Saturday, May 22, 2010

Aruba Day One: Notes from the Happy Island

TG stares at the swimming pool and exclaims, 'Big Bathtub'.
She woke up at 4:30am with me a hot mess. She wouldn't stay asleep without me.
Hence my vacation started early. My normal, put away dishes, throw out recyclables, tidy house routine before I leave was thrown out the door. This may be a real vacation.
No food just 4 ounces of squash and a container of whole wheat bunnies
plane ride she was great. plane was huge but narrow. Spent most of the time asleep. Nursed once. Decided 4 hour plane ride is about the max I can take right now with a toddler.
Her congestion still there.
It's very humid in Aruba. The saving grace is the breeze.
Both DH and I are extremely cranky but we're surprisingly holding up.
Too hot for DH to explore outside.
Rented a car, thanks to DH's smarts.
The island seems small and the people extremely nice.
Lots of jewelry stores. Was told by a native to avoid the non haggling brands and stick with native stores and develop relationships for better deals on subsequent trips.
TG's meals have been erratic but so have her naps. More so here than at home I'm following her cues.
Worst was when she was so hungry she was crying for a banana and I had no provisions. We just landed and it took a while for DH to get the rent a car. We finally found a really tiny supermarket, I snagged some cheese and banana and she ate nearly the whole banana and two hunking triangles of cheese.
Her dinner was just french fries but I didn't fight it. We went to Ruth Chris' for dinner. After such a long day it was nice to have a special meal together. At the restaurant she asked for us to go to bed so I brought her up right after.
She passed out immediately.
Oh, I love how she knows the word for milk in Cantonese so now we're even more discreet out in public.
She immediately passed out after DH found her Jay Raffe in the car. Apparently we left it there at 4pm and we didn't notice it was gone until 7pm. There was so much to explore and see that she completely forgot about him until she wanted to go to bed.
Interesting facts about my 22 month daughter: She loves playing with the corded telephone. She has actual conversations I can understand. She ends all the calls with, "Uh Huh. Ok, See you Tomorrow. Bye Bye." We unplugged it from the connection so she can play freely.
She also figured out how to open the hotel safe. Not even two and a safe cracker. I"m taking this opportunity now to teach her numbers again by changing the numbers daily and having her repeat them outloud while pressing.
She pooped twice, I said twice since we got to the hotel. Apparently the plane ride, banana, apple, squash, carrots, cheese and scrambled eggs went right through her.
She loves the airport. She stood in front of the window by the gate and watched the frenetic organization outdoors. Afterwards, I took our Richard Scarry Airport book out and we recapped some of the trucks and conveyor belts and planes that we saw.
Funny thing happened as we were taxing to the runway, I spied a luggage truck drop luggage on the tarmac. It looked just like the Richard Scarry scene.
She can climb down from a hotel bed. We were unable to get a King so we have pillows stacked all around the perimeter while she sleeps. DH and I flank her on either side as well. It's tight but it's cozy.
We all passed out pretty quickly afterwards. DH hasn't slept since two days ago and I have been up since 3am.
I did get to indulge and watch bits and pieces of movies. I have no idea what some of them are but it was nice to glaze over. I haven't done that in a long time.