Two For The Road

So about a week and a half ago (yes, it's taken me that long to get my act together!) Dashy and I headed off on our own adventure like Bonnie and Clyde or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Thelma and Louise (only without the running-from-the-crappy-relationship thing). The moon illuminated the still dark sky (and trust me there was a lot of exclaiming about this, "WOW!! Dare! Dare!") as we loaded a ridiculous amount of stuff into the back of Dave's car and then made our way to LAX. Who would have thought that I would need SO MUCH STUFF for three days with a toddler!

When we got to the airport and actually put all the gear together so that it could be transported, it wasn't so much a pile, as a mountain. But I have to admit, if my child was actually progressing normally in the eating-of-table-food department it wouldn't have be so bad. But, since he is such a special delicate, particular flower I had to pack about 10 pounds of food. My suitcase was definitely much lighter coming back. But more about that later.

For the trip, I had one large stroller, one car seat, two carry-ons, and one large maximum weight (read 50 lb) suitcase. Oh yeah, and one 25 pound baby on my back! (I can't thank Marcela enough for recommending the Ergo carrier!! That thing rocks! You carry with your hips not your shoulders and you can just go straight through security carrying the baby on your back. It makes the whole process so much easier. Oh, and you can get the baby on your back yourself while standing up. It's magic!) How much of this stuff was mine you ask?? One book, one skirt, one jacket, and two tops. The rest... all Dashell, all the time. But worth it.

We were lucky to be able to have Dave help us go through security and get to the gate in LA and  for the return my wonderful Uncle Bob and cousin Kirsta were able to help us in the same way. Security, with the taking off of the shoes, pulling out the laptop, declaring the liquids, breaking down the stroller, etc. was probably the hardest part of the trip. It was wonderful to have some help!

Once we were safely on the plane and buckled in (not an easy task where the carseat was concerned. And at one point a flight attendant practically suggested that I carry the carseat, the two carry-ons and the baby by MYSELF to my seat! Do you think I would have gotten arrested if I had socked her one?! I think she felt me seething, and started to backpeddle. Btw... about 10 actual passengers asked if they could help me. So sweet! but not their job. Did anyone, whose actual job it was to help me, ask? Um, the answer to that would be a resounding, "no!") Anyway, back to the safely buckled in part... all in all it wasn't too bad.

This is what I noticed about flying with a toddler... life takes place in 5-10 minute increments. Five to ten minutes to look at a book. Ten minutes to climb on the carseat like it's a jungle gym. Five minutes to wake the guy up behind us by yelling, "BOO!!" over and over. Ten minutes of playing trucks with the nice guy who was just woken up. Five minutes of whining and flailing and apologizing to the guy next to us as he gets jabbed repeatedly by Dash's toy plane. Five minutes of "please don't touch the person in front of us they are sleeping." Five minutes of Dash telling me that they are sleeping. Ten minutes of Dash playing with the water bottle and soaking his whole outfit. Five minutes of me deciding if I care. Ten minutes of stealing the potato chip lid from the guy behind us. Five minutes of asking him to play trucks again. Five minutes of head-butting mommy. Five minutes of crying because it hurt. (It did!! I wanted to cry too.)

But, it really wasn't half bad. I had prepared myself for much worse and maybe that was the key. Extremely. low. expectations! From where I sat, Dash did great. He played with his trucks and the water bottle and read book after book about tractors and was basically happy and very rarely hungry. Diana had told me to pack more snacks than I could imagine needing, so I did. But I so didn't take into account that this was my son, not someone elses child.

At home Dash will almost never turn down a cheese puff, so I packed two cans worth as bribes. The whole trip, Dash only ate three. THREE puffs! I don't think he's ever gone three days and only eaten three puffs. Actually, he barely ate anything the whole trip. Except smoothies. The boy loves a good smoothie. And being the doting mother that I am, I purchased one of those wand-like hand-blenders and packed up pounds of fresh fruit so that I could whip up delicious smoothies on-demand in our hotel room. And let me tell you, it sure did pay off. It's about all he ate the whole weekend. (Until the exact moment we landed back in LA, and suddenly he had a ravenous appetite for real food. Go figure. The boy is a little strange. I guess he only eats in his home state, on even days of the month, that begin with "S"!)

