Other things that belong in that category are my good friends whose calls I regularly do not answer and forget to call back, my own hygiene most of the times, feeding the pets, my etsy shop (but I must pat myself on the back for tending to that more in recent weeks) and sometimes my kid, etc.
He was looking through one of his word books a few weeks ago. We hadn't studied it in a really long time. He's flipping the pages, pointing and vocalizing what he was pointing at. I about shit my pants. Holy jeebs, this kid is growing up! And he never stops talking. Never. Even talks in his sleep. A while back I was woken up in the middle of the night from hysterical laughter piped into my bedroom through the baby monitor. I don't know if he was asleep or awake and I didn't know whether to laugh or get really creeped out. A little of both happened, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, a little down time in August is good. Enough down time that I'm catching up on this and have tended to a lot of things, not my hygiene yet. I think it's been three days since I've showered. Obviously, that's not very important.
It's been a nice summer. Really, really busy for a bit followed by a lazy August. Again, I have to remember that this is a good thing and appreciate it in the moment.
I feel like it would be a bore to try and catch up since the last post where Owen and I almost died seven months ago. So I'll just touch on a few recent exciting things and keep going like nothing happened.
Being that Owen is nearing the ripe old age of Two, he was swiftly moved into a Big Boy Bed last weekend. It's kind of the cutest, stupidest thing ever. Transitioning could be worse. He's kind of a nutball with the new freedoms that having a Big Boy Bed entails, but he's getting the hang of it. The first nap after the first night of sleeping in the Big Boy Bed was insanity. Ha, which I guess I should point out was just yesterday. Straight refusal, just "going drazy (crazy)" as he would say. Today was better by tenfold.
Today was also the first day in which Owen handled an escalator all on his own. Going up was easier than going down. I was super impressed. I have vivid memories of the visions I created in my head when I was probably four or so of escalators sucking me in and eating me. But it makes sense that he's a bit more accustomed. There are far more escalators to encounter in Chicago than Saint Louis. Even as a mid-twenty-something-year-old I totally flipped out that Targets in the city had escalators. I'm pretty sure Targets everywhere have escalators now, but just sayin'.
I recently trafficked an amazingly adorable chihuahua, who was incredibly reminiscent of Totti, from my friend Sarah to my good friend Jeff. Said chihuahua puppy, H.P. Stinkybuns, has a really amazing chihuahua dad and an awesome home, but by golly, I was so frackin' depressed the day I had to hand him over, and kind of wanted to maul Jeff's pretty face. Nothing personal, and after I got over the empty-chihuahua-nest syndrome, I decided that I most definitely need another dog in my life. Preferably another chihuahua, but I'm not limiting options here. Having a raucous toddler boy, a Big Boy Dog would be fun, although you'd be amazed at what good buddies Jonah and Owen are. I suppose I'm not actively searching, but if a buddy needs a home, someone let him know where to find me...
So, yeah. I've got some exciting things on the horizon. An article of mine is awaiting publishing. And all that excitement, plus the lack of work coming in for the moment, has me super excited about writing again.
I'm not making any promises to myself about NanoWrimo like I do every year and then feel like a complete loser when I don't even get a single word down, but September is going to be exciting. There will be a blog post EVERY SINGLE DAY. No, really. I've got a plan, and it's actually really incredibly near and dear to me. Well, not near, but definitely dear.
September is a Very Important Month. My birthday, ball and chain's birthday, anniversary, the month that my original due date was scheduled, back to school, which isn't that important nor does it pertain to this but I get all riled up about school supplies, and most importantly, and the reason for what's going to happen, My Dad's Birthday.
Anyone who knows me, even if only just a little bit, knows that my dad is a goldmine of confusion as well as incredibly absurd, unbelievable stories. And when I say confusion, I mean that no one can quite understand the who's, what's, why's about this man. I mean, yeah, everyone's dad is weird, but there is altogether something you just can't quite figure out with my dad. He's something else and anyone who has met him knows what I mean. I'm serious, my dad is not like your dad and every day in September will be dedicated to another whacked out, amazing, insane, bizarre story about my dad that I'm incredibly fond of and honored to have as a memory. My mom just recently, within the past year, found out that my dad was (possibly?) struck by lightning as a child. I think we all had an Oprah style Ah Ha moment when we heard the news, but who knows really...
So, yeah, this is about to get really good. I need to talk my mom into scanning/taking lots of photos for me because you really need a visual with some of the things I have in store. I am almost a hundred percent certain that my dad will not ever read a single blog post or even know that I am doing/have done this, but that kind of adds to the beauty of it all. And if he did read any of it, even if he was disgusted by whatever I had written, and even if he demanded that I remove it, in the end it would be enough for me that he even knew that it happened.
I love my dad, and you'll find out why starting next Thursday.
My dad, myself and my brother. Christmas, 1983.
