Henry spent the first two weeks of February traveling around the country with me on various work trips. I'm glad I've decided to leave my job, because I certainly couldn't continue like that. Not that we didn't have fun.
Christian came along for a week while we went to Vegas ("What are you going to do with a baby in Vegas?) and then San Francisco. The annoying part about Vegas was that the Golden Nugget -- the closest hotel to the new furniture market -- is in the old downtown area, miles away from the strip. I had pictured Christian walking around all the different new casinos during the day while I was at work, showing Henry the lights (it's really not much different from lots of those baby distractors -- Exersaucers and such). We even found a website with info on what to do with a baby, which had wonderful suggestions like going to see the sharks at Mandalay Bay. Instead, Christian wandered around Fremont Street with Henry in the Baby Bjorn. The upside is that Henry made lots of friends, which is his favorite thing to do lately. He loves being carted around at close to adult level in the front carrier, because people invariably look at him and just grin, and he grins back. It's so wonderful to see how social he's getting, and this trip really cemented that.
On the second day in Vegas, Henry had a late-morning meltdown after he failed to nap adequately while I was off at the market. I returned at lunch to find a very desperate Christian and a tearful Henry, but boobs settled him down and he managed to drift off. After a week of having to tend to Henry all day, I think Christian a) has a much better understanding of what my days are like, and b) came back much more closely bonded with his son. Suddenly he was telling me what this cry or that look meant. It was really wonderful to see.
Henry, meanwhile, had a fantastic time learning how to sit up in a king-sized bed, pushing himself up on the floor (carpet!) and goofing off in the full-length mirrors on the closet, and even watching his first tv (he got a real kick out of the puppets on 'Between the Lions' and I just couldn't really see what was wrong with letting him watch it.
It was an endless trip from Vegas to San Fran, via Salt Lake City, which involved spending the entire afternoon at the Las Vegas airport when we couldn't catch an afternoon flight. That afternoon was spent in desperate pursuit of getting Henry to nap, which never happened, and I was panicked that he'd scream the whole way on the flight. We boarded the plane early (I now completely understand how necessary that is with a baby, with all the pieces you have to put away and get out to have ready -- toys, bottles, binkies, etc.), and as the rest of the full flight was boarding, Henry began to scream at the absolute top of his lungs. I could feel the burning stares as people silently filed by to their seats, hoping, I'm quite sure, that they were miles behind us at the bakc of the plane. In the end, he closed his eyes and went to sleep before we even took off.
Christian followed along with me as I visited baby retailers in San Francisco, and we got some time in the evenings to see friends like Danny and Jen. Henry loved them both, of course.
The last day we went with Jen to Muir Woods, which was awe-inspiring to us adults, and I think to Henry as well. He loves to be outside, and he stayed awake and alert the entire time. We drove afterwards down the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at Stinson Beach after Henry had drifted off in the car, but alas, he woke up as soon as the car stopped. Still, we got out and wheeled the carseat onto the beach, feeding Henry some sweet potatoes in his carseat on the sand. It was a lot for him to take in. I hope we can get back when he gets bigger, and can splash around in the waves and really take in the Redwoods. Meanwhile, Jen bought him his first souvenier t-shirt from Muir Woods, and a ladybug fingerpuppet which he loves tracking, and a board book about The Tallest Tree.
The trip back to Greensboro was long as well, and again, not in the ways I expected. We met ZZ Packer in the airport -- she has a son almost the same age as Henry and we got to talking. She was on her way to Wilmington to teach for a month, and somehow it was inspiring to meet her on our flight, in the same situation as me. Maybe I'll get back to writing fiction when my days free up after my job is through...
Our connecting flight out of Atlanta was broken, the pilot came out and told us after we were all settled into our seats. Five hours later we finally got a new plane to Greensboro for the last 45 minute flight home. During the wait, I walked up and down the corridors in ATL holding Henry out in front of me, and he shrieked with happiness to see so many people. It was lovely to see all these harried faces suddenly transformed into smiles when the saw Henry and heard his happy noises.
That was Sunday. On Friday, my mom, Henry and I headed up to New York, where I was sitting on a conference panel for the Toy Industry Association, and then attending Toy Fair. We holed up at the Roger Williams, after our favorite Park South Hotel was full up, and Henry quickly made friends with all the staff there. I think he was beginning to get used to all these different hotel rooms and big cities filled with people walking around -- it must be quite exciting for a 6-month-old.
While I went to my panel on Saturday, my mom took Henry to the Natural History Museum, which was a bit of a disaster. He screamed when he was taken into the room with all the stuffed African animals -- I guess it looked quite scary to him to see these giant, life-sized elephants and things staring down at him. My mom finally got him to a butterfly room, filled with 90-degree temperatures and butterflies flying everywhere, which completely delighted him. When I met up with her, he had just fallen asleep in her arms and she looked completely wiped. As we left the museum, carefully tranferring Henry to the stroller so as not to wake him up, the snow flurries were starting. We decided to sit and have a coffee, then caught a cab back to our hotel once Henry woke up. It's quite difficult navigating New York with a baby if you're not just walking -- getting the stroller folded, the Baby Bjorn on and H. in it (seems to be the safest way to travel in a cab), and then me dragging a laptop, plus the diaper bag, along with us. By the time we got to our hotel, we were all a bit exhausted, and as the blizzard was beginning that night, we just went across the street for sushi -- we were the only ones.
Henry woke up at 6 a.m. the next morning, and the snow was falling thickly. We went down to the breakfast area so I could get some coffee in me, and it was really magical watching this blizzard unfold outside the Roger Williams' huge, tall windows. I had to make my way to Javits later that day, and miraculously the doorman found me a cab, which took me there, skidding all the way. My mom and Henry holed up at the hotel.
The next day, we all walked down to the Toy Building on 5th Ave. and Broadway, and my mom had coffee and breakfast while Henry slept in the stroller and I went to some appointments. When I was done, we wandered down to Union Square, pushing the stroller through piles of dirty slush. As the day wore on and the sun did its magic, the snow began melting into icy puddles at every crosswalk, and you simply had to walk through them -- they were too large to jump. So with wet, icy feet, we made our way around New York, and thought it entirely appropriate to head to someplace called Pete's Tavern that my mom knew, which is apparantly the oldest bar in New York. We had a pint each (not Henry) of their beer, which was amazingly good, and I had my mom take a photo of Henry and me. I think, hope, that when he gets older, he'll look at that and think what a hip mom he had, who took him to the oldest bar in New York when he was six months old, but perhaps he'll rebel in his own way, turning conservative and talking about what an irresponsible lush I must have been.
While the snow had stopped, our flight that night out of LaGuardia was delayed first an hour, and in the end closer to five. We didn't get back to Greensboro till 3 a.m., but again, luckily Henry slept first in his stroller at the airport and then in my arms on the plane. I'm lucky to have such an easy baby in most ways. I took the next day off work, and napped every time H. did during the day -- it was like being on maternity leave all over again.
I've just had my first weekend at home in a month, and it was amazingly wonderful to do not much of anything all day today, straightening up the house, doing laundry, going for a walk with the dogs and Henry in the stroller, on a mission to get to Bestway and buy horseradish for some cold London Broil for dinner.
We're off to England the 2nd of March, but I feel like Henry is well-prepared for the travelling after this past month. Soon, he'll have his first passport stamp!
