spynotes ::
  January 07, 2006
And why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings

I�ve been in a cocoon of family today. AJ was beyond cute today � there are days like this when I really wish I could record somehow every secod so that I could relive them later.

We took down our Christmas tree and other decorations this morning, which resulted in a glum AJ for a full five minutes until he learned that he could help take the ornaments off. Then he was a blur of flying ornaments and showers of needles. When we hauled the tree out to the yard, we discovered that it was fairly warm, and so AJ dragged out his sidewalk chalk and drew a picture of the solar system surrounded by stars, a basketball player making a slam dunk and a balloon tree under several puffy white clouds. Our driveway has never looked so good.

While my husband and I were cleaning up the remains of the Christmas greenery on the front porch, AJ disappeared around the side porch and came back with my trowel and his pail. �Mommy, would it be all right if we went into the back yard so I could dig some holes?� All right? Of course it was. So off we went to excavate several sites on both sides of the creek, which was dry enough to cross safely. We then abandoned our garden tools and climbed the hill on the far side of the stream, dodged around a few remaining briars and arrived at the fence around the paddock to do some serious horse watching. When the horses ignored us (they had just been fed), we returned by the street, played a couple of games of �Catch me if you can!� and returned noisily to the house for lunch.

In the afternoon, we drove to my mother-in-law�s to see her Christmas tree before she took it down. We listened to the Rite of Spring in the car, without telling AJ what it was. He began to play his favorite music game where he tries to come up with a story for the music he hears. �Mommy, do you know what this sounds like? It sounds like spring.� I gaped, and he began an interpretive dance, insofar as he was able while strapped in his car seat. Upon our arrival at my mother-in-law�s, I abandoned the boys and walked the mile or so into town to do some shopping at the clothing shop where my niece works. On the way, I passed some kids playing tag, a man playing jazz piano in the window of his house, and a halfway decent teenaged garage band practicing in an actual garage at earthshaking volume. It was a pleasant walk, but the shopping was even more pleasant, much to my surprise, as I generally hate shopping. I came away with a major haul. It was so great, that I feel compelled to detail it here. My apologies to the estrogen challenged among us. You may skip to the next paragraph. I came home with the following: These shoes, which, despite their very pointy toes, are nearly as comfortable as my running shoes, and were a mere $35. These pants were considerably less than half the price listed at the link. My favorite coup, though, was a faux Persian lamb fitted jacket with vintage styling (I can�t figure out how to link to a picture, alas). I had tried it on once before, but put it back when I saw the steep price tag. Today, however, it was 2/3 off so now it�s in my closet, where I keep finding AJ petting it. Oh, hell, I�ve been standing there petting it too. It�s very fuzzy and soft.

After my shopping trip, I walked back as the sun was going down and Christmas lights were going on. By the time I arrived at my mother-in-law�s, dinner was sizzling on the stove. We had a lovely family dinner and played with an exuberant AJ for a while before we had to head home. On the way home, the husband and I listened to an old tape of Studs Terkel interviewing Aaron Copland on the radio while AJ played I-spy and asked questions about how cars worked and why some fire hydrants weren�t red and how many miles to home and whether we were north or south or east or west and how much is 1678+1678 and what happens when you subtract a negative number and on and on and on.

0 people said it like they meant it

 
:: last :: next :: random :: newest :: archives ::
:: :: profile :: notes :: g-book :: email ::
::rings/links :: 100 things :: design :: host ::

(c) 2003-2007 harri3tspy

<< chicago blogs >>