Christmas Nana

Emma was so excited yesterday to pick up Nana. The house was a real disaster Saturday morning. It had been a couple weeks since I had done a very thorough cleaning. But, the family was very helpful in getting ready for the arrival of Nana. Emma's room could not even be stepped into, it was so messy. I told her to clean her room and a look of dismay clouded over her face. So, I tried a different approach. I said, "Why don't you clean your room since we have to pick up Nana today." She got the biggest smile on her face! She said, "Yeah, we have to get Nana so we can have Christmas."

We've been getting a lot of gifts in the mail over the last few weeks and Emma's been helping me wrap them. Since Jason is deploying before Christmas, we decided to have an early Christmas for just him. We got his gifts and he's getting ours. Nana Karen is involved in this early holiday, as well, since she happens to be here. Nana's arrival was the best gauge I had for telling Emma when we would be able to open the gifts. She's been a little confused though, because I've also been getting a few gifts for regular Christmas. I told Emma we would open those gifts when we were with Jammy. So, yesterday morning Emma kept saying we were going to have Christmas with Nana and then we were going to see Jammy and have Christmas with her.

I've always tried to be careful when I give Emma good news about something because I don't want her to get disappointed when something falls through. And as it turned out, while Nana was still coming, I told Emma way to early. We didn't have to go pick her up from the airport until the evening. We had several errands to run through out the day and every time we got back in the car, Emma said, "Let's just go get Nana." By three o clock, the house was very clean and we had three hours to wait before we could leave. So, Emma had to play with a minimal amount of toys for three hours straight. She did a pretty good job, though. And it was great having the Nana excuse. "No, don't get that out because we have to go get Nana." And every time I would say something like that Emma would regain her excitement. She was a very giddy girl all evening.

On the way to the airport, Emma slept. I was thankful she was getting in a little nap. The drive is two hours so it was a pretty good rest for her and she definitely needed it. She was starting to get grumpy and sassy towards the end of the evening. We left earlier than we needed to out of boredom and now that we live in Anacortes it doesn't take as long to get to the airport. So, we arrived really early and had to wait in the waiting lot. I had a nasty headache by this time and Jason was exhausted. Emma, however, was wide awake. Jason and I tried to get a little nap in while Emma sat patiently in the back for us to make our move.

Fortunately, Nana's plane arrived early. Poor Emma thought we were going to be getting on a plane. So  she was a little disappointed when we simply pulled up to the curb. There were these rent-a-cops on these little scooters directing traffic right where we were supposed to pick up Karen. So, we couldn't park it and we didn't see her at first. We drove off to drive around again and as we were driving off we got a phone call from Karen saying, "Wait! I'm here!" (Those are my words.)

We finally picked Nana Karen up in the truck. Emma was beside herself with glee. She was giggling uncontrollably and, of course, talking up a storm. There was so much she had to get Nana caught up on. The life of a three year old is so busy. I had to chime in every so often to explain the context of what Emma was talking about. As her mother, I've never felt confused with our conversations; but as she talked with someone who isn't around much it was amazing how "in the know" I am with Emma's ramblings. I had to explain how when Emma says "yesterday" she simply means, it happened in the past. It could be as early as an hour ago or a month ago. If you aren't around her that often, it can be hard to decipher.

Emma's main topic of conversation was how she was scared of owls. She had lots of questions as to whether Karen was scared of owls when she was a kid and she proceeded to tell Karen that God will keep you safe from the owls. I also had to explain Emma's thinking on God, though, because as Emma was telling Karen about God, I realized how confusing it could be if you didn't know Emma. She went through this owl phase (which I thought was over) where every night she was waking up scared of owls. I told her that if she woke up scared, all she had to do was pray to God and ask him to watch over her and keep her safe. Emma would complain about how that wouldn't work because God isn't here. So, I explained how God is here, though we can't see him. I told Emma that he lived in Heaven which was part of the sky, but it was so high up past the clouds that we couldn't see him. Emma took that to mean, the Moon. Since then, I'm starting to discover that Emma is less scared when the moon is out. If the moon is hidden by the clouds or not there, she asks a lot of questions about where the moon is and corresponds it with God. It's kind of cute. And I think it's precious the way her mind is trying to figure out God. I think the connection she has made with God and the moon is kind of neat and I can see how as a kid, it would be comforting to think of it in that way.

Karen decided to spend the first night with us in the RV so she didn't have to check into her hotel late. Our pull out couches don't pull out right now. We took away that feature so that we could have a more comfortable couch. So, she bunked with Emma last night. As Jason and I laid in bed doing our nightly routine, we hear Emma chattering away at Nana and for all the traveling she did, Nana seemed to be pretty cheery in her responses. But, then Nana got quieter, Emma was singing, then Emma was talking, then back to singing and finally silence. So much exciting, new activity for our little Tiny. The next ten days are going to be a whirl wind of...Emma. She gets so overwhelmed with excitement and energy when Nana visits. Jason and I look forward to our free and very willing babysitter for a couple date nights while she's here.

Now, how will I explain to Emma that, though Nana is here, we still can't do Christmas for a few days?