Happy birthday, dear boy!

Look out, we have a six year old in our house!

Aidan had a great birthday yesterday. Grandma W came to visit for a few days, and cards and gifts poured in from Grandma and Grandpa M, Aunt Tammie and Uncle Mike, Cousin Jill and Great Uncle Vernon, Geri and Fred, and Mr. and Mrs. Shamrock.

I let Aidan choose the menu for his birthday dinner: sauteed pork chops, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. We had a luscious chocolate ganache cake for dessert.


Happy birthday, dear boy!

Thankful

I called my friend Stephanie in the hospital this morning, to tell her that we are all thinking about her and, honestly, to make her laugh a bit. Her sister Jennifer had sent me her hospital room telephone number yesterday but I did not trust myself to call her until today. After an ordeal like hers, who needs a weepy friend on the other end of the telephone?

As I expected, she was in amazingly good spirits. Drugs, of course, have something to do with it, but as I always say, better living through pharmaceuticals! We talked very little about the accident. After all, I was not calling her to get any kind of eyewitness account or to make her dwell on the ordeal. We talked about her surgery, how she will now be the bane of airport security with a plate and matching screws in her leg, how long she will be in the hospital and how young her doctors all look.

We did, however, talk about how worse it likely would have been if she hadn't been driving a car with such strong safety features. She agrees with me that her Subaru Outback did a good job of protecting them, and they plan to replace that car with another Subaru.

We also talked about anger. Despite her outward good spirits and certainly her gratitude for what did not happen and the kindness they have experienced, Stephanie is angry...as I would be, and as I am. She is angry that this other driver chose to get behind the wheel while intoxicated and in a split second, change another family's life forever. I asked if she knew to what extent the woman would be prosecuted and at this time, she does not know. Unfortunately for the other driver, however, Stephanie has an uncle who is a former district court judge elsewhere in NC and is very well-connected in the NC legal world. He has already started actions to make sure that this woman is prosecuted to the fullest extent that is possible.

Go get 'er.

Speechless

I received an email message this morning from my friend Stephanie in NC that still has me shaking. Stephanie gave birth to new baby boy Will on 7 March and is out on maternity leave. She and husband Brian are also the parents of Turner, age 5.

Last Thursday, Steph was driving with the boys and their two dogs. They were on their way home from picking Turner up from school when they were hit head-on by a drunk driver. The baby, who was in his car seat behind Stephanie, was not injured and Turner, who was in his car seat behind the front passenger seat, suffered a broken collarbone and cuts on his forehead. Steph has a broken leg that will be surgically pinned later today; she will not be able to put any weight on the leg for 10-12 weeks and faces considerable physical therapy.

Sadly, one of the dogs suffered a broken back and had to be euthanized. As Steph said, there were some very kind good Samaritans with the dog and while it doesn't take away all their pain, she was glad that he was not alone.

The Subaru she was driving was destroyed, but it certainly protected them from suffering additional injuries.

The state trooper who responded to the accident spoke to Steph later and she said that he was very angry and shook up because of Will and Turner being involved. The woman was arrested for driving while impaired - she blew a .14 in the breathalyzer.

Stephanie's words: "Everyone, please take care of yourselves and give your loved ones and pets big hugs."

Oops

Yesterday after tutoring, I went to A's school for their Easter egg hunt and party. The other moms and I "hid" the eggs in the courtyard of the school, then we turned the children loose. There have been prison riots that were probably more orderly than 18 kindergarten students hunting for Easter eggs.

Later as they ate their lunches in the classroom, I was sitting at A's table to keep him in his seat and prevent him from visiting every other table. The mother of another classmate was also at the table and we were having a group discussion about how annoying big brothers are. Evan told me that her brother was 15 and when I remarked about the big age gap, her mother said "Evan was our oops."

At dinner, I told J about the comment and how I really didn't like how her mother said it in front of Evan. Silly me, I should not have said it in front of A; then again, he didn't pick up on it when it was first said at lunch!

