It was a 45 minute drive in the rain, but we were opposite traffic the whole way. I got to point at the lines of stopped cars for Shane and say "Glad we're not going that way! Hey, look! A garbage truck!"
Travis has three hyper boys: Ryan (10), Brayden (4), and Noah (2). We spent three hours running and rough-horsing around! I was worried that Shane would take his "whole nap" on the drive home, but he was ready to sleep some more when I pulled him out of the car-seat.
Very nice!
I got a few pics of the ensuing hyper-chaos.
Here, all the boys decided to hide under than same blanket on the couch. Why? They're boys. It's like wrestling, but without wrestling. Travis' oldest, Ryan, was good about being gentle and playing with all of the little ones. He took multiple knees to his nuts. Travis had to remind him "You have to protect yourself! Let them know when you're done!"
It was a little rainy/drizzly outside, but there was too much energy to keep everyone inside. Travis served up breakfast for his bunch (Shane got bacon!) and then we all went outside for the next hour.
I love that Shane got a chance to be around a bunch of boys (of all different ages, too!). There are some things you learn in a pack naturally, that an only child doesn't have a clue about.
Number 1: Toughness! Shane is quick to cry, whine, or let you know he's "hurt." Sometimes it's not so much that he's really hurt, it's that he's frustrated and wants an adult to "fix" things.
That doesn't happen in a boy pack! There's no time. You have to keep moving or you'll get left out of the fun. When the boys were wrestling on the couch, Shane punched little Noah straight in the gut. It looked like an accident (Shane was flailing around), but I said "No hit!" Noah shrugged it off and jumped straight back into the pile. No hesitiation.
When something similar happened, Shane squealed and told me to do something about it! "Daddy! He hitting me! He hitting me!" I said "You're fine! Go play!" My son got with the program after a little while.
Later, there were times I told him to "Say 'My Turn!'" and to be assertive if someone grabbed something straight out of his hands. We practiced a trade or two, as well.
Number 2: How to play together! Travis' boys were clearly used to playing with each other. Shane couldn't quite climb up the climbing wall until we got Brayden to help pull him up. Later, it took some doing on the dads' parts, we got Shane to hold hands and try to run around with Noah. Life is more fun if you can share it!
I don't have a picture, but there was cute moment where Noah and Shane both sat in my lap. They wanted me to read a Blue's Clues book to them.
Fun times! I've had a hard time keeping in touch with many of my friends after moving out from my parents. We all live further away, have jobs, and several of us have families. There's not enough time in the day. Travis said that he'd bring the boys to visit us the next time around!
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