Everything AND the Kitchen Sink
November 21, 2006 by Veronica Mitchell
Az the Husband is the only happily married man on his shift. This sometimes means that his coworkers appeal to him to explain women or relationships. He is a terse, phlegmatic man, and his responses are somewhat unpredictable. Too much moaning about the cruelty of women, for instance, may elicit something like: “You know, this job does come with a mental health benefit. Maybe you should use it.”
But last night one of the single guys asked Az how you know when you finally meet your One True Love. Az’s response was brief.
“She’s the woman who stays.”
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Sweetpea has begun talking in her sleep. The other night I went in to check on her, and she said, eyes closed, “Go Boom! Boom!” We call it “booming on the bed” when I toss the girls onto their backs and let them bounce on the bed. They giggle and giggle. So apparently she was having a good dream.
I went in last night to check on her, and she spoke in her sleep again. She shrieked, “MINE!”
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JellyBean got a birthday card from her Gramma with $20 in it, and we went to the bookstore today to pick out something to buy. She got a fairy book, a firehouse book, and an alphabet activity book. She adored the alphabet book so much that she played with it till quite exhausted. Then we all had a nap. She slept through dinner (it is NOT worth it to wake that child from a nap. You do not know how bad it is until you have experienced it), and finally woke about 7:30.
When she woke up, she had had a rather disgusting accident in bed which required immediate showering and laundering. Poor thing. She stood crying and shaking in the shower as I tried to calm and reassure her. Nothing worked until I said, “You are taking a shower like a big girl. Mommy and Daddy take showers. Babies take baths.” Then she stopped shaking and crying, and her little shoulders straightened up, and she stood proud and dripping.
Tiny little soggy toddler, proud to be growing up. Nothing is more bittersweet.
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We have running water! In case you missed it, we had been living without it in our kitchen for almost two weeks. The plumber came Friday and fixed us up. He also replaced a pvc pipe with a new snazzy brass and chrome one to impress potential buyers, AND he took five percent off his estimate, so we are pretty happy.
I have promised Az a pie in celebration.
Mmmmm pie…
Classic vignettes from the house of Mitchell. Life sounds good. I am so glad you are back and blogging. It is nice to take a hiatus sometimes, and I am glad yours was brief. I missed your posts. Coffee in the morning is best with some T.D.
I’m glad to see you back, too - all three of my kids are sleeptalkers, lucky me.
You guys really are going through the “hamster trial” as I call it, where as soon as you get something fixed, something else goes, so you feel you’re on a wheel and get no where. I hate this kind of trial (life in Mauritania is sort of nonstop hamster-ness…we lost our 3rd and last water heater last week and had a slashed tire and it’s just always something) so I can really relate and will be thinking of you. I’m not sure this comment fits this post, but I’ve been neglecting my blogs (partly because in one of the computer crashes I lost ALL my bookmarks, including painstakingly gathered ESL sites for work) and I just hit comment after this one, because I wanted to share that…
Abel talks in his sleep every night! Half the time it’s in French (Maitresse! he’ll announce firmly) and half in English. If I hear him, I always talk back, but so far he’s never responded.
Elliot, if you kiss him in his sleep, will smile. Sooo heart-melting.
“Tiny little soggy toddler….” Beautiful line. Heartbreakingly so.