Easter Basket Cases

Gorgeous spring weather arrived just in time for Easter (or vice versa). Avey was home from school on Friday for a scheduled day off, and so Kira reserved the afternoon to dye eggs for Easter. Naturally, the kids could not stand to wait to go and hunt for them, so we had an impromptu hunt in our backyard for a few minutes, followed by a sugar rush. 

We were also invited to an Easter get-together on Saturday at a nearby forest preserve. It was a lot of fun, aside from the wind that kept blowing food and plates away, the lost bouncy ball, the thorny plants that got Merritt and me, and the cut toe that was gushing blood… 

Hakan and Carver fell in love with a little puddle where they could throw in sticks and rocks. It was just a gathering of rain water, so there were no fish to scare or anything. As they were playing and pretending to fish, Carver thought he’d step around to get a better reach, and stepped on an old glass bottle left by one of the local drunk litterers (dime-a-dozen around here). He had, of course, ignored my advice on wearing close-toed shoes for the mud, so as the glass cracked under his weight, there was nothing to protect his bare toes in his sandals. 

The wound was small, but bled quite a bit. Carver reacted like he had but moments to live. I carried him back to the picnic tables, cleaned the wound and had him hold a paper towel against it while I retrieved our first-aid kit in the car. By the time I got back, the bleeding had stopped, and Carver seemed to have made peace with his maker, for he was much calmer. I got him fixed up with a bandage, and then he limped around like he’d been mauled by a bear. He forgot his wound after a few minutes, though: we could tell because he ran around like nothing had happened. 

We had a scare Friday night after I had tried to update the software on Kira’s phone. It has been glitching lately, so I thought perhaps an update would help. Instead, Apple erased the existing operating system and then said it was unable to update her phone. We were left with a very expensive paperweight. I tried just about everything else I could think of to no avail, so we called it a night. The next morning, I tried the same things and voila: it worked. Although we are relieved to have it working again, the process does not appear to have solved the functional problems, so we are gearing up for its slow and agonizing demise. 

The summer is nearing, but still feels so far away that we are all feeling some anxiety, it seems. I am in between feeling panicked about being ready for the summer courses and excited about finishing up this semester. I prepared a new course this past semester and thought I’d try having the students do a group project. That has turned into more drama than I get paid for, so I may need to seriously rethink it in the future. It’s mostly just two groups who are having interpersonal issues, but what a pointless mess!

Kira had no clients show up this week, which was sort of nice to not have to get all ready, and nice for me to have a little more time to work on my stuff, but it was a little disappointing for her to not get out and talk to someone about something other than diapers, naps, and sharing toys. Tomorrow is on track to be better, at least.

This week looks to be a fairly typical one. Saturday marks the 4th anniversary of my little brother’s passing, so we may do something special in his memory. He’d be proud to learn that Avey and Carver have both become interested in the Super Nintendo, so maybe we’ll play that a little in his honor.

Before we know it, Merritt will have a birthday, but that’s not something I’m willing to process right now, so have a great week!

#Happenings