8 and E vs. I

So there's been chatter in the house lately about the Myers Brigs tests after Eric and I finally took the ones Heather sent us on FB. Eric was 100% I, I was 88% E. (One thing that really struck me about the recap of my own test was that it said that I really need to be around people but yet even when I am around people I can feel lonely, because I have not developed one of my other letters. F? Well anyway it was totally right on. The descriptions about me and Eric were really very accurate.) Liam has shown many signs of "I" which I learned from Heather is not a bad thing :o) but also he's three so I don't know yet what he'll be. In hopes of gaining some insight into his leanings, I presented him with the following question:
Me: Liam, when you go to a party do you like to talk to a whole bunch of people or just one person
Liam: A whole bunch of people
Me: Say you were at a party and there was a big group of people talking and then in another room there was just one person. Would you want to go in the room with the big group and talk with them and have them all talk to you or would you want to go in the room with just one person?
Liam: The room with the whole big bunch of people.
(I'm sort of surprised with the answers at this point.)
Me: And you'd want all the people to be talking to you?
Liam: Yes...(pause) but Mom? You know what I really like about parties?
Me: What?
Liam: Cake.
Me: Cake?
Liam: Yes, definitely. Cake...(Pause) and hamburgers. But not lunch. I don't like lunch at parties. Unless it's hamburgers.

So you be the judge.

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Getting full nights of sleep on a regular basis
2. Being done with grad school
3. Going somewhere on vacation this summer
4. Brendan being done teething
5. Going to a movie and dinner and a babysitter who doesn't ask us to be home early
6. Chicago Summer Events
7. The economy rebounding and my house being worth more that $17.28
8. Rae's wedding This Weekend!

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Played outside with the neighbors
2. Looked for the neighbor's cat with Liam
3. Prepaid 2 credit cards so I'll never be late again due to dumbness
4. Held Brendan like a baby
5. Watched our president on tv
6. Read more of Three Cups of Tea
7. Went to bed too late
8. Stressed out about refinancing and all the millions of project we have yet to do at our house.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do
1. Sleep
2. Read leisurely
3. Eat everything I love and be skinny
4. Live somewhere else but still be with all my family and friends
5. Have a maid
6. Stop worrying so much
7. Get a massage every day
8. Capitalize on the low interest rates

8 Shows I Watch
1. Check Please
2. Brothers and Sisters
3. Ballykissangel
4. Chicago Tonight
5. Tavis Smiley/ News Hour with Jim Lehrer/Nightly Business Report
6. Rick Steves/Rudy Maxa/Burt Wolf/some other travel show with different hosts who go to strange places and one host has bad teeth but I can't remember the name
7. Mexico One Plate at a Time
8. Craig Ferguson

I tag Kelly!

These Are Days

Brendan has been very unhappy about going to bed the last few days. Verrrrry unhappy about it. Liam had his own trouble with it a couple nights ago. Why do I always forget what's going on? You know what it is? Rapid development. Liam is growth spurting and Brendan is language spurting. I see it happening before my eyes but it always takes me awhile to remember what's going on. Another change Eric and I noticed is that Brendan, who oscillates between being very good and horrid has been much happier as of late. The rage has mellowed. Relatively. And it just dawned on me at work last night why. You guessed it - language. He has been frustrated for 18 months (1 1/2 years old yesterday!) with his inability to articulate his thoughts, dreams, hopes, whatever. Now there is an explosion of words and this makes him, and us, so happy! It doesn't make him much happier to sit in confined spaces like car seats and high chairs though, but beggars can't be choosers. Eric found him reading a book out loud this afternoon. Shakespeare, you know? No, really it was Let's Build but anyway it's just amazing to watch.

Yesterday Brendan Liam and I celebrated Brando's 1 1/2 year birthday with a candle in a moon pie. Brendan enjoyed us singing to him except every once in a while he'd get a concerned look and glance sideways at Liam in case we might actually be singing to him. But when it turned out we were really singing to Brendan he was very pleased. He doesn't like moon pies though.

Letting the Days Go By

Liam's lunch.

