Christmas Traditions?

Whew! It's almost 6:00 PM, and I'm finally finished with my day! Merry Christmas, internets!

Do you guys have childhood holiday traditions that you remember fondly? We had a few:

1) We got pajamas (usually matching) on Christmas Eve.

2) We had one present that was open and under the tree on Christmas Day.

3) We weren't allowed to call or visit friends on Christmas at all, unless Christmas fell on a Sunday, in which case we saw people at church because back then, the church of Christ did not cancel services for any reason.

4) We made and left cookies out for Santa.

5) Many years, my dad made fudge from a specific recipe and it had to be done two weeks in advance so it could age to perfection.

My kids? They never know what they're going to get on Christmas.

I love Christmas. I wish I were the kind of person who just went all out on the decorations, inside and out, but I don't for the same reason that I've never just swiped a bunch of stuff off of the mantel and broken it or thrown a water-filled vase at a person during a fight: I think forward to the consequences. And while decking the halls for three days in November might be a lark, removing those festive accoutrements a month later is an absolute bummer. So we do it minimally.

In fact, several years, I've not been able to summon the energy to put up a tree at all. The first year I did this was when D was 1. We'd just gotten back into our house after having rented it out to some people for almost a year, and I was TIRED.

I thought that was a festive enough display, but my sister said it bummed her out. We did go see a lot of Christmas decorations that year, and it was cool. But I was too emotionally exhausted to do more than the above that year.

The next couple of times I didn't put up a tree, I made up for it with paper I could easily recycle after the holiday.

This is 2009:

And then 2014:

Sometimes we're traveling on Christmas. Like in 2008 when we were in Atlanta, or in 2011 when D and I went to Las Vegas, or 2015 when we all visited Flagstaff. We usually open presents on Christmas Day. And I typically make some kind of treat, often holiday-themed.

Yes, I built this design from scratch.

James, D, and I made these together on Christmas Day 2013. It took a village. 

But otherwise, we don't really have a "thing." No Elf on the Shelf. No consistent practices.

Except there is kind of one thing that has become a bit of a "usual." It is true right now. More often than not, I have my decorations down and put away by the end of the day on December 25.

"What?!" you ask. "Scrooge!" you accuse.

No. I just hate having outstanding items on my "to do" list. Actually, I hear a lot of people grouse about having to take their tree down. For me, I just use that Christmas energy and momentum of putting presents in their new homes to keep working until it's ALL done. When D was little, and with Mal now, they've been occupied with new toys. It's the perfect time.

Hopefully I'm teaching my kids by example to go with the flow, and not to feel pressured to perform any holiday activity that they don't want. Sounds good, right??

Scattered Thoughts from a Quick Trip to Wickenburg

Last year, Mal and I went to visit James's mom a couple of weeks before Christmas. This year we went back, and James was able to go with us (he'd just started a new job this time in 2018). We were there for his birthday, and we had a good time visiting. Here are some highlights and non sequiturs from the past few days.

1) The $85 5-year TSA Pre-Check has been a freaking travel game-changer. Thus far, we've only used it to fly to Florida, and then Phoenix twice (and James might have flown a time or two on business)... but, man. James gets stopped for "random" extra scrutiny every dang time we are at the airport, which isn't a great relaxing start (or finish) to what is supposed to be a fun trip. In addition to how easy it is to go through security and move along when you don't have to put your shoes back on and your laptop back in your bag, the fact that there's never a line means that there's no standing in a snaking security line stressing that you might not get to your gate before they give your seat to someone on standby. Five stars. Highly recommend.

2) Technology is great. We parked at The Parking Spot, which allows you to scan your custom QR code to enter and exit, and even to call a shuttle (though we haven't needed that yet, because they've been right there every time so far). We used Avis to rent our car, and though we still did have to pop into the garage-based rental office to swipe a credit card for some reason, we were able to view the reservation, make changes, immediately see the gas fill charge upon return, and we'd even have been able to check the car in ourselves if there hadn't been any attendants in the vicinity. We flew Southwest, and were able to use digital boarding passes; I was able to add all three to my Apple Wallet for easy scanning. We could monitor the flight status, and even watch movies in-flight for free, if we'd wanted. Of course, we used GPS (Waze, typically) for directions.

