Off to Charlottesville

She slept for about two hours and woke up in such a cheerful mood. The plane we were going to get on was teeny tiny, a Holly sized plane. It had only 12 rows with a two seat and a single seat, so not more than 36 people. Holly loved the plane. She woke up laughing and she is a big flirt, I say this in an innocent way, as she flirts with all types of people men, woman, girls boys, it is my way of characterizing how social she is, she just smiles at an engages everyone she looks at. She sat on Mommy’s lap and sucked hard on her pacifier as the plane took off, she looked across daddy and out the window watching the landscape go bye and was quite enthralled, then she would look at the other passengers and smile, and the stewardess just adored her.

From her seat at the ront of the plane she was facing us, and she would smile and make faces at Holly, who in return would smile and coo back. Once we were at cruising height, I dropped the tray table and sat Holly down on this; she liked reaching out and feeling the leather of the seat back in front of her, and was happy to sit on the table. Daddy took many pictures of the landscape and a movie of the plane taking off; she really enjoyed having the window seat. And then, it was literally 15 minutes we began our decent, and in about 45 minutes total, we were getting off the plane and arriving, at 9:35. We had to walk up and down stairs to get in and out of the plane they were practically like a latter, and we were on the runway, walking into the terminal.

Mom and Dad were exhausted, we had not really slept all night, and although it was 10:00 AM, in SF it was 7:00 AM, and we had been up all night, and traveling for about 12 hours. So when we arrived at Great granny’s house, we said our hellos, settled in for a few minutes, but then quickly went to try and get a nap. We left Holly with her Granny and Great Granny, she was in good hands. She went for a walk in a little umbrella stroller and gathered some fall leaves to decorate around the house, one of Granny’s cousins had brought over Fall decorations including a pumpkin candle and the fall leaves were an added flare. There was also a jack-o-lantern in the house that they carved the week before when one of granny’s friends an artist was visiting, we lit it that evening and Holly liked looking at the color and flickering lights.

The house was all prepared for Holly. She had new clothes to wear this week, and several cool new books. One was about a Rhino and its mommy cooling off in the mud, another was classic Sesame Street exploring nature, and there was a cool texture book, a book of colors that was interactive and many more. Holly also had many new toys to play with, including a cool little fold in half cell phone that made a ringing noise and had 4 buttons that said hello and goodbye in English and Spanish. There was a playschool overhead archway with a mirror and dangling rattles, Holly liked this toy, and played with it both laying underneath and sitting up and looking at the little animals attached. She also had an exersaucer which she played in with granny, and then later when we were eating dinner she sat next to mommy and played in it while we ate.

Speaking of dinner, granny made a yummy chicken breast stuffed with pesto, and fettuccini, there was also homemade bread that great granny had made, and it was all very yummy. Holly’s Great uncle Ty came over for Dinner and she was always happy to meet a new face. Also, Holly and granny went next door to say happy birthday to the neighbors daughter Gabriel who was turning 5 and her and her sister and brother loved Holly, they brought her a doll to play with and laughed and smiled at her, she loves other kids and was excited to make the social call, then there granny sent them back over to our place to deliver a chunk of birthday cake to Irene (great granny) So after dinner we had a yummy caramel filled cake for desert.

Holly took another short nap, and I thought she was down for the night, I was exhausted, because I only slept for about 4 hours in the afternoon, as I wanted to get a good night’s rest, so I was ready for bed at like 9:00. But alas, Holly was not as sleepy as I thought and woke up just a few minutes later. So we tried to get her to go back to sleep, but came back downstairs to make a bottle and let her wear herself out. We watched some TV, and fed her and then brought her back up to bed, she laid in bed with Mommy until about 11:45 and then finally fell asleep. We didn’t have her pack-n-play so we set up a soft quilt on the floor for her to sleep on, this was cozy, and she was so content that she slept until 10:45 the next morning. 11 whole hours. I was amazed. I had woken up at 7:45 and was a little chilly, we had opened the window during the night to air out the room and let it cool off from the day, and so at 7:00 I put a blanket over her and went back to bed, sure she would awaken any minute, she did not.

At 10:45 I changed her, and got her a bottle and then she played all morning, until about 2:00. Another new toy she has is a xylophone, and we played with that, hitting a note and then saying a note so eventually as she gets older she may be able to develop tone and learn them. I am realizing she is on her California Schedule, waking at the equivalent of 7:45, and napping at the Equivalent of 10:30-11:00, and even falling asleep so late, would have been t he same as going to bed at 8:30 back home. So we will see how she continues to adjust. In the afternoon Joel and Jackie went to church where they had borrowed some more toys and a swing for her, which is where she is napping currently, fast asleep.