Nigel has been asking a lot about babies and where they come from. Mom got a book from the library that talks a lot about this subject and they have been reading it together. After today's discussion, they had this conversation.
Nigel: Mom, when I'm a man, would you tell me when it's time to put in some sperm?
Mom: I'm sure whomever you are married to will tell you when it's time.
Nigel: I hope it's you, and I get to choose.
Mom woke up from a nap this afternoon with Nigel cuddling in the chair with her. She thought that was very cute.
Nigel calls a Ferrari a horse-mobile, and a Mini Cooper a minivan.
Nigel didn't want to leave the house this morning because he was busy reading Red Truck to himself.
Nigel had his first violin lesson today, very successfully. The family has games to play, clapping rhythms and practicing loud and quiet, fast and slow. His teacher, Jakob Hofer, asked him to draw a picture on a small whiteboard, then asked if the picture was of a person. Nigel said yes, then pointed out the drawing's belly button and bladder.
The family left early this morning to head to the airport for the big family vacation of 2012: NYC and CT. Dad had been planning to park near the airport, but hadn't looked into the costs of doing so for several years, and was surprised when he did. Fortunately, Grandpa was able to give them a ride, even on short notice.
The evening before departing was, as is typical for Mom and Dad, spent packing, although this time was better than most. They both got to bed at a pretty reasonable hour, and everyone got some good sleep before the trip.
After a pretty normal breakfast, and Dad making one last trip to the store to pick up one thing that had been overlooked, Grandpa arrived, and everyone piled into the car. At the airport, the airline representative helped get the bags tagged and ready to be checked, and printed out boarding passes. Nigel got to watch the luggage go on conveyor belts through a scanner and out of the room.
The new security checks were not any more onerous than they usually are. Dad neglected to remove his laptop from his backpack, and Mom had brought a cup of juice for Nigel, so there were some minor snafus, but easily remedied. Nigel liked all the rollers and conveyor belts.
Without any long delays, everyone was ready to board the plane half an hour before the airline had the plane ready. Nigel spent the time first pretending to be a conveyor belt, then running up and down the moving walkways with Dad. They played with a stuffed seal they had acquired on last weekend's camping trip, putting it in-between the two sides of the walkway, then grabbing it when they came back the other direction... over, and over, and over again. Just before Mom called to say that the plane was ready for them to board, someone (probably a security officer) came by and took the seal, which had been left on the ledge between the two walkways. Nigel took the news of the missing seal quite well, strangely enough, and he came up with a story to explain its disappearance on his own.
The family boarded the plane, and put Nigel in the window seat, to be in charge of the window shade. Oddly, he preferred having it down most of the time, and didn't look out the window a great deal. Undoubtedly, this was in part due to his height making it difficult for him to see much through the window. The take-off was fun, but didn't impress Nigel for very long. He really has no problem with intense forces (witness the recent trip to Lagoon). They had fun looking out the plane windows at the ever-smaller cars, roads and houses as the plane banked around in a 270-degree turn to head East. By the time the plane was flying over the Wasatch mountains, Nigel was ready to do something other than just look out the windows.
Dad had bought some pre-school activity books to do with Nigel on the flight, and they started with the first book of mazes. Nigel really enjoyed the mazes, and they were great for exercising his fine motor and pencil control. He did a couple of dozen mazes, then Dad put that book away, so it wouldn't become boring. They tried one more activity book, then a flight attendant came around offering drinks. Nigel picked apple juice, then spent most of the time "sharing" drinks of Dad's ginger ale. He liked it so much that when the attendant came around again, he picked ginger ale for his drink.
All this drinking had the expected effect, and pretty soon Nigel needed to use the bathroom. However, the plane had started encountering turbulence over the mid-west, and the captain had turned on the fasten seat-belts sign and asked everyone, including the flight attendants, to remain seated. After about 20 minutes of waiting, it seemed that the turbulence had lessened a bit, and Dad figured it was now or wet pants. Mom went as the escort, and got a bit of a talking-to from the attendants as she went into the bathroom. There really wasn't anything else to do, though, so they did what needed to be done and went back to their seats. Mom said it seemed much bumpier in the bathroom than when they were in their seats, and Nigel was laughing and really enjoying the turbulence from in there. Honestly, everyone in the family was enjoying the bumps, aside from the disruption to the bathroom schedule. Dad had never been on a flight with any real turbulence, and had been feeling left out as a result. Nigel got to experience some on his first flight out!