In the past, I'd print out physical maps, as well as all pertinent reservations emails and numbers and combine them into an exciting (to me, no one else) vacation binder that accompanied me on all trips. I'd fold over a page once it was irrelevant, so I was ready for the next thing. Having it all on a smart phone is another game-changer. I know everyone else has done this for a decade, but I have not. I'm still in the honeymoon phase.

3) Mal didn't want to do anything to pass the time on either flight. He cried when we took off from Austin; he was so scared. He did fine after about ten minutes, but spent the first part of the flight crying that he wanted to go back home (and of course he cried our last night that he wanted to stay in Wickenburg). Other than that, he wouldn't play Lego Star Wars on his iPad. He wouldn't play with any of the activities we'd packed to keep him busy. At one point I asked, "So you want to do nothing but just sit here and complain about how long the flight is and ask how much longer it is?" He affirmed, "Right."

He DID seem to get a kick out of making up stories about what the folks in the safety brochure are doing, saying, and thinking, though.

Really, those pictures are ridiculous.

4) "The Rise of Skywalker" has a lot of similarities to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" (the movie, not the book; though some of it is in the book, too). If you don't want any spoilers, move on to the next item. I'll try to be as vague as possible, but wanted to list the things that made me go, "OMG, it always goes back to Harry Potter!"
a) A main character and a conversation with a deceased person: Basically both deadies said, "Just because it's in your mind doesn't mean it's not real."
b) Death of a baddie: Hero refuses to actively murder the bad guy, who ends up killing self by rebound... including disintegrating into ash or something! (Which I HATED in HP but was okay with here, because I didn't have a book to compare it to.)
c) Randoms show up to turn the tide; even those who didn't want to get involved originally. "That's not an army; that's just people."
d) Hero has formerly unknown close physical connection to baddie that meant the hero could choose the same path to "ultimate" power.
e)

Also: Thanks, Star Wars franchise, for keeping the important aspect of family members smooching each other alive. Was really afraid that died in "A New Hope." But no. Nice bookend. /s

5) Here are some pictures from our trip that you can scroll through and make the above references disappear from your browser window!

Happy birthday, James! It's number forty-eight!

Our house from the air! It took two hours to get there from the time I took this picture.

6) Our last night in the hotel, I packed up what I could and set the carry-on in the floor, opened until we finished adding stuff the next morning. Moments later, I freaking ran into one of the wheels with the SAME TOE I injured on our cruise. It was just finished healing after nearly nine months! Now it's purple again, and super tender. I really do have spatial issues with my feet and protruding wheels. Darn.

But, I was pretty excited that we fit all of our gear for a 4-night trip in one carry-on and backpacks for us all (my backpack is my purse, and I only put my laptop in in addition to my normal stuff). Mal didn't use his backpack much at all, so I probably won't worry about lugging that around on our next trip.

7) Mal woke up with a sinus infection/ish the last night, as well. He was coughing something terrible, and couldn't breathe when he laid down. He didn't have a fever, so I wasn't too worried (although someone with measles traveled through our airport on December 17, two days before we did! So if we'd had an accompanying fever, I would have been more concerned... even though it was technically too early for symptoms to present); but I hated his being so uncomfortable. I guess he's going to be like D, who gets sick every time we travel somewhere dry. I knew he'd have a hard time last night, too, but expected it to be more of the same, with the coughing. Instead, he just woke up weeping two or three times. It is so sad! I just gave him some water and hugged him and kept asking if he could tell me what was wrong. He could only say, "I love you so much." Hopefully tonight will be easier on everyone.

8) This is not a separate thought, but it's not connected to 7 so I wanted to differentiate it. We had a nice time and I'm glad James got to visit with his mom this time. They even had a special night out to go see Star Wars... Mal and I ended up seeing it, but we weren't sure that would be the case as the local theater didn't indicate that they'd be showing the movie at all until a week or so out, and even then, they don't presell tickets. I think we spent more time indoors as it was a bit cooler this visit, but we still visited three parks, including one we didn't get to last year. We spent significantly less time at the labyrinth that Mal loves. He also stayed with Ronnie and Patsy one evening while James and I went out to dinner, so that was cool.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

PS Yesterday was the 9-year "gotcha" anniversary for Rudy and Carol!

SPEAKING OF SPENDING MONEY...

Hey-o! Guess what I'm doing right now?

Blogging.

Ha, yeah, smart aleck. Guess what else.

Give up?

Okay, I'm sitting in the BK inside of Walmart waiting for my tire repair or replacement... not sure which, so it's very suspenseful. Or it will be in an hour and a half; it really just depends on when they get to it. But truthfully, I'm glad they are able to get to it today. It's 4:30 and they close at 6, so we got it in just under the wire.

