Doobie

I have at least three reasons for not posting much this month...wanna hear them? Ok.

1. Non-stop stuff. Yeah, I know, everyone has that, but I really can't remember another summer that has been busier. I have been either working, at a shower, or out of town every weekend for the last six. Every night DH and I have had some major decision to discuss (life insurance, choosing new health insurance, the nanny's new schedule, DH's schedule at his new job...not to mention who is going to fix the hole in our ceiling, when we're going to have the windows replaced, lighting for the hallway, and buying a new car!)
2. Our hard drive crashed and the Apple store is taking its sweet time fixing it. : ( No computer = hard to blog and no pictures for you.
3. Umm, I forgot, but I know there was another reason!

So I have what feels like a lot to share, but it would be too disjointed to make in one post. You'll have to check back and see if I can get the other stuff posted. I only have one shower this weekend, so maybe I can write more. Tonight I just could not let another day go by without writing about LO and Doobie. DH's family will know right off what that reference is, but for everyone else, Doobie is LO's youngest boy cousin. Way back at the beginning of the summer (in May), our family made a two day road trip to Nashville to celebrate DH's aunt's birthday. DH's whole family surprised Auntie Nana for her 60th. It was also the first time most of DH's family had met LO. Knowing that meeting 20 new (and often boisterous) family members could be overwhelming for our little traveler, I decided to make a picture book of LO's closest family. The book started with a picture of me, LO, and DH, then showed Nanny K and the aunts and grandparents he sees most. My hope was that he'd realize the pictures were of real people. I don't know if the book made a difference in our visit, but he loved it anyway. We used it to practice the names of family he'd meet in Nashville and later my Dad, step-mom and Aunt L.

LO's visit with the Nashville crew went really well. He played very hard and was as tired as I've ever seen him when we left three days later. Instrumental to all of that hard playing were his young cousins. While the oldest wasn't feeling well, the other three were extremely attentive. We all expected the girls to be most taken with LO, and they were, but we are all surprised at the connection LO and Doobie had. I think he just loved seeing a bigger boy and all he could do.

So fast forward to this past weekend nearly two months later. DH and I had all but forgotten the family picture book. When I returned from out of town, DH informed me that LO had fallen in love with the book again. Not only that, but he could name everyone in it. Sure enough, he rattled off the names of every person in every picture. In addition, he had become OBSESSED with Doobie. I am not kidding when I say that he treats the page with Doobie's picture as if it's his new best friend. We often cannot look at the other pages, because he wants to go back to Doobie. LO asks for Doobie to watch him run and will stand the book up, run across the room and back. We then pretend Doobie is cheering. Doobie watches LO eat lunch and, when LO wasn't so sure he wanted broccoli, Doobie tried it to show him it was good. LO then asked for Doobie to have some milk to wash it down. You name it, Doobie has done it with LO this week. Everything except taking a bath. (LO tried that, but fortunately the bath was empty..."Doobie Book" is not waterproof.)

When I was growing up, I had an older cousin that I adored. I was pretty sure he could do no wrong. Ironically, I think his younger brother looked up to and thought the same of me (and my sister looked up to him). Of course we have all made our mistakes, but I can't imagine we love each other any less for those. It's a beautiful thing to be close to family. I hope LO will, in spite of the distance, be close with his cousins. They are already off to a great start!