Reunited and it feels so good

We hadn't realized just how much Jonathan's been missing his nanny since we moved. For our more occasional readers, our nanny has agreed to move to St. Joseph to keep taking care of the boys. She arrived last week and Jonathan is over the moon to see her again. We wound up taking her whole family to the cottage for a beach afternoon. Jonathan knows and loves all her siblings and had a terrific time running on the sand and playing in the water. He was so exhausted at dinner he could barely keep his eyes open! Once they left and I was putting him to bed, he was incredibly fussy and irritable. It wasn't until I reassured him that Miss Randi would be back tomorrow that he cheered up.

Tonight we had her over for dinner, since she doesn't know anyone else in town yet. Jonathan was on his best behavior. He generously told her "We can go downstairs and play - if you want" and was most solicitous during dinner. He kept urging her to finish her margarita so she could come downstairs to play with him. And when the ice cream arrived at the table, he charmed her out of a spoonful or two.

When it was time for her to leave, Jonathan spontaneously told her "Thank you for sharing my dinner with me. And thank you for playing with me." Such great manners! He gave her several hugs and only let go when we told him she'd be back in two days. We headed upstairs to go to bed. I figured, since he'd just seen her in person, we could skip the ritual "Goodnight Miss Randi" to the picture that sits on his bookcase. But no - Jonathan hopped out of bed to turn his rocket ship light back on so he could get in that one last goodbye.

Family Legacies

It's been such a great time this summer watching Jonathan fall in love with the cottage on Lake Michigan. Just like I did, he eagerly counts down the fire drives to number 14, then tells me to honk when the "Sound Horn" signs come into view. As we drive up the final hill, he usually says "Yay!" as the cottage and the lake appear. He's discovering some of the same books that I read - and even some that my dad read when he was a little boy! And he's absolutely fearless in the lake - if the waves aren't crowned with whitecaps, he's disappointed.

Now that Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Auntie Iz and Uncle Jim, have packed up and headed home, we're working on dismantling some more recent legacies. Jonathan was in a fair way to be spoiled rotten and I think spent most of Monday sitting on the naughty chair. Alex is used to being held every second of the day and wails if we walk into another room. It's been almost a week and things are getting closer to normal.

Some signs of the visit persist, though. From Uncle Jim, we got "Checkin' out the ladies!" This morning, Jonathan snuggled onto my lap. He asked "Mommy, are you a lady?" I told him yes, I was, and he gave me a closer hug, saying proudly "And I'm a MAN!" Jonathan also thinks that all the Beatles songs are Jim's exclusive property. He asks us to sing "Yellow Submarine" but then cuts us off, saying "That's Uncle Jim's!"

I think there must have been some times while Grandma and Grandpa had a difficult time understanding Jonathan. Today he was asking me to play him a clip on YouTube, but I had no idea what he was talking about. He wanted to see "the one with the cherreets," I think it was. I said "Cherreets? What do you want to see?" And he did a perfect mimicry of the "I get it " moment - "Ohhhh, CHERreets!" It didn't help.

I know, we've got two kids

Alexander's been a little shortchanged on recent blogs, so he gets one of his own tonight. He's such a delightful little guy. Everyone seems to call him Chunkmuffin, since he's so roly-poly and so snuggly. He's more flexible and more mobile than Jonathan was at this age. He loves to chew on his toes (two teeth in and more coming) and is so close to crawling, but currently still stuck in reverse. Most of his clothes are 12 and 18 month sizes and he's in size four diapers. The new doctor (Oh, how I miss Dr. Ranney!) has diagnosed him with mild eczema and I've had to eliminate nuts from my diet, but his skin is clearing up quickly with some lotions. I don't have many funny stories about Alex to share currently. Everyone wants to hold him and he smiles and tries to chew on everyone's fingers. We can't wait for him to talk - he's going to be as much of a charmer as his Uncle Jim.

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.