It's just past 7 am in Hawaii

We returned yesterday from Hawaii. That time shift back to CST is hard. Vacation was great. Little Bit got to spend lots of time with his grandparents. He played on the beach, filling his bucket with sand, and making piles of the seed pods that had fallen from the trees. He wasn't too sure about all that "wa-der" in the ocean, though. He did his clinging baby monkey impression when DH or I took him into the surf. We showed him that he could splash the water, and he thought that was fun.

DH and I got to snorkel while Little Bit's "Pop-pop" and "Ma-maw" watched him. We saw lots of different fish. On the last day of snorkeling, we finally saw a green sea turtle swimming underwater. I was hoping we'd see one. We swam along behind him for awhile, and he led us to where four (!) more turtles were hanging out on the bottom of the ocean. We also swam out past one of the coral outcroppings to find a huge drop-off. DH later told me that he had spotted a small shark swimming at the bottom, which he tried to point out to me, but I didn't see it. At least this time in Hawaii I wasn't reading a "summer beach read" about a huge prehistoric shark (a Megaladon) eating people, a la Jaws, the way I was last time. I told DH last time that maybe I was trying to face my fear of sharks by reading that book, then going out snorkeling in the ocean.

Travelling with an almost two year old means lots of laundry. The 8 hour flight out wasn't too bad. I had lots of new toys for Little Bit -- including a pack of post-it tabs, which is the best toy ever. On the short-hop flight between islands, poor Little Bit got airsick. DH was sitting next to him when he let loose, so he got to clean up much of the mess. I had wisely packed a change of clothes for LB in the carry-on, so I could put him in clean clothes.

While waiting at the car rental place after landing, LB's tummy decided it was time to finish emptying...on me. I was holding him, looking around, when my mom said, "He's throwing up!" Like a good mom, I put out my hand and caught the barf in my hand. Well, we didn't want to inconvenience the janitors, right? Yech. I can't believe I did that. After cleaning us up in the bathroom, I changed LB into his pjs (they were the most accessible clothes). I put on a fresh shirt from the carry-on, but had neglected a fresh bra. Since I was too tired to search all our bags, I just did without.

Lesson learned, I packed a full change of clothes for LB, and a clean shirt and bra for me several days later during an all day outing to the south side of the island. The curvy mountain roads did in poor LB's tummy again. At least I didn't get barfed on that time. The carseat needed another scrubbing when we returned to our rental house. The Hawaiian sunshine took care of the rest of the smell. I think we must have done about 4 loads of laundry during our vacation.

After we said our goodbyes at the airport and my parents were on their flights back home, Little Bit kept asking, "Where Pop-pop?" and "Where Ma-maw?" It was very sweet. We told him that they had to go bye-bye, back to their house. He answered back, "My Pop-pop," just so we were clear.

I wonder what he's thinking

Little Bit is so attached to both DH and me. It's sweet. At the very least, he wants to know where each of us is. When DH picked him up from daycare yesterday, LB asked, "Momma?" as they reached the car. Sometimes we pick him up together; I wait in the car, then we head to dinner out at a restaurant.

"No, Mamma's at home."
"Home?"
"Yes, at home."

For the short drive home, this conversation played over several times. "Mamma?" "Mamma's at home." "Home?"

While I was rocking LB to sleep last night, several times, he asked, "Dadda?"
"Dadda's in the other room."
"Roo'?"
"Yes. In the other room."
(several minutes pass)
"Dadda?"

Over the weekend, we decided to try on LB's new sandals to break them in before the trip to Hawaii. They look like mini-Tevas, with velcro straps to fasten them. LB protested mightily when we tried to put them on, saying, "No! No! No!"

I'm not sure what was going on his little mind. Did he think they were broken? They have open sides and tops, after all. Was he worried that if he wasn't wearing his tennis shoes, then he couldn't go outside?

We got them on his feet. Poor Little Bit was not happy. He started crying. Real tears. Then, DH got the bright idea to change his own shoes from boots to Teva-like sandals. We all went outside, to show him that he could go out in these shoes, too!

DH then lifted his own foot next to LB's feet and pointed to the shoes. "Look! We're wearing the same shoes! Look!" LB noticed that he could see his dad's toes. And he could see his own! How cool!

Finally, the storm cleared, and there was a shy smile through the tears on his cheeks. When we got to the restaurant, Little Bit was proudly showing off his new shoes to everyone!

Two more weeks

Exhaustion R Us. Neither DH nor I go to bed as early as we should. It's nice to have "us" time and also "me" time to surf the web or watch tv after Little Bit goes to sleep. I let DH sleep in last Saturday. When he got up, I lay down for a nap about 10am. I vaguely recall waking when he brought LB in to nap next to me. Then, the next thing I knew, it was 3pm!! I had to check several clocks before I believed the time. I actually woke up without still feeling tired. It was heaven.

Counting down until I'm squishing warm sand under my feet in Hawaii...(and letting Grandma and Grandpa play with LB while DH and I sleep in). Heh heh heh.