Family Matters, Week of 10-23-05

Welcome back everybody, you’re a lovely audience. Now, on to the weekly fam report:

Abby

Abby is, at this point, a nicer and calmer version of her three year old sister, just minus the language skills. She certainly understands everything you say to her, but cannot express it herself. Sometimes I wonder what she would say if she had the ability to do so. It’s funny to see her string together sentences through a series of single syllable words and gestures. The other day she told me she peed in her bed by pointing at her diaper and saying “Pee pee” and then pointing at the bed.

I’m thinking by this time next week she’ll be miming how Timmy fell in the well and needs help. Or perhaps I just yearn for old Lassie episodes.

I’m at home today as Ericka had to take a bunch of classes for her job as well as attend Joni’s funeral. With this time I get to see how the kids are during the day and the struggles there-in. Nothing too backbreaking, but in Abby’s case it’s generally a case of Me Too. Annie pottying? Me too. Annie hungry? Me too. Annie raising hell? Yeah, you know what comes next. They seem to fight with one another in volume, sure that the other will somehow demolish their vocal chords so they can be crowned the winner.

Annie

Annie likes to watch a lot of movies. And not just a lot of movies, but a lot of different movies in small bursts. Let’s see, how many movies have we went through today? Well, she made it through all of Aladdin (one of her and my favorites), but just a smidgen of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lion King and now she’s taking in Ice Age. I’m guessing this one will last about 20 minutes or so, when she goes back to hitting Abby with things while I’m not looking.

While this sounds a little doom-and-gloom, parenting isn’t all bad. There’s dirty diapers to change and messes to clean up. You too can parent of two, just follow these easy steps:

– Double Preganancy
– An urge to be poor
– A violent need for humility
– An urge to smell the nastiest things ever created
– A need to feel true, unhindered, screaming, writhing, waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-vomiting love

See? It’s not all bad. Rewarding even.

Ericka (her blog)

So my wife has a death of someone she cares deeply about and I, being the ever-quiet observer am “not considerate of her feelings.” This has to do with my unemotional nature which I’ve written about before and comes to ahead whenever anything emotionally sensitive arises. I’m trying my best to be as concerned as possible, but it’s hard because I just don’t know the deceased. I wish I had, as she sounded like a great person, but with that seperation comes a impartiality that is hard to compensate for.

Ericka, getting back to the subject at hand, is doing a fantastic job considering the circumstances. She’s an amazing woman who, even in times like these, shines as being the much better half of my marriage. I hope she feels better (happier? content?) soon, as I miss the giggly girl who was here just a week or so ago.

Etc

Unfortunately due to me being home today (Ericka had some classes to take and of course the funeral), there are no magical links. I have some lined up, however, and will dish those tomorrow.

Treats you like a puppet when you’re under its spell
Oh the heart is heaven but the mind is hell