Spring Break

Started Monday by dropping a box cutter on my foot. Rethinking ambition to become professional knife-thrower.

Further insomnia: woke up at 1am and mentally rehashed series-finale episode of Battlestar, searching for answers to gaping plot holes and going off into angry sleepy plans to track down writers and knock their heads against the floor and demand a revised finale.

Am back from a weekend with my mother, having flown over with the kids to drop off Gavin for spring break. The house is empty without him. We both woke last night, certain he had walked into the room and spoken to us, so I phoned my mother first thing in the morning to make sure he had only been dreamwalking and not visiting as a ghost. He said he had dreamed of us, too, and didn't seem surprised we had heard him. Weird.

In other news: Gavin learned to eat with chopsticks, Leif learned to clap, my mother and I saved a colony of enormous toads, and Mike tried to defend a bouncy castle against a horde of teenagers. Productive weekend.

In the AM

Gavin dawdles, I bark, we find sneakers, gather up homework, run out late. Yesterday I didn't feel like barking, so I snuck up to the bathroom to see what was taking so long. Gavin stood in front of the mirror with the lights out, waving his flashing toothbrush as he applied toothpaste, singing. "I'm Captain Hammer, my teeth are shiny and clean, and it's a brand new day! La lala, something something die, my teeth are bright and shiny!" Reasonable.

Last night I was cold, with dreams of being shot at and chased, and I woke up wanting to be next to my boy at 4:30am. Like I had summoned him, Gavin stumbled in and climbed into bed. We went back to sleep until morning. "I didn't have bad dreams after I was next to you," Gavin said. "Neither did I," I agreed. I wish we had a bigger bed. Maybe Mike can sleep in Gavin's room.

with a side of LIONS!

One of my ongoing quests is the hunt for the perfect wonton. So far, the best ones I've found are at the Kin Wah in Kaneohe, our favorite Chinese restaurant, and I insist on eating there every time we visit. Even though there is a blurb on the menu that says "Our meat dishes contain MSG. Extra MSG will not be added upon request."

So on Saturday we dug into our soup and plates of honey-garlic chicken, stuffed eggplant, and gau gee, when suddenly a roar of firecrackers came from the parking lot, and two Chinese lions came dancing into the restaurant with a billow of smoke and crashing drums. Gavin leaped up onto his seat, along with everyone else in the restaurant, and the two lions pushed themselves between the tables towards the birthday girl [old lady with leis up to her ears]. Mike was smashing Leif's head against his chest to protect his ears, and Leif was trying to punch him in the face to get him off. My mom gave Gavin a dollar to stuff into the lion's mouth. It was great. Best wontons ever!