Waiting is hard for kids. Alex can be very patient sometimes though (and it gives me a chance to get a good shot).

(finally, the flickr video embeds are now working on WordPress!)

This was from a while back (early April) in the peaceful, quiet days, before Gator (that’s the cat on the other side of the window) upset Gonzo so much that Gonzo attacked me (see a few posts back. You know…the one with the picture of the huge wrapped hand)

That’s Alex “helping” Beeker with Gator.

In the sandbox this morning:

“Hey Alex, where’s daddy right now?” I asked.

“Working.” he replied.

“Where does he work?”

“Big office.”

“What does he do at the big office, buddy?”

“Makes money.”

I don’t even write down the new words anymore.  There’s just too many of them to keep up with.  He’s repeating everything now. And yes, that includes my “adult words” at other drivers in the car….I’ve gotta watch that.

I was saddened to hear of the death of George Carlin today.

It was quite a surprise. I mean, I know that everyone dies, but George Carlin just seemed….so timeless.

He never failed to make me laugh, whether it was his years of standup or his appearances on Bill Maher. His comedy was (and still is) ingenious and cerebral. He never failed to be funny or lost his touch. He was always on. Always paying attention to the little and big things that struck him, and many of us, as hilarious.

When Alex gets older, I look forward to introducing him to the genius that was George Carlin. For now, he just knows him as the voice for Fillmore, one of the characters in his favorite movie, Cars.

There’ll never be another one like him. We’ll miss you, George.

As the line goes in one of my favorite Monty Python movies, “I’m not dead yet.”

The past few weeks have been insane and I’ve been coasting with the waves, holding on the best I could. I celebrated Mother’s Day with a trip to Seattle for a few days to recharge the mommy batteries (and eat as much fresh fish as I could) and hopefully when I catch up on things, I’ll be able to write about the trip. But the night that I got back, Alex greeted me with a puking fever and a cold that took turns going around the household in the course of a week. I swear, even the cats got that cold.

In the course of the cold, Alex decided to ditch the bottle. FINALLY! He did pretty well drinking out of regular cups…until about a week later when he decided that he really needed them back to be able to get to sleep again. We were soooooo close. We’ll try again another time.

Then the next weekend, we had a huge cat fight on our back porch between Gonzo, Beeker and a neighborhood cat that has been visiting lately named Gator. Beeker managed to scare Gator off, but in his blind rage, turned on Gonzo and chased him through the house, leaving a trail of cat pee throughout. Gonzo was so frightened that he hid under our bed for the rest of the night…and Gonzo is usually the most outgoing cat.

I tried to lure him out with tuna the following day and he was interested until he saw Beeker again. The hissing started again and Beeker chased Gonzo downstairs into the basement and after a lot of hissing and howling, Gonzo hid under our air hockey table. While trying to dig him out from underneath some boxes, he turned on the nearest moving thing - my hand. He chomped into it hard about two or three times, leaving black holes in my left thumb.

We managed to get him to the vet to have him checked out so we could make sure there wasn’t an underlying injury that was causing his behavior (luckily there wasn’t) but the vet put him on anti-anxiety pills to get him to calm down so he wouldn’t attack everything and anything that moved. But later in the day, my wounds got worse. My hand ballooned to twice it’s size and I ended up spending the Sunday night of the Memorial Day weekend in the emergency room getting IV antibiotics. For those that don’t know, cat bites are nasty. Where dog bites tear into flesh, cat bites inject those nasty little bacteria right into your skin and almost always end up with infections. Which is exactly what happened.

So for about a week, I got to walk around wearing this really awesome fashion accessory:

and I got to go back to the ER a couple of times for more antibiotics and wound checks. Not how I was planning to spend my Memorial Day weekend.

Alex referred to my hand as “mama boo boo” and was generally good about making sure he didn’t grab that hand. I needed to have Matt stay home to help me with Alex though, since pulling up diapers and picking up kid just wasn’t going to happen.

And while that was going on, we were getting results back from the school board’s evaluation of Alex (I don’t remember much of the results meeting. I was on Vicodin. Thank god for notes) and putting together an IEP for him to start preschool in September.

So the hand is healing still, the bandage is off and I’m able to type again (obviously), although I have no feeling in the left side of my left thumb still.

Things are slowly….ssslllllooooowwwlllyyyy….getting back to normal. Or “normal.” (Who was it that said, “normal is just a setting on your dryer?”) How long they’ll stay normal is anyone’s guess.

Daddy’s been in New Orleans at the NCTA (National Cable and Telecommunications Association) annual show the past couple of days. While on his way to the airport, he discovered that he had Alex’s Elmo doll in the car. It was too late to turn around and bring him back. He offered to mail him back at the airport, but with our luck, daddy would be back from New Orleans before Elmo arrived in the mailbox.

So, Elmo came along with daddy. And Elmo’s been having fun.

Elmo’s met Gordie Howe, some booth babes, a storm trooper and Dick Butkus today.

Luckily, we have an understudy Elmo here at home while the lead Elmo is away.

Half of my backyard is gone., originally uploaded by wskrz.

