Baby girl had a great time with them. She even loved seeing the dogs (two little Malteses) who barked incessantly at her since the moment we walked in the door. The male dog was terrified of the baby and pretty much kept his distance. He was probably thinking I don't know what kind of breed that hairless creature is, but it makes funny noises and I don't trust it. The female, on the other hand, was not having any of it and she made sure to voice her opinion. That tiny little 3 lb pup sniffed her up and down and barked and barked and barked. Who do you think you are, being all cute, coming into MY house, cuddling my MY parents? I'm the cute one here! This is MY palace! So take your diapers and your wipes, and your... Oh, what's this? A stuffed animal? I'll be taking that...
It was pretty funny, actually. The more she barked at the baby, the more the baby smiled and laughed and even started yelling back to her.
Dog: I'm cuter!
Baby: No, I'm cuter!
Dog: No, I'm cuter!
Baby: haha, this is fun!
(At least that's how I imagined it)
But the dog took it very seriously and eventually retreated to her perch on top of the couch where she could carefully oversee this intruder on her territory. This went on the whole weekend. I tried channeling my inner Cezar Milan and use some dog whisperer techniques. That worked for about 10 minutes, and then it was round 2 of Baby vs. Dog. I'm not sure who won, but baby sure had fun playing!
We had beautiful weather, so we did a lot of stuff outdoors. We met my sister, her husband and kids at the zoo and had lunch. Yay! Her first trip to the zoo! She will have so much fun looking at the animals... I thought. She slept in her stroller the whole time. Oh well, I'm still putting it on her calendar! She woke up in time for lunch and got to hang out with her cousins, who she just adores, while my uncle made friends with an 84 year old Italian man who showed us a black and white photo of his wife back in the day and told us that "she's much heavier now." That's one of my favorite things about my uncle. He makes friends wherever he goes. He's a magnet for interesting characters, like Huey on the train to Disney World, or Peter at the gas station, and Ernie from PSE&G.
The next day we took a nice long walk in the park and baby girl took her first ride in a swing. By that I mean she sat uncomfortably in a swing that was obviously too big for her while we took pictures of her as she slowly slouched deeper and deeper into the contraption. So cute! She wasn't amused.
Before we left we went out to lunch. "Do you want Italian or Chinese?" my uncle asked. "The Italian place is just down the road and the Chinese place is about five minutes away." I could tell he really wanted Chinese so we went with that. We piled into the car and headed out to lunch.
"It's just 10 minutes down the road." my uncle said. Wait, I thought you said five. Oh well, no big deal... 10 minutes later... "Are we there yet?" My husband asked, watching the gas gauge approach E. "is it within 20 miles because we're running out of gas?" To which my uncle replied, "oh yeah, it's just 15 minutes away." Apparently, in NJ the laws of time and space don't apply. Maybe that's why NJ drivers are notorious for cutting you off and yielding at stop signs. Because if your destination is 10 minutes away, you need to step on it to make sure you get there in 30, and that car at your front bumper is actually a mile away. In fact, the side view mirrors on NJ vehicles read OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE AT LEAST 30 YARDS FARTHER THAN THEY APPEAR, SO GO AHEAD AND DRIVE AS THOUGH THEY ARE NOT EVEN THERE.
So we keep driving, with the baby in the back seat screeching like a wild banshee. "Is she ok back there?" My uncle asked. "Oh, yeah. She's happy as can be. That's just what she does from time to time." She likes the sound of her own voice, especially when we're in a confined space or somewhere public. My Aunt was in hysterics watching her. She sang to her some songs from her childhood, and some she made up on the spot about driving all around the state of NJ to get Chinese food. Anything to keep her entertained! Baby Girl sang right along with her!
40 minutes later, we reach our dining destination, with 3 miles of gas left to spare. We had a delicious lunch, followed by yummy frozen yogurt. We always have a good time with them, filled with lots of laughs. I wish we all lived closer to each other, but these trips make great memories and hilarious stories to tell for years to come!
Can you guess which cups belong to my health-nut, vitamin-crazed, fitness guru Aunt & Uncle, which one is mine, and which one is my hubby's? If you say mine is the gallon of overflowing chocolate and toppings, I'll break your neck!
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