Nov
17
The boys are home, and the return of clatter and chaos and Riley’s nonstop talk, talk, talking (“Mommy? Mommy? You missed me while I was at gramma and grampa’s? You were SAD cause I was GONE?”) feels like the house got lit up from within like a Christmas tree.
This weekend was rough, maybe the hardest couple of days I can remember as a parent. Dylan’s sickness and fussiness wore me down to a raw nerve, and yesterday when I was hosing out a barfed-on carseat in the sink while he screamed nearby, furious at having been put down for one second, I did some weeping of my own because holy god, this wasn’t just hard, this was insurmountable — I have never felt so incapable and frustrated and utterly unable to recognize the temporary nature of our situation.
The moment passed, of course, as they all do — the good ones and bad ones alike, time treats them all the same and oh, how unfair is that? — and we trudged onward. Literally, even: I ended up wearing Dylan on my back for half the weekend because despite the very real fear of having him puke on my head, it seemed to keep whatever wolves were tormenting him at bay.
Tonight was good. We bought pho noodles and Riley ate his share in giant messy forkfuls, and I sat in the tub with him afterwards and he merrily scrubbed my back with a washcloth, my little spa attendant. Dylan was tired but not too terribly cranky, and Riley spent his evening busily constructing Lego airplanes and building a fort out of sofa cushions.
Both kids are in bed now and I am starting to feel something like a knot unwinding in my chest. The companionable click of JB’s computer is a soothing reminder that the house is full again. Everything feels like it’s supposed to.
Nov
16
Two quick things for today:
Thing the first: JB recently got a Macbook, after years (YEARS) of kvetching about how superior PCs were, and now of course he’s in love with having a laptop that actually, you know, works. One of the nicest things about us both having computers that don’t suck is that we can easily do videochats without the million and one technical problems that always came up before. So I got to chat with Riley last night and receive video kisses, which was awesome.
Thing the second: I made a little movie to commemorate Riley turning three years old. Which, uh, happened in August, but I figure as long as I got it done before the end of 2008 I still get the medal.
What? There’s no medal? Well, fuck. Here it is anyway:
Riley: 3 years from Linda Lee on Vimeo.
Made in iMovie, and featuring the saptastic tunes of Ben Folds (“The Luckiest”).
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