O Captain, My Captain

When I started dating Jeff about 11 years ago, give or take a few months, he was a ROTC cadet. Mind you, I had no idea what that meant. Shortly thereafter he was commissioned, which made him a Lieutenant (of the lesser degree, since this rank is broken into second and first) and I had no idea what that meant, except that he was getting a regular paycheck and we thought we were rich.


Time passed, as it has a tendency to do, and he became Captain Rock. Has a nice ring, don't you think? It is entirely possible that being a Captain in the Air Force is the best time of your life (or the wife's life, I guess). There is the experience that precludes you from the more inane duties but the youth which prevents the responsibilities from being too great. You are a captain for kind of a long time. And in Jeff's case, you are a good captain and a nice guy and then your neighbors start calling you The Captain, so then so does your wife.

So it is with a tender heart that I have to announce that as of 11:30 CST today, the captain ride is over. The Air Force will have its newest (and dare I say best - he is my husband after all) major. So, dear husband, congratulations and thanks for the pay raise.

P.S. He will always be The Captain, it just has a better ring to it :)

Going Up

Well, we're in Virginia now, attempting to close on a house. I might have mentioned this. Let's just say it's been....interesting. The walk-through went fairly well, just a few things the sellers neglected to do but all minor and the floors look good (whew!). And then there were all the things I didn't notice when we wrote the offer on this place - just how very ugly the light fixtures are, how the living room and family room have no overhead lighting, how tackytackytacky the fan is in Wyatt's room. You know, those kinds of things. Those things are a little overwhelming to me only because they are about to be my responsibility. So if you come see us in the next few years, please know that we're aware of these issues (and many more) and they are not indicative of our taste.

The painter also met us there and I walked him through exactly what I want done. Then his price and the time needed went up. So that was fun, but still probably the route we'll take. We've continued looking at refrigerators and discovered that, in fact, we might have to take a hammer to the small, useless cabinets above the fridge opening if one is to actually be installed in our kitchen. It turns out I'm kind of in the mood to destroy something, so that ought to work out.

Why so grumpy, you ask? Well, I give you exhibit A: the gas company. Specifically, we will receive service through Virginia Gas (makes sense, right?) so that's who I called to set up our service. Please imagine my surprise when I found myself talking to Ganesh who is conveniently located at a call center in India. Yes, you read right, a man in India is working to hook up my utilities in Virginia. The ways of the world confound me sometimes. Please also imagine my surprise when Ganesh reported to me that my credit score indicates I need to pay a deposit. My poor parents, they witnessed the whole thing. I told Ganesh he must be mistaken, that I know my credit score and they, quite frankly, don't get a whole lot better and so no, Ganesh, I will not be paying your three hundred and sixty dollar deposit! He basically says, "yes you will". So I do what any self-respecting, good-credit-earning girl would do and ask for a supervisor. He tells me he'll complete my order and then "send my call to the escalation desk". That's right everyone, I've been escalated.

So then I got to have the same conversation with Sharon. Sharon does not work in India, but she does work in Atlanta. That's right! Virginia Gas is located in both India and Atlanta, but not in Virginia - mind-boggling, don't you think? Sharon gives me the same load o'bull about my credit and how I need to pay $360, so I ask her what someone with bad credit would have to pay - a thousand? She didn't really understand my humor so much, but I think Mom & Dad were amused. There's seemingly no way around this, so I guess they're going to go ahead and rake us over the coals for the first few bills. If we pay everything on time for a year, they'll be kind enough to return our stolen funds.

Exhibit B: Tonight while we were at Home Depot pricing refrigerators, our realtor called (I have failed to tell you how great we think she is - Mary is a fantastic realtor!) and had to deliver the unfortunate news that the sellers are, from all appearances, crazy and possibly broke. As in, they've informed the listing agent - 16 hours prior to closing - that they're short by $4000. Something about the mom being distraught because the daughter ran away today and the dad is in France. I feel for her personal drama (and if you know them, please wish them my best) but now their drama is my drama and lo! I don't need the drama, just the house please!

