Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Michael's First Disney Trip

So I don't post for a week and a half and I come back to find the Blogger has gone crazy! I am not sure I like this new look (from the composing side) but I suppose I can get used to it... Right now it seems so bright I swear my eyes are hurting.

ANYWAY.

I have been meaning to post a little about our trip for, oh, about a month now, and just couldn't think of a way to tackle it. My ultimate decision is to throw a lot of pictures and sparse commentary at you. I like the way Carrie talked about their summer trip as it related to each of her children, so I'm stealing that idea from her.

And away we go:
This was our first character experience - Harper has Michael hooked around the neck so he'll stay close enough to be in the photo.

By the end of the third day, Michael asked for his OWN photo with Cinderella... Watch out ladies!

It is difficult to work napping into a Disney vacation, but sometimes you just have to close your eyes.

We rode the WDW Railroad several times per Michael's request. Every time he had to be reminded that it did not go fast, nor did it go through any dark tunnels!

I'm pretty sure this is waiting to ride It's a Small World. One of the few rides during which no one was scared of anything. We managed to ride it several times as well.

Aladdin's Magic Carpets was the first ride Michael experienced. Here he is with Matt, ride 2 or 3 of about 10 (not in a row).

The white trams that take people from the parking lots to the park entrances were some of Michael's favorite things. He loved them so much we brought a die cast model home with us. Matt says in a couple of years we'll go to Orlando, pay for Disney parking, and give Michael a thrill by riding the transportation around for a week. Who needs Mickey?

Michael was a trooper staying awake for a couple of evening shows and parades. He used that light up Mickey sward to fight bad guys, from the safety of our seats, during Fantasmic. As soon as things got scary he shouted, "Give me my sword!"

For my tastes, three years old is still a little on the young side for enjoying the Disney experience to its fullest (see riding transportation comment, above). Having said that, Michael enjoyed himself more than I ever dreamed he would.

Little things I want to remember about him from our trip:
  • Asking, as soon as we got on every ride, "How do we get off?" I think he was worried we'd ride off into something and never come back.
  • During our experience with Soarin' Michael loudly, and repeatedly, asked, "Are we in a mooh-vee?" Sorry about that other riders.
  • He told every single character that signed his autograph book, "Well we're stayin' at a condo..." And none of them could understand him. He also asked urgently for his book back if they didn't sign it at lightning speed.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Friday Morning

I'll remember this, I think, like a marble in a jar, and have it to take out and hold when he is grown and surly and bristles at my touch. I will have this perfect autumn morning, sitting on a park bench, watching him battle monsters with a stick. When the beasts are vanquished he crunches through dried leaves, pin-balling from one slide to the next, then pushes imaginary friends on playground swings until they are all in motion. Swinging ghost children that I will recall when my own babies are in far away places. He talks to a cast of characters, not the least bit bothered by the absence of other children.

I will remember his brown shorts and the light blue and gray jacket he wears because there is a chill in the September morning air. He is Christopher Robin, this park his Hundred Acre Wood, and I can sit, watching, a little removed, because he is a big boy now and doesn't need a shadow to keep him from plummeting from the high places.

I will remember the sounds of the squirrels and the wind in the trees. The surprising volume of the falling leaves hitting the ground, the specific thud of acorns. I will remember the golden quality of the light, the type of light that makes me feel like I am living in a movie flashback, all colors softened.

I will remember this contentment and feeling happy in this moment. I will remember this peace.

I will remember this, I think, but even as I think it I know it isn't true. It will float away like so many other memories of their childhoods. So I will write it down. I will put a pin in the map of our lives.

We were here.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Talking with the Children

I was teasing Michael tonight as we were getting ready for bed and I told him he should just go ahead and go to be with no clothes or diaper on...

"I can't do that!" he squealed. 

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Because then I'll be naked in the morning time silly!"

Telling it like it is! 

*****

Last week Harper says to me, "It's a lot of work being a mom..." Something she observed as I was making dinner/helping with homework? The she said, "What if I grow up and God gives me a baby but I'm not sure I want one?"

*****

So, yeah, the conversations I have with Michael and the conversations I have with Harper are pretty different these days.