Down in Cincinnati

As I mentioned last week, we went on a trip down to Cincinnati.  We drove down on Thursday.  Emily was very excited to go see Jill.  She got herself all ready, and then kept on encouraging me and Dan to get ready as well.  We got the car packed, got inside, and then Dan and I realized neither of us had taken Emily to the bathroom yet, so we had to get out and go back inside.  Plus, we had forgotten to get directions.  Ten minutes later we were back out in the car, and ready to go.

The trip down took longer than we expected.  We ran into stopped traffic on the freeway before even leaving Detroit.  We detoured around it, but that took some extra time.  Emily fell asleep after we stopped for lunch, and napped for quite some time.  When she woke up, she told me she wanted to go to Jill's house.  She remembered where we were going, which is a new thing for her.  I told her we were going to Jill's, and she seemed happy with that answer.  As long as we were on our way there, she would wait.

Emily kissing Jill; they are not actually sickly, that was the camera

 We got to Cincinnati right before dinner time.  Jill welcomed us at the front door, watching us through the glass storm door until we made it inside.  She was just as eager to see us as Emily was to see her.    "I have a present for you, Emily," she said when we got inside.  Jill is a couple months younger than Emily, but she probably talks more than Emily does.  Emily, her GranB has noted, likes to wait until she can say things right; Jill just likes to talk.  Both are fine, and it is interesting to be around a little talker like Jill.

Emily was less happy to see her little cousin, Danny.  I don't think she knows what to make of just one-year-olds.  She didn't like him following her around, and she didn't like him trying to grab her stuff.  I would watch her struggling to deal with Danny, and think of how it would be different with Tabitha there.  Emily would probably be used to grabby baby fingers, and having a little person trying to join in her fun.  And Danny adored his big sister.  He would lean his head against her while at the dinner table, his face full of joy.  Tabitha loved Emily so much, and I could picture her doing the same thing, so happy to be with her sister.

Danny at the open house

Danny is the cousin closest to Tabitha's age.  They were only three months apart.  I think that I will always watch him and think about what Tabitha would have done.  But I do that with other babies, too.  I see them and think about what we are missing, about my sweet angel baby.  And before Tabitha passed away, I would watch Danny to see what she would be doing next.  Danny has just started walking, and I would have started watching Tabitha to see if she was going to walk soon.

On Friday we stopped by JoAnn's.  I wanted to get some fabric for a quilt; a friend of mine is having a baby in a couple months, and I have something awesome planned.  (Well, yes, I could shop at JoAnn's in Michigan.  There are two near my house.  But it was payday, and we were going shopping anyway.)  Later that day, Jill was getting into my fabric, and I told her it was for a baby that hadn't been born yet.  "For Tabitha?" she asked.  I explained that Tabitha was with Jesus; this was for a different baby.  Her mom had mentioned on her blog that Jill talks about Tabitha still.  Daniel had brought Tabitha's little bee pillow, which he likes to sleep with.  Jill asked about the pillow, and I told her it was Tabitha's.  She seemed to accept that, to file it away in her brain.

On our last morning in Cincinnati, Danny followed Emily up the stairs to the hall outside the bedrooms, which overlooks the living room.  She stood by the railing, and he tried to be like her.  It made for some cute pictures, very much like the ones I got last year.

Danny and Emily

Jill and Emily last year