Woven and Spun

Drew and I are just recently back from a week long vacation to visit family in Albany, NY – oh so much fodder for blogging, and oh so little time. So, this post is dedicated to the two traveling days there and back. All I have to say is “All hail Southwest! All hail the Travelmate! And way to go, Drew!” I’ve never flown Southwest before, and with the recent rash of airline debacles and hardships played out on the news I was very concerned about flying, especially with a stranger-phobic 10 month old. But, despite two delays (caused by weather), the trip went very smoothly, much of that thanks to how well Southwest took care of everything. Flight attendants helped me with baby and baggage and the flight crew moved us on to our destination as quickly as humanly possible.

Second words of praise go to the Travelmate by GoGoKidz. It’s an attachment that puts wheels onto your carseat. I was able to load Drew into his seat and wheel him through the airport with ease. I just checked it at the gate whenever the flight was too full for his seat, and it was there for us when we got off. Drew loved it – he thought he was a king on a roller coaster or something.

Finally, I have to brag on my unpredictable little superstar. This was his first plane ride, and based on recent behavior, I wasn’t very hopeful. The child fusses at everyone that walks through our front door, and balks at most new environments, unless he’s glued to me, of course. Well, he was close to angelic the entire time.

On the way there, the flight was not full on either leg, so I was able to bring his carseat onto the plane without paying for a seat (a trick I highly recommend if you can swing it). He smiled, laughed, played, ate Cheerios. He was great! He only fussed twice – the first time was when I had to change his diaper on a blanket on the floor of the back of the plane (no changing table in the bathroom ) but hey, who can blame him on that one. And the second time was during the last hour of the flight – he was just done with the whole trip, and, honestly, so was I.

On the way home, he suddenly became Mr. Social Butterfly. The flight attendants couldn’t keep their hands off him, and he was eating up all the attention. I just kept looking at him and saying, “Who are you??” He certainly did not resemble my son. He only fussed briefly before falling asleep, in the most awkward position possible, for his nap, and then at the end of the flight, everyone was crowding around him saying how perfect he was and trying to tickle him…then, he started bawling. I guess he’s just too humble to handle so much praise – he obviously gets that from his mother .

(Title should be read in your best Schwarzenegger accent)

I seem to have developed a tumor- a twenty-two pound screaming growth that shows up every night right around dinner time. My symptoms are loss of hearing, stemming from the blaring ‘mamamamamama’ that emits from said tumor, lack of mobility caused by the tumor’s appearance on one or both of my legs, and a loss of patience…and sometimes my sanity. The doctor had the audacity to insist it was normal, and offered me no reprieve. In desperation, I consulted an exterminator, but he just walked away chuckling. No one seems to be the least bit concerned about this harrowing new development. So, I’m stuck – dragging this darling ten month old across the floor as I prepare dinner. I can only hope this condition changes sometime before he’s thirteen…

Our guest bedroom is quickly becoming a baby gear junkyard for all the items Drew has out grown.  I just added a new, and now useless, item last night to the growing heap.  Houses in South Florida don’t have basements or attics, so our only storage options are the garage, where things need to be able to endure the humid, flaming 100+ temps, or our guest bedroom/baby gear junkyard.  I know I shouldn’t use the term ‘junkyard’- Lord willing, the items will become ‘new’ and exciting again for Baby #2 some day.  But last night while looking for a corner where I could stash the baby bathtub that will no longer hold my baby, I got a little sad..and a bit incredulous.

How is it possible that just 7 short months ago, Drew seemed to shrink in the surroundings of the bathtub or the swing or the bassinet part of the pack-n-play?  The bassinet bit the dust first when Drew began rolling and threatened to ‘dismount’ as Tim calls it from the pack-n-play to the floor.  Although I’m sure his form would have been graceful, I’m also sure he would not have been able to stick the landing, so the bassinet had to go.  The next item was the treasured swing.  I think I actually shed tears the day I had to pack that one up.  It was worth every penny spent on the endless D batteries the thing required.  It provided hours of peace and bliss from Drew’s fussy periods.  Not that I left him in there for extended periods of time…honest…

Anyway, one tragic evening, I looked over to see Drew sitting up in the swing and leaning over the edge to retrieve a toy off the floor.  My screeching mad dash across the room to catch him was the sad end to that activity.  I went through several days of denial where I would look longingly in its direction when Drew reached his evening fussy time, but the fear of having to take Drew to the emergency room with his first concussion finally won out, and the swing went the way of the bassinet.  And last night, as I said, I carted the infant tub to the ‘junkyard’ as well.  I realized it was time to put that item away when I went to lift Drew out of the bath and the tub, wedged to his thighs, came with him.  Bye, bye blue bathtub – you saved me from the backaches of bending over the big tub, not to mention the joys of not having to clean the whole big thing…I will miss you.

So, tonight I sit looking around the living room wondering what baby item I will eulogizing next – will it be the jumper or exersaucer or the walker?  I cringe at the thought of each item ‘biting the dust’, and even moreso at the proof it provides that my little man is growing up.