The playset is up!

It’s missing the tent over the top, but that’ll be installed Monday (they were missing a part). Alex totally loves it. Especially the tire swing. He’s a little shy about going down the big slide unless someone’s with him, although he has no problem throwing Elmo or Bear down it by themselves.

Just in time for the hot summer weather.

Alex had a hearing checkup this morning as a part of his IEP requirements with the school board (My baby’s gonna be THREE in a few months?!?! *thunk*).  In fact, the month of May is full of meetings and preparation for his IEP  since the school board wants to get things wrapped up before the end of the school year.

The staff in the Audiology Department were great.  They explained everything to Alex and warmed him up to having things put in his ears.  Not that it would have been a problem for him.  We’ve been putting swimmers ear plugs in his ears to dampen the sounds at sporting events since he was three months old.  In fact, the one time we forgot the ear plugs, he was pretty uncomfortable.

Alex’s hearing checked out perfect.  Better than last year’s scores.  Of course, we knew that because he can hear us walking by his bedroom with the door closed and a sound machine on in his room to dampen the noise.

During the test, daddy went in with him and had Alex sit in his lap during the test.  Afterwards, Matt said, “I didn’t even hear most of the tones that Alex was hearing…and I was sitting right there.”

Well yes, honey.  I know that.  Because there are times that you don’t hear me at all when I’m talking to you and I’m in the same room.

Remember how it was the first day you started a new job? How out of sync with everyone else in your department you were? You needed to learn the processes of how things were done, the hierarchies, the locations of all the conference rooms and, most importantly, where the coffee pot was located.

Now, do you remember how it was when you started your first day as an official parent, carrying home your swaddled, mewling bundle of joy?

Pretty rough, wasn’t it? Those hours of sleep that you never saw, the two or three times in the night that you were awakened, the trials of figuring out just how to get that diaper on right. But as with any job, the more you did it, the better things got. You got into the swing of things, you learned the processes and you learned the temperament of your boss.

Yes, the diaper-wearing, baby powder scented boss especially.

Some of you moms out there are celebrating yet another Mother’s Day. Some of you may be celebrating your very first. For you, I bid you a hearty welcome to the new sisterhood of Mommies.

Regardless of whether this is your first or your fiftyth, every day is a learning process. You’ll rarely have the same day twice on this roller coaster ride. Sometimes the ride is maddening and exacerbating. Sometimes it’s exciting and full of laughter.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, here’s a list of some of the things I’ve learned since I became a mom. Please feel free to add your own.

- Those little mini chocolate bars you give out at Halloween are perfect for rewards (BRIBES!) for chores done around the house.

- Coffee is your friend. Coffee is important. Caffeine was put on this earth for a reason - to keep us running all day long and to give Starbucks something to sell.

- Learn to be a morning person. ‘Cause you’ll be one, whether you like it or not.

- Every meal doesn’t have to be completely nutritionally balanced. Kids won’t remember what they ate that night, but they will remember how much fun they had at the table being with you.

- Some things are, just simply, beyond your control. The sooner you accept it and get over it, the saner (is that even a word? More importantly, is there such a thing?) you’ll be

- Don’t set your standards and expectations too high. They hurt you and everyone else around you when they fall.

- I can make almost any kid laugh by just acting like a goofball. Who cares what other people thinks around you? The laughter and joy of the child is the most important thing. Goofball can be liberating.

- The memory of good days are to be kept in reserve for bad days.

- Multi tasking is the only way to get things done. Just make sure you don’t mix the electrical stuff, like computers, with the water stuff, like dishes.

- Prioritize. Put the things you want to get done the most at the top of your list and be realistic. Because chances are that your travel companion to the grocery store, bank, post office, hair stylist, mall, etc. will have other plans for your list.

- Always remember to try to take some time for yourself to recharge, even if it’s something simple like doing the groceries by yourself or getting a cup of coffee. You are no good for your kids or yourself if you’re exhausted and wiped out, both physically and mentally.

- The dishes can wait. They’ll be there later. The beautiful sunny weather and the opportunity to make bubbles in the backyard might not be.

- The best presents are those that are handmade with love, glue, paper and lots of painty fingerprints all over the walls.

- Cookies are made yummier when made together.

- The best toy is not the toy. It’s the box that it came in.

- The prettiest bouquet is the handful of freshly picked, bright yellow dandelions. Daddy will probably appreciate the weeding help too.

- You can try to take your kid everywhere, try to get them involved in everything and have them do everything you want them to do, but the best and happiest moment, for you and them, is that moment that you get to spend together one-on-one. Even if it is for just a moment.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day, everyone.

We finally got a call on Saturday afternoon from the HOA, giving us permission to put up Alex’s new playset.  Almost a month after putting in the application.

Installation is set for May 15th.  It would have been sooner if the HOA had gotten back to us last week, when the playset company wasn’t so booked up. Spring and the warmer weather tends to fill up builders’ schedules.

So mark May 15th on your calendars as the date when Alex decides that he doesn’t want to deal with those little pesky little things like eating or sleeping.  After all, they’ll cut into his playtime.