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!

Ick

There's a wicked virus making the rounds right now. It felled me over a week ago, and took several days to pass. I thought we were in the clear, and then I was strolling the aisles of Wal-mart with Daniel last Sunday when I heard the ominous: My tummy hurts.

Uh-oh.

The kid's, shall we say choosy palate was working against us in finding something his system could tolerate while sick. And the only liquid he was willing to down at all was a juice that, while I questioned its value at least kept him hydrated. All in all, he soldiered through his first real stomach bug fairly well, and I think we're finally seeing the other side.

H woke up this morning fairly green, and I'm trying to work out strategies to keep Daniel away from Daddy. I guess not having everyone sick at exactly the same time makes it a bit more manageable... but exhaustion is starting to set in. And I'm just praying that this is the same bug I started with, because if I have to have another go round of this I am really going to cry foul.

Interlude

The fever started Monday evening, he was uncomfortable and wanted into our bed, then back in his own bed - and we wound up falling asleep in the living room: me on the sofa, and him on his own Superman sofa - with the Noggin channel on for distraction. I dosed him with Tylenol, to which his response was: Mommy, you shouldn't do that. And we got through the evening.

He's my baby, my honey, my little Energizer Bunny, my little blond Tasmanian Devil. So seeing Daniel feverish, with no energy - just poured on the couch watching videos and napping and drowning his sorrows in juice is a bit of a change in routine.

Today he's more up and around. It's Mommy with the run-down appearance, the semi-sore throat and the cough. H's job has pretty much said that they are cracking down on anyone using their sick time. Can you believe it? I'm sure he's wishing for a hermetically sealed room for when he gets home this evening. Makes me want to sneak into the manager's office at his work and lick all the office supplies or something, I mean really!

Here's hoping this virus is as kind to parents as it seems to be to my kiddo so far...

Details

Ugh, it's cold here. I can tolerate cold and snow up until Christmas, but then as far as I'm concerned it can all go away. Unfortunately the trend is to have nearly zip in the way of snow until January and then get socked for the next few months.

Just off a few days of immobility due to car repairs (yet again). H had mine for work, and so Daniel and I rattled around the house for a few days.

H is hopefully staying mobile, after a recent slip and fall on the job. Some folks are just not into shoveling and salting their drives/paths, I guess.

Computer having major hiccups/difficulties recently. We hadn't exactly budgeted for a new one at the moment, but it may be time. If I am absent for a smidge soon it won't be by choice, but will hopefully have the technical difficulties ironed out on the other side. Stay tuned!

A Treat

I love my little guy to pieces, but there are moments where my switch always being in Mom Mode just becomes a bit exhausting. H gifted me with a few hours of time to myself this afternoon by taking Daniel for a visit with his Gram and Uncle Bruce.

It was a delightful smorgasbord of things to do - some necessary like a load of laundry, but most were not and just completely my aimless wandering. A power nap, computer work without the guilt, nibbling a snack of avocado, reading a chapter of Driving Sideways while curled under the bedcovers, watching non-kid approved programs such as a documentary on Hollywood folks who escaped Nazi Germany, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives all at the same time. I also got the chance to sneakily wash Daniel's much-loved blankie while he was gone.

The boys returned, and we bustled about dinner. As is typical of late, Daniel was more interested in his robots and coloring and wrestling his father than eating. We all had hysterics when one of us exclaimed: Let me see Daniel! Preparing to scoop him up, only to have Daniel reply: Dam-el isn't ON right now! As though he were a TV show we were all happily watching. Then there were Curious George stories and bedtime.

Buzzing about at my own pace was refreshing. I must work at finding small concentrated moments to do this more often.

Priceless? I think not!

Hmm. Let's see. Car back in the shop? Check.

Computer intermittently on the fritz? Check.

H coming down with the flu? Right - o.

Off to buy a big container of hand sanitizer/lysol disinfectant and try to keep the kid from getting too close to Daddy. Regular blog entries to follow...

An unexpected song

Out of curiosity I sometimes start cruising the shopping websites before upcoming holidays. Biggies like Amazon, smaller spaces like Etsy and lots of things in between. Part of the fun of gift giving for me is finding that perfect something that just reminds me of the person I'm shopping for... like the Star Wars notecards that just absolutely reminded me of Pamela.

And I'm always a little amazed at the "perfect gift lists" that are published, pushing iphones, flat screen TVs, expensive jewelry as the must-haves for those people on your gift list.

Valentine's Day is a low-key affair around our house: nice chocolates, romantic cards, maybe some flowers. It was a wonderful surprise that H gifted me this year with two tickets to see Teddy Goldstein at Club Passim at the end of this month. It has been ages since I have seen some live folk music - and Club Passim, around for more than 40 years, is a wonderful venue. I can't wait!

The Cupcake Conspiracy

I am becoming convinced that H must have whispered in the ear of both my Mom and one of my bestest buds. Not only did I get for Christmas The Cupcake Deck - a set of 25 cards with mouth watering photos, and luscious cupcake recipes - but also a silicone muffin tin and a set of silicone baking cups.

My waistline may be protesting, but I'm relishing the thought of baking again. And I'm sure that Daniel will love the funky sprinkles (stars, moons, dolphins...) that Pamela included too.

Rolling that stone

I feel like I have started about 18 different posts lately - with none of them landing on the "publish post" side of the coin. Life has just been kicking our respective behinds around here, and it's really starting to bug me. I usually have a much more relaxed season than this has been.

Tooth pain for weeks, a root canal, and car repairs for H. All while working his patootie off out in the cold.

For me: the cough without end, especially while having an MRI done on my liver where the tech is imploring me to hold my breath. The liver problem turned out benign, but the doc herself called me rather than one of the girls in the office to ask: Was I still having gallbladder symptoms? Because the MRI showed my bile duct as bigger than normal, and even absent the gallbladder there could be some debris in there which might require a procedure to remove.

