12.21.14 - Cancun trip

Jill was right. The ocean was really beautiful. These different shades of blues, and sometimes purples, got darker and darker as the ocean got deeper. Near sunset the clouds were also shades of purple. One of my favorite parts of the first few days was just going and sitting near the water and listening to the waves. One day Jill and I just stood in the surf and talked for a long time, and it was so pleasant. Some nights after Rocket fell asleep I’d sit on our room’s balcony and listen to and watch the waves at night.

Rocket in front of the colorful ocean.

I loved that the air wasn’t too hot; it was just warmly comfortable. And the water was also comfortable—not too cold for swimming. It was a little humid the last day or so we were there, which made me realize all the more how nice it had been the rest of the week.

I also loved how there were hardly any other guests at the hotel for most of our stay. In a full week I probably only shared the elevator 4-5 times. We got our pick of seats by the pool and on the beach, and usually even by the hot tub.

Our cleaning lady added nice little touches like putting a photograph I’d left out in a little stand or putting the roses we got from one dinner in a water bottle. Oh, and they always gave us new water bottles. Plenty of water.

The shower was really nice too. Great pressure, great heat.  A lot of hotel showers have weak water pressure which, with my hair, can be frustrating. This shower felt wonderful. Plus I brought my own ample shampoo and conditioner since I had to check a bag anyway. That helps.

Oh, and it was great having a big, soft, California King-sized bed to myself every night. Tons of space. A pillow on either side to hold. I slept like a rock. That was nice.

It was good spending so much time with Rocket. Sure, sometimes he’s a little contradictory or whiny, but not terribly and he correct quickly. He’s generally a good and obedient kid, and pretty cute. I liked the little routines we established. We’d brush our teeth at the same time, and I could see him watching how I brushed mine and trying to imitate. He would brush his a lot longer if I was brushing mine simultaneously, apparently so we could spit together. He quickly learned to jump down from the bathroom counter on his own, and after a few days he learned how to slowly let himself down while turning around so he landed facing the counter. And every night he’d climb into his (slightly too small) crib and throw the small pillows out of it and over my laptop on the big bed. And we’d talk about how silly it was that the cleaning lady kept putting them back.

Bathrobe buddies.

I’m continually impressed with his ability to self-entertain. Pretty much if he had any one of his toy planes, helicopters, or boats—or even if he had some other small object he could “shoot” like a gun—he was set. He’d just take the toy or object all over the place and pretend to shoot, explode, or crash things, and he could do this for quite a while, easily 20 minutes at a time. That made watching him pretty easy too.

Explosion sounds.

He continually ran ahead of me to the elevators to call for them. Then we’d guess which of the two elevators would show up first. He also liked to press the buttons inside—he could only reach the lobby- and pool-level buttons on his own; sometimes I held him up to hit level 5 (our floor), but I got over that. He also started hitting the close door button, sometimes in a hurry to hit it before the doors closed fully on their own. Some of the cuter moments were when we were going from our hotel room to the pool, and he’d be standing in the elevator in just his swim trunks and goggles (already on and ready to go) holding his inner tube, all set. I wish I’d gotten a picture of that!

I also showed him how to use our room key and he would run ahead and open our hotel room too. He enjoyed it, and it made things ever so slightly easier for me too.

He loved the beach (even though he seemed to forget that fact each morning). I showed him how to draw near the surf and then watch the water wash his drawings away. He drew a lot of R’s (sometimes they’d just be P’s before the water hit) and “race tracks” (vaguely circle-shaped drawings) and even some trumpets, for some reason. Sometimes he’d look for seashells. The first few days he just threw them back into the ocean, but then he wanted to save some to eventually give to Sola. One of the first days there were some older kids digging a fairly deep hole at the beach, and Rocket loved that. After they left he climbed down in it, even though he couldn’t get back out on his own. Jill helped Rocket dig his own hole (much smaller) and he seemed to enjoy standing in that too.

Rocket knew how to adjust the beach chairs’ heights, and would happily adjust any one of ours if we asked. When we were on the beach we had 4 chairs, one for each of us, but since Rocket never sat in his anyway he would stand behind it continually adjusting the height while saying it was a simulator (he’s apparently been on a simulator on an aircraft carrier in San Diego). Of course while he messed with it he made a lot more shooting sounds.

Yesterday Rocket and I spent a good 20 or 30 minutes in our hotel room playing “server”—Rocket was the server and he kept bringing me “menus” and different kinds of “food” until I insisted I was full. Then he’d pretend to sleep, softly say “cock-a-doodle-doo” and we’d both “get up” and he’d start over with breakfast foods.  Even though I didn’t order it, he’d also bring me a corn dog. And tons of Diet Coke. It was pretty cute.