Wednesday afternoon, we went to Yale campus, specifically, to the Museum of British art, which was doing a special exhibit on Canaletto. Andrew charmed one of the museum docents by consenting to give him "high-fives," and spent the rest of the trip through the museum industriously pulling off his shoes and then his socks. Afterwards, we retired to the Collings' apartment once more where Andrew went down for a much needed nap (and his parents got a much needed break) and we chatted with Justin and Lia and read stories to Julia (a new favorite, apparently, is the fabulous Paper Bag Princess, a must-have for any budding independent woman). After dinner, which Lia kindly prepared for us (replete with fresh bread and everything!), we retired to our hotel and collapsed in bed early where we all slept relatively well until about midnight, after which time Andrew woke up pretty much once every hour until 6:30. (Not to mention our neighbor who, for some inscrutable reason, spent twenty minutes just around 10 pm playing what sounded like "Hot Cross Buns" over and over again on a recorder).
Thursday morning, Justin and Dan braved the bitter elements to participate in the New Haven Elders' Quorum Turkey bowl. I was more than happy to stay inside the warm apartment while Andrew napped (no fond spouses or children cheering them on, I guess). Justin was apparently all-time quarterback (due to uneven numbers), which meant that he basically didn't have to run around much. Dan, on the other hand, was set to guard a guy with cleats, which meant that not only was he running up and down the field a lot, but he was slipping up and down the field as well. He compares it to trying to ice-skate in socks. Naturally, upon arriving at the Collings apartment, Dan was consigned to a shower and his shorts were consigned to the trash bin (with much rejoicing on my part, since I've been trying to persuade him to throw away these particular shorts for months now). Luckily, too, since Dan only brought one pair of shoes to New Haven, Justin happened to have a pair of size twelve sneakers that my mom bought in an optimistic mood when he was in high school (I guess she thought he would grow another size--but he remains a size 11--not thatThursday morning, while Andrew napped, his dad braved the elements with Justin to join the New Haven elders' quorum for a Turkey Bowl that Justin had organized. As it was cold, wet, and rainy, I was more than happy to stay in the warm apartment while the boys tore up the field. Justin, apparently, was all-time quarterback (due to uneven numbers), which meant basically that he didn't do much running. Dan was set to guard a guy with cleats, which meant that not only was he running up and down the field, but he was pretty much slipping up and we're knocking that or anything; we were grateful to have the shoes!).
That afternoon, we joined Justin and Lia's New Haven ward for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner--which was actually surprisingly good and very low stress (even if the missionaries did clean out Dan's mashed potatoes approximately three minutes after we placed them on the table--Justin said some of them were from Idaho, so I can only presume that they were missing some home cooking). Julia insisted on sitting with Callie, her best friend (a cute little girl with the roundest belly I've seen in a long time) and then they proceeded to chase one another (and all the other little mobile children) around the church until the event was over. Andrew watched them with some longing, until we consented to let him get out of his booster seat and crawl around on the podium area.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Justin and Lia's apartment, playing their new favorite game, Time's Up (I was once again impressed with my husband's knowledge of random trivia). Julia, in true two-year old fashion, was imperious and condescending at once--letting us know when it was okay for Andrew to play with something that was hers, and when it was definitely NOT okay. She also liked to tell us what books we should read to her and generally commented on whatever was going on in her immediate vicinity. Andrew was his usual rambunctious self, and Eli graced us all with her sweetness--laying on a blanket on the floor, waving her hands gracefully, and smiling seraphically. (When, that is, her cousin wasn't trying to sit on her. Not that Andrew did this deliberately--he just seems to have no comprehension of personal space and tends to sit down wherever suits him, even if that is on Eli's feet). (For another account of our Thanksgiving festivities, see the Collings family blog.)
That night we returned to our hotel room for a hopeful night of repose only to have our hopes cruelly dashed. For one thing, we'd finally figured out how to work the heater in the room and apparently overcompensated, as the room was appallingly warm about one in the morning. For another, our neighbors (the recorder players? we'll never--thank goodness--know) decided to watch loud TV and talk loudly into the wee hours of the night. (As I was starting to come down with a cold, I luckily slept through this; Dan, however, was not so lucky). Then, Andrew decided that he needed to contribute to the mix. After waking at 2 am, he refused to believe that he was tired. I didn't get him back to sleep until quarter to four, after which time he slept for an hour and a half, waking up at 5:15. This time, nothing put him back to sleep--rocking, singing, nursing--even the one hour car ride that we took to try and let his poor father get more sleep. Perhaps fortunately, we had previously cancelled our prior plans to continue north to Boston to visit my friend Cristie (I didn't think it was fair to expose my pregnant friend and her two young children to my developing cold), so we were able to pack our bags, bid farewell to Justin and Lia and their brood, and head home for some much needed rest.
Saturday we spent primarily lounging around the house (well, and some shopping). It was nice to spend so much time with one another--usually Saturdays are spent with one of us alternately working on campus or on dissertation stuff. All in all, a very nice week (aside from my cold, which is still lingering on, unwanted). In some kind of overambitious insanity, I agreed to both teach one of the gospel doctrine classes today and play the piano for Relief Society, which led to a rather busy Sunday--especially as, during Relief Society, Andrew and another little girl spent most of the time competing with each other (for books, for puffs, for toys . . . ). Every time one of them picked up a book, the other one wanted that book--no other book would do. The little girl also discovered Andrew's puffs--after okaying it with her mother, I gave her some puffs, and then Andrew wanted some. . . which meant that both of them were grabbing puffs as fast as possible from me, reaching across each other when necessary.
The last few pictures are just a taste: we've decided to try and do photo cards this year, which means that we needed a good picture of Andrew (who wants to see his parents when they can just admire him?). Here are some of our favorites:
2 comments:
He is a nice little boy!
More than a nice little boy.
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