We arrived in Tucson without incident. Grady greeted Grandpa enthusiastically, and then told him that Thomas threw up. (He still talks about it, but less and less frequently.) We had a wonderful trip. Matt, Uncle Cliff, and Dad went on an adventurous hike.
Matt and Cliff ganged up on Gav to beat him in golf - despite Gavin shooting a 75 on a very challenging course.
And Matt, Grady, Dad, and I got to go to the Desert Museum. Grady was particularly impressed with the snakes and iguanas. (He still pretends to be a snake hiding in a tree - it had quite an effect.) He also liked seeing the mountain lions. He likes to talk still about how he and Grandpa saw them, they were sleeping, and they had big tongues. He lost steam a bit towards the end, I think because of the heat, but otherwise really enjoyed it.
The highlights for Grady were probably the opening of, and subsequent playing with, the concrete mixer that Uncle Cliff got for him for Christmas. Upon opening it, Grady squealed "Oh boy! Big concrete mixer!"
It was so big in fact that it didn't fit in our suitcase - even when empty. Grady notes frequently that "nana shipped it" and we are looking forward to its arrival. Grady was also extremely pleased with the gifts of pompoms, trucks, trains, little people, more trucks, books, and so forth. Thank you notes are coming - sorry for the delay.
Another big hit were the uncles. Grady greeted Gavin with "Hey dude" for no apparent reason. I had been working on "dude" with him because he started saying "Go for it, man" when I asked if he wanted to flush the toilet. But the first time it came out of his mouth was when seeing Gav. Gavin and Cliff also practiced fist bumps with Grady, and taught him to say "Whaaaaat?" Here's a video from today of Grady reliving the trip in his cool dude sunglasses.
Another favorite for Grady was swimming in the hot tub (before the temperature got turned up of course). Unfortunately for Grady, Nana was coming off a stomach bug, and Mommy is - well - extremely pregnant. So we didn't have the stamina to stay in there as long as he would have liked. Here are a couple shots of him enjoying himself in the tub before we cut it short.
It was a great trip. We all ate incredibly well and enjoyed spending time with the family. Grady, as is par for the course, did not sleep well while we were there, but that was expected and he stayed in a pretty good mood despite his sleep-deprivedness. The trip back went remarkably well too. Grady was quite pleased to get some "wings." He even slept for a little bit on the plane. He then made up for some of his sleepless nights by sleeping 15 hours that night! It's good to be in your own bed!
Although the trip was the highlight, a few other things to note this past week.
Grady has become pretty stylish. He likes to pick out his own outfits in the morning. They aren't conventional, but they are quite fetching. Here's an example.
 |
| Grady wearing his doggy pj bottoms, guitar shirt, and "Carebear shirt" (Grateful Dead shirt) for his back-to-school outfit |
This activity usually goes along with "Cuddle a bed?," which, although it sounds sweet, actually consists of me trying to keep him from launching himself off the bed as he thrashes around, demands to be put under the blanket, searches for the stuffed animals, then just generally makes a ruckus.
Grady is starting to get pretty good at "singing." He can't quite carry a melody yet, but he knows many of the words to the Alphabet Song (although not in order), Baa Baa Black Sheep, and many others. He made up his first song this past week. It goes "Huge tractor, huge tractor, garbage truck... song."
He is also playing on his own more and more. He loves to make car transporters - he'll take a big car and then pile other cars on top of it. This one he made the other night is, by Grady's own description, "amazing."
 |
| Grady's "amazing" car transporter |
There have been lots of other small, funny things these past few weeks. A couple highlights. Seconds after Grady woke up from his nap this afternoon I heard him say "Awake! Grady awake!" and then "How's the swing?" - a phrase I taught him to say to Daddy after he's been practicing his golf swing.
A continuing favorite is when Grady says "I burped" (sounds more like "uh buhrp"). I know I should begin teaching him manners, but it's too funny to have him stop.
Grady has also begun fake laughing and then declaring "Grady funny!"
Yesterday he was walking around with a shopping bag saying "See you later alligator." I asked him if he was going to the store. When he said he was, I asked what he was going to get: "Muffins, seeds, bagels."
Muffins are a big hit right now - he was very excited by our offer to take him to ice cream yesterday. When I asked what flavor he wanted, he thought for a moment and then said "blueberry muffin ice cream." A tall order, but amazingly they had blueberry pancake ice cream - close enough.
Bessy and Grady continue to have a love/hate relationship. Today Besa was looking out the door, and Grady said to her "Besa no! Mine outside!"
Baby news. I'm at 31 weeks now, and starting to get pretty uncomfortable. The baby is much higher up than Grady was, which means I can still "jog" without feeling like my bladder is going to explode. It also means that the unfortunate heartburn and breathlessness, which I never really got with Grady, have set in. We are still deciding on names. Maybe you can help? I'll put up a poll on the right and you can vote for your favorite. The big news on the baby front is that I got some great news at work that my very understanding and kind boss is letting me take an extended leave. I'll have off March 1 through August 20, rather than the 12 weeks allowed under our policy. I'm very grateful and excited for the extra time with the little girl.
I think we're pretty much caught up! Hope everyone had wonderful holidays.
No comments:
Post a Comment