A Final First

When Nec and I were very brand new parents, we probably behaved like most first timers. Okay, yeah, we were convinced our progeny was the brightest, most beautiful, wonderful child ever conceived in humankind. We meticulously chronicled every small detail of every minor milestone and major achievement Thing 1 could manage. And, in some ways, we were justified. Thing 1 was a quick study, even as a newborn and achieved the usual baby milestones much more quickly that most in his peer group.

By the time Thing 1 was 15 months, however, we discovered there would soon be a Thing 2, and priorities shifted. We still reveled in the minutiae of Thing 1’s seemingly miraculous abilities, but our attention was now divided. Whereas before we had only 1 small, perfect being to focus on, we now had to start over and record each detail of the newest member of our family.

As most parents of multiple children close in age will tell you, at times, your survival mode it to keep your head down and take each day as it comes. Somewhere in our total brilliance, we thought it was a good idea to have 2 children less than 2 years apart. 2 babies in diapers. Yes, I was obviously suffering from a strange and inventive form of parental senility.

At any rate, we did record, and I can remember, most of the biggest, important milestones in Thing 2’s infanthood. I also know that while he could sit up, crawl and walk more quickly that most, he didn’t cut his first tooth until he was almost 17 months old, almost a full year past the time the majority of babies will cut a first tooth.

The Things continued to get older, as children will do, and I noticed a disturbing trend of diminishing milestones. These had altered and changed over time, to where it’s not based on physical and motor development, but more on societal achievements, such as a first day of school or a first sleepover. The physical measures became less and less frequent, and more difficult to define. It’s tricky to see how quickly a child grows from day to day or week to week. Every once in a while, however, there are some exceptionally stellar moments that remind a parent of the joy and wonder that is raising a child.

Last month, Thing 2 finally lost his first tooth. He’s now 8, and will turn 9 in a couple of months. Developmentally, he is years behind most of his peer group. Most children lose their first tooth towards the end of year 5 or during year 6. This is, unless they manage to knock out their front teeth by diving into playground landscaping when they’re 3. But, that’s a story of a different Thing altogether.

Thing 2 lost his first tooth, and while I was genuinely excited and happy for him, I was starkly reminded that my children are quickly growing up, becoming their own person, and leaving their father and I behind in the dust.

I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

I'm a terrible blogger.

Or, perhaps I should say I'm not a very faithful blogger.

There's plenty going on in the McD house that might qualify as blog fodder, but I've either not had access to a computer (thanks, Things), or I've been too exhausted to put together two thoughts to prepare a blog entry. But, once again, I'm going to attempt to be a more faithful and creative thinker.

Maybe.

At any rate, tonight was the big Trick-or-Treat pilgrimage. Personally, Trick-or-Treating falls into the realm of parental responsibilities and less into the fun catagory. I feel more a member of the Donner Party and have less Halloween spirit than the rest of the McD house. It's the costuming. The Things don't allow me much in the way of creativity anymore. I think next year, I am going to insist on something more interesting than the latest movie character.

Now, I'm off to work on some of the ferocious knitting I have to complete before December 25. I always promise myself that I'll start the gift knitting early, but as Mary Poppins says, it's a pie crust promise.

And, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 pictures to download from the camera.

I suppose it's a good thing I get an extra hour tonight. I'm going to need it.

O Tannenbaum! O Tannenbaum!

This past weekend was Tree Day, otherwise known as "The Third Time of the Holiday Season JPMcD Loses Her Freakin' ........."

It starts with finding the tree. We go live, and The Things think that means they go wild (as in zoo). This year, for some reason, I was really put out with Necropolis and The Things, so we grabbed the first halfway decent tree and brought it home. It wasn't until it was in the living room that I realized we had a mutant tree with antennae.

Now comes the part that no one else in the house can seem to do but me. That would be the lights. We have them on an old cable spool, and I roll them out on the floor, plug them in, replacing any dead bulbs or deleting any dead strings and put the things on the tree. In past years, I would carefully wind the lights around branches and such, having anywhere between 8 to 10 strands, somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 to 1000 lights.

This year, I couldn't find the replacement bulbs I kept (I'm blaming the move), and I had no energy to wind and check and carefully light the tree. I just smooshed (that's a technical design term) the lights up on the tree, trying to hide the cabling as best I could. I was still a strand short.

After the lights comes The Great Decanting. Half a dozen huge and heavy plastic containers filled to overflowing with gee-gaws and doo-dads and all kinds of Christmas regalia are released by The Things. It's almost like watching the little old ladies in their fur coats getting out of their chauffeur-driven Cadillacs at the Day After Christmas sale at Fine's on Broughton in Savannah (that's another story all together).

There's a good side to that, though. I'm so glad The Things old enough to decorate the tree now, I don't even care that most of the decorations are on the bottom half of the tree. All I know is, I don't have to do it.

Good Knitting Gone Bad

Remember this?

It was a lovely little sweater. It was lovingly hand dyed, and Thing 2 was so involved in the process. He chose the colors and helped with the dyeing. He decided the order of the stripes and chose his own buttons. He was incredibly patient when I would yell in the middle of cartoons, "Hey MUC, come try this on for me!"

A couple of weekends ago, Necropolis decided to do so laundry. Yeah....I think you know what's coming:

You'll have to excuse the Joker looking expression on MUC. I made him stand in the last of the afternoon direct sunlight. At any rate, with regard to the sweater, I think it might fit my 2 year old niece about now. We're still deciding what to do. We may have another Tomten in the making (it was really a quick knit), or MUC may choose a different pattern. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

On other fronts, the holiday knitting frenzy has commenced. Here are some of the various pieces. I'm not going to tell too much, should one of the recipients happen to read this post. After the holidays, I'll be sure to be more detailed about the projects.

