1.3 or, Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Dear Miriam,

You're a California girl, now.  Here's how it happened.  You went to Madison the first weekend in June so that the Grand Lams could get their house cleaned out.  I had my last week of work.  The moving truck picked up all of our stuff and then the dogs and I met up with you all in Madison.  We packed up a moving truck, sent our minivan off with a car moving company, got in the big van and started driving West.

Your car seat was on the driver's side of the van, which turned out to be the sunny side.  So you spent the trip looking out the window through a couple of shades.  It didn't seem to stop you from pointing out airplanes or trucks.  It did mean we had to aim the air conditioning at you and crank it up, otherwise you got crazy sweaty.

You were a pretty good little traveler, once we wrestled you into your car seat.  You would thrash around and cry and arch your back as far as you could.  We certainly empathized--we were just as happy to hit the hotel every night.  You slept all right, except for the night we spent in Stratford, TX, when the trains across the street woke you up.  Driving the day after that, we saw a sign for a hotel advertising, "No Train Noise!" which made us laugh.  We spent a lot of time play peek-a-boo with stuffed animals and playing with a little musical tool box.  You did some drawing on a magnetic doodle pad.  We had a box of farm animals, so you finally learned a couple of animal noises other than, "Woof!"

The biggest thing that you learned was how to walk in shoes.  The ground was so hot that it hurt your feet.  So you went from refusing to walk in your shoes in Madison, to bringing us your shoes to put on.  Although, today you solved the problem a different way: when you stepped on the hot pavement, you said, "'Ot, 'ot," and walked over onto the lawn.  Smart girl.

You've started trying to say several words: that, drink, cheese, hot, please, dog, down.  You've started wanting to feed yourself with a spoon or fork.  You want to climb everything in sight, which is hard because we didn't bring our climber with us.  So tonight you tried climbing a folding chair in the dining room, and when I took you off of it and put it away, you cried and yelled.  I guess we'll have to find a new climber!

You seem to have more teeth coming in, at least one more on the top and maybe one more on the bottom.  Which is good, because you still want to eat everything anyone else is eating.  Today you got mad at me because I wouldn't let you have cereal in a bowl with milk and a spoon, the way Corbin was eating it.

Dad and I were talking about the fact that we might need to give you a little haircut soon.  You've got kind of a floppy mohawk going on, because your hair hasn't quite filled in on the sides yet.  I did get you some barrettes, but your hair is still too wispy for them.  Which didn't stop you from wanting to wear them.  I put one in your hair when I found them, and then you wanted all four in your hair at the same time.  I finally had to hide them because every time you saw them, you wanted to wear them.  You like to brush your own hair, too.  It makes me wonder how much grief you're going to give us about your appearance later, although part of it is that this house has a million mirrors, so for the first time in your life you can always see what you look like.  That never does anyone any favors.

Other than all of that, you're still our funny, curious, smart, happy girl.  We all love to hear you laugh, and make you smile.  You love to come up and hug our legs and try to climb us.  Sometimes when I pick you up, you'll pat me on the shoulder, like I pat you on the back.  It makes me smile every time.

Love,
Mom


Funny face girl:

 Last picture with Dad before he left in April:

 You helping us pack:

 The giant moving truck taking our stuff away:

 At the Madison house; Grandma tipped over the trike so you would climbing on it.  You are MAD:

 Sweaty head girl playing with the toy cell phone:

 Breakfast in motels:

 We were trying to change your diaper, and you climbed into the steering wheel!

 You helping me unpack (note the scab on your knee from where you fell on the same place three times):

4.4 or, Cali Kid

Dear Corbin,

We moved!  It went like this: you spent a week in Madison at the Lams' house, getting things packed and cleaned up, while I had my last week at work.  The movers came and packed up our Minneapolis house, and the dogs and I drove to Madison to meet up with you.  We sent the minivan out with a car moving company.  Then we loaded up a moving truck and started driving West.  Grandpa drove the moving truck and the rest of us, including the dogs, drove in the big van.

It was not an easy trip, but it could have been much worse.  We did not have any car trouble.  Nobody got injured.  You got car sick once, but it didn't last long and then you were fine.  You had one tantrum during the drive, but it didn't last long, thankfully.  The worst parts were when it got crazy hot in Texas and at the AZ/CA border, and the last hour when we were driving through LA traffic.  It was so hard to be so close to the end and sit in a traffic jam on the freeway!  I thought we were all going to cry.

We had a lot of fun moments.  We saw more trains than we had ever seen before.  We played video games on the tablet.  We read books.  We played a lot of peek a boo with Miriam.  We ate our meals at rest areas instead of restaurants, so that we could walk the dogs and let you guys run and play.  You helped me walk the dogs a lot, mainly Rex, who doesn't pull so much.  We stopped at a park in Kansas where they were filling up a wading pool, so that was a nice break.

You are still a very good traveler.  You went to the bathroom when we stopped, even if you said you didn't need to.  You were eager to get on the road in the mornings, and didn't even whine so much in the afternoons when we were all sick of being in the car.  You did a decent job of going to bed without any trouble.  Although, you weren't any fun to sleep next to.  You and I normally shared a hotel room, with the dogs, while Miriam stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  I started out sleeping in the same bed as you, but you thrash around so much that I gave up after one night.  I put some pillows on either side of you, but you never seemed in any danger of falling off.

You sure were glad to see your Daddy--you asked about him all the way here.  I hated having to tell you how much longer it was going be.  We came up with all kinds of ways we could get here faster.  You wanted a rocket car, preferably one with a swimming pool in it.  I thought that would be awesome.  It was nice that we arrived on a Saturday, so that you and Dad could spend the weekend together.

But we made it, and so far it's been pretty good.  It's always hard setting up a new household.  You spend a bunch of time unpacking, and then you discover that you should have put this stuff in that drawer instead.  You can't find things, so you buy a new one, and then you find the old one in the next box that you open.  Meanwhile, you're trying to go about some kind of regular routine.  It's all very frustrating.



The house we rented is nice.  One side faces a very busy street, so it's much louder than our Minneapolis house.  The neighborhood is fine.  It's very close to a lot of useful things, so that's convenient.  I think the thing we miss the most is our yard.  This house has a tiny little back yard.  It's at least fenced, so the dogs can go out, but there isn't a lot of room to play and you really miss your climber.  We did find a dog park that is next to a playground, so we've spent a couple of mornings letting the dogs have a run and letting you play.  But we don't know any other kids yet, so you're back to being stuck with all of us adults.  Hopefully that will change soon.

I am glad that we're not going anywhere soon, but I do want to retrace some of our trip because we passed some pretty cool things that I want to visit, like Meteor Crater and the Grand Canyon.  Except this time, we'll drive there in the winter.

Love,
Mom

Picture with Dad before he left in April:

 Aunt Cele came to visit us in Minneapolis before we left:

 The giant moving truck loading up the Minneapolis house:

 The moving truck we loaded up in Madison:

 Getting ready to leave Madison:

 Last picture of you at the Madison house:

 Traveling boy:

 We played at this pool at a park in Kansas:

 You helped this guy wash the windshield of his motorcycle (after he helped us wash the windshield of the van):

 Breakfast at motels:

 Climbing rocks at a rest area in New Mexico:

 Showing off the bruise on your head from where you fell out of the moving truck:

 The giant cricket we found in the dogs' water dish in our hotel in Needles, CA:

 You've been building volcanoes out of Play-Doh: