I took a trip to Washington DC this past weekend. It was the first time I have been on a plane since Wade was born. Aaron and Wade dropped me off bright and early Saturday morning. As I was giving Wade a dozen kisses and hugs good-bye he asked me if I was coming back... ummm... Never ask someone who is about to get on a plane if they are coming back! All I could think was, "If I answer 'yes' I am almost certainly going to die in a horrible plane crash and then Wade won't have a Mommy. But, on the flip side, I can't tell him 'no'." So, I dared the gods and told him that I would, of course, be back. Two hours later I was incredibly relieved to land safely at BWI. While I was in DC I forgot about the curse that Wade had bestowed upon me and did not think of it again until I was on the plane to come home and I traded seats with a woman on my plane. "OH MY GOD, WHY DO I HAVE A DEATH WISH???" Everyone knows when you trade seats (or flights) with someone that pretty much cements the deal that one of you is going down in a fiery ball of hell. After tempting fate twice I again landed safely at DTW. It very well may be the last time I ever fly. My list of unfounded and absolutely ridiculous fears just keeps growing. Fantastic.
My friend, Amanda, recently got married. This was her wedding song and I'm absolutely in love with it. I could listen to it over and over and over... The Avett Brothers, "Swept Away".
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
An evening at the Wayne County Fair.
In absence of the no-longer Annual Michigan State Fair I thought it might be fun to go to the Wayne County Fair. I had never been. I knew nothing about it. I just wanted to eat fair food and see farm animals, maybe take in a demolition derby.
It was... interesting.
The Wayne County Fair is considerably smaller than what I had imagined. It is actually quite small. It's in Belleville, MI so it is a good 35-40 minute haul. Not that 35 minutes is long, it's just a bit long for what turned out to be a somewhat disappointing destination.
There were a mere 3 food stands and very few rides. The main attractions were the animals and the dirt track. Well, turns out for a pregnant woman who is not accustomed to the smell of farm animals, it is extremely difficult to enter a barn full of various animal poop. In fact, it's impossible. So, we only visited the few animals that were outside of the barns.
The derby was $12/person. We skipped it.
So, we got Wade some tickets and let him hit the "rides". He spent quite sometime jumping in a bounce house. The toothless (and I mean lacking all teeth) carny let him jump for well past the 3-minute limit while he talked me up about my pregnancy. He was very interested. It was very odd and honestly, a bit uncomfortable. Afterward, Aaron took Wade on the ferris wheel. As far as I was concerned I may as well tossed my child off a cliff with a used parachute that had been re-packed by a 5-year old. With each spin my heart skipped a beat. That ferris wheel had to of been be at least 50-years old and it was not well preserved. It creaked, it cracked, it was quite rusty, it was my nightmare. I watched, forcing a smile through my terror and waving to my obliviously happy child as he circled precariously through the air. It was an incredibly long and torturous 3 minutes. When they finally safely stepped off that death trap and I was able to breath again, we gave Wade $2 to test his strength.
I wasn't expecting much from him. I'd seen him swing at a piñata before and the force of his swing definitely leaves something to be desired. But, he actually took a decent swing and I was pleasantly surprised with the small amount of gusto he put into it. He didn't ring the bell or anything, but he was able to pick out a prize. Good enough. He left with a samurai sword, it even came with a sheath.
And that was the extent of our trip to the fair, we were on our way home.
As you may or may not know we are in the midst of potty-training Wade. Well, on the way home Wade had to use the bathroom. Wade can't hold it. If he has to go, he has to go NOW. So, we rushed off the expressway and found a secluded spot for him to relieve himself. Wade has never actually peed standing up. He's always insisted on sitting down. So, this secluded spot ended up being the ugly scene of a family break-down and to any possible on-lookers it probably looked pretty unsightly. We were between an abandoned industrial building, tall weeds and a stand-still train with a half dressed, crying little boy. It didn't look good. Bribery finally worked it's magic and we had success! Wade discovered one of, what I'm sure are many, reasons why it's so great to have a penis; you can pee anywhere. I'm still considering getting one of these for exactly that reason. It's very tempting.
The evening ended with ice cream (said bribe) and another successful "man-pee". All in all it ended up being a pretty darn good Thursday evening.
**By the way, I'm well aware that talking about my son's potty training may not be the most exciting or interesting subject to read about, but this is seriously exciting stuff from our point of view.**
I'm currently listening to "Come On Over" by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan. It played on the most recent Rescue Me episode and it was perfect. It's led to an obsession with finding and rediscovering duets. I'm getting very little work done, but I expect to have a pretty great duet play list soon.
Cheers!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
He's just so darn sweet.
