This is as much of his attention as I was able to get this morning, which is to say not much at all. Today was the coveted day - "CONNOR go with GRAMMY to the BEACH!" It's all I've heard about for weeks, and today the day finally arrived.
He, of course, tried to sleep in. But when I woke him up about 8:15 a.m., after already taking his brothers downstairs and getting them started on their day, he suddenly remembered what day it was, and from that point on he was all smiles.
Mommy had done all the packing yesterday, so all that remained was to get some breakfast in him and to wait until the last minute to potty again (or actually, for the first time, since he refused when he woke up - the boy seems to have a rather uncanny ability to hold it, which will hopefully work to his advantage on the long, long car ride to the beach). The boys and I all had some pancakes, and just as I was clearing the dishes, Grammy and Aunt Lynn knocked on the door - it was time to go!
I'm not sure what I expected of him at this point, probably to go shooting out the door as soon as it was opened with one of his oh-so-casual "Bye-bye, Mommy, see you later!" tossed over his shoulders. I was mistaken. His bashfulness must first show itself, so he hid under the pool table for a few minutes while Grammy and Aunt Lynn greeted little brothers and exclaimed over their short hair (Connor's too, is now short, but they couldn't see it yet from his hiding place). He eventually came out, smiling and talking about "My green BOAT!" and "Connor going SWIMMIN'!" and "Connor go to the BEACH!"
So we got his car seat secured and loaded his enormous amount of stuff into the back seat beside him, and it was time to be off about 9:30 a.m. I got one quick kiss and then my "Bye-bye, Mommy, see you later!" moment, and he was gone.
He could barely be bothered for the above picture to mark the beginning of his fun adventure to the beach. As you can tell, he was much more fascinated with the new fishing pole (it's a bath and / or pool toy) that Mommy had tucked into his travel bag of tricks. It was brand new, and he'd never seen it before. He's seen the beach before, but I imagine he will still look at it, too, as if it is brand new.
Want to take bets on how long it is after he arrives before he gets in some sort of water? My guess is less than 30 minutes (or about as long as it takes to change into his swim wear). And if the pool happens to be somewhere on the way to the room, I hope they hold on to him or they might have a wet little boy dog paddling before they know it!