What my parents said...

A few Facebook postings from my parents while Bill and I were gone:

From my dad on Wednesday (day 5):

3 year old Sam to his grandmother when she was not coming fast enough to help him get down yet more toys. "Grandma, get in here. I really mean it!"

And also this one (which cracked me up):
This afternoon's dialogue. 3 yr old Sam comes up to little brother Nolan in his pack-n-play. Sam: "Nolan, do you want to get out?" Nolan: "No". Sam: "Nolan, do you want to get out?" Nolan: "No". Sam: "Nolan, do you want to get out?" Nolan: "No". Sam: "Nolan, say 'yes'". Nolan: "Yes". Sam: "Papa, Nolan wants to get out."

From my mom on Thursday (day 6):

While Beth's on a cruise I have the 3 boys. This morning was the greatest challenge - getting TJ on the bus at 8 am. Sam got up soaked, Nolan was crying again, and I overslept. However, I DID IT!!! Then I got home to find the dog puking. Oh, well.

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I just wanted to copy and paste those here, so I don't forget how funny my boys can be. And how nice my parents are. My mom said there were no major catastrophes, just the usual daily trials and tribulations. I did promise not to take another vacation like that until all 3 boys were in school full time.

I still find it interesting how differently each of the boys reacted to our absence. TJ really missed us. My mom said the week was a long one for him. He wasn't miserable, but he was very ready for us to come back. TJ has entered a bit of a worrying stage (doesn't like the dark, doesn't like to be left alone, doesn't like to be out of his comfort zone), so I spent a lot of time beforehand discussing everything with him so he would know what to expect. He knows a lot about cruise ships now!

Sam never asked about us once. Wasn't upset we were gone, but wasn't ticked when we came back and he had to 'move' back home. He was pretty ambivalent.

Nolan was angry with us. Not for being gone, but for coming home and disrupting the nice little routine he had going. When we went on our first cruise, TJ was 13 months old and he reacted much the same way. So, I was a bit more prepared. TJ's reaction 5 years ago was very upsetting to me.