I wrote a long post last night about what our life has been like here and Blogger swallowed it up. I usually save things when I start writing a lot, but my method was flawed. Grrrr.
I'm doing a sort of mental recap because our time here is probably coming to an end. We sent a contract and a deposit to our attorney yesterday. We still have inspections, appraisals and mortgage approval ahead of us, so there's plenty that could go wrong, but we're feeling pretty positive. I'll start gushing about it when it looks a little more secure.
One thing that I didn't count on when we came here was how hard it would be for Aidan. The first month or so, his cousin was here who is the same age as him and he was thrilled but since she left he's been so lonely and is desperate to play with other kids. We go to the park and he connects with a kid about half of the time and has a great time. Sometimes he latches onto a nice dad and follows him around, which can be weird. Sometimes a kid is mean to him and he becomes withdrawn. Often the kids are already with friends or siblings and are simply unfriendly. He has a new tactic lately of bringing a few toys to the playground. I've been impressed by his ingenuity - it works like a charm. There is a heavily scheduled four-year old next door that is not readily available for spontaneous play, which just blows my mind and frustrates the hell out of Aidan. Probably if I called his mom and scheduled playdates we'd see him more often but he lives next door for christ-sakes.
It's not just that he's lonely, but he's also been troubled by the fact that we don't know where we are going to be living. I had no idea he'd be so conscious of our predicament. He drew a picture yesterday and told me that it was an old house that we were going to move into but that Pop couldn't get it and that he was sad. Maybe that's why he doesn't like old houses, he thinks they are heartbreakers.
It's been so nice having Steve here all day every day. He took a job this week and I'm realizing how spoiled I have been. Even though he's working when he is here, there are lots of opportunities for him to take a break and spend a few minutes with Aidan or to let Aidan "help" him. Yesterday was his first day and I was exhausted by the end of it - but how could I complain to him, when he's doing manual labor all day - so I made dinner instead, which I often can't do when he's working on the kitchen.
Read this now.
I know that Madame Insane wanted to tell you that and her blog is down so I'm doing it for her.
And if that is so depressing and scary that you just want to crawl into bed, do this - it's kind of fun and maybe it'll make you feel better.
It is also my civic duty to tell you that there will be marches to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq in D.C. and San Francisco on Saturday, October 25th. You can go here and make it a Halloween event.
Did you read that first article yet? You'd better.
I haven't been taking pictures of Aidan much lately so I'll have to provide some alternate imagery.
Recently we were at the diner (On Long Island you call it "the" diner - it just means whichever one is the one that you frequent. "The" city however, is always New York City.) and an old lady fawned over Aidan on her way to her seat. He acted shy, but then removed his hat to please her further with that red hair of his which I guess he knows is an old lady pleaser. She had already moved on and missed it, but we figured out what he was doing and had a good laugh.
He's been telling everyone that he is four. It is far more significant information than his name. I guess it is the first thing that a lot of people ask, but no one has to ask lately. He talks a lot about "when I'm five". There is a host of things that he is going to do when he is five but the most significant is that he is going to be able to ride his skateboard. There is an old old David Bowie song, "When I'm Five". I remember playing it for my cousin Thyra when she was four. She's in college now.
When I’m fiveFor some things a "one and zero" are the milestone. That's ten. Today he told me that I'm still going to help him go poop when he is "one and zero".
I will wash my face me hands all by myself
When I’m five
I will chew and spit tabacco like my grandfather jones
’cause I’m only four and five is far awayWhen I’m five
I will read the magazines in mummy’s drawer
When I’m five
I will walk behind the soldiers in the may day parade
’cause I’m only four and grown-ups walk too fast
My mother in law gets the NY Times delivered daily and it has become part of my very long morning routine along with eating a lot of food and taking a lot of vitamins. I often want to write about things that I read there, but don't get around to it. I guess I'm just not that kind of blogger.
Today there were a couple of things that I thought would interest the mamas who read this - one was about a woman who was just tried in CT for having an unsafe home after her son committed suicide. Basicly, her house was dirty and messy. She - was - convicted.
The other thing is about an outbreak of whooping cough in Westchester County. Yesterday, I read the following:
NEW ROCHELLE: WHOOPING COUGH OUTBREAK An outbreak of whooping cough has spread to at least 19 people, many of them children who had been vaccinated, in the northwest corner of Westchester County, the county's Health Department said on Friday. Normally, there are only five or six cases a year in Westchester. Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is contagious, and the Health Department said many of the children are classmates or playmates. They range in age from three months to 14 years old. The two adults who are infected are parents or caretakers of infected children. The first cases were spotted in August, the most recent one on Wednesday. The health commissioner, Dr. Joshua Lipsman, said vaccination would not make someone completely immune, but the illness is generally milder in those who have been vaccinated.
I'm thinking that the Health Department didn't like the way that that first report looked.
We might actually be buying a house. Gosh, I don't even feel like talking about it because it's all happened before. It's the house with the messy tennants and the dead dog. The owners are willing to hold some of the mortgage and maybe all of it if necessary. The tennants moved out. We'll see...
It's freezing here and we just turned the heat on for the first time this season. Chimney cleaners came about a month ago and pulled out the liner because it wasn't attatched all the way through. To put a new liner in would require tearing out part of the chimney and re-building it because it gets too narrow in some part of it. So now there is no liner at all and we waited to turn the heat on until we got carbon monoxide detectors. Our bedroom has the exposed chimney in it. I have a plan to grab my wedding photo negatives on the way out if there is a fire.
We were talking about baby names with Aidan. Dervala sounds really cute when he says it, but Steve isn't too fond of it. Aidan wanted to name the baby Ivo (EE-vo) which is his cousin's name whom he adores. Steve said Eva (EE-va) could be close to that but I say it would have to be pronounced the Hungarian way which is more like Ay-va. I really like the Hungarian Eva, but then say Aidan and Eva (Ay-va). It might be a bit much. Then Aidan suggested a string of names: JayJay, Thomas the Tank Engine and Snuffy.
He's been doing this cute thing when he plays with his trains - one direction goes to Hollywood (think the Muppet Movie) and the other direction goes to Popperville (think Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel). I just love hearing him say Hollywood.
Aidan was really off for two weeks after we got back from Texas. He was contrary and unhappy. It was like my four year old turned into a junior high school kid. I imagine it was about Buddy's death though he didn't talk about it. After he snapped out of it, he told me that the four year old neighbor, Colin, doesn't have a grandmother - that she had a terrible accident and died and Colin's grandfather is sad. Those are pretty much my exact words that he regurgitated. It can be so weired to see yourself in the mirror of a little kid.
I haven't been posting much because I got coding work for two websites and I've been geeking out with that. They're paying pretty well and I'm coding someone else's designs, so I don't have to deal directly with the clients. I'm quite pleased with the arrangement, but it is sucking up all of my previously leisurely computer time.