I've been away

I've been gone on a little trip over the past few days. In fact, I'm still there but thought I'd check in anyway. This place isn't super fun. In fact, I bet you all have been there before, too. It's a little place I like to call Sickville.

Pre-child, I used to get sick with a cold typically once, maybe twice a year. Nowadays, it just constantly rotates through the house. How it typically works is that Ian picks up something from school, sports class, the grocery store, some museum or some park. Really, anywhere outside of our front door seems to be fair game for him. Then after a week or so he passes it along to Jeff. And then a few days later, I get it. Or, sometimes it's the other way around and I get it first and then Jeff. You know, just to mix things up a bit. And then once we are finally all better, it starts all over again. Of course it's important to note here that the "all better" part of this cycle lasts approximately 1.57 days, if we are lucky.

The thing I find most interesting about this whole thing is that Ian seems to be the person least affected by being sick. I, of course, have to knock on wood here but we have been extremely lucky with him in the whole illness area. His nose can be running like a cheetah (they run fast, don't they?), with coughing and the whole nine yards and he never seems to lose any energy. Just once, I'd like to see him knocked out on the couch for a day. Really, I would - but no such luck. Now, on the flip side, I also consider us very lucky in that this also means we have yet to spend one night up with him being sick. (Insert another very large knock on wood here.)

Now, Jeff and I, on the other hand, appear to get completely wiped out at the first sign of a sniffle. And that's what happened to me last week. I recall it like it was last week. Ian and Jeff had both been congested, but so far it had missed me. Until I arrived home after having dinner with my friend Brianne on Wednesday evening. Just about the second I walked in the door, I went from feeling fine one second to having a slight tickle in the back of my throat. You know the one I'm talking about. It's the feeling you can't quite explain, but you know exactly what it means. An hour later, my throat was consumed with a chalky/dusty feeling. (This is the best way I can describe how mine feels.) The throat thing just lingered for a day or so. And then the aches set in. That's when I knew I was in real trouble.

The highlight of this particular Sickville trip was perhaps at about 4 a.m. on Saturday morning when I was so stuffed up and desperate for relief that I actually found myself in our downstairs hall bathroom (so as not to disturb the sleepers upstairs) with my face shoved in the sink with very hot water in an attempt to let the steam do its magic on my nasal passages. I believe there was a washcloth involved as well but I'm not totally sure because it was early and my eyes were shut. But it didn't work either. By Saturday evening, I knew it was time to get serious and start medicating. Yep, it was time for some Sudafed.

Now, in case you are wondering why I didn't whip out the ole' box of Sudafed days ago, it's because being an Oregonian now, I am Sudafed challenged. You see, I can't just simply walk into a drug store, go up to the counter and sign a little log and walk away with my little red and white box of the good stuff. No sirree. I have to get a prescription for it. This is a state law that took effect shortly before we moved here due to the extremely high number of meth users in Oregon. Well, all I have to say is what's good for law enforcement is bad for the Burpos. For a while we got by with our existing supply that we had with us from Virginia. But after a while, supplies ran low and I knew it was time to engage in some major conservation efforts. So finally, earlier this year when I was at the doctor one day, I remembered to ask for a prescription. Unfortunately, my troubles did not end there.

I have very clear memories of the day I went to pick it up at our local Fred Meyer. I was so excited to have our medicine cabinet back in order. Until the pharmacy guy passed it over to me. First of all, it was not in a box. It was in a bottle. And the pills were not red, they were white. Then the conversation went something like this:

Me: Excuse me, but this was supposed to be for Sudafed.

Pharmacy Guy: Yeah, it is. This is the generic.

Me: Oh, I see. Well, can I just get the regular box of Sudafed?

Pharmacy Guy: Well, this is what we give out now, is there a problem with that?

Me: Well, sort of but I guess I'll give it a try if it's the same thing.

