Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Rock Baby in a Tube Top

I can't quite figure out what it is that's keeping me feeling so busy and then, last night as I was putting Natalie to bed, listening to the ever-present verbal stream of consciousness coming from her lips it occurred to me: I'm just trying to keep up. I'm trying to keep up with getting our bearings in a new town, trying to get a house to feel like our home, trying to keep my kids happy, trying to figure out the rhythm of our commissary so I stop finding myself there on busy days, trying to figure out how to politely send neighbor kids home at dinner time (they just keep showing up to play, which is awesome but also challenging at the must get-dinner-going time of day), etc. You get the picture. Mostly I'm trying to keep pace with two really energetic small people.

The only time Natalie's not talking these days is when she's sleeping. I'm not kidding. People who ride in our car remark on her constant chatter, strangers in stores remark on it and visitors get to experience it every waking moment. Most of her observations are awesome, as two-year olds tend to be (only she would interrupt me right now to tell you, "I two and a half. Silly mommy!") and sometimes we can't figure out what on Earth she's talking about. There's a strong tendency to run events together in her mind - things that happened a year ago might be mixed in with events from last month and today. It requires a fair amount of mental acuity to keep track of it and just as soon as I think I can tune it out, she calls me out for not listening. She loves to sing Rockabye Baby, but tonight I started laughing because she was saying "rock baby in a tube top" instead. She's also very busy parenting a herd of baby dolls and begging me to find her a playdate.

The only time Wyatt's not building increasingly intricate trio block airplanes is when he's building legos instead, or creating a new air force base with twenty of his favorite airplanes somewhere in the house. The ottoman, the hearth, the tables in the living room, his train table in his room, the bar, the table in Natalie's room - they're all fair game for remote bases. Fort-building is a really popular activity with both kids, though I'm often not a fan. I get the allure of forts, but I also find a dismantled couch in my family room with two small people who fight about cleaning it up to be a little frustrating. If he's remotely bored with what's happening inside our house, he starts asking (every thirty seconds) if we can please go door to door to find him a playdate. Lots of little kids in striking distance make this seem very possible.

We've been happily busy for the last month. Jeff's parents came for an overnight to return Millie, who they generously kept for us while we moved/travelled/etc. My parents were here for a week, went on a cruise for six days and are back for another visit before they head back to Kansas tomorrow. We've been to one neighborhood party, I've been to one OSC function, Wyatt's been to a birthday party which wasn't a drop-off, though we sure thought it was. I'm learning that a lot of stores are closed on Sundays and some retail establishments are also closed on Mondays. I miss Target, but not a day goes by that we're not grateful Jeff's commute is all of 15 minutes instead of the hour it would have been if we'd chosen to live in Columbia.

So there it is, life in a nuthouse nutshell.


1 comment:

The Thomas Crew said...

I am so glad you are getting settled in! Enjoy it! That IS the FUN part, right?

I will love laughing at your Carolina experiences on here. This post made me smile. So now you know about the blue laws. Oh, it's been a long time since we've lived in the south! Just take things with a grain of salt and know you have friends that understand! Jeff and Wyatt will be good ol' boys and you and Natalie will be Palmetto princesses in no time. :)