Leaving on an Airplane

This morning Chris left for a short business trip. He hasn't travelled much lately, so John isn't accustomed to it. Also, John is now old enough to understand and be sad that Chris is leaving. We started preparing for John when he woke up, a few hours before Chris would leave. When Daddy told him that he would be taking an airplane on a trip, John looked thoughtful, then asked, "Airport a-gether [together]?"

Then we helped Daddy pack his suitcase. John put in some books he thought Chris would like (fitting that he included a book on raising a self-reliant child).

Later John and I snuck a white lamb stuffed animal into Chris' suitcase. John sleeps with his own white lamb stuffed animal, so I told John that he would have his own Lambie and Daddy would have a lambie to sleep with too.

While Chris was packing, we heard a plaintive voice repeatedly calling for him, so Chris went into John's bedroom where he found our sweet boy waiting in his big boy bed, wanting to snuggle with Daddy (which he did). Chris went back to packing and after a while we noticed that particular silence that means the child is doing something. It turned out that John had snuck downstairs where he was waiting in the dim light in a chair by the kitchen window, staring at Daddy's car parked outside. John wanted to make sure Daddy didn't leave without his knowing it. John asked me if he could go with Daddy: "Car me? Okay!"

When Chris was waiting at the airport, he called us via the webcam over the computer. Here is John (still in his pajamas) pointing to the airplane at which Chris had pointed his webcam:

After successful napping both by kids, we went out in the rain to Wal-Mart to buy a new toaster oven since the glass door on ours had shattered the day before. Mary was looking especially cute (and, yes, I strapped her in after the photo was taken):

Along with the toaster oven, I also bought some potting soil (John and I are going to plant flowers on the deck) and a few craft supplies (we're also hoping to make a sock puppet moose).

Yet one more thing I bought was a $1.47 skein of yarn with which John could make a spider web all over the living room. This kept him happily busy alone for a long time. Thanks to my friend Elaine for the idea! Her son has been doing this weekly with the same skein of yarn for several years now.

John even looped the yarn around Mary's arm and leg. (Don't worry: No babies were hurt in this making of this photo. I was watching the whole time.)

Now, Elaine, I know you roll up the yarn neatly after each spider web is made. How on earth do you do it? I gave up!

We had breakfast for dinner: fried eggs and pancakes!