So now that you basically have the whole story, I bet you're wondering why we went on this little trip... my cousin David got married in Virginia! It was beautiful and personal and all the things a good wedding should be. And I am so glad that Dash and I were able to go. The vows were lovely and after the ceremony the bride and groom walked down the aisle to the theme from Peanuts. The cake topper was a pair of rubber duckies outfitted as the bride and groom. (Dash noticed this first and was very enthusiastic about telling me that there were birds "dare!" And that he wanted them. Now!) The happy couple danced a few numbers with zest and true zeal and much fun was had by all.

It has been several years since we have had an opportunity to visit with this side of the family. I think that grandparents are the thread that keep the fabric of a family sewn together. And after my grandmother died, life just seemed to get in the way of planning a family gathering. So it was nice to have an excuse, like a wedding, to catch up with everyone and to meet all the new members of the family.

My cousins Mark and Jennifer adopted three beautiful children (Amber, Jason and Jacob) two years ago and it was so wonderful to have a chance to meet them. Dash loved playing with his new cousins. And I think by the end of the trip, that they had a small soft spot for him too. On our last day, we were saying goodby to Amber and I said how nice it was that Dash, the boys and she had all become friends. Amber looked at me earnestly and said, "We're better than friends, we're cousins!" I think I felt a small tear well up in the corner of my eye. There truly is nothing like family. And this trip reminded me that it's definitely worth spending 5 hours each way, on a plane, by myself, with a toddler to spend a little time with them. Life's just too short not to.

********
Our mountain of stuff...

Dashy ready for take off...

 Telling me that the person in front of us is sleeping...

 The bridesmaids...

The groomsmen...

 The happy couple...

...gettin' they're groove on...

The super cute cake...

Aunt Carol and Uncle Bob...

Cousins...

...and a little video that tells the tale of our adventure. Enjoy!

It's A Plane! It's A Bird! It's...

The other morning while we were taking a little stroll, Dash and I had our first real argument, spat, disagreement if you will. Does this really count as a "first"?

Here's what happened, as we were walking along, Dash spied something in the grass and...

Dash pointing and flapping (his sign for bird): Dare, dare!

Me: Hmm... bird over there? I'm not sure.

Dash pointing and flapping: Dare, dare!

Me: I don't think so Dashy...

Dash pointing... : Up!

Me: I think it...

Dash pointing... : Down!

Me: You think the bird fell down?

Dash: Uuuuuup! Doooown!

Me: I don't think it's a bird.

Dash: Dare! Dare!

Me: I think it's a garbage bag.

Dash flapping: Uuuuup! Dooown!!

Me: No, it's definitely a garbage bag.

Dash flapping and pointing impatiently: DARE!!

Me: Take a closer look. It's a piece of a garbage bag.

Dash takes a step toward the object in question.

Dash: Woooow!

Me: You see, garbage bag.

Dash: Yeaaaah. (and signs for garbage truck.) Boom. (that's the dumpster being dumped.)

Dash (signs garbage truck again): Up. Boom.

Me: I understand why you thought it was a bird though.

Dash (smiling ear to ear): Yeaaaah. Boom.

Take a look for yourself....

...you can see where the kid was coming from, right?

Music Man

Tonight Dashell decided that it was high time he took up an instrument. Being the musical connoisseur that he is, he chose the ever popular... turtle.

Cinder-fella

A while ago I promised more tales from our weekend. Well, now that those adventures are 2 weeks old, I'm finally getting around to sharing with you. (I know that the anticipation must have been a killer!!)

That particular weekend we decided to get Dashell some proper "big boy" shoes. (Up until that point he had only worn soft-soled moccasin-type shoes.) We've been hitting a lot of water parks lately (for obvious reasons) and the soft leather soles get slippery very easily in the water and before you know it the kid is on the ground.

Amazingly, he goes down in slow motion so he's not hurt, just stunned. But the horrified looks, that passed over the other parents faces as it happened again and again, were enough to peer-pressure us into looking for some fancy new shoes. (Parenting in a community is really kind of like going back to high school again. I sometimes bowed to peer-pressure then and I'm ashamed to admit I, still sometimes, bow to it now. But, you know, the kid was going to eventually bump his head so maybe they were right to look horrified. As I work through this... Ok, I admit it, maybe peer pressure can be a good thing. Enough said. For now.)

Anyway we took another family trip to the mall, where we had Dashy's foot measured... first with the young toddler foot measurer (yep, that's what it's called. I know allll the lingo.)

...and then the salesman said that Dashell's foot was much larger than he expected and he had to break out the older toddler foot measurer.