Wednesday night Eric and I got a night on the town and visited a couple of the neighborhood food and spirits establishments. It wasn't as warm walking around as we thought it would be, even after drinks and appetizers and drinks and dinner. Unfortunately the youngins were still awake when we got home, so we were quickly brought back to reality at 9:15pm. (Also I discovered as I opened the back door that I left my purse back at the restaurant, so Eric ended up walking back after the kids went to bed.) Anyway, for some reason at 3am I woke up and could not get back to sleep. I believe it was 5:30 or 6 when I did. Waking up at 7:30 for work I realized how true it is that I am not a kid anymore. Not that I want to be a "kid" kid, but like they say you can never go home again, it's also hard to dabble sporadically in a life you lived in another era. Maybe we just need to get a regular babysitter and go out more.

Brendan has been doing the most adorable thing in the morning. I don't know what happened but somehow Eric and I produced an early riser. The odds were against it, but somehow it slipped through and we got Brando. He wakes up at 7/ 7:30. Liam is truly my child and could easily sleep in til 9:30. And they go to bed at the same time, but Liam just sits up there talking and singing for an hour or more til his brain winds down and he finally gives into sleep, where he dreams about Country Bugs. Don't ask, but it's not Flutterflies anymore and these things make noise. So when Liam wakes up we go into the bedroom to get him, and Brendan will take stuffed animals from his bed and bring them to Liam. It started because Liam really wanted Brando's snow tiger, but there was a bit of an altercation over it, and anyway the next morning Brendan, with no prompting from me, brought it to Liam. Now he does it every morning. He'll even bring stuffed animals from Liam's own bed that have shifted to the bottom so Liam can reach them. He loves helping. Helping unload the dishwasher, helping move furniture, helping clean up the large messes he makes. He's not really that good at helping, but it's funny, and sometimes scary, to watch him try.
In other news. Liam has gone from loving Ray Charles to loving Weezer (that's a little old news actually.) I hate ear buds and want headphones to come back in style. Liam doesn't wear diapers anymore. Brendan's teeth pains have returned - 2 year molars coming 6 months too soon. Brendan + teething = pistol. (As in, yep, he definitely is a redheaded Scorpio.) Rapid weightloss has not been a byproduct of weaning. It's been over a year now since we went to Dublin, and I really want to go back to Europe. This time I want to go to Italy. Unfortunately my bank account does not want that (I predict Eric will comment "What bank account? Why didn't you tell me we had a bank account?") This guy in my class sounds just like Anthony Hopkins and got way cuter in my on-campus day after he started talking. Mends and Binds might be the death of me. Warm weather, oh how I love ye!

The Time Is Getting Late to Begin

Liam was born a little old man, that we all know. The first time I held him, I couldn't get over how much he looked like a scruffy Irish dockworker, with wise eyes that had seen much, and sideburns to boot. There's a passage in one of his Winnie the Pooh books that is truly profound. It reads,

"By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew where it was going, and it said to itself, 'There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.' But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late."

Among many other things it reminds me of, that passage really sums up Liam and Brendan. Which is why it always catches me off guard when in the middle of a conversation Liam will say, "No, I don't quite understand," and I'll explain again and he'll look at me calmly and then say, "Blickly mlkcy gox box socks." Today that happened when he was talking on the phone to my mom. Fortunately she knows a lot about kids, otherwise that could have thrown her for a loop.

I Always Liked the Trib Better

To: circulation@pioneerlocal.com
Our Mount Prospect Times newspaper was unceremoniously cancelled a couple months ago, with no prior warning. No attempt was made to increase sales or circulation. Since I still had a remaining balance on the paper I sent in a slip to have the money refunded to me. I have never received this money back. Where is it?


Dear Donna

Thank you for contacting Pioneer Press.

We are currently processing your refund request. You should receive your refund within the next 10 business days.

If you require any further assistance, please contact customer service by phone at 1 (800) 680-2068 or by e-mail at custserv@suntimes.com.

