18 posts tagged “five things”
Yes the weekend was five days ago. I've been busy, dudes and ladies.
1. We took Aaron to his first movie in his first movie theater. It was the tiny little theater downtown, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how modern and stylin' it was on the inside. We saw Wall-E, which I thought was great. Aaron was less impressed. He liked the bunny cartoon beforehand. When I read the reviews that talked about the lack of dialog in the movie, I kind of assumed it would be replaced by a bunch of Charlie Chaplain-esque pratfalls and dances instead of an introspective journey of discovery and the joy of a first love. Aaron liked when the robots fell down, and that just didn't happen a lot in this movie. He was very good throughout, though. During the scene wherein the big rocket landed, Aaron asked, "What's that thing?" I quietly reminded him that he needed to be quiet in the movie, but my words were drowned out by about four other kids asking "What's that thing?" When the smoke cleared, and Aaron cheered, "It's a rocket!", I could hear the other kids going, "Ohhhhhh." He had to go potty about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and I felt like I missed a lot in that five minutes, so I'll just have to watch it again sometime.
2. We got home late on Saturday night, so showed Aaron the sparklers we bought for the fourth of July. At first, he was a little afraid to be anywhere near them, but eventually, he was spelling his name in pyrotechnics like a big boy. That's right, I helped my three-year-old son get past his natural aversion to fire. I'm a super dad.
3. We finally decided that enough was enough with the crib, and replaced it with a brand new big boy bed. Well, brand new in the sense that we removed one wall of the crib and replaced it with a shorter wall. But now Aaron can get out of bed whenever he wants to. That has been a treat. So now Aaron is convinced that the nightly ritual of tucking and rocking and hugging and singing all gets to be repeated if he sets foot out of bed. I can't believe we didn't do this sooner.
4. We tried to attend an orchestra concert with Aaron. We figured, he's big enough to sleep in a big-boy bed, he's big enough to see a movie about life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, surely he's old enough to enjoy some Liszt.
He was not.
Well, we tried.
5. Last night, despite the fact that we have the brand new Mad Men DVD sitting right here on our coffee table, ready for some watchin', Jenna and I watched a horrifying documentary about a certain big-box-type store that I had successfully boycotted for years until a couple of months ago in an effort to score some toilet cleaners and was being a little more lax about until I watched the movie, where I rediscovered why it's not a very nice place and why I'd be better boycotting it again because I just shouldn't be shopping there even if they do have everyday low prices on cherries that make my heart beat a little faster. Also, now the toilet's not working. You can guess who I suspect.
1. Happy birthday to Jake and Katie. Also, happy anniversary guys! And happy father's day. Thank you for not cramming all of that stuff into late December instead of mid-June. Now let's stop buying presents for a while, OK?
2. Aaron is sick. When I was growing up, it always seemed like a crime against nature to get sick when the weather was this nice. Aaron missed going to the pool twice today. And it was the first day in something like three weeks where we didn't have a severe thunderstorm looming. However, he did get to go to the toy store instead, so we probably don't have to think of today as the Day That Ruined His Childhood.
3. For the two of you who read this blog for Aaron stories and who haven't heard this one yet: Aaron had a bad dream the other night. I went in there to calm him down and ask what happened.
Aaron: There was a mystery man in here. But now he's gone.
Me: Was he a nice man?
Aaron: No, he was a mystery man.
Me: I think you had a bad dream.
Aaron: But he wasn't you, Daddy.
Me: No?
Aaron: No, he had hair on his head.
4. I turned 31 on Saturday. My parents took me to the zoo.
Technically, my parents and siblings joined me in taking our kids to the zoo, but let's be honest here: it was my birthday. I also celebrated with a cookout at my parents' house. My birthday dinner included cherries, potato salad, those bars that have pretzels and strawberries and cream cheese, ice cream cake, chocolate chip cookies, and two other dinners.
The Wii Fit isn't speaking to me right now.
5. It was fantastic to see Bill and Jess while they were in town. They stopped by our house overnight. Here's what they brought: An extra wheel for playing Mario Kart, Ticket to Ride, Guitar Hero, root beer, rum, and maybe toothbrushes. I don't think I have to tell you what kind of crazy rum-fueled, guitar poundin', transcontinental-railroad-buildin' fun we had.
No wonder Aaron's sick.
1. Last weekend, I took Aaron to the playground and sunburned the top of my head. Yesterday, I took Aaron to the playground and it started to snow. When I left this morning, each tree was frosted with a quarter inch of snow, making my morning commute look like a gleaming journey through the forests of Hoth, or maybe the fortress of solitude and all I could think was, "Not again." It is clear. Someone has broken the weather.
