INEXPLICABLE POCKET

Sorry about that; my caps lock was on.

I have two semesters left of school. Obviously, that is a very good thing, but I'm already feeling nostalgic about those trips down to Champaign. (Did I already write this post before?) I submitted my application to the program at 11:59 on February 31, about 4 years ago. It was due by March 1, but I didn't know if that meant 11:59 on February 31 or March 1. I didn't want to have put myself through that entire application process to be rejected for being late. Anyway, what I should have learned from the application process was that it was going to be an extremely stressful journey. I think Eric and I almost broke up at 11:56, but I got the application in, and I couldn't have done it without Eric's help. And that was another glimmer into the future, because I couldn't have this program at all without Eric's help. Wait, this is turning into an Academy Award acceptance speech. So, would now be a good time to mention the time we were in Chamapign and Brendan didn't want to go to bed so he had a 9.0 temper tantrum and threw up on the hotel bed? Yes, maybe finishing this program will be even better than I'm thinking.

So anyway I started the program in July when I was what, 7 months pregnant with Brando. That was insane. We had one two-credit-hour class that met down at UIUC over 10 days. It was INSANE. They call it bootcamp, and I think the comparison is a tiny bit justified. But by far the hardest semester was this past one, with Aidan a newborn and the big boys not quite so big. Eric could of course one-up me, because he finished his grad program the year after Liam was born, and he interviewed at the big G in Mountainview with the whole family in tow when I was 7 months pregnant with Aidan, and with the big F the week after Aidan was born, and had to decide if we would all move to Palo Alto in about 3 days. That was quite a lot of pressure too. Now, with the end sort of finally in sight, I am starting to get giddy about having extra time to do stuff besides schoolwork. Wow, that will be so incredible!

Also, btw, I am a TOTAL Psychic! Because tonight, for the first time in a looong time, after I wrote the above post but before I posted it, Brando had a 9.0 temper tantrum. Fortunately he did not throw up, but he did expertly push my buttons, so that I at one point made the exact same yelling noise he was making, to see what he'd do, and he stopped for a second, looked at me, asked for a kleenex, and then continued right on with his The Exorcist meltdown, and it didn't phase him at all. I can't quite imagine what I would have done if my mom yelled at me, but apparently from Brando's reaction, not much of anything. I know, just leave him alone. (sorting or directing him to anything once the meltdown has begun does not work.) I'm sure with a lot of kids they'll stop in ten minutes, or an hour. BP? Not likely. It was our fault because we let him stay up til the ungodly hour of 8:30. I know, what the hell were we thinking?!? But like I say, these are much fewer and further between these days, so that's good. Instead he just teeters on the brink of meltdown, and usually is able to recover himself before going off the cliff. But if he's going to go down, by lord he's taking the lot of us down with him.

Oh yes, and finally. Why do so many of Aidan's clothes have pockets?

no pocket here...

(we call him Aidan Michael Jordan. If you can't see the resemblance above, well, you will when you see his out-of-this-world hops on the bball court.)