Mom's gone to Japan

Amy had a work opportunity to go over to Japan for the installation & opening of The Missing Peace Project, and flew out this morning. It's been kind of a sad day. I'm feeling more blue than I'd anticipated. We prepped Amelia as much as you can prep a (almost) 2 year old for "mommy's going on a trip for 11 days". She seems to get it, and has been saying "Mommy come back" a fair bit, which is a sentence she's learned in the context of day care. So I think she gets that mommy is gone and is coming back. I guess she'll figure out what 11 sleeps is as it goes by (and gets smaller. tomorrow it will be 10 sleeps!)
When I went to Holland in April Amy put together a Daddy picture book so they could talk about me and she could at least see my picture on a daily basis. So, we did the same for this trip- we now have a Mommy picture book. it's red and has a little window on the cover with Amy's smiling face in it. The book is VERY important to Amelia. Every time she sees it there's lots of emphasis on "mine!" in "my book".
But were also having a really nice time together. Amelia gave me nice lovies when I was crying. And she comes to me more for comforting when mommy is not around, and getting to be primary comfort provider is nice for me. Also, grandpa Marshall came down to help me out while mommy is gone, and also to get some good quality granddaughter time in. They're having a really nice time together, and it's really great to have my pops around to jaw about life, the universe, and everything. I took some pics of him reading stories to her, and at the park. I posted 'em at flickr.
And a video of Amelia running on the playground at Castro. She's a little spun out - it was the end of our time at the park. But it's a little something for mama to smile at.