After a 10-minute, intricate monologue about some damn thing that probably had to do with machines and explosions, he said, “Mom, I’m really creative.”
“Yes, son, you really are. You have creativity coming out your ears.”
“And out my penis and out my butt!”

***

5 a.m.
“Dad! DAD!”
“Hmm? What?”
“Dad! Can we get up now?”
“Lucas, it’s still dark. It’s too early to get up.”
“Dad! It’s not early. It’s dawn!” 

***

“Goodnight. I love you.”
(silence for 3 minutes, then piercing screams)
“MOOOOOOMMMY! MOMMY! IT HURTS!”
“What hurts?” I ask, feeling angry.
“My penis! I was scratching my penis and it’s stuck in my zipper!”
“Oh God!” I ran into his room and slowly and carefully extracted his foreskin from his sleeper’s zipper, amid his whimpers. Fortunately, there was no blood and no lasting damage.

It is high drama around here. Never a dull moment, not even at 5 a.m.

Yesterday I had a harrowing and completely stupid adventure. It was just the dumbest, most frustrating thing I’ve experienced in a while: Asher and I went shopping at Trader Joes. When we left the store, he was getting tired and hungry. After unlocking my car, loading my groceries, and nursing the baby in the driver’s seat, I discovered that I’d misplaced my keys. I spent over an hour in the TJ parking lot looking for my fucking keys–in the car, in the cart, under the baby, in the grocery bags, under the seats, on the dash, on top of the car roof, under the car, in the glovebox, under Lucas’s carseat, under Asher’s carseat, in the bushes next to the car, and on and on.

He was with me and the car was open but we coudn’t drive home! I spent so much time searching and searching and searching for them. Finally, I had to call Ian to have him rescue us. Another friend witnessed my idiot plight. It was embarrasing and ridiculous and I cried my eyes out. Asher just got more and more tired, but fortunately he didn’t throw a hissy fit.

Last night, after Ian came home from work, he and Lucas took a flashlight outside and found my keys easily in my car. The were wedged just out of sight under a storage-box-thingy on the passenger’s side. They must have fallen down while Asher was nursing. 

In keeping with long-established tradition, we will be hosting our 13th Annual Christmas Party on December 25th starting at 7 p.m. Please bring your joyous, talented, sexy selves to our home to help us celebrate the Solstice/Christmas holiday and our many blessings. Come and mingle with friends and loved ones—after the blood-family obligations are done. This is an informal occasion where we can let our hair down and relax at the near-end of a busy, busy year, so feel free to dress however you like. You are welcome to exchange gifts at this party, but please note, gift giving is not required and will certainly be low-key this year. Food and beverages will be provided, but if you have a special hankering, you might want to bring that item along. Donations of edibles and potables will be welcome.

We hope to fill our home to the brim again with warmth, good cheer, and our lovely, amazing, glorious friends.

Love,
The Wilsons

I already mentioned that Asher’s crawling. He’s slowly getting the motions down. I can see his little muscles memorizing the moves, his frame coordinating the whole series together. He goes only very slowly forward now with great deliberation. But it won’t be long before he’ll be across the room in a jiffy.

Asher’s other recent firsts include his first french fry at a Bodega Bay roadside restaurant shack that served wicked good fish and chips and a decent crab cake sandwich. Ian looked at me like I’d gone off the deep end when I handed the baby a fry. Thing is, he mushed and munched it all up even though he’s only got one tooth. (Plus, giving him something to hold in his hands and eat keeps him from grabbing at us and our food—somewhat.)

Asher’s first trip to the beach (obviously) occured on Wednesday of last week. By Sunday, he was a pro sand-eater and digger. Mmmm… pebbles crunch only if you have teeth.

Today I took him for his 9-month checkup. We were behind schedule on some vaccinations, so poor Asher had to get three injections to catch up. I also had the nurse give him a flu shot, as waging war with a flu virus when you’re young and have tiny sinuses, eustachian tubes, etc. is rather difficult. Risk for dehydration is significant when you’re small. They also pricked his poor finger to test his hemoglobin. Babies use up the store of iron they have when they’re born by the time they’re 6 months old, and often at 6 or 9 months become anemic if they aren’t getting enough iron from food (mama milk doesn’t contain iron). The good news is that his iron level is healthy!

