The Dive From Clausen's Pier

Okay, a while back I promised some bookish posts and I’m finally going to deliver. The book that I was alluding to was Ann Packer’s The Dive from Clausen’s Pier. While it will never make my list of favorite books it was well written and forced me to shirk my motherly duties in favor of reading.

When I said a while back that I found it tiresome I meant that it is tiring in the way that twenty-three year old female characters always seem to be. While Maureen Corrigan classifies this as a “female extreme-adventure tale” I would call it another tedious tale of daddy issues with too much butt sweat (trust me on this). To be fair, I tend to be overly critical of characters with daddy issues and the writers that create them since I have my share of baggage in that department.

Despite the subject matter I love Packer’s prose and thoroughly enjoyed the book. Packer made Carrie’s fascination with fabric positively infectious and it allowed for a much needed break from the heavy handed relationship drama. At times I felt as trapped and exhausted as the protagonist, but then again that’s sort of the point isn’t it?

No A/C Not Me...

That happens to be a line from one of the toddler's favorite books the aptly titled "I Stink" is about a garbage truck. I would say that title applies to any place that is hot and humid and contains a fair amount of dirty diapers.

We are trying to go without the A/C this summer. Last summer I was too pregnant to attempt it, but this year we are determined to use it as little as possible. We did agree that when the temperature inside the house goes over 90 degrees we will reconsider, but so far so good (she said as sweat drips down her back).

Of course, this beast of a computer is ridiculously loud when it gets hot and it seems to run even slower than the snail speed we have become accustomed to....

On the plus side:

The garden looks good (despite the seemingly endless string of distractions)
The pool is calling (though we haven't gone yet)
The husband's class is over (one semester in four weeks is too much)
The baby is scooting (backwards but he's getting somewhere)
We had to buy two new bookcases (garage sale season is the most wonderful time of the year)
The dear little 2 1/2 year old was read Sleeping Beauty a few weeks ago and her new favorite game is waking people with kisses. Other times we will her her little voice from another room calling "I'm sleeping come kiss me."

How can you beat that?

Just a little bit!

My little man is just fine. He does have some sort of middle ear issue that is (most likely) causing a mild hearing loss. We go back in a week to see the doctor to see if we can get that cleared up (it might be fluid) and to do another test.

More details to come!

It's like this...

No I haven't forgotten about my dear old computer, but I have been awfully busy lately. I've read a dozen books in the last two weeks and have been holding down the fort here at casa de Chicken Pox.

So here's the scoop. (I'll put up some book reviews later)

The little guy appears to be, at least partially, deaf. I realized it last Monday and have spent the last week making doctors appointments, scheduling tests, reading anything and everything that might help, and learning as much sign as possible. I figure if it turns out he isn't deaf I will have simply learned a few signs. I don't think we're wrong. We're pretty sure he has some serious hearing loss.

I feel pretty stupid for not having noticed it before now, but he's always been so... I don't know I guess maybe we sort of unknowingly compensated for the hearing loss. Eh, there's no point in dwelling on what could have been. I'm busy working on talking to my little man. Lord knows I like to talk (I actually thought he might have simply decided to tune me out because I really do talk a lot).

Anyhow, after a week of signing the little guy said (or rather signed) his first word today. He asked for milk. He is clearly a genius.

Anyhow, his test was scheduled for June 30th but I wasn't having any of that so we're going accross town on Friday and having it done at Carle. We want to know what we're dealing with so we know how to proceed.

I had planned on waiting until we know for sure, but I just needed to get that out.

Polka Dotted Children

Oh what fun. We have the chicken pox.

This is the way we wash our hands...

Potty training is nearing completion. We’re still using diapers for bedtime and pull-ups for our little excursions, but we haven’t had an accident in almost a week. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that’s really all there is to it.

We’re still sick. At this point I think we will always be sick. This cold won’t end and when the kids leave for college they will be taking it with them.

I just finished reading a well-written book. I can’t bring myself to say it was good, but it was well-written. Or perhaps, as Dorothy Parker might have said, it was well-worn. There was something so tiring about it. Eh, more on that later. Right now there are snotty little noses to wipe and dinner to make.

Not to worry I’ll wash my hands in between those activities.

The Great Outdoors

We spent the entire day outdoors yesterday and it was bliss. I finished planting one of the vegetable beds and my husband finished filling the other. We built raised beds (10’X4’) for our veggies and I’m really excited to try square foot gardening! Of course, it is really a variation on square foot gardening because I can never follow instructions…

Anyhow, after hours and hours of: digging, hammering, planting, wiping noses (the baby is still sick), buying flowers when I was supposed to be buying milk, running around the yard, playing in a playhouse, planting 2/3 of one of the flower beds, learning to ride a tricycle, nursing babies, pulling weeds, mixing in our beautiful new compost from the LRC in Urbana, trying to keep our little helper from un-seeding the garden, playing with the neighborhood kids, and just getting dirty…

We ended the day with: dirty hands, a trike-riding toddler, tired backs, lots of progress, very hungry adults, happy kids, and only one time-out all day long.

I cannot imagine a better spring day.

(Although the fresh air did him some good the baby is still sick so we are missing church and previously scheduled Mother's Day activities. Bummer.)