Needless to say, the painter will not be starting until some things are resolved, no major appliances have been purchased and we went to Walgreens for a refill on my migraine medicine. Having fun yet? No pictures, either. Now I just need everyone to please pray, cross your fingers, bow east, chant or whatever else you do, that this sale goes through tomorrow so I can begin ridding that house of all its brass. Thank you for your support.

P.S. If anyone has a newer model refrigerator that they love, could you please leave me a note about it in the comments? Thanks!

Games

Quick, what's this?

That's right! It's Wyatt on his car phone. He likes to pretend he's on the phone and sadly, we don't have a play phone (well, we do, but it's shaped like a lion, at his grandparents' house and not very phone-like) so he's left to his own devices. Usually that means picking up whatever's closest but in a pinch, he'll just put his hand to his ear.

Next question: using this photo, name the three items Wyatt had for dinner tonight.

If you guessed ravioli with marinara, broccoli and vanilla yogurt, you win! I've been making a concerted effort to let him self-feed, but it's an internal struggle every time since I know this is what awaits on the other side. He loves it though, and I assume he'll someday get a little more accurate with the spoon. Probably not until after he decides if he's a righty or a lefty and that seems to be very up in the air right now. Maybe by the time he's in kindergarten?

Shirking My Duties

Hello, friends. Long time, no talk - sorry about that. We've been really busy. Okay, I'm lying; we've been having fun, doing our normal things, visiting friends in farflung locales, downloading ark-building plans and I've become practically professional at avoiding cleaning. Sounds pretty enjoyable, doesn't it? And I'd like to give a special shout-out to Jody, the only one who noticed I was missing. It's nice to feel needed. I jest! Anyway.

To start, Wyatt has new words that are, as always, funny to me. Current faves: ah-ah-ga (octagon), oh-oh-vo (oval), ro-ro (macaroni), yo-yo (yogurt) and ammm (ham). I notice more and more sounds coming out of his mouth - very round-sounding l's, t's at the end of a word - and think that the next few months (years?) should be entertaining. Have I ever mentioned how fun I think my child is? Oh, yes, perhaps I have.

Wyatt and I took our first roadtrip together this week (his first ever, of course) and it was a big time. Big, I tell you. We went all the way to Jacksonville (! pretty farflung, don't you think?) to visit Leslie and Michael and we had a great time. They have a very fun house for kids (translation: a dedicated playroom stocked with pretty much every toy we don't own) and live in a neighborhood with great playgrounds and parks. We just hung out and enjoyed the change of scenery. Wyatt was a pretty good rider; he slept for two hours each way (of a 4-5 hour trip) and then was fairly content to listen to his music, eat o's, talk about trucks on the highway, color (with Aquadoodles only, lest you think I'm a complete idiot), and fling his things all over the backseat and then demand that I retreive them. It actually gave me great hope for our moving jaunt in a few weeks and also provided an opportunity for me to come up with some strategic counter-maneuvers. If I had managed to take any pictures, I would do a neat then & now comparison for you with the "then" being a picture of Leslie and I on top of Mt. Fuji three years ago, the "after" being one of us at the summit of the playroom stairs. My, how the times do change!

We drove home in rain, solid downpour, can't see 50 feet in front of you rain, and I'm glad we left Jacksonville when we did. You know, so that we weren't driving during the tornadoes and flash-floods. See? Always something to be thankful for. This brings up a couple of tangents: first, the authorities here need to learn a little something about watches v. warnings. For instance, when the sirens start blaring and they break into our television programming to tell us "a tornado was spotted in the Tyndall vicinity and all personnel need to take cover immediately," that translates to this Kansas girl as "grab your kid, your phone and your purse and head for the bathtub." Makes sense, right? But then they just went back to normal programming, no weather from local stations, no further information. Let me just tell you that Wyatt doesn't think it's very fun to play in a dry bathtub for more than, oh, three minutes. So we finally climbed out and I was frantically changing channels trying to find a radar picture. When I finally did, I learned that the tornado was about 20 miles west and wasn't threatening the base. So it seems the bathtub was unnecessary, but then so was their stupid command post message. And also, after they issue a warning like this, they probably shouldn't wait another 45 minutes to issue the all-clear. I believe, Mr. Tyndall Command Post Man, that this is what they refer to as "crying wolf." Please refrain, lest we really need to pay attention to you next time.

And the second tangent (whew, that first one was loooonnnng!): it greatly amuses me how the news stations can dramatize anything. Our days of solid rain suddenly became "The (dun, dun, dun) February Floods" by the 10:00 news. Yes, it was a lot of rain. Yes, there was flooding. But honestly, if the rain was that big of a deal, don't you think they should have had a weather guy on to tell us what the heck was going on while it was happening? Yeah, me too. Moving on.

The cleaning hiatus: not a complete hiatus, just a general disdain for this place. You're right, the disdain is not new. More accurately, it's a renewed level of disdain. The maids came in last weekend while we were gone and again this week while we were out (Jeff was gone, too) and I kid you not, they leave it dirtier than they find it. I have a feeling they've been using the same nasty string mop since the turn of the century and just come push nasty dirt water all over our floor. How do I know? Because our feet turn black within an hour of being home. Dear Maids: our do not disturb sign hanging outside isn't a joke. Also? Enough with the dirtying of my space. Also? If you're going to come on in, the least you could do is scrub the bathtub because that's quite possibly my least favorite project. Sincerely, Stephanie.

We are now t-minus 6 days from closing on our very first house. The floors have been installed (count yourself lucky if you've dodged my tirades on this subject), the painter is lined up (we came to our senses and decided that hey! wouldn't it be nice just to pay someone to do that?) and our loan is finalized. I'm sure that other issues will crop up (like the harsh reality of the sad state of all three bathrooms), but we are seriously excited about finally having our very own place! Again, we're leaning heavily on our parents for assistance. Jeff's will be manning Wyatt while I'm gone and he's working (no leave allowed - if the closing gets screwed up it's all on me - great!) and mine are making the trip with me to help get house projects rolling and then will be hanging out here for another little bit. So, while we'll be having big fun, the blog will probably slide to the back burner. See? I shirk well.

Help Me Understand

Can someone please explain to me why our Senate is investigating major league doping? I just don't get it. So they cheated - who cares? Last I checked, they didn't compromise national security, they don't get paid with tax dollars, there's nothing in the Constitution that says we can't take performance-enhancing drugs. Yes, it's disappointing to see that "America's pastime" is riddled with untruth, but isn't it more disappointing to think about how our senators are spending their time and our money?

I sincerely believe there HAVE to be more effective uses of our government employees' time. Like, I don't know, figuring out how to keep drugs out of the hands of kids or how to pay teachers more or taking care of our troops or taking care of our environment or insert pet cause here because I'm guessing no one's losing sleep over the doping besides the people directly involved. And they don't actually seem to care.

I vote we move on. You?

P.S. If there's a larger, more relevant, issue here that I'm missing, seriously please let me know. I might just be painfully ignorant (and now I'll have to admit it in this public forum. Horrors!) All you have to do is click on "comments" below and fill me in on the details. Thanks.

It Would Seem I Cannot Multi-task

or
Why I Shouldn't EVER Turn My Back
or
He's My First, Can You Tell?
or
Picasso in our Midst
or
Thank You, Crayola
or
Arts & Crafts Time Needs More Direction

Have you figured it out yet?

I was on the phone with my Grandma yesterday, also chopping vegetables for dinner while chatting. Wyatt was playing; I could hear him and just *assumed* the noises were due to cars or balls or blocks or puzzle pieces or play food or books. He was entertaining himself, I was getting things accomplished, all was right with the world.

