World's Cutest Story!

Grant is a little boy who is busy busy learning about the world around him! We’ve been teaching him to point to all of his different body parts and he’s picking them up pretty well. He’s great at finding him foot and his nose, for example. Last night we were all up in this room playing and I started asking him to point to different thing. I started with his nose because he always gets that one and it is good to start off with a slam dunk so he doesn’t get frustrated. After a few parts, I asked him if he could point to his ears and he stuck his little finger up in the air, pointing at something randomly over Taylor’s head. I thought he was just losing interest and so I asked again and said “Point to Grant’s ears” and again he pointed to something random up over Taylor’s head. The third time he did it, Taylor started cracking up. Yup, we’ve raised a true dork. He was pointing to his ears…his Mickey Ears! They are sitting on the top shelf of his bookshelf and he knows what they are and where they live and how to put them on his head. He didn’t seem to understand why we kept asking him to point to his ears over and over when he was clearly doing what he was told. It was a hysterical!

I'm thinking that since there is little interest in trip reports, I'll probably end now. And blog posts will continue to be spotty until we get our new computer. Stupid virus!

Friday, February 6

Today is the day! Grant’s first trip to the Magic Kingdom. Since you all know our family, you know this is a super big deal. We were up with the sun and off to the Ticket and Transportation Center to take the monorail to the park. Taylor and I love “power hour” and had a plan to get through fantasy land before the sleepy head guests even rolled out of bed. We arrived in time to see the little opening number with the train and the characters and headed “Right down the middle of Main Street USA!”. We didn’t stop for photos or enjoying the sights at all, but instead made a beeline for the promise land—DUMBO! I admit it, I love Dumbo. I love all of the “spiny rides” and so taking Grant on Dumbo was something I was really looking forward too. Plus, he was Dumbo for Halloween this year, so the significance of taking him there first was big. We got two elephants together so Pam and David could record this important moment for posterity. As with most plans, this one was over done. We didn’t account for spending the bulk of the ride trying to figure out if David had his finger in front of the lens of the video camera, or for the fact that Grant never once would look up from the up-down controller of the car for Pam to get a good family photo from above. Still, we got some cute footage and checked Dumbo off the list of things to do for the trip.

We hurried through all of the rides in Fantasyland. Grant liked rides, but wasn’t squealing with delight like we might have hoped. He seemed to really enjoy The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and his mom’s favorite, It’s a Small World (no Krissy and Jen, we didn’t pick out a Grant. We can’t do that without you guys!). Grant was definitely tired that day and so as we rode on the Haunted Mansion, he was out before we saw our first Grim Grinning Ghost. This was defintily a good thing because as many of you know, I am a firm believer in naps and worried about him missing his morning nap each day. So Grant and Mommy road Haunted Mansion three times around! Grant was able to catch over 30 minutes of good sleep and I was able to enjoy the changes to the ride since it had been rehabbed. I thought they did a good job enhancing the story of the ride, though still though you needed to ride it a few times before you were able to get a feel for what the story was supposed to be about. I was happy that they didn’t touch my favorite hidden Mickey in the ride on the dining room table, but mostly just happy that they were kind enough to let me keep riding. Grant could have slept for longer, but I just didn’t feel right riding around and around while others waited in line, so after 3 spins we were off to catch up with the group and head out for lunch.

Lunch on Friday was at a favorite of ours, The Plaza Restaurant. This is a hidden gem in the Magic Kingdom. It is a sit down restaurant with air conditioning (not necessary in the frigid weather we were enjoying, but great for most FL days) that is fairly inexpensive. It is mostly salads and sandwiches but costs hardly more than a quick service meal and you get a nice break. For Taylor, this place is a little extra special because it is a cousin to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor where he worked when he was their doing his College Program in the summer of 2000. Taylor and I both enjoyed a burger while David had a ruben (I believe) and Pam had the meal that gave me food envy for the rest of the trip, a Chicken and Strawberry salad. It looked so good! We couldn’t resist partaking in a little ice cream since it is the house specialty and all shared a brownie Sunday and a banana split. Yummy lunch!

