As noted in a previous post, I had surgery yesterday to replace the first metatarsal in my right foot.
As far as Im aware, it all went good; I didnt get to talk to the surgeon but the nurse didnt give me dirty looks on the way out which is a good sign that I behaved myself.
The nerve block wore off earlier so the pain is increasing. I just took some medication and the youngest (my current nurse) has just dropped off for his nap so Im going to do the same.
Dinner tonight and for the next few nights…
Ham! Glazed with honey and spices.
Take a group of boys, ages ranging from five to eight.
Add water and Kool-aid.
Add snacks.
Add time.
Add fun stuff to do. Turn based, preferably, so the boys are waiting for their turn and don’t want to leave and lose their place.
So, now you have bladder pressure in a group of boys that are still somewhat unfamiliar with their own equipment that are motivated to ‘hold it’ so as to keep playing the game.
Can you see where I’m going with this?
Pressure finally triggers the ‘now’ switch and you’ve got one of the boys running in a race against his own bladder to see whether or not a change of underwear is required. When said house ape reaches his destination, accuracy isn’t at the top of his list.
Think fire hose at full blast without anyone inclined to hold it.
If you have all girls, you just don’t know.
Sometime in February, I grabbed a Roomba off of Woot during a woot-off. I got it partially because we are notoriously bad at vacuuming and with the baby about we need the bits and pieces gone.
And, partially, because it is so freaking cool – a robot! In my house! Vacuuming! Jane, get me off this crazy thing!
Fast forward a couple of months… the baby has been sitting up for quite a while on his own but dislikes ‘tummy time’ and has no inclination to crawl about. That’s fine, it means I don’t have to proof stuff for a bit longer. I set him down, put toys within reach and he is a happy camper.
Then the Roomba comes on. It does its little start up chime and a few seconds later it starts its whirring, backs out from underneath the ancient radio and starts Doing It’s Thing. It works its way around the room and the baby is simply fascinated. It moves. It makes noise. It is cool!
After a while, it works its way over to where the baby is at and gently bumps into him and then turns away. I’m waiting in vain for him to cry, weep, gnash gums but no, he is still simply fascinated.
That’s my boy.
After a couple of days, he is still watching it, rapt, and I watch him lean over and voila! He is on all fours, watching it. The next day, same thing. Nothing else seems to be worth the effort of trying to crawl except for when the Roomba is going. Each day he is a little more brave and tries a little more until he is actually crawling about, always facing the Roomba as it moves. He learned that it is hard to crawl on the hard wood floor so for a couple of days he is stuck crawling on the area rug, but desire is a strong motivator and he learns to sit on the wood, lean over and scoot across the slick surface.
This is the undoing of the Roomba, unfortunately.
Prior to the conquest of the hard wood floor, the Roomba could always retreat under the radio to charge and hide out until the next day at its appointed time. With the invention of scooting, the Roomba is vulnerable in its lair and, even worse, has glowing symbols on its surface that beg to be pressed. Power. Max. Spot.
Clean.
Yes, the boy learned to start the robot at will and now the poor wretched mechanical must dance to the whim and attention span of a highly inquisitive and perpetually happy one year old. Who can now crawl on carpet and hard wood flooring and thinks it is great fun to start the Roomba and then chase it throughout the living room, kitchen and hall until the battery dies and it sits forlornly, a pulsing red power button the only sign of any life left in its carapace.
If the elder boy’s memoir is “Don’t Bite The Dog And Other Things I Never Thought I’d Have To Say” then the younger boy’s might be “Leave The Roomba Alone Already” or perhaps “Stop Teasing The Roomba!”.
Yeah, I’m still working on that title.
As you may have heard, we have been in the process of adding to our family and, as of Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 11:43 A.M., we have a new boy in the family.
Ain’t he cute?
Since it was more formal (in a legal way) than our first boy’s adoption, we were sworn in by the bailiff (including the Boy) and both the baby’s attorney and our attorney were there along with our DCFS case worker. Lots of my family were also in the court room.
We gave our testimony to the judge and the the boy held his new baby brother, who laughed and made faces, enough so that we think the judge was laughing as well. The boy gave his testimony and had a bit of a chat with the judge; the judge reminded him of the duties of the eldest as the judge was also the oldest kid in his family. By the time it was done, my mom and aunts were crying a bit but it was very nice and all.
Plus, it is OVER.
I tried for several pictures with my phone to get a decent picture of the new little one after the hearing but he was wiggling about and wouldn’t hold still. This is as close as I could get to a non-blurred picture. Others in the group took pictures but I haven’t got them yet so this is as good of one as you all get right now. It is also the last time he’ll be in that vest as it fits him JUST RIGHT and at the rate he is going it won’t in a couple of weeks.
Eight years ago there was a wonderful television show that had its genesis in my favorite comic strip, Dilbert. A few years later, I bought the DVD set when it came out and watched it quite a few times as I hadn’t seen any of the shows when they were originally broadcast, only as reruns on Comedy Central. The boy and I would curl up and watch the shows when he was in preschool.
Jump forward to last Sunday morning and the boy gets up before everyone else and makes his way downstairs to watch some TV. Out of all of the shows he could pick, he decides to watch Dilbert.
That’s my boy.
By the time I get up and join him, he is four or five episodes into the first season. We’ve now watched almost all of them in our free moments over the last few days.
I’m already working on British comedies with him – My Family first and then Red Dwarf. Python will have to wait until I’m willing to deal with the awkward questions…
I received this text message from my brother a few minutes ago:
“I know its short notice but [his fiancee] and I are taking off for Vegas tomorrow to get married on 7/7/07. The luckiest day ever. You are invited but I understand if you can’t make it. We just decided yesterday.”
The boy is not pleased with the thought of getting back into the car for yet another unplanned trip.
Not pleased at all.
Wow. Just wow.
Not going to write much about it now; suffice to say it was amazing to watch the most complex human made system go extraterrestrial in person. It went very, very fast and wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be. I was shooting video and it was difficult to find at the start as we couldn’t see the launch pad from our vantage point.
I’ll post photos and video when a available. ‘night!
Yesterday’s challenge, a grumpy boy, has passed; a new challenge has manifested itself – getting food.
The instructions that were Fedex’d with our tickets and security placard said no coolers and no food allowed through security on launch day so we didn’t bring any snacks or drinks. We ate lunch in the car on the way in (our stomachs are still on MST so it was actually breakfast). As we got off of the tour from the grounds and visiting the International Space Station assembly facility we walked through the food court area and realized we were hungry.
A smart person would have got in line then.
Instead, we tried to get in line for a show (full for a couple hours) and checked on our blanket reserving our seats (they are fine). The missus and the boy have gone to tour something else since this line to get some overpriced hot dogs is about an hour long.
The other lines are longer.
I don’t have a internet connection at the hotel so I can only update by phone.. it is slow but usable. No pictures until Sunday at the earliest.