Metal Meredith

As usual, I am spending a good several hours of alone on Mother’s Day. Not because I am being punished, but because this is part of my gift. Hooray!

This morning, I was greeted with a gaggle of little gifts and Vivienne requesting to make me a special breakfast. Instead, Vivienne and I both cooked Coconut Encrusted French Toast. We had so much fun cooking together. She was very impressed with what she had made.

A funny thing has been happening lately. For every day that Vivienne is a turd to her little brother, there is a day when she plays with him by chasing him around, helping him slide or push his truck. She has started helping him into her baby stroller and then pushing him around the house. He loves it! Last weekend, she spent a good 20 minutes pulling him in the wagon around the back yard. I am not sure what the change is that has helped this occur, but I am not complaining.

I know better than to wish for siblings that never fight or are ridiculously close. I do hope for siblings that enjoy each other more than not. Her recent actions lead me to think that maybe there is hope that they will spend a brief period playing together before Henry gets too unruly or Vivienne gets too sophisticated. She is almost a Kindergartner, you know.

Although I am so wonderfully happy to have my kids, I am giddy at the prospect of having my computer back by the middle of this week. That is possibly the best gift of all today. Although, sitting her in the quiet would be a very close second.

Sadly, my HP laptop has become sick, again. If you remember back to February, that was the first time it pooped out on me. Last weekend, it went out again.

After doing some research, it seems that HP Pavilion laptops aren’t doing all that well. This will be my second motherboard. My only lucky break here is that it went out of warranty on April 15th and there is an extended warranty for 90 days on the parts they just worked on. I suppose I should be thankful that the same part died?

Looking on the HP forums on their website, it is plainly obvious that there are inherent flaws with this product. I am hopeful that they have found the real cause and will give me new parts that stop this from happening. I don’t think it is realistic, but I am going to try and fool myself.

Until Friday, when I am scheduled to receive my repaired laptop, I won’t be able to post photos or videos on my site. I might have to suck it up and really type some words and tell a story. Stay tuned!

I have read this book no less than 23 times in the past three days. And amazingly, I am not complaining about it.

From very early, we read to Vivienne. She would sit in our lap in our big red rocking chair and absorb every word. She wasn’t interested in turning the pages herself or eating the book. She liked to have us read to her.

When we tried this with Henry, we found ourselves wrestling the book from his grip. We removed it several times from his mouth. We rescued it from being torn, folded and turned inside-out. It wasn’t enjoyable to read to him and he didn’t enjoy the act of being read to. Until now.

This week, he started picking up tiny board books and paging through them. I sat amazed at the lack of destruction while he did this. Then, to my surprise, he handed me a book. I turned the pages and read the words, “Hand Hand Fingers Thumb One thumb One thumb Drumming on a drum” and he sat still. At one point, he turned to me and gave me a small head butt, which is his way of kissing me (or more to the point, getting me to kiss him.)

Since then, he has brought this book to me many, many times a day. He will grunt and put it in my hands. I have read the book so much that I am thinking millions of monkeys drumming on drums will show up in my dreams this weekend. It is a small price to pay for a boy who might just end up liking books as much as his sister and I do. 

It surely isn’t me. Soon you will find me sitting very still in a very air conditioned house trying not to exert any energy. I am not a good summer person. In fact, dare I say that I hate heat? My body doesn’t react well to the 72 then 100, then 75 then 90degree temperature changes that occur when one goes from Target to the car to the house in the summertime.

Today is the starting point. Most people are skipping out on school early or coming home from work with a spring in their step. Not me, BAH HUMBUG! Here I sit, waiting for Henry to get up from a nap, looking at the temperature widget at the top of my computer screen slowly rise. 82 degrees. “Brilliant Sunshine”.

Sure.