Fun-Filled Weekend

Well, it's the beginning of June, which means that summer is here.  Or, so the calendar states.  It's been gray, rainy and cool for the past week or so here.  But that didn't stop us from having a pretty good time this weekend. 

Bright and early Saturday morning, Sutton had his first kiddie karate class.  (Should have spelled it with a "k" for the fun alliteration)  I didn't take any pictures, since I wasn't sure that it was allowed.  But let me tell you, it was pretty cute.  About 15 kids in ages ranging from about 3-7.  Some of these kids have been taking the class for a while, and were pretty good.  Sutton-not so much.  Sure enough, the kid has my athletic ability, which is to say none at all. 

But he had a great time.  The first thing the teacher does is tell the kids to run laps around the room.  Brilliant.  Gets all their energy and wiggles out.  Dave and I made the joke that we should set Sutton up on a really long lead out in the backyard and just have him run circles, like a horse.

All week, we've been reviewing with Sutton what the expectations were at karate class.  How he needed to listen to the teacher, pay attention, and do what they told him.  And sure enough, as soon as he got into the class, he promptly forgot all about it.  I heard quite a few times, "Listen.  Look at me."  He could not stop talking the entire time, to the teacher, and to his fellow class-mates.  Just talk, talk, talk.  The instructor said to us on the way out, "That one is destined to be a politician."  As I mentioned on Facebook, I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult.

Once class was over, we piled into the car for our next part of our fun filled weekend.  We decided to head over to Whidbey Island.  We didn't have a real itinerary planned, just stopped whenever we felt like it.  We drove up to Mukilteo, and took the ferry to the island.  It was Sutton's first time on a ferry boat, and he liked it, except that it was pretty windy and cold on the observation deck.  I wish I had taken pictures, but my stupid camera was acting up, and I wasn't able to.

Once we drove off the ferry boat, we just started driving.  We hit a farmer's market in Bayview, where Sutton danced to the music that was being played.  We sampled cheeses, looked at local crafts, and bought a delicious oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie when Sutton started getting whiny.  That whining was just a sign of what was to come...

As we hit the road again, Sutton fell asleep in the car.  We woke him up once we hit Greenbank Farms, this adorable farm with a wine shop, a cafe that featured pies, etc.  The Seattle Times had mentioned this pie shop, and we were anxious to check it out.  Before we could, Sutton had a MASSIVE meltdown.  He does not do well when he's woken up from a nap, and this was no different.  He started pitching a fit when we tried to walk around, and ended up being carried to the car as he screamed, cried and kicked.  We all got back in the car and drove off without sampling any pies. 

After a while, he calmed down and we hit up another farmer's market, this time in Coupeville.  We got some fresh mini-donuts, and walked down into Coupeville.  It's a charming little town, which reminded me a lot of Cape Cod.  And one of the great things was they had this little wine shop that was offering wine tastings.  After the scream-fest in the car, we were in need of some liquid refreshment.  So my mother-in-law and I went into the wine shop, while Dave and Sutton went into the toy and candy shop next door.  Once everyone was in a much better mood, we got lunch at a great restaurant/bakery called "Knead & Feed."

I don't know why Sutton is sticking his tongue out-he did this in a lot of pictures.  We also picked up some treats for breakfast the next morning-a huge cinnamon roll, a pecan sticky bun, and a marionberry bear claw.  AWESOME.

This was the view outside the bakery.

Pretty, if it wasn't so gray and gloomy.  But we didn't care.  We were making the best of it.

To add to the gastrointestinal festivities, we stopped for ice cream, which we ended up eating in the rain, as we walked back to the car.  We piled back inside, and decided that it was time to head back home.  We had only seen half of the island, but we were getting pretty tired (we had been up since about 6:30 that morning.)   So, it was back to the ferry, and homeward bound.  Sutton fell asleep again on the way home, and woke up as we pulled into our driveway.  And then proceeded to throw another tantrum, because he wanted to go back to "White Island," as he called it.

Why is 4 so hard? (Also-1st post in a LOONNG time!)

I really don't know it is, but lately, it seems that it is harder and harder to deal with Sutton.  The back-talk, the refusal to listen, the temper tantrums, etc.  It's exhausting to deal with.  And we get upset and frustrated, which leads to more arguments, which leads to us sending him to his room.  Which leads to an even worse temper tantrum.  And so on and so on.

I talk to my dad about it all the time (he's a child psychologist, and a handy resource,) and he keeps advising me that Sutton will move past this.  But if he's this bad at 4, I seriously do not know how I will handle the teenage years.  I may need to move out temporarily!