Postcards

I felt inspired by this post to write my own postcards post.

Andrew loves to talk on the phone. Quite frankly, so do I. And my mom is one of my favorite people to chat with during the day...and I do AT LEAST once a day. She actually probably screens her calls, because, really, who wants to hear that your grandchildren's lives are in danger more than once a day?

Anyhoo...let's connect the dots. I talk to my mom each day, Andrew likes to talk on the phone, therefore...Andrew talks to Memere on the phone a lot. God bless her. Andrew is getting better about having actual conversations on the phone. So I hope it's not as painful as a few months ago when he would say hello and then start looking around the room for something to talk about. For example:

Last summer:
Memere- Hi Andrew! How are you?
Andrew- Memere! (pause as he looks frantically around the room). Red car. Playdoh. Cardinal in the tree.
Memere- Huh?

etc etc etc

This Tuesday:
Memere- Hi Andrew! What are you doing?
Andrew- Talking to you. How's Pepere?
M- We're on vacation with Uncle Chuck.
A- He's your big brother.
M- Yup. I'm sending you a postcard in the mail.
A- Mail! I'll go look for it.

etc etc etc

Yes, my mother proclaimed that she was sending him mail on Tuesday. At least I think it was Tuesday...it feels like it was 3 weeks ago. Because immediately after hanging up with her that morning, he insisted on looking in the mailbox for this promised prize. Of course, there was nothing there. But at least there was no mail at all. When the actual mail came later in the day, Andrew looked frantically for his letter. Imagine his shock and disappointment that there were only letters for Mommy and Daddy. And so, since it was 5:00 and he'd taken no nap...he had a HUGE meltdown. About the mail. Guess what? Repeat performance Wednesday. And again Thursday. I'm talking down on the floor, crying hysterically. We tried to explain that Memere probably SENT the letter Tuesday, but it would take a few days to arrive. We tried to explain that all Daddy and Mommy were getting were bills, which are no fun at all.

Finally, today, the postcards came in the mail (THANK GOD!). He was THRILLED. Carried it around with him like a trophy. And a postcard also came for Lily...which also thrilled him. He must have shown her the card lots of times...although he did get upset when she tried to eat it. He also must have asked me 3 times how to open the card. Postcards are a new concept for him.

Lesson to learn? Don't ever tell a pre-schooler something far in advance. Especially a pre-schooler with a long memory. ;)