I have been fortunate; nothing has been as bad as I expected. One thing I did not expect, and it has been pretty bad—it turns out that hauling a Toot and quite a bit of luggage across the country can really do a number on you when you’re six months pregnant, and I am sore like you wouldn’t believe—but Joey has been flexible and charming, and the Dowager Book has been very sweet to and engaged with him. Thank goodness.
It’s really amazing how well they’ve gotten on, considering; we left our home at 4:30 a.m. and arrived here at 8 p.m.(there’s a time change in there, okay, but I think you really earn those couple of hours when the day has been spent at three airports and on three planes), Joey had no sleep expect for a really unfortunately timed ten-minute nap, and yet he was willing to warm to his grandma almost immediately. He is already calling her “Ama,” which works perfectly to complement my mother’s title of Oma (a German choice). We won’t be here much longer—it’s looking like Joey will leave with me Tuesday morning, instead of with his dad the following day—but we have a chance to show the boy Branson, Missouri. What could be better?
I’m mostly the invisible baby handler, but I don’t mind. As the Dowager Book and I have never really gotten on, it’s almost a relief to be able to just do my part and be ignored. She is never outright rude to me, and I’ll take it. It has been a bit weird to watch her fall for Joey and bear in mind that she pretends that Cricket is dead, but there’s no doing anything about that. I have been able to see some pictures of the Mister as a child, and the resemblance to Cricket is uncanny (the Snerks looks much more like me). I’m hoping to post some side-by-side comparison shots once I get back to civilization.