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Yesterday was a very strange weather day. Before 1PM I had driven in the following: rain, sleet, snow, sunny blue skies, and hail. In that order, too. It's like we're living in the Northeast or something. While we drove into the snow on the way to school, I got all excited and said to Henry "Look! It's snowing out! It's snowing out!" to which Henry responded "No! It is NOT snowing out!" Everyday he also declares that it is not, in fact, cold out, it's hot, therefore he doesn't need a jacket. He's in major denial. It's going to be a tough winter for him until we get some snowman-worthy precipitation.

Posted by Jenn at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're getting geared up for Halloween over here. Lots of scary shapes stuck to our windows, orange and purple lights strung up, piles of pumpkins waiting to be carved. Henry tested out his whale costume at a kids costume party that was hosted by various University sororities and fraternities. There were tons of really cute kids there, plus about 50 Hannah Montana's, which, who can blame them, she wears awesome clothes and frankly, how many girls when I was a kid wanted to dress up as Madonna for Halloween? Speaking of which, radio stations around here have the oddest play lists. I was driving home after dropping Henry off at school this morning when one station went from utterly depressing Pink Floyd to Lucky Star. It was, um, an interesting transition, much like the one I just made from talking about a costume party to a radio station's playlist.

Henry had a good time running around whale-like yesterday afternoon. As fate would have it, he walked into the party holding a box of goldfish which everyone thought was a great addition to his costume while Dave and I were all "Yeah, we totally did that on purpose," even though right before the party we happened to be at Walmart picking up humidifier filters and while waiting to check out Henry asked if we would get him a carton of goldfish. We didn't realize the irony until we were about to walk into the student center, which was fortunately soon enough for us to claim full credit. Henry's favorite game at the party was the one where there were tons of balloons on the floor for kids to kick and throw around. He stayed there for a long time. Then after we went to see what else there was to see, he turned and asked if we could go back to the balloons. I know what I'm doing with the living room next time I host playgroup.

Posted by Jenn at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Henry won't go downstairs in the morning unless you go with him, possibly because he thinks if he goes down alone, who knows how long it'll be before someone comes down to cater to his every whim. One shudders to think... The other morning I was making beds (ha!) and putting dirty clothes in the laundry hamper (as if!) while Henry patiently waited for me at the top of the stairs. Finally he piped up with the following: "Mom, c'mon... Hey! Mom! C'mon! Mommy, c'moonnnn... Mommy! C'mon!" and when I finally wandered over and started going downstairs with him, I got: "Good girl, mommy, good girl!" This happens to be pretty darned close to what we say to Flash whenever she pees on command in the backyard, and I'm not so sure what I think about that.

Posted by Jenn at 07:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Not too much, as it turns out. Henry tossed and turned all night Friday, getting approximately three hours of sleep. He had a little fever on Saturday morning and said his ear hurt. We put him down for a nap at 11AM, he slept hard for five hours, and when he woke up, he told his Grammy his ear had cleared. On Sunday he was fever free and aside from looking tired seemed on the mend so we headed to the red line for a quick train ride before his nap. On the way back, he wanted to get off, told us his ear hurt again, and that he wanted to go back to Grammy's house. Dave and I decided to take him to the emergency room at Mount Auburn Hospital where he had the most amazing experience with medical professionals he's ever had. He hates having his temperature taken, but the nurses and doctor had such great bedside manners that he was perfectly happy to let them do whatever they wanted. He was such a trooper. It turned out he had an ear infection and that his eardrum had burst, which would explain why he woke up on Saturday saying his ear had cleared. Now he's on amoxycillin, or "pink juice", three times a day. We went in to his pediatrician this morning for a followup. His great experience at Mount Auburn really gave him confidence to keep his chin up for this appointment. He fussed initially at the prospect of going to the Dr.'s, and, in fact, requested a trip back to the "new doctor's office" we visited on Sunday. Once we got in the examination room though he let the nurse take his temperature and even stood on the scales all by himself. Then, as if things couldn't go any better, our pediatrician's office went and hired an amazing new doctor whom Henry liked very much. Dave and I walked out of there on cloud nine. I think Henry did too.

To make a long story longer, Monday was the only day we really went out and did anything. We went to Shelburne Farm in Stow to go apple picking because what else does a person do when they're in the big city other than drive out to the country? Henry loved pulling apples off of the trees, but not as much as he loved the sugar-crusted cider donuts we bought and consumed while we were there.

