Elizabeth’s Journal

Mummy is Persona Non Grata

Our trip to Kansas yesterday went wonderfully. Jonathan is so much fun to travel with! He enjoys it so much, and says so too. On the flight to Kansas City there was a 12-yr-old boy sitting on the other side of me, travelling alone to visit his dad for five weeks, and Jonathan was fascinated by him but was a bit too shy to talk to him directly—he kept asking me to ask him things.

Unfortunately, with the flight times, Jonathan didn’t get into bed until about two hours after he normally does, and he gave me a very hard time about taking his helicopter to bed with him (I said no). So I had to take it away, since he wouldn’t put it on a shelf himself, and then of course there were tears. We sorted it out, but then he said, “I don’t want you to make me feel better, I want Gram to make me feel better.” So Mom went upstairs and read some books with him all snuggled up along her side, and he went to sleep happy. Dad and I are planning to visit the Mid-Continent Library on Friday to do some genealogical research, so Jonathan will get to stay with Gram to himself all day long—he will be in heaven. Today he’s helped her dig potatoes from the garden and make zucchini bread.

Today he’s interested in playing with Gram or Boppa, but I’m needed only if no one else can play with him. Sometimes my dad hides—Jonathan likes to play the check-out game with the cash register and buying groceries, and as my dad put it this morning, it can be “stultifying”. But Jonathan is learning his hiding places . . .

Tomorrow we go to Lawrence, Kansas, for a birthday lunch with Grama Sprong, who will be 96 years old. We’ll also try to visit a toy store and an independent children’s bookstore (possibly an adult bookstore too—not the naughty kind, just a regular one).

It’s very nice to be here at the farm again. They’ve had lots of rain, unlike us in Austin, and everything is very green and lush. And the temperatures! It was actually chilly sitting on the deck last night—down in the low sixties. Today I think it went all the way up to 81—woo hoo. Would that we were so lucky to have that for a high in Austin these days. Also, the library shelves look great, as does the new dining table Mom got. The only problem with the shelves is that they’re about 95% full! He needs to hurry up and build some more.

Posted by elizabeth at June 22, 2003 06:53 PM