So back to Saturday afternoon, I decide it's time to medicate. And in order to conserve very limited supplies of what we have left of the REAL Sudafed, I opted instead to whip out my bottle of prescription "Sudafed". First of all, I didn't whip it out at all. In reality, it was a very slow process. Because first it took me about ten minutes to recall which of the four bottles of prescription meds I had gotten for one thing or another in the past year was actually the "Sudafed". Let's see....is it this one? Or this one? Hmmm.... Finally, by process of elimination, I decided it was most likely this bottle of Cyclobenzaphrin with a big "May Cause Drowsiness" label on it. (The drowsiness thing seemed weird, but it was the only bottle of small, white pills I had.) Now, I could go off at this point and talk about how ridiculous and frankly, dangerous it is to have pill bottles labeled with long, incomprehensible names that don't at all resemble the real name of the drug you are looking for - and that they don't at least bother to include the name of the original drug that you might recognize instead of the long name generic. I mean, how the heck was I supposed to remember if this was the "Sudafed" or not? But that's for another post.

Well, I won't go into all the gory details here, but let's just say they weren't kidding about that whole drowsiness thing. Two hours later my face was practically in my bowl of lovely chicken and rice soup that Jeff had made for dinner (from scratch by the way, not the Campbells kind). Dammit. Is "Sudafed" supposed to make you drowsy? I didn't think so. And to top it off, I was still stuffed up! So at that point I had no choice but to go into our emergency supply of the real thing. Determined not to let it cut short our Saturday evening, I struggled through the rest of dinner AND a movie. However, don't ask me what is was about because I'm not sure I recall. What I do recall is hightailing it upstairs for bed faster than you can say Roadrunner when that thing was over (while finally feeling like I could breathe again, by the way).

But just because this so-called generic "Sudafed" didn't work for me the first time and made me horribly drowsy, that certainly did not stop me from trying it one more time. So, last night I decided to take another pill, this time right before bed. The good news: I slept very well. The bad news: I also spent the entire day today in a complete fog (that whole combined head cold and drug-induced drowsiness factor) and managed to pass out in bed for nearly two hours this afternoon after Ian went to sleep (thank goodness). Even as I write now, I'm only about half conscious - so please excuse any typos. (Hmmm...maybe I need this excuse every day.)

But hey, it doesn't take me three times to learn my lesson. Needless to say, I won't be partaking in any more Cyclobenzaphrin, thank you very much. So the next time we visit any of you out there reading this and announce that we need to take a little side trip to the drugstore just to pick up a few "necessities" for the trip home - you know what we are talking about. Oh, and we will also be accepting out-of-state donations over the holidays.

Until I write again.

The Somewhat Daily Quote

Today I've decided that I'm adding a new feature to the blog. It shall be called:

The Somewhat Daily Quote

What is this intriguing new feature, you ask? Well, as the name suggests, it's a somewhat daily quote. Or, said another way - it's a quote of the day that may not actually occur every day. That's because I generally like to underpromise and overdeliver. But, warning that I may not even do that.

Now, why this intriguing new feature, you ask? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The idea first came to me recently when Jeff and I were talking about how amazed we are at Ian's daily language progressions. As I commented about in a recent post, he is constantly saying new things and some of it happens to be pretty darn amusing. Dare I say - quote-worthy for a blog? Or, at least hopefully it is to those (read: family) who may actually enjoy hearing that Ian said "I have to go potty" for the first time today versus the rest of the world who might just roll their eyes. (Which he didn't actually say today, by the way. I just made that up. It doesn't hurt to dream, though.)

And then the second reason I've decided to implement this intriguing new feature is that I figure it will make excellent filler. So, for all those days when I can't think of one damn thing to write about, I just don't feel like writing or I don't have the time - I can just make up some quote, throw it up on the site and call it a day. And, since today happens to fall into one of the above categories (I won't say which one), it is this particular day that I have chosen as Official Launch Day for The Somewhat Daily Quote.

