away we go!

T minus three days until we leave Finn overnight for the first time.

I'm taking Chad to the mainland to celebrate his 35th birthday. we're staying at our favorite b&b, and going to get "the best burger in maine" according to the Food Network. After weeks of inquiring what he'd like for his birthday meal (trying to get an idea of where to make reservations), he said "a really good burger", so a burger it is.
We're also going to pick up a wood stove I found on Craigslist and run a few errands (one day, we'll leave the island with no agenda and just while away the hours on the mainland.
Actually, that will probably never happen, but I'm hoping we can balance things a bit and just spend some time together this weekend. It's been a while. You know, like 15 months.

I am feeling a little trepidation about leaving Finn overnight with my Dad and stepmom since he's been a bit...difficult...during the overnights recently. It's so hard not to know what's going on - why he's crying, why he wakes up again and again (for going on two hours). Is it teething? Is he hungry? Thirsty? Cold? I think it was the latter last night as he finally settled down when I wrapped his bottom half up in a blanket, then covered him with two more and tucked him in within an inch of his life. It's been chilly here, and though he's got plenty of covers, he kicks them off quite aggressively sometimes. We've got two quilts on him, plus a softer sort of blanket, but I got a huge (no really, HUGE) bag of fleece from a friend last year and might try my hand at making him a quilt out of it. It's so very soft, and I'd just like to dive right into it, so maybe it's something he'd be more into snuggling down with. We'll see. I've never made a quilt, but it seems like it would be a pretty forgiving fabric to work with. Either way, I'm going to get a little electric heater to put in his room tonight to see if that fends off the 1am screaming.

I did start writing what I like to call "The Finn Manifesto" today, which I hope will have all answers to questions my parents might have while they're watching him.  They spend lots of time with him anyway, so it's not like they're novices or anything, but there are some finer points (routines, favoite foods, schedules, etc.) that they might find useful. I'm trying to make it very straightforward and streamlined, not overdo the info or be the totally neurotic mom I am just underneath the surface. Ah, neuroses...they're so easy to give into.

Oh, for those of you who might see Chad in the next few days, please keep the night away thing under wraps. He doesn't know about it (luckily, he also doesn't read my blog!).