Dad called last night on his way home from the farm where they've spent the last few days making molasses. It was funny to hear him say over and over "well, it's a long story but ..." I wish it could be a pleasant family tradition of cutting cane, milling it for juice and swapping stories as we all sit around the cooker. But it's more of a grueling few days of hard labor.
At least Dad sounded optimistic on the way home that next year would be better.
There's always next year.
I don't remember when Halloween became fun again, but I think Ian had a lot to do with it. It helps that Ian was born just nine days prior so I have fond memories of snuggling with him and a pumpkin themed fleece blanket on the front porch and showing him off to our neighbors. We also have a new house in the last few years and we're settling in nicely. I really like everyone on our street and it's nice to see them and their kids in costume once a year before it gets too cold.
So that first year, Ian was dressed as a newborn for Halloween. And last year we set off with our barely walking little dinosaur monster. This year we weren't sure what he would be. But thanks for K-mart and their 50% off costumes we had an $8 bumble bee to parade around! (I hate K-mart but you can't pass up cheap costumes before Halloween. I just held my breath while I was in there.)
Rich wanted to take the wagon, but Ian wanted to pull the wagon and that was going to be a distraction. I changed that out for the backpack but when he saw it he wanted to get in it. So I hid it in a canvas bag and we walked. Well, after a few houses I carried all 32 pounds of him (plus at least 5 pounds of candy as we gathered loot) from house to house.
He was very suspicious in the beginning. But by the time we got to Grandma's house at the end of the street, he was catching on that if you look cute these people just give you candy. He was hooked. As we turned the corner he was pointing out houses with their lights on and not letting us pass one by!
We made our customary lap around the block and thought we were done. But as we walked up to our front steps, Ian wailed "No! I want more candy! That way!" So we emptied his bucket, took a five minute break and set off again (at least this time with the wagon) to gather more candy. He had a blast. We came home, sat on the couch and had our first lessons on Twizzlers versus Hershey bars versus KitKats. Much cow milk was consumed and we did finally convince him to eat some soup versus living on chocolate alone.
When we got home tonight he wanted to put his bee costume back on and parade around the house. It took a bit to convince him to take it off for bed.
So yeah, having a kid makes stuff like this fun again.
Do you remember that scene from the Little Orphan Annie movie where Annie arrives at Daddy Warbucks' house? They give her a tour of the whole mansion and then ask what she would like to do first. Annie looks around in wonder and says something to the effect of "Wow! I think I'll start with the windows and that way if the soap drips, I can use it when I do the floors ..." and everyone laughs and tells her she doesn't have to work at the mansion, she's supposed to live there! I feel like Annie these days. I come home from work and get the boy to bed and then think, "Whew! It's finally the weekend! I can do all the work stuff I don't have time for during the week! Let me find my laptop so I can dig into my emails."
Wheee! Did I mention we're hiring? You know you want to work here. You too can use your company provided MacBook to work nights and weekends!
Enh, it's not that bad but I'm tired and not much fun to be around these days. Rich has been gone this week at Pennsic "playing swords with Travis" and so I've been holding down the fort. And as much as I love our son, he is a full-time job these days to keep up with. I mentioned today that he's sort of like living with someone with bi-polar disorder. One day (or minute) he's all cheery and happy and playing peek-a-boo, the next day (or minute) he's losing his Goddamn mind screaming "NO SHOES!" as if they are made of lava. Sorry, dude, society dictates that you wear shoes to school. My father actually said today that Ian is "demanding" and I just looked at him like "you've totally forgotten everything about what a toddler is, haven't you."
So when I do sit down at night, after packing lunch and washing diapers and taking my shower (optional) and shaving my legs (SUPER optional) and brushing my teeth (more optional than I'd care to admit), all I want to do is watch the Daily Show and go to bed. I'm not reading much, I'm not writing much, I'm not taking photos much. I just don't feel like me.
But I'm still in there somewhere, and I'm hoping to have that part of me come out to play again. Rich will be home within the hour and I'm hoping to catch up on some emails here and there over the weekend. But we're also going to the zoo tomorrow and if things go well we should be able to sleep in a bit.