A day of discoveries
Day 7 - Punta Cana
This morning Sophie remembered her coffee setup routine the night before so it was a stealthy exit. Nonetheless, Wesley was awake and at em bright and early. Despite all the noise he was making Lola powered through and slept till 7am. She woke up in a pleasant mood and played the usual big sister games “you can't have that” and “that's mine!” Wesley generally shrugs it all off but sometimes he protests. He did both today.
Once Sophie made her return we all got ready slowly as the kids played just outside our room door. Lola spotted the reddish flowers in the little brush surrounding our entrance and made it her sole objective of exterminating them all. I kind of kid, she picked them to give to us, an adorable gesture that in the end did ensure no red flowers were left. After the Punta Cana floral collapse of 2025 we made our exit for the breakfast buffet. We picked up our friends on the way there and sat together as usual. Today we decided to visit the last remaining pool across the connected resorts that we had yet to visit.
We split up temporarily after breakfast, we made our way to the pool and arrived first for once so we grabbed the some chairs that were available and in the shade. We then proceeded to apply sun screen to everyone, no duhhhh. A little while later our friends arrived and the girls immediately started to play together.
At some point my buddy and I walked to the nearby bar by the pool to grab drinks. As we waited for the bartender to finish serving others my buddy shared with me how happy he and the family were with this trip and with us sharing this experience with them. This was a relief to me as I feared that perhaps they felt slowed down by us or in some way impacted by the fact that we have two kids rather than one and one of them being a baby.
They've been incredibly kind and helpful with our kids more so than we can be with theirs. I shared our fears with him and told him how happy we were as well and how special this trip has been for Lola. Their daughter and ours have grown so close it's all Lola thinks about. With both our hearts full of warmth we two grown ass bare chested men hugged for all to see. The bartender seeing this transpire approved the entire exchange vocally and then asked where we were from. He introduced himself as William and we quickly became big fans of his.
After our manly display of love for each other and our families we decided to grab lunch. This pool was becoming by far our favourite here. The pool had the nicest divisions, the bartender was the sweetest, and right beside was the nicest dress down lunch spot. So in we went to eat our hunger away.
Afterwards the kids wanted to play on the beach, another plus for this pool, the beach is literally across a little street not more than 2 minutes away. So we leave stuff on our chairs by the pool to not lose them and head over to the playa. Sophie and I both hope Wesley will follow his nap schedule so we strap him down in the stroller.
At the beach the girls go by the water with Sophie to build sand castles, my buddy and his wife go out into the waves for a romantic moment away, and I hang back with Wesley who is definitely fighting to not fall asleep. Enough time passes by that I feel it's time to try a different strategy with him. Time to break out the big nap guns, the baby carrier. He can never resist a nap when strapped to us.
So I strap my little protesting baby to my chest and start shushing him white noise style. As I do this I admire the girls playing with Sophie. They've been playing in the sand non stop and seem to be having enormous fun. Sophie signals for me to come see and take a picture. I walk as fast as one can walk in unsolid sand and with a baby weight vest strapped to your chest. Once I arrive I marvel at their creation, Sophie has buried both kids legs into the sand with a design of mermaid tails.
I snap some pics and then on the count of 3 they break out of their sand prison in unison. Then they proceed to destroy the sand castles a la King Kong. Our friends come back from their ballad through the waves and Wesley is still nowhere near sleeping so we decide to move on back to the pool.
Once back at the pool I notice Lola holding and scratching her crotch constantly so I go and ask her what's up. She tells me it's sand. I somewhat dont buy it but indulge her account and tell her we will clean it all out with mommy's help. So we head to the shower I grab her and flip her sideways so we can get a direct hit from the shower jets and as I pull the crotch part of her bathing suit aside half the beach emerges. Poor kid was not kidding. It was so full of sand Sophie and I couldn't believe our eyes. I'm glad I listened to her and after the cleaning the problem was resolved.
