Me and Zane

Way back in January, Wendy and Kelly made plans for a 10th anniversary trip to Jamaica.  I agreed to take Zane while they were gone and Kelly's mom, Kathy, would take Gage.  Wendy and Kelly left Saturday to take Gage to Kathy and then spent the night at the La Quinta near the airport. They then flew out Sunday morning.

Dee and I stayed at the same place last year the day before our flight to Boston.  It's a perfectly nice inexpensive place with complimentary breakfast, a shuttle to and from the airport, and they will let you leave your car there at no extra charge for up to 14 days. Such a deal!!!   

Since I was going to the bay, I picked Zane up on Friday morning then left him to ride to the bay with Carolyn and her kids.  I stopped at the grocery store for a few last minute things and got to the bay not long after they had unloaded their car.  It had been quite a while since Zane had been at the bay.  I think he enjoyed it, but I know he doesn’t like the taste of the bay water.  Who does?  It was calm in the mornings and then a little rough in the afternoons, but it was only slightly deeper than waist high, so he and the Bubela kids could go all over the place in the water.  Jax had on one of those life-vest/floatie thingies, and his hat, of course.  We only stayed at the bay until Sunday.  Since then it has basically been just me and Zane.  And TV.  And Wii.

Zane has said so many funny things during the five days or so that I have been with him.  I wish I had been writing them down.  I’ll just put a few of the ones I can remember.

One morning as we were heading to his swimming lesson, I asked him to remind me about something.  I don’t remember what it was now, but I wanted him to remind me.  He said, “Cookie, I already have something in my head and I can’t have something else in there.”  

This morning he had a piano lesson and I knew generally where his teacher lived, but had never been there.  I asked him if he knew where she lived and he said he didn’t know how to get there but he knew what the house looked like.  So, I said that was good and I would need him to help me find the house.  He started to tell me the bit about already having something in his head, but I told him we had a long way to go and he would only need to help right at the end.  And he did tell me when we got to the right house.

I usually gather his clothes the night before so we’re all set to get out of the house with all the swimming gear, a snack, water, and dry clothes to change into.  One night he balked at a shirt I had pulled out of the duffel we had taken to the bay over the weekend.  He told me he couldn’t wear it because it was a “nice shirt” and needed to be “saved for special.”  It was just a regular tee shirt that Wendy had packed for our trip to the bay.  It even had a tiny hole in the middle of the front.  But he still insisted it was “for special” and wanted to choose another one.  I convinced him it was okay to wear, but he took it off as soon as we got back to the house.

Last night I was reading a book about the dinosaurs to him.  One part mentioned that people didn’t really know why the dinosaurs had disappeared and listed a few theories about their disappearance, one of which was a comet.  He asked what a comet was and I explained it to the best of my ability (pretty poorly).  He listened and then asked, “What does that have to do with dinosaurs disappearing?”  So I had to try and explain that, too.

I was playing a Wii Star Wars game with him.  We were a team and he would explain to me what character I needed to be and why and what was going to happen and where I needed to be.  Eventually we came to a place where he told me to just stand there because it was his “responsibility to do the next part.”

This evening Zane took his bath then walked out and stood in the doorway to the living room.  He had wrapped himself in one of the baby towels that has a corner that fits over the baby’s head.  Of course, he had it backwards so that it covered his face and the front of his body.  He was holding it shut in the back, and looked like a post, being the same size and width from top to bottom.  He told me that was a good way to wear the towel because it was covering all the parts you shouldn’t see.  Then he turned around to go into his bedroom and dress for bed.  Where he was holding it in back it barely met, so one of the “parts you shouldn’t see” was visible.  I started laughing then and laughed some more when he ran into the wall.  That was caused by the towel over his face.  He commented that it wasn’t a good way to walk.

The book he brought for me to read him at bedtime tonight was a Berenstain Bears book…the one called “Too Much TV.”  Grinning, he said he didn’t really like that book much because you could substitute Wii for TV and he knew he had played too much this week.  Much, much more than his parents would have allowed.  

I have truly enjoyed being with him and he couldn’t possibly have been better.  I hope Wendy and Kelly have had a wonderful time on their trip to Jamaica.  Zane and I have had a wonderful time here!  

Be sure to click on this to get a better view.  That's Carolyn closest to the camera.  Jax is ahead of her.  Carlee is next with some sort of flotation thing and Zane is the tiny orange speck out the farthest.

Zane in his own particular heaven...playing on the Wii

Practice makes perfect!

Zane has a few chores to do every day.  He's taking fresh water to the cat in this shot.

Here he is in his "nice" shirt.

I bought Zane and Gage PaperJamz guitars.  Mom and Dad will love it!

Unbelievable...I had to try 12 times before I finally got a decent photo of this little monkey.