Coming Home

Friday we had a several hour drive to a friend's house in Texas.  Two years ago he held a large party we were unable to attend but this time we came.  Cora had a pretty long nap in the car but arrived fussy.  The event is a reunion of college friends.  One is pregnant with her first so the rest of us girls made a quilt before she arrived.  It's not quite done yet but we accomplished as much as we needed to while there.

Saturday was the actual event.  Cora stayed fussy the entire time which was tiring for Buddy and I.  She alternated between us and I was always glad when it was Buddy's turn.  Bohdin and Nyla needed hardly any attention.  There were many kids there.  Nyla had no trouble finding somebody to be with.  When we say the pictures of the party on Sunday it seemed that Nyla had taken a picture with half the people there.  There was some joking about how many pictures there were of Nyla.  Bohdin did an amazing job for him.  He spent a lot of time reading by himself especially on Saturday but other times he was able to play with large groups of kids.  He usually asked questions and engaged the other kids when he was with them.  He's come a long way from the shy four year old who would turn away if a kid said hello.  He still has a long way to go but he has made a lot of progress. 

There was a homemade slip and slide set up.  Nyla did it several times and liked it fine.  Bohdin tried it but was frustrated that he couldn't slide the whole length of the plastic.  No little kid was able to make it beyond a few feet so his expectations were pretty unreasonable.  I wish I had talked to him about it beforehand.  Once he failed he wasn't very interested in doing it much again. 





The food for the event was crawfish.  Cora loved the crawfish and Buddy said that she ate as many as did.  She also enjoyed putting the shell on her hand and walking around.  She was very insistent that I do the same.   I found it creepy instead of fun. 








I took Cora back to the hotel for a nap hoping she would wake up refreshed but she was still fussy.  Her fussiness was the worst part of the event.  Other than that it was a lot of fun to hang out with everybody again.  I didn't get any pictures of Buddy on the slip and slide but some good ones were taken.

Sunday we attended a baby shower and watched the slide show of the event.  Bohdin had become less social as time went on so by Sunday he stayed almost completely to himself by reading a book.  He regretted it later.  We had a later start than we anticipated but were back on the road by mid afternoon.  Cora slept a little and once she woke up, Bohdin and Nyla fell asleep.  We didn't stop for many hours.  Cora was extremely grumpy and fussy.  Her crying eventually woke Nyla up and then we had two grumpy girls.  We stopped for an hour at a Walmart and then hit the road again.  I drove as far as I could after Cora fell asleep because I wanted the shortest possible drive the next day.  We toyed with the idea of driving straight through but we would have arrived home about 7 in the morning and that didn't make sense. 

Cora was still not happy in the car today.  We did anything we could to keep her occupied.  She did a lot of art both on paper and herself.  It wasn't fun for anybody.  Nyla complained, Bohdin was moody and argumentative, and Buddy and I were beat.  It was a long time to be in the car.  It was funny how quickly we all perked up when we were out of the car.  We eventually made it home and everybody felt better.  Cora was no longer clingy and fussy which was really wonderful.  She has never been a good traveler. 





When Nyla found out about the baby shower she was distressed that she didn't have a gift for the baby.  We went to the car to find something to give.  Nyla briefly considered Piggy but I talked her out of it.  Instead she gave up Brownie.  It was a very Nyla thing to do.