Black and white. Sleeping. Again.

Still very peaceful.
And doesn’t it look like he has a little bit of a mohawk?
Cool.

Matty’s first day adventure.

So I did cry, but we all knew that would happen.

I remember waking up, going into the kitchen to get coffee and just bawling like a huge baby.
Then I was all nervous and jumpy as I got dressed, and got Matty all ready for his big day.
Thank GOD Mike was there to like, basically do everything. I was such a mess.

But we grabbed his backpack, told him where we were going and jumped in the car.
I vetoed the school bus idea at this point. But I did go down and meet the driver and aide that would be picking Matty up. You know, should I unclench and let him actually get on the thing. The driver is Elizabeth and the aide is Dorothy. Or was it Doris? Or Dolores? Mulva? Crap.
Anyway, they were nice and I’m sure they’ve seen in a million times before, “weepy- momma-not-letting-the-boy-take-the-fun-bus-to-school”.

We dropped him off in his classroom, with his teacher, the very awesome, Ms. Sarah Pavitt. We said our goodbyes and I speed-walked out of the school. I was really worried that I would frighten the other children with my tears and moaning.

Mike stopped me just outside (after he caught up with me) and soothed me and comforted me and God bless him, he did not call me a giant baby. (Though I really felt like one.)

Sarah said that she would call me at about noon to let me know how things were going. So great, it was now 9am, I would have 3 hours of whimpering and heartaches. I couldn’t go home though, I didn’t want to be surrounded by the chicken’s things. (God, you’d think we sent him away forever!) I directed Mike to our local bagel shop and we sat at the tables outside and people watched while nibbling on our bagels and oj. An hour later we were chilly and decided to get going. So now what? How about going to the Salvy to look around and maybe get some new books? So we did. As we’re parking the car, my phone is ringing. It’s 10:30. My heart drops. Mike says, “Don’t worry, it’s probably your dad”. I look. 703 area code. Shit. “Hello?” It’s Sarah. “Everything is great! He’s doing great!” GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

So I was okay.
He was okay.
We were okay.
We were good.

Mike and I spent some time and money at the thrift store, went home, I napped for a few minutes (talk about bliss), then it was time to retrieve our long-lost son.

I made myself wait until exactly 1:45 to head into the classroom.

He had his little backpack on and was quite perplexed when he saw us. Like he had a second of “OH, YEAH, HEY! You guys!” Then smiles and cuddles and it was very sweet.

Sarah told us about his day and it was all so cute and I was just happy to be able to smell his hair again.

This school thing?
I think it’s going to be good.

He’s so little!

I mean, just look at him:

Going down the hallway towards his classroom:

And when we picked him up?
Smiles!
And of course, hands in the air!

Phew.

Summer Vegas Trip.

It all starts with the plane.
And it’s all good.
Matty is the greatest, as always. A perfect little traveling companion.
As long as the gluten-free pretzels and rice milk were flowing, he was a-okay.
I always love to watch him watching the ground activity when we’re waiting for takeoff. I like to think he’s keeping an eagle-eye on our luggage and making sure it’s not man-handled.

Seeing the girls (Jill,Ellie,Tai,Jodi,Denny,Gramma B!) again was great fun. And everyone got a little crayon-picturing-making action happening.

We neglected to take our camera to our lovely dinner at Dad & Cyn’s house, but we had a great time!

The next night Little Face knocked off very early, so Mike and I took advantage of Nana keeping watch and headed onto the strip. But first we took a “little” detour so I can see the actual Vegas sign in real life. It was a thrill, for sure. Especially when we were on the 15 heading closer and closer to California? But anyways, I got a photo and yeah, it looks pretty darned puny in real life. Eh.

When we finally parked and headed into the casino, we did what any adult would do, headed to the arcade!

Oh and um, Ms. Pacman is hard.

The next day was our final day there and we spent the evening over at Jill’s celebrating her birthday. And Nana’s! Presents and yummy food and delicious cupcakes and all that ICE CREAM! (Is there still some left?)

Mike, the candid photographer, was on the prowl (though I think Ellie gave him a run for his money):

Plus some nice “kid” shots:

And look, 4 generations (hands in the air!):

And then, all the goodbyes, a quick nap at Nana’s, then back to the airport we went. That visit was way too short.

(They don’t call it the red-eye for nothing!)