summertime

The sun is out! Today, with a clean and lovely house, we put on Jack Johnson and cruised down to the beach. Watched Gavin throw himself into the waves, and Leif dig his fists into the sand for the first time. I stood in the sand while the boys swam, drawing letters with my toes and watching the water carry them away. Rinsed and loading into the car, a local woman from the other side gave us ice cream and stroked Leif's fat sand-smeared cheeks. Drove home under the mango trees. Our neighbor smoked himself stupid and played a Beatles disc we burned for him, waving as we walked by his door. I got into the tub with the baby and Mike washed my back with the Man-Sponge (a Japanese sponge he got for Christmas that only said "MAN" on the package). In a fresh dress, I chopped lemongrass and shallots for a steak marinade, mixed drinks for the big people, and the evening glows golden around us. It feels like the lake, it feels like college and love and contentment. Except for Sookie yowling for boy cats out the window. Gavin says, "Sookie is a teenager now! When I get hormones, I'll be going RROAW RROAW RRAOW too, and you'll have to lock me in my bedroom." Sure.


edited to add: oh yeah, and the beer production has been delayed because the beer barrel thing blew up and spewed beer all over the bathroom. Smelled good, though.

Boys on the beach:






the bay:

On the plus side

Easter day was sunny and fine. We prepared a great feast, everyone looked good in their new Easter duds, and Leif crawled for the first time. Our cats were excited to see us, and their caretakers were excited by the box of Krispy Kremes we bribed them with.

Developmental milestones: besides crawling, Leif can pick up cheerios with two fingers, turn pages in a book, hold out his arms to be picked up, yell to get our attention, say "dadada" when Mike is in the room, and attempt escape when you try to wipe his face or butt. He's a genius! Sookie figured out how to catch her own tail and pull herself over and over in somersaults. Need to catch on video, will be world-famous lolcat owner.

foot washing day

Mike plopped Leif down beside me on the floor and took off with the kiddo for school this morning. Leif piled toys on the cat, then climbed onto my lap to paw at my shirt, so I hefted him up, tucked him to my bosom, paused to pull a chunk of carpet out of his mouth when he gagged, and as he settled in to nursing I thought to myself, well, this is a nice time to organize the events of the weekend. What a mess that was.


Saturday: Anticipating an easy weekend of baby-minding, reading, and tidying, I put Leif down on the floor in the kitchen while I swept around him and did some dishes. His stroller sits near the screen door by the stove, ready to serve as an observation/containment perch for the baby while we're cooking, so before long he scooted over to it and pulled it closer. A moment later he began cackling with laughter, then paused, then laughed again. I looked over and at first was charmed; Sookie had climbed into the basket and was peeking out at him. Then I watched as he patted the basket, Sookie shot out and wrapped her front legs around his head and attacked his face, then she sucked herself back into the basket and he broke into hysterical laughter, patting the basket for more. The child who acts like we're pulling his arms off when we change his onesie thinks it's hilarious to be mauled by a cat. Figures.

We slept together in the middle of the bed, guarded by cats. I didn't dream, slipping off to my nightly mental mantra of "no thinking at night, no thinking at night". In the darkness the ghosts get me - those that were and those that are coming.

On Sunday I let the baby and cat pull each other around the floor and made dough for brioche to welcome home the boys. At 3pm I received a phone call from the airport, where Mike and Gavin were stranded after just missing their flight home, having been delayed after a failed attempt to fix my mother's washing machine (the best thing that can be said about this being that nobody's head was crushed - Mike's presence evidently caused the shower to break, too, so he was off to a bad start already). I put the brioche in the fridge and made brownies instead, gave Leif a bath, tucked him in bed, and hemmed my new dress in front of the television. Then came the second bad phone call of the day: "Um, I'm at the car, and..." "Oh no, don't tell me you forgot your keys." "I forgot my keys." And still a 2-hour drive from home. He rented a car.

So on Monday I called in to work, woke up all the neighbors trying to deactivate the alarm on the shiny white rented Malibu, and headed to town to get the car with my spare key. Driving the Malibu was like driving a spacecraft.

Despite the beating on my wallet, I counted the trip to town and back as a success. I managed to buy Easter clothes for everyone, food for everyone, a Safeway deli chicken sandwich for myself, and still made it home in time to pick Gavin up from school - but Mike was not yet finished messing up the weekend. As I lugged groceries into the kitchen he said, "The power cord on the laptop is broken and I accidentally ran it dead in the airport watching a movie while waiting for the plane and all my files for work are on it and WHAT SHOULD I DO?!" I told him what he should do; I put a beer in his hand, made bbq ribs for dinner, then opened up a tub of Ben & Jerrys. We chucked the kids in bed and sat in front of Heroes, and suddenly the power cord flickered to life long enough to siphon all his work files off the laptop. "You're so smart," he said. Yes I am.

The rest of the week has been okay so far. Yesterday Leif horked up a chunk of rug, a hairball, and a dead cockroach (not at the same time), Gavin has had lightsaber duels with his friend from school, Sookie has been sleeping across my neck again after a few weeks of usurping Po's resting nook, and work has been eventful.
 

Time for Easter.