It has just clicked to SB that we're really going on an airplane soon. He's helped me make a list of what he needs to pack in his suitcase (he has a small boy size wheelie one that can be his carry-on) -- Bunny (of course!), magazines, markers (to write and color in his magazines), snacks, books, pajamas, camera, more snacks, trains, Bunny (yes, SB, we have Bunny on the list. But he has to go with me in my suitcase, Mommy!), books, more trains. He has specifically told me that we need to go to Tesco to buy magazines and that we need to go to the bookshop in YOUT to buy a new book for his suitcase. I already have three magazines for him (one he would normally get anyway, I just haven't taken him to the shop to get it because he'd want to do it and we wouldn't have it for the plane) and he has lots of books to choose from. I suspect, with our two days at my PiL before the trip, that my MiL will get him a book from the little independent bookshop in their town center (she does regularly take him for a new book or has one waiting for him as a surprise). Fortunately he seems to have remembered what I told him a few weeks ago about the whole warren of bunnies not able to go with us and that only Bunny, and maybe one other, can go with us and the rest will stay at Nana's and look after the cats (real cats, not stuffed friends). We also had to check what the in-flight entertainment for November is because, one year on for our last flight, he's STILL talking about what he watched "on the airplane television." I was trying to prepare him that they might not have that program and/or station on the plane but he wasn't having it. Fortunately in-flight still has a CBeebies station and is showing the show he keeps talking about as his airplane program.
Now that he's old enough (and big), I fully expect that border control, on both sides, will ask him questions. So we started talking about that today, so that he wouldn't be afraid/scared of the people in uniform asking him questions. He can say, very confidently that he's going to see Grandmom and Grandad to give them hugs. Thanksgiving seems a foreign concept (ha!). The name of the airport in the States we're going to is full of big words with lots of syllables that he's struggling to get his tongue around when it's full of cold (and oh boy is he full of cold!). He tells people his name (his nickname, that he's known by, and his full name though he needs to be prompted for that). He's still telling everyone he's four and where he lives (the house number and street or the town and sometimes the county). Anything else he should know/be able to say?
This morning SB decided to tell me that he's "four. And I'll be five on my next birthday but I have to get through four first." Yes, SB, you do need to get through four. Then he proceeded to tell me "I'll need a train cake and presents to be five." Oh, do you need a train cake for your birthday, SB? "Yes, Mommy, I need another train cake for my birthday. But I need to get through four first before my next birthday when I'll be five. And I want a train cake to celebrate my birthday." And I thought I planned ahead!
Two nights in a row of not much sleep because of a poorly SB and I feel like I've been hit by a truck.