Category Archives: home

Do not taunt happy fun ball, frustration, home, parenting

Vacation…?

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Right. So going somewhere to hang out for a few weeks used to be the way to refresh and relax. Used to be, as in, before I had two young people to care for during the weeks of “vacation”.

The time change coupled with the break in routine completely borks my children’s circadian rhythms, they don’t ever want to go to sleep, are so tired they fight sleep like crazy, and are generally sleep deprived. (This of course leads to a generally insane behavior, at least on the part of my 6 year old, though the baby can be nuts too.)
So instead of relaxing and lazing the day away, I am eternally engaged in the struggle for master of fate with my daughter, while trying to calm a really cranky boy. The struggle with my daughter looks a lot like boundary pushing, arguing, rule flouting, whining, and losing the ability to say please and thank you. For the baby, it just means being unwilling to sleep during the day, ever, and therefore being too tired to be happy with anything, resulting in lots of crying fits.

Ack!! Headache central here I come!

I love seeing everyone, and have been pretty good at limiting the social events to a minimum, but I still have the desire to lock myself in a room and be alone for a few hours. I spend a lot of time alone at home, so it is strange to be surrounded by so many people now. Wonderful, as I get to fill my days talking to people I rarely get to see, but strange.

I think I am going to have to hide in a closet for a few days when I get back to Jersey!

home

Hmmm…. the warm glow of the Rocky Mountains…

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So far I have missed two exits to and from Boulder due to mountain ogling and prairie dogs.
On the way to Hatchet’s house the other day I missed my exit because I was busily showing Monkey the fat and happy prairie dog colony that had sprouted along the sides of the highway. Happily, missing the exit meant I got to drive towards the mountains and stare lovingly at them longer. How I miss their ever present profile against the sky!!
On the way home I missed the exit for the highway because I was too busy watching the sun light the clouds behind the mountains in golden gleaming rays.
I feel my muscles unclench a little more each time I get to look at that lovely backdrop. I seem to be able to breathe the thinner Colorado air, resplendent in it’s late summer crispness, more deeply, and to relax more while doing so. Hmmm…. yummy Colorado air!!
It’s funny, I took the mountains for granted while I lived here, generally using them as a compass point to orient myself with, but not imagining that other landscapes in other places would seem emptier, more naked, because there were no mountains spiking up into the sky.

home, Otter

A good day…

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Today was a good day. Mom and I took the kids to the mall, where Monkey ran around like a fiend in the Petri Dish and Otter practiced his standing. We were there originally to find Croc’s and petti pants, but failed to leave with either.
After the mall we went to Las Delicias for real Mexican food.
Mmmm…. chicken flautas in guacamole…. mmmm.
After our food arrived, Otter began looking from dish to dish, and person to person. He was watching us eat with a great deal of interest, and began to get his little sad face when he realized there was no plate for him. Poor guy! He really wants to eat!

I took pity on him and gingerly smeared a tiny bit of guacamole on my finger and offered it to him. He sucked it right off my finger, happy as could be, and began to scoot towards the bowl. I gave him a few more tastes, but really not much, as guacamole is a little too complicated to be a first food. (The recipe they use there if fairly simple, it is not the three-alarm chipotle pepper madness I make, but more of an avacado whip.) He loved it, and was much happier sharing in the feast than he had been watching it.

After lunch we returned home for a lazy day of snuggling and reading before dinner. Then I left Monkey with my parents and took Otter to the Village Inn of my youth to meet Coni for coffee. She and I haven’t had the chance to sit and talk for a long time, so visiting with her refreshed my soul. Coni is one of my Angels, and has been as long as I have known her. Having the chance to talk with her for hours was an amazing gift. I feel more at home, and more relaxed, than I have in a long, long time.

Home is beginning to work it’s magic.