For reasons not entirely clear to me, Sawyer and I left home during rush hour today to drive 15 miles to Target. I wanted to replace a gift that his Aunt Sarah and Uncle Kevin bought him — a microphone that plays songs for him to sing along to — since it no longer works. He really wants it to work, and gets really excited when it does, but it usually only lasts a song before stopping altogether.
You might be wondering why it no longer works. I watched this entire scene unfold: Sawyer is sitting at the counter in my parents’ kitchen eating breakfast. Sawyer has a cup of juice in one hand and his microphone in the other. Sawyer looks at the microphone. Sawyer looks at the juice. Sawyer smiles. Sawyer dunks the microphone into the juice.
At any rate, you can only buy this microphone from an actual Target store, so off we went in search of a replacement. Of course, to get him there I had to promise that he would see some airplanes. More on that in a bit.
Sawyer was a riot in the toy aisle. I don’t think he’s seen a toy selection like this in a long, long time. He touched everything within his reach, but only demanded that he get a few specific things by saying, “let’s put this one in the cart.”
Sure enough, that car was the one he wanted to bring home!
I heard “look at this car” about a hundred times:
I love it when he bear hugs my leg and tries to drag me somewhere.
After Target, I decided to take him down to the airport. I parked in a lot where I knew the planes would fly overhead. There were surprisingly few tonight, but I managed to catch one on video. The plane and the wind make the audio crack, but Sawyer’s smile at the end is worth it:
After a few more, I drove around to the other side of the airport so he and I could watch planes land over the bay. That was really fun, but unfortunately I left my phone in the car so I didn’t get any video. I finally pulled him away to get it, and then dragged him back to our lucky plane-watching bench, but he was pretty much done at that point. This explains the bizarro pictures to follow.
“Sawyer sit right here” on his half of the bench:
“Dada sit right here” on my half of the bench:
Sunny son:
Emphatically explaining something:
Oh well, rest assured he and I had a ton of fun. I always remember going to watch airplanes land with my dad, it was truly one of my favorite things to do as a kid. I’m thrilled that I could share that same experience with him, especially on his two and a half year birthday. Happy half-birthday, Sawyer!
All in all, it was a banner day. He had his moments, but did very well.
The morning started with a ride in a fancy car. I’m not entirely sure who said it first, but as soon as heard about it that’s all he could say. “Fancy car, fancy car, riding in a fancy car.” It was cheaper than parking at the airport, and better than a cab since they brought a car seat. He loved it:
Especially the complimentary water, which he promptly spilled all over himself, even after Abby emptied most of it out:
Fancy car:
Sawyer wasn’t wild about getting out, fortunately there were airplanes to look forward to:
And how:
Backing up, pickup trucks, and vans:
Once on the plane, Sawyer was even more inquisitive. He looked up every time the pilot addressed us:
That’s me and my boy:
Abby and Sawyer:
Sawyer checking out the wing:
And finally, perhaps the highlight of the day, an escalator:
He and I went up and down no fewer than three times, and would have gone more had the baggage carousel not started. I kinda owed that to him — when we were waiting in line to go through security in San Francisco, he saw an escalator, pointed to it, and said “alligator.” I promised him that he would see another one in Cleveland.
Just the day before he and Abby rode them over and over at the mall. I think he has a new favorite. Come to think of it, that didn’t last long once he saw Mema’s pickup truck! More on that in tomorrow’s post.
Great to be back home in Ohio!
For reasons not entirely clear, Sawyer woke up at 1am last night and did not want to be in his crib. Abby pulled him out and he went right into the living room to play with his toys. I tried to go back to sleep, but eventually got up too. Here’s what I saw after sitting down.
First, Sawyer finishes lining up anything and everything with wheels (listen for his “all done”). He also obsesses about wanting to see the foghorn, or “corn” in his parlance, since he can hear it outside:
Sawyer then takes to playing with his puzzles and continues to be distracted by the foghorn. I tried to convince him that it was me making the sound, but he didn’t buy it:
Fortunately he went right to bed after the second video, and even slept in well past 7am. As entertaining as he was last night, I really hope we don’t have a repeat performance tonight!