Ever since he was a little baby, Isaac has loved his baths. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights he’d happily get in his bath, splash around and get clean.

Then…it happened.

One night it was time for his bath and we walked him into the bathroom. Next thing I know he’s screaming, grabbing on to our legs and crying legitimate tears to not get in his bath. We tried to show him it wasn’t scary, to no avail. We tried to slowly lower him in, only to watch him lift his legs higher and higher in order to not get in the water. Erin got in the tub to show him it was okay, no dice. Erin held him while I bathed him, still screaming. There was absolutely nothing we could do to make him okay with taking a bath.

It came out of nowhere and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. He gets upset if you even mention the word “bath”. He’ll get worried, grab your leg or walk away from you. He’ll happily play at his water table, he still loves drinking water, he talks about playing outside in his pool, he’s fine with me splashing the water in the tub, he’ll let me pour water on his hand from the tub when he’s standing outside, but getting inside the tub with it? You must be out your damn mind!

But I think I understand what’s happening.

One of the blogs I read is MannlyMama. Her son had a pretty serious issue with taking baths. Then, recently she posted THIS on Facebook.

So why do I mention this? Because April 26 is right around the time that Isaac started freaking out. Which means that the movie Fallen isn’t totally off base. Landon might not have touched Isaac like in the movie, but it must have been the blog reading. DAMN YOU INTERNET!!!

(In all seriousness, anyone have a suggestion for how to end the freak outs? They’re no fun)

Believe it or not, sometimes Isaac isn’t in the best of moods. He actually gets cranky, tired, annoyed, you name it. I know, it’s surprising because he’s usually a bad ass and rocks the great attitude.

But then the fun days come and for no apparent reason, he’s in a bad mood. He wakes up crying, or he slept poorly and is uber-tired 2 hours into the day. Or maybe he just doesn’t feel like being in a good mood. I don’t know exactly why, but I do know that in order for us both to make it through the day happy, something needs to be done.

When he was really young I used to just take him for a walk in his Snap & Go. I’d put him in that thing and BAM, he was out after a block or two and wake up refreshed. Or maybe I’d bust out the swing. That’d make him nice and happy and turn the whole day around. But, alas, times have changed and he’s WAY outgrown both of those options. Now I do things like take him outside or let him play with his cars. When those options don’t work, however, I bring out the big gun.

The bike trailer.

Let me tell you about the power of the bike trailer.

Let’s say that a random, I don’t know, last Friday, Isaac woke up in a cranky mood. He had breakfast, that didn’t cheer him up. He played with his cars, that wasn’t enough. So around 10:30 I busted out the bike trailer and went for a 45 minute ride. I loaded him down for the trip. The inside of his trailer usually includes a snack in a snack trap, his sippy, 3-4 cars, one of his toy guitars, a few books and anything else I can cram in that he’s been playing with that morning. This is, generally, enough to get him through our rides.

I rode and rode, praying that the ride would put him in a good mood. I’d peek back occasionally to make sure he wasn’t pulling his helmet off (our biggest problem when going for rides), and then keep going. Eventually he passed out. About 40 minutes into the ride he started making irritated noises so I figured I’d cut the ride short and not make him upset that he was still in the trailer.

We got back to the house, I pulled into the drive, parked the bike and got ready to get him out. I got off the bike, turned around and was greeted with this sight.

He had never, EVER slept through me parking the bike at the house before. That always woke him up. So I did what any smart parent does when their kid is sleeping (when they can at least). I let him sleep. After 15 minutes of me being bitten by mosquitoes and it getting close to lunch/nap time, I woke him up and got him inside.

His little cat nap did wonders for his mood, and I was grateful once again that, for some reason, naps in the bike trailer don’t ruin afternoon naps.

One of the things I had forgotten about when it came to her being pregnant was her nose.

Most notably that women seem to gain the nose of a bloodhound when they become pregnant.

It started out fairly innocent, her noticing smells that I couldn’t detect in the least, her being grossed out by smells that were nothing to me. But, eventually, it started progressing. And, eventually, her nose got so good that I couldn’t get away with anything. I mean ANYTHING.

We’re sitting around, hanging out and I let a silent one go. I can’t smell a thing and I think “ah, victory”. Not two seconds later she knows. She smells it. It’s really not fair, I don’t stand a chance. So I pull out the old standby.

Unfortunately, when we’re hanging out together she knows it’s a dirty lie. She’s got me dead to rights and there’s nothing I can do about it but say “it’s not that bad, I can’t smell anything”. Not that it helps me in my situation.

During the day, however, I have an out.

Because hey, why not? He does rip some really good ones, he can’t talk and she’ll believe me sometimes.

So thank you Isaac. Your inability to fully communicate is coming in quite handy these days. If your mom and I decide to ever have a third, I’ll teach you how to blame your younger sibling.

It’s only fair…

He goes to bed and everything is fine. He’s calm, unharmed and healthy.

He wakes up, I go in and WHAM!!!

Alien ear has sprung up out of nowhere.

I start thinking back to the day before. Was there anything fishy going on? Did he take a big fall that I’m forgetting? Is it a mosquito bite that I just can’t see the bite under all the redness?

Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks, maybe it will look better out in the light.

Nope, that’s still awful.

I rack my brain, I text Erin with pictures because I just can’t believe it. I keep replaying the day before in my mind…

But you know what? I still have no idea why his ear got that red and that big. It didn’t bother him at all, but it weirded me out. How could his ear just explode overnight like that with seemingly no reason? How is it possible that we don’t know what’s causing it? Surely with something this obvious we would have seen it.

I guess I just need to accept that some things are going to continue to Isaac that I’ll look at and say “where the hell did that come from?”. It will probably just get worse as he gets older.