CHARLOTTE : father's day.

it was unintentional that my trip fell on father's day weekend. it was planned mostly around the fact that it was the soonest possible weekend i could've gone, thanks to "summer fridays"–where we have half days on fridays in the summer. so much appreciation for my bosses and that decision.

since i started working full time, my luca visits have looked a bit different, but this weekend felt like all the other times before. half day friday, come back on sunday. minus the part where my boss at the restaurant would complain about how my once-a-month trips were so frequent. so much appreciation for not having to work that job anymore.

the other difference between this weekend and those weekends was that luca was in bed and sleeping and i wasn't able to snuggle with him anyway. when he was teeny, T would always have him in the living room when i got there late and whether he was awake or not, i got to wrap my arms around him.

then again, he's not big on snuggling, or being held in general, these days. he crawls now, an actual real and legit crawl, on his hands and knees (as opposed to the army crawl he's been doing). so, places to go and things to see and tables to try to pull himself up with. sometimes he will sit and let you read him two or three pages of a book, and when you aren't actually reading because you think he's not paying attention, he looks up at you like he wants to know where the words are. (i think my heart actually melted into a puddle in that moment.) T says he'll usually pay attention for the whole book, but i'll have to see that to believe it. there are block towers to knock over and tv cords to pull and possible opportunities to escape outside the gate, you know.

on saturday night, he fell asleep while i was giving him his last bottle and then we cuddled for a minute while i tried to sleep-burp him. somewhere along the way, we stopped cuddling. because he needed to be on a sleep schedule, because he needed to learn how to sleep in his crib, because he got into this habit of sleeping in a position that doesn't work with cuddling.

i saw this thing online the other day that said, "do you ever realize that there was a moment when your mom or dad put you down as a baby and never picked you up again?" and it's sort of heartbreaking to think about those things that happen slowly and without you realizing it. he's growing and changing and i am loving it and loving him, but wait when did we stop cuddling? let's still do that sometimes, okay luca?

most of our quality time came by way of trips in the car. he faced backward and i faced forward and we got to have some good face time. we looked at each other and talked to each other and he'd sing to me and put his feet on my arm because his feet need to be touching or holding everything like they're an extra pair of hands. he even claps with his feet, which is adorable but also the most exciting to him.

i'd put my hand out to squish his cheeks between my two fingers or to "beep beep" on his nose with my pointer finger or just to let him hold it (with his hands and feet) and he'd hang on to my fingers or put them in his mouth because he's getting more teeth or point with his little finger at the tattoo on my wrist because it's there and he's really into pointing to things these days.

on saturday, we went to this beer tasting thing at an adventure center. it was lee's pick for a father's day activity and it was sunny and hot and luca was not loving it, as seen by his complete straight faced reaction to anything i said to him, despite the various tones i tried using to get him to crack a smile. but, even still. he didn't fuss or complain. just not many smiles. such a trooper.

on sunday, we had pancakes for breakfast and it turns out that luca is a fan of pancakes. he is showing slightly more interest in the baby foods they feed him, but he still gets that look of disgust with the first bite. lee put a pancake in his mouth to see what would happen next and he actually opened his mouth for the next bite. progress! i guess the first try with pancakes didn't go so well. (shocker.)

later, we went to walk on a trail by the house for another father's day activity. lee is all about the outdoors and i hope he understands that my willingness to spend extended periods of time outside, especially when it involves a sweaty physical activity, means that i like him.

happy father's day, look at how i'm sweating and swatting bugs out of my face for you.

then we got a text from my dad, who had a layover in charlotte, that his flight was cancelled. oh darn, i guess we'll have to spent the rest of father's day hanging out with my dad. !!!

it was killing me that he was so close, and i couldn't see him, and it was father's day! but it all worked out in the end. BEST surprise. by way of a cancelled flight and a massive change of plans but WHO CARES.

luca was pretty stoked by the surprise visit from papa too. more hands to hold! and more arms to prop his feet up on. life is good.

posted on a friday because this deserves all the high fives.