Moving and the Aftermath

Busy as we were getting ready to move, we did try to prepare Jonathan for the upheaval. We spent a lot of time talking up the moving truck that would come to our house and emphasized that all his toys and books would be at the new house. We even taught him the new house is "a Tudor house!" Still, the emptiness of the old house after the packers came through was a shock for him. He ran from room to empty room, saying "Uh-oh, what happened?" He asked after all sorts of things, and we patiently told him they were all on the moving truck. At one point, the conversation went like this:
"Where's the dining room table?"
"It's on the moving truck."
"Where's the chairs?"
"They're on the moving truck."
Pause, and a small sly grin appeared on his face. "Where's the naughty chair?" he asked.

It was apparent that the ideal toddler house contains lots of empty rooms to run around in. Sam came over with her mom to clean out our fridge and she and Jonathan had a final romp through the rooms.

Fast forward a week or so and Jonathan was tremendously excited to see an enormous truck in front of our new house. He did tend to get in the way of the movers, so we went out to the cottage. When we came back, he was in box heaven. All sorts of toys that he hasn't played with in months made their appearance, so the entire unpacking process has been an extended Christmas for him.

The move doesn't seem to have left too many scars. There are a few things that are new, however. After spending so much time in cars, he's become a little impatient. For a while, every time the car came to a stop, he would shout in protest "I need to go go GO!" We had to explain stop signs and traffic lights to him and now he monitors our driving. Also, he's been delighted to learn the names of the streets in our neighborhood - it's as though he wants to feel more certain about where he is. So, driving home from a day at the lake, he will recite the streets we're on: "This is Washington - here's Mulberry! Turn onto Fairfield! Now turn onto Silverbrook!" When we walk around the block, he recites the street names and makes sure the stroller stops for all the stop signs.