The kids then banded together and proceeded to hound my buddy to play in the water with them, this involves a really poorly executed game of hide and seek but they love the thrill of it. Wesley and I hang out some more except this time he is free, in his swimwear and floaties and moving around the shallow end. Today I got to spend a lot of quality time with my little man and in some unexplainable way I feel our bond grew deeper.
At the bar the adults discover a drink called the dirty monkey that everyone is quite fond of and the wives indulge themselves in a little fun. They hit their sweet spot fairly quickly and their fun and funny factor go into overdrive. You can see they even feed off of each other's positive energy. The husband's sit back and enjoy the show.
We end up with the kids in the splash pad circle directly beside the bar. It's always empty and it's just our group in there. We watch the kids play together as we talk about anything and everything including possible next travel destinations together. The trip is successful enough to entertain a follow up, some are even talking about turning it into a tradition and Sophie and I are all for it.
Our dinner reservations are drawing near so we say goodbye to William, our favourite bartender, and head back to our rooms. The boys split from the group to make a reservation at the Italian restaurant for Saturday while the girls go back to our friends’ room. When we get there Sophie has managed to wash both kids in their bath. Now it's our turn and we pack the kids back in the stroller. Lola's friend lends her a little doll to dampen the temporary seperation anxiety that she gets when we leave her side.
Back at our place we dress the kids and then start to get ready ourselves. Lola goes into full solo play mode with that little doll on one of the beds. She creates a mini house for them both and pretends they are going to bed. Oddly enough she ends up falling asleep. Wesley in the meantime is just pure miserable so I grab him and give him some milk. Over time he calms down until he also passes out.
With our two kids sleeping our departure from our room becomes almost effortless, almost cause transitioning them in a sleep state can be tricky. Sure enough I pinch Wesley with the buckle and he wakes up screaming in abject horror. We strap him in and get moving but it takes a while for him to calm down.
Tonight we are having Spanish at a restaurant called La Lola, I wanted a picture in front of the sign with my daughter but she was sleeping so it didn't happen. We get seated and I try to wake Lola so she can eat and be with her friend. It doesn't work. We order food for her in the hope that she wakes on her own. She doesn't.
In the end it was Sophie who woke her by putting a diaper on her in case she was out for the night. She basically went into full meltdown mode pretty fast. At one point it got so bad I had to leave the restaurant with her.
Outside I explained that in order to return she needed to find her calm and that I was here to help her achieve that. When she's past the red line no amount of talking works, she's basically lost control of her emotions. I try to empathize and identify what she's feeling but she counters with more yelling and telling me she is calm and happy.
Her tone and visual mood says otherwise. I offer her a number of methods to find her calm again such as breathing, counting, hugs, and back rubs which all get refused. Eventually she decides for herself when she wants to come back down and informs me she would like to hug and be held. Once in my arms the tension immediately drops.
I tell her how proud I am of her and that I love her and remind her what she's achieved and we walk back into the restaurant where she can eat and be with her friend which is what she really wants.
Wesley also awakes so that he can chow down some grub. The meal ends up being pleasant despite the rough start. I feel bad for Lola as we are learning how to best navigate these difficult waters with her. I feel like our other kids get to benefit from the mistakes we make with her and for that I feel a sense of sadness. I want to do right by her and I want her to know and always feel loved no matter what she does or says.
Our love for her knows no bounds but our fallible nature as parents will always be greatest with our first. After supper we head back to our rooms, prior in the evening it was agreed that Lola could go back to my buddy's room to partake in his nightly daddy and daughter routine of watching 1 episode of Master Chef. Sophie agrees to go pick her up after it's done.
We enter our room and put Wesley to bed easily. I start to work on my post and Sophie gets ready for bed. She even falls asleep for a bit, enough for the girls to also watch some of their shows. When Sophie wakes she fetches our daughter and they both go to bed. We feel tremendously lucky to have these wonderful children in our lives and we hope this fact rings loud and clear to them their entire life.
Life is beautiful!
January 30, 2025
