Aurora Borealis

Agent Murphy has a puzzle bench with his name on it that his Uncle G. and Aunt M. gave him.  Each letter is a separate, differently colored piece that comes out.  He loves it.  He takes the letters out and carries them around the house with him.  (He’s also gotten pretty good at knocking two letters against each other.  Banging things is good.)  We’ve been pretty successful at rounding up all the letters every night.  But the first letter of his name has been missing for over a week.  Today, Mr. Tldz found it.  Now two other letters are missing, but they’ve been seen in the last day or two, so they should turn up soon.

Agent Murphy had a doctor’s appointment today.  Once again, he freaked out immediately upon being put on the crinkly paper on the table.  Shrieked afterwards while I was getting him dressed.  They must wonder what I’m doing to him.  He doesn’t cry that hard during the exam.  Really, it’s just the crinkly paper.  So I tried getting him dressed on my lap, but he was already worked up and just a wiggling mess, so I gave up and went back to the dreaded table and went as fast as I could.

Anyway, our big guy is indeed big.  21 pounds 12 ounces (75th percentile), and 30.75″ (”off the charts” - above 97th).  Everything seems a-okay with him.

Most of Friday afternoon and evening, I was sick.  Better yesterday.  Sick again today.  Headachey, nauseous…  With the yard sale coming up, I needed this like I need a hole in the head.  Poor Mr. Tldz wasn’t feeling very well today, either, but he’s stepped up and kept Agent Murphy taken care of, who, fortunately, has been pretty cooperative today.

Mr. Tldz is about to start his third week at the new job.  We’ve made it so far, but it’s hard.  It’s a really long day for him with the commute.  And we miss him during the day.  But I guess we’ll get used to it.  At least he likes the work so far, the people he’s working with, and his boss does seem to be living up to the signs he showed of being a good manager.  And in some minor interactions Mr. Tldz has had with his former employer, we have abundant confirmation that being out of there is a very good thing.

Now I’m going to lay down again.

Apparently, my mom’s shoulder replacement surgery yesterday went well, though it took twice as long as they said it would.  Surgeon reported that she had a lot of “deformity” and tightness in the shoulder, besides being very arthritic.  Talked to Mom tonight, and she says she’s feeling pretty good, just sleepy.  She gets to go home tomorrow afternoon, and has 4-6 weeks in a sling.

In a lesser situation, The Dog somehow injured a back leg toward the end of last week.  She was really hobbling around for several days (when she tried to move at all) and was happiest and most comfortable in her crate, even when we were home; but she seems to be almost fully mended now, back to her usual chipper, active self.  She does still mostly retire to the safety of her couch when we let Agent Murphy go “exploring.”  I can’t say I blame her.  I think his barbaric yawlp as he charges off in some direction or other (or after her) spooks her.  We enjoy it, though.  He’s just fun.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy.  We ran through Mr. Tldz’s new route to work, and as long as the bus driver on that end up there gets a few functioning brain cells, that should be okay.  We put ourselves on our new morning schedule this week (up at 5:00) and Mr. Tldz has been making sure he can in fact be ready to leave at 6:00.  We’ve done various other things to get him ready, including purchasing some upgrades to his wardrobe.  And I’ve been running around packing in the errands I can that are much easier to do without Agent Murphy in tow while I still had the option of putting him down for a nap and then leaving the house.  (Boy, I’ll sure miss that!)

After he dropped off his work stuff at the Midtown office today, we went out to lunch at Pub 71.  Agent Murphy decided on his own that he would play peek-a-boo with us.  I’m so proud of him for figuring this out.  Using one of the cloth napkins he had managed to nab, he’d cover his face and when we’d say, “Where’s Agent Murphy?”  He’d lower the cloth and laugh as we said, “Peek-a-boo, I see you!”  He’s such a clever, cute boy!

We bought a new (much needed!) mattress set yesterday.  It’ll be delivered tomorrow, and we’re very much looking forward to that.  Hopefully, it’ll make for better sleep so that 5:00 wake up won’t seem quite so early.  Of course, if it’s really comfortable, it’ll be that much harder to leave it behind…

So I guess we’re as ready as we can be for this new job.  But I’m not looking forward to being apart from Mr. Tldz so much.  It’ s funny.  I’ve mentioned to casual acquaintances in passing that Mr. Tldz is changing jobs and losing the ability to work from home that he’s had.  And the responses have pretty much been, “Oh good for you - you get the house back.”  Huh?  I guess I/we must be weird, because that’s not how I’m feeling about it.  Yeah, there are a few things that will be easier not having to accommodate Mr. Tldz’s working here, but compared to all the good stuff we’re losing…  That part of this new job is not a good deal.  I’ll miss having lunch with him every day, and having him give me updates on his day when he comes out for a water break and to give Agent Murphy a hug, and being able to periodically give him a hug and a kiss during the day…

But in time we will adjust, and hopefully this new job will be as good for him/his career as it seems like it will be.  And we’ll work on getting ourselves moved to give him a better commute, which will help a lot with family time.

