Month: October 2013

We ordered Edda a new “lightweight” wheelchair this weekend.  The one that she has, which is crash tested and has a five-point seat harness, is just too heavy for me to take in and out of the car every time we need it even though I think I’m as strong as I have ever been – it’s just that the wheelchairs get heavier faster than I get stronger.  So the heavy one will be just for school where we can wheel it onto the bus and have it secured with tie-downs while our family out-and-about wheelchair will be the lightweight one.  The lightweight one is made by Maclaren which was my favorite brand of stroller when the kids were teeny-tiny.  I think it has fallen out of favor with the new generation of parents, but it has a special place in my heart.  I’m hoping that at 16 pounds, the lightweight stroller will not be such a bear to get in and out of the back of the minivan.

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I was speaking to a friend of mine who has two kids slightly younger than Vince and Edda.  We were talking about the mythical third child – how neither of us could imagine having a third baby.  Although now at 41, that door is rapidly shutting behind me now.  She talked about how she could not image going back to not being able to travel as extensively as they do or waiting for babies to take naps.  My traveling days are as hard as they ever were in terms of logistics and struggle – it will never be easy for me.  

Friday afternoon, Vince comes home from school asking for a sleepover. I think sleepovers need a little more than 24 hour notice, but somehow we got a bunch of his friends to come over on Saturday night.  At some point after Edda fell asleep at 8 pm and when we rustled the boys up to bed at 10 pm, Jeremy and I were hiding in our room upstairs because the first floor was just so, so loud with shouts and foot stomping.  I love how much fun Vince and his friends have during sleepovers; everyone gets along great, but I hate that everyone cranky and pissy the next day from not getting enough sleep and I hate handing back the kids to their parents the next day in that state. So I did the unpopular mom thing and basically turned off the lights at 10:30 pm and sat in the room until all the kids were snoring.  Actually, I waiting until all the kids were snoring except Vince who at 11 pm, was still rustling in his sleeping bag asking for ice packs (?).   I also told them that if they woke up any earlier than 7 am, they were not allowed to leave their sleeping bags or talk to each other or play any sort of electronic game.  I think it meant that they actually got at least 6 hours worth of sleep which is what I consider to be the minimum amount of sleep a person can get and still be functional the next day.

It’s so summer-like here.  Had to turn on the air conditioning today.  I even got to go swimming in a 50m outdoor pool today.  Usually I go swimming mid-week where the pool is filled with older Chinese ladies doing the breaststroke (like my mom!).  Today, on Saturday afternoon, all the triathletes are out in full force with their wet suits.  I haven’t been swimming in so long, I forget all the things I have to bring which put me at a severe disadvantage to all those triathletes.

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Jeremy spent the afternoon learning to solder.  We seem to go through a million and a half headphones by damaging the jack.  The headphones are attached to their various devices and somehow the headphones get pulled and the device remains in the same spot so the jack gets bent.  Thank goodness we haven’t bent any inside our iPad/iPhones/computers (yet). So instead of replacing the whole headphone, Jeremy is learning to solder to just replace the jack.  Apparently the fine art of soldering is becoming a lost skill – today’s electrical engineers can go through their whole training without properly learning how to solder.  So I guess Jeremy is learning to be an electrical engineer?  The jack is $5, the headphones are $15.  I’m not exactly sure this is worth the effort, but it seems to entertain Jeremy.

My morning walks are getting darker and darker.

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I really want to see Gravity, the new movie with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  All the reviewers are saying that you really need to see it on the largest 3D Imax theater that you can find.  I think I’ll see it in a few months on my little iPhone screen.

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Speaking of iPhones, Vince needs to get a phone this year.  I told him long ago that he wouldn’t be the first of his friends to have a phone, nor would he be the last.  Well, it’s looking like he’s going to be one of the last holdouts.  He’s so much more independent now, I’d like him to have the freedom just to text me where he is at any one moment.  Jeremy is in technology heaven trying to figure out what phones to get, what service to sign up for, when to change over.  He’s very happy and he’s telling me all about it.  I don’t understand much of it.

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Edda did not get sick today – but she seems a little bit off.  Not hungry at dinner, wanting to go to bed a little earlier.  I need to start putting together her Halloween costume, she’s going to be Supergirl this year, I already have the bright red boots, just need to pull together the outfit and the cape.  Vince is suppose to be the “Operation” game, but I haven’t started working on it and I don’t really have the energy.  I told him he needed to take the lead on it and if it was done, I’d pull him out of school early to go to Edda’s class and help out at the elementary school’s Halloween party.

Third day of government shutdown.  I’m still able to work which is good.  Jeremy still is going to work on an empty subway.  He’s working, but since he does public policy and none of that is going on around here his calendar has been wiped clean of meetings.

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We are all slowly getting sick.  Jeremy was sick last night and today, I think Edda’s going down tonight.  I made Vince go to bed at 8:30 tonight in an effort to fortify his resources to not get sick.

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Obama was in Rockville today.  Did snarl traffic for a little while on the Rockville Pike.

Some Chinese homework.

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Yesterday, Vince ran face first into a metal pole at soccer practice.  I got a tearful phone call when it happened and that he was going to come home early from practice.  When he got home, I checked his teeth, his eyes and his head.  I felt a bump on his forehead and felt it and asked if it hurt when I touched it.  He said that that wasn’t from the metal pole, it was from when he hit his head on the doorknob of the bathroom door when he needed to pee in the middle of the night.

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My half-marathon on Sunday is cancelled because of the government shutdown.  Apparently it runs along GW parkway which is a National Park which is closed.  It’s been postponed until November 10, but I’ve been training so hard, I’m not sure I can keep this up for another month.