Not sure what happened to the tire, but I heard it deflating in our driveway when I was outside emptying the back to go wash and vacuum it. I just thought I was hearing a neighbor in his workshop using some kind of air pump. Sigh.

I got down to the stop sign leading to the highway when I realized that the steering was hard and that I heard gravel scrape when I took off, which isn't normal.

I did use my tire pump -- Did we discuss that? I bought one because my tires like to sigh a few pounds of pressure when it drops below freezing -- but as soon as I removed the air pump, the tire started deflating again.

THEN we tried to take the tire off so I could bring it in the other car, but those lug nuts were ON.

Oh, funny story: I also found, as I looked for the repair stuff to remove the tire, that my car CAME WITH A REPAIR PUMP. So I guess I'm giving mine to James, and I don't feel nearly as clever anymore, and I've wasted probably $15 on pay-air, as well as many minutes looking for a pump that would take a credit card.

Oh well. Again, the timing was pretty good because James is home and can stay with Mal, and because it didn't happen when the car was parked at the airport and we were out of town or something.

But also, it PROBABLY happened because I drove over something that is a result of all of the construction around my house. If that ends up being the case, I'm going to take a circuitous route home until they're done. They're usually really good about cleaning up, though, so that might be a coincidence.

We got out this morning to go to "brunch" at Mighty Fine. I tried their fried avocado burger. OH MY GOODNESS. Yes, get it all the way, even with the jalapeño mayo. SO delicious.

We'd taken separate cars so I could get D's Christmas present. You'd be surprised, but it fit in my wee Fiat 500L.

1) Yes, I know my car is dirty. I was on my way to wash and vacuum it when I realized the tire was flat.

2) Either it's just SUPER HOT AND HUMID or I'm having my first hot flash today. This morning, it was in the mid-60s, but felt so so gross. I'd dressed for like actual fall, and had a flannel shirt on over this tank top. I shed the flannel at the restaurant, took off my socks, and rolled up my jeans so they looked like pedal-pushers. I'm sure I look like a dork all the time, but I refuse to be uncomfortable. I don't see how kids who wear hoodies all of the time manage. I was about to freak out.

After grabbing the bike at Target, I went to Kohl's to pick up my free clothes. Yeah, you heard me. Remember the air fry oven thing we bought? I got $45 Kohl's cash back for purchasing it and ordered a few shirts online. I elected to pick them up at the store to save the $8 shipping, but NEVER AGAIN. This was easily one of the worst retail experiences I've had in a long time.

I placed the order, got the notice that my stuff was in, and went to pick it up. Apparently, they only had 2 of the items that I'd ordered for same-day pickup. Two were actually out of stock and canceled, and one was being shipped to the store. Well, duh. I wouldn't have gone to pick it up if I'd known there was more, and probably would have canceled the order altogether.

Also, when I went to pick it up, they'd moved the pick-up area away from the customer service desk and into the middle of men's sportswear, where there was nothing but a VERY mobile stand that Mal could barely look at or it would zoom across the carpet. The lady wasn't super enthusiastic about retrieving my order, and it took long enough that I easily could have just shopped myself.

Regardless, I went home and ordered two more shirts to replace the ones that had been canceled. I got one pick-up notice immediately, but had learned my lesson. It took a week, but then I got a notice for the second one... only. And a few days later, the third. So I went in today, and waited for my turn (they're extremely busy, as you might imagine... also, they've moved pick-up back to the customer service desk), and found out... THEY CAN ONLY SCAN ONE BARCODE AND PICK UP ONE THING AT A TIME.

Like, I get if I'd made a bunch of orders that I'd get multiple pick-up emails and have to deal with it. But initially, I only made ONE order, which resulted in FOUR DIFFERENT pick-up times and emails. So this woman scanned my first one, went back to get it. Her counterpart scanned my next one and went back to get IT. Then when she got back, she scanned my third. He brought the last two up, and I asked if he'd informed her. I imagine he did not and she's still back there searching for my shirt.

What is wrong with you, Kohl's? This is not a way to do business. $8 for shipping seems like a bargain now. Maybe that was the point?

