On Wednesday, Murray drove up from NY to spend a couple of days with us as I finished getting ready for school. He and Finley have always gotten along nicely, but it had been over a month since they'd seen one another. It was nearing Finley's bedtime when he arrived, but Finley seemed to recognize the nice man in the glasses with the beard :) Here's my best effort to recount this terrific visit and to make up for no photos.
On Thursday morning, Finley slept freakishly late and so all three of us had a leisurely morning before I had to go to school. The pouring rain outside (3rd day in a row of precipitation) could have made for a long morning, but Murray came armed with a Costco shopping list and so we loaded Finley into the carseat and then they drove off the indoor shopping funhouse while I went to Newton. I gave Murray a heads up about what Finley likes to do at Costco and from his recounting of the story, it sounds like Finley took Grandpa around to all his favorite spots (playing the guitar, looking for forklifts, etc) and some new ones (pushing around big snow shovels). They even got some tasty free samples and escaped the rain thanks to the wonderful parking garage. I got a call around noon from Murray and I quickly answered asking, "Is everything okay??" and of course it was, but Murray said "Finley fell asleep on the ride home, what should I do?" I immediately blurted out, "WAKE HIM UP" and Murray seemed pleased to get such firm directions and rousted Finley for lunch before putting him down for a nice, long nap. Good work, Grandpa!
In the afternoon, the three of us played together while we waited for Dan to get home and as Dan was walking up the basement stairs to see us, he could hear some loud fits of laughter from both his dad and his son. What would you rather come home to than that?? Finley and Murray were crashing two trucks into each other and for some reason, Finley found it hysterical. Murray surely understands the needs of toddlers and happily repeats any action or game over and over to Finley's delight, something that Dan and I even tire of at times! Murray tried to show Finley how to throw a ball overhand and put his hands out to catch, but he made as little progress as we have. We shared a tasty dinner of lobster rolls (Dan and Murray), meatballs (Finley), a BLT (me), and some delicious french fries (everyone, but mostly Finley) and then Finley was off to bed.
Friday morning, I had to get to work earlier so after breakfast I told Murray Finley would probably be very sad when I leave, possibly crying and needing to be held. Then, I said to Finley,
"Mommy has to go to school"
Finley: "No"
"You are going to stay here and play with Grandpa"
Finley: "No"
"Can I have a kiss or an ah-boo?" (basically bonking foreheads as he learned from Grandpa when he was about 12 months old)
He leans in for a bonk and then looks up at me and waves and says, "Bye" and yells "Tracks!" as he runs to playroom. Soon he and Murray are building tracks for their trains and I was on my way. Okay, that was unexpected but in a wonderful way!
From what Murray told me, it sounded like the two Forseters boys had a good time all morning. They played in the playroom, played in the tent downstairs, played outside with the lawnmower and tried to bail out our soaked sandbox, rough-housed a bit, went on a walk around the neighborhood with Finley walking for most of it, and our boy was clearly worn out because he slept for more than three hours! I arrived home to a sleeping Finley and a nearly napping Murray who was kind enough to promise to stay until Finley woke up so the poor sleepyhead wouldn't be confused about where his Geekaw had gone to. As the nap continued, Murray told me how at lunch Finley devoured his carrots and peas but had to be begged to eat his hot dog (what an odd kid!) and how Finley asked to join Grandpa in the bathroom when he needed to go. I should have told Grandpa how forward his grandson can be :)
Eventually Finley woke up and gave his Grandpa a sleepy ah-boo and we watched him drive away. Finley kept asking why Grandpa had to go and he seemed satisfied with the answer that he needed to go home to see GG. We'll see both GG and Geekaw at the end of the month for Rosh Hashanah and something tells me Finley will pick up with Murray right where he left off!
Thank you, Murray, it was a great visit!
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