The turbulence cleared up around the time they hit Virginia and started descending toward Dulles airport in Washington, D.C., and the landing was uneventful. Dad was surprised at how few houses or other buildings were visible in the areas they flew over as they headed into that airport.
On the ground, Nigel was surprised to see the stroller waiting for them as they walked off the plane. He had been concerned with leaving it outside the plane when they departed, apparently not trusting that it would make it to the destination if it didn't come onto the plane with them. He was excited, though, to be able to take a short ride on a subway train to get to the terminal for the next leg of the flight. There were several sets of stairs to navigate, all with slow elevators serving to bypass them, and Mom and Dad quickly tired of waiting for the elevators and switched to taking the stroller up and down the stairs or escalators--a tendency that would continue all the way through the New York trip.
Arriving at Terminal A, the flight to La Guardia airport was not scheduled to depart for well over an hour, so they decided to walk around the airport to pass the time. Their flight was on a very small commuter jet, taking off next to propeller planes with pink engines, which Nigel really hoped they would be riding on, instead. The other side of Terminal A was for large planes serving international flights, and had flags from around the world hanging from the ceiling. Dad enjoys identifying flags, and there weren't many he couldn't identify. After the flags of the nations were all of the state flags. These Dad recognized almost none of, until Mom realized they were in alphabetical order. (Smart, Mom!) This game, and looking at a few souvenir carts along the way, lasted long enough for them to start heading back to their gate. All too soon, however, as the flight was delayed in its departure, due to maintenance checks, then delayed again, then finally moved to another gate (and another plane), with another delay accompanying the move. Many of the passengers were becoming frustrated at the delays, but little could be done but wait.
Scheduled to depart at 5:15, passengers instead began boarding the flight just after 6:00 PM, but to little purpose. Even with the plane full, it was 5-10 minutes before backing out onto the tarmac, then 30 minutes of sitting on the tarmac waiting for our turn to take off. Nigel did not manage to stay awake this entire time, and slept right through the second take-off of his life. He had really wanted some more ginger ale, and Mom mentioned that to the attendant on this flight, who said she would be happy to bring him some whenever he woke up, but he very nearly slept through the entire flight and missed his chance. The plane flew right up Manhattan island, and even banked just enough for Dad to be able to see Central Park and much of the island as they descended. By the time they actually landed, he had lost all sense of direction, and had discovered that the compass in his iPhone wouldn't work there. Dad would become very familiar with the compass app during the trip, using it frequently to get his bearings so they could head the right direction.
Aunt Misty was very patiently waiting for the family to arrive at the airport, and met them while they were picking up their bags at the carousel. Nigel was happy to see his Thomas the Train luggage come around the bend, and helped to pull all the bags off as they came around.
The first order of business upon reaching the car was to find some dinner. Dad requested Italian (what else?), and found a place (Cascarino's) using his phone, along with directions to get there (another thing that would be commonplace on the trip). It was a couple of miles away, but still in Queens. Parking was a little bit difficult to find, and Dad marvelled at the narrow streets and short blocks, which made everything seemed all crammed together. Dad went in for the putanesca, on the server's recommendation, braving the capers and anchovies in hopes of great, authentic Italian flavor. Mom was very diligent and kept to a chicken salad, though she and Dad shared both dishes, of course. Nigel wanted nothing in the world but macaroni and cheese. All the food was quite good, and no one went away unsatisfied.
Next up was the relatively short drive back to the hotel to check in. In New York fashion, the hotel was small, but nice. Aunt Misty stayed with the family, and brought a monkey sleeping bag for Nigel to sleep in, on the floor. Nigel was pretty excited to play on the hotel beds, after his late nap, and didn't go to sleep until almost 11:00 (NY time). Everyone else was happy to hit the sack by then, too.
