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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

and the countdown begins

in 8 hours Jonathan will drive his family to the airport, to leave on a plane without him - and while I feel badly that he'll be here all alone, I don't think he envy's my position of being plane-side with our intensely curious toddler.

We're packed, armed with all kinds of never-seen-before toys, loaded with every thinkable snack, and ready to begin our journey. I'm a virtual ball of nerves meanwhile, but I should have expected that. Levi agreed to an AM snooze, and I'm more than happy for a little time to myself, but with everything done for our departure, I'm having trouble finding anything to do!

In a moment of shear genious last night (and after much fruitless searching at wal-mart and target) I finally hacked up one of our bed pillows and fashioned a travel pillow for Levi and I. My intention is to be the LAST ticket on the plane, and I don't want to have to fight for a pillow, or any overhead bin space, so we're just taking a small backpack and our own pillow. I'll rest easier knowing there's no reason I need to be on that plane right away. I would post a picture of said pillow (which includes a zipped pocket for his blankie too!) but alas, my camera and newly emptied SD card are packed. That SD card has been full for a week, which is my only excuse for the lack of posted pictures.

I'm sure Levi's grandparents will be pleasantly surprised at the many leaps and bounds of development he's made even since his first birthday. I'm hearing new "words" come out of his mouth every day. His newest is "uh-oh" - which, at first, came out "uh-uh", but he has since figured out the last syllable. He's also saying mama, dada, please (peeze), baby, hat, and a couple others I can't seem to remember. If' he's in the mood for it, he'll also point to his nose, ears, tongue, belly and toes. On occasion he can also find his eyes, but that takes a little doing. In addition to verbal words, he (if he's in the mood) will sign please, mama, cup, more, dog, sleepy, book and milk. We're currently working on "help me" but that one is two handed, and a little complicated.

He knows what "time to change your diaper" means (although, it sends him running from me), and he also responds to "time to eat" by grabbing the high-chair tray. I'm sure he really understands a LOT more of the common phrases I use but sometimes it's hard to tell unless he has a common/repeated response to what I say. For example, if we're in my room together (where he cannot be left unattended lest he empty ALL of our drawers and pull every reachable item in the closet off of it's hangar) and it's time to leave I will say "out, out, out please" and usually he'll head for the door, but not always.

Levi is becoming quite toddlerish in his young age - he and his pal Teague are constantly taking toys from one another and squaking when they feel they've been wronged by the other. It's nothing short of hilarious. Meanwhile, Teague's mommy and I watch and try our best to allow them to duke it out without our assistance. Levi also tests his boundaries on a daily basis. While there are few things that are "no-no's" in our home, he knows what they are. When he begins to get tired, or he's longing for attention he'll go from no-no to no-no, waiting for mom and dad to respond. It's yet another one of his tired signals.

So, if you're on the West coast I hope you get a chance to see him for yourself. If I look frazled and harried, there's a good chance I'm still catching up on sleep. After all, I woke up with my adoring son at 4:00am Pacific time this morning, and we'll arrive in Seattle tonighat at 11:15 pacific time. I count it as likely that Levi will wake with the (central time) sun again tomorrow which will mean another 4:00am awakening for me. Here's hoping it won't take him too terribly long to adjust!

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