Montana and back

Aethan went to Montana last week with his Daddy to visit his paternal grandparents and family. It was very difficult to let him go without the ability to explain to him what was going on. Luckily, his facination with vehicles, made it easy to get him excited at 4:30 in the morning about the airplane. He was fantastic the whole trip..even walked down the aisle as a ring bearer in his aunt Trish's wedding. He got a fever during the trip, as he usually does when he leaves Florida, but all in all the 10 days away from home was an enjoyable experience for him and his Dad's side of the family.

It was definately difficult for me to be without him for that long 3000 miles away, but the most difficult thing was when he came back. I drove to the airport to pick him up, not expecting too much of a reuinion. But when his Daddy tried to transfer him from his arms to mine, he screamed and wriggled as if someone was trying to hurt him. I took him anyway, trying not to show to much heartbreak as I handed him a Thomas the Tank Engine juice cup and carried him through the airport.

That night Aethan was extremely quiet and didn't seem to want to have much to do with me or the rest of the household. It was as if this was a completely foreign situation to him. Over the next few days I realized that he had lost a lot of the words and skills that I had worked months on, but had gained the useful phrase "no thank you," wich he used for everything.

It took a while for Aethan to adjust back to his normal routines, but after 5 days everything seems to be back on track again. He hasn't returned yet to calling me Mommy, but he's calling everyone else by name and eating most of the things he was eating before he left.

I'm glad that it will be a long time before I have to let him go for that long, but I'm happy he was able to have the experience with no incidents and a basically easy transition.