Rambling

I learned to type on a real, honest-to-goodness typewriter. I'm occasionally finding it a bit disconcerting as I watch my 3.5 year old zoom around Noggin.com playing computer games with Diego or the Backyardigans. He's become pretty adept with the mouse, and even remembers where to click off and on various pages and how to print! There are so many things that I grew up with, that my kid may never see (except for Mommy reminiscing): Real LPs (heck, even cassette tapes), VHS (remember your first VCR?). The list goes on. Just another of those Mommy Moments where I wonder: Where has my baby gone?

Reading: Just finished The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. A mystery set in Salem, MA about a woman with a gift - a seer - and her unique family. I have a soft spot for books set in familiar places, and Salem is a wonderful place to visit.

Listening: Free* by Jim's Big Ego. Erin introduced me to Boston's folk music scene, and JBE is a long-time favorite. They used to do a big Halloween show every year at Club Passim where audience and band members alike showed up in costume. Great music with a quirky sense of humor. Great fun!

Watching: Many shows are gone for the summer (LOST, Heroes) or gone for good (Battlestar Galactica, Terminator:TSCC). I've recently been enjoying In Plain Sight, and Burn Notice is back in early June - Yay!

Hoping to see: Pamela, my sci-fi partner in crime, and I are trying to carve time out of our schedules to get out to see the new Star Trek. It looks fabulous!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Picking my battles

I try hard these days to be choosy about my battles with my increasingly opinionated preschooler. Issues involving safety are non-negotiable. You must take my hand in this parking lot, and crossing the street! But I try to let go of the fact that he finds a total of three shirts acceptable for wearing at the moment...

We were poring through the library yesterday which always involves videos and kids books, and an occasional item for Mommy too. It was a little disconcerting to have him emerge from the stacks with a Star Wars novel that you might find me reading on the beach. No amount of discussion could sway him from his opinion that this was his Star Wars book. I shrugged my shoulders, figuring What the heck? and checked the thing out. I figure he can have fun looking at the soldier on the cover until our next trip to the library.

I did get an odd look from the children's librarian later when he proudly showed his book off to her.

Eagle Eye

The kid notices everything.

A few weeks ago we were out to dinner with some friends. We'd been seated sort of in the "pub" area, which was fine as smoking vs. non is no longer a consideration on these outings. Daniel started loudly voicing that he wanted to see Scooby-Doo. Glancing around the room, I realized that every other table or so came equipped with small screen TVs. (I suspect for Keno, but they played shows too...). We were under a large-screen TV that was blasting sports or news or somesuch... and across the room was a young family with Scooby on for their kids.

Today, H gave me the Mother's Day gift of time. He whisked Daniel away on a boys-only outing for a few hours, leaving me to do whatever I wished around the house. When they returned, H reported that Daniel, while driving through a town he had never been in before, piped up with: I think you work there.

When H turned his head, he realized that the building said: US Post Office. I can only guess that he must have spotted the emblem or something.

I'm going to scratch the kid's eyesight off my list of worries, that's for sure!

The Stones Strike Back

Where I've been. Let's see.

There was that little matter two years ago of finding out that my year and a half of intestinal distress was being caused by gallstones. I had them take that gallbladder out, surgery, recovery, and things have been trucking along mostly fine.

Flash forward two years and minor pain last Saturday plus major pain last Sunday equals one trip to the emergency room.

Did you know that you can have stones stuck in a duct, even minus your gallbladder? Yup, new one for me too.

There were tests, calls to the GI (No, your symptoms aren't consistent with a stone...) only to have a CAT Scan say that yup, indeedy I was carrying around a boulder and my body had had enough. The endoscopic procedure uncovered a stone large enough that the doctor was very surprised that I had had no trouble before now. They pretty much had to crush it up, and put in a stent to help keep everything cleaned out and moving.

I didn't get to eat or drink until Tuesday. Can I just say that you never see more food commercials on TV than when you can't have anything yourself?

I'm on the mend, and getting back into the swing of things. I'm due back in a few weeks to have the stent taken out, and hopefully that will be the end of my intestinal saga.

Just to make sure the weekend was very interesting, we got the phone call while I was in the hospital that my nephew was in a very serious car accident on Sunday, the same day that I was admitted. Please join us in prayers for his speedy and complete recovery.