2. Jenna and Aaron and I were talking about boys and girls as one of the many warmup talks I plan to have with him before I explain the birds and the bees. We kept this particular discussion more toward whether or not a given person is a boy or a girl. Aaron had it down cold. He did relatives, friends, even cartoon characters. Jenna asked him if Diego's friend Baby Jaguar was a boy or a girl. He was quite confident that Baby Jaguar was a boy. Jenna asked, "How can you tell?" Aaron replied, "I tell you with my mouth."
3. Congratulations to Katie, Jake, Emily, on their new arrival! Congratulations to Lucas Richard, who is doing quite well! And congratulations to me, for doubling the number of godsons I have!
4. We had a fantastic weekend. We ate at one of those Japanese restaurants where the chef prepares the food at your table, right in front of you while you sip Sake through a bug shaped like Buddha. For the most part, it's a great experience, because it's both a meal and entertainment, and both are good. Last time I ate there, our chef was something of a comedian, and I remember being particularly tickled by his play on the words "butterfly" and "egg drop soup." This time, however, the chef was something of a novice, so rather than dinner and a comedy, it was a little like dinner and a horror show. He kept dropping things and yet he also kept throwing sharp knives into the air. Toward the end, when eggs were dropping out of the sky and shrimp tails were bouncing all over the table/oven, all we could do was grin and nod and pray that we got through the meal with our lives. Good thing it was delicious and that Jaime and Dave have good senses of humor. Then after dinner, we saw Romeo and Juliet, starring my sister in law as Juliet, which was awesome. It has been years since I have actually seen theater performed by actual actors, so it was kind of a shock when they took the stage and didn't start reading from a book of nursery rhymes. It was a superb date night. I can't wait until we get another one in 2010.
5. Happy Birthday, Mom. I still think you're the best Mom ever, and although I'm coming to realize that I will never be able to match your impressive skills in parenting, I am able to take advantage of your also impressive skills in grandparenting. Hope you enjoyed your day!
1. It is mid-February, and don't try telling me that it's not, with all your in-like-a-lamb and such. After things started to melt and thaw around here, we got another dusting of snow and then the temperature dropped. Sorry, I fail to see any proof that February ended. Our driveway's developed a nice sheet of ice, which only discourages us from going out or visitors from coming in, which means that we spend more time cooped up in the house, which means it's mid-February. But I'm OK with that.
2. All three of us have now acquired a bad cold. We are going through spicy Kleenex like nobody's business, and every sentence uttered in the house is punctuated by lung-rattling coughs or a long, sad honk on a tissue. It's really just another disease except for one interesting symptom. I have produced some world-record belches with this cold. At all hours of the day and night. At one point, I believe I set off a neighbors car alarm. I'd try to catch this disease more often for the entertainment value, if it weren't from the accompanying chills, stuffy nose, and hacking cough. Instead, I'll just wait it out. But I'm OK with that.
3. Aaron has been cranky lately. On the plus side, that means he's been taking more naps. On the side of minuses, that means he's been deserving more naps. One thing is constant, though. He doesn't like putting on clothes. He hates getting dressed in the morning, or putting on his PJs at night, or even putting on his coat. So we have all the more reason to play in the house. Unfortunately, the things he wants to do in the house are play with water by spraying it all over the house, play with choo-choos and pirates and buses and monkeys and Play-Doh, all of which pretty much cover the floor throughout the upstairs of the house. And then it gets wet when he plays with water. But I'm OK with that.
4. Maybe the reason he doesn't want to ride in the car, is that it still smells like a dead skunk vomited a bunch of cherries in the back seat, despite repeated applications of Febreze. We're either going to need to take the car apart and soak everything in lye or we'll have to donate it to the association of the hard-of-smelling if we can't figure out a solution soon. But I'm OK with that, too.
5. I'm OK with all of this because starting Monday, I have a job. A job! A JOB!!! Even better, I won't be unemployed! Once again, I want to thank everyone who helped me out. Thanks to my siblings for their encouraging words, my friends for keeping my spirits up, Melissa and Ann for writing letters of recommendation, my parents for supporting me from halfway across the country, Jenna's parents for jumping at the chance to take care of Aaron during all of my interviews, and Jenna for steadfastly refusing to let me lose hope, even when I really, really wanted to. I can't wait to get started on Monday, and I'm really excited that I can finally cross the first thing of my list of New Year's resolutions (1. Get life together). Thanks, guys!