My bruiser baby is now 24 pounds, 2 oz (90% percentile in weight) and 28.5 inches long/tall (about average). He seems big all over to me. Lucas was relatively petite in comparison. Anyway, Dr. Felix says that he’s doing great (I know) and is developmentally right on target (I know) and seems healthy and happy (I know). So good news all around.

Since the appointment, he’s been sleeping a lot and seems cranky. I’m sure he feels lousy from the shots. I hate watching him hurting from the vaccinations, but I’m grateful that such things exist to help mitigate his changes of contracting some terrible and/or deadly disease.

This is a wee message to say we love you and miss you and dearly hope that you’re having a lovely birthday! It’s been a tough few years for you and we are awed by your resilience and determiniation and courage. Thanks for being the magical dynamo that you are! Sending you warm cozies and love!

Thank you for gracing my vacation with only one, single carsickness barf and not a double, triple, or quadruple bout with the flu/crud/fever/cough/stay-in-bed-and-minister-to-small-miserable-people-miss-it-all ER disaster that so frequently accompanies any longed-for and long-awaited event of significance in my life.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

I’m so grateful.

We are home from our wonderful beach vacation at Bodega Bay! We had a terrific time, shot a gazillion pictures, ate good food, played on the beach, flew kites, discovered saltwater taffy, drove along the Sonoma coast, shopped in Occidental, played games, enjoyed a marvelously stylish vacation house, ate yummy food, visited galleries, slept well sometimes, read books, called family members on Thanksgiving, shared the mazillion-kabillion things we are grateful for, kissed, hugged, dug, took groovy baths and showers, walked through small towns, watched sunsets, watched sunrises from bed, went to bed early, gazed at the sea, climbed trails, visited Merkel family vacation sites, reminisced, picnicked, drank beer and juice, explored, ran, crawled, didn’t work, and did another hundred things in our 5 days off. 

While we were gone, we missed calling/seeing friends on their birthdays and visiting family on Thanksgiving. Dear Joyce and Dear Lisa, we thought about you on your birthdays, wished you well, and neglected to call. I hope that your birthdays were fantabulous, just like you ultra, uberbrilliant, inspiring, juicy, wild women deserve. You have our love and friendship and respect always. 

And now, the pizza is on its way and we are glad to be home, safe and sound … and happy.

He CRAWLED today. 

Today is my day for taking care of kids and cleaning. (I try not to indulge in these activities very often.) Lucas is out of school this week for Thanksgiving. At the moment he has a school chum over playing, which is nice because it’s keeping him busy.  Asher is sleeping. So far, I’m having a good day because I’m not trying to work at the same time. A lot of my stress comes from trying to wear too many hats at one time.

Tonight and tomorrow I have to work (editing the last chapter of our med term book), but then we Wilsons are heading out of town on Wednesday morning. We have rented a house in Bodega Bay and will be there Wednesday through Sunday. I’m so excited about having a proper vacation! (http://www.sonomacoast.com/rental_homes/detail/?q=75)  If I manage things properly, I won’t have to work while we’re away, or at most, I’ll have to write an article that’s due and another little project. It’s nice to have a break!!

This past Saturday we had a Thanksgiving dinner at my MIL’s house—with most of the step relations from Merced. I kind of got suckered into it. I thought she was inviting the four of us over for dinner, and given that we are going to be out of town over the holiday, I said, “Sure. No problem. Sounds great.” Then she told me that the six people from Merced would also be there. Well, it was an OK time, even though my FIL started discussing guns and his teenage life of crime in Tulsa, Oaklahoma, at the dinner table. I don’t like Lucas to hear his grandpa glorifying stuff like that.

Soon, we’ll be playing on the beach, flying kites, and relaxing in someone else’s house. 

Daily photo: November Lilies

Daylilies in my front yard.