Random updates

Things have been busy busy busy here in my little corner of the world. And while I like being busy, I haven’t had much time lately to post. So I present a series of random updates in bullet form:

• Boy child: He is driving everyone crazy with the talking. He never stops. Ever. There is no ceasing of the talking, even when you ask him to please be quiet. In fact, that seems to be nothing more than a challenge to him to talk more. My husband is by far the more patient parent of the two of us, and I have noticed lately that even HE is annoyed. We pick him up from daycare and find notes like “Talking a lot and not listening today” in his cubby. I am ashamed to admit that I have even begun using phrases that I’m not fond of, such as “Please, for the love of God, shut up!” I think telling someone to shut up is disrespectful and it’s not something that I want him to repeat to others, but when being polite doesn’t get the desired result, what else is there? And do you know how I know he will repeat it to others? Because he is a little sponge. The two seconds when he does stop talking long enough to hear what is going on around him, he has heard some doozies, which his little sponge brain absorbed and waited for the appropriate time to repeat. For example, on Mother’s Day morning he stubbed his toe on the banister of the stairs and yelled, “Son of a bitch!” Of course, I immediately felt the stabbing pains of maternal guilt because I know without a doubt he heard me say that when I have hurt myself. My people, we are a clumsy bunch. But other than the talking and swearing, he has been an utter delight. He’s also become rather protective of his little sister. We went to a wedding in Arkansas recently and he got to play with a couple of his second cousins. Kelsey went toddling along after them and one of the little boys took her hand and was walking next to her. Braden yelled, “Don’t touch my sister!” The hubby told him to calm down and said, “They can play with her too.” So Braden turned back to the boys and said, “Ok, you can LOOK at her then.” Something tells me she’s going to have big trouble when it comes time to start dating.


• Girl child: We have started calling her McScreamy. At 14 months, she can already throw herself down on the floor and have a colossal temper tantrum if something is taken away from her, or if you have the nerve to set her down on the floor while you use the restroom, or cook, or pretty much do anything other than holding her. And y’all, that child is LOUD. She screams and the hubby comes running to see what happened, because with that much screaming, she must have lost a finger. Nope. She’s just unhappy and wants everyone to know it. But in her defense, she has had a lot to be unhappy about lately. She has been on antibiotics 9 times since the beginning of the year, all due to her ears (plus an eye drop antibiotic for conjunctivitis that cost us $60 for 3ml* – WTF???). We FINALLY have an appointment with the ENT specialist later this month to discuss tubes. And I can’t wait. I am so ready for her to start feeling better. And then maybe when she starts feeling better we can work on the whole weaning process. My goal was to breastfeed for a year, but she has a slightly higher number in mind. The only problem is that she nurses mainly for comfort and I turn into a giant pacifier, and she screams when the pacifier goes away. But I think it would be cruel to withhold her beloved pacifiers right now so we’ll work on getting her healthy and then worry about weaning her from the comfort nursing. On the positive side of things, she is just so delightful! She is learning the different facial features, and can point to her nose, as well as everyone else’s. She even tried to say the word “nose” the other day as she was pointing to hers, and it was adorable. She says mama and dada and I think she says ball, although it comes out as “ba.” “Ba” is one of those sounds that could mean just about anything. Oh, and she already has a thing for shoes and purses, which is just unbelievably cute (right now). Here’s a picture of her wearing my insulated lunch tote as a purse:



• Work: My boss retired and as of yesterday, I officially have a new boss. So far he seems very nice, but it has been hard to get a feel for his management style in the two meetings we have had in the past month. Old boss had the tendency to be a tactless a-hole at times and I am hoping new boss won’t be that way (and so far I don’t get that impression at all). But still, it’s a change. And we have all been working hard to make sure everything was completed before the old boss left. It coincided with end of the fiscal year, so I have been busier than usual (which is good). Anyway, last Thursday we all went out for drinks after work to celebrate old boss’s last day. At the end of the evening we were all hugging old boss and he was giving us a peck on the cheek. We had this really awkward moment because I didn’t know which way to turn my head so we kept doing that thing – you know that thing that happens when you are trying to go through a door and there’s someone coming the other way and you don’t know who should go first so you both start and then stop and then start, until finally one person just waves the other through? It was sort of like that. And he stopped and said, “Well, I wasn’t going to go there.” He actually thought I was trying to kiss him on the lips and that’s why I kept turning my head! EWWWWW! I just laughed and said, “I wasn’t either!” Then I went to my car and wanted to dry heave. So it’s a good thing he’s gone because now I have that memory forever etched into my brain. Hopefully there will be no awkward hugging with new boss.


• Knitting: I have two items that I am finished knitting, but now need some seaming. And I will put that part off as long as I can because I loathe seaming. I’m not sure why exactly, but I freely admit it. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can eke out enough time to work on those and get them finished. I also have a surprise to show:
  It’s still pretty uneven and has too much twist in places, but it’s the most yarn-like thing I have spun to date. If this keeps up, I will have to get my own wheel…


• Politics: Ann Coulter is a bitch. That is all.

*$60 was my copay. The eye drops actually cost $71.99. For 3ml, which is just a little over a 1/2 teaspoon. How can they seriously charge that much for antibiotic eye drops??? And if anyone is curious, the drug is called Vigamox.

Have a safe and happy 4th!