memorial day family bash

Big hype for the full family Memorial Day weekend bash at Mom and Dad’s house. I came down on Friday afternoon as usual; brother and co. came on Saturday.

I’m sleeping in my actual childhood bedroom for the first time in years. A few years ago, Mom converted my room into the Ironing and Miscellaneous Clothes Zone. (She was like “Is it okay if…” and I told her it was fine.) So during visits, I stayed in the guest bedroom. Then the guest bedroom got repurposed as Miscellaneous Clothes Zone #2 and I got bumped to brother’s room. But with the whole fam coming, Mom cleaned both rooms (necessary because BB gets his own bedroom) and I am back in my ancestral home.

Brother and wife were concerned about how BB would take the drive down. A year ago, they drove down to visit brother's wife's family and BB wailed the whole time. He didn’t like being stuck in his car seat. But this time, BB enjoyed the car ride. He could look at books and at BIG TRUCKS on the highway (VERY EXCITING). In fact it was so exciting and fun that he powered through his normal naptime and only fell asleep at 2:25, five minutes before they arrived.

Thankfully, he stayed asleep on arrival and got a good hourlong nap. The only casualty was brother's wife, because she initially lay down on the guest bed with BB atop her. Then she tried to move, but he started to stir, so she was stuck lying in a weird position for the remaining duration of his nap. Brother brought up food for her, since they didn’t stop for lunch.

Mom and Dad got BB a red wagon for his birthday. However, it needed assembly. It needed so much assembly that Mom opened the instruction booklet, looked at it, closed it, and then texted brother that he needed to bring tools when he came on Saturday. So, once BB woke up, brother and wife spent over an hour deciphering the booklet and doing heavy-duty construction while BB gleefully explored the whole house.

Once the wagon was complete, BB loved it. He wanted me to sit in the wagon with him. “I can’t,” I told him. “I’m too big.” But he kept insistently patting the wagon seat. I was flattered. No one else got invited to sit in his wagon.

Language update: He can READ the numeral 2. He’s SO SMART. (We don’t think he understands what it means though.) As for new spoken words: apple, blue, green, aiya (ant), buh (bug), buh (bus), boom (broom), Ah-do (that’s me), go, all gone, yeah, please, thanks. Birds have changed from (squeal) to “du-du” (high-pitched like a tweet).

He isn’t yet combining words aside from set phrases like “oh no” or “all gone.” I tried to encourage it (“can you say ‘more berries?’ ”) but it wasn’t sticking. Speaking words is getting easier though. “Apple” was new at Sunday breakfast, but he said it several times, which is the fastest I’ve seen him take to a new word (usually his new words are one-offs and he doesn’t say it again the rest of the weekend).