Immediately following lunch, I was overruled on timing, and Grant was headed back down Main Street to the Barber Shop for his first haircut. It was very close to naptime I and thought we should wait it out another day or so and go back at a time when he was less likely to have a melt down. It turns out, I was worried over nothing. We waited while a little girl got her first hair cut. We had hoped to have Michal, a good friend of our dear friend RJ, but he had a line so instead we hit Miss Diane’s barber chair. What’s amazing to me is this is just a little hole in the wall in the middle of the Magic Kingdom. There are only two chairs in the whole place and it is just as cute as could be! When it was our turn, we dropped Grant in to the chair and let Miss Diane work her magic. She pulled out her roll of stickers and loaded Grant up! He must have had about 9 on him-arms, torso, and legs. This kept him so happy that he didn’t notice the spray bottle of water coming out or that she was brushing his hair for his very first haircut. Taylor kept the video camera rolling and while I had planned on doing stills (you know me, I have a certain series of shots in mind at all times-it comes from all those years of doing yearbook), someone had to keep on hand on the baby and that is certainly a job for his mom. Pam was nice enough to take over the duties of the camera and got a ton of wonderful pictures. Miss Diane got the first curl clipped and kept right on moving. She trimmed up his long hair on his neck (and just so we are clear, Grant really didn’t need much of a haircut at all. He got it because it was how we could justify taking a 15 month old to Disney World. If we were just getting it cut here in MA, it would have been months before I was willing to part with his sweet baby hair.) and shortened up the long stuff on top as well. She asked if we wanted her to use the clippers as well and we said, sure, why not. It seemed to us like we should do the full deal since this was the showpiece of the vacation. She was sweet-putting the clippers first to Grant’s back so he could become familiar with the vibrations. True to form, my little boy thought it was hilarious and giggled through the whole process. She was able to trim him up far better than I think she anticipated. It was over as fast as it all started. Grant played with his stickers, a dump truck and a comb and couldn’t have been happier. Miss Diane gave him his very special first haircut ears, but he decided to hold them instead as to not knock any of his super cool confetti out of his hair. To be true to the integrity of the story, I should mention that I shed a few tears. Okay, I’ll be honest, I cried from the second he sat in the chair until I got to pick him back up at the end. This really shouldn’t be a shock to any of you as you know that every milestone along the way has been a tough one for me. My little boy is growing up too fast. He’s not a baby anymore at all but runs fearlessly about in the way toddlers do and I can tell you that all too soon he’ll be running out the door to get in a car with friends on the way to his high school graduation. Those of you without kids are laughing at me, those of you with kids are silently nodding your heads thinking that I’m just at the beginning and I have no idea how true a statement this is.

Post haircut, Grant and Mommy when back to the hotel for a much needed nap! It was late in the afternoon and while G likes to nap around 2, it was closer to 4 when he finally laid down. My kiddo is a trooper! After an hour of rest, we went back into the big blue world to catch up with the rest of the family, who had moved to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Taylor had my park pass in his hand, so he came out and met us outside of the gate and we ventured in to show Grant his first glance as DHS. Unfortunately for him, it was merely a passing glance. Taylor had decided that we would see Fantasmic, the light and water spectacular. This was one of his favorite things to do when he was working at the World. The place was packed even an hour before the show and we had to sit in the second to last section, but were happy because folks who arrived 5 minutes after us were standing! Grant stayed with the Grandparents and Taylor and I ventured to the food line in the back of the park. This was a huge letdown! We ended up spending over $40 on hot dogs and soft pretzels and yes, I had to feed my kid his very first hot dog. Good news was he loved it, bad news for him, he won’t be having that kind of junk again for a long time! Grant friended everyone in the surrounding area, especially the guy in front of him who he kept grabbing his shirt and lightly pounding on the back. Thank goodness everyone in Disney is always in a good mood and most people love little kids! The show started and while Grant liked it, he wasn’t totally in love. We think he’ll like it more on his next trip. Taylor and I are Fantasmic geeks (we used the music at our wedding reception!) and so we noticed Disney cutting some corners with the number of character boats used in the show, but I think that Pam, David, and Grant all thought it was cool. Getting out of the show was a bit of a disaster as usual, but this time we had to venture into the dreaded stroller parking lot as well. Taylor took one for the team and went in to fight his way out with the super Maclaren stroller (yes, the best stroller to take to Disney by far!). We wandered slowly through stores and headed out for the night even though the park was open for a bit longer. We would be back to the Studios and were all tired from a long day. It was a good day, and we would all have a good sleep!