Well, it’s stalling
I posted earlier that I wasn’t sure whether C was being precise and methodical, or whether she was stalling. Now it’s become clear that perhaps 90% of the time she is stalling. There are 15 things that must be touched before we can leave a room. The rocking chair on the front porch must always be sat upon before we can leave the house each morning. It goes on and on. And it’s usually accompanied by whining, whining, and more whining. I know it’s a phase, just like so many other things I’ve reported, but it is really trying on the patience, especially for someone who has horrible and constant insomnia (me) and is generally on edge as a result.
But at the same time C makes me laugh so hard. Yesterday on the way home we were struggling to remember all of the words to “Hush little baby.” In C’s version, mama’s gonna buy you a “rockingbird” as opposed to a “mockingbird.” Beyond the rockingbird and the diamond ring, we can’t remember what mama’s gonna buy that little baby. So imagine how hard I laughed while listening to C make up her own words. For a while she was just using nonsense phrases. But as we turned onto our street, C sang out that if that diamond ring didn’t shine, mama was gonna buy that baby a convertible. Seriously.
Pictures!
Okay, so I know these are now a month old, but here are some beautiful pictures that Elizabeth took of C during our mountain getaway. Thanks so much to Elizabeth and Kelly for taking such awesome pictures and so well documenting our adventures!! I, as you can tell, am not the world’s best documentarian. I am embarrassed by how infrequently I actually take pictures and write things down.
Carson is a mess lately– I often can’t tell if she really, really wants to be precise and do things methodically step-by-step, or if she is stalling. For example, putting on shoes is the most painful 5 minute process you could imagine. After talking with friends who have kids the same age (or have had kids this age), I’ve concluded it’s generally the former (although we are definitely having a lot of that “just one more…”, as I understand are many other parents of kids in C’s class right now). The other day in the car, I declined to sing “Wheels on the Bus,” and C said, “Please don’t say no to me, mama!” It was clear that she wasn’t trying to be rude– which was what made it so out of place and hysterical. I was drinking a Coke, and it came very close to coming out my nose. C is enjoying playing on her swingset, which she calls her “sunset,” in this beautiful cool weather. She also parks her booty in the rocking chair on the front porch every chance she gets– every morning before we leave and every day when we get home. She is learning all about the five senses at school and has us singing this pesky little song all day… “I’ve got five senses, I’ve got five senses, I’ve got five senses, you do too.”
This weekend we’ll be cheering on the Dawgs. Carson all on her own last night started the chant: ”Geor-gia! Bull-dogs!” We did it for several minutes. I think she thinks she’s talking about Georgia (our dog). Granted, it must be a little confusing to have your state, your dog, and your team all with the same name.
Enough from me– enjoy these (and thanks again to Elizabeth– looking forward to our grown-up outing next week with y’all and the Dyars!).
Settling in
This weekend I felt like we really started to settle in to the new house. It helps that most of the boxes are now gone. We still have several boxes of pictures to unpack, but those will likely stay until we can decide where to hang them all. Those of you who can recall how long it took us to hang pictures at the old house, thanks to the combination of my indecisiveness and Shane’s hanging precision, won’t be holding your breath. In any event, it’s starting to feel more like home. We got some lamps for the study, which definitely helps, and the back door situation has improved considerably thanks to Shane’s installation of a “new” lock (it’s actually really old) that he found in the garage. (You would not believe the stuff we’ve unearthed in that garage… Shane found a bunch of old door plates and door knobs, several lock sets, and probably a dozen actual doors.) Finally, the bugs mostly seem to have found somewhere else to go, which is nice. Best of all, the computer is hooked up and BellSouth is coming on Thursday to set up the DSL, so I should be able to load up some pictures for you all to enjoy soon thereafter.
What else is new? It was not a very eventful weekend for us as we just kept plugging through our project list and I tried in vain to stay cool. C and I went to the new jumpy place in Decatur on Saturday morning to try to escape the heat, and she joined us to watch some of the Georgia-South Carolina matchup on Saturday afternoon and help tackle a big bowl of popcorn (which she loved). We made pancackes and sausage yesterday for breakfast, and I discovered the agony of using an electric cooktop with a pancake griddle (sure, it got hot, after about 20 minutes). I wish I had a more exciting weekend on which to report, but hey, you are still reading. Let me know what all of you have been up to.
Not my chair
Shane put together two little chairs from Ikea to go in C’s new room with her activity table. Shane loves to assemble Ikea furniture because the instructions include no words, only a cartoon illustration of a little smiling man. That man doesn’t care if it takes him all day to put together an armoire (as ours did) or just a few minutes to assemble a chair (as happily these did). He just keeps smiling. What an inspiration, that little Ikea man.
Anyway, C loves her new chairs. She likes to sit in them and play with her coffee maker, her mixer, and her pots and pans. She also loves to draw pictures with her Magna-Doodle lately. She especially likes to draw zebras. This morning, I went to sit next to her in the second chair, and she cired out, “Don’t sit there, mama! That chair is for my baby sister!” I asked her where I could sit, then, not raising the valid point that I’m carrying said baby sister, and she pointed to the floor. Well. It’s nice to know where I stand (and where I can sit).
Moved in (mostly)
Well, my kitchen is now about 5 feet wide. It has a total of three drawers and three cabinets. My downstairs toilet is broken, and I think the palmetto bugs are going to take off with the deck. I can’t find the Tylenol or a clean towel, there is nowhere to put anyone’s shoes, and the 90 year old back door just plain doesn’t work.
That must mean I’ve moved into the new house, finally!
Yes, it’s true, we packed up about 75% of our belongings and delivered them last week to Adams Street, where we have been unpacking ever since. There are so many things I love about our new house. It is so quiet and peaceful. We have a huge backyard with tons of trees. We have 6 fireplaces, pocket doors, inlaid floors, and 2 antique tubs. We have gorgeous new paint. Carson and Baby J 2 have huge bedrooms that actually hold all their stuff (well, Baby J 2’s room is holding dog crates and a mattress at the moment) and give or will give them room to actually play with their stuff. But while I know we are doing the right thing, it’s hard not to have mixed emotions sometimes about leaving Third Avenue behind. That house was done. Everything worked, it still smelled new in places, and the bugs visited far less often. Carson has said a few times that she wants to “go home,” which breaks my heart. Is she sad? Is she wondering why on earth we traded in our huge kitchen with granite countertops and cabinets galore for a glorified porch with no functioning heat or air vents? I wish she could (and I hope others can) see our vision for the house– what we love so much about what’s there and what we are so excited to see coming in the future. And let’s not forget that Third Avenue lacked a linen closet (I now have a huge one), a laundry room (I now have a huge one), and a weird pulley-like device in the floor that no one can identify (yes, we now have one of those, too). Finally, the pest control service is coming tomorrow. And in about 2 years, I’m going to have the most awesome brand-new kitchen anyone has ever seen. Things are looking up.
