In which we drive Griffin batty.

Happy Halloween!

Griffin had an awesome Halloween party today. Entered into a marathon nap session on the way home. The 2 kool 4 skool glasses are a loan from a friend, and seems to suit him very well.

My indoor soccer league revived from the grave. I thought it had fallen apart this season, but apparently the team’s just starting late. So, same old same old. 2 days to loose 10 lbs and go from getting exhausted walking to the car to sprinting 5 miles a day. About as likely as it ever was.

Last week I renewed my drivers license. It expires now when I’m 43. This is a shock. A horror really. A shock that I go so long before having to renew my license. A horror that the 40’s are closing in fast. 30, 35, no problem. Somehow 40’s are less exciting.

I’ll write more soon, in the meantime go check out Becki’s blog!

We got 2+ face cords of wood delivered last Friday morning, and that evening I managed to haul ‘em up round back, stack ‘em and get ‘em covered before it rained (with a bit of help from Griffin pushing the wheelbarrow full o’ wood in the most helpful of ways). Sunday we had our first fire of the season. It was great, the whole house heated toasty warm all day on one trip to wood pile’s worth of wood. In 4 years we didn’t get through 2 face cords of wood, so we should be set for a while. And with gas prices up so much this season, it’s great to know we can keep warm under any circumstances.

Gizmism: I talked G. into his automobile so I could push him around about the house. He got in, closed the door, and I inquired “want to go for a spin?”. He promptly opened the door and got out. “I guess not” I figured, until I realized he was now twirling around and around. “I guess so!” Then he got back in and we were on our way.

Candy and I snuck out for dinner on my 35th birthday. It was a wonderful and romantic getaway. And I scored the coveted 1GB memory stick for my camera, so need to get off my rump and start strafing the world with digital mayhem.

Today Julian turns 35. He’s the bravest, most thoughtful, most reasonable, most beautiful, most original person I’ve ever met. I’m constantly amazed at how lucky I am to be married to him. And when I watch him playing with Griffin I want to cry from pure joy. Julian, thank you for being in this together and happy birthday.

We’re getting new siding for our house. The old siding is wood which looks good but is bowing out and letting in water, bugs, and woodpeckers. The new siding is going to take three weeks to a month to install, it’s a huge disruption but will be worth it in the long run.

Monday Griffin came down with the flu. After the first few weeks of his life he’s been incredibly healthy, this was the first serious illness he’s had. He couldn’t keep any food down at all on Monday. He was miserable and it was a struggle to keep him hydrated. He finally passed out and slept for three hours right through the sounds of the crowbars, drills, and hammers.

He’s doing much better now, last night he kept stealing pieces of my very spicy peanut noodles even though I wanted him to stick with milder food. And he’s napping again now through the very loud sounds of the house being pulled apart, amazing.

Thaks to Moreena for introducing us to Ralph’s World – we’ve been singing the Sunny Day Rainy Day Anytime Band song all day here. There’s a boom-boom-boom in the living room….

PS – I stole the picture and title from Julian.

Julian unexpectedly had the day off on Monday for Columbus day so we all went to the zoo. Here are some images from the trip:

Griffin was standing next to the glass by the lions and a lion cub very intently stalked him from behind a rock. It rushed out and charged at Griffin, then pulled up right on the other side of the window. Griffin thought this was awesome, he blew a kiss at the lion, called out “ghee!” several times, and then waved when it sadly walked away:

We went camping this weekend with several families from our Mom’s group. I don’t talk about them much here because I don’t want to invade their privacy, but this group saves us every week. I’ve never met a group of stronger, smarter, braver women and I’m so lucky to know them and to have their support in all of this. And the children? Best kids ever.

This weekend Tazza lent me a Mei Tai she made herself for a hike, here we are trying it out:

We’re having a Wisconsin weather week. A high of 87 yesterday and a high of 53 on Thursday. Today we’re taking full advantage of the warmth, we went to Schuster’s Playtime farm this morning to go on a hayride, pick out a pumpkin, play with a lot of animals, and have a picnic. Then Chantel called and she and Landon are coming over this afternoon and we’re all going to play at the park near our house.

We had an overnight camping trip about an hour out of town this weekend with a bunch of other toddlers. It was a blast! Griffin had a dandy time and looks to be an outdoors-man in the making (again, I must ponder who his real father is). Oddly enough, on the hard surface, very chilly evening, sleeping on an incline, with other toddlers crying out here and there in the night, coyotes howling in packs, Griffin slept like a rock. So it’s outside for the kiddo from here on out!

This morning we went out for a walk and played on the structure in the playground. For the second time, he nearly flung himself off an unguarded section of the high above platform, laughing maniacally as I sternly warned him to back away. For the second time, we left the park abruptly. It was really sad to have to be the heavy, and he didn’t seem to fully understand the sequence of events. He basically accepted that we were leaving, but was a bit solemn… occasionally letting out a “mum”, as to say he understood we were returning home. He got back into form on the way home, running down the street alongside the stroller. Unfortunately he fell, as he often does, but did not brace well enough against the asphalt and smashed his nose. It was abraded on the surface and bleeding slightly from the inside. A few drops of blood gathered at the tip of his nose as I held him close and whisked him home to the unbeatable comfort of Mum. Within minutes he was happily reading books to us. It took me a bit longer to recover.

This evening, while Candy was at a meditation class, Griffin and I returned to the park. This time at the play structure he pointed towards the unguarded drop-off and laughed nervously. I told him to steer clear… and he did! Yay! He ran across the bridge, leaning over the railing to say “beep”, and then shot down the slide.

The meditation class has been good for Candy, and I’m going to need something similar. Work’s been thoroughly consuming my soul of late, in a negative way. It’s an awesome job, but comes with a great deal of negative feedback and constant pressure from all sides for more and more and more. That’s fine, but I need to find a way to turn it off when I leave, and not spend so much time mentally crushed by work when I’m home. I’m sure I’ve just described the vast majority of existing work scenarios. :)