To make lemonade of the whole situation, the fever and burst eardrum forced us to lay low all weekend which means we actually got some much needed r and r. Now we're home, maxin' and relaxin' and enjoying, as Henry says, the trees with all the colors.

Posted by Jenn at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is totally rad. Pennsylvania uses rumble strips to snap you out of whatever daze you're in when you're driving. They should do something along these lines.

Henry is 100% into the Halloween Thomas the Tank Engine DVD we got from a friend of ours. The dazed look he gets on his face is pretty scary. We have to ration it.

We're going on a much needed trip to the Big City very soon. Dave hasn't been sleeping, I need the change of scenery, Flash needs new fire hydrants to sniff, and Henry needs to ride a few escalators and trains. Hopefully we will all come back with a fresh, new outlook.

There's another Hafla coming up in a few weeks that I could potentially be doing three dances in. It's a mildly frightening thought. Regardless of what I decide to do, I'll be practicing a lot over the next few weeks just in case I'm feeling a little wild and crazy. I need to expand my current costume wardrobe which right now officially consists of nothing but coin/fringe hip scarves. Guess I need to go shopping...mwah-hahahahaaa!

Posted by Jenn at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

- You get into arguments over which one of you is trashing your car's fuel economy. For the record, it's Dave. He always drops two miles per hour and I always gain them back. (Hark! Can't you already hear the steam coming out of his ears?) Also for the record, we have a 2004 Malibu from which we eke out ~25 MPG in town and ~40 MPG on the highway. Not too shabby.

- You're madly challenging each other to games of "Word Twist" on Facebook when one of you is in the study and should be working and the other one is in the next room on the couch with a laptop instead of going to bed. The upside is instead of talking smack via text boxes and email, you can just shout at each other. Now that's togetherness.

Posted by Jenn at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...the time of year when a mother's paranoia shifts from fear that her kid will drown in a swimming pool, to fear that we'll all die of carbon monoxide poisoning. All of this is to say that today I turned on the heat for the first time, just to get the house temperature up from a slightly chilly 63 to a much more comfortable 66. Then I turned it off again, because despite the definite chill that's been steadily creeping into the air, it still feels too early in the season to be turning it on at all.

We spent the morning hanging out at Megan's house. Her mom is in town visiting. Henry had such a great time, that when he was climbing out of the car after arriving back at our house, he said "Megan's house is fun!" Also while we were there, Henry's nose started running and wouldn't quit. Right now he's upstairs coughing intermittently, all of which leads me to believe we are now officially embarking on cold #3 of the season. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the year, unless he's busy inoculating himself now against everything the 08-09 cold season will have to offer. I'm a firm believer in getting the tough work done early instead of putting it off, so if he's getting it all over with now so he can surf from November into next summer on a wave of good health, he'll have an even bigger and louder drum set waiting for him on the other end.

Posted by Jenn at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just got our first bill from the architect we hired. What should naturally follow that last sentence is a string of foul words strung together for the length of two entire lines, but I don't want to offend any sensitive readers. So, I will instead boil it down to the following: ! We were a little disappointed with what we were presented, which makes paying for it a little more painful. On the other hand, who knows what Phase 2 will bring. Hopefully blissful happiness, but since blissful happiness can sometimes be expensive, probably it will come with another big bill attached to it.

This puts a crimp on when we can start making the changes that are at the top of our list. I should also say, it's not a terrific surprise, it's just that seeing a set figure on a bill in black and white and with a dreaded due date has been rather heart-stopping. And eye-opening. On the other hand, maybe there's a long lost relative somewhere out there who has a trust fund set up and we're about to reap the benefits. What are the chances?

Posted by Jenn at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is Dave's birthday. Should I tell you how old he is? I would never divulge such information, especially since he's so sensitive about getting older. I told my grandmother the other day how grumpy Dave gets around his birthday, and how I personally think that it's better to keep adding onto your age because if you're not, you're most likely dead. She agreed, and since with age comes wisdom, that must mean I'm right.

This morning while Henry was at school, I labored over Dave's cake. Then after preschool, I labored over the frosting. Then I put the two together and voila! A birthday cake! Also somewhere in there I wrapped some presents, fought with Henry over birthday cards, stealthily put candles on the cake without Henry seeing, then sent him up to bed for disobeying me. Lots of times. All in a row. Which means the gift Henry's giving Dave is the gift of having a better attitude for Daddy than he did for Mommy because of all of the good sleep he's getting right now. Bah.

Happy Birthday Dave! Bet you can't wait to get home!

Posted by Jenn at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)