This isn't the greatest shot of any of the three generations of Grigsby guys pictured but that's how it goes with a squirmy toddler. Elias did really well on this trip. Especially as far as sleep goes, while we timed the driving with afternoon napping (none of which lasted more than 40 minutes, I might add, but at least he slept, which is more than I can say for today's nap, but I'll save that for another post...) the overnight portion was probably our most successful of any trip with Elias so far. He needed a little extra coddling at bedtime but crashed around 7 (thanks to an early wake-up and that short car nap) and didn't make a peep all night. Granted, he woke up at about 5:45 the next morning, while it was still totally dark out, his first word being "eat," but that's a huge improvement over our Thanksgiving visit to his other Grandpa (and that was a huge improvement over our trip to SoCal in September so, you now, progress!).
The visit was otherwise a classic example of what a difference a toddler makes. A cabin that's a fifteen minute drive from the nearest gas station would be extremely relaxing without child, but throw a toddler into the mix and suddenly all you can think of are all the things that toddler can get into (the hovering, the chasing! it's exhausting!) and what the heck am I going to do with him for 36 hours out here. But the weather was perfect for exploring the extended outside area so that's just what we did...On Saturday afternoon:
And again on Sunday morning:
Elias seemed to get a kick out of going over this little bridge they have, which seemed perfectly scaled to a toddler. Also a big hit was the animal-based yard art, including this guitar strumming frog that Elias appears to be posing next to but was, in fact, about to go into full-on stink-eye mode:
That's better. Here he is enjoying some quality one-on-one time with Grandpa Ron:
We ended up leaving a little earlier than planned, and since Elias's car nap was again brief (over by the time we hit Roseville which, if you're not familiar with California geography, ain't long) we enjoyed a spontaneous Dairy Queen rendez-vous with Grandma Joanne, where Elias enjoyed his first official soft serve.
With a spoon, naturally. Despite the surprised look on his face, Elias enjoyed his cone and ate most of it himself (which shouldn't surprise anyone...he is my son, after all).
It didn't take Elias long to get cozy in the age appropriate wheels and find the water-based play above on the final stop of our pre-Easter Easter weekend. Our friend's folks host and so graciously invited us to this amazing Easter egg hunt, complete with a basket for every kid, delivered by a guy in a bunny suit!
Elias seemed to get the idea of the hunt pretty quickly and this is probably the first holiday/special event that he anticipated just a little bit, probably because I bought him a soccer ball basket (you'll see that below) and some plastic eggs the week before. I swear it wasn't a competitive thing - it's not like we were practicing hiding eggs in the apartment or anything...
The following weekend, Easter weekend, we invited Grandma Joanne to visit. It ended up being really bad timing, since Elias came down with a nasty cold that Friday night, slept horribly and was cranky and difficult all weekend, and I spent every waking minute he was sleeping finishing up a rush order I should have never accepted. But Elias made out with some quality Thomas the Train merch (and on a positive note, that Friday before being our 5th wedding anniversary, a friend came over after Elias went to bed so Neal and I could enjoy - get this - our first dinner out since Elias was born! Seriously. Let me just say that was one of the best margaritas I've ever had!). And, well, as we always do, we got through it.
And I'm happy to report he seems to be - finally - more or less over the cold (with a side of pink-eye about two weeks in, but I'll save that fun tidbit for the official 22 month update). However, as these kids like to roll from one challenge right on to the next, he's now officially teething, getting those 2-3 1/2 year molars. I've had my suspicions for a few weeks now (not at all surprised since he got all of his other teeth early and in sets of 2 or, shudder, 4) and could feel some swelling over a definite hard toothy bit that's yet to break skin on the lower right side. At least this is it as far as teeth go for awhile. So it should be smooth sailing after this. Right?
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