This afternoon, I heard the boys’ door open, and a tiny blond head poked his sleepy face through a crack in the door.  As he emerged, I could hear him asking for something.  I assumed he was soliciting his post-nap snack, but instead he was asking for Gigi and Papa (my parents).  I explained that they weren’t here, but I’m sure we could see them another day.  And then it hit me… SKYPE!  It seems that now that we’re living about ten minutes from each other, we’ve completely forgotten about one of our former favorite modes of communication.  When we lived in Illinois, we Skyped quite a bit.  Often, I’d just turn the camera so that they could watch Ryder play.  It really accomplished three things for us: 1) I was afforded some adult conversation.  2) They were afforded the chance to actually watch Ryder.  They could see for themselves what had otherwise only been described to them.  They could watch him in motion and hear his sweet voice.  3) Ryder was afforded some familiarity with his grandparents who lived thousands of miles away.  It made a huge difference when they came to visit because it cut down on the amount of time he needed to warm up to them.  Warms my heart thinking of those sweet memories 🙂

Tiny Ryder (18mo), skyping w/ Papa

Anyway, with a quick Skype session, Evan was satisfied by a quick “visit” with Gigi… and then, like clockwork, he requested a snack and our visit was over.  (Do they ever stop eating???)  Just another reminder for me to take advantage of modern technology as often as we have the chance!

UPDATE: We also took the opportunity to FaceTime with our best girls this evening.  Ryder has been lamenting about missing them a lot lately, and this morning at breakfast he even said “We’ll never see them again because we live in California now” <insert epic pout here>  Of course, this breaks my heart… especially since sometimes it feels that way (and also especially since their mama happens to be a bestie of mine, whom I miss every day).  So it was extra special to see their CRAZY sweet faces this evening.  🙂  We’ll still miss them, but somehow it makes them seem a bit closer.  So grateful for modern technology!

This photo was taken during our IL visit in July, but this is pretty much what our Skype sesh looked like. lol