(Is it "big feet, big heart"? I hope so.) Once we determined a size, the salesman whipped out some cool new styles for Dash to model for us. We tried to fit one fancy shoe after another on Dashy's feet without luck and soon realized that those luscious bubbly feet that I love so much are not really made for shoes. Dash seems to have bit of a bulgy foot. The top part bumps up and very few shoes actually fit him. Curses. So much for being a fashion maven!

Eventually we got a pair to fit. But Dash was not impressed, initially, and tried over and over to step out of his new shoes! Here's a little video that tells the whole story.... Enjoy!


p.s. He's now walking like a pro in his new shoes. (And I can hold my head high in public once again.)

Singing And The "Rain"

Once upon a time a young lad came up with this nifty game...


Unfortunately, he eventually became a little too enthusiastic about it and instead of pouring the water all over himself, he started pouring it all over Mommy! So, we had a little talk...

...and then we had another little talk....

...and then we had a third (muuuuch longer, muuuuch more specific) talk and "we"  finally got the idea and continued to pour the water, but now into the other cup. (Thank goodness, because Mommy was getting pretty darn drenched!)

And everyone was sooooo happy...

 ...that, just like they do in the movies, we broke out into song...

(Yes, you "heard" that right, there even was a silent verse in there. Unfortunately you can't see me mouthing the words back. I really do a spectacular silent verse. You are sooo missing out.)

And then we danced and spun and high-kicked our way off to bed!

p.s. This morning, from his bedroom window, Dash spied 5 peacocks out in our front yard. He enjoyed watching them for a while until they all started to walk in the street, at which point he began scolding them, "No, no, no! No, no, no!" And then realized that they couldn't hear him, so he insisted on going out on the balcony and scolding them some more. Much to his dismay, they never did get out the street. Obviously their mothers didn't teach them all the rules!

Nature Boy

LOOK OUT!! There goes a giant flying bug!! ACK! Quick duck! These words... have never been uttered from my mouth.

I, personally, have never had any issues with bugs. I admit it, I have spiders in my house that I don't crush. Ants that I have tried time and again to gently usher out the door. And moths who I tried desperately to live with harmoniously until they treated themselves to a cashmere buffet and so consequently had to be destroyed. (They crossed a line, damn it. No one messes with Mama's cashmere!)

And I have been trying to instill that same benevolence toward the specius insestuos in Dashell, which was instilled in me by my insect tolerant parents. When you're little you have very few fears. Most fears are basically learned behaviors. And who do we learn most of our behaviors from? The people who we are around the most. The people we look up to. The people we admire... our parents. Hence my desire to be a bug-lovin' role model!

Ever since Dashy has been able to associate insects with a sound, so that he can "talk" about them, he has been fascinated. He points out ants and spiders and, of course, bees... as in "Bzzzzz uh-oh OW!" from our last emergency room visit. (btw... he continued to tell that story for the rest of the weekend! Still amusing after it's hundred and tenth telling? I'll let you be the judge.)

This year we seem to have an unusual number of Praying Mantis' around the house. The other day Dash spied one in the backyard and was mesmerized...

Later we also found the skin of another Praying Mantis. I had no idea that they shed their skin. I thought that it was pretty neat looking and so did Dash...

...until he decided to smush it...

...and then he lost interest. Go figure!

This past weekend, Dave spied a caterpillar while we were all out for Saturday stroll...

Dashy was entranced...

And kept signing "caterpillar" over and over...

Finally, in order to get Dashy to leave the caterpillar alone, we had to tell him that the caterpillar was going to sleep. So for the rest of the weekend, Dashy kept signing over and over that the caterpillar was sleeping! (I guess he thought that we might just suddenly wonder what that wonderful caterpillar was up to. So, nice of him keep us informed. We are getting a little daft in our old age.)

When Dave and I lived in Echo Park we had peacocks. But when we decided to move here (and get all civilized) we were worried that their honking would upset the neighbors, so we gave them to a local arboretum. Little did we realize that our neighborhood has peacocks of it's own and ours would have blended in beautifully without anyone being the wiser.

The other morning we woke up to this...

How's that for a new hood ornament? (or I guess I should say: roof ornament!)

Our hitchhiker had brought some friends and they were quite content to hang out for a while.

And this weekend another family of peacocks came calling...

(Don't be alarmed, this time of year the males aren't sporting their beautiful tails. There's no reason to, since the chicks are all caught up in caring for the little ones right now and won't be looking for a booty call for a few more months.)

Dash decided to let them know that, "We come in peace."

...and then tried to befriend them.

That boy really does like gettin' his nature on!

My Boys...

...I don't think I could love them more.