A Typical Conversation

Yesterday, my neighbor, Teisha, came over to borrow something. Here is the conversation Caity and I had after she left:

Caity: "She's going to put Sarah down for a nap." (Sarah is Teisha's 16 month-old).
Me: "Oh, probably."
Caity: "Sarah's been crying."
Me: "Yep, you're probably right." (I've lost interest already.)
Caity: "And there's a raccoon in the house!"
Me: ?

Horrifying Delight

So it's a bad thing when you finally get around to checking on the baby and you discover him halfway up a flight of stairs. The baby, clearly, is delighted with his accomplishment; you are horrified that while baby was one misstep away from a severe head injury, you were admiring your new top in the mirror.

Road Trip!

We're leaving tomorrow on a road trip. Destination = Kentucky. Likelihood of arriving in one piece, sanity intact = minimal. You'll just have to tune in again to see if there are any further posts...

Birds of Prey

Today we drove around and did some errands. As we were getting back into the car after one of our stops, Caity commanded, "Look at the eagles over there. Look at the eagles." Crouched over the stroller, fussing with straps that were tangled around Jamie, I couldn't see what she was talking about and just ignored her. I mean, eagles? No way. But she was quite insistent so I paused in my strap detanglement and stood up. There, about 15 feet across the parking lot, were two birds - a seagull and a sparrow - arguing over a piece of smushed bagel. "That's a seagull, Caity," I informed her, bending once more to my strap issue. "Oh, a seagull," she said. "Not an eagle." No. Not an eagle.

A Lesson in Being Neighborly

Ah, how I loathe the cretins who live across the street. Tonight, they decided to partake in a fun activity called "Swap the Subwoofers". This consisted of them hauling a monstrous speaker out of the trunk of car #1, setting it on the street right across from my house, and "testing" it to "make sure it worked" before painfully lifting it back into the trunk of car #2. The testing phase was the most fun for me - the resultant bass shook the dishes in my cupboards. Instead of boiling out of the house at the first thump of sound, as I dearly wanted to do, I forced myself to wait for 10 minutes to see if they tired of their testing (and would then, hopefully, go somewhere really far away). Of course, the testing was much more intensive than a simple minute or two of listening to loud bass; clearly the worthiness of the speaker could only be evaluated after everyone's eardrums burst. I did not intend to wait that long, so I finally went out to inform them that I was trying to get my kids to bed (it was 9 pm) and could they please find a different time and place for this?????

I know they don't A) work, B) go to bed before 4 am, or C) have meaningful lives, but some of the rest of us DO... is it so hard to keep that in mind?

Cake and Ice Cream

Greg made a cake so we'd have something tasty to serve when his family came over after Jamie's baptism yesterday. Well, only his parents ended up coming, so we're now left with oodles of cake. This is to Caity's liking, of course. Tonight I mentioned that we'd have cake in "a little bit" which one would think means 5 minutes or so but is actually closer to 60 (due to my internet demands, you know). Luckily, she is not aware of this. She did have some questions, though:
"Cake and ice cream?" - Yes.
"Put the cake in the spoon?" - Yes, we'll put the cake in the spoon.
"Is it delicious?" - Yes, it is delicious.

Regret

The kids and I took a walk to the library this morning. I made a point of walking past the dive-bombing robin's nest in the hopes of experiencing the thrill of being attacked, but she and her babies were gone. I suppose I can't expect them to linger there forever, dive-bombing all who pass, but I was still saddened by their departure, and somehow felt a sense of loss. The young ones DO grow up fast.