Emerging Personality

Yesterday, I was having great fun with Hope at lunch. We were playing a little game, apparently started by Nonna, where after every bite of yogurt Hope bites down on the plastic/rubber spoon and won't release it. Of course, she has a smile on her face and this is all in good natured fun.

We recently returned from Disney. Mon and I took the two older kids, while my Nonna and PopPop kept Hope here at our house. Leading up to our departure, Mon and I started to feel these pangs of guilt about leaving Hope at home. We started reading these forums on Disney's website about strategies for taking one year olds (and younger). Even our first days on the monorail, we'd see these families with little tiny babies, and we'd start to think we should have brought Hope. But we soon realized that, while we did miss her, we were able to enjoy do so much more of the parks without her. We were able to stay out later, do rides together instead of taking turns. It was nice. The bitter part (of the ubiquitous "bittersweet") was that upon our arrival home, Hope acted almost as if she forgot who we were. She would cling to Nonna, and acted a bit shy toward Monica and me. I kind of expected this as I received a similar treatment on my return home from my two ski trips this year, when Nonna also came to help out with the kids. But I don't think Mon was ready for this.