Yuck, yuck, yuck

MacTroll got home last night at 5:30. His belly was all distended, so he went upstairs to put comfy clothes on. Then he cam downstairs. While X-man and I ate food he just kept drinking ginger ale. Then at 9 p.m. when I took X-man up to bed, MacTroll started vomiting. He did it two hours after that, and two hours after that.

I feel terrible (because I hate vomiting) for him. But I'm also scared to death X-man or I will get whatever stomach bug it is. So now after missing MacTroll while he was in California this week, we have to stay away from him even longer.

Wrestler

I had a crap day on Thursday. Nothing went right. It was a lot of drama. Today was much better, and I'm so looking forward to the weekend even though the weather is supposed to be crappy.

If it's not storming tomorrow, I'm driving to Kennekuk Cove Park to do a 7.1-mile trail run around Lake Mingo. If it is storming... I'm heading to the track.

X-man has a birthday party at 1 p.m. and at 2 p.m. I'm taking Riley to the ASPCA to be part of a study. I'm excited to see how he does as a problem-solver dog... especially when I'm not in the room. Since he's learned how to open all the kitchen cabinets and drawers in our house, I'm rather proud of my sneaky, old dog.

Then on Sunday, I'm headed to D-town to have lunch with my friend Capt. Patrick.

Today's excitement was the random storm that kicked up as I was cleaning up X-man's inflatable pool. The wind gusts kicked in just as it was emptied... and I had to use all of my body to get the thing (which is like