Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Iowa

We went to Iowa for a few days after Billy got back so David could meet his other grandparents. Here are the four generations. They all loved the little guy and he took in all the attention.Grandpa Dave was always offering to babysit David if we wanted to go off somewhere without him...that is until the night David was being fussy while Billy was holding him. Grandpa offered to take him to see if a change would help calm him. Needless to say, David decided to show grandpa how purple his face could turn and how loud he could scream. After that, there were no more offers of babysitting. Who could blame him, though. He didn't get the nickname Purple Face for nothing.
David loved his Uncle Mike. He even fell asleep in his arms one night much to Billy's chagrin. Billy had been trying for several nights to get him to fall asleep for him, but Purple Face was not having it.
David and I went shopping one day with Grandma and Aunt Nancy. He wasn't that cranky for being out for so long. I was on edge the whole time, waiting for Purple Face to show up, but thankfully, he didn't. Aunt Nancy even mastered shoe shopping and feeding him a bottle. Now, I just need to get her to change diapers...

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Daddy's home!

Billy got home on the first. The homecoming was a bit anticlimactic because I completely missed the part where they released the marines to their families. All thanks to the lovely traffic on Bangerter highway and Redwood Road. It's okay, though. He's home for a while now, I hope. We never know with the military.
A shout out to my sister, Grace, my nephew, Nathan, and my niece, Kaitlyn for making this banner.

David's reaction to Billy was a blood curdling scream. Seriously! I thought stranger anxiety didn't begin until he was at least 8 months old! Poor Billy was hurt, but like the reunion and reintegration guide says, it will take time for the two of them to get used to each other. To be honest, though, David hasn't had much interaction with males and so having a total stranger come into his home and speak in a loud, deep voice kind of threw him for a loop. Billy's been doing great playing games with him and getting him to laugh. In fact, there are just some games that only daddy can play that will make David laugh.

The first night was kind of funny. Billy was holding David and my wiggly boy was holding so still...almost like a prey playing dead for the predator, hoping with all its might that the predator would just go away. After a while, he just looked resigned to his fate, whatever that was. The look on his face was so sad and funny at the same time. I felt bad for him, so I went and held him for a minute. He was resilient and back to his normal, wiggly self in no time. Each day gets better and David is starting to get used to having his dad around.