So, this guy at work is always telling these really funny stories about his kids; honest to goodness, other people who have never met these children find them hilarious, funny stories. Usually, when someone tells you a funny story about their kid it may be down right hysterical to the story teller, but to the audience it may only be mildly amusing at best. Funny stories about children are really only funny if a) they're actually really funny (which are few and far between) or b) you're closely related to the subject child. I'm not saying that people shouldn't tell their funny stories; I think it's great that people enjoy their children so much and wish to share their joy. I'm all for it; spread the love!
Wade, however, is not at all funny. I mean, he has his moments of course. Personally, I think he's a hoot a minute, but I'm also well aware that to other people his precociousness is really just cute at best. But what Wade really is is nothing that I can tell stories about at the office; it just doesn't translate into a quick 5-minute show-stopping knee-slapper. What Wade really is, is just the sweetest, most loving boy you could ever meet.
Wade's manner's surpass that of many adults. He rarely forgets to use his "please's" and "thank-you's" and when he does a simple look of mild disapproval from me quickly reminds him. He will immediately apologize for his poor manners and quickly place the appropriate kind word into his re-worked sentence.
When Wade makes a mistake he immediately apologizes full-heartedly, begs forgiveness and explains that it was an accident or that it was simply a mistake on his part.
Wade will stop in the middle of playing to let his Daddy or I know that he loves us. He will give us a hug, a kiss on the cheek and sweetly say; I love you, Momma/Daddy and then he will resume play.
He is best friends with everyone and he will tell you that you are his best friend. I'm fairly certain that he means it too.
Wade generally has a smile for everyone. Occasionally he'll get bit by the shy bug, but for the most part he's incredibly congenial, says "hi!" to pretty much everyone that we have more than a moment of contact with and starts conversation with them. He's always been like this. When he was just 4 months old I would put him in his Snuggli, facing me, to go grocery shopping. He would strain to turn around and smile at everyone walking down the aisle. I finally had to stop taking him to the grocery store with me because a simple trip would end up taking us an hour or more because so many people would stop to ooo and ahh over this adorable little boy; which of course only encouraged him.
Wade is very cognizant of other people's feelings. I recently noticed, while he and a large group of other children were playing in a bounce house, how much he was truly concerned with the other kid's well-being. While the other children were bouncing around aimlessly, flying into one another, knocking each other down (the fun of a bounce house) without a thought as to whether or not they may be hurting the others; Wade would wait patiently minding the children around him and being careful as to not cause any undue pain if he could help it. At one point, after waiting patiently a good 15 or so minutes for all the kids to clear off the bottom of the slide so that he too could slide down, he finally started down only for a little girl to jump on the bottom of the slide at that exact moment. Wade was unable to stop himself and slid right on top of the girl's hair (ouch). Wade spent quite some time with her apologizing and trying to make sure that she was okay; he was truly concerned. I watched him with a lot of pride. I was so proud that at 3 years old Wade had such high regard for another's feelings. Granted, a little bit of me wished that he would just jump around, crazily bumping into other children with only mild regard for them and just thoroughly enjoy himself. But, most of me was truly impressed with his incredibly sweet behavior.
So, that's my son. He's not necessarily funny but he is honestly one of the nicest, most caring little boys you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing. That is unless you happened to be witness to Father's Day 2010 at Comerica Park... but that's another story for another day.
Bun In the Oven Update: She's busy. She really moves around a lot. She is doing well, growing at the right speed and all that good stuff. She does, however, cause me lots of aches and pains. I've now developed an occasional limp due to painful, stretching ligaments in my left-hip (so now I waddle and limp - sexy). There is a spot in the middle of my back that hurts like the dickens everyday starting at 3pm. No matter what I eat for lunch, it gives me heartburn. My legs and ankles swell up to twice their size toward the end of most evenings. I can't stay awake most nights past 9pm. I'm short-tempered and irritable. I wish more than anything that human gestation was only 5.5 months long and I was done with this. I do not wish, however, for her to enter this world early. I'm in it for the long haul and she had better be too. I've known too many friends recently who have had to welcome their bundles too early and have had worries that new parents shouldn't have. So, although I complain (and I mostly kid), I would rather feel like this every second of every waking moment than to have her be anything other than perfectly healthy sometime after November 18th. And, according to the couple of swift kicks to the belly I just received, I'd say she agrees!
Here's to November 19th and the bottle of wine that awaits me!
Cheers.
Wade, however, is not at all funny. I mean, he has his moments of course. Personally, I think he's a hoot a minute, but I'm also well aware that to other people his precociousness is really just cute at best. But what Wade really is is nothing that I can tell stories about at the office; it just doesn't translate into a quick 5-minute show-stopping knee-slapper. What Wade really is, is just the sweetest, most loving boy you could ever meet.
