Greetings and welcome to another year, that is according to certain calendars.
Stone and I made it to Texas and back to New Hampshire via the highway systems of various states for the holiday weeks. The trip was largely uneventful, and at time there was such minimal traffic that I could even glance at the countryside as we passed over for short periods of time. It was a good trip and Stone was verbally upset to the point of yelling in my general direction for about 10 collective minutes of 80+ hours of in the car seat time. He really does not mind travelling at all.
On the trip down he caught a cold, which turned into constant snotty sneezy drainage as we were crossing "OOOOOOOOAAAKLahoma" into Texas. During our time in our home state he figured out that snot is not quite for eating, more for wiping away. This was demonstrated on our return trip when he had only a couple of sneezes left for this round of virus / allergy stuff, and as he sneezed he looked toward me and waited. I reached back to wipe; he then grabbed the cloth, wiped his face and handed it back to me. Mission accomplished! Behavior learned! When he did this again later in the day, and the following days after our return I have been more lenient in the bottle to sippy cup transition process ...
During this trip to Texas Stone was able to meet and spend time with his Great Grandmother, Mema (Alice). Initially, as expected, he was a bit reserved as he is with everyone (adult that is). Her fate as a permanent foe was almost sealed the first night they met as she would not let him up a staircase that he so desperately wanted to climb. For the next few days, each time he saw her, no matter how sweet and sincere her greeting was, he would turn his face and pout and/or scream. As time passed, he would walk by without running or avoiding her. One day after a particularly long day and night before, he passed out on her bed in her hotel room. From then on things got better and better to the point to where she was on the approved bottle in face lap time person list.
There are far too many stories to consider getting them all updated in the time that has elapsed from the last update. So simply know I will make a bit more of an effort to update this site with some form of consistency. I'll also update this particular entry once I get a few photos uploaded.
Until the next time, all the best to you.
J, J n S