1. Aaron saw I was lying in bed this morning and took a flying leap toward me. I've been in this situation before, and instinctively drew up my knees to move into a defensive position. Unfortunately, it was my knees he was after today, so I smacked him pretty good. The poor kid has a black eye. I feel horrible. Of course, today happened to be the day that we took him to the Reading festival, which was attended by every toddler and parent of a toddler in the tri-county area. I pretty much felt like a criminal.
2. What do you do when you try to clean something up, you do a thorough job, you scrub and clean from top to bottom, and it doesn't get any better? What do you do if it's your car? And it still smells like something died in it? Seriously, this is important.
3. Our backyard is not just Grand Central Station for deer, but judging by the prints, it's also a bed and breakfast. Among the footprints and the ample piles of deer doots there are several places where it look like one (or more?!) deer lay down for a bit. Silly deer, backyards are not a place for lying down!
4. We are trying the Puffs that have Vick's Vapo-rub infused in them. It's a little shocking to blow your nose and be assaulted with menthol, aloe, and whatever else they put in Vapo-Rub. Aaron calls it Spicy Kleenex.
5. As you may know, I've been looking for a job for a while. Tonight, I came to the decision that I'd kind of like Garrison Keillor's.
1. Have you ever been in a situation where you sense that something is wrong and all your thought processes recede to allow your animal reflexes to take over? You can feel your ears pricking up, and adrenaline shoots through your arms and legs, pooling at each joint so you can attack something, defend yourself, or run away screaming in an instant. It's unsettling, and even after the experience is over, it takes a while to let the all-clear settle back in. I had an experience like that this morning: I had my head in the refrigerator, pulling out the juice for Aaron when I heard this low scraping sound. Immediately, I focused all my energies on that sound and determined that it was getting louder. I jerked my head out of the fridge, falling back into a catlike stance. A split second later, tumbling down to the exact spot where I was standing came a bag of Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips. The big ones. Thirty percent more than the regular size bag. If I hadn't backed away at just that moment, I would have looked really, really silly.
2. I have an interview today. It is the first one I've had since Christmas, and I hope it goes well. Man, do I hope it goes well.
3. Mad Men got robbed at the SAG awards. Sure we all love the Sopranos (probably, I don't get HBO, so I've never seen it), but they didn't have to win every single award.
4. Aaron has said a lot of cute things, and I have done a real disservice to the world by not cataloging them all here. However, my favorite so far is when he's in a good mood, and you ask him to do something, like put his pants back on, and he replies, "Aye aye, cap'n!"
5. After I put in the caption for the picture in yesterday's entry, I got the song stuck in my head. However, in keeping with the theme, it was not the original, well-known, Rolling Stones version. It was the polka medley from the UHF soundtrack by Weird Al. No, really.
1. My dad is recovering in the hospital from his heart attack last week. He was up and walking yesterday, and it sounds like things are looking up. It was a scary experience, and I really admire my parents for staying optimistic and focusing on getting back home. I got a lot of e-mails from concerned friends asking about how he was doing, and I really appreciate that, and I'm happy to say it sounds like he's doing fine. Dad was already complaining about the hospital food, so that's a good sign that things are going well.
2. I still do not have word about a job. I have signed up with the employment agencies in town.
3. I love our house. Jenna loves our house. Aaron loves our house. Unfortunately, so do millions of bugs. I thought I had all but eliminated the fruit fly contingent this weekend when I found the horrible colony of ick growing under the garbage, but the flies are still here. What more do you want from us, flies? We're tired of you now! Also: take those Japanese Ladybug-Impersonator bugs with you.
4. Aaron is having a rough day today. He threw up a couple of times last night, and he's been pretty listless all day. Poor guy. He's spent the day either watching the Spongebob Marathon Extravaganza on Nickelodeon or sleeping. He's barely been vertical all day. We're keeping a close eye on him to see how things go.
5. Our DVD player finally gave up the ghost. Our speaker system has been reduced to paperweights. We found the cheapest DVD player we could in case a Thomas emergency should come up. And it did.
1.We asked Aaron what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. He told us he wants to be a monkey and a puppy. The monkey costume we have, because he was a monkey last year. So, rather than ducking under a tree and changing him halfway through the night, we were thinking of dressing him in the monkey costume and putting some whiskers on his face, maybe telling him to say "woof".
2. We've been told to expect between 250 and 300 trick-or-treaters if the weather is nice. Compare that the three trick-or-treaters we've gotten over the last four years. The real problem is that for some reason, the candy we've bought is really really delicious, and we need to keep buying extra bags of it.
