October 14, 2006 - 5:28 AM.

Beach house

I let too much time go by between writings-down of the boy's doings.

A couple weekends ago we, J's brother & fam, and both our sets of parents spent 3 days together at a beach house. Log construction (oyster farm 100 years ago), low bulkhead around the yard, rowboat, all amentities including a pink Hotpoint fridge and turquoise Frigidaire range, giant riverstone fireplace, firepits front and back, hot tub, sand toys for the babies, croquet, two dozen Adirondack chairs.

We tucked up the grandmothers, one of whom had just finished a month of radiation and the other of whom had just left the hospital after 3 units of blood due to dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Neither was to lift a finger, although many fingers were nonetheless lifted.

My kid had the best time; when he wasn't climbing the stairs to the 2nd story with his Grampy, he was going in and out the french doors to the back deck, opening and closing for literally hours. There was the occasional break to pour water between two cups in the hot-tub's foot-rinsing galvanized tub, or studiously insert and remove the dog's filthy tennis ball from its equally filthy ballflinger, but mostly it was just the steps and the doors. The BIL and SIL, while really lovely people, are way stricter with the baby cousin than we are with ours, so baby cousin looked on in amazement as Punie was allowed to push buttons on the TV and boom box, go out or up whenever he felt like it, say "no" to us, decide his bedtime, eat popsicles at any hour of the day (I know, homemade yogurt w/juice is hardly candy, but BC was amazed every time he got one), and even nurse! (Baby Cousin, upon turning 2, has been weaned, but has not forgotten and agitates for a return of the milk.) I justified it all by saying "Punie's on vacation too" - although honestly things are pretty much like that every day around here.

Currently the car is a great favorite - he likes to put Daddy's keys in the locks for half an hour at a time. He invented another sign, this one to request the keys and go out to the car. Making a long question verbally is hard, but inventing a sign he can do!

Corrects with "actually"

Waking up . . .

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