And, no, I still don't know what's up with the photos, but I think I have a solution figured out. I'm just too tired and lazy to change the ginormus pics at the moment.

Cuttin' Up

After searching for pumpkins, The Things bugged Necropolis and I to carve the things. I managed to keep it to a low amount of pumpkin touching by being the one to witness through a camera lens. The Things had a great time, but it was one messy proposition.

Yes Letterboxers, that is my stamp carving lino cutter. It worked beautifully, so next year, I know we'll be doing more elaborate pumpkins.

The end results. We went rather traditional on the Jack 'O Lanterns this year, but the Things had a great time, and I had pumpkin seeds to roast.

Pick-a, PIck-a Pumpkin

This morning, we braved the cold drizzle to get our pumpkins for Halloween. The Things were not dressed for the weather, so the pictures that include them show that they're not really happy campers. So, it was a quick trip, but I did get some pictures.

I have no idea why this pictures turned out so freakin' huge. However, I'm too lazy to fix them today. I'll see what Blogger has done to change their setting and adjust later.

Jolly Goode Tyme

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Carolina Renaissance Festival this weekend. We took a couple of added kiddos, the offspring of long-time friends who are going through some very difficult medical issues. The Contessa and Danielson are just young enough that I've forgotten somewhat it's like to have ones that need help eating/dressing/bathrooming/car-ride entertaining, so there was a small relearning curve of Necropolis and me. After that, the day, while long, went smoothly and a good time was had by all. I took the camera and got a lot of good shots.

Some of the more amusing and/or those with better composition:

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Sweetie Dahling

I realized I've been neglectful on updating the blog again. This past summer was mainly spent keeping The Things entertained or carting them to their various tutoring/therapies. If not that, then I was involved in some house related activity, such as: pretending to unpack, looking at the furniture that I can't move without help, cursing at the animals (feline and canine) for dragging packing material around, etc. When life got a little too realistic, I managed to find some things to occupy my time, if not my mind.

We ferret-sat for DT (MUC's reading tutor, and a colleague of mine) for a month. Phoebe is a classroom ferret, and she's one of the coolest, most laid back ferrets I've ever encountered. Necropolis complained about the smell the entire time, but we had a good time with her. Phoebe's back at school now, entertaining her 8th class of 1st graders.

Of course, I took more photos of butterflies and skippers as long as the lantana held out. I think the heat finally got to the plants, so I haven't see as many lately.

I decided to try my hand at vermiculture. My expert opinion on this is: do not attempt this in Georgia in the middle of July during a heat wave (worm funeral). I'm going to give it another shot in about another month once it cools off a bit, and I can find a better place for the bin.

I also waged the Slug Wars against the buggers that thought my new hydrangea bush was a tasty delicacy. Me, a jar top, and the little bit left at the bottom of a bottle of beer (after drinking it, of course). Repeat as needed. Problem solved.

During some of the tutoring/therapy sessions, I and whichever Thing was odd man out would investigate some of the area cemeteries. One area cemetery in particular has more Victorian influences, and as such, more iron work. Very interesting stuff.

I also had what some might call an important birthday. It's just another birthday to me, but only easier to recall my exact age since there's a zero involved. I did get a pretty cool cake, though. I also got an awesome present.

I'd been coveting the Ab Fab collection since I'd discovered it was available in all its dysfunctional glory. It's now all mine, Sweetie Dahling!

Yes, I know this isn't my best arranged blog page. School always totally kick my ass the first couple of weeks. Hopefully, I'll feel better soon. More updates should be in the works.

The Parental HALO Is Slipping

It appears Necropolis and I aren't going to be in line for any parental awards anytime soon.

Over the past weekend, Nec rediscovered an interest in his Playstation 2 and has the machine set up on the TV. I don't usually bother with the thing and have little or no interest in what happens. The Things have a couple of games for it, but have seemed to prefer the computer. Until now.

This weekend, the boys, the grown one and Things, have been playing HALO 2. In short, it's a sci-fi, shoot-em-up type game. It has a multitude of player options, but generally the boys have been either playing against each other (find your opponent and shoot them) or as a team against the game.

Yes, I know there are a lot of people who would take exception to letting a 7- and 9-year-old play a game of this nature. It may really seem as if we're not being very discriminating parents here. And, I might agree with you, except there's a method to our madness. We never just 'let' The Things win.

Somewhere along the line, we decided that good sportsmanship and developing real creative thinking skills were more important than the current pervasive parenting idea of letting kids win to improve their self-esteem. And, we don't play Candyland or Operation around here. The Thing's first 'real' game was Perfection. It was quickly followed by Trouble and Sorry, both of which were quickly grasped. We still play these as a family, but more advanced games became required. We brought out Chess and Pente. So, MUC has never won a chess match, poor kid. Pente is usually a best of 5 tournament, as that's all either kid can take before they blow. I'm eagerly awaiting for them to grow up a bit, so I can drag out my very old and very well used Scrabble. It'll be a while.

When The Things got decks of UNO cards for their last birthday, I showed them how to play with one hand, and after that, it was all or nothing. I was willing to bow out and 'assist' each boy, but MUC insisted on continuing play until he finally beat me. It took 7 times (and about a hour and a half of continuous play), but he finally did it on his own. That one win was more important to him than any of the previous 6 losses. Now, I'm as likely to lose as to win to either Thing. The Things are well on their way to becoming sharp, critical, analytical thinkers. And, there's ain't nothing wrong with their self-esteem either.

As to HALO, as they navigate the worlds, they have to remember where they are, where they've been and where they're going. They have to complete missions, make decisions and think critically. Then, they get to shoot and blow things up.

I can live with that. If that makes my parenting dubious, I can live with that too.