Monday, March 23, 2009

Insensitive

That's how I am describing my husband tonight! I was trying to tell him about my conversation with a very dear, very old friend today, concerning the health of her parent, who are basically like parents to me. I'm very upset by the news that I am trying to tell him and while I am in the middle of talking, he says "why is she (referring to the dog) pacing around.....CYBIL....GO LAY DOWN". Silence. No apology, no so you were saying. NOTHING. Not a fucking thing. And this is not the first time that this has happened when I am trying to tell him something and/or talk to him about something important (hell, just talk to him). He either totally ignores, or has this look of "will you hurry up and quit talking so I can start talking....preferably about myself" look. Most times I just blow it off, but tonight it just really rubbed me the wrong way!!

Well, now I feel better (just a wee bit) after having vented. Thank you for listening to anyone who reads this...hopefully it was uninterrupted :-)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Michael

I complain about this kid probably more than any of them, so I wanted to write down some things that he does that amaze me. I will do it for the other two as well, but wanted to start with him.

From about six months old, when he would sit in his high chair, I would repeatedly point to my eyes, ears, nose and mouth, stating what each part was in hopes that he would do the same. Day after day, I did this, with not an even an ounce of feigned interested from him. Then one day, he did it. Out of the blue. Months later. At about 11 months old, I started teaching him, to put up one finger (not THAT one) in response to the question "how old are you". That took considerably less time....only a few days.

Over time, he has been extremely quick to pick things up. He loves, absolutely loves, puzzles. By the time he was 2, he had moved on from wooden puzzles to the real deal. Most of the time he didn't want, but would sit quietly for long periods of time doing puzzles. And drawing "happy faces". That was his first thing that he learned to draw. And color. He loved to color and was pretty proficient at it by the time he was 3, coloring mostly inside the lines and using all of the colors. He is by most accounts a very active (hyper?) child, but put a puzzle or some paper and writing utensils in front of him, and he is quiet as a mouse, until the job is done. I have hundreds of pieces of "arting" done by him, some he has named, and some we have framed and display as artwork on our walls.

I could go on and on about this kid, like how he learned within a week, all of the states, their nicknames and capitals from an interactive puzzle he got for Christmas, how he remembers things from when he was one, the way he makes (and has always made) "sets", carefully separating cars, movie cars, animals, dinosaurs, anything out and carefully arranging them just so, in his particular order, how he just wants to know what everything says and has basically taught himself to read and has read 2 books to us, with no minimal to no help at all, his fascination with numbers.........it goes on and on. I hope that his zest for learning is not squelched when he goes to school because he gets bogged down in a class with non-English speaking students. I will just have to make sure that doesn't happen!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Our adult 24+ hours

Okay, so this was the weekend that Brian and I had our 24+ hours of reckless (childless) abandon. What did we do you ask, and don't forget the details. Well, here ya go.

Went to McD's for 4 Happy Meals....delivered said Happy Meals and 2 little boys to friends house, where her 2 little girls anxiously awaited (I think more for the Happy Meals ☺)

Came home and lounged around for a bit, showered, dressed and then delivered big boy to fathers house....sadly, he didn't get a Happy Meal.

Went to Target so husband could use the facilities; ran into our insurance agent there and spent next hour catching up with him.

Left Target to head out to our destination, The Melting Pot. Arrive at The Melting Pot (which is oddly located in the center of a what looked like a mostly vacant office building complex). Went inside, found out that you need reservations for a freaking fondue joint, but were told that the bar is full service so we can eat there. Go to the bar and are (not) greeted by middle aged, pony tail wearing, spare tire sporting bartender, who apparently can only do one drink order at a time. Get menu, look at menu, look around "bar", listen to blaring SUCK ASS music, decide that a pot of melted cheese is not worth it and leave, but not before finishing my $10 Mojito, that tasted nothing like a Mojito and the mint was CRUSHED...what the hell??? Oh, and no, I didn't tip the bartender.

Arrive at next destination, Reston Towne Center, and decide to just walk around to find someplace good (mind you, it's raining, not hard, but steady and it's COLD). Walk by Uno's, think to myself, why not just go in here, but continue to walk because I know husband wants this night to be "special", start towards Morton's, and then voice out loud "let's just go to Uno's right now because we both know we are going to end up there anyway".

Go in, get seated right away, move our seat because we don't like the first choice, order drinks and nachos and the pizza. Waiter is young,but he kicks ass. Drink my mighty tasty Mojito, all but lick the nacho plate clean, and eat all but 2 pieces of our Numero Uno. Would love dessert, but really want some cheesecake so we decide to head to The Cheesecake Factory.

Arrive at Fair Oaks Mall and The Cheesecake Factory. The place is INSANE. There is a 65 - 80 minute wait; but the high tables in the bar (all 2 of them) are full service, first come first served basis. Yeah, that's gonna happen.

Decide to see if we can find something else in the mall. Found something, just not to eat. Went into Brighton's and bought some more charms and spacers for my bracelet.

Go back to Cheesecake Factory to "try one more time" but since the mob has now spilled out into the mall entrance, decide to go to Don Pablo's for some ooey gooey volcano cake.

Arrive at Don Pablo's, sit in the "lounge" area and order our chocolate decadence. It's a little chilly in there, being that I'm beside the window and all, but not to worry. The cake comes out and I am able to warm my hands from the heat coming off it.

Eat cake, pay bill, leave.

Get in van, drive home. Slip into something a little more "comfortable".....my flannel pj's and slippers.

Arrive home at 9:30pm. YES, 9:30. We are freaking rebels!!! I start crocheting, Brian falls asleep on the couch.

We go to bed at 11pm.....and sleep oh so soundly all night long. No kids coming in at 5am, no fighting at 6am, nothing but blissful, quiet sleep.

It is now 3pm.....we have approximately 3.5 hours left of childlessness.

Friday, March 6, 2009

so.....

I've not posted in a while. Things have been relatively calm here. It is getting down to the last days of high school for Bryn. Graduation has been set for June 11th. I am actually in a form of denial about it all. Why do our kids have to grow up? And why do they have to go through so much crap in the process of growing up? My prayer for him is that he will find his way, but that his way will not take him too awfully far from me.

On another front, I am starting (and it's early for this) to feel melancholy about Michael starting kindergarten. Brian and I were talking last night about him riding the bus or me driving him to school, and I got teary eyed about that. I know all of my kids are special, but I feel that he is really "special"....I can't really describe it though. And I'm not saying that I love one more than the other, because I don't think I do. I guess each one of them are special to me for different reasons, and I don't want to let that "specialness" go.

Daniel is still wearing diapers. I am thinking of trying again over spring break on the potty training thing. As much as I hate changing diapers, there is probably a part of me that thinks I still have my "baby" if he is in diapers.

Perhaps I need some sort of counseling or coaching on "letting go".

And on a completely different note, one of my cousins has suffered a terrible loss. She lost the baby girl that she was carrying during her second trimester. I don't even know what I am feeling about that....I just know that I am sad and sad for her.