Baxter’s New Friends

If you’ve been following our gripping tale, you’ll know we’ve been traveling up the eastern seaboard of the United States of America from Boston to Topsham, Maine. At this stage in our journey, we switched from interstates to smaller highways, really enjoying the scenery, fudge shops and cheese dispensaries along the way.
Stopping in Freeport for lunch, we discovered just how hot it was. On the advice of ‘experts’, we have yet to apply sun screen to Baxter. Instead, we covered him like a vampire and scurried past factory outlets to the extremely air-conditioned restaurant. There we saw a family with a Snap-N-Go, a clever stroller that lets you snap a car seat on a stroller frame without removing your child. Knowing we could never check the Humvee (a.k.a. our over-sized stroller/pram) for our upcoming flight to Vancouver, this seemed the perfect solution. (We ended up acquiring a Snap-N-Go for $40 from our local used shop when we got back home.)

Amy’s good friend and fellow glass artist, Stephanie Sersich, her husband Tom, and their two children, Obi and Amos, warmly welcomed us to Tompsham. Obi (pictured with Baxter) is a month older than Baxter and Amos is 13 months. An impressive signer, with his a goofy smile and jerky arm movements, Amos can communicate that it’s raining outside, or that he wants juice versus water, or that he’s sleepy. Hands appear easier to control than tongues, a trait that remains as we age.

I have begun signing with Baxter in an ad hoc manner, as there is no doubt in my mind how effective it is. (Granted, ‘sky eat’ is as good as we’ve got so far.)

It was a great visit with generous hosts and a peek into our future should Baxter become a big brother—one step at a time people.