Today took us to the quad at Oglethorpe, in front of the library.  (I felt like an old-timer.  I found myself referring to Robinson Hall as Faith.  Well, in the old days…)  We met up with Clan McG. and had a nice time.  Even had the added benefit of running into Dr. W. , who was on her way from the library to her office.  And we visited Lyndra’s tree, which is actually looking like a small bush these days.

Foster Mulan had fun playing with Laser Girl and Danger Dude.  Agent Murphy was very cooperative and good-natured during the picnic.  (He ate cauliflower-sweet potatoes.)  And the grown-ups had time to catch up some.

Summer camps were in full swing on campus.  I couldn’t help but think of H.  He’s probably thrilled he’s escaped to the Pacific Northwest with Walgreens!

We got home, put the Agent down for a nap, all got some water, and then I took a little nap, too.  Mr. Tldz had to do a little more (only a little more because he spent several hours overnight attending to pager issues) for work before calling it a day.  We are very much looking forward to his vacation next week!  (The pager gets killed.)

That was yesterday’s agenda.  We got together with N. and her family at the playground area at PDK airport.  I’d heard they’d put in a playground/picnic area, but hadn’t been to it.  Good to check it out.  It’s nice - a good option to have.

I think Foster Mulan enjoyed the opportunity to run around with A. and I.  She even went down the slide, she says.  I was feeding the Agent, so I didn’t see that; but I think we had confirmation of that from one of the other parental figures.  That’s progress - she used to be scared of the slide.  She’d climb up the stairs, then come back down the stairs.

Agent Murphy got to try some watermelon run through the food processor, which renders it not much more than pink water; so I thickened it up with some rice cereal.  Then at home yesterday and today, we’ve been giving him small chunks of watermelon to play with in his “big boy seat.”  With the first batch yesterday, he was mesmerized into silence. (!)  (Of late, he’s been exploring the wonders of his voice - at full volume - at the table.  Elsewhere, too, but it’s particularly ear-splitting when we’re all sitting at the table.)  But he viewed it really as a plaything.  If we’d put a chunk into his mouth, he’d look - I’m not sure, maybe perplexed, or worried, or put out - and then move it around his mouth for a while before letting it fall out.

Mr. Tldz made shortcakes today for the first time.  Excellent!  We had some blueberries and whipped cream with them after lunch.  And then I got a bit of a nap while Agent Murphy took his afternoon nap.  A good day.

I guess yesterday’s outing took it’s toll.  Tried to be good about drinking water, but I was feeling pretty sickly this morning.  Spent a lot of time in bed, and am still in my nightgown now, but feeling mostly better.  Mr. Tldz was a bit headachey, too.  Hopefully we’ll be all better tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the last batch of blueberries is freezing.  Agent Murphy got to try blueberries with banana for breakfast.  (He’s had banana before.)  He seemed to like it.  He has more of the same for tomorrow morning.

We spent about 2 hours in the blueberry field this morning at Adams Farms and picked 2 gallons of berries!  We are now in the process of freezing them.  All three of us were a bit more efficient at picking this year than last, and Foster Mulan was once again a big help in getting to the low-hanging berries and collecting the ones that fell to the ground.  After our hard work, we rewarded ourselves with lunch at the cute little local restaurant we tried out that way last year that has wonderful desserts.  Following the drive home and getting things somewhat organized here, that certain tiredness from working outside for a while really hit me.  Bed will feel good tonight!

Today was Agent Murphy’s first lengthy stay with a babysitter.  Miss L., who is new to babysitting, had a trial run a couple of weeks ago for a few hours while we ran errands and grabbed a bite to eat nearby.  Things seemed to go off without a hitch today, so that’s good.  The Agent was napping when we got home, but he sure was glad to see us when he woke up - as we were him.

Yesterday, I was told that there would be surprise cooking for “Dady’s Day,” as Agent Murphy likes to call today. Indeed, when I finished my morning ablutions, there was a breakfast featuring our most favored french toast recipe prepared by Mrs. Tldz with able assistance from Foster Mulan.

I was given presents and cards wishing me a happy Father’s Day. I must say that the cards were quite thoughtful and fun. And Mrs. Tldz did her usual bang-up job of picking presents for me.

It’s a good day today. Celebrating our family, receiving the special blessing for fathers at mass, enjoying the most recent batch of sun tea with lunch and picture-taking with the various assortment of digital cameras that have made their way into our house while dinner slowly simmers on the stove.