As soon as I hung up the phone, Wyatt was at my feet saying, "no no" which always indicates he's either getting ready to do something he shouldn't or he's just bringing to light his recent bad behavior. In this case, it was the latter since he had purple crayon in hand and had just scribbled on the floor. I got down at eye level, took the crayon (as he handed it to me; this is an interesting character trait and I'm curious to see if it lasts. It's the "I'm naughty so you should just go ahead and take the instrument of my devilishness" hand-off.) and told him we only color on paper and no coloring on the floor and started to take him toward his paper. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this:

which led to this:
and this:

So I did what any self-respecting blogging mom would do: I issued a time-out so I could take pictures and come up with a plan. Wyatt, who already knew he'd been NAUGHTY, accepted his time-out like a man. I'm happy to report he accepted his punishment equally well, which consisted of him helping me clean it up. Picture us, side by side with our wet dishcloths, scrubbing away the purple lines. I wish I had a picture of that!

My favorite part? I was scrubbing the floor (see last picture above) and Wyatt disappeared around the corner into the entry with his rag. I started to get after him with the whole, "no running away, you are going to finish helping mommy clean!" but as I leaned around the corner I realized he was still on task - I just hadn't noticed yet that his creative expression extended through the entry way and across the front door. Wow! He'd been a scribbling fool while I chatted.

Lessons learned:

1. Never leave the crayons unattended. Ever. Kind of like a child in a bathtub, there's never an okay time to turn your back on a toddler with access to crayons!

2. It is very important to always purchase the washable crayons, since these miraculously disappear with just a little water and elbow grease.

3. When we paint our house, we should make sure the paint is scrubbable, just in case!

4. I can do two things at once, but not three. Phone + watching Wyatt with crayons = okay; watching Wyatt with crayons + preparing dinner = okay; phone + preparing dinner = okay. Phone + Wyatt + crayons + prepping dinner = RED ALERT!

5. I'm so glad I documented the artistry; Jeff couldn't comprehend it until I showed him the photos. This way he had the joy of seeing what 22 lbs. of reckless abandon can accomplish in ten minutes.

Our Weekend

We spend a lot of weekends at Jeff's parents' house. It's great to be so close to family, so we're trying to take advantage of it as much as we can, but it's really Wyatt who loves it the most. First of all, they give him gifts. This weekend, it was his early Valentine's presents which included some tools. Every toddler needs a faux cordless drill. FYI: Jeff doesn't even have a cordless drill!


Secondly, they maintain a fleet of children's toys that we don't have at our house. He loves the big wheel...


...and the freedom it allows.


And also? They have sprinklers.

It's not all fun and games, though. Learning to wash the car is very important. First you watch,


then you participate.


For those of you who are wondering, Wyatt is yea-high to a truck bumper. This lesson was brough to you by the letter "o", his favorite vowel.

This actually occurred back in our own digs, but check it out - Wyatt got his first skinned knee on Sunday. That's the official transition from baby to little boy, right? I wasn't present when it happened, but his dad reports there were no tears. That's my kid! (right knee, partially obscured by shadow. And yes, I did take a close-up picture but decided you probably didn't need to see it. You're welcome.)

Oh, So That's the Deal

Remember last week when I said that I hadn't been taking pictures? It turns out that's not entirely true. It would seem I just hadn't gotten them off the camera. I have a mind like a steel trap, don't you think?

Presenting...the bathtub model:

demure

catalog happy face

all-American cutie

Please Tell Me You're Watching!

Ellen is devoting her whole show to funny Japanisms today. It's like old-home week meets a killer trip to 100Y. I knew I liked Ellen's sense of humor! The irony, of course, is that Ellen isn't broadcast on AFN (unless there's been an upgrade in the new year; that's entirely possible since there's a bagel shop and YoBaby yogurt there now), so all my Oki friends are missing the amusement entirely.

Have I mentioned that I think I will always miss Okinawa?

