'Neath the soft fur of bear pal
woeful eyes peer out
Man I wish I had placed my camera in the front seat so I could have captured Taran's expression as we passed the fifteen minute mark on the clock and he realized he was in it for the long haul all the way to Cleveland. Sometimes he's very vocal in his upset, but this time he was deeply quiet and resigned about the whole thing. Every time I looked back at him he stared at me with this look like "Mama, I've been betrayed". Or maybe he was just so exhausted he couldn't muster up a happy expression. He was so excited that we were coming to see his Ye Ye and Nai Nai when we put him down last night that it took him an hour to fall asleep and then he woke up by 5:45 am. So he was cooooked.
Anyway, I think he forgave us when he got here and his cousins, Jessie and Neko were waiting for him for an all day play date.
Jessie's only two weeks older than Taran and when they were smaller, they barely acknowledged each other's existence, but in the past 6 months, they have begun to relate more and more. As for Taran's 4 year old cousin Neko....he's in love. It was so nice to get so much time with the girls and we all had so much fun. Taran loves to "hold the hand" and Jessie was pretty into it too....
and down a hill...
and accidentally spun them face first into the grass at the bottom with his exuberance. He thought this was hilarious, great fun until Jessie burst into tears at which point I think he felt quite bad.
But a little goose-watching,
a couple of rounds of duck-duck-goose, and some shared enjoyment of pretend chocolate....
and everyone was happy again, if not a bit pooped out.
Nothing special, just a walk in the backyard, but it did wonders for blowing off any residual cobwebs from leg 1 of our road trip.
Tomorrow the girls are busy and we are going to just take a quiet day to spend with the grandparents and then Thursday morning it's back in the car again for the five hours up to Brantford, Ontario with the whole family for Joe's cousin's wedding. Wish us luck for the trip!
I want a pair of toilet roll binoculars! That pic is soooo cute of Jessie and Taran
ReplyDeleteHa! The binoculars were pretty awesome. Uncle Matt is super crafty with cardboard.
ReplyDeleteI love that Taran is so into seeing his cousins and that the feeling is mutual.
Oh my goodness these children are sweet together!! Love it!! Makes my heart swell a little bit. They are going to be great friends - I can just tell! Taran has such an open-hearted warm look on his face as he looks at his cousin - so lovely to see :) I can just imagine them as they grow up together and the memories they will make.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to tell you - the bit about the look on Taran's face after only 15 minutes - it really reminds me of the time I was 5 years old and we set out from WA to go to Disneyland. We no more than got on the freeway when I asked the dreaded question "are we there yet"? My poor parents have never let me forget that. I'm sure you can imagine what THAT car ride was like!!
Joe's and my biggest hope is that they WILL turn out to be all great good friends. As it stands now, things seem pretty promising along those lines. Taran talks about Jessie and Neko all the time, and apparently they do the same. Marisa, you are super observant and sweet. He IS very open-hearted. He's super social and happy to have his posse around him all the time. And it makes him very happy when he watches people he loves interacting. Whenever Joe and I give each other a kiss or hug, he runs up and stands at our feet grasping our legs and looking up at us with big smiles. I love this quality in him. He also often is trying to get the people around him not only to hold hands with him, but also with each other. This is hilarious to me.
DeleteYour comment about the five year old you fills me both with amusement and utter dread. Five?! It's never going to end. He will always be a horror to drive long distances with. ;)
We constantly hear from people "he's just so busy!". I wondered at first whether it was a gender thing - his cousins are infinitely better at sitting still - but now I think it's a Taran thing. He's capable of focus, that's not the problem, but he just needs to be moving. He's an electron! Hmmmm. This might just be the next blog post. Seeee! You are always an inspiration to my writing.
I think I might need to start curbing my use of the word "super"....
DeleteLove the photos of the cousins together. So precious!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah. I had some pretty cute subjects and it was soooo much fun to see how much they all love each others company and how [for the most part] well they play together.
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