trip stories

We're here at Doug's mother's house, after an 8 hour or so trip. You'll be happy to know that we remembered my suitcase this time. Our kid who once relished long car rides so that she could watch endless movies has now become the kid that wants to participate in the front seat conversations and monopolize the ipod. At least we're more interesting than Peter Pan (who, as Doug pointed out to me, is surprisingly a big jerk). So we did riddles and played games and sang songs. An example of a riddle that we gave to Elisabeth is: Which of these things is not like the others? A plate, a book, a doughnut, a ball. The answer? A doughnut. It is something you eat. An example of a riddle that Elisabeth gave to us? "What is a truck?"

Elisabeth said, "Daddy, when I was little, I didn't know Gram very well. I only knew Gr. Then I knew Gra. Now I know Grammmmmm." Once before she said that Doug's grandmother (Mrs. Jenney) didn't know her very well. She only knew "Elis" not "Elisabeth." We're pretty sure this stems from an abundance of the game "PIG" which is really an abbreviated form of the game HORSE. For those unfamiliar with HORSE, it is played using a basket (like basketball, or in our case a cat bed that is raised on the sides). One person takes a shot from anywhere they choose. If they make the shot, the other player has to make the shot from the exact same spot and if they miss, they get the letter H. This repeats until someone has enough letters to spell HORSE. We play PIG quite a bit (I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that she's beat me before), and she takes great joy in saying she's "PI" or just "P" - so we think that's where she has gotten this latest gauge of how well someone knows her.

Charlotte, at all of 9 months old, slept only an hour in the car (Elisabeth not at all). Luckily, she is completely and totally entertained with a toy shopping basket full of plastic food. So she was actually rather pleasant for the entire drive. She has mercifully decided to let me sleep more than 2 hours at a shot for the past two nights. I expect her mercy to end soon, but I have appreciated it in the interim.

We got to really witness the girls interacting with each other yesterday. Charlotte would reach her little hand across the aisle in the back of the minivan and Elisabeth would grab it and say silly words to Charlotte. Charlotte would laugh hysterically. And then, at bedtime, those two kept each other awake for awhile making cute noises at each other. And the first thing I heard this morning was a cute noise from Charlotte who was peering out of her pack n play at a very awake Elisabeth. I'm glad they have each other.

Remind me to tell you about the second Mother's Day card that Elisabeth gave me. It might be even better than the first. That post requires pictures, though, and I haven't taken any yet.