One of those days (actually, it was pretty great... but I'm tired!)

This morning, Mal slept until a bit after 7, the latest he's slept since the time change last week. He had also stayed up until well after 8 the night before, which was the latest he's made it since the same event.

I had a busy day planned, trying to stay out of the house so James could write for NaNoWriMo, but we decided to go out to breakfast together (meaning the three of us, since Daphne doesn't get up that early ever ever ever). We decided on Kerbey Lane, and James took Mal downstairs and got him into his car seat. As he was going so, we heard a "thud." James' brand new, meticulously-researched and long-awaited phone had dropped out of his hoodie pocket. He didn't tell me until later, but the fall chipped two corners of the screen, as he doesn't have a case yet.

I told James I needed to stop by the bank for cash first, so I might be a couple of minutes after him, then we left in separate cars. As I reached into my purse at the ATM, I realized something; I'd forgotten my brand spanking new camera, which I adore. It has 65x zoom, and I was so looking forward to getting some good pictures at the Austin Indian Powwow. I drove across the street to Kerbey Lane, and called James on the off chance that he'd gone back upstairs for an umbrella or something. I asked him where he was, and when he said, "Bee Caves near Batteries Plus," I just thought, "I don't remember seeing a store on that street," but I was thinking of OLD Bee Caves road, or I would have known something was up.

"How did you get there so much faster than I did?" James asked. I gave him a throw-away reason, but the truth would probably be more like this: I drive like a bat out of hell, and James drives like your grandpa.

I told him I'd just go home and get the camera, but after making a u-turn realized that if I did that, I'd have to get Mal out of his car seat just to run up for the camera, and it was just a big stupid thing; I was so close to all of my morning destinations and I just didn't want to go back out to the apartments.

I had to do a little mental self-talk as I made another u-turn to get back to the restaurant. I don't have to take pictures of everything. It's okay not to have a pictorial record of some things. Chill out. They'll have another powwow next year, and it might be easier to take pictures when Mal's bigger, and maybe someone else is with me. (Although, if it's November and I go in the morning, that's probably unlikely.)

When we got to Kerbey Lane, it was busy and I mentally kicked myself in the butt for not coming in the first time to get our name on the list. I finally did, and they said it'd be 15-20 minutes. They use a texting system to let you know when your table is ready, so I pulled my phone out and saw a message from James. He was wondering where I was. He had gone to the Kerbey Lane on Capital of Texas Highway instead of the one on William Canon, which apparently Waze didn't want to admit existed. I told him where I was and he said he could be there before we were seated.

I decided to let Mal play in the van until he got there, and we were on our way to the car, walking in the pouring rain, when I got the text that our table was ready, barely three minutes after I'd put my name on the list. Mmmkay.

The hostess got a high chair for Mal, but I let him stand in the booth next to me and I ordered his food right away. We have to use the high chairs strategically, only seating him when we need our arms free to eat.

Mal played, ate some crayons, might or might not have mouthed the salt and pepper shakers (the pepper shaker was a mistake, said his face), and ate some of the snacks I'd brought him. James did arrive before Mal's breakfast, and we enjoyed some awesome fried avocado Benedict, although we had to juggle our son a lot, and move around the things on the table an awful lot, and he ate about a cup of raisins.

Oh, when our meals came, I sat Mal in his high chair before realizing that the buckle was missing. James held Mal while I went to get another high chair. Brought it back, sat Mal down, and it had both sides of the buckle, but it didn't snap shut. I carried Mal back to the high chairs, set him in a third one, and buckled it. Good. It snapped.

Unfortunately, the side into which it snapped was cracked, and by the time we got back to the table, Mal was plenty mad about being jammed into high chair after high chair. This time, James went to the stash and found one that did work properly. Even it held Mal for about 3 minutes. He was just done.

I went out to the car, forgetting the diaper changing pad that had all of our booty-cleaning supplies, but fortunately James caught me in the parking lot before I left. Then Mal and I headed to our church's holiday bazaar.

There was a lot of cool stuff, and a very sweet lady offered to let Mal sit at a table with her while I shopped. He seemed really to want to do that, but then he'd get up and try to unplug the heat lamp they had warming a scented candle. At one point, when I was browsing, Mal grabbed a beautifully-knitted stuffed bunny, put its nose in his mouth, hugged it, then threw it on the floor. So, it was ours. I'm hoping it will be his transitional object.