For the record though, I was just kidding about the making it up thing. I would never do that. Well, maybe I should never say never. But I promise that I will make every effort for it to be a real and close to actual quote that was heard on that day or a day very close to that day. Oh, but I should also mention that it doesn't necessarily have to be an Ian quote. Like, if I'm driving down the street with the window down and some lady shouts out something interesting at me, I might select that as The Somewhat Daily Quote. Also, there will always be attributions. And let's see if there are any other rules I want to make up right here on the spot....Nope, I think that's good for now. I'll post any rule adjustments if I think of any at a later time.

Oh, and one last thing: If I were operating a really fancy blog here, then I would have The Somewhat Daily Quote as a separate tab from the main somewhat daily content. But since I clearly am not operating a really fancy blog, just know that it will all be mushed together in this same main area for you to differentiate on your own.

And now, without further ado, I proudly present...my first official entry for The Somewhat Daily Quote.

The Somewhat Daily Quote for today:

Mommy, I like the raining. I like the treeeess and the carrrsss and the rainnnn and the trucks and the trains and the bridges and the raining.

Followed directly (in a singing voice) by...

Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthdayyyy!!! Ba-rack Oooo-bamaaaa! Happy Birthday to youuuu.

(Repeat song again.)

-Ian Burpo, Age 2, while sitting in the car at a stoplight, headed to the library in the middle of a downpour.

Until I write again.

My big get

As I think most of you know, I had another birthday on Sunday. It seems to keep coming back about once a year even though I ask it not to. But since it did, that officially makes me a whole 37 years old now - or as I like to think of it, one step closer to senior citizen discounts for life. It also officially puts me on the fast track to 40. But since that's too much for my little brain to comprehend right now, I won't. Instead, I have a little birthday story to tell.

Not to get back on the whole weather thing again, but to get back on the whole weather thing again - since we moved to Portland I have been extremely coat challenged. For some reason I just can't seem to find the right fit (pun intended). I've tried heavy coats. I've tried light coats. I've tried rain coats. I've tried quilted coats. I've tried vests. I've tried a coat of armor. But still I've been searching, searching, searching for the right answer. And the truth is that, of course, there is no silver bullet when it comes to the world of coats. Because in reality, one needs a rainbow of coats, if you will, to truly be outfitted properly: A casual heavy raincoat for the winter. A casual light raincoat for the spring. A nicer heavy raincoat for the winter. A nicer light raincoat for the spring. A vest (because you aren't officially a Northwesterner if you don't own a vest). A ski jacket (you know, for when I start hitting those black diamonds on Mt. Hood). I could go on, but you get the picture.

So my latest quest - being that my life is full time casual right now - is a casual type coat that's not too light nor too heavy, but is just right. (Goldilocks, if you're out there, I know you're with me on this one.) And it is this coat that I requested for my birthday this year - though at the time I had not exactly located it yet. But since my apparent idea of fun on my birthday is to torture my husband, I decided that part of how I wanted to spend the day was out shopping with him for this yet-to-be-located coat. As we got closer and closer to last weekend, the stage was set: Jeff had enlisted our babysitter for late Sunday morning at which point we'd go out shopping downtown and in the Pearl District, and then we'd wrap up the afternoon with high tea at the Heathman Hotel. It was set to be a perfect day, until we hit a major snag.

You see, I just happened to find myself in Nordstrom one day and there it was, right there in women's activewear. Staring me right in the face. A North Face Redpoint coat. I immediately tried it on. Not too heavy. Not too light. It was just right. And I know that because the nice saleslady even told me so. She said that she had never seen anyone look so good in a coat before and it clearly was made just for me. So helpful those salespeople are! But unfortunately, along with it came the "because I have the North Face logo plastered all over me, I can way overcharge you" price tag to go with it, which totaled 150 smackers. Hmmm. I was not deterred.

