Observations from NJ

Dave and I made a trip up to New Jersey to see Meagan, Chris, Caleb, and Lucy. When Heather and Nicole heard we were going, they joined in as well. And Nicole brought Brewski to play with Leo.

It was exhausting. It was chaotic. It was cacophonous. With dogs barking, Caleb (known to be the loudest child at day care) yelling (in happiness), and Cowboy Carter playing.

It was also so much fun.

A lot of my fun came from simply observing. Watching Meagan and Chris as parents. Seeing Heather and Nicole as sisters and aunts. Looking at David being Grampy. They are all killing it.

And, of course, I had fun observing Lucy and Caleb.

I noticed Lucy is also an observer and takes it all in. She seems to be as amazed by the chaos as I am. I can see her thinking “These people (and dogs) are all crazy.”

In general, she is a happy baby. However, she will loudly voice her displeasure when she deems it necessary. It is easy to settle her down by putting her in her high chair. She is lightening quick and surprisingly strong with her reach. At times, she has Auntie Heather’s glare. (I wonder where Heather gets it from?) She also has Auntie Heather’s hair. We had fun with the hair.

In observing Caleb, I saw how much joy, excitement, and curiosity he has for so many things including for all of us.

He had a big smile on his face when he ran up to hug me at daycare. He shrieked with laughter when Grampy or his Aunties chased him around the house. He was focused when he poured tea for us from his tea set. He thought it was a riot zerberting Grandma on her belly. He was exuberant when yelling “Hello!” to us from different spots on the playground. While at the playground, he laughed in the swing with his baby sister and enjoyed exploring the visiting fire truck – though he made certain we knew he did not want to go to the fire. He was thrilled to sing an early happy birthday to Grampy. He got a kick out of making most of us sit on a whoopee cushion (thankfully not Grandma).

Though he did get Grandma to play with the homemade Playdoh his Aunties had bought for him. When we were finished playing, Heather encouraged him to thank me.

He looked at me and said “Thank you for playing with me.”

I responded “Thank you for playing with me.”

To which he said “You’re my friend,” in a tone that implied there was no question he would play with me.

And I heard when it was time for Nicole to leave he kept saying “Cole I need to talk to you” to try to get her not to leave.

Finally, I observed all of us together. One of those times was on the new screened-in porch that Meagan and Chris recently added to the house. Some of my favorite times have been on porches with the breezes and the relaxed conversations. This was one of those times. And this porch reminds me of the porch back in Dunstable.

I’m looking forward to the next time we all share a porch together – either the new one in New Jersey, the lanai in Jupiter, the deck at the lake, or even the tiny one at the condo.