Study Break

After Clayton got home, I decided to run to Wegman's to pick up a few things without Paul underfoot. As I passed the hotel near our house, I thought I saw the Wienermobile out of the corner of my eye, so I stopped to take a picture. I thought Paul and I would walk over after supper, but by the time I managed to get him out the door, it had already moved on.

[Growing Up Geek] Little Geek in the Car

I was just going through some of the pictures I took last month. I'd forgotten I'd snapped this picture of Paul somewhere in North Carolina or Tennessee. He spent a good bit of his time in the car pretending to check his email and read feeds. He's also able to play some of the easier games too.

There are few things better than…

...not only getting a parking spot in front of your hotel room, so you don't have to haul a sleepy 3 year old, a really excited pug, and the overnight bags 400 feet to the room when it's a breezy 22F, but opening your door to discover your room is already nice and toasty.

I'd forgotten how friendly people are in the South. When I finished registering, the lady at the desk was telling me the standard things, like checkout time and when breakfast was. She said breakfast started at 6:30, but if I was going to Atlanta, she'd have ours ready by 4am. We got in kind of late tonight, so I'm glad I'm not fooling with Atlanta this trip. I hate driving there, even when it's not rush hour.

I also received some good news about Tony today. He's not out of the coma, but doesn't seem in quite as deep as he was. No big news today, but he is continuing to steadily add a series of small improvements each day and they're really beginning to add up. He's allowed to have visitors now, so we'll be swinging by for a visit.

Paul is having a really hard time understanding that we'll be visiting Tony and Tracy, but not going out caching for the day. Trying to put the aftermath of a stroke and a coma into words a 3 year old can grasp it is difficult, at best. Fortunately, Paul is most likely too young to go in the ICU, so I'll be able to get by with saying that Tony is asleep right now. And with all the equipment Tony is hooked up to, it's probably just as well Paul is too young to go in the ICU.

Home Again, Home Again

On Sunday evening, I started what usually works out to be an arduous task - gather all of Paul's Christmas loot and figure out how to get it all in the car. Amazingly, all the relatives who gave him gifts actually listened and gave him something small. It took me  about an hour to consolidate everything and pack the car. And for the first time ever, I have room to spare on my return trip!

Looks like it decided to snow in Tennessee and Virginia tonight, so hopefully the forecast is right about it being clear after the 2nd. Now if I could just get to sleep so I could get an early start tomorrow...

I survived Birthmas: Round 3

Paul working his mad scientist look, on Christmas Eve

Birthmas actually was much easier this year. Paul had a little surprise birthday cake at my grandparents' house, and everyone wished him a happy birthday on his birthday. Everyone also managed to resist the urge to buy him birthday presents, and large quantities of Christmas presents, which was a little surprising. Paul had a pretty good haul from celebrating Christmas at both of his grandparents' houses, and I think too many more presents would have been overwhelming.

Paul ended up with a backpack containing a tent, sleeping bag, and other "survival" tools and soccer stuff from Santa. He had also been asking for the stuffed Shrek baby girl. He was a bit confused when he found it in his stocking on Christmas morning. Apparently, he was asking Santa for it because Leia (one of our friends' 10 month old daughters) "told" him she wanted it.

He also ended up with a VSmile, a few games, a backpack, Backyardigans things, playdoh, a construction kit, some books, and of course, clothes. I think we were pretty close to the ideal number of presents, because he's been playing with everything he received. It's also less overwhelming for me, since I'm the one who has to figure out how to haul his loot back to Virginia.

Overall, it was a pretty good Christmas. Hope everyone else had a great holiday too.