I immediately left the store and skipped (okay, I drove) home and logged onto eBay. And there it was. Exactly just one New With Tags Small North Face Redpoint coat in Brownie Brown - just the color I was eyeing. Starting bid: $49.99. But the auction had just started at that point and still had a few days to go - ending at 10:45 a.m. Pacific on - yep, you got it - Sunday, November 16. Could this be a sign? I wasn't sure, but I watched over that auction like a mama polar bear watches over her cubs in the coming days. Also, here is a good time for me to mention that while I've talked big about purchasing on eBay before, I have never actually placed a bid on one item in my life. I'm always afraid that something will go wrong so I chicken out. Okay, moving along now.

So that morning started off like any other Sunday morning. Except, well not really because Ian decided that instead of waking up around 7 a.m. that he would wake up at 6:15 a.m. This was made even less great by the fact that Jeff and I had been out at a dinner party the evening before and had gotten home late. But hey! It was now officially my birthday, which means that in our house there's an unwritten rule that on your birthday you are granted a free pass to relinquish all your parental duties for exactly one day. So Jeff got up, got Ian ready and fed him breakfast #1 while I showered. When I came downstairs I was greeted with a very enthusiastic, "Happy Birthday Mommy!" which apparently had been practiced multiple times that morning and I have to say, he performed perfectly on cue. Then we departed to try out a new breakfast place (well, new to us) called Biscuits Cafe which was quite enjoyable and yummy. Once we got home, we had a short amount of time until the babysitter arrived so Jeff and Ian went out on a quick "errand". (Read: They picked up the surprise cake from Beaverton Bakery.)

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. By now it was 10:40 a.m. In the last day or so the coat had jumped from $49.99 to $70 even. With $10 shipping. Still well under the $150 it would cost in the store. As soon as I logged on, I knew things were happening. Suddenly, with five minutes to go, there were three new bids and it was up to $75. I knew I had to act fast! Tick, tick, tick. So I logged into my account and placed a bid. Submit. Whamo! A button appears that says, "I'm sorry but you've already been outbid. Do you want to try again?" Ummm, yes!!! Quick, another bid. Submit. Whamo! Yet again: "I'm sorry but you've already been outbid." What???? All I'm thinking at this point is, "Who are you and where do you live because if you take my coat, I'm coming after you so you'd better watch your back!" This happened like three times and then....nothing. Except a screen saying, "The current bid is $81. You are the highest bidder." Less than a minute to go. Hit refresh! Hit refresh! Hit refresh! Then - it happened. "Mburpo - you have won this item! Please arrange to pay the seller ASAP." Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But wait! There's more. Completely coincidentally, right after I started tracking the auction, those nice people at eBay sent me a 10% off coupon. So after about another half hour of trying to figure out how to apply the coupon, my mission was officially accomplished. Grand total paid for the jacket and shipping: $81.90! I don't think I would have felt as triumphant as I did in that particular moment if I had just won the lottery. Well okay, maybe if it was more than a million dollars I might have been pretty happy, but you know what I mean.

By now Jeff, Ian and babysitter Linda were all there ready and waiting. And Jeff said, "So, um, does that mean we don't need to go shopping after all?" I thought about it for a second and then came to my senses. Silly. We all know the answer to that! So off we ventured for a nice afternoon of strolling and tea. (No more purchases though, for the record.) We topped the day off with a yummy steak/baked potato/wine dinner at home and of course, some cake - which Ian was very excited about and then took one bite and said, "I don't like it!" What a shock. He'll come around some day.

I'm still awaiting the arrival of my new North Face Redpoint coat but I may just have to post a picture when it gets here.

Until I write again.

PS - Don't ask me why the cake picture is sideways. I couldn't get it to download right so I opted to go with this instead. If you tip your head sharply to the right, it will look like it's supposed to.

