Griffin and the Grandmother's Visit

This is a picture of Griffin after he was done playing with his crayons, and his father. Eric drew the mustache on, which Griffin seemed to like a great deal.

Eric and I went to Gencon, a gaming convention in Indianapolis. It lasted for 4 days, and instead of bringing Griffin with us, we left him in the capable hands of his aunt Amber, and his Grandmother (my mom). I have to admit, I was really not ready to do this. I couldn't get him to take a nap in the middle of the day, unless he was sleeping on my lap and on my breast. I was also, deep in my heart, afraid that he'd forget me. I wanted to cancel the trip. Eric refused to let me wimp out on this, so in August, we took the plane to Indiana, and left him home.

He didn't forget us. My mother was able to get him to nap, though. She used pacifiers to help lull him to sleep, and he just kept saying "Ma, ma, ma" when he went to sleep. That broke my heart, but we stayed in Indiana! We had a great time, and were able to rediscover who we were seperate from Griffin. He and the two ladies had a fantastic time together, and he was completely spoiled. Then, on the friday of our trip, my father came over and they all went to the zoo! Griffin insisted on walking a great deal of the time, and apparently he was afraid of some of the animals. This was a vacation for him, too.. a chance to hang out with people who had only one agenda... spending time with him!

He seemed completely different when we got back, as if he'd aged a lot. He'd gone through changes that we didn't get to witness, and we had to get to know him again.

Because the airlines or the FAA are idiots, we had an obnoxious time getting back from the con, so we didn't arrive in time to see him before he went to bed. We went in to see him, though, and he never woke up. The next morning, though, I went in there even before he cried. He saw me, and immediately raised his arms to be picked up. Eric came in, and said hi, and we all hung out. Then he suddenly did a double take and realized that it was us. He was really happy that day, and toddled around. The best part was breastfeeding. It changed a bit.. all pretense of doing it for food was gone, and it became something for bonding. After the first time, he seemed almost drunk, he was so happy. I concurred.

Things he is now doing:

• Walks everywhere. Eric and he go for walks outside, and he explores the area.
  
• Climbs everything he possibly can. His grandmother, bless her, got him a little climby thing with a slide. I've been wanting one for a long time, to help sate his climbing urges.
  
• Brings me books he wants me to read, on command. He would bring me books randomly before, but now he gets them when I ask. His favourites are ones that rhyme. We only have a couple bona fide Dr. Seuss books, and these are the ones he really wants me to read. Over, and over and over and over and over.........
  
• Tries to say "spatula". When I am unloading the dishwasher, I invariably give him a plastic spatula to play with to keep him satisfied (so he doesn't try to take all the dishes out of it). When I do I say "it's a Ssssssssssspatula!". Now, when he gets it, he says "ssssssssss".
  
• During our 4 days in Indiana, he learned how to tilt his bottle upwards when he gets low. He never used to be able to figure that out, so he had to drink it lying down.
  
• Claps his hands. In fact, he can 'give me five', too.
  
• Eat a dill pickle wedge. mmmmm, pickles.
  
• Dance! He does a little dance now when he likes music that's on, or he's happy. He also does a dance when the surface he's on is amusing.. like, it crinkles, or makes a fun noise.
  
• Kicks his ball! If you show him that you can kick the big green ball, he'll walk around kicking it. Or even try to play a little kicky game with it and you.
  
• Plays with himself. Before we left for Indiana, he had found his penis, but during our absence, he found it with a vengance. Now every time I change him he grabs at it and asks me what it is. If he has something in his hand, he'll whack it against his crotch, saying "wuzzat?" Sometimes this is funny, other times I just want to remove the poop and have no time for it.
• Tries to use language. He has "wuzzat" down. Usually it means "what is that". but sometimes it means "I want that", or "read me that", or "that thing up there is cool" (referring to the ceiling fan).
  

We take him to the park, and let him interact with other little kids, and climb on things. It's something I look forward to quite a bit.
I wish I knew more people here with kids. My sister in law is here, but we don't see as much of them as I'd like. Part of me has an (perhaps) unreasonable assumption that I'd dislike most of the people around us with kids, but I can't know that for sure. The one mom we DID meet and speak to at the playground was really nice. Her son and Griffin met on the playground, and seemed to get along famously. I'm too shy and scared to ask people for whatever a "playdate" is, so I'm at a loss. Not for the first time, I wish I lived downstate, where I know people with children, and they are all fantastic.

Now, it's really late, and I should have been asleep a long time ago.
Be well,
Autumn