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Summer Shows Up
After the week that shall not be named, Kira and I were in need of a reprieve. However, parenting is not known for its breaks and down time. We are thankful that our cold symptoms never got too bad, and that Merritt has been sleeping much better as he’s recovered.
The biggest challenge we’ve faced this week, in my humble opinion, is Merritt’s appetite. He used to eagerly await his meals, excited to taste new things and smother peanut butter (his most favorite thing) on them. Since this most recent illness, he seems to care not at all about food. Even the old sure-fire meals lost their luster, and he declined them all. When he does eat, now we have to spoon feed him every bite like he’s 6 months old. That’s trying our patience quite a bit.
On a lighter note (no pun intended), Avey got her flute this week! She’s excited to begin to learn a few songs and get better at producing sound in the thing. She’s already practicing with getting a tone so that she’ll be ready to toot like nobody’s business.
We enjoyed a little party at the kids’ school a few days ago. They had music, food, and pumpkin decorating. The older three each designed a pumpkin: Avey painted hers all black and made some cat ears out of a pipe cleaner. It looked great! Carver made a monster with 3 eyes, and Hakan came up with a pretty abstract design. He just painted his pumpkin his favorite color: orange.
The heat was really something to be reckoned with, though. We had a generally mild summer, especially with a couple of weeks in the 70s, so we were not happy with this week’s temperatures in the 80s and 90s. I’ve written a strongly worded letter to our local weatherman to get his act together.
Avey’s birthday is coming up this week, so we are deep into preparations. She has big plans for the weekend, hoping to see a movie and eat pizza, along with her cake. Kira and I are still trying to talk her out of turning 10, at least for a few more years, but she’s pretty insistent.
Kira started with a new client this week, so that’s exciting. She always leaves for work in a hurry, and then comes home energized and awake somehow. It’s probably partly due to not having to put our little energy vampires to bed, and having some time for grown up conversation, dealing with problems that do not involve bowel movements and food messes.
When I got home from work one day this week, Hakan asked me in a how-was-your-day tone, “Dad, did you cry at work?” I laughed heartily at that one, but was very glad that I did not have to think back and assess my day before answering. It turns out that he picked up that question from Kira when she asks Carver about any “sad times” from his school day. I’m grateful that I enjoy my job.
I’ll report on the fallout from Avey’s turning 10 next time.