Nana wasn't there.
Aunt Kathleen and Baby Cole were!
My sister drove hour and half from her home to Nana's house, so that Carrie could go to work. We are very grateful! Kathleen wanted to see what it was like to have two kids causing trouble simultaneously. She wants to take the plunge from one baby to more (I'd say two, but twins happen!). We were happy to supply Shane for a trial run.
I called Ka on my home from work to check in. It sounded like she had an awesome time. She was laughing, telling stories, and I really enjoyed hearing from her.
There's something special about hearing other people talk about your child. When I'm so close to Shane every day and tired from running around taking care of him, some of the magic in his quirks is hidden by the immediacy of his needs. When I watch him draw out an "awwww" or hear about his adventures second hand, a joy and a pride in my son bubbles up.
The day started in the normal fashion: Carrie dropped off the boy, and Shane raced around to find Nana! Kathleen said he was checking closets and behind doors all day! "Where Indy, Pop-Pop, Nana, Jama go? Nana hide?" Shane asked (over and over and in all sorts of variations I'm sure!).
Soon, it was school bus time. Shane loves school buses. Nana told my sister when and where to go, and Shane made sure she didn't forget! He starts calling out for school buses an hour before they actually arrive! Kathleen wrangled the two boys into their car seats and drove down to the nearest bus stop.
The buses never came.
Nana told Kathleen the wrong time. Remember how I said Shane starts going nuts an hour before the school buses arrive? He's a real good indicator that a school bus will show up in the future, but my son isn't going to win any awards for telling time in the near future!
Kathleen knows all of this now, but it was a different story in the car that day. The boys were happy sitting in the car waiting for the bus that was bound to arrive. Kathleen wasn't so sure. Had the bus already gone by? She decided to drive over to the elementary school in hopes of finding school buses there.
Shane was going absolutely bonkers with excitement. He pointed down random roads and shouted "SCHOOL BUS!" at every turn. Baby Cole enjoyed watching every moment of it. Kathleen's son is a very social baby. Where my son wants to run, jump, and climb, Cole wants to have lots of eye contact and smiles. Shane was so revved up, that Cole wore out watching him! He ended up taking a nap (I'm sure the car ride helped).
When Kathleen arrived with the boys at the school, they ended up waiting for a while longer.
It was worth the wait.
A fleet of school buses arrived.
Shane was in school bus heaven. Kathleen took him out of the care and let him walk around all of the kids and the buses. I'm sure that he's going to associate Kathleen with school buses from here on out.
It gets better.
While Kathleen was waltzing Shane through school bus land one of the drivers opened her door and invited them in! The driver was an old family friend, Kristy! She let Shane run all over her bus. He got to open and shut the door, climb in and out of seats, and then a different school bus driver let Shane hop off her bus and onto hers later!
I can only imagine how berserko excited my son must have been. I'm sad I couldn't catch it on tape. I won't be surprised if Kathleen is Shane's favorite aunt forevermore (and he probably won't even remember why).
I really enjoyed hearing about the rest of the day from my sister. On the way home, Kathleen made the 'wrong turn' and Shane pointed the 'right way' out to her. "SUBWAY!" Shane shouted.
"Did you know that he could say that?" My sister asked.
Nope!
Shane ran from room to room and from tree to tree the rest of the day. Kathleen and Cole were playing hide and go seek with Shane in the backyard when he ducked behind a tree and didn't come out right away. Shane changed the game on Kathleen, so to speak!
Cole really enjoyed Shane's antics. He liked seeing his cousin romp about. In return, Shane really enjoyed Baby Cole. For one, my son is a real ham. He loves an audience. I'm sure he got extra excited, because he knew Cole was watching. Later, when Cole was napping, Shane would run up to him saying "Baby wake up? Baby wake up?" Guess what Kathleen's answer was! "NO!" Ha ha ha! Nothing is worse than a busted nap time! Thankfully, Shane got the hint and didn't press the issue.
Once again, I really enjoyed hearing about the fun Kathleen, Cole, and Shane had. I love to watch other people interact with my son or tell stories about him. I'm very proud of my son and their excitement is my excitement....plus, it's way less tiring! With my attention span, I'm fond of being high energy and then fading back to rest before being high energy again. You can't do that when you're one on one with the kid and there's no rest break!
I sincerely hope that this is the start of a long relationship between Cole and Shane. Nothing, save God, is more important than family. Originally, I wanted to have a large family to plug Shane into, but if Carrie and I aren't going to have a large number of kids ourselves, I definitely want Shane plugged in to the extended clan. Cole and Shane are close enough in age that they could be fast friends growing up. It will all depend on where Ka, Stu, and Cole end up versus where Carrie, Shane and I land.
Next week, the boys are going to have another play date! I hope it's a fun one!
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