Guess what he got, shortly after this.

Yesterday we said a tearful goodbye to our friends Sarah and Tallulah. Or rather, I was tearful--it's sort of my resting state these days--and Henry was sulky. As we walked home he asked me why I looked sad.

"I'm going to miss our friends," I said. And Henry replied, "I'm not going to miss them."

"Really," I said.

He stopped walking and clenched his fists. "I'm not going to miss them," he wept, "Because I. AM NOT. MOVING."

I picked him up. He dampened my shirt with his tears. Then wiped his nose on me for good measure.

"I don't want to move," he said. "I want a cookie."

Comments

[Mir]

Do you have this book? You must get it IMMEDIATELY if you don't. I think Henry will appreciate it. :)

(And good job with the cookie!)

[Mom101]

Oh God, I said the same thing when we moved. Except I was 16.

He will be fine. And he will be fine WITH A YARD! All is well.

[Sheila]

If my 3.5 year old daughter had any difficulty with our move, it was alleviated immediately upon entering our new home, when her 2 year old sister ran to the row of windows in the family room, excited beyond belief that she could stand there and see out of them (in our former home, all the windows were up higher on the wall, just above her head). Sadly for Maggie, these particular windows have those annoying grilles which are supposed to stay in place when attached with just four flimsy tacks holding them to the window frame. No sooner did she press her little face to the glass when the 3x3 window grille popped off, settled itself over her head, and stopped at her shoulders. Nothing gets a family laughing faster than the sight of a toddler with her head caught in a window grille, I tell you. Well, maybe the toddler wasn't laughing.

Anyway, what Henry needs on moving day is a person younger than himself to get caught or entangled in something as soon as you enter the house. My daughter chuckled about it for a week or so, and promptly forgot her old neighborhood. Perhaps one of your new neighbors would loan a toddler to you. Good luck!

[J]

Oh bless him, the poor little moppet. My girl was the same way when we moved and it hurts so much to see them so sad. I'm sorry it's so hard, good luck with the move. I hope it goes really well, and Henry gets so excited exploring his new home that it eases the painful transition.

[jes]

Oh, Henry! This makes me sad. I probably would have given him three.

All of you, for that matter.

[ozma]

My parents wanted to move when I was Henry's age and I threatened to continue to live in the basement even after they sold the house. We did move eventually (they had 3 more kids besides the 2 already and house #1 was dinky). I was kind of bitter about the whole thing for a few years and now I have all this massive nostalgia for the evil interloper house #2. Sometimes I do dream about the first house, though. Eventually, most of the memories and the fun and the love will be filling the new house. I know that probably won't make you or Henry feel better right now so I don't know why I'm even telling you this. Cookies are probably the best thing.

[sanders5]

See, now I'm tearing up. That or there is still jalapenos on my fingers when I rubbed my eyes (either of which is possible).

I'm so sorry this move is hard on you. In 11 years of marriage I have moved 15 times. We hope we are finally done, in this small no-nothing town I love.

Hope you had a cookie yourself. One, two, three ... y'know, whatever it took.

[Sarah (S-Way)]

Oh, my little buddy Henry! He gave me such a nice hug (and a sweet kiss, and then another hug) when we said good-bye. It's kind of amazing that he realizes what's going on -- Tallulah clearly has no idea, and she's only a year and a half younger.

Sadly, at age 33, I'm all too aware. This post made me cry, dammit! We will miss you guys.

[Jenn]

Oh, poor Henry! Now I totally want to send him an entire BOX of cookies. (But I kind of ate them since he made me cry. I will buy more for the poor guy, though. Really! I will!)

[Lexie]

awwww..that is sooooo sad. change can be very heart-wrenching.

[Jaynee]

I grew up in a military family and we moved every 3-4 years (and once we moved after only 18 months in one place). It can be tough on children to make that kind of change, but rest assured that Henry will be fine once he settles in. My toughest move was actually in the seventh grade - my Dad announced the family was moving the very weekend of the big school dance I had been looking forward to. I broke down in tears and my family finally agreed to wait until Sunday to move so that I could go to the dance. Well, at the dance my biggest crush, Jimmy, asked me to dance (to "For Your Eyes Only" by Sheena Easton) and while we were dancing he asked me to write to him and stay in touch because he was going to miss me. HEARTWRENCHING. But I'll tell you, within a few months I was content in our new place and had a new crush on a new boy.

Henry will adjust - he'll eventually enjoy cookies in NJ. They taste just as sweet.

[Sarcomical]

oh, sweet boy! i totally want to send him a cookie now.

in a very non-internet-stalker way.

[Judi]

Sadness! My son, who is four, always asks me when we are going to sell our house and move! He wants to live somewhere else...like a hotel, with a pool and a refrigerator! Both of which we already have??

a GOOD thing about little boys is, is that soon their attention is on something else and it all fits. Hoping that your new house fits soon!

[LadyBug]

I didn't read all the comments (in a hurry today), so I apologize if this is a repeat, but have you read, "Alexander Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move"? It's very cute, very sweet, and very fun, written, of course, by Judith Viorst, who also wrote "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I wonder if Henry might enjoy it?

[Sarcastic Journalist]

Oh, for the love of all things good and holy, give that poor boy a cookie.

[Arabella]

Cookies make everything better.

Here's my totally unsolicited advice: find some fabulous place in your new neighborhood--a playground, an ice cream shop, a house with funny lawn elves, a store with great robotic animal figures in the display window, etc.--and visit it often, especially when one of you is feeling a little sad. It'll become a happy, soothing new thing to do and will help him feel more positive about the move.

[jozet]

Oh dear!

It will get better, I promise you, I promise you! We moved when my oldest was three, and she was heart-broken.

Now, she says that she never wants to leave this house and wants to live here forever and me and my husband will just have to find a new place to live when she turns 18.

Which creates a different set of problems...

Poor kiddo. Poor Mommy. Hang in there.

[Karen Rani]

My heart just melted. How incredibly adorable is that child?

[babydaisy]

I do hope the move is going well. I agree with the eirlier poster to check our Dooce's "our plumbing is f***ed cookie!"

cookies make the world go round. or they could if we all tried hard enough. My hubbie and I just moved (all of a 1/2 mile) to our first apartment by ourselves - we had roommates before (uber cheap rent). I hated the moving part but it forced us to get rid of stuff we dont need. Our life is simple-er now.

here's to cookies. and to you and henry. good luck.

[Paula]

Awwww! We have moved several times with small children and it is NEVER easy....

You are in my thoughts and I send happy cookie thoughts your way :)

Take care!