I also got an insulated casserole carrier which I actually needed, but sort of had to get because it was made with this awesome fabric that has 1950s-looking RVs and people on it. So cute. Also, some nut-free fudge because James bought a bunch of nutted up fudge (with my blessing, but, dude, I hate it; however, I love him) when we had access to seconds at the unschooling convention.

I'd have loved to look at more things more closely, but... baby. So, I bought my stuff and promised to come back if I could find someone to come with me or on whom I could pawn off the sweet thing for an hour. Spoiler alert: did not happen.

Because he had some energies, before our next event, I took Mal to "his" gym. It was Dadurday all up in there. I've learned that Saturday is Dadurday and national holidays are take-your-grandkids-to-gym days. Every gym day is mommy day for us. Mal played a while, then we headed a couple of blocks over to the arena for the Austin Powwow.

When we got there, it was raining, and we had to park quite a way from the entrance. Mal was fascinated with puddles. Once we got into the gate (where there were no vehicles), he immediately kneeled down and put his face into one. An elderly gentleman passing by asked, "Is he trying to drink that water?" I said, "Yes, yes he is. He sees the dogs do it, so he does it." Of course, I meant "cats." I have brain issues when I'm tired.

Mal also sat in a puddle directly, so when I carried him indoors, we were both pretty damp. He loved the music and we were sitting up high in the stands where it appeared that other parents of littles had decided we'd all be out of the way. Our kids begged and shared food, took turns hanging out with adults they had not brought, and played together/parallel to one another. There are long breaks between songs as emcees explain what is going on, and I learned a lot.

I even cried a little bit. First, just seeing a culture so lovingly maintained. I have no idea from where my family hails, and we have no old world traditions (except for holidays that are pretty widespread). These are peoples who value their languages and lifestyles and don't want them lost to the future. Also, the kids next to us all had giant turkey legs and the smell was getting to me, as it made me miss Daphne!

After that, we came home and Mal fell asleep in the car. I figured we had about two hours of quiet and there was much I needed to get done on my computer. However, it was being stubborn and after nearly half an hour of motors grinding, I rebooted. That process took fifteen minutes. Then Flash kept stopping and wouldn't restart. By the time I got my issues worked out, Mal had awoken. He was still in nap mode, so I nursed him back to sleep. But that took ten minutes or so. I sat back down to figure out what to do first, and by the time I'd opened a couple of browser windows and had sent a message to a friend, Mal was awake awake. It had been barely an hour.

Mal has gotten into the habit of crying to get up on the bar stools because he thinks we're going to let him play with our computers. We're not, but we've both made the mistake of letting him bang around a couple of times, and now we're paying for it. We've decided to be mean and just say no, all the time, for any reason. He can't get into James' office. He can't use my laptop. And he's not happy.

I felt gypped out of my "midday break" and felt my emotional energy bottoming out as Mal continued to fuss. James asked what he could do to help, and there wasn't anything. I was trying to give him this day to write, but things weren't working out to cooperate.

Eventually, we all hung out as a family, ate some lunch, and then took a walk to the mailbox together. James wore Mal! Mal thought it was very funny, being in the carrier somewhere else besides on my chest. He returned home in a much cheerier mood.

There was a fall festival that started at 3. I waited around, killing time while he was entertaining himself, until a bit after 4, and then we went.

The festival was fun, but it made me happy yet again that I'm not in a megachurch. I appreciated their hospitality, though. Mal rode his first and second carnival rides, and he loved them!

Swing!

Teacup! (More like spitoon)

Other than that, he had fun just walking around, dancing to music, and eating a brat from Best Wurst. We had a nice time, it was chilly and windy, and Mal seems to agree with me that it's the best weather ever.

When we got home, he had a good-natured hour or so with his dad, took a bath, we video-chatted with his grandma, and then he came quietly and compliantly to bed. He's awakened once already but is back to sleep. And, guess what? I'm tired! Also, I haven't done that stuff I wanted to do earlier, but it requires brainpower I don't have anymore.

Maybe tomorrow, right? Hope springs eternal...