The Big Trip

Our trip to Destin was good, but different than I expected. (I am having some technical difficulties posting pics - sorry!) One of my life mantras is to have low expectations - not in a self-deprecating way, just a realistic way. So in preparation for our first beach vacation since our honeymoon, I kept telling myself I wouldn't get any time alone with Jay, little relaxing, little shopping, little anything I have associated previously with the beach. All I wanted and prepared myself to do was have fun with my boys on the beach, and spend all my energy on them having fun, and being together as a family.

Well, I shouldn't be surprised that the trip turned out to be almost the complete opposite. Dad gummit, I tried my best to align my expectations!!!! But somehow I overshot again. In addition to a terrible storm whose 60-degree-winded waves swallowed the beach for two of our three full days, Cas came down with yet another stomach virus, with terrible diarrhea. Which was ok, I guess - at least those two things coordinated their attack. So we ended up doing a lot of shopping (Jay spent WAY too much on me at BR! Yay for not being pregnant!); a lot of time on the couch; a lot of Jay and Rachel time, courtesy of my AMAZING in-laws, who put us up in our BEAUTIFUL room; a lot of indoor time... you get the picture. But by sunrise on the third day, Cas was well enough to play. And it was the glorious day I had dreamed of. Absolutely perfect! I actually cried the next morning as we got in the car. I could not bear to leave - there were ZERO waves, crystal clear waters, tons of beach to play on, not a cloud in the sky...

Cas shared my sentiment. When we pulled into the driveway, he started crying. He refused to let us unbuckle him. "No, go beach, go beach again! Go beach Nana!"

On a happier note, I am beyond delighted to announce that Cas's speech is growing exponentially by the hour! Every day I hear several new words. Almost every expression is a sentence at least 5-6 words long. He wakes up talking and goes to sleep tal--- actually, he goes to sleep fake snoring now. :) He narrates everything he is doing and everything he sees. More and more is understandable. I LOVE IT! I will never tire of his words. I am trying to promise this to myself. Words are a gift!!!! Today we did some new flashcards from his awesome speech therapist, and I heard him say these words perfectly for the first time: hose, road, tube, cone, and jump rope, which I wasn't even sure he knew! He also said 'with' and 'from'  yesterday for the first time in sentences. I am getting to see all the things he has understood all this time that he wasn't able to express so I wasn't sure how much he knew. He is SMART, people! What a joy.

A conversation about our Big Trip last week is a great example of his two-and-three-quarters-yr-old brain churning. In the days prior, we talked about things to pack. Every so often he would ask if another one of his toys could go to the beach. "My jets go beach?" Then he asked if his bed could go to the beach... then my favorite... "My house go beach?" No, I replied, our house and your bed are too big. They don't fit in the car so we can't take them to the beach.  He asked for them in Florida, too. He very much missed them and talked about them on the way home. Yesterday we pulled into the driveway from school and he started saying something like this:

"Hey, it's my house! My house big (everything is quickly labeled big or little). My house fit in car, no (he says with positive intonation while shaking his head, sometimes adding the no at the end). My house go beach, no, no fit in car (Everything is My or Mine). Too big. My house, my bed, don't fit (fit is a brand new word, with a whispery "s" for "f").  Hey, it's, it's, it's tree! Leaves orange, yellow, red, black (brown), fall down! My tree go beach? Yes! My tree too big? No, my tree don't fit in my car. Tree no fit, no go beach with me. Mama, I want go beach now!" (Now is also a new favorite, but usually said with a sweet little high-pitched up-turn so it doesn't sound too bossy... yet... I'm sure he has his father's bossy genes in him, waiting to be tapped.)

Oh, and he can count to twelve. :)