Oh. Right. Moving on....I swear.

P.S. Wyatt is sleeping (yay!), just in case you were thinking that he shouldn't be watching Ellen...

Meet Lulu

She's the rescue spider. Her official description is probably something more along the lines of "she'll teach your kid the ABC's" and that's really all we've ever expected of her. See, Lulu was a gift from our friends (the 'other' Jeff & Stephanie) at my baby shower. They tell us that their son just might have learned the alphabet from her, so we've always had Lulu in the toy basket with all the other toys. For whatever reason, Wyatt's expressed more interest in her lately so I hung her on his crib yesterday.

All I can say is, all hail Lulu! Why, you ask? Well, because three times in the last two nights (and let's face it, tonight's not over) Wyatt has awakened with his new-standard, all-out bawling and then all of a sudden we hear, "let's sing the alphabet song! a b c d..." and then he goes back to sleep. Our other favorite thing about Lulu? Hearing her over the monitor singing, "I'm spinning a letter what will it be? Z!" and then hearing Wyatt say, "o? o?" then he hits her again. The poor kid just wants the o, Lulu! No complaints, though, since Lulu is now handling the night shift and Wyatt's learning 24/7. So here's a little something I never thought I'd say: that's one awesome spider!

Threshold

I was at the playground yesterday, unloading Wyatt from his stroller, when two teenage girls dropped off two teenage boys at the skateboarding park. As soon as the boys got out, the girls cranked the music and peeled out. My first thought: someone should get after them because that's dangerous and there are kids (like mine) nearby! My next thought, a millisecond later: oh, I remember that feeling! It was a gorgeous day here yesterday, their windows were down, they felt cool and you could just feel it radiating from their little SUV. And for a second I just stood there, remembering my high school days that felt slightly rebellious (yet really weren't. No seriously, Mom & Dad, they weren't.) and like you had your whole life waiting for you, just beyond the next curve. The idea of independence was forefront and the process of becoming yourself was all-consuming.

And then I took stock: this is not who I thought I would be, a lifetime later (becaue literally, we are discussing half a lifetime ago for me), yet it is. It so totally is. While I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up (if I grow up), I am a mom and a wife and I'm - most days - blissfully aware of how great I have it. I'm happy, just like I always intended to be. And I've surprised my sixteen-year-old self with the things I've done (hello, marathons?), the places life has taken me (uh, never thought I'd go to Asia, let alone live there and fall in love with it) and the person I am turning into (slightly OCD with my house - trust me when I tell you that former me would not recognize that quality in current me!) Part of me wanted to run after those girls and tell them to have so much fun, but mostly I wanted to tell them to always wear their seatbelts, to be so careful and to be mindful of others. It's as though I'm perched between youth and truly being an adult - I've been wondering when I'd become one!

So in fifteen years, when Wyatt's that kid in a car feeling cool, I hope I can still remember then sensation of being a high school kid on the cusp of life. Then again, I hope I can forget it enough to make sure he doesn't make some young mom worry about her baby at a playground.

Well.

According to a recent comment, I'm falling behind in the picture posting category. I don't disagree (though didn't realize it'd been a month and that could be slightly exaggerated) and have noticed that I haven't even been taking as many pictures lately. I kind of wonder why, but then I think maybe it's because we don't play in our yard EVER and I try to keep the cameras put away since we're so overstuffed in this house. Have I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to our new digs? Not much longer now... And I secondarily blame Wyatt himself for the photo drought - he's too fast a target and gets into too much stuff while I'm looking through the lens!

But as fate would have it, I took some pictures this morning. So here's sweet Wyatt, in his new hand-me-down jammies and Daddy's boots, giving you his best "I'll smile really big for your picture" expression.

The Way I See It

If fate gives you green wall-to-wall carpet, you should host a Superbowl party and make the best of it!

P.S. I think it was more fun than it appears in this picture, what with all the food, drinks and Wyatt acting like a crazy man.