Our Disney Trip

Well, as hard as I tried I can't remember all of the things I wanted to blog about from our Disney trip. We had fun. Had some undesirable behavior the first day and a half but then it got dramatically better. Not sure what turned them around (they were both being stinkers) but things really got better. Then, once we landed back at home we hit another ugly spot that was clearly from fatigue. They slept 12 hrs last night and are back to their sweet selves today. Thankfully!

A few tidbits that I can remember:

Jake pointed out Splash Mountain (a water ride) and said that it was just like at Silver Dollar City (a theme park here in MO).

Jake and Lydia kept getting in these little spats over things like when we'd say "Who wants to go have fun at Disney World?" They'd argue "Me!" "No, me!" "No, me!" We found ourselves explaining over and over again that they could both have fun. That sometimes they could both have or do whatever we were talking about. Well, today on our way to the bank I asked "Who wants a sucker?" Jake said, "I do and Lydia does. We BOTH do!" Craig and I looked at each other and cracked up because he GOT IT! (finally--we only repeated that about 4 million times during the week!)

We used waiting in lines as an opportunity to reference the person in front of us and move up when they moved up, and telling us when to move up with him. This gave him something to do in line and kept him caught up with the people in front of him. In addition, we turned it into a fun little game. We also worked on stopping and referencing us within a closer distance than he has been. He tends to get too far ahead of us sometimes for our comfort level. So, when he'd stop we'd comment about how we liked how we could still see him or if his distance made me scared and worried. He was so proud when he figured out that closer was better and that he was being successful. This was good for Lydia too who closely follows her brother's lead. At one point Jake got away from me and felt lost for a few seconds. I could see him but he thought he had lost me and I let him feel a bit lost for about 10 seconds or so. He started looking frantic and calling for me. I let him do that for a second but then he decided to run away from where I was standing to go look for me. I called his name and he came right back looking very relieved. I commented that we lost each other for a minute and that I felt scared and I think he did too. He said "Ya, mom. I called for you and I couldn't find you. I lost you. I've gotcha now." I think that really made an impression on him. When we've tried that out and about in our community I think he is too comfortable with familiar surroundings to let it phase him. It also isn't generally as crowded. Disney World was a different ballgame. He didn't know his way around, wasn't familiar with it, and knew that we were very far away from home. He held my hand a lot more when we were out today in our own community. (BTW, I never let him get out of my sight. I did let myself get out of his.)

He also compared his memory of staying in a hotel in MN earlier this year to staying in a hotel at Disney. Just that the two hotel rooms were just like one another.

That is all I can remember right now. If I think of anything else I'll write more later.