We are back from our trip!  We had a wonderful time, and Tristan did great on the plane -- all plane rides, actually.  I had enough stuff to entertain him, he only grew bored on the way to the states about 3 hours before landing.  We were both pretty stir-crazy at that point!  We wasted time walking around the plane and playing with cars.  He slept for only one hour on that flight!  On the flight home from the states he slept most of the 8 hours, and I only slept about 1.  We also flew from MI to LA, which was also a great flight for both of us.

I have pictures posted on my regular blog.  I'm too lazy to post them here as well.  Anyway, that's http://www.xanga.com/ilovebakedgoods

Tristan has learned so much this past month, I can't even begin to tell all about it.  He's still obsessed with numbers, moreso since we've been gone.  He's learning how to expand from just counting and identifying numbers to creating numbers (as well as letters) out of objects.  He created letters of the alphabet out of a long stack of Mega Bloks, he is now drawing the alphabet and a few numbers, he counts just about anything in his site, he wants people to hear him say the numbers, if he's showing you a number, he demands that you look and acknowledge the number he is holding, he can count and recognize up to 100, he is learning how to make shapes out of Play-doh. 

His expressive language is progressing beautifully.  He repeats a lot of things that people say, as if he's trying to file it away to remember later.  He's taken to noticing things in the world and pointing them out to me.  It's just amazing and thrilling to be experiencing this progress with him!

Well, I'm tired so that's about it from here...

Crunchy -- if you're reading this -- I hope you had a good time in England! I'm going to look at your blog and try to catch up on your adventures hehe.

Currently Playing The Best Of John Hiatt By John Hiatt see related

Does anyone have any good/fun travel ideas for a 3.5-year-old who will be stuck on an airplane for 8 hours?  We've got the mini Magna Doodle, coloring books, paper to write/draw on, crayons, a small set of Legos, story books and snacks.  Any other suggestions?  I'm not really sure what else we could do that's travel-sized that'll occupy our time and minds (especially Tristan's! I could read a book the entire time if I were "allowed" to).  Keep in mind that he's got expressive language delays, which means a bit of a cognitive delay, so we can't do anything too advanced, like a Q&A session.  He knows numbers up to at least 30 (counting and identifying), knows all your basic colors, knows his alphabet (reciting and identifying), so I could make up some kind of games using those things.  Maybe asking him to count all the red shirts in his sight or something.  He knows basic shapes as well.  We don't have a Game Boy, so that's out.  I'm too cheap to buy one and I don't really want him getting into them right now anyway.  And it'll take up more space than I'm willing to give.  I'm hoping for something interactive for those times when his solitary play grows tiring to him.  Things to distract him with to prevent severe boredom.  I can't predict whether or not he'll sleep or for what length of time, so I am trying to gather ideas for any scenario.  The last time we flew anywhere, it was to Germany and that took a whopping hour lol.  I think we just read him books or something, I don't even remember now, but he had a good time.  Before that, he was 6 months old when we flew here and he required little entertainment.  This is a new experience for me and I need to be as prepared as possible.

I never did check the library for books on airplanes.  Maybe I'll do that this week.  Too bad we couldn't take it with us for the plane ride.  I think he's like me in that he is a visual learner -- he needs to see it to comprehend what he's being taught.  Reading a book before we leave might stick in his mind, but then again it may mean nothing once we close it and go on our way.  Couldn't hurt to get one just for fun, anyway.

Fall is coming!  I can't wait.  We leave in a week and I'll be in Michigan for what I hope will be Autumn-like weather.  I'll be there for a week and then Louisiana for 2 weeks, and then back to Michigan for a week at the begining of October.  And I'll be back home here in time for pumpkin season.  Our travel center on base is going to a pumpkin farm sometime in October, so I think Tristan and I are going to do that.  Well, as long as Rodney's October visit doesn't coincide with it, unless he wants to go with us.  Hm, I'd better get the date so I can let him know about it.  We wanted to go last year and didn't make it, so maybe it's something he'd like to do this year since it's our last one here.  Darn, I just looked at the schedule and the trip is on October 30.  I think that's the day that Rodney leaves.  I'll find out for sure before I get completely bummed out.

Anyway, I am so ready for Fall, that I decided to find websites with various things to do, recipes to make, etc.  Found a plethora of information at About.com Fall Fun.  They have links to crafts for kids, recipes, apple and pupmkin picking, fall foliage, you name it.

My favorite family site is Family Fun.  They have fall-related recipes, crafts, and travel information, plus info on Halloween.

One of my favorite sites for crafts and other educational tools geared toward the preschool and early elementary set, Enchanted Learning, has really cute Fall crafts to make and books that you can print out.