Meet the teachers

Before I get into today’s topic, first here’s a little weather update: After I complained about the cold and rainy weather that hovered over Portland early last week - in the spirit of the official Weather Fairness Doctrine, which is the part of Portland city code that says that you must also divulge to friends and family when nice weather actually occurs in Portland – I must say that the second half of the week was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful sunny, crisp fall weather with vibrant colors everywhere. And it actually stayed quite nice throughout the weekend and today, which is somewhat abnormal given that November is one of the rainiest months here. No worries though, it’s due to start precipitating again by Wednesday. Thank goodness.

So, speaking of the end of last week – on Friday Jeff and I had our first ever parent-teacher conference at Ian’s little school. If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how much conferencing is really necessary when you are talking about a two-year-old. Answer: Quite a bit, actually. Or, at least that’s the case when I’m participating. All week I had been thinking of questions/topics that I wanted to address. On Friday morning, I decided it would be a good idea to jot them down on paper for the meeting so I didn’t forget anything. Five pages later, I was ready for our first official parent-teacher conference. (Just kidding. It was only one.)

The meeting was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Because it was Friday, Ian was already there and Jeff and I met up at the school separately since he was coming straight from Nike. Armed with my cheat sheet, we met up with Teacher Stella and Teacher Liz in a little dungeon-type room in the back of the church with very blank walls, slightly dirty carpet and a big long table. Two chairs on one side. Two chairs on the other. As the door shut and we sat down facing each other, suddenly I couldn’t help but think this must be what CIA interviews are like.

As I pulled out my cheat sheet, ready to start diving in – Teacher Stella whipped out her own document. With copies for each of us, no less. Already I was impressed. It was a three-page “Classroom Observation Form” with Ian’s name in big bold teacher-type writing at the top. The first page was divided into eight categories of feedback: arts/crafts; large motor skills; fine motor skills; social/emotional; group participation; language; cognitive development and self-help skills. (Already I’m thinking that I could probably use one of these evals myself, especially in the self-help area.) The second and third pages were “development checklists” of things that he should be starting to do – or already be doing – around this age and whether or not they had observed it yet in the classroom.

Before I get into some of the highlights of what they told us, let me first say how really impressed and appreciative we were at the effort that Vermont Hills goes to provide structured feedback like this to parents – even at this age. (And I believe they do this for the younger kids as well.) This might well be normal procedure in many preschools/daycares, but we thought it was great nonetheless given that it was our first opportunity to get some official, objective feedback on how he is progressing through his little life so far. (Minus the pediatrician, of course.)

In terms of the specific feedback we received, let’s just say that overall it was confirmed that we don’t exactly have an extrovert on our hands. Not that we didn’t know this already, but again, it’s good to get that perspective and feedback from someone else who is spending time with him. They said that while he seems comfortable in individual interactions with the teachers or with a little friend he’s made in class - overall, he’s very reserved in the group setting. He’s more interested in hanging back and observing activities rather than participating, though apparently he is warming up some and starting to engage more in the group stuff. (For what it’s worth, this is similar to what I observe of him the group classes that I do with him as well.)

In addition to the meeting being valuable for us, I realized that it’s also helpful for the teachers because it gives them an opportunity to get more perspective on how his home behaviors may differ from what he’s doing at school. For instance, I shared with them my feeling that the days he goes to school are often my most challenging with him at home because he’s extra rambunctious the second we get the car. That instigated some very good discussion about his likely sensibility to overstimulation and more interesting – that as he gets older, he’ll probably continue to be the type of person who will be compliant and reserved in group situations, and as such, may have a tendency to bottle up his feelings in a sometimes unhealthy way. (They said that they are observing some of this in class already in that he’s not very vocal about sharing when he’s mad, sad, hurt, frustrated, etc.) Yet, as soon as he gets in a more comfortable situation where he feels like he can be “himself”, he lets everything loose. These tendencies and general introverted behavior in the group setting also really came out in the development checklist when they indicated they had never observed him do several things that he does regularly at home, such as saying his name, describing events, identifying colors, identifying shapes, etc. So, this is all something they’ll be working with him on in the school setting.

