Thoughts On the Road

We are kicking off the summer with a road trip, and we’re visiting my parents right now.  I’ve got nothing coherent to say, so here are a few observations from our trip.

• Old school toys are a win all around.  Here’s Toby on a tricycle that’s meeting its third generation.

• Traveling with a four year old and a four month old isn’t all that bad.  One’s just getting old enough to understand how to entertain himself in the car.  The other is too young to care that we’re in the car all day.  “Beezus and Ramona” on CD helps—Christer and I enjoy it as much as Toby.  Especially since Ramona’s antics remind us very much of our son.

• We do a lot of laundry.  I packed 5 days worth of clothing for an 8 day trip, thinking we’d do laundry once.  All y’all with kids can stop laughing now.

• Sight-seeing with a four year old and a four month old works pretty well, too.  Most of my pictures of our excursions are on my other camera, and I left its cord at home, so maybe I’ll share more when we get back. 

• I don’t want to get into a whole plot summary—but let’s just say that if you want to talk to your kids about disabilities and inclusion, you could do worse than starting with a viewing of Wreck it Ralph.  One of the main characters is a “glitch,” a little girl who doesn’t quite fit into her video game world.  Her behavior is erratic, the other characters aren’t quite sure how to relate to her, and there is a worry that if the video game players see her that they’ll think the game is broken and unplug the game all together.  Considering I just wrote up a post about how Down syndrome is like adding a bit of code to a computer game, well, let’s just say it got me a little chokey.

• And while I'm giving out media recommendations, check out the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place books by Maryrose Wood.  They’re aimed at young teens, but they’re pretty good for filling hours of nursing.  I just finished the third book and now I have to wait until December for the fourth to come out. 

• Grandparents who want to soak up grandkid time are the greatest.  It’s so sweet watching them cuddle Max and go along with Toby’s pretend play.  Also, it’s pretty sweet to have some free time to sleep in, nap, read, knit and write.