Hug Twice

I am not a patient person.

And honestly, I don’t think Alexa is either.

But, for some reason, she really is in no hurry to walk. I don’t think it is a physical issue - she has taken a step or two a number of times in the past three months, but once she does she either starts crawling or just stays where she is. She has no interest in walking to things, from things, or at things. She crawls, and that makes her happy. She also climbs. She stands up all on her own without pulling up, looks around, and sits back down. Her balance is fine, her feet and legs move correctly, she just… doesn’t walk.

At 14 months, and rapidly closing in on 15 months, she has taken a total of 17 steps, most of them one at a time.

I thought I didn’t care how late my kids walked, but I guess I do. It didn’t really bother me at all until, well, today. All of a sudden I started wondering if she’d ever walk. And I realized I really wanted her to start. Now.

Patience… for me. Heh.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

My neighbor’s house caught on fire last night. I was sitting at my computer tutoring around 10pm when my lights started flickering and I smelled something weird that was familiar, yet I couldn’t place it. A few minutes later, my spouse yelled down the stairs to me that our neighbor’s house was on fire. The smell I couldn’t place was smoke. I asked him if we needed to evacuate and as I asked, a number of fire trucks and police cars showed up on our tiny little cul-de-sac street.

The fire was on the other side of their house from ours, and after going outside to make sure the neighbors were okay and didn’t need anything, I came back inside. We turned on our exterior floodlights and our three-year-old got to watch a number of firemen and women run through our yard to go put the fire out. We’re not sure exactly what happened, except that the fire was in their garage and we think involved their furnace. We watched as the firemen cut holes in their garage roof to put out the fire and smoke billowed over the horizon.  The entire time, all I could think about was how much worse it could have been, and how lucky we all are to have what we have - family, love, and time together.

Sometimes all life takes is a little perspective.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When CJ came home from school on Friday, there was some brown stuff around his mouth, like he had eaten something and gotten it on his face. I had read his daily report that comes home from school, and it said they had made “snowmen” for snack by putting cream cheese on bagels. Nothing brown was mentioned, but I thought maybe he ate something different since he’s pretty picky.

So I asked him, “Hey CJ, what’s on your face around your mouth?” And he looked at me and smiled and said confidently “I ate a snowman!”

Okay so it isn’t brown but maybe it had brown on it. Whatever it was, I was still impressed. I hadn’t mentioned the snowmen at all or prompted anything, I just asked what was on his face. He put that together in his head and remembered what he’d eaten and ta da - I ate a snowman.

And guess what? He does like to eat bagels and cream cheese, after all. I have a new snack or meal to feed him at home.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Saturday night Matt and I went to his holiday party. CJ and Alexa were at the home of some good friends of ours while we went, who have 5 kids of their own ranging in age from 16 to 6. I wasn’t at all concerned about how CJ would do - our friends have taken care of him a few times before and he’s always loved it. And besides, he goes to school on his own, without his mommy and daddy, and I know he does fine with that.

Alexa on the other hand - this was her first time without both mommy and daddy, and frankly, I was a little sick to my stomach about it. Generally her modus operandi lately when separated even briefly from either of us is to wail at the top of her little lungs. Separation anxiety is running high in this household right now. As we left our friends’ house after dropping off the kids, I could hear CJ happily playing cars and Alexa’s Waaaaaaaaaaah in full force.

But, we did it. We kept walking, all the way to the car, and went to the party. Several times I reached for my cell phone to call and see what was going on, but I didn’t call. If things went *really* badly, I knew that our friends would call us. And if they were just going semi-badly, well, what could I do other than worry? So I just checked my cell phone every so often to make sure I didn’t miss a call… and I actually had some fun.

The party itself was actually pretty cool. There were 8 different buffet stations, from the martini risotto bar to the chocolate fondue fountains… oh, it was yummy. Yummy I say! And I got chocolate all over myself. I ate and ate until I could not eat any more. Mmmmmmmm. I even had wine like a grownup, and was in a grownup dress… that I got at goodwill. I am still thrifty! But my $4.50 dress looked like it belonged there.

And Alexa was fine. She even took a short nap. Our friends said she played with the kids and wasn’t even that grumpy about it. She was very happy to see us, but she was just fine. 4 hours of adult time for us, and no one was any worse for wear.

Those kids. They are a mystery. I could have sworn she’d throw a fit the whole time.

Maybe we’ll have to go out again someday before next year’s party.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tommorw night, Matt and I are going to his annual holiday party (don’t ask why it is in January, it just is).  Just us.  By ourselves.  No kids.  From about 6pm to 11pm, the kids will be in the hands of trusted friends of ours while we drink (a little), dance (a lot), and basically spend some needed couple time together.

Alexa has never been taken care of by anyone but us.  Never.  Ever.  CJ will be fine, he has done this quite a few times before, and our friends have 5 kids who all dote on him, which make things pretty exciting for him.

But Alexa…

I just hope we get to stay past the appetizers.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!