Parent Teacher Conference

This morning we had our spring semester parent-teacher conference at Tai's "school".  The spring conferences are optional, but what parent wouldn't sign up to sit and hear someone tell them how wonderful their child is for 30 minutes?  It was all about seeing lots of pictures of Tai having fun at school and hearing what a great kid he is and how he fits into the group dynamic.  What we heard is this:

• He fits into the group very well.  She could not find any pictures of Tai playing by himself.  This comes as no surprise, as at home we constantly hear, "mama (or daddy), can you play with me?"  The only things he manages to do solo are sleep and watch TV.

• He throws (and attends) numerous tea parties each week.  (He's really into the finer things in life).

• He is the "class clown" and attempts to dominate all mealtime conversations.  (Shocking, I know).

• He has no interest in dressing or undressing himself, but is happy to let a "staff" of other children do it for him.  (Those were, perhaps, the best photos.)

• He has excellent rhythm and likes to play the drums.  (Obviously, he gets that from me).

• He's not the most agile kid in the class (unless tripping over your own feet is a special form of agility.)

FINAL Renovation Haiku

The house is all done.

The dumpster is gone.  Next task:

Trip to IKEA.

The Statute of Limitations has Passed...

....and it is now all right to joke about the fact that I "let" Tai fall down the stairs yesterday.   He appears to be fine and it has been nearly 24 hours, so joke away.

Interestingly enough, *every* time I am pregnant, Tai falls down the basement stairs.  Last time, it was our old, un-carpeted stairs with a cement floor at the bottom.  Luckily, he was protected by the fact that he was still in-utero.  This time, I could not protect him, but at least everything was carpeted.  

I guess maybe I should stop getting pregnant.

The Big Boy Bed Chronicles

April 14th (night #1): Tai happily climbed into bed and slept soundly all night.  He was discovered at 7am the next morning, sitting up in bed, chatting away to himself.

April 15th (night#2): An exhausted Tai skipped bath time and went right to bed after dinner.  He was next heard from at 6:30am, sitting on the top step of the stool at the foot of his bed.

April 16th (night #3): Iwas suddenly woken at 4am by the sound of my bedroom door latching shut.  While my half-asleep brain was trying to figure out how a cat (or dog) could possibly manage that feat, Tai toddled over to my bedside.  Nuk in mouth and sippy cup in hand, he calmly announced something like, "I got out of my big boy bed."  When I offered to help him get settled back in, he became upset and insisted on sleeping with us.  After 10 minutes of trying to coax him back into his bed, I gave up and snuggled him in between me and Minh.  He fell right back asleep while I lay there worrying that I'd just set a very bad precedent.

My keen powers of observation tell me that he seems to be waking earlier and moving farther from the bed each night.  Surely tonight we will find him watching TV in the living room at 2am. 

Scene from Arizona Pizza Company

Tonight the three of us met up for dinner at the Hampshire Mall and this is the conversation that occurred at the table:

Tai: I want dessert.
Kathy: Well, let's eat dinner first, OK?
Tai: Daddy, you want dessert?
Minh: Maybe. But I want to eat some pizza first. Let's look at the menu, OK?
Tai (desperately trying to gain an ally): Mama, you want dessert?
Kathy: Not right now, I want my dinner first.

Waitress: Hello, how are you all tonight?
Tai (directly to waitress): Can we have ice cream?
Kathy: Let's have pizza first and then we'll see.
Tai (ignoring Kathy and speaking only to waitress): I want dessert.

In the end, after everyone had eaten some pizza, we did order one dessert to split three ways. The newest addition to Tai's ever-expanding vocabulary? "cheesecake."

Mini-Vacation Mini-Post

Here's a bullet-list recap of our weekend get-away.....

• Talking about work over dinner is better than talking about the kid, right?

• Mass MoCA is worth the drive.

• I was asked "when are you due?" and "is this your first?" about 14 times. And all 14 times I resisted the urge to say "I'm not pregnant" just to see their faces turn red.

• When I answered "June 1st" to the due-date question I shocked one woman because of how "tiny" I am and I shocked a man the next day who said "woah, don't you think you might go earlier than that?"

• I only almost made us jump in the car and drive back to (sick) Tai once.

• No matter how tasty the food, it's hard to make up for a one hour wait for a table and grouchy service.

• When cooked with enough butter, salt, and cheese, grits are actually really yummy.

• When in doubt of what to do next, buy stuff for your kid(s). (Carter's Outlet, oh yeah!)

• The smell of freshly finished wood floors lingers for a *very* long time.

Renovation Haiku #3

Painting is finished.

Carpeting in on Monday.

Bathroom done today.