my petty life
We live a mere 3 hours' drive away from Iowa City, where a member of my own family (my cousin John) evacuated his apartment as water streamed in. But I am unable to volunteer for clean up because I have two little people demanding pretty much all my attention night and day. Other horrible things are happening in the world, and I am helpless to stop any of it. I don't even have time to keep up with the presidential election in my own country (though I know who's running, so that's good.)
I hate feeling so self-centered, but most days it's almost more than I can manage getting dinner on the table, much less contributing to society and culture at large. So here are some snippets from my own petty life, which seems all-consuming
1. Remember the incident at the park with the teens trying to hide their pot? The next day I called the police department's self-reporting line and left a message describing what happened. Obviously, this incident was not high on the priority list because they called back today, more than a week later, and said they would file it as an observation (or something like that.) I am satisfied with that, I guess. It's pretty unusual to see this type of thing going on in the middle of the day around here. After dark it's a different story, of course, but we don't take the kids out to play in the middle of the night, so I don't worry about that.
2. At six months (!!), Anya weighs close to 20 lbs. That puts her in the 95th percentile for weight. No wonder I have such good upper body strength. She is also growing out of all of her clothes. She is solidly in the 12 month sizes, so I took the kids to a department store to find a few things to get her through the summer. It was supposed to be a nice department store, but I hated just about everything there except the price-o-tastic Ralph Lauren stuff, which I'm not about to buy, especially if she's going to grow out of it by next week. Everything was either pink or too frilly or just in bad taste. You know, I'm just going to make her some clothes, damn it. I don't really have time but I'll find it somehow. I'm sick of wasting my precious time shopping for little girls' clothes that are either too ugly, too expensive, too frilly, or too pink.
3. Daniel is talking so much since he turned two. A lot of you know this was somewhat of a concern for us. He's not yet speaking in full sentences, but he's putting 2, 3 and 4 words together, has a constant (and sometimes exhausting) running commentary on what's going on around him, and is even voluntarily saying "Please" and "Thank you," which really sound more like "Peez" and "'kyou" in his little toddler voice. He is also getting more social and is good buddies with the three-year-old across the street. It's nice to know your neighbors.
I hate feeling so self-centered, but most days it's almost more than I can manage getting dinner on the table, much less contributing to society and culture at large. So here are some snippets from my own petty life, which seems all-consuming
1. Remember the incident at the park with the teens trying to hide their pot? The next day I called the police department's self-reporting line and left a message describing what happened. Obviously, this incident was not high on the priority list because they called back today, more than a week later, and said they would file it as an observation (or something like that.) I am satisfied with that, I guess. It's pretty unusual to see this type of thing going on in the middle of the day around here. After dark it's a different story, of course, but we don't take the kids out to play in the middle of the night, so I don't worry about that.
2. At six months (!!), Anya weighs close to 20 lbs. That puts her in the 95th percentile for weight. No wonder I have such good upper body strength. She is also growing out of all of her clothes. She is solidly in the 12 month sizes, so I took the kids to a department store to find a few things to get her through the summer. It was supposed to be a nice department store, but I hated just about everything there except the price-o-tastic Ralph Lauren stuff, which I'm not about to buy, especially if she's going to grow out of it by next week. Everything was either pink or too frilly or just in bad taste. You know, I'm just going to make her some clothes, damn it. I don't really have time but I'll find it somehow. I'm sick of wasting my precious time shopping for little girls' clothes that are either too ugly, too expensive, too frilly, or too pink.
3. Daniel is talking so much since he turned two. A lot of you know this was somewhat of a concern for us. He's not yet speaking in full sentences, but he's putting 2, 3 and 4 words together, has a constant (and sometimes exhausting) running commentary on what's going on around him, and is even voluntarily saying "Please" and "Thank you," which really sound more like "Peez" and "'kyou" in his little toddler voice. He is also getting more social and is good buddies with the three-year-old across the street. It's nice to know your neighbors.
Comments
As for the election, you're not missing much. Endless speculative discussion over veep choices, ridiculous attempts to characterize Michelle Obama as some sort of racial extremist, and McCain being his whiny-ass self. No worries. I'm sure when they choose their veeps, you'll get wind of it.
Wish I could hear some of that Danimal-chatter.
Roslyn was the same way; and then, she hadn't gained an ounce between her 6 and 9 month checkups. Doc showed us this "weight curve" (or whatever) that showed she'd reached her first plateau. I'm always amazed at how much heavier she seemed at 7 lbs., when I first became a father. Now that she's 20, it's like nothin'!
" Everything was either pink or too frilly or just in bad taste...I'm sick of wasting my precious time shopping for little girls' clothes that are either too ugly, too expensive, too frilly, or too pink."
Welcome to my life. I actually saw the sluttiest, frilliest, pink TWO PIECE swimsuit at Meijer yesterday...and the damn thing was a size 2T. Ugh. I'll ditto Jenn's comment re: 2ndhand stores, even neighborhood garage sales.