Unfulfilled Expectations

Well, Tavish and I are on our journey 'home' for 10 days ... but it's not that straight-forward, of course. Our trip is all about being mobile and 'sleeping' around. We will never be in the same place for more than 3 nights. Here's the plan: 2 nights in Winnipeg, 3 nights at the cabin, 1 night in Nestor Falls, 3 nights in Fort Frances, 1 night in Winnipeg. GULP! After our sleepless nights in Maine (a yawn escaped me just typing/thinking about it), I was a bit anxious about this 'plan', especially since it would be Tom-less. Eeks. I had visions of screaming, increased nursing, bags under my eyes, desperate bed-sharing for hoped silence, and complete exhaustion for all. However, I'm pleased to report that after night #3, Tavish has far exceeded, surpassed and dismissed my expectations. Yay! (If you're reading this, please, please, please knock on wood right now ... seriously, I'm begging you.)

Here are a few "moments" from our trip so far ...


MOMENT: Assigned Seats

It has always been a treat to fly with Tavish, this time was no different. Again, I don't know why I found myself being a bit apprehensive about it - he has 'changed' in that he is older and more developed in his abilities, but he is the same kid. Anyway, he LOVED the airport in a whole new way. Planes out the windows = "oooooo", luggage vehicles driving around on the tarmac = "uh! uh! uh!" supported my emphatic pointing, and any other large vehicle = "vroom, vroom" as has become a standard. He thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it and was glued to the window of the airport, then the window of the airplane - taking in every detail of everything he saw, and seemingly the details of the information I contributed. Across the aisle from us was a family with a 22 month old. The poor little one did not seem nearly as excited about the experience. To summarize, there was a lot of unhappy 'sounds' from her for a long, long time. Tavish kept pointing over at her saying "bay-beee" and looking quite concerned. (aw) A young, single lady took the aisle seat in our short row. Poor girl. She glanced over at us with trepidation as she clearly tries to resist the 'flight' response to this scene and deplaning before it was too late. Mercifully (for her especially), the expectation exceeding started early on this trip. She was endlessly intrigued by his sign-language skills and became quite enamoured with Tavish by the time we landed. I think that, in the end, Tavish was successful in doing his part to keep the Canadian birth rate up as I am convinced that the 'poor' lady deplaned in Winnipeg being, at the very least, on the fence about swearing off children for good!

MOMENT: "Are we there yet"

Okay, it's true that this sentiment was uttered and wondered repeatedly on our drive from Winnipeg to the cabin, but not by Tavish. No, he was a treat. It was his all-of-a-sudden-impatient Mommy that moaned and groaned about the distance ... it was like I hadn't done this drive a bazillion times before, sheesh. Tavish quickly fell into a slumber when he got into the van (I felt compelled to follow suit) and was pleasantly self-entertained for over an hour when he woke up. When I opened my eyes (in the front seat), my Dad silently informed me that he was awake. I looked back to find that his traveling partner however, was not - Grandma was napping. I guess this encouraged Tavish to play quietly? (aw) Even after Mom awoke and was reading, Tavish continued to entertain himself quietly. It wasn't until we passed a huge motorhome that he made a sound: "bu-bye vroom-vroom" over and over again. Then, he and Grandma had a grand ol' time back there with laughter, giggles and all sorts of signs ("Kath, what does {insert sign description} mean?"). Very fun. He made it until about 5 minutes away from Merle and Katy's before he indicated that he'd had enough. I'd been antsy since I awoke ... I guess I should have set lower expectations for traveling with Mommy.