Link up, link back (and stop and say hi!)
1. Honorary degrees are such a bunch of shit.
2. Confession: for years I used to use the wire whisk on my Kitchenaid to make cookies, having no idea that there was a much better option.
3. Yesterday I was at the grocery store after physical therapy with Sawyer and there was a mom being such an asshole to her daughter, who was reminding her that they needed to take something store bought starting with the letter "g" to school the next day. The daughter wasn't whining, yelling, or crying and looked completely crestfallen when her head was publicly bitten off. I know there definitely couldn't have been extenuating circumstances; that could have been the seventeenth time she reminded her mom since they walked into the store or the mom could have gotten fired from her job just hours before. Nonetheless, it was a good reminder to me, as a mom, to make sure to remember that patience is something to strive for... especially in public.
4. I'm reading Toni Morrison's novella Home right now and had a little trouble finding my footwork at first, but I think I'm back in the groove. I will say that I have an inkling that her older work is better.
5. Back to physical therapy. Sawyer has been seeing a PT once or twice a month since he was three months old for a mild case of torticollis (one muscle in his neck was tighter than the other, so he had a slight tilt). After a few months of diligent stretching and exercises he was back to normal, and now at a year it's resolved. The physical therapist won't exit him until he can walk, though, because she wants to make sure his alignment is fine. Well, he's not walking- he's pulling himself up one things, starting to take really awkward steps when we hold his hands, and can crawl up both sets of stairs, though. Yet I feel like they're constantly nitpicking now- do I really need to work on him bending over to transfer weight from one side of his body to the other at home? Isn't that something he will developmentally pick up on his own? He also cried during most of the 45 minutes appointment yesterday because they were pushing him pretty hard. I'm feeling pretty conflicted about continuing.
6. This is the forecast and I couldn't be happier; rain, clouds, sunshine, mild temps
7. My students are working on big IB papers right now and I've been getting to spend some one-on-one time conferencing with them on their writing and it's a really nice change of pace. It's so much easier to articulate how to make improvements face to face.
8. I'm listening to Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage by Molly Wizenberg and am really enjoying it (although the narrator's voice is borderline acceptable- her pauses are very awkward). The truth is that I would love to start a restaurant or bakery. One summer I worked at a place that was just opening and got to be there from right before the soften opening until a few months post grand-opening. It was absolutely fascinating and terrifying. Given my tendency to be a task-master and a semi-decent problem solver (I have back-up plans for my back-up plans) I think I could at least make a go of it (with a financial backer, someone experienced to mentor me, and the ability to once again consume alcohol). There's this tiny, crappy, little restaurant space for sale right down the street from where I work that I pass by everyday and I always think about how I could turn it into a tiny little bakery that would possibly make money from all the high school kids that pass by it twice a day... It's not going to happen, but it's fun to dream.
9. I highly recommend What Pete from A to Z by Maira Kalman. It's like what Wes Anderson would write if he was doing an alphabet book for kids.
10. Ever need help with a defective product? Take to the company's Facebook page, apparently. The tray for Sawyer's highchair was loose, so much so that he was once able to push it off on his own (and cry hysterically because it scared him), so I posted a comment. A rep contacted me immediately and I received a replacement less than a week later. Hopefully it works!
Oh, I always had a hard time hearing the babies cry, so that is a dilemma....
ReplyDeleteI hate those parents acting like jerks in the store, and those behaviors really get me going, as I worked for CPS for many years....
Emotional or verbal abuse is a difficult one to do anything about, and passers-by can't really do much either...except give a disapproving look, perhaps.
So I had one of my worst days of parenting today. And I nearly lost my patience with my oldest, but I didn't, though I was fuming internally. Naturally, when we got home, we made brown butter sea salt rice krispies. As one does.
ReplyDeleteYour conflict about continuing the PT struck a chord with me. I was forced into PT as a child for various issues (feet and back), and I remember that I hated it, it was awful, and I extremely resented my parents for it. That said, there are so many serious issues that can arise in childhood and affect adulthood, and I recognize that the PT may have helped me avoid those (or not, I don't know). So, as an adult, I can understand that parents were just trying to help me. And, as a baby, Sawyer probably won't remember his pain...
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