Thanksgiving

Well, it's crunch time here, but I'm taking a break from writing about American Ideology to update. I'm sure you all feel quite special.

Thanksgiving was very nice. My mom flew in Tuesday, which was great, since she was then able to watch Ronan for me on Wednesday while I was in class and did all sorts of stuff to help out. Oh yeah, and it was good to just see her and hang out. :) I had been very insistent that Tom, Ronan, and I spend our first Thanksgiving as a family together and, because of his work schedule, that meant not going out of town for Thanksgiving itself. So for Thursday, my mom and I cooked dinner (only turkey breasts, not a whole turkey though) and the four of us had a very nice meal.

The next morning, my mom, Ronan, and I packed up the car and drove to Indiana to celebrate with my brother, sister-in-law, and my dad. (No, my parents aren't divorced, they just never seem to travel together.) I was slightly nervous about the drive, but it went really well. Ronan slept for about two hours of it, then was up and happy for an hour, then started to get a little cranky for the last hour. Luckily though, my mom was able to keep him happy by feeding him his little puffs, which he loves. We drove straight through and made it in great time. It was wonderful to see everyone and it was my first time seeing their house, which I thought was fantastic.

Our stay was quite fun. Ronan was determined to play with the two cats, but never really succeeded. He learned that cats are not only less likely to put up with him than dogs, but they can also go places his big dogs can't. One of the best scenes was when Ronan was holding on to a playing card and saw one of the cats. He started walking towards him, holding on to the table with one hand and holding his card out like an offering in the other. The cat didn't buy it though and once Ronan got close enough, he ran off. One of the cats did finally let him pet him briefly, but that was it. When we got home, the dogs were apparently a bit of a shock: when I let them in, they ran up to us (I was still holding Ronan) and were barking and running around, and Ronan got a little scared and started crying. But pretty soon he had warmed back up to them and all's well again on that front.

The drive home also went pretty well, especially considering it was just Ronan and me that time. Once again, he slept for the first two hours, woke up and was happy for about another half hour or so. Then, just as I was getting around Columbus, he started crying/screaming. I couldn't find a good exit to get off at (meaning I couldn't see a McDonald's or whatever right off the highway), so I waited till I got on to the next interstate. Then we got to a rest stop where I was able to park and nurse him, walk around briefly, get him changed, and got him back in. We drove for about another hour and a half/two hours, during which he would occasionally cry for about 10 minutes and then go back to sleep. We didn't have to stop again though, for which I was grateful.

Of course, once I got home it was time to get back to work. My class at Akron met for the last time on Monday. Now I just have to finish this paper and turn it in on Monday and then that one is officially over and done with. My Kent classes end next week (more papers! Huzzah!) and then I have to grade final exams and then it's winter break and I can collapse and try to regroup for the spring semester. I'm looking forward to the break though: I bought the rifftrax to Titanic and as soon as all of my work is done and Ronan's down for the night, I'm making a big bowl of popcorn and sitting in front of the TV to watch it. These are the goals of my life right now.

In other Ronan news, he's eating like there's no tomorrow now. His daycare teachers even mentioned that his appetite has really come back, which is good. I'm hoping he'll start putting on some weight now. We often go through a jar of baby food per meal, plus I've started sharing my lunch and dinners with him (in very small bites). I think I've created a monster though - whenever I sit down with food for me, he'll walk over with a big grin on his face, plant himself right in front of me, and start reaching for the plate. If I don't give him a bite, he starts to get very angry, and you wouldn't like him when he's angry. (Actually, you probably would - he's still quite cute.) But at any rate, I'm glad to see him doing well with food.

As for sleeping, he does very well with going to sleep now, most of the time, without having to be nursed to sleep. He's still waking up a lot though at night and won't be happy until I come in and nurse him. I'm hoping this is in part due to a growth spurt, but we'll have to see. Soon we'll probably have to start working on helping him get back to sleep on his own - I don't think I can do another semester on this little sleep. Plus, he's doing so well in the evening that I think it's possible for him to do it at night as well. We'll just have to help him with it.

Anyway, that's all for now folks!