A low-key week

With Sam off to my parents' house for the week, things have been delightfully calm around here. Micah wakes up early every morning and goes downstairs to watch the Disney Channel (switching to Dora and Diego later). Sofia has been sleeping late (partially because for 2 days she just did not nap!). There's no one fighting and screaming and getting upset about the unfairness of life and how he hates having a little brother. It's been VERY nice!

Which sounds awful to say - life is calmer without my eldest son in the house - but in the meantime, Sam is having a fabulous time in Connecticut, getting spoiled by Grandma (he got 2 Lego kits, 2 "guys" from Star Wars, an army-print rain poncho, and REAL Crocs (I told her to get the $9.99 pair at Target, but NO!), playing with my sister's twin girls (same age as Sam, and they all get along great), singing old songs with Pop (my dad was definitely born about 80 years too late for his musical taste), and swimming at the pool club. So hopefully when Sammy comes home on Saturday, he'll be relaxed and calmer.


My lovely toddler is a riot. Aside from not napping, she's been really really active. Yesterday, we were home for a bit in the afternoon; Micah was playing Nintendo and I was online. Sofia kept circling between my room and the bathroom, and every time she came in, she was holding or doing something different: holding a purse and saying "bye", brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, wearing my underwear (as a vest, of course). She's such a clown! Right now she's stopped to read a book, and she's been exploring toys all morning.

Yesterday David and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! We drove into Brookline, went to Fugakyo for delicious sushi, then roamed Barnes & Noble for a while. It was nice - we have such a good time when we are alone together. Wednesday night, I had Girls' Night with J & R - also a blast - and R came here for dinner on Tuesday, since her girls are away all week. The babysitter has made tons of money off of us this week; besides last night, she watched Micah for 4 hours on Wednesday while I took Sofia to playgroup and ran some errands, and she was here...uh....ok, I dont' even remember earlier in the week, but I know she was...

Yesterday I took the kids to the pool for a while. Mrs. G. had to talk Micah into putting on his bathing suit and at least TRYING the water. Fortunately, he did finally go in, and even put his whole head under for a moment, on his own. But then he was on the playground for a long time. Sofia, on the other hand, is a fish. I did put the Bubble on her this time. She complained for a moment, but got used to it fairly quickly. Later, I took it off so she could walk around, but when she wanted to get back in the water, she very clearly signed that she needed the bubble back on!

Oh! So last night, at the bookstore, I went to the Parenting section to check on "Gifts" (It took a while to find the book, it was on the bottom shelf and just spine-out, so I switched it with a face-out book!). Then I picked up "Yoga for the Special Child". The intro is just lovely, reads like another chapter in "Gifts"...right up until the daughter is 13 and gets sick and DIES! I was so upset. She'd done so well, the pictures of her were just lovely, and I was so anxious to find out how she'd done as an adult (born in the early 70's). And she died! It was so sad. (But the mom seems to have really done a tremendous amount of work with kids with special needs all along).

Sunday I have to take Micah to the open house at his camp. I'm nervous! I know he'll like it once he's there and involved, but I also know he's going to COMPLAIN all about it. Oh, and I worked out the bus logistics - I can put him on the same bus he would have taken to the pool, but in Dover at 8:40 instead of Framingham at 8:10. So that solves my problem of getting Sam into M's car at 8:10 (and if M is running late, I can meet her in Dover, which is on her way). Same timing works in reverse - pick up Micah at 4:10, plenty of time to be back home at 4:50 for Sam.

Ok, Sofia is tapping on the laptop (yesterday I found her standing on my desk chair, typing on the computer). Seems like a fine time to go. Happy weekend to all!