ryetoast

Stuff

You know what sucks? When your kid, who's been resisting his afternoon nap, finally sleeps and you have to listen to the sounds of other kids' screaming.  Sitting here in our office/everything room, the plaintive cries of babies are rising to my unsympathetic ears. Toddlers fussing and yelling. So realistic are they, I keep running to H's door to see if it's him. Doesn't help much that we live across the street from the park.

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Two years ago I bought an iPod. A year later it broke. Like two days after the one year warantee ended. I've been using the Mr. Himself's old machine, which unfashionably bulky though it is, works brilliantly. Or has worked. Until today. I can hear songs alright, but I can't choose them since the display has burnt out. I can't see anything. I guess I have to fork over the cash and buy a new one, since after all this time, I've just learned how to buy songs on iTunes.

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At two years and two weeks, H. doesn't really put two words together yet. Unless it's something like sea turtle. Or mmmm cookie. But for some reason, he's just started saying the weirdest thing: Up, I say. When he wants to be picked up, he raised both arms and declares, "Up, I say!" Where the hell did he get that from? Up I say! Who says that? I mean, who aside from Little Lord Fauntleroy?

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Mr. Himself and I are that annoying couple you go out to dinner with who find typos on the menu the moment we open it up. And not only that, but we have the gall to point out said typos, roll our eyes, and say, "This just won't do." And then everyone rolls their eyes at us and says thanks for ruining the dining experience. But it's a gift. A calling, almost. What are we supposed to do, just turn it off?

Well, we got ours, so to speak. Witness the birthday banner.

Un-happy birtaday, I say!

 

The Calm After the Storm But Before The Next One

On Sunday I let out an enormous sigh of relief. Of being done. The last few months have felt crazy--we've had my brother's wedding, the parties that go with it, assorted family commitments, getting our homestudy done, doing the photo album, which, last time took two weeks working every night. I also had a couple of work projects with deadlines right around the same time. Since I freelance from home, it's always time to work. And if I'm not working then I feel guilty about it. But on Friday, I turned in the last of my projects. I then tended to everything I've been neglecting. I'll spare you the details since they bore even me. Saturday, since all my family were finally in one place (except my honeymooning brother who was STILL in Bali), we celebrated H.'s birthday. Two weeks after the fact.

Sunday, it was all over. Nothing more to do for the moment. I did something I never do, and took the day off. When H. went down for a mega-nap, I fixed myself a heaping plate of leftovers, poured a glass of wine, and watched all 2 hours and 45 minutes of Munich. And! I stayed awake! For the whole movie!* When the end credits appeared, we heard H. call from his bedroom. His timing is impeccable.

So the whirlwind that was Spring is over. School's out for summer. No lessons. No playgroups. Just me and the little guy. Today I barely knew what to do with myself. Of course, I have a list of projects I need to start, and there's always the matter of photo albums, but I'm giving myself a couple of days to just chill. I think as soon as we get our referral, it's going to be madness all over again, and I need the energy to feed that.

Between the time of referral and the time of travel (roughly 2-3 months after), I still want to fix our apartment up**, which, obviously includes putting a room together for the new baby. So 1. get ready for baby; 2. get ready for trip to baby; 3. trip to get baby; 4. coming home, jet-lagged with one toddler and one baby. Plus a possible work project or two. So you see, much to do in the coming months. That's why I am okay with a little smooth sailing for a couple of days.

*I really liked it. Thought it was great. It's amazing how much more of a movie you "get" when you're awake for it.

* *We still don't even have any window coverings in our living room, kitchen and office. Plus, we want to paint the remaining unpainted rooms.

Comeback, Again

So. I think I am back. I mean, I am first and foremost, physically back from the two-week extended wedding celebration of my youngest brother. The actual wedding business only took three days, but it was up near my mom's and she lives by the beach (as in 100 ft. from) so I couldn't resist. The weather was crap in the beginning, but then it got nice, and I woke every day to my son demanding "Beach! Beach! Beach?" (After he realized that no one goes to the beach at 6:30am, he quickly changed his tune to his other great love, "Peach! Peach! Peach?") That kid ate more peaches, strawberries and blueberries than I've eaten in my life. And with every bite of succulent fruit, he let out a Broadway-style, jazz hands and all,  "Mmmmmmmm!" for my mother's benefit.

While we were up there, H. turned 2. As if on cue, that very day, he said birthday. Well, I guess it kind of was on cue since I kept saying, "Guess what? It's your birthday. Can you say birthday? Mommy will buy you a pony. And a whale! Come on kid, it's not that hard, birth-day. Use your words, sweetie, use your words."

Miraculously, he also started counting from 1 to ten. I say miraculously because he's never shown any interest in counting. (Think about it though, counting is pretty boring compared to say, the park. Or Nemo. Or really just about anything. Heck, it even makes watching paint dry seem interesting.) But all these months of counting and him not seeming to get it finally paid off. Just goes to show they are always listening. ALWAYS.

Today we had our two-year check-up. All 23 and a half pounds, 34 and three quarters inches (but who's counting?) of my boy were pretty cooperative. At one point, I mentioned something I was concerned about to the doctor, and he checked it out. He said something to the effect of I don't think it's a problem, but then again it's hard to tell since he seemed pretty active today and I couldn't get him to sit still. Pretty active? PRETTY ACTIVE? Oh doctor, that was him being chill.  Good lord, he was sitting in one place for a whole minute! I say dear sir, you don't know what active looks like if you call that pretty active. H., g-d love him, makes active look like a coma. He is always, constantly, every second going. Moving some part of his body. Twirling in circles, doing summersaults, going up steps only to jump down, climbing some piece of furniture only to launch onto some other piece of furniture. Am I painting a clear picture? The boy does. Not. Stop.

But. I totally admire that. I was so opposite him as a child, and yet, I always wanted to be more like that. Move more. Try more. Take more risks. Believe me, it wears me out, the never sitting still thing. But he's just so out there, so engaged, so full of life. And he totally and completely cracks me up. I wouldn't want it any other way.

So that's where we're at. Aside from our brief getaway, I've been working on some jobs from home, we're trying to fix up the place, trying to figure out how we're going to fill our days for the rest of the summer and, oh, yeah, there's this business of a little brother or sister.

On the Friday before the wedding we were driving to the rehearsal. It was raining and about 42 below, your average June afternoon.* I checked our messages and there was one from our SW saying that she received our I-171H. No other news, but give a call with any questions. Being the obsessive checker-upper that I am, I called her just to confirm that I heard right. She said not only did she receive the form, but Good News! Your Paperwork Is Going to Korea Today! As in today today. We didn't expect that news for another few weeks. It all suddenly became very real.

So now, between trips to the beach and/or sprinklers, we'll be getting the office/third bedroom/place where we like to throw everything ready for the new baby. We have no idea if it will be a boy or a girl, we didn't state any preference other than, one baby please.  Stay tuned.

This season on ryetoast: transitioning H. to a human-sized bed, referral jitters, a trip to Korea WITH A TODDLER, the aftermath.

*My brother and I now share the same anniversary. Except when we got married six years ago, it happened to be the hottest, sunniest, sweatiest day in history. I say that without any sense of hyperbole.