Sarah, and Leo and I drove to Columbia on a Thursday. Leo doesn’t usually get screen time but he is almost 2 so Sarah bought some episodes of Sesame Street, loaded them to an iPad and taped the pad to the mirror in front of his car seat and it kept him entertained for hours. Elmo! Elmo! He is talking more and more, a lot of the time we know what he is saying too.
We stopped at Culver’s for lunch. Leo got a kids meal hamburger with applesauce. He ate the applesauce with a spoon beautifully. Sarah put some ketchup in a cup so he could dip his burger in it. But he took his spoon and started eating the ketchup with it. “Ew!” We both exclaimed and he looked at us curiously as “hey, why not!”
After lunch it was naptime. Sarah had a work call and I was driving so poor Leo has to cry and scream in his car seat until he finally fell asleep. He then slept for a good 2 hours though. Then I got in the back, blew bubbles, offered snacks, told stories, before we gave Street one more shot. It was a long day for a little boy, but he did great.
We got to Columbia around 5:45. Sarah dropped me off at Joanne’s and went off to have dinner with Maice, her high school bestie.
Mark and Mary came and got me and Joanne for dinner. We tried to go to Flyover but the wait was too long so we went to Cherry Street Wine Cellar instead. No wait but the service was so slow we might as well have stayed at Flyover. Oh well!
We got back to Joanne’s around 8:30 and I fell in bed shortly after. I was tired! It had been a long day.
Friday I woke up a little after 6. Had a banana and a piece of toast and some coffee, then dilly dallied around before going for a run. 4x.5 miles at 5k pace. My intervals still seem very slow but I’m not going to worry about it, but keep working and do the best I can. At the very end of the run I slipped on black ice right in front of Joanne’s. Darn it! Cut my knee but seems like no major harm done, knock on wood.
Sarah, Dan, Kelsey and Leo came over to get me. We drove to campus, showed Kelsey and Leo the columns, Jesse Hall, Lowry Mall.
Then we walked over to the CDL, told them Sarah and Daniel were alums and they let us inside. Leo was charmed and we were too. It was different, and still the same. To Daniel and Sarah it seemed small, haha. There was a teacher that remembered Sarah! Sarah had been her child to study when she was a student long ago! We walked out to the playground that I remembered as a magical place. Leo liked the slides even though they weren’t fast at all.
Then we went to Shakespeare’s for lunch. Got our usual, veggie half, pepperoni and pepper jack other half. Leo was starving and ate a lot of pizza.
I did too, I was hungry! Got some Shakespeare’s cups to take home, and then left them at Joanne’s, sigh. Leo played with dough and watched pizza being made, a rite of passage for little kids at Shakespeare’s. Eventually he started to lose it, time for a nap.
That evening everyone came over to Joanne’s for gumbo. Leo liked all the little stools in the living room and the gumbo too. Lee finally showed up around 6:30. He had been on a business trip in Utah all week and it was nice to finally see my husband again. We told Leo that one of his favorite people was about to show up and Lee got a great big smile when he walked in the door.
Saturday I went for another run, 5 easy miles to the rail trail and back. From Joanne's house this route involves a great big big hill. The hill was very snowy and icy but I was very careful!. I decided at the last minute to buy a ticket to the football game so I could hang out with Dan and Kelsey. Kelsey got Dan football tickets for his birthday so their tickets were row 2 right on the 50 yard line. My seat was behind them, by about 70 rows, but for the first quarter I sat with them, until whoever was sitting next to them decided to quit tailgating and come watch the game.
The game was fun, even though Mizzou lost. They started off the season well and got people’s hopes up and then started losing, but that’s Mizzou, we’re used to it.
Being up so close we could see the golden girls and their dance moves, watch the players on the sidelines. I used to be completely football ignorant but I guess I understand it now because I didn’t have any trouble following the game.
After I was kicked out of my seat I went up and sat in my real seat. You could really see the field and it was a great place to watch marching Mizzou and the halftime show. I got a bbq sandwich for lunch, and I think it made me sick later, although that could have been the Andes hot fudge sundae I had after halftime...
By the end of the third quarter Lee texted that they could pick us up on their way back from Fayette and we were ready to leave.
We headed out to Mark and Mary’s. Elsa and Sam were there and it was fun to talk to them, build toddler tinker toys with Leo, just get a chance to visit with everyone.
Sam started to read Leo a story but Leo took over, and read a story to Sam instead. It was pretty funny, the facial expressions and dramatic word inflections, just like he was reading.
Mary fed us pulled pork, polenta and a salad, all really great. Leo loved the polenta and ate it beautifully with his spoon. He also licked the butter off his bread, something I have often wanted to do myself!
Sunday morning we went back to Mark and Mary’s for brunch and then it was time to start the long drive back to Minnesota. This time we had 3 drivers and someone was always sitting in the back with Leo.
He watched lots and lots of Sesame Street and Elmo’s world, took a good nap, and enjoyed lunch at Panera’s. He licked the peanut butter and jelly off his bread, ate his yogurt, and flirted with the fussy baby at the next table. We took another break later in the afternoon and let him stretch his legs. As we got back in the car we told him that he could have a snack and watch more Elmo and he said, “Snack, Elmo, Leo happy!” Yes indeed.