Wade's manner's surpass that of many adults. He rarely forgets to use his "please's" and "thank-you's" and when he does a simple look of mild disapproval from me quickly reminds him. He will immediately apologize for his poor manners and quickly place the appropriate kind word into his re-worked sentence.
When Wade makes a mistake he immediately apologizes full-heartedly, begs forgiveness and explains that it was an accident or that it was simply a mistake on his part.
Wade will stop in the middle of playing to let his Daddy or I know that he loves us. He will give us a hug, a kiss on the cheek and sweetly say; I love you, Momma/Daddy and then he will resume play.
He is best friends with everyone and he will tell you that you are his best friend. I'm fairly certain that he means it too.
Wade generally has a smile for everyone. Occasionally he'll get bit by the shy bug, but for the most part he's incredibly congenial, says "hi!" to pretty much everyone that we have more than a moment of contact with and starts conversation with them. He's always been like this. When he was just 4 months old I would put him in his Snuggli, facing me, to go grocery shopping. He would strain to turn around and smile at everyone walking down the aisle. I finally had to stop taking him to the grocery store with me because a simple trip would end up taking us an hour or more because so many people would stop to ooo and ahh over this adorable little boy; which of course only encouraged him.
Wade is very cognizant of other people's feelings. I recently noticed, while he and a large group of other children were playing in a bounce house, how much he was truly concerned with the other kid's well-being. While the other children were bouncing around aimlessly, flying into one another, knocking each other down (the fun of a bounce house) without a thought as to whether or not they may be hurting the others; Wade would wait patiently minding the children around him and being careful as to not cause any undue pain if he could help it. At one point, after waiting patiently a good 15 or so minutes for all the kids to clear off the bottom of the slide so that he too could slide down, he finally started down only for a little girl to jump on the bottom of the slide at that exact moment. Wade was unable to stop himself and slid right on top of the girl's hair (ouch). Wade spent quite some time with her apologizing and trying to make sure that she was okay; he was truly concerned. I watched him with a lot of pride. I was so proud that at 3 years old Wade had such high regard for another's feelings. Granted, a little bit of me wished that he would just jump around, crazily bumping into other children with only mild regard for them and just thoroughly enjoy himself. But, most of me was truly impressed with his incredibly sweet behavior.
So, that's my son. He's not necessarily funny but he is honestly one of the nicest, most caring little boys you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing. That is unless you happened to be witness to Father's Day 2010 at Comerica Park... but that's another story for another day.
Bun In the Oven Update: She's busy. She really moves around a lot. She is doing well, growing at the right speed and all that good stuff. She does, however, cause me lots of aches and pains. I've now developed an occasional limp due to painful, stretching ligaments in my left-hip (so now I waddle and limp - sexy). There is a spot in the middle of my back that hurts like the dickens everyday starting at 3pm. No matter what I eat for lunch, it gives me heartburn. My legs and ankles swell up to twice their size toward the end of most evenings. I can't stay awake most nights past 9pm. I'm short-tempered and irritable. I wish more than anything that human gestation was only 5.5 months long and I was done with this. I do not wish, however, for her to enter this world early. I'm in it for the long haul and she had better be too. I've known too many friends recently who have had to welcome their bundles too early and have had worries that new parents shouldn't have. So, although I complain (and I mostly kid), I would rather feel like this every second of every waking moment than to have her be anything other than perfectly healthy sometime after November 18th. And, according to the couple of swift kicks to the belly I just received, I'd say she agrees!
Here's to November 19th and the bottle of wine that awaits me!
Cheers.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Fleeting Moments
I hadn't realized until just recently how long it had been since I wrote anything here. It is certainly not for lack of anything happening. In fact, it's more likely due to the sheer volume of things that seem to be always going on. This summer has been absurdly busy and being plagued by pregnancy induced exhaustion does not help in the least. I remember being tired when I was pregnant with Wade, but I don't remember being this tired. Of course, when I was pregnant with Wade I wasn't also trying to keep up with a 3.5 year old; I was merely working and going to school full time; piece of cake in comparison! Anyway, enough of me and on to the Master of the House, Wade. There is so much to tell. Where does one start? I think I'll start with something that hit me hard as a bag of bricks recently; how fleeting the moments really are.
Wade has been a challenge to potty train. Let me repeat. A challenge. He has had absolutely no interest in potty training. I, on the other hand, have been ready for it for about 2 years now. Before even broaching the subject with Wade I had read 3 books on the subject and read countless websites regarding the different processes and schools of thought. I had spoken to multiple mothers who had blazed the potty training trail before me. I was armed with knowledge and lots of it. Unfortunately, and completely unknown to me, I was also armed with an incredibly disinterested and stubborn little boy. The boy had no interest in using the toilet. I tried everything; floating targets, bribery, star calendars, peer pressure (I can only hope and pray that he is that resilient to peer pressure later in his life because I pushed that one pretty hard), I used Sweet Juniper's drawings (he was upset because the pooping characters looked upset - I thought for sure Caillou pooping would do the trick), I tried dropping the subject for months at a time hoping that revisiting the subject at a later date would be met with more interest. Nope. Nothing. Nada. He was completely resilient to everything. It was maddening. And you know, a 3 year old's poop is not unlike that of an adults; it smells just as bad and there seems to be just as much of it. It's really and truly disgusting. I had had it.
