LLL Annual Conference

I want to give thanks to Chris who made it possible for me to have a very enjoyable time at the 2008 Conference of La Leche League of Georgia. We went last year when John was about four months old, so, of course, I had him with me during every session. This year John is an exuberant 17-month-old, so Chris took care of him while I was in all the sessions. John and his Daddy would bumble around in the courtyard or go for a drive (which is how John took his naps without me) or explore the surrounding area. They even found a display of live birds (hawks and owls eating live chicken chicks) and John got to pet a tiny, live turtle!

While I saw John between almost every session, it was the first time ever that I've allowed myself to take almost the entire day--two days in a row--away from him. I thoroughly enjoyed attending the sessions, being able to pay attention and actually take notes! On top of all of it, Chris missed a big golf tournament with his work buddies this weekend to support my interest and, of his own accord, he reserved us a cabin for next year's conference!
The town of Helen has many horse-drawn carriages, causing John often to shout, "Neigh! Neigh!" We took him for a ride, which he liked very much, but, of course, with his temperament caused him to be quiet and observant during the ride itself.


John felt safer to hoot with excitement at another horse (farther away) during our ride.

Feeding our horse a carrot:
John had grand fun riding a wooden rocking horse at a vendor's display table of toys. It made us regret that we put his rocking horse into storage when we moved into this apartment!


On a pragmatic note, John did pretty well in the car. On the drive there, he slept most of the way and didn't cry. On the drive home, he did scream for about the final hour, but that's an improvement over most drives . . . . Also, it was possible to enjoy my weekend and not be oppressed by debilitating nausea because of a new regimen I am trying that seems to be working!

Question: How do you know it is time to adjust the height of your child's Learning Tower? When you are cooking in the kitchen and discover suddenly that your toddler has climbed onto the counter and is reaching for the butcher knife! The Learning Tower has four adjustable levels, so by lowering it one, John should temporarily be unable to climb onto the counter, thank goodness.