Vaction Reflections. Chapter 1: TJ, Mr. Sentimental

We were up in Laurium, Michigan (way up in the Keweenau Peninsula) all of last week.  We rented an old house (4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, built in 1895), and we spent a week away from our hectic lives.

I will be honest, the boys tried our patience more than once.  We had quite a bit of bickering and little fights going on.  One day, I called my mom and let her scold the boys for me.  It helped!  But overall, we had no major problems, everyone was healthy, and I treasured our time together.

I kept a running list all week of the things the boys did that amused me.  Tonight, I'll start off with TJ.

Think back to TJ as a toddler, and then as a preschooler.  You probably don't remember him holding still much, do you?  Well, that hasn't changed.  At all.  We took the Badger car ferry across Lake Michigan and went up to Laurium through Wisconsin.  The boat ride was a little over 4 hours long.  I think TJ sat still for about 10 minutes of the trip.  No, I am not exaggerating.  After awhile, Bill and I got tired of walking with him, so we let him go off on his own.  He just had to keep checking in with us.  I knew he couldn't get lost, and I figured it was fairly unlikely he would fall off the boat, so I just let him go.

But after the hustle of the boat, TJ slowed down.  The little boy who would NEVER hold my hand for ANY reason and highly resented it if I insisted, reached out and took my hand several times.  We went for a walk around the neighborhood in Laurium one evening and TJ held my hand for quite a bit.  As we finished our walk he said, "This was nice.  We never do this at home."

Later, all five of us were sitting on an ancient, hideous, green couch in the parlor of the rental house (the couch was as uncomfortable as it was ugly) and we were watching Mythbusters.  TJ was sitting next to me.  He sighed, wrapped his arms around me and said, "This is the first time we have ever all watched a TV show together."

Now, that was probably a slight exaggeration, but he had a point.  I know our lives are busy, but I will try harder to make more time for the boys.

One thing TJ and I did last week was put together a large puzzle.  1000 pieces.  It was his idea to work on the puzzle.  In fact, he made me bring 3 that size.  I worked rapidly for 5 days, and only got the one completed.  I did probably 95% of it, TJ did 4%, and Sam and Nolan did the remaining 1% (when Nolan actually got two pieces to fit together, he was completely shocked).  Friday afternoon, I finally finished the puzzle.  But I was a bit perturbed to see one piece was missing.  I searched all around the dining room and couldn't find it.  TJ comes in from the living room, sees what I am doing, goes back in the living room and comes back with the missing piece.  He snaps it in place and gives me a naughty grin.  He said, "There!  I wanted to be the one to finish the puzzle!"  #$%#$%#$%#$%#%  He's lucky I love him!

The Village of Laurium has a strict curfew of 10 p.m.  No kids are to be outside after that time.  They blow the civil defense siren once at 10:00, just so everyone is aware that it's time to head in.  Bill was out walking one night when the siren blew and he said shortly afterward, the lone Laurium policeman started going up and down the streets to make sure no children were still outside.  Bill and I loved this concept, and also found it a bit amusing.  The boys were always asleep by 10:00, so we had to fill them in on what went on in the evenings.

One morning, TJ couldn't find his water bottle.  I reminded him that it was out in the van and I told him to go get it.  "I can't!" he yelled back.  I asked him why not.  "Because it's 10:15!  You said no kids could be outside after 10:00!"

He was serious.  But I laughed.  We had a discussion on 10 p.m. versus 10 a.m. and then he went outside to retrieve his water bottle.