Overall, they said that he’s doing great and that he's right on track and a pleasure to have in class. So, since they generally said good things about our kid, we’ve decided to keep him enrolled there.

Below I’ll leave you with some select quotes from the report. But before I go, I’ll also mention that as a celebration of our first ever parent-teacher conference, instead of going straight home for attempted nap time, we took advantage of the nice day (you see, it all ties together eventually!) by going down to the waterfront for some people watching and fall frolicking, as evidenced by today’s photos. (Which we had also done on Thursday, by the way.) And the best part of the day: Ian crashed as soon as we got home around 3:30. So a fun afterschool activity AND a nap. Yes, it was a good day.

Teacher Quotes
Ian…

Smiles and giggles a lot.

Is very quiet, smiles, gives warm greetings, attentive to adult requests, laughs and sings at group time.

Is very clean, neat and has nice table manners.

Does a great job of following directions and is very cooperative.

Plays side by side with friends at the train table. (As opposed to on top of?)

Is becoming more interested in the potty. (Thank God.)

And my two favorite:

Does not like messy activities.

Is an expert hand washer!

Until I write again.

Sing, sing a song...

Sing out loud!

Sing out strong!

Sing of good things, not bad.

Sing of happy, not sad...

Does anyone know who originally sang that tune? If you're like me you're thinking, "Well duh, it's that iconic bro/sis singing duo of the 70s - The Carpenters, of course!" WRONG.

Put this one in the category of new and interesting factoids you learn from raising a kid. Because apparently, it was Big Bird. As in, the dorky but oh-so-loveable big yellow guy from Sesame Street. I know. Now you are saying, "Whhhhhat???? Say it isn't so!" Well, I'm saying it's so. "Sing" was originally created for Sesame Street in...well, I'm not sure exactly what year but it must have been a while ago because hasn't that show been on for like 80 years? And funny how Bert and Ernie never seem to age. Hmmmm.

Anyway, moving along. You might be wondering why I'm talking about this song. It's because out of the blue Ian started singing (and I use that term loosely) it the other day. And I was thinking, "Wow, impressive. He's really picked up on those Carpenters tunes." After all, he had been first exposed to them at a very young age. You see, as soon as Ian was born, one of the first things I quickly learned about myself as a new parent was that I have some serious deficiencies in the lullaby area. However, I did know "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" so I sang that to him like 50 times per day. And that one really worked because I have to say that's one of his favorite songs now. All I have to do is start singing "Twinkle" and he pretty much stops in his tracks, mesmerized by the soothing sound of my voice (which is understandable). It's even worked to calm him down on a plane before - for approximately one second. But the other song I sang here and there was "Close to You". (In fact, I believe that Jeanette also sang this song to Jeff when he was a baby. Maybe she also doesn't know many lullabies?)

But alas, no - his new love for "Sing" in fact did not come from our repeated efforts to attempt to instill in him a love for 70's music at an early age. Rather, it came from watching Sesame Street. I should have known. By way of digression here - for those who know that Ian has never really been much into TV (except sports) - I can report that he is now officially into Sesame Street. Or, as he first started calling it - the Street. As in, "Mommy, I need to watch the Street!" Which just made me laugh when he'd say it because it sounded like it was some gangster show he was addicted to versus children's educational television. I think we have that corrected now, though.

So, to wrap this all back up in a bow - suffice it to say that we spend a fair amount of time singing "Sing" around here these days. He really likes it. And it's pretty funny to hear because he can't quite get the words right except, of course, "Sing a Song", which he repeats over and over again. So often I'll sing it and he'll try and follow along with me. (Really, here's where I need to get the video function of this blog up and running in order to get the full effect of what I'm describing.)