I'd planned to go by World Market to get the rest of the kids' stocking-stuffers, since we'll be busy and traveling soon so this is my last time alone to prepare for Christmas. But I was so hot and irritated, I went home to put on shorts and then go wash/vacuum the car and hit Dollar General, which has the LEGO-esque gummy bricks that Mal loves. I was going to go to the drug store for James, too... but, tire squash.

Don't be jealous of my relaxing Sunday. I'm just glad I got so much sleep last night; I was ready.

Also, after having eaten that avocado sandwich, I don't feel like I'll ever be hungry again.

OH! Update on the septic: We didn't build over it. It's basically ON the property line, which should mean it wouldn't pass inspection, but it did. Maybe it got grand-fathered? Anyway, we're pouring root kill down it every three months now because where it is is ridiculous. The end.

ALSO, also... there's a lady here I often see at the McDonald's across the way. I suspect she's maybe homeless, and she's also extremely clean. But her clothes are worn in a way that it seems like she'd replace them if she could. I've tried to speak with her before, but she's quiet. It might just be that she's lonely. About half the time, she sits in the kids' area at the McD's, which I'd never do on purpose if I didn't have a children. I've dropped off gift cards to her before, but wish I could think of a better way to reach out. Any ideas?

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems... Not Really

We purchased our house just about three years ago. So it is that everything is renewable this time of year: pest and termite plan, homeowner's insurance, flood insurance, quarterly waste removal. Also, my automobile registration renewal. Since we're arriving at our home-owning anniversary, we are celebrating tomorrow with the emptying of our septic tank.

I had a septic tank at my house in Sherman; we lived there for seven years and didn't do boo to it, which brings me to a point I'd like to make: Life is cheaper in the long run for people who have enough wiggle room to do preventative maintenance. In Sherman, we got lucky, I suppose, that our tank functioned as it was supposed to for nearly a decade. Although it's only about $500 to have a septic tank emptied as a routine, once you have backing-up-into-the-house mess, it can be ten times that much.

I kind of understand the idea that when you are not "rich," life can be simpler. I never truly wanted for much when we were on a very tight budget. There were times I'd have liked to have gotten D bigger, nicer "stuff," but also had fun finding super bargains and leveraging mystery shops and other side hustles into surprises here and there.

However, it's just so much less stressful not living on the razor's edge of poverty. I got pulled over yesterday and released with only a warning (a benefit, I believe, of being an older lady) and although I was annoyed with myself for not noticing that I was doing 12 over, I was not particularly concerned about the financial impact of any ticket I might get. I remember having a near-nervous breakdown after having gotten a $200 ticket in Las Vegas when I was single. Paying it would have required making money materialize out of nowhere. I think I ended up using a credit card and was perpetually a few hundred dollars behind, which I HATED.

In addition to the house stuff, I just bought my first set of multi-focal lenses (for which our insurance paid some, but not most). D has started with a new therapist and we've had expensive intake sessions (again, yes, insurance... and it's good. It covers mental health. But not all.).

It seems like this happens every year: It feels like we're just hemorrhaging cash. And that is anxiety-inducing to me, just out of habit. Then it's a little disconcerting when we get to the end of the run... and it's fine. I don't ever want to waste money. I budget and try to spend wisely. Also, some of the stuff we're spending on is just fun: I recently paid a major part of our 2020 family vacation. We're getting ready to take a short trip where we'll have hotel and car rental expenses.

That's good; I guess it's all good, actually. It's good to keep our house up and functional (having taken a bath on the sale of the Sherman house, I have experienced first-hand the downside to ignoring maintenance).

In short, I'll just go ahead and confirm what people who are poor suspect: It's a lot nicer to have at least a little bit more money. It's nice to be able to tell my kids "yes." It's nice not to have to double up on the wash loads at the laundromat so you can have enough left over for a single soda. It's nice that I don't have to ignore those boards that have rotted through. It's nice to have the freedom to be somewhat generous. To have a routine check-up or dental cleaning as an option.  It's a lot less stressful. (And a study has shown a money/happiness correlation... to a point.)

I guess maybe the problem comes with making or having a *lot* of money, and then feeling like you have to live a certain lifestyle. I can see that being a joy suck.

I don't totally know what I'm trying to say here. I sometimes wonder if there would be a point at which I would stop really noticing out-going money from our household. If there is, we haven't reached it yet. I'll be glad when the bills die down a bit in a month or so. We'll be fine, of course, but right now, I'm really feeling it.

EDIT THE NEXT MORNING: I awoke today with the horrible thought of what if we built the pigeon loft on top of the septic clean-out?! We avoided every visible clean-out, but what if we missed "the big one"?? Stay tuned...

