I'm already suffering from Tyler withdraws, after spending two weekends with my favorite little boy.
He cried when he had to go to school, because he wanted to stay home and play. My sister reports that when he arrived, he announced to the whole class, seated in a circle, that he had seen his Aunty Christina.
During our first dinner in town, Tyler sat with me. Or rather, he occupied the space next to me, usually standing, sometimes sitting, and often poking around on the dirty floor underneath the table. At one point, I adressed him as "Baby." Old habits are hard to break, and in my eyes, he'll probably always be a baby.
He quickly responded, "I'm not a baby anymore. I'm just Tyler."
He is already reminscing, as an older person might. "Aunty, remember when I was a baby and you would drop me?" To clarify, I used to carry him and pretend to stumble, sometimes (gently) dropping him onto a bed or a stack of pillows. It was a guaranteed laugh. He still loves being dropped, and he likes it when I stand him on his head, though that trick makes his mother nervous, so we don't do it very often.
When asked who bought him one of his blankets, he knew (lucky guess or a miraculous store of knowledge) that I had made the purchase. Then he commented, "Aunty, you buy me a lot of things." Indeed, he has me wrapped around his (too often) grubby little fingers.
During the week while I was in Maui, he reportedly continued to ask where I was. It's nice to be missed.
I chased after him last weekend, wiping up his snot nose, feeding the birds, watching him "smoke" the bad guys and dominate in Mario Brothers, and seeing far too many versions of the Clifford learning game.
When it came time for us to finally part ways (a separate entry to follow on how horrible ATA is), he wanted me to stay. Missing my originally scheduled flight on ATA and having to buy a completely new ticket on United (my sister urges me not to think about it), Tyler was confused and thought I was staying.
"You missed your flight so you stay with me at my house?" he inquired. I told him I had missed my first flight, but I was still planning on leaving later that evening.
He has always hated saying good bye, so I tell him that I love him, I hope he's a good boy for his parents, and I'm looking forward to playing with him next time. This time, he said, "You play with me now at my house."
I told him that we were at the airport, and I would not be going back to his house with him. He grabbed my shirt and urged me not to leave. When he realized that the door was opening and I was definitely leaving, he said, "I'm not talking to you now," and he shot me a dirty look.
Due to our travel fiascos, it looks like I will be visiting my favorite little boy a number of times to come this year, as I have all sorts of extra tickets to use and penalties to pay. Attempting to see this from the bright-side, I get to be sneezed on many more times in months to come, and I'll possibly break a record for watching the most sessions of that Clifford learning game in a year.
Posted by christina at September 07, 2005 10:48 AM