Can we please stop finding things wrong with me any time now?

And I spent most of the day yesterday with my heart in my throat after Daniel took a skate in his socks across some linoleum at the favorite playspace and whacked the back of his head a good one. He was so stunned, he didn't even cry. And it is very unusual for him to clutch at me that way when I scoop him up... I think my heart rate has finally returned to normal as of Saturday morning.

Looking forward to a calm, stress-free Christmas.

When good relationships go bad...

It is nice to develop a "relationship" with the collection of doctors, dentists, etc. who touch your life. Even if it is somewhat illusory - as a professional, they probably see tons of patients - you are still part of those tons. And you get to see the same face, when you are often ill, in pain, or at some sort of vulnerable point.

What do you do when those relationships aren't quite going the way you'd hoped? If it is near the beginning, like when I was interviewing an OB for example, it can be pretty easy to just say Yeesh, no way and move on. But what if it's further along in the process? I've documented a bit of my battle with my gastroenterologist. I'm still more than a little peeved that it took a year and a half of my life (and nearly all of Daniel's) to diagnose and treat gallstones. Yet more testing is to follow to confirm whatever they think is going on with my liver. I'm being told it's benign, but we're still looking...

H has been going through his own version of this lately with a toothache. Our whole family followed our dentist to his own practice. Awhile back, my sister-in-law had a bunch of work done and suddenly came down with tooth pain of undetermined origin. It lasted a month, and eventually faded. H has had several appointments recently. First diagnosis: gum inflammation. Second appointment resulted in a prescription for antibiotics, and a potential upcoming root canal.

It's miserable. As anyone who has had serious tooth pain will tell you, it colors everything that you do. At what point do you say Enough. This isn't working. And move on?

Larks, Owls, and Toddlers with Messy Schedules... Oh My!

Years ago I was a night owl. I dropped naps at the first possible opportunity, stayed up to all hours (often for the express purpose of reading in bed at night) and yet got up for school the next day. I just seemed to need very little sleep. What I wouldn't give for that "Superpower" back!

Somewhere along the line I turned into a lark. Even before having Daniel, I started peeling myself out of bed earlier to beat the morning traffic in to work. The habit continued and my mornings are now a bit of quiet time before having to chase a toddler around.

H has a different conundrum. He is, and will probably always be a night owl. Unfortunately his job dictates otherwise as it is necessary to get up pretty early. This results in surviving on not enough sleep, and the two of us "passing in the night." I'm still not sure of a solution...

The first few years of his life Daniel hardly noticed the Daylight Savings Time changes. This past Sunday threw him off a bit, however. We were up earlier, crankier sooner before his nap... And the drive home from his Gram's house at 5:15pm in the pitch dark really had him wondering. He sat in his car seat and kept calling from the back for "Blankie? Blankie!"

I think things have finally smoothed over...

The Calm before The Storm

A great big thank you to the person who parked next to me at CVS yesterday - darn near diagonally in their parking space - thereby encouraging some interesting acrobatics to get my two year old back into his car seat.

During this feat of gymnastics I happened to note the presence of at least one kid's car seat in said car... I can only hope that the van belonged to the woman in the store who was busily pushing the double stroller through the too-small aisles. She looked like she had her hands full, and that's the only way I can mentally cut her some slack at this point...

We are water-heater operational again, and I am composing my complaint letter to Sears next. More on that as I have more news to tell... The jury/trial that H landed on is still going on, much to our dismay as this is getting pretty inconvenient. Flu shots today for baby and I - H is next. Otherwise we are just hunkering down to outlast the remnants of Storm Noel.

Seven Years Ago...

I married my quiet man...

Relationships up to the point H and I had met had been sort of soul-crunchers, and I had been staying far, far away since my move to Boston. Rationalizations popped up, of course. I was busy, I was adjusting to my new life on the East Coast, new friends, a small bit of schooling, new job(s)... H stepped into this busy quagmire one January.

We met on a blisteringly cold evening for drinks at The Top of the Hub, and talked into the night. Rather than face a train ride home on the T, I let him drive me home. Smiles, much talk, a Hey, we should do this again... and quietly, almost imperceptibly our lives started to entwine.

He asked for my hand while we walked, or offered me his arm. Often. Books, movies, any old topic of conversation. I introduced him to local live music like Jim's Big Ego, and he picked me up at 4am one morning so that we could drive to Lexington for the Patriot's Day festivities that begin at dawn. We shared our love of travel and history and old New England cemeteries. And one cold December evening he took me on a carriage ride and proposed... It was the same year that we lost my Grandfather to a brain tumor, and we both flew to Wisconsin to share our news and attend the funeral. It was the makings of a bittersweet weekend.

Planning was a whirlwind, as we had a little less than a year. It was a wonderful celebration with 100 friends and family, packed into an old New England church's pew boxes and an old New England home for food and dancing. I panicked only when I discovered that "Our Sunday" coincided with the Fall daylight savings time that year. (Although, I suppose that would have meant people would be an hour early, not an hour late...). We still laugh that facing each other at the front of the church, we each grabbed the wrong hand when it came time for the rings...

It is seven years (and one child) later. I love taking his hand, spooning into his back at night... I am barely awake many mornings when he leaves before first light. It is a safe cocoon when he settles the comforter more securely over me before he leaves.

Seven years of a quiet whirlwind that blew into my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Happy Anniversary H!

Hello, Sigmund?

OK. So I know it's a phase, but man oh man Daniel. Do we need to start getting up at crack-of-dawn, peel-the-eyelids open 5 ayem? And combine it with wailing for "Da-Da!" at earsplitting levels? Mama is developing a complex here.