"The Talk" (But Not That One)

MAL: When I'm a grown-up, I'm still going to go to Urban Air.

ME: Cool! Grown-ups like to jump on trampolines, too. You always see them at Altitude and Jump Street.

MAL: When I'm a grown-up and I go to Jump Street, I'm still going to use Earthquake only.

ME: Well, you can do the bounce houses, but you can't do the trampolines once you're taller than 48 inches.

MAL: (bursts into tears) I don't want to get taller! I hate changes! Changes are terrible!

ME: Changes can be difficult, but change can be really good.

MAL: No! If you love me, you'll say that change is bad.

ME: I can't say that all change is just bad.

MAL: Then you don't love me!

ME: I love you a whole lot, but I also appreciate change. For instance, if it weren't for changes, I'd still be married to D's dad, and your dad and I wouldn't have gotten married, and we wouldn't have you!

MAL: (hollering in grief) I wish dads didn't even exist!!!

ME: What? Why?!

MAL: So I could marry you!

ME: I love you, but you couldn't marry me, anyway. It's against the law for parents and their children to marry. Do you know what getting married means?

MAL: *noncommittal mumbling*

ME: It means that you find someone who's not already part of your family, and you say, "We're going to be together forever and be a family." And you got born into our family, so we'll be together forever, anyway!

I have no idea how these conversations get from Point A to where they end up. The night before, I was cleaning up the kitchen while Mal stood beside me with his computer, wailing about something hypothetical that had saddened him. I literally said, "What is happening? I don't understand what is going on here" about six times, but I think it probably fifteen times a day.

My Eyes!

It was 1979, in second grade, when I began wearing prescription eyeglasses to correct mild myopia. I'd loved the fashion frames I'd seen at Osco Drugs, and often wished I needed to wear the cool accessories.

The novelty of actually needing glasses quickly wore off, especially as my vision deteriorated and the lenses got thicker. As I got older, I felt like no one realized how pretty my eyes were because they were obscured behind "Coke bottle" bottoms.

I became interested in the theater in 9th grade, when I ended up in an upperclassman production at my private school, courtesy of my having thrown up in PE after having begged my PE teacher to let me stop running as I was having an asthma attack and his insisting I "run it off." I guess the principal of the school decided at that point I'd be better suited for the dramatic arts.

In that play, I had to remove my glasses during performances so they wouldn't reflect the lights and hide my emotive eyes, as they did in daily life.

That performance was a roller coaster, because I genuinely cannot see without corrective lenses. Over that summer, my parents allowed me to get contact lenses, a year earlier than the previously-stated 16-year-old rule. Yay!

For years, I kept my contact solution in my bedside table, taking my contacts out right before I went to sleep, and putting my contacts in before my feet hit the floor in the morning. In college, I developed some eye problems and an optometrist told me that if I didn't start wearing glasses a few hours a day, I could expect not to be able to wear contacts anymore after another couple of years.

It's always felt like my eyes were a bit of a time bomb. Well before my dad was the age I am now, he'd had glaucoma, cataracts, and two of his three retinal detachments. I made it a point to wear glasses a few hours as night, and as long as I could in the morning, because I did not want to go back to wearing glasses full-time. I still had some self-consciousness about wearing glasses even that little; I didn't want my husband to look me in the eye and would often take glasses off to have a deep conversation, even though that meant having to guess at facial expressions.

One cool thing has happened as I've aged, and apparently it's typical: My far-out vision has improved.  Until I turned 46 about a year and a half ago, I never had a problem seeing things close-up, either. In fact, I made fun of James having difficulty with a game we played in Haiti that required reading a small word through a clear plastic window.

However, within weeks (maybe days?) of my 46th birthday, I suddenly found that it wasn't as easy to read magazines as it had been before. Whereas I could always make out print in low light, now I needed brightness. I eventually bought a couple of pair of cheaters at Walgreen's (Is Osco even a thing anymore?), and that was fine... until my close-in vision got bad enough that I thought I finally needed to get multi-focal glasses to wear.

When I have my contacts in, it's no big deal to put on reading glasses. But once I take my contacts out, when I need to read, I have to take my glasses off and hold whatever it is about two inches from my eyeballs. That doesn't really work with a laptop.

So I had a plan to set an appointment with an optometrist. I just didn't do it for the longest time.

