Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Slow Updates

There hasn’t been much to blog about lately, but I’ve been deleting blogs if they haven’t been updated, so I guess I should update mine…

Let’s see.  Of course the big news is that I am now parenting a teen and a toddler.  I have not had a whole lot of teenager trouble yet.  Every day, we find Penny more and more fun and enjoyable.  She has blossomed in our home and her personality is shining through more and more.

I turned 35 yesterday.  I felt like I should sit down and think about what I’d like to accomplish this coming year, but nothing comes to mind.  Either I have no goals or I have no life or I have no vision.  I’m not sure.  Most of my focus these days is on getting through the day I am living. 

Leah is in a very challenging phase.  She wants to be the total center of attention, she is teething (molar number 3 popped through the other day), and she does not yet know how to entertain herself for so much as 2 minutes.  All the structure and order I had pre-elbow is out the window.  We had a nice routine going.  Now, however, chaos reigns.  I’m too tired to fight it.  As soon as we get Penny off to school in 2 weeks, I’ll be back in charge and I will hopefully get back into some sort of routine.  Next Monday there is an open house at a place called Toddlin’ Time here in Old Town, and I am going with my neighbor.  We are both planning to enroll our kids in the once weekly classes, providing it looks like something they will enjoy.  I think Leah will enjoy having an hour of exercise and music and fun time with Mom, and it will get her used to being around other kids in a structured environment.  This time next year, I plan to have her preparing for part time day care/pre-school type of a thing, two days per week.  Everyone will take her once she is 2 1/2, and I think it’s important that she go and socialize and learn, especially in the absence of siblings.  She is pretty easy going, but she is still fairly young, so maybe she’ll be a little more Leah-centric and mean about it in a few months.  I hope not.  All she is right now is fun and funny.  Or at least, that’s my opinion of her as her mother!

I haven’t done much reading lately.  I need to read Molokai and soon, but I can’t really get into it.  It’s already too heart wrenching and I’m only to the part where Rachel’s sores are developing.  The idea of a little girl being ripped from her family is killing me, as is the slow build up of the story.

So that’s about it.  I’ll update more later as I think of things to talk about! :-)  I want to keep it interesting!

Saturday, August 07, 2010

The People of Wal-Mart

Yesterday, I ventured out to Wal-Mart for a little bit.  I seem to be spending a lot of time over there because it is close to the house, so I feel safe driving there, it is big, and there are lots of things that Leah likes to look at there (especially the fish).

We were checking out so we could bring home dinner to The General, and I was trying to keep Leah entertained, as she was attempting to stand up in the cart and was squealing.  The lady ahead of me had loaded her stuff onto the belt and her two sons were bagging on the other end.  She was kind of staring at me, but frankly between the brace and the daughter-of-a-different-color, I’ve gotten used to people staring at me and I tend to ignore it.  But this lady decided to talk to me.

“What’s that thing on your arm?” she asked.  Now, I have had a bunch of kids ask me this at the play park, but not too many adults.  So I explained that I had dislocated my elbow and that the brace was to keep my elbow from coming back apart.  She said that she had suffered a serious elbow injury several years ago and she knew what a pain in the butt it was to deal with.  And then she said, “So, we are going to help you out.”

I really didn’t know what she meant exactly, but she started by saying that she would put our goodies up on the belt.  I thanked her profusely.  Once she had everything up on the belt, she asked how I was managing, my prognosis, and how long I’d have to wear the brace.  I told her I was doing better than expected and hoped to have the brace off a month early, but that it was still slow going.

She responded by telling her son to bag our stuff and make sure it got in the cart.  Then she said to me, “Make sure you pay this forward someday when you have two arms.”  So I assured her I would, and then she said, “Ok, my son will make sure you get your car loaded up safely.”

She left with her other son, and the one who was helping did indeed bag and put everything in the cart and get us out to the car. 

I have no idea who the heck this woman was, her name, her son’s name, nothing, but I will never forget her.  It was one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me.