A couple weeks ago, Jameson was able to spend nearly a week with his Meemaw and Grandpa. Coraline and I joined for a few days, and then left Jameson for his first visit by himself. He did great, and we were able to Facetime with him every night. He was so shy talking with us by the end, which was funny.

My friend whose father recently passed away was in town, and we were able to get together with her Saturday night after arriving. I brought the kiddos over for dinner, and then returned after bedtime to spend some more time with everyone.

Coraline is the only one of 3 similarly aged little girls who isn’t walking, but they were all so cute together. She devoured her meal including pizza and hot dog!

Jameson loved seeing his friend Marky again. He remembered him from his last visit home, so they were on familiar territory right away. There were other children there he didn’t really know yet, so after Marky left to spend the night at his grandma’s, Jameson occupied himself for the most part with Marky’s toys.

After I returned sans children, we walked over from Katie’s house to Tracy’s new house, very close by. I saw my chinchilla’s (the late Sir Chewy’s) parents, both alive and well! Carl and Chloe.

We spent a lot of time outdoors, and it was nice this visit that Coraline was not sick. It seemed as if she was always dealing with a cold, earache or illness when we visited! Coraline loved hanging out on the deck in the shade, playing with the balls. Jameson loved the little ball we brought too, which was small enough to also play on the deck.

Jameson got to help participate in daily activities like walking the dogs, watering the garden…

…And also finding toads stuck in the window wells. He and Grandpa saved 4 toads in one day!

Our visit included a trip to the local splash park on Monday, new since I was a kid. Jameson was very uncertain at first, preferring the traditional playground there instead. Marky helped convince him to play in the water.

Boys will be boys!

We enjoyed more playground visits, walking dogs and racing while I visited! But I will save more of that for a follow up post on Jameson’s activities at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house by himself.

Coraline decided she likes drinking from cups (or really just doing anything that we’re doing)! Alas, still only water from said cups. Anti-juice, anti-milk. This girl is picky!

She tried to get into trouble, as she has recently learned how to climb, stairs and boxes. She wasn’t too happy once she was stuck on top of the box, though!

She also loved feeding the dogs. She likes to try and feed Sasha at home, though mostly from her highchair where Sasha is ready to eat what she drops. The dogs at Meemaw’s house are at eye-level though, and Coraline just wanted to feed Shiloh like crazy.

Her big word of the week was “no” as she repeated what she heard over and over again (said to the dogs and to herself!) I loved how she stretches the nnnnnnnn for nnnnnnnnno.

Mayzie though is more mellow in her old age, going a little deaf and blind. She mostly stayed out of the way for the new almost-toddler.

One of the most entertaining events was Jameson’s introduction of calling Grandpa “Grampi” once, which quickly evolved into a running joke about Grampi being Grampi (like Grumpy, but better). Jameson assured us that we should actually be calling him Grandpa, but I think Jameson is now fighting a losing battle. Grampi is here to stay.

After having been there a few days and getting reacclimated to the house, Jameson was great when I went to leave. He insisted on helping or watching the final packing (I did as much as I could the night before and just had to load the car) and transferring his car seat.

Helpfully, he’s had a few sleepovers at Aunt Melissa’s house recently, and his friend Lily just spent a week at her grandma’s house, so we talked about those things a little and focused on all the fun things he was going to do. It turned out quite anticlimactic when I actually left. I did love his unprompted “I love you Mommy” during our goodbyes, and the “I’m going to miss you Mommy” he said a couple days beforehand. Such a sweet little man!