THEN I started having problems with my eyes again. It always felt like there was something in my left eye. I'd take out my contact, wash it, put it back in. I'd switch contacts (they were the same prescription). I'd get new ones. But my left eye always seemed to have this greasy film, which I began to realize had nothing to do with my contact; it just bothered me more when I had my contacts in.

I was wearing my contacts less, and was afraid we might be hitting that "you're just too old for contacts" age.

And I set an appointment for the eye doctor.

The night before, I was lying in Mal's room with the lights off, looking in the general direction of the smoke alarm, when I realized that I couldn't see the light on it with my left eye if I was looking straight at it. When I looked away, my peripheral vision picked it up. I tried this with other light sources in the darkened room, to the same effect. Was it retinal? Ugh, I hoped not.

My appointment was the day before Thanksgiving. Several decades ago, my dad woke up on Thanksgiving day unable to see out of one eye. His retina had detached, and though he didn't know it, he did know he wouldn't be able to see a doctor until Monday. He also knew that my mom would be extremely worried... so he didn't say a word about it all weekend! And I hoped that this wasn't going to be a new family tradition.

At my appointment, we did all of the things, including having my pupils dilated for the first time in probably 20 years. Fortunately, the "thing" in my left eye is just a clump of floaters that piled up and are sitting on the edge of my macula, so whereas most floaters eventually... well, float out of my line of vision, these don't.

The optometrist did ask when I started noticing floaters, and that seemed like a funny question because I don't remember ever not having them. When I was a little kid and was bored in church or trying to fall asleep, I'd play "chase" with the floaters. If you don't have them, this probably makes no sense. It would look like I was just rolling my eyes and having a fit or something. Or watching a moth. Anyway, I guess floaters usually age-related, but it seems like I've always had them.

He said that it might take a few weeks or a few months, but eventually gravity would pull them down further, they'd break up, and my vision would return to normal. It's still annoying, but now I know I don't need to worry about them so it's easier to try not to think about it and eventually I stop noticing it.

Also, I have developed a pronounced astigmatism in my right eye, that has become worse than the one in my left eye that I've known about for decades. So he changed my prescription in my left eye, and it's the lowest powered contact I've ever worn.

I did get a prescription for multi-focal glasses for the first time ever. Mal helped me pick out some cool purple bejeweled frames, and now we're just waiting for them to come back from the magic glasses factory.

He did say that I have a bit more discoloration in my retina than you'd expect in a person my age (BECAUSE I'M SO YOUNG), which isn't a surprise given genetics. I'm going back in three months to see if it's pretty much the same or if it's changed, so we'll know what we're dealing with.

Otherwise, my eyes are really healthy, and that's good to know.

Oh! I did change to daily wear contacts, which I can only afford because James has a good job. If that ever changes, I'll have to do more extended-wear but I'm loving these. I haven't had to use allergy eye drops since I got them, and I was using them every other day or so.

This reminds me of a question I have: Why are daily-wear contacts so much cheaper per lens than extended-wear? Like, I get that extended-wear need to be more durable... but they're 20x more expensive, or more... and that doesn't make sense to this lay person. If you know, please educate me!

That Time of the Year (when living in Austin really rocks!)

We've been enjoying the Austin fall over the past couple of weeks.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we went to Laguna Gloria for the first time. The sculptures are really neat, but it's just a beautiful place to visit, even if the campus didn't have a bunch of art work.

But, yeah, the sculptures are pretty phenomenal. This is all roasting pans!

Then after we were totally ready for Thanksgiving, Wednesday night we went to Mozart Coffee Roasters for their annual holiday light show.

Mal was having fun. He just likes to look pained or shocked in pictures. We don't know where he gets his weirdness.

Thanksgiving (with my parents and sister's family, which was great) was drizzly and cool, but even that couple of days produced some nice outdoor time.

I took those pictures on "Black Friday" and the following picture the very next day, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I'd planned to take Mal to the Christmas parade downtown Austin on Saturday morning, but he didn't wake up until 10:40, and the parade (a good 35 minutes away, plus parking and getting to the street) started at 11. I have my "Never wake the baby" rule still in full affect... which means we also didn't make it to church Sunday.

We managed to have a pretty nice day, though. Mal wanted to put up the Christmas tree, so we did that. And then we went to Jump Street (we have so many coupons and points from booking Mal's party, we haven't paid for him to jump since he turned 5); then we ran by Sprouts to get some food for a newly practically-vegetarian D.

