That trip involved Andrea's mom coming here to take the three of us to Susanville to spend a few days in preparation for our departure. We told Emmett that we were leaving and he seemed fine with it, but it didn't stop Emmett from crying when my mom came by to pick us up from Andrea's parents' house and take us to the airport. According to my mom, this image of my mom taking us away didn't leave Emmett's mind while we were gone either as she said he was none to happy with her when she would go over to see him while we were gone.
Andrea's mom definitely had her hands full, but Emmett was happy to be with her. He had taken to rising between 5 and 5:30 while we were gone so that was no fun for her, but they did get to do fun things such as see the Fourth of July fireworks, play in the inflatable pool in the backyard, etc. When we called to check on him while we were gone he would tell us that he missed us and he always sounded happy. He was apparently stuck to Andrea's mom's leg the whole time we were gone, probably fearful that she would up and disappear like we did.
Our trip was nice. I have often complained about the misery of air travel, but I have to say that after taking so many trips with Emmett we both found air travel surprisingly pleasant as we were able to read books, watch episodes of Mad Men, and just relax. That is pretty much all our trip was: relaxation. We spent a few days in Boston with some friends, spent a few days on Cape Cod at Belinda and Nick's summer retreat, and then a few days in Rhode Island for the wedding which was the primary motivating factor for getting us headed east.
Since Andrea got out of school for the summer Emmett has been particularly attached to her. When we returned from our trip this attachment shot upward thousands of times. There have been two nights since we have been back that Andrea hasn't been the one to sleep with Emmett. It took a few days until I could take him somewhere by myself, and there still haven't been many trips anywhere without her. It has been a bit taxing on Andrea, I think. It is nice to feel loved and wanted, but smothering can be a bit unpleasant.
The other big news is that Emmett now has an official "big boy" bed. He is pretty excited about it. We got a queen bed so that we can have friends stay with us and we can easily sleep with Emmett, so the bed is definitely large enough for him. Also, the changing table which also served as Emmett's dresser went out the door via craigslist today with the crib (which hadn't been used for months) going out a couple of days ago. Emmett's room is finally looking more like his age, though perhaps we overshot with the queen bed.
Emmett's language is really taking off. Emmett is talking in pretty complete sentences and forming a lot of sentences from his own words to express pretty complex thoughts. Actually, it was kind of interesting that a couple of days ago I was doing something that I used to do with Emmett quite a bit which is to name off all of Emmett's classmates from day care (I was trying to keep it fresh in his mind since he is returning in a month or so). As I made my way through the list I came to another boy and when I said his name Emmett said "Leo always bites me." This was a bit shocking to hear, mainly because I didn't know that he was suffering through being bit at school without anyone knowing. On one of the first days there with Emmett I had seen the other child go biting after a kid in a way I hadn't seen before, so I knew the kid had it in him. I felt bad for him but was very impressed to actually learn something from Emmett I didn't know.
A list of things going on with Emmett these days:
- He is riding his wooden Skuut bike like crazy. He grew a little bit while we are gone and can really ride it well now.
- He loves and asks for "family hugs" all of the time where Andrea and I hug Emmett between us.
- He is eating fruit like crazy these days with the summer foods in full swing. He had a dinner of cherries tonight.
- He is doing lots more imaginative play. He likes to have either Andrea or him pretend to be a baby and have the other feed, cover with blankets, etc. He also has started playing store with some money and shopping bags.
