I knew today was going to be a busy one, so I jumped in with two feet. We went to the mall right after breakfast and walked around to get some exercise. In doing so, my son managed to break a display item at the American Greetings store. I tried to prevent it, but he's kind of quick. He stood and admired this plastic cup on a table for a while and actually listened to me the first two times I told him not to touch it. Thankfully, the woman working in the store told me not to worry about it (I offered to pay), as she would simply put it in their damaged inventory. What a relief!
We still had some time to waste before heading over to school for band practice, so we visited my old (now closed) elementary school, M.L. Lausch. They have a nice playground there that he really enjoyed. As has become the norm, he spent much more time on the "big boy" equipment than then stuff designed for him. We had a minor scare when he climbed to the very top of the play area and propelled himself down the 6 ft high twisty slide! He started tumbling about halfway down, but I was able to catch him (he hasn't figured out to lift up his shoes) and turn him back over.
I got him to take a nap in the car between band practice and my drum lesson. This was the first time I took him along to the lesson, and he was very well-behaved. In fact, he made himself right at home at my student's house- climbing up and sitting quite comfortably on their living room chair while eating his snack. What a goofball!
-----
We spent a good deal of today dancing to the CDs from his music class. As it turns out, he really likes the music. He pulled out a few of the moves from class and showed off for Mommy. Pretty cute!
-----
Last night was a bad night- he woke up several times, and I even had to take him out of the room to calm him down. I was working on finishing my final sabbatical class (which I did!), so I was already up anyway. He finally went to bed around 1:30, and I followed around 2:30.
The initial idea behind this blog was to talk about my experience with my son and balancing all my other activities, but I pretty much completely glossed over my work for grad school. Here's all you need to know: it's over. I never have to go back if I don't want to. I'm sure I will, but I don't have to. So that's cool.
Gram contacted me to invite us to lunch today, but I already had plans to start renovating our sun room with Pop Pop G. I told her she could come to music class with us instead, and she was happy to join us. Unfortunately for her, he didn't exactly perform at class. He was very clingy toward me and didn't participate as much as I've grown accustomed. It's not that he was bad; he just didn't play to his potential. :-)
When we got home from class, I had my first actual conversation with our across-the-street neighbor (he's lived there for maybe 5 years!). I told him how embarrassed I was that I didn't even know his name. We always say hi to each other when we're outside, but we're long past the point where we should be introducing ourselves. Anyway, it was awkward, so I did something about it.
Midway through our conversation (the EXACT midpoint- I timed it), my son wandered over to our next-door neighbor's front porch. She was happy to invite him in and let him play with his favorite dish in her living room for a while. Eventually he got tired of hanging out and started looking for me, so I went back and got him. Amazingly, our conversation had a third act that concluded when Pop Pop arrived.
My son was very good while Pop Pop and I worked. He took a good nap despite the sporadic noise and kept himself entertained when it was needed. This was encouraging because I'm going to need a lot of cooperation from him if we are going to get this job done!
-----
We spent a couple hours at the Park City Mall today because I had to go there for a Genius Bar appointment (for a problem that actually ended up completely unrelated to Apple, it seems). It was such a nice day (70+ degrees in March), so I called my dad and asked if there was anywhere nearby where we could walk around outside and make the trip worthwhile. He suggested Long's Park, which happens to be just a few hundred feet from the mall. There's a nice pond there where we got to see some ducks and geese. Predictably, there were lots of other people there, and they brought their dogs. My son was not at all disturbed by that. Just when he would focus on making his way down the path around the pond, another dog would appear on his radar and cause us to backtrack. Between that and chasing him all around the shore trying to keep him from jumping in the pong, it was a workout, and I love it. Days like this are bittersweet because I know eventually I have to go back to work. Right now I'm in the business of enjoying this while it lasts!
-----
I leave tomorrow for my annual trip to Clearwater, Florida for Phillies Spring Training, so I used the morning to take care of some errands. I had to run (well, drive, really) something over near school anyway, so I managed to get to band practice, too. We came home for lunch and the subsequent nap, and he was extremely playful and adorable in between.
I'm going to miss him so much this weekend. I look forward to when I can take him along (when Mommy lets me!) and hope that he'll enjoy it even half as much as I do. Oh yeah- and his brother, too! I got to go a couple of years ago with my dad, and it's an experience I will never forget.
When I get back from Florida, my son is going to be 20 months old. His brother will be here in a little over two months. These are truly exciting times.
No comments:
Post a Comment