 months old and weighed less than Mal (surprise!). Then right at 10:30, a sweet librarian came over and told us that story time was actually upstairs in one of the City Hall's public rooms.

When we got up there, the floor in front of the lady conducting story time was pretty full. I found a place to sit off to the side, near her, but not in front of anyone.

About five minutes later, a whole big group of moms came in together, and one sat directly between us and the lady, so that we couldn't see her anymore. I thought maybe she was just sitting down and would re-position a bit further back or forward once she started settling in, but no. Mal couldn't see the reader at all.

Fifteen minutes later when story time was over, I'd pretty much decided I wasn't coming back to that, either. It's geared to babies, and, I'm sorry, stuff that we think babies like is just not too much fun for adults.

We sang some songs... including an altered "Jingle Bells" where the kids got to jingle an actual bell - in a rattle - but the words had been re-written to include "ring it high and ring it low; ring it fast and ring it slow" but which, most horrifically, rhymed "bells" with "bells" and I will not have my son learning this crap; I WON'T HAVE IT!

We listened to a couple of books. One was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and if you're a parent or grandparent who adores that book, then good on you. But I can't.

The reader did "Three little monkeys swinging from a tree" with stick puppets, too. One kid walked up to her and tried to take the Popsicle stick animals, to no avail (this lady was good, I have to say). In fact, that kid walked around and invaded the reader's space pretty much the whole time. His mom videoed almost the entire enterprise, except when she was apparently live-Tweeting or checking email or maybe making sure her make-up looked okay or something. Lots of phone stuff for that mama.

Another mom had carted out the puffs for her little prince, and as he was nomming them very enthusiastically, it of course attracted half a dozen other kids within crunch-hearing range, and their moms then had to try to redirect them, and the kids were all whiny and upset about it. It's fifteen freaking minutes. Seriously, could we not have had a snack on the way in and just sat there without food for a quarter of an hour?

It was obvious that a lot of work and planning and effort and print-outs and whatnot goes into that story time. It's just not for me.

Maybe it's Bee Cave.

The ladies I've met over there are nice, but they don't feel like "my people," the way true Austin people do. Does that make sense?

I'm going to try to join a MOPS group this fall, so hopefully within a couple of months, I'll have an outlet to meet other moms. I really don't mind being the old one. I think I can hang with the young 'uns. But there has to be some common ground besides that we're moms, you know?

I might also try other hikes, but now that it's mid-July and finally becoming summer here (I'm not complaining about the reprieve!), that will probably have to wait a couple of months, as well.

Any other ideas for connecting to like-minded moms, laid back, and without having to drive half way across the great state of Texas? (Which, to me, is like Jolleyville.)