Monthly Archives: August 2011

08.10.11
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Hints of progress

Fritz made a glass of iced coffee (decaf) and walked into the living room, slurping. A moment later, Katie began howling. Fritz returned to the kitchen, a look of disgust on his face.

“I told her it’s not my fault I took the last of the iced coffee. She should have gotten some earlier if she wanted it.”

He slouched against the counter, finishing his beverage.

“Hm. Maybe next time you could say something like, ‘I’m sorry, Katie. I didn’t realize you wanted some’. Maybe that would sound better to her and she wouldn’t be so upset.”

He was silent for a moment.

“Hunh,” he grunted, thinking it over. “That might work.”

Yeah. It might.

It’s not malice. Just immaturity.

08.09.11
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Babysitting duty

I arrived at my sister’s house while she was at the grocery store. My 15 year old nephew showed me the metal “sword” that his visiting friend had made for him. The friend had one, too, and after I expressed my admiration and turned to my iTouch to check email, the two began dueling. In the living room.

“Has your mother talked to you about this behavior?” I asked.

“Good point,” he said.

And experts say 15 year olds can be left home alone.

08.08.11
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A Good Bookmark to Have

Unhearit – get that d@mn song out of your head

We created this site for those of you that have a song stuck in your head and you can’t get it out no matter what you do. Using the latest in reverse-auditory-melodic-unstickification technology, we’ve been able to allow our users to “unhear” songs by hearing equally catchy songs. So really all we’re doing is making you forget your old song by replacing it with another one… sorry. 

They also have a mobile app.  Highly useful.

08.07.11
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Celebrating Babies

I have written so many blog posts in my head that when I come here and see that it’s been nearly a week since posting, I don’t really know how that happened.

We started school this week, so that explains quite a lot.

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Back in June, one of my family’s favorite families welcomed another child into the world.  I was hoping that this would be their 3rd girl, but instead they had their 6th boy.  My girls and I were disappointed, but the boys thought this was just grand.  They roared their approval.  I think adding a bit more estrogen to the household might have been nice, but boys are wonderful, too.

You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

And baby Dominic is a cutie pie, just like his big brothers.  No need to be disappointed about him at all.

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Last week, I informed the kids that another of our favorite families was imminently expecting another child.  Although at one point we all lived in the same vicinity, we are now in three different states.  I keep in touch, but the kids only get bits of news and don’t get to watch the weekly and monthly progress of a pregnancy.  One day, mom says Mrs. P. is expecting, and then many, many months later, mom says she’s having a baby.  In their mind, Mrs. P. just had a baby, because the last time they saw her, her baby was barely crawling.

I’m the same way.  If people didn’t post pictures of their families on blogs or FB, they would never grow up in my mind.  What?  Susie’s getting married?  But she’s just fifteen!!  No, she was fifteen 10 years ago.

The kids wanted to know if Mrs. P. was having a boy or a girl.  I told them we would have to wait to find out.  The boys said they hoped for a boy.  “But Mrs. P. already has four boys,” I argued.  “Don’t you think Eva should get to have a sister?”  The girls, of course, agreed wholeheartedly, but the boys seemed unsympathetic to poor Eva being the lone daughter.

After a bit of a pause, one child voiced what seemed to be children’s collective thought:

How come everybody is having babies except us?

It was, fortunately, a rhetorical question, and nobody truly expected an answer.  Or perhaps they just knew what I would say: you get what you get.  Fits will not be tolerated.

But it is interesting to note that none of my children seem to think having another sibling would be a bad thing.  There is still room for more, apparently.  

“The greatest gift you can give your child is another sibling.”  Pope John Paul II

 I guess my kids would agree with him.

*******

Mrs. P. had her baby early yesterday morning.  I was still fuzzy-brained when I saw her email announcement.

“She had another girl,” I told Bill flatly.

“She had a girl!” said Bill, who had already had some coffee and could think more clearly than I.

“Oh, yes!!  She had another girl!!” I said.

The boys received the news demurely.  The girls smiled happily.  No roaring.  Girls don’t roar.

*******

The local Army post is having a baby boom since many soldiers returned from deployment about 9 months ago.  Babies happen.  It’s a wonderful thing.

I don’t know what they do when boys are born, but whenever a baby girl makes her debut in the maternity ward, the hospital pipes the Stevie Wonder song “Isn’t She Lovely?” through the entire hospital so everyone knows the good news.

I love it.

08.02.11
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Win/Win or Lose/Lose?

File this one under “What the…??”

Spring baseball is quite enough for me, and I really try hard to keep fall sports light.  Last year, Billy did soccer, which was bad enough, but not the travel team, which would have killed me.  Fritz did “Fall Ball” which was a double header every Sunday afternoon for 6 weeks, but no practices.

This year, Fritz, Billy and Peter are doing flag football through the local Baptist church’s Upward program.  Practices once a week; games on Saturday: same time, same place.  Low speed, and what I need.

This afternoon, I got an email from a man saying when and where practices would be.  It didn’t say for which boy, but under his signature it said 5th – 8th grade.  Cool, I thought.  Both my older boys are on the same team.

This evening, I received a phone call from a man who said he was Billy’s coach.  I missed the call, so Bill called him back.  Practices are at the same time/day as the one in the email, but he only has Billy.  “I’ve got 5th – 8th grade,” he told Bill, who told him both boys were in that age range.  “He must be on the other team,” said the man.  Like their basketball program, which Billy did in the spring because one too many pitches hit him in the side the previous spring, there are only two teams in their age range.  So, the same teams play each other every weekend.

And I’ve got a boy on each team.

Now, who am I supposed to cheer for?