A: What do you mean that Evan was an oops?

Me (trying to think fast): Her mommy and daddy were surprised when Evan turned out to be such a lovely daughter.

Long pause.

A: They were hoping for an ugly one?

J and I burst out laughing. How could we not? I eventually sputtered out some kind of comment along the lines of "no, they weren't, but Evan was just much more wonderful than they even hoped."

Then I removed my foot from my mouth and finished my dinner.

The Boy in the Hat

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday on 2 March, A's school had a week long celebration of all thing Seuss:
I don't remember school being so much fun, do you?

March madness

A and I watched a good bit of the ACC men's basketball tournament this past weekend (yay, Tarheels!). A also watched an episode of The Backyardigans in which they played a ping pong tournament. Although we do not have a ping pong table, he made up a game that he plays in the sunroom that involves a small foam ball and a paddle-shaped bubble wand. When he plays this game, he calls it the ACC tournament.

Yesterday afternoon he was in a bit of a bad mood because he had gotten in trouble in school and consequently lost a few privileges at home. He also then lost use of the ping pong "paddle" because of repeated violations and the tournament commissioner (that would be me) penalized him.

A then made the pictured sign, to tell everyone that the tournament had been canceled. He asked only how to spell "tournament" and "canceled", and thank goodness, I spelled them both correctly.
The sign reads:
"Aidan M. The ACC tournament is canceled so no one can come to watch."

The weather gods are angry

Holy moly, it has been a chaotic two days here in north Georgia. On Friday night, a tornado hit downtown Atlanta. I was watching basketball when the warning came on that there was a severe thunderstorm moving through the downtown area and that rotation had been spotted by Doppler radar. We are far enough south of the city so that there was no effect on us and we went to bed shortly after I saw the information.

Yesterday, Saturday morning, we were looking forward to sleeping past our usual weekday rising time of 6:15 am. Nature had other ideas: around 6:15, we were hit by a loud thunderstorm that woke all three of us up. J went and got A from his room, and the three of us cuddled in bed while the storm flashed, thundered and rained. Not a fun way to start the day!

I was shocked when I accessed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site later in the morning and read that a tornado had struck downtown, causing substantial damage. The forecast for the day wasn't much better; we had to be on the alert for more powerful storms that had the potential to spawn tornadoes. It rained here off and on, and the sky often got very dark and ugly, but we did not get additional storms until right around dinner. North of Atlanta, however, was a different story: apparently more tornadoes struck and at least two people are confirmed dead.

April may be the "cruelest month" but March, so far, is certainly no picnic.

Blahg

I just don't have anything particularly interesting to blog about lately and nothing about which I am particularly fired up. So here are some odds and ends:

• A's birthday is in less than two weeks, so I am getting preparations made. We are not having a party, but will have a fun outing on the weekend following to a science museum in Atlanta. He keeps changing what he wants to bring to his class on his birthday - this morning he told me doughnuts.

• I am more than halfway done on the ribbed scarf I am knitting. The ribbing is going well; I have only had to unknit rows a few times to correct mistakes. I adore the deep turquoise color of the yarn, but the scarf will be a bit scratchy so I don't know that I will use this particular yarn again. It is also very dense and will definitely be a scarf for the coldest weather.

• I had coffee this week with a woman from my mommies' group, who is 8.999999 months pregnant with her second child and started her maternity leave from work last Monday. It was only the second time we had ever met in person but for two hours, we talked non-stop. Despite an age difference of about 12 years, we have many interests in common and think similarly on many issues. It was a treat to find someone with whom I can discuss politics and social issues seriously and without righteous indignation.
  

• March Madness is upon us. I am a lukewarm basketball fan at best, but I suddenly become an avid fan in March. All things being equal, I much prefer to watch women's basketball rather than men's (they play a more strategic game) but men's certainly gets more coverage. The ACC men's tournament is this weekend and in honor of my friend and former boss Cathy, I will be cheering for the University of North Carolina Tarheels.

And tomorrow is, of course, the 15th of March. Beware the Ides of March!

In between

The calendar says that it is still winter, with spring still one week away. The temperatures still get down around freezing at night, but we warm up to the high 60s during the day. Just how do I dress for this weather?

For some stupid reason, I simply cannot wear what I deem spring/summer clothes until spring officially arrives. But when it gets so warm in the afternoon, I certainly don't want to wear sweaters and heavy shoes. And it doesn't help that I am sick of my fall/winter clothes and am ready to break out the crop pants and t-shirts!

I am going to do my best to wait one more week, then switch over the closet from dark, heavier clothes to lighter, brighter clothes and my spring/summer handbags and shoes. While I am at it, I will go through all of A's clothes to see what can still be worn, what needs to be donated and what needs to be given a decent burial. He has recently worn out the knees of two pairs of jeans, but I am trying hard to make it on what he has and not buy him more long pants.

Of all the problems out there, what I should wear in March is exceedingly trivial...but it is definitely what is on my mind these days!

This is March, right?

Today is the 8th day of March. Right? I live in Georgia, right? So why was there snow swirling outside my window?

It snowed off and on this morning, although nothing too heavy and it only stuck to things like deck furniture. But I still wonder why it even snowed at all - it is March for goodness' sake! I have lived in the south long enough that I expect March to be the month where the transition to warmer weather starts. In fact, just the other day I was trying to decide if it was time to make the big closet switch. Good thing I didn't; it never got much above 42 degrees today and I needed that waffle weave hoodie.

The scene out our back windows was so odd this morning: snow flurries among the flowering tulip and Bradford pear trees, blooming daffodils and budding maple trees. The finches out on their thistle feeder looked downright annoyed at the cold wind and fluffed up their feathers so much that they looked liked balls o' birds.

Come on, spring!

Starting way too early

One day last week, after his snack had been consumed and his homework completed, A got very busy at his table in the sunroom. He was very quiet out there, totally absorbed in his work with only the scritch scritch sound (the one that makes J's hair practically stand on end) of the markers to indicate his presence.

He proudly showed me what he had created: a card for one of the girls in his class, Isabella.
The "IC" is not an editorial comment, but her initials...along with his initials, "AM", over drawings of them (for some reason, he drew her as the taller one of the two). He also included drawings of their houses, rainbows, and lots and lots of hearts. When I asked him if Isabella was his girlfriend, he rather disdainfully said "No, Mommy, I just like her!" Silly me.

He then proceeded to make little paper hearts for the rest of the girls in the class, in case they should feel left out. He carefully printed each one's initials on the hearts, along with his initials.

When I asked him the next day how his gifts had been received, he told me that everyone had liked them, except Emily - she said she didn't want hers.

That Emily. She doesn't know what she is missing!

Are you winning?

On Sunday afternoon, when I was in the throes of the flu bug, A heard me tell J that I was running a fever.

A: "Why do you have a fever?"

Me: "Because my body has an infection somewhere in it, and the fever is my body's way of fighting it."

A looked at me for a moment, then carefully said: "Is your body winning?"

Despite my discomfort, I had to laugh! And I also had to admit that I really didn't know if my body was winning or not.

In like a lion

March definitely came in like a lion at our house; let's hope it leaves like a lamb. Within an hour of getting home from school on Friday, A was sick - flushed, vomiting, tired, complaining of aches. I put him to bed but he was up and down several times during the evening and early night, settling down around midnight.

On Saturday, he seemed better although he wasn't particularly energetic and his appetite was off. I was starting to feel badandt then it hit me mid-morning on Sunday. Same routine, except that I also was running a fever, which is very unusual for me. It was a very unpleasant day and night!

Yesterday I felt a little better. The aches and the fever were still in evidence, but I managed some liquid and light food in the evening. I got a good night of sleep last night and feel a bit more human today, but my appetite is non-existent and I am very fatigued. It has not been a fun few days and I feel so far behind in my housework and errands.

Okay, March, let's get it together and be a nice little month, okay?