The Divine Aunt Jodi!

At long last, Romi's Auntie arrived in Tucson to meet the little guy. Grandma didn't want to miss out on the family reunion, so she arrived from Los Angeles an hour before Jodi's flight. The three Gludts schlepped to the airport to pick up the crew. The irony is that Romi fell asleep on the way to the airport, and stayed fast asleep as Grandma and then Auntie arrived. Jodi's first glimpse of her little nephew was of him shluffing in his car seat. She was still impressed.

We loaded the half-drugged Grandma (she'd taken a pill to help her relax because she hates flying) and the spaced-out Auntie (there was no air on the plane and she hadn't eaten all day) into the car and headed off to--what else?--eat. We had a great meal at Oregano's and returned home so Jodi could enjoy the Romster in his natural environment. And she definitely enjoyed him! The two hit it off fabulously. Rob BBQ'd for us that night, and Grandma was in her glory, having both her own little chicks with her.

Thursday we left Grandma at home to recuperate and headed up Mount Lemmon. Jodi loved the views and the hiking, and she even braved the bathrooms. Romi had a lovely time collecting sticks, and we found a perfect spot to picnic, complete with a babbling brook. Of course, Auntie couldn't resist taking her water-loving nephew into the "crick" and they spent quite a bit of time braving the cool water.

We warmed up with a cookie buried under ice cream and whipped cream before heading down the hill and out to dinner with the Saxtons and the Parnabys. Friday saw us getting ready for Shabbat and touring Tucson's fancy-schmancy resorts, sans baby, before a wonderful Shabbat dinner. We spent Shabbat afternoon at the Hoffmans, where Auntie got to see just how much of a water baby we have on our hands. The two laughed and splashed and swam and ate and we all had a wonderful time.

On Sunday we all got dolled up, although we forgot to take a photo, and headed out to the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch for the buffet lunch, which we all heartily enjoyed. In fact, we enjoyed so much we never ate dinner, although we did manage to get to Frost for some gelato.

Unfortunately, Jodi chose to go home on Monday. We were all terribly sad to see her go. Romi had gotten so attached he actually followed Jodi around and yelled at her to come back and play with him. He loved playing with her in the inflatable pool, on the living room floor and in the guest room. They had a wonderful time together, although it was far too short!

Random Romi Update
Romi has completely mastered the art of walking and takes off like a flash. He has determined that Ima and Abba know nothing about organization and has taken to rearranging the house on a daily basis. Just so you know, movies go in Tupperware bowls and kitchen drawers, garlic presses and flour sifters go in the living room, ladles go in the bedroom and hairbrushes belong in the office.

The little guy enjoys mimicking all that we do, including using utensils, blowing his nose, brushing his hair, and laying down with his head on a pillow. He is fascinated by noses and likes to touch them. At a recent outing to Barnes and Noble, he had a fabulous time stalking children, and even managed to "catch" one little boy who was quietly sitting and reading a book. He approached slowly, extended his hand and put his finger on his new friend's nose, leaving it there until we rescued the poor kid.

P.S. We recently had to stash the Diaper Champ in Romi's closet. He loved flipping the handle over and over, which was a bit unsanitary but funny so we let it go. We eventually took the "toy" away from him when he started putting his dirty laundry in it!

Camp Roth

The three of us just got back from Romi's first visit to Camp Roth. (Camp Roth is what we call my cousin's home because it reminds us of camp: there is always someone to play with and something to do. For example, within five minutes of arriving, Rob and Romi were in the pool with Bryan, I was lying poolside with Alan, and Sharon was watching Jaclyn and Jordan play tennis.) The flight to Cleveland proved a bit rough. We had a 7:00 a.m. departure out of Phoenix so Motzi Shabbat we headed up to a hotel a few miles from the airport (after bidding farewell to a house full of Shabbat guests!). Romi fell asleep in the car and all was going well, until we got to the hotel room and he woke up and completely refused to go back to sleep. So, after literally about three hours of sleep, we boarded the plane for the direct flight. The upside was the little guy slept on the plane for about two hours, which made the trip pretty easy. As we landed in Cleveland the flight got quite bumpy, which made Romi laugh and smile. Turns out our kidlet loves turbulence.

We retrieved our luggage, picked up the rental car and headed to Sharon's, only to get repeatedly lost. It seems as if my usually reliable sense of direction doesn't work without sleep. We arrived at last and as I said, were all poolside in a matter of minutes. My original plan was to head to the seminar, but I was shattered. Instead we hung out at Camp Roth, and Sharon made us a wonderful dinner that we ate outside, enjoying the Roths, the Mecklers, Marianna and the amazing weather.

Monday I headed off to the seminar and Rob stayed home to play and wait for David and the twins to show up. Everyone enjoyed another beautiful summer day. That night, Stan took Rob and Steven to the baseball game (we got to see them on TV) and the rest of us went out to dinner (Romi actually fell asleep at CPK) before returning home to watch Romi walk around carrying his pants. Oddly enough, that's much more entertaining than you might think.

Tuesday I was back at work. Romi played with his uncle, cousins and Abba until I got home, which is pretty much how Wednesday went too. Wednesday night we went out to kick off Austin's 16th birthday festivities, and Romi got so into it that he stayed up really late partying. (Partying by his definition is running around in his PJs, throwing remote controls.) We had some time to play and enjoy being with everyone on Thursday before heading to the airport. Unfortunately, Romi was not nearly as amiable on the return trip home as he was on the way out, but we all managed and return home safe and sound.

Romi's walking skills have vastly improved and he resorts to crawling far less than he did even a week ago. He still makes his new scrunchy face but that too is losing its appeal. We think he's been shaking his head no, but we aren't totally certain he knows what it means. He does, however, point to what it is he wants, which is helpful but not always the most accurate form of communication. Beryl got him a wonderful new toy: a remote-control car designed for the younger set. He likes the car, he likes to push the bottom to make it make noise, he likes the remote control, but he isn't so fond of the car when we start zooming it around. When we actually remote the remote-control car, he climbs into our laps, alternately fascinated and terrified. The other day he went so far as to push the offending auto under the futon.