It's also noteworthy that Ian really likes singing in general. I mean, the kid is constantly singing. Even when he's by himself playing with his toys, he'll often be singing something. Besides "Sing" and "Twinkle", other favorites are "Wheels on the Bus" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Oh, and of course the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." I'm still trying to expand his repertoire, though. For instance, the other day I put on Donna Summer's MacArthur Park and we were doing some interpretive dance and he really seemed to like that song. But then again, who doesn't?

I keep meaning to do some quick research to see if this whole singing thing is normal for kids his age or if we need to move to NYC and enroll him in Juilliard. I don't know. Maybe I'll report back when I find out.

Until I write again.

Scenes from November

Today we are expecting a total of three to five inches of rain - our first real winter storm coming off the Pacific. Undoubtedly, there will be several more right behind it over the next few months. Still, as I drove around SW Portland this morning I couldn't help but notice how pretty everything looked - with the last vibrant leaves of fall hanging onto rain soaked trees. So, I took a few snapshots on my way home from picking up Ian at preschool.

Rain and fog surround the West Hills

Trees in and around Gabriel Park

Street leading up to Ian's future elementary school



Driving down our street



Looking out our living room window

Until I write again.

Housebound

I have a confession to make: Ian didn't leave the house today. Granted, it's not even 4pm here yet, but I can, with some amount of certainty, say that Ian will not be going outside today. And given that it's always my goal to take him out on at least one outing a day, means that today I failed. Now the part about this that concerns me isn't necessarily that he did not leave the house on this one particular day, but more that it might be a sign of things to come.

You see, all summer long as Ian and I were out and about - going to the zoo, going to the fountain at Jamison Square, going to the park, going to the pool, etc., etc. - I kept having this thought in the back of my mind that would creep out every now and then: What will you do when winter comes? How are you going to occupy your two-year-old then? I mean, let's face it - there are just some days when this kid makes the Energizer Bunny look like a couch potato.

I did not mean for this to happen on this particular day (not to mention so soon after winter started). Really, I didn't. But I did suspect that today might be a little "off" because we changed our schedule a bit. And you know how I like schedule changes. So, this morning Jeff watched him while I went downtown for a "meet and greet" with an agency to talk about opportunities to work with them on a freelance basis. It was about 10:30 a.m. when I got home and, as usual, it was raining. Just one of those days where we woke up to the sound of rain pouring down the downspout outside our bedroom window and it hasn't really stopped all day. Not even for a schizophrenic sun break.

The whole way home I had been thinking, "Okay what are we going to do today that's inside?" (Though, in the back of my mind what I was really thinking is: Here we go, that winter creativity is now officially being tested!) OMSI? Ugh. It will be packed because it's Veterans Day and every school kid in town will be there. Children's Museum? Another ugh. Same thing. The Forestry Center? Mmmm....sounds kinda boring. Open play gym at the rec center? (Which is what we normally do after Tuesday sports class anyway, which by the way, was canceled today because of the holiday.) Well, it's wet outside and I don't really feel like driving over there. Plus, Ian seems to be developing yet another case of the sniffles, so perhaps it's not a good idea to have him around a lot of kids.

Once Jeff left for work, I started checking email and taking care of things around the house while still pondering this yet-to-be-determined grandiose event we were eventually going to undertake today. Meanwhile, unlike the typical craziness that ensues if we aren't out doing something by mid-morning, he actually seemed to be quite content playing with his trains, cooking up some gourmet meals and other activities. And before I knew it - it was lunchtime! So of course we couldn't go out at that point because we needed to make lunch. Maybe afterwards we'd do something, I thought. You know, before afternoon "rest time". But lunch was finished and I just kept looking outside. And it looked dark. And chilly. And wet. And the bottom line was that I just didn't feel like dealing with it all. Plus, Ian still looked as though he was surviving just fine playing inside the house. So, that's what he did until it was time to go upstairs.

In other words, what I'm really trying to say is that it could be a long winter.

Until I write again.
PS - Even Zach looked depressed about the weather today. And he's usually pretty upbeat.