3. We've been told to expect between 250 and 300 trick-or-treaters if the weather is nice. Of course, the electricity to the front of the house is off. We have been trying to replace the light in the entryway. So far, we've got the old light out, and putting the new one in has been a ridiculously trying affair. We keep combining parts of the old light with parts of the new light, but after six or seven tries, all we have to show for our efforts are a couple of wires hanging from the ceiling. I suppose that we could just leave the lights off and just have Snickers for supper for the next week.
4. We've been told to expect college students to show up on November 1st to remind us that candy is unhealthy, and they're eager to take it off our hands. We've got some celery that's gone bad in the crisper -- I wonder if they'll take that.
5. We still don't have a day care solution lined up for Aaron. There have been some good ones, but none with any openings. I'm not sure how this relates to Halloween. I guess our search has been a spook-tacular failure. Well, not really, but this is the only time of the year you ever hear the word spook-tacular, and it's kind of beautiful in its ridiculousness. Sorry, I mean boo-tiful.
1. Housewarming/PhD/Belated Birthday Party -- We had a housewarming party on Saturday. It was kind of a revolving door party, since we had people entering and exiting throughout the day, but we had a great time. To everyone who was able to make it: thank you. You are all awesome. Please come again. To everyone who was unable to make it: we'll try to give more notice next time.
2. Daily Mini-Quakes -- A while ago, I mentioned a huge crash that caused the house to shake and me to hide in the basement for an hour and a half quietly wetting myself. Well you'll be relieved to know that those crashes have repeated themselves on a regular basis. Had another one today, in fact. Apparently, we live close to a quarry and they blast for limestone once or twice a week. Knowing what the cause is takes away from some of the panic (I was only in the basement for a half hour today, tops), but it's still unnerving.
3. Toddler update -- Aaron has been making leaps and strides this week. Both developmentally and literally. Until last week, all Aaron would draw is random scribbles. Then, from out of the blue, he drew a self portrait with eyes, a mouth, and feet. It was unbelievable. He's also learned to type his name on the computer. To atone for all these positive developments, he's also been skipping naps. Oh, how I miss those naps.
4. Job update -- My employment status is the same as it's been for the last three weeks: I still don't have a job, but I have an interview on Friday. I've been scheduling them on Fridays so Jenna can watch Aaron. They've all been really positive experiences so far, and I feel like I've impressed the people I've interviewed with, so that's been encouraging. Now if I could only find more than two or three positions to apply to per week, I'd be set.
5. Aaron broke the lamp in his room last night. Shattered the glass lampshade all over his carpet. It was pretty traumatic for him, but he's fine. No cuts or bruises. Of course, it continues to be traumatic for me, because it was a scary event, and because that means his room is criminally dim again. It's just gloomy. When I was young, I used to have a recurring nightmare about being left home alone and being scared of something, but no matter how many lights I turned on, I would just get this paltry glow of light. I'd open the windows, but outside was perpetual twilight, and the shadows stretched and mingled and hid horrible things that those few scant lumens barely held at bay. I remember
searching through the house, for some kind of light, but it was too dim to make out more than a few inches in front of my face, and my fear gradually spread, mutating into a kind of bloated hopelessness. That's what Aaron's room is like now. I don't even want to be in there, but I really should be, in case he manages to break something else. And from the sounds of things, that's what he's doing right now. You know, instead of napping. So bye.
1. I've got this constant urge to put things together in groups of five.
2. When Aaron talks to me in the Spanish he learns from Dora the Explorer, I expertly answer back in perfect Gibberish. ("Crocodilo! Ayuda mi!" "Osta beeda badda!")
3. If Aaron wants me to make him a pretend to ride a horse, I pantomime putting a saddle on it, climbing up and using the reins, putting the reins down when I'm finished, disconnecting the saddle, putting the saddle away in the storage box, and closing the door of the storage box. Even though Aaron stopped watching when I put down the reins. Even though I routinely forget to put actual, non-pantomimed things like dishes away when I'm done with them.
4. I have no interest in making Jell-O because A) it's such a long and tedious process, and B) I've already visualized it in every revolting flavor imaginable.
5. How many times have I had this conversation:
"Do you want to go bowling?"
"At the bowling alley?"
"Yes."
"With bowling pins?"
"Yes."
"What are the bowling balls made of?"
"Bowling ball."
"What flavors of Jell-O are involved?"
"Um, let's not go bowling. In fact, let's pretend I don't know you."
