One of our Fresno friends in down in Glendale on business. We're meeting him for dinner tonight at Burger Continental in Pasadena. I haven't been there in many years, but it feels like I spent my entire freshman year there. They used to give Techers a 35% discount, which made it a VERY popular hangout, especially on weekends when the kitchens were closed. I have many fond memories of their outdoor dining area and its pigeons. I hope going back lives up to the memories.
Thomas has had two teeth for a while, but you can see the lumps in his gums that will become his upper incisors and upper and lower canines. I don't know which ones are about to come in, but there has been much wailing and misery over the last week or so. Every morning, I check to see if any have broken the surface, but nothing so far. Poor baby.
Going places and visiting people is fun. But the day after we get back is always sort of depressing. The living room is full of all the stuff we hurriedly unloaded from the car, most of the fridge has gone bad, and there's an extra-large stack of mostly junk mail to sort through. There's also a distinct loneliness after days of close quarters and good friends or family. Of course, it is always nice to sleep in your own bed and have your own things and space. It just always seems to take me an extra day to get back into the routines of life at home.
Had a nice Thanksgiving. Lots of eating, relaxing, and CivIV. Thomas enjoyed all the grandparent love. His Noni made him a santa hat, which is adorable. He likes to take it off and hold it while sucking his thumb. You'll see the picture in our Christmas card. Speaking of, if you didn't get a card from us last year (and want one) or you've moved in the last year and think we may not have your new address, send me an email at (my first name) dot (my last name) @gmail.com
Curtis was moping. He had a stack of math tests to grade. I was trying to motivate myself to go tackle the mountain of dirty dishes before we leave for Thanksgiving. He half jokingly asked if I wanted to grade some math tests. I said sure, because it'd be another reason to put off the dishes. So we struck a deal. He would wash dishes for as long as I graded his tests. Both jobs still sucked, but you know, when you're managing to avoid your least favorite job, anything is better. Plus there is a wonderful aura of gratitude around here this morning.
Sunday was the Parent's Association softball tournament. Curtis was the only teacher from the upper school to participate. Even though I forgot his hat and packed him a baseball glove instead of a softball glove, he still had a good time. His team won their two games in the round robin, but lost the championship game to one of the teams they had already beaten. Then again, the winning team had the head of school, so maybe the fix was in. Thomas and I hung around the (meager) spectators and enjoyed the chuck wagon (or at least I did). Tonight is another school activity. Curtis is one of the chaperones for laser tag night. I'll probably go and see if there is any good food or any of the parents or staff that I'm friends with.
We just woke up in a hotel room next to the pool in beautiful Palm Springs. The sun is shining and the high today is forecasted to be 89 degrees. Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and pareo weather. Aaah, it's so rough visiting Curtis's grandparents. They enjoyed meeting their only great-grandkid last night and Thomas showed off all his skills: smiling, rolling, sitting, bouncing, standing (with help) and strumming his lips.
Last week, I couldn't think of a single thing to write about Zifnab's word of the week. But this week's word (flaneur) describes my day to a tee. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept having random joint pain that made any position uncomfortable. In addition, Thomas decided to get up at 1:30 in the morning. So today, I feel wretched (and still have twinges in my ankles and right knee) and plan to spend the majority of the day lounging on the floor handing toys to Thomas for his perusal and tasting. That and the usual necessities of diapers and feedings.
Aah, loafing: the cure for what ails you. Maybe we'll even work up to loafing in the comfy chair with some FFXII.
Thomas made his first crawling steps on Monday. He crawled backwards. Soon he'll be going forward and I'll definitely have to get a baby gate.
Monday, Thomas went to our eye doctor in Fresno for an exam. The doctor wants to see kids once they are six months old. We were really curious how you could do an exam on a tiny baby. It was pretty interesting. He checked his eye movement and peripheral vision using a brightly colored Bert & Ernie. Then his assistant danced around with toys to draw Thomas's attention while the doctor looked into Thomas's eyes with his scope. This was highly entertaining, since she would have to set down the toys and grab his file to record the results.
The final results were that Thomas has more eyes more like Curtis than me (thank goodness). He's a little more farsighted than the average baby his age, but has better focusing. There's no sign of tilted optic nerves, which is what led to my nearsightedness.
With enough exposures, babies will apparently learn to like any taste. We have proof in that Thomas now eagerly eats his liquid vitamins. To me, they smell like rotting vegetation and are supposedly "orange and cherry" flavored. At first he hated them, but now he opens his mouth for the dropper, tries to hold it, and sucks the vitamins out.
It's very hard to hear what the priest is saying in the video, but the dull roar in the background really was there. I couldn't believe how noisy people were through the whole ceremony.
Here is Thomas's christening (anointing with holy oil). I don't know how to rotate video, so you have to tilt your head. The oil smells really beautiful, so after this we passed him down the row and back so everyone could sniff his head.
Thanks Swan for the great video!
I took some pictures last night, but the camera batteries died so they are trapped in the camera. Hopefully I'll find the charger and get it set up today, though today is also Kitty Clause day, wherein Beckham gets to go bye-bye. Other than that, nothing to see here, folks. Just move along peacefully. Check back tomorrow.
Sunday afternoon, we went to a "Parent Social" at the home of one of Curtis's students. It was a great party. I had lots of fun talking to people, Thomas got carried around and loved by many hands, and Curtis got some nice compliments from some of the parents. The home was pretty amazing with a pool, pool/guest house, tennis and basketball courts, and a huge, beautiful house. The food was really good and I got fairly full before they took it all away. Turns out, that was just the appetizers, because they brought out trays and trays of lunch, followed by desserts and coffee. There were so many leftovers, that they were giving them out to people to take home. We said we take some of anything and ended up with an entire tray of Caesar salad and three grocery sacks. I now see why the parents joke that the school should be renamed Gluttony High.
The weird thing was that while the entire administration was there, there were only two teachers including Curtis. The parents had to pay $15 for lunch, but the teachers were invited free along with any guests that they wanted to bring. So why wouldn't you go? Or at least stop in to see how the other half lives and snag some free food (and drinks, since the beer and wine was flowing freely)? Maybe Curtis and I are still influenced by our grad school days and would go to just about anything that promised free food, but I just can't think of an explanation for the pathetic teacher turnout.
I'm laying on the floor reading a library book. Thomas thinks that he should play with (read: eat) my book, so I give him one of his plastic books. We are the picture of cuteness as he rolls around and chews on his book next to me as I read. Eventually, he tires of the book and starts moving around and playing with other toys. After a while, he ends up at the other end of the living room, kicking his feet and seeming very happy that he traveled so far. The next time I look up, he's facing the wall. "Hey baby, whatcha doinWHOA!" I jump up and run across the room, because the baby is laughing and scratching at an electrical outlet. Now my folded-up easel has a strategic, new home.
Since I helped Curtis do his course write-ups for the school's accredidation report, he took me out for steak to celebrate turning it all in. Turns out that Halloween is a great night to go out, since most people are doing stuff with their kids or going to parties at someone's house. There was no wait at Outback and several empty tables. We each had an enormous porterhouse steak with a potato-product and salad. I'm looking forward to having the left-over steak for dinner. Meat is soooo delicious. Afterwards, we stopped by Trader Joe's and there were, maybe, seven people in the whole store. It was funny watching the staff strip the place of Halloween decorations though. Maybe tonight we'll get around to carving our pumpkins. They can be All Saints pumpkins or something.
