Maine in March

We had a great time visiting with Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Jerome and cousins Lucy and Baby Georgia in Maine. Elliott and Lucy both love apples (as you can see at Whole Foods) and enjoy a number of other foods in common. They share an intensity that brings out both their best giggles and most possessive, aggressive determination. They both have vice grips! Somehow we managed to inhabit the same house for 48 hours without more than a few bruises, scratches and I think just one bite, and everybody got to sleep. There was lots of accidentally on purpose sippy cup sharing and food sharing, both peaceful and not. It was the first time we heard Elliott say, "Mine!" mostly about his Kleen Kanteen cup. We've seen him get red faced, jaw-clenched and ready to pounce before, but the word somehow pushed it into a different category for me.

But there were lots of super cute moments, too, like the two kids getting in to bed together and getting under the covers, pretending to go to bed. And there was some gentle handing of toys back and forth. Elliott never quite got the concept of gently patting the kitty with his open hand. He just wanted to squeeze and hug and grab those poor furry creatures, not to mention narrating their every move. "Kitty Cat upstairs. Kitty Cat go downstairs. Where Kitty Cat be? Sweet Pea in bafroom?"

Elliott had no interest in sledding, but he did enjoy building snowmen (or watching us build them). Lucy was more interested in knocking them down, just like Elliott was a few months ago on the one opportunity we had to build one here in Virginia. I remember very clearly him lopping the heads off as soon as I'd stuck in a nose, and this time he just stood while Lucy did the demo for him. The one pictured is kind of goofy, but apparently snow people with leafy hair survive more easily in a toddler-rich environment than do cuter, bald-headed snowmen. This one was still standing when we left the hill.

The weekend included lots of blueberries and a speedy restaurant dinner Saturday night as we all had our hands busy trying to keep the kids from running away or demolishing the table while also stuffing food into their faces so they'd have fully bellies and sleep. We drove Elliott to sleep while Lucy went down to sleep and cute little Georgia (almost 3 months) was encouraged to sleep or quietly nurse. Then the adults got to hang out.

Sunday we went to the beach, and Elliott loved playing back-up-from-the-waves with John, digging with Lucy and generally running all over the vast expanse of sand, oblivious to the cold. When we got to the parking lot, I shot some funny video of Elliott and Lucy both in the driver's seat of the two cars we had (and John and Jerome play fighting in the background).

Since Elliott fell asleep not before (like Lucy, and as we hoped he'd do so I could just wait outside with both of them) but rather shortly after a coffeeshop stop, we drove to Freeport to get him his nap before our flight. John managed to make good use of our 20 minutes there in Patagonia, and I made a list of things to get back at the house. After we got there, finished packing, and got Lucy into the car, we got to the airport just as they were boarding our flight. I've never heard my last name over the P.A. with "you have 30 seconds to appear at the gate," especially not while my bag was still in the x-ray machine. "Sorry, I had the time wrong; you're fine," apologized the gate agent when I arrived after sprinting down the length of the small airport in my socks. John had hung back to get our bags while I ran with Elliott bobbing in my arms, I gather prompting the boy to conjure an image of Maizy last week in the park, because he kept repeating "Maizy!" And if that wasn't exciting enough, we found out upon boarding the plane that Elliott had not only wet his clothes but had also pooped. Fortunately, the rest of the trip home was uneventful (as was the trip out), and we were just so happy that we'd gotten to spend time with family. It was also fun to be back in a real winter environment, which we haven't had much of here this season.

It may have been our last trip with Elliott flying free, but I think we now feel like even short trips with family are well worth doing. Still, we're looking forward to a longer stay in Bar Harbor this summer.