We’ve been talking up our trip to utah to the kids more and more as the Big Day approaches. First it was broken up by what event is between it and us.

“First is Daddy’s birthday, and then is Ethan’s birthday, and THEN we go in an airplane to visit grandma and grandpa.”

Since Ethan’s party last week, nothing stands in between us and our trip.

Jocelyn asks, “Are we getting on a plane today?” just about every day. Sometimes every hour.

She also often asks us, “Is it wake up time?” I think she does this because she gets out of bed when it is supposed to be bed time or nap time or quiet time that she wants to check and make sure she’s actually allowed to be running around playing.

She also often will do silly things like hold her shoes over the trash can and say, “In here?” with that look in her eye. “YOU KNOW..” I say to her in a silly voice, and she will reply, “SHOES DON’T GO IN THE TRASH!”

Ethan has a bit better idea on when exactly we’re actually going. We count down the days. Yesterday, he knew it was only 3 days away.

So yesterday morning, I knew they were going to be getting excited, because we were going to buy some luggage and actually get some packing done that day. I decided to guide their obsession in a singular direction instead of letting them careen about willy nilly. I got their attention for a little talk about what to expect on the plane.

“So guys, I know the plane ride is going to be very exciting. First we’ll get on board, and then it will take off and it will be really cool watching out the window and we’ll be able to look down and maybe see clouds..”

“I CAN’T WAIT!” — this is Ethan’s general response to anything plane/trip related.

“… but it is going to be a long plane ride, and even though it’s exciting and this seems very unlikely…. we might even get bored.”

“No, we won’t mommy. Jet-planes are VERY VERY FAST.”

“Yes, they are fast, but we are still very far away from grandma and grandpa’s. It’s going to take a while even for a very fast plane. I think maybe we should think about what we can do while we’re up on the plane so we won’t get bored. Like maybe we should bring some coloring books, or..”

“I KNOW!” Ethan exclaimed, and he was off like a shot. Jocelyn and I looked at each other and followed after, to see him digging through his bin of cars/trucks/things that go.

“Which one are you looking for Ethan?”

He just made a clamping motion with his hand and kept on searching.

I had gotten my point across and James showed up so I headed upstairs to hop in the shower and get dressed for the day.

Imagine my surprise when I got back downstairs to hear Ethan announce, “I’m all packed, Mommy. I’ll just put my backpack by the door.”

He really was. ALL PACKED. I convinced him to show me everything he packed. Here is the inventory:

• toddler leapfrog computer thingee
• book about clampy construction machine
• toy construction machine with clampy thingee that came with book
• helicoptor
• snow speeder
• snow speeder plastic snow bank
• snow speeder luke skywalker
• luke skywalker’s light saber
• several small matchbox-sized cars/trucks

I was impressed. The computer wouldn’t work on a plane though, I searched for headphone jacks, didn’t find any, and then broke the news that it would be rude to use it on a plane, where other people might be trying to read, or even sleep, and wouldn’t want to hear it. Off he scurried, got his leapfrog book thingee (leap pad i think) that did have a headphone jack. He blithely exchanged the one for the other and then zipped up his backpack.

“I’m ready mommy.”

Ready, indeed. Maybe he could do the rest of the packing for James and I.