The Move

Despite the fact that we are still sleeping in a hotel, we are essentially moved in. Not unpacked, but the apartment is now liveable. We weren't sure how long we'd need to make it a safe space for Nicholas, so we had booked the hotel through tonight. It turns out we could have gone back tonight, but this has worked out well. And since tonight is the last time we'll have reliable access to internet until Thursday (when ours is installed), I figured I should post a quick update.

Nicholas has done really well with the moving process, mostly because my parents have been with him for most of it, keeping him out of the way as well as isolated from the worst of our craziness. And providing him with a lot of fun treats along the way. Not like ice cream and cotton candy treats; more like the chance to go swimming every single day. For Nicholas this is actually a much bigger treat.

Nicholas has spent large chunks of time with one or both of my parents while Joe and I took care of moving-related business, and while he loves my parents the continual abandonments have made him pretty clingy. Each night he needs reassurance that we'll sleep right nearby and then still screams when we leave to go do a few more hours of work at the apartment before going to bed.

But we have done a couple fun activities with all of us. We were going to try to go up to Lexington and Concord on Friday, but in the interest of time went for a short hike at the nearby reservoir instead. Nicholas wasn't too keen on the hike, only making it through by resorting to singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on an endless loop.

From 2011 July

At least he varied the tempo, with he and Joe deciding that this would be a fast one or a slow one and following through. Interestingly, fast also correlates to loud for Nicholas and slow to soft. But the highlight of the hike was when we stumbled upon this beautiful little outcropping with a gorgeous view.

From 2011 July

And more importantly from Nicholas' point of view, lots of rocks to skip (or in his case, throw into the water).

From 2011 July

I don't even want to contemplate how Joe and I would have managed the move without my parents' help, but Nicholas definitely would have fared far worse. They leave in the morning and we'll all move into the new apartment full time--that should be an adventure.

As far as the idea of moving itself, I'm not sure if Nicholas gets it or not. He refers to the new apartment as just that and recognizes when we get close that that is where we are going. And he hasn't asked to go "home" since we got here, I don't think. So maybe he gets it. But I'm really not sure.

He certainly loves his new room, though. He was excited from the first day to label it Nicholas' room and when he came back after the movers arrived he started walking around saying "my stuff in my room." My mom tried to help him unpack his boxes of toys today and while he was excited to see all his toys, he had no interest in the idea of unpacking. He was happy to see the old familiar stuff, but then quickly gravitated towards the new things. Now that his room is so much bigger, we've been able to add a couple of the larger items. We finally opened the easel he got as a birthday present from an aunt and uncle:

From 2011 July

And my mom repainted the little table my grandfather made me when I was Nicholas' age.

From 2011 July

It is the perfect height for him and he loves that he can get on and off of the benches by himself.

Obviously his room is still a work in progress, but you can see the ways in which it is a hybrid of his nursery and a new big boy room.

From 2011 July

And he is obviously very comfortable in it. I'm just hoping that comfort translates into some good sleep tomorrow when we move in completely.

In other moving related news, the two big things worth noting is that we had a saga with getting the carpet replaced before the movers arrived, and I painted a wall in the living room. When we arrived the apartment smelled like dog and had the carpet had some gross looking stains. After I walked outside and sat in the grass for a little while crying, Joe called the management and they agreed to replace it. The only problem is that it was late afternoon and our stuff was scheduled to arrive the next morning. Thanks to some flexibility on the part of both the carpet guy and the movers, it all worked out, but it was a little tense for a bit.

We'll let you know how the rest of the move in goes once we have internet. But so far, so good. Knock on wood.