So, just as I was starting to wonder how I would even be able to enroll him in any sort of preschool the unthinkable happened. He asked to use the bathroom! I was shocked but calmly escorted him to the bathroom where he sat down and actually peed in the toilet. I was overjoyed. I screamed. I jumped up and down. I gave high-fives. I had tears of utter happiness fill my eyes. I was ridiculously happy for what was probably an ounce of pee in the toilet; but, it was true happiness, real pride and it was very exciting. My son had just peed in the toilet.
About a half hour later I was lying in bed silently smiling to myself and our potty training success when it hit me. My son had just peed in the toilet. My baby boy had just peed in the toilet. My baby boy wasn't a baby anymore. My perfect, little baby boy was on his way to growing up. Oh my god... he's 3.5 years old and he's peeing in the toilet. Where did the time go? How do I slow it down? I'm not ready for this. I started to cry. The time has just flown by and I haven't been paying close enough attention. It wasn't that long ago that Wade was just this tiny, well, okay, he was never tiny... but he was a baby. He slept in my arms and he cooed and smiled at me with that big beautiful toothless smile. Now he's too busy to cuddle, he talks in full sentences (often back-talks in full sentences) and that still beautiful smile is full of teeth that need to be brushed regularly.
Wade has been a challenge to potty train. Let me repeat. A challenge. He has had absolutely no interest in potty training. I, on the other hand, have been ready for it for about 2 years now. Before even broaching the subject with Wade I had read 3 books on the subject and read countless websites regarding the different processes and schools of thought. I had spoken to multiple mothers who had blazed the potty training trail before me. I was armed with knowledge and lots of it. Unfortunately, and completely unknown to me, I was also armed with an incredibly disinterested and stubborn little boy. The boy had no interest in using the toilet. I tried everything; floating targets, bribery, star calendars, peer pressure (I can only hope and pray that he is that resilient to peer pressure later in his life because I pushed that one pretty hard), I used Sweet Juniper's drawings (he was upset because the pooping characters looked upset - I thought for sure Caillou pooping would do the trick), I tried dropping the subject for months at a time hoping that revisiting the subject at a later date would be met with more interest. Nope. Nothing. Nada. He was completely resilient to everything. It was maddening. And you know, a 3 year old's poop is not unlike that of an adults; it smells just as bad and there seems to be just as much of it. It's really and truly disgusting. I had had it.
So, just as I was starting to wonder how I would even be able to enroll him in any sort of preschool the unthinkable happened. He asked to use the bathroom! I was shocked but calmly escorted him to the bathroom where he sat down and actually peed in the toilet. I was overjoyed. I screamed. I jumped up and down. I gave high-fives. I had tears of utter happiness fill my eyes. I was ridiculously happy for what was probably an ounce of pee in the toilet; but, it was true happiness, real pride and it was very exciting. My son had just peed in the toilet.
About a half hour later I was lying in bed silently smiling to myself and our potty training success when it hit me. My son had just peed in the toilet. My baby boy had just peed in the toilet. My baby boy wasn't a baby anymore. My perfect, little baby boy was on his way to growing up. Oh my god... he's 3.5 years old and he's peeing in the toilet. Where did the time go? How do I slow it down? I'm not ready for this. I started to cry. The time has just flown by and I haven't been paying close enough attention. It wasn't that long ago that Wade was just this tiny, well, okay, he was never tiny... but he was a baby. He slept in my arms and he cooed and smiled at me with that big beautiful toothless smile. Now he's too busy to cuddle, he talks in full sentences (often back-talks in full sentences) and that still beautiful smile is full of teeth that need to be brushed regularly.
I realized that I have to remember to write this all down again because I'm going to forget these moments and I don't ever want to forget them. These are the moments that life is made of. These are the moments that really count. These are the moments that are going to make Wade the man he will eventually become. These are truly just the fleetingest of moments.
So, consider that realization my current vow to keep up on the posts. If nothing else, I need to write them for posterity's sake.
What I'm listening to right now: "When My Time Comes" - Dawes
So, consider that realization my current vow to keep up on the posts. If nothing else, I need to write them for posterity's sake.
What I'm listening to right now: "When My Time Comes" - Dawes
Cheers!
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