Sincerely,

Cody V

Customer Service Department

At Least No Tears, or, Don't Tell Your Kids Bunnies Bite

Well, I may have done a very dumb thing. I know, it's shocking.
At Heather's wedding I had these rad earrings to go with my dress. Running late as usual I tried putting them on in the car, only to find out I could not get one in at all. Why one of my earring holes closed up but not the other I don't know, but apparently not wearing earrings for years can have this effect. So for Rae's wedding I decided to re-pierce my ears. On Wednesday I went to Claires, stood patiently in line behind a 13 year old and her mom, and finally got my chance to partake in what was coincidentally the last day of their big free* ear piercing day (*with purchase of $40 starter kit consisting of a miniature pair of earrings and bottle of antiseptic wash.) Anyway, I guess I seemed less than brave and the 18 year old ear piercer asked with concern, "Ok, are you ready for this?" Sure, I've given birth to two babies, but I'm still a giant wimp. I barely cried though. Right before she asked me to take a big breath, she asked if I wanted the holes where they had been before. To this I should have said "Yes", so that I wouldn't really have to start from scratch and more importantly so there would be no problem with me taking the earring out to put in the earrings for Rae's wedding, which was the purpose of this whole thing anyway. But the girl said my old holes were not even so should she even them up? It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I fear it was a mistake. Now in two weeks when I take the "new" earring out to put in Rae's, will there be a chance the hole won't be there? Also I'm not convinced the new holes are any better aligned than the previous ones. Oi vey. Truly.

Also, before we left I looked at Woodfield's website for the Easter Bunny info. It said the Easter Bunny would be there from some date in March until March 22, which makes no sense since Easter isn't until April 12. Weird, but I had no reason not to believe it. As we were leaving the mall, I noticed an Easter display and lo and behold who was in the thick of it but that abnormally large bunny we call The Easter Bunny. Liam was not very interested in getting a picture with the fellow. Last year he absolutely refused so we just had the picture with Brendan. This year he was a bit more open, but at the last minute he said, "Actually no, I don't want to." Why? I asked. "Well, because, remember, you said sometimes bunnies bite." For no apparent reason I decided to reveal that gem to Liam just that very morning. Brilliant! "Well no, Honey, though some bunnies bite those are just the regular small bunnies, not the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny never bites." So he consented to be in the picture but not to sit on The Bunny's lap or on the bench next to The Bunny. Unfortunately what this picture does not convey is that Brendan was not at all scared of The Bunny. He just kept trying to kiss The Bunny and was not interested in turning his head away from him to look at the camera. Instead, in the picture, he comes across as not happy. And my Very Brave Liam decided after the picture that he wanted to go up to the EB, with me in tow, to touch him and pet him and shake his hand and say Happy Easter and bye-bye. I was so proud of him, but again it's not the message the picture conveys. In fact at the end I think he rather liked The Bunny. "He was fun, I loved seeing that Easter Bunny," he told me. He's still a bit concerned about why the EB didn't talk though. He thinks he can talk but that he was just being shy. Liam says the Easter Bunny loves him and he loves him too. This is huge progress. Anyway it's a little better than the Christmas pic with Santa. And I really am having a hard time coming to grips with why I even have to convince Liam to engage with large weird costumed strangers. I mean, unless he's going on stage at a Flaming Lips concert.

Imagine All the People

I was really disappointed when I read a week or so ago that President Obama is considering "working" with the Taliban to stabilize Afghanistan. I had to write him a letter last night because I was really feeling sick after reading about the young woman in Pakistan who was assaulted. I do realize the whole thing's a MESS and the administration has to make very difficult choices but please God do not let that group retain or regain legitimate or illegitimate power. Culturally insensitive as it might be for me to say, that organization is downright evil.. I'm literally sick about it all. Not that I have some great solution myself, but I pray that they'll find and chose another way to bring stability to Afghanistan. Probably they need to consult with Brian O. to get some good ideas. I should have mentioned that in my letter.

It seems trite now to mention how bummmmmmmed I was to get to the bridal shop to pick up my dress and find out they were closed. I went from Schaumburg, with my entourage in tow, some of whom randomly scream and cry on car rides, and it took 1 1/2 hours (with a stop at home to pick up Eric) one way. I guess it wasn't meant to be today.