An Unexpected Trip
Yesterday saw an unexpected turn of events indeed. First, a little background.
As you know, Rowan goes to Erin's house two days per week. Because I'm finishing up my dissertation this academic year, this semester has been particularly busy for me, and I've been working more evenings and weekends than in the past. We've been managing: nobody had to wear dirty underwear or eat moldy food, but we certainly haven't had our normal calm routine. Rowan woke up with a mild cold yesterday morning, a day I had planned to take him to Erin's. I had a pretty full day of work planned, after having worked all weekend as well, and I got a little...er...emotional about how I was going to get everything done with a sniffly little guy to tend to. I called my mom, Gram, to lament my situation and lean on a strong shoulder, and over the course of the conversation we hatched a plan which was promptly executed with marked precision. Are you curious?
We decided that Rowan should go to his grandparents' house for a little pre-Christmas vacation, to be joined by his parents shortly. When I asked Rowan whether he wanted to go to Gram and Papa's house "today," he said, "Mommy, go to the basement and get my suitcase!!" No sooner did I bring it up than he had unzipped it and stuffed it full with the contents of his entire middle dresser drawer. I walked back in to find him attempting to zip it up, and he said, "I am all packed. Let's go to Gram and Papa's house NOW." Well, we did get him all packed, and just an hour later we set off on the drive.
Rowan was spectacularly well-behaved for the five hours he was in the car with me. We talked, sang Christmas songs, and played "I Spy." I didn't even have to turn on the van's DVD player! Gram met us near the GA/SC border. I had explained to Rowan that when we met Gram, he and Gram were going to continue to Georgia and Mommy was going to turn around and go back home. He grasped it completely; he climbed enthusiastically into her truck and then said to me, "Mommy, could you please go get in your car and drive back to Rowan's house now?" :-)
