For Christmas we flew to see my parents. Handsome had the best time of his life there.
My parents have 16+ acres and a matching 16+ cows. Handsome loved being able to run in seemingly endless space and explore everything. DH let him get so close to the cows that the big sandy cow licked him more than once. I was fine with him being close until he startled a couple and they did the jumping thing. Handsome would lose that contest if their hooves got too close. Of course everything was fine. He loved to bring the pellets to the cows to feed everyday and DH and Granddad would leave a few for Handsome to throw over the fence. He would hit the cows in the face trying to make the trough and a few would land under the trough so the cows would have to use their long tongues to try to grab them. And the best part about the land? The tractors. He would climb up to the drivers seat and press as many buttons as he possibly could. He'd laugh his deep belly laugh and the joy would just eminate. Granddad took us on a hay ride around the land and Handsome would sit in the back with me until Granddad decided to stop the tractor to show us some new project he was working on. As soon as we stopped, Handsome would jump out the back and climb back into the drivers seat. Projects, schmojects, who cares when you can sit in the driver's seat of a tractor?
Handsome would walk around the place like he had lived there all his life. It was as if he was not meeting new people, but merely seeing the same people he loved and spent time with daily.
Granddad uses a mug to put his orange juice in. The first morning we were there, Handsome went to sit with Granddad and ask him what he was drinking. Granddad made the mistake of letting Handsome taste the orange juice. From that meal on, Handsome would make Granddad share his seat and his juice at every meal. I'd have to get Granddad a second cup to make sure he actually got to drink some of his juice.
Granddad has a fancy electronic keyboard. It will play sample music to let you see what capabilities it has. The first night we were there, we let Handsome sit at the keyboard and turned on the music. Again, heaven for Handsome. He pretended he was playing that music like a pro. He would move his head to the beat and his hands would press keys from one side of the keyboard to the tippy top of the other side. When the song would end he would give a gentle wave of the hand to add that special little flourish. For the first night he sat there for at least 30 min. An attention span for that long for a 2 year old is amazing. He loved that piano. Every day after that he would go and sit to play the piano, though he didn't reach the 30 min mark again. He managed to learn where the buttons were to play his favorite songs and how to turn the volume up and down. We would laugh and clap for him every time.
And then his cousins came. There are four ranging from 2 years to 8 years. He seemed to fit right in. He would follow them around and they would follow him around. He'd laugh at everything and they would laugh at him. When the bigger boys got their tiny legos though, poor Handsome was shut out. He wanted so bad to play with them, but he just couldn't be around the tiny lego pieces. I also felt bad when he would go to hug and kiss them and they would push him away. I know he needs to learn not to hug and kiss so much, but it broke my heart that he was trying to show them that he loved them and they would push him away. At one point they started playing Ring Around the Rosie, and again, heaven. That is his favorite all time song. He knows all the words and would sing just as loud as the bigger kids.
He got books and stuffed animals for Christmas which he did love, but "things" are secondary to him. He is completely a people person and it was all about the interaction with others. We got him a LeapFrog Tag system. It's an electronic pen that basically reads the book for him. Each picture also talks and at this stage he likes the pictures the best.
For the times when he needed to wind down, we put Caillou and Sesame Street onto the iPod and he would sit quietly and watch those. It worked like magic.
Grandma and Granddad also had a tricycle, little car, and big wheels to ride around the porch on. The tricycle and little car took up a majority of his time. He hadn't quite figured out how to use the peddles, but he was getting closer by the time we had to leave.
When we got back home, poor Handsome kept asking (is still asking) to go see Grandma and Granddad. He looked for them at the airport and was very dissapointed when he didn't see them. After his bath the first night home he asked to go hug and kiss his Granddad. He cried major tears when we told him he couldn't. During the day he asks to go put on his shoes, get in the car, and go to see Grandma and Granddad.
I know he misses them, but I also know it was time to come home. By the last couple days he started to whine at most anything and you could tell his little senses were overwhelmed and he needed to be back in familiar territory.
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