New fears

Yesterday Paul & I went to our local library for a visit with Clifford. ("Big! Red! Dog!") Paul was excited to see Clifford and talked about him all morning. When the costumed character entered the room, however, Paul was terrified. Grandma tried to take a picture, but Paul refused to stand anywhere near Clifford and buried his head in my chest.
He seems to be going through this phase where he is scared by seemingly harmless things. In California, he was terrified of this indoor play area because there was an air cannon that shot out balls and made a whooshing sound. So my boy, who ordinarily jumps into every situation with gusto, hid against my chest and refused to play. Later in the week he reenacted his fear with his stuffed bunny, saying that bunny was feeling "scared. balls." and we tried to talk about ways to help bunny feel better. I am really at a loss, other than just letting this phase run its course and assure him that I will keep him safe.
Luckily, all was not lost at the library. Paul was happy to participate in the craft, making a lovely set of red dog ears.

Palm Trees!!!

Paul and I just returned from visiting his aunt, uncle and cousins in California. He was excited to see more "PALM TREES!" and announced their existence at every turn. My brother has a swimming pool in his backyard - Paul thouroughly enjoyed jumping in & learning how to kick his legs & blow bubbles. Here he is with his cousin Dom in the pirate boat. The two are very close in age & enjoyed each other's company (with only the occasional "MINE!")

We were able to get out to the beach for a few days & while the waves frightened him at first, he was excited about sticking his toes in and playing in the sand. We stayed in a cute little resort town and tried to keep cool (California was in the middle of a heat wave). The photo is of my brother and all the boys walking back from breakfast.

Home at last!

We are finally in the house. All of us. The humans moved in early last week & the felines joined us on Friday. YAY! Then a heat wave hit. Mom's house has AC. Ours does not. Bad timing. For the first few nights Paul asked to go back to "Papa's house", but he seems to be adjusting to life without grandparents. Not that he doesn't see them every day, I mean - they have AC remember? The cats handled things pretty well too. We were worried that they would be lost without grandma & KC (her cat), but after a few hours of sniffing around & Mia crying, they were back to their old routine. Sleeping. There are still a million things to do at the house and the heat is not helping my motivation. But we are slowly unpacking and getting back to normal. CJ plans to do some serious painting while the boy & I journey to California to visit my brother & his brood. Stay tuned!

The happiest (and sweatiest) place on Earth

Magic Kingdom was great. And hot. Paul loved all of the rides (especially small world) and gave enthusiastic nods and thumbs-up at the end of each one. He can now identify pirates and give a hearty "Yo-ho-ho". The highlight of the day was our trip to Pooh's playground where he splashed joyfully in the sprinklers. He was right in there splashing with the other kids and moving the feet of anyone who tried to stand on top of the sprinkler. (My boy does not let anyone push him around!) He had a great time with the little girl in the picture, who I think may have also been adopted. (Mom was not Asian, but I hate to assume, ya know?!?)

Sadly the only adult ride we managed to sneak in was Splash Mountain, where we waited 70 minutes. It seems every school in Florida was having their class day and we were sandwiched in line between two groups of very loud, very silly 5th graders. Mom called to say that Paul was awake moments before we went down the big hill.

On our last day we spent the morning relaxing by the pool before heading back to the airport. Paul is seen here with bubbles given to him by another hotel guest.

Greetings from the Sunshine State!

The van family is in Florida! Paul did relatively well on the plane ride down - only a few moments of minor meltdown. We were hoping that he would sleep on the flight. HA! Of course he fell asleep as soon as we started driving to the hotel. At least he was able to sneak in a quick cat nap. He seemed excited and confused about the whole hotel experience. After dinner he said, "Papa's house" & we had to explain that we would be sleeping in a hotel for a few days. I think he is starting to get used to the idea here on day three.

Yesterday we headed out to Disney's Animal Kingdom and everyone had a fabulous time. We went on the safari ride and were able to see many of Paul's favorite animals. We had a very yummy lunch in "Asia" and were very happy that Paul fell asleep in his stroller in the late afternoon. Grandma & Papa sat with him in the shade while Mommy & Daddy hit the rides. I actually volunteered to ride a roller coaster! It was the new one called Everest & it really wasn't too bad. I did scream rather loudly though and was told that I was walking a bit funny after we disembarked. Paul woke up just in time for the big parade and was thrilled to see some of his favorite characters. After a little more playtime we headed over to the Lion King show. Also a big hit with the boy who was enthralled with the monkey gymnasts. All in all a great day!

Today we are taking it easy. We spent the morning by the pool where Paul enjoyed practicing his swimming skills. We are headed into Downtown Disney after nap. Tomorrow we plan to hit Magic Kingdom. Traveling with the grandparents is going very well. It is wonderful to have a second set of hands and eyes, expecially with a busy little toddler!

Buzz buzz

In preparation for our trip to Disney, I have given Paul a lovely buzz cut. It is not the best haircut that's for sure - but it should help to keep him cool. It was a little sad watching his soft silky hair pile up on the ground below (and a little frustrating trying to remove it from the chair with all of its static clingy power), but he seems happy with the result. And I can't stop rubbing my hand over his bristly head. Our Memorial Day weekend has been a mad dash to get the house ready for moving in post-Disney. CJ spent the majority of his waking hours installing our new entryway/kitchen floor. It looks really nice & I am very excited. Our pre-trip move in was thwarted by the fact that our master bedroom carpet had to be reordered (after they half ripped out the old one - oops!) which has been a pretty big disappointment. We concluded it would probably be best for Paul to transition after vacation anyway. He is excited about the "Brown. House." and cannot stop talking about going to Disney to see "Mi-mouse. Airplane. Sky." His language is evolving toward sentences although there is a gap in between each word and sometimes between multi-syllabic words. My favorite: "Bater (water). Melon." Oh & "Home. Depot. Car." (We spend a great deal of time there & he loves the car carts.) It is exciting to watch him soak everything in and repeat back his version.

grads and lilacs

Over the weekend we went to see my sister receive her Master's degree. She has been going to school while working full time and raising her (almost teenage) son. I am so proud of her! She graduated from my Alma mater, exactly ten years after I earned my undergrad degree. It was neat to see all of the changes that have happened in the last ten years. Here we are posing in front of the new academic building.





Afterward we went out to the Lilac Festival and enjoyed the aroma of flowers and fried dough. The weather was perfect and the lilacs happily in bloom.