Headphones and knee braces. Because that's how he rolls. Err, jumps.

Monday was absolutely gorgeous. My parents drove down, and we went into Austin for one of the things I'd planned to do Saturday: the Four Seasons gingerbread village! We did that, visited Voodoo Donut, then went to the Capitol (no trees in the chambers as of December 1), and visited my sister at her office... without paying for parking! Lucky day!

In the afternoon, Mal took advantage of the gorgeous day to play with his water gun outside.

Then today, it was warm enough to open the windows and let some fresh air (and music from the adjacent home construction sites) into the house. After some down time this morning, we went over to Lago Vista to order my new multi-focal (yay, being old!) glasses, check the pet supply store, and grab a few groceries I didn't realize we needed on Sunday night. Then Mal met his friend at the park after Alexei got out of school. We got to watch the fire department/EMTs doing some training on the rescue boat.

Yes, this is Day 2 on the Star Wars sweat shirt.

You really have to remember stretches of beauty like these when it's August 20 and you're not quite mid-way through the three-digit temperatures with 80+% humidity (and, yes, I realize that Houston and Florida are WAY worse).

Now it's almost midnight and I'm trying to convince Mal that, instead of bringing him a blanket here at the kitchen table, we should just go on to bed. Oh! It worked!

The Way Mal Talks

My son expresses himself often, and often humorously.

Last night, he was lying in his twin bed, almost perpendicular to the "right" way, and inching toward the foot of the bed. He has fallen off many times before, so I said, "I'm going to get you back to your pillow" before grabbing him under his arms and pulling him up. Mal said, "I don't like dealing with these things."

The day before, I'd had a dream that he and I were driving in Phoenix and when we were stopped at a stop light, a guy tried to get into the back seat because he thought we were his Uber. When I told Mal about it, he said, "I didn't want to hear that. I don't like lame stories."

If you're getting the impression that Mal doesn't like a whole lot of things, you'd be right. He doesn't like food he's never eaten before, which really limits what we can put in front of him to consume. In fact, though, he doesn't like or eat many foods he HAS liked and eaten in the past. But he definitely likes mashed potatoes; especially at 10:30 at night.

On Thanksgiving, we were at my parents when Mal needed to go to the restroom but thought the guest bath was occupied. It wasn't; someone had turned on the fan and shut the door behind them. Regardless, he apparently went just a bit, enough that it trickled down one leg. He tiptoed, bow-legged, into the living room, announcing, "Mom, I seem to have gotten myself into a situation."

-- It is now the following day, Sunday, December 1. Last night, James and I watched "Flight of the Navigator" with Malcolm. He started sobbing, tears streaming, when David finally got onto the space ship. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "Why isn't he home yet? He needs to be home!" He asked us to turn the movie off and to read a book, which is something he NEVER does. I would have if the movie were fatalistic or objectively scary, but I really wanted him to see that it turns out well.

He did say once, "I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm just so sad for him."

Then when David saw his brother's fireworks from the sky (sorry if you haven't seen it and that's a spoiler), Mal cried even harder. "I'm so happy! He's going home!"

This sweet kid will watch Star Wars at a rate of about two full movies a week, over and over. But he is overwhelmed by a kid who just wants to be with his parents and can't.

After the movie, we DID read a book. Mal had gotten his first issue of High Five from Highlights. We read almost the whole thing, but when we got to the page with the "recipe" for a breakfast hot dog, Mal wanted to make it. We didn't have anything necessary for it, but it was only about 9:00 PM, so I took him to the nearest grocery store to stock up on fruit and to get hot dog buns.

We drove around the lake park on the way home, looking at the lighted Christmas decorations. He asked me if there were any more "Flight of the Navigator" movies, and I told him no. He said, "Good." I asked him about Star Wars. He said, "I like Star Wars, but I don't like the deaths, and that's why I don't want to watch the part with Darth Maul." I remembered that he does avoid the scenes where, for instance, Yoda dies -- of the most natural cause of age. So I said, "You know those are actors and no one really dies? They're telling a story, and they film it, pretending to die, then once the movie is made, the actor hops back up and is fine." I'm not 100% sure he's clear on that, so we'll have to talk about it some more.

Although the magazine recipe called for a hot dog made with peanut butter, berries, and granola, Mal only wanted the banana, yogurt (as ketchup), apple (as mustard), and grapes (as relish). He did eat a few blueberries on the side (as soda). Here it is: