And so it goes

So, hey! Summer! I can't go into great detail, obviously, but my supervisor at work quit right before our first of three summer camps started. The leaving wasn't entirely unexpected, but the timing was and I suddenly found myself on the hook for planning and running three weeks of day camp instead of one. Two are done (and went really well) and one is planned out and starting tomorrow. One more week! Let's do this thing! Anyhoodle, it's gone about as well as possible considering the complete lack of lead time, but it has seriously eaten my brain. Then after work there's the kids and whatever needs to be done at the house and washing at least half of this by hand (or all of it every other day)...so by the end of all that, I'm just done.

I've also been reading actual books again, which I didn't realize I missed so much until I started doing it again. I've read and enjoyed Cinder by Marissa Meyer, A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C Bunce, Hidden America by Jeanne Marie Laskas, The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. There might've been another one in there somewhere. I also went to Nashville on July 10 and saw Neil Gaiman on his book tour. It was seriously incredible. You wouldn't really read his books and think of him as a funny guy, but he is so funny. He read from the new book (which I had already read and really liked), answered pre-collected questions from the audience, read from another new book, and then signed for all 1700 people in attendance. The signing was kind of the least cool part of the whole thing just because there were so many people that he literally just had to sign the books and move on, but I am glad we stayed. We were only allowed to have one thing signed other than the new book so I had him sign my copy of Odd and the Frost Giants to both Nico and Elliott. I guess they'll have to fight over it one day. If I could do it all over again, I'd stay overnight in Nashville instead of making the drive back afterward so late at night, but otherwise, no complaints. It was a fantastically cool experience. Here's part of the reading that someone posted online:



The boys are awesome, awesome. Elliott charted in the 90th percentile for weight at his three-month well baby visit and was off the chart for height (17 lbs 11 oz and 28" tall). He's SO big, basically the size of some people's one-year-olds. He's still the happiest and most sunshiney baby on Earth. He can roll back to front and then eventually gets mad that he's stuck on his tummy. He's grabbing toys with purpose and putting them into his mouth. He has also figured out how to bounce his own bouncy chair and will do so with great enthusiasm.





Nico seems to have shot up several inches just in the past few weeks. His ankles catch serious breeze in pajamas that have fit him forever and (sadly) in his very favorite bright orange pants. The other day MB let him wear his orange long-sleeved car shirt, the one he wore on his first day of preschool in January, and the sleeves were a good two to three inches too short. He still constantly asks me "what happens if" and the scenarios are getting more complex and more fun to hear. The other day he asked me, "What happens if I was the grownup and you were the kid? What happens if I put you in the car and buckle you in and then I buckle me in and I start the engine?" He has finally started building with Duplo blocks and is really good at assembling cars from the pictures in a kids' K'Nex set he got for his birthday. He's still stubborn and resistant to change and I'm still feeling a little sulky over the swimming lesson debacle, but for the most part Nico is pretty great.

I took both boys to a reptile encounter yesterday and then to the children's museum. It was the first time Elliott has shown any interest in the goings-on, and when I put him on my lap in front of the Duplo table he was very keen on getting his hands on the blocks. Nico was very sweet and brought him a little pile to play with before turning his attention to building and embellishing his own car. (This reminds me of the other day when he built a very elaborate vehicle with very obvious and deliberate wings. "Oh, look! You built a plane!" one of us exclaimed. Witheringly, Nico said, "It's not a plane. It's a flying truck." OBVIOUSLY, geez.) Eventually Elliott fell asleep, exhausted by the intense workout of flailing excitedly at blocks, and Nico and I puttered the rest of the afternoon away. I didn't get a single thing done at the house, and I don't regret it one bit.

This happened the other night and it made my heart hurt with happiness:

And look! Look! Finally a photo proving that my bald baby does actually have a tiny bit of hair growing in...I'm not sure how I feel about how much he looks like a non-baby kid in this one, though.

I hope everyone is having a nice summer...hopefully it won't be autumn before I'm back here again.



Reading:  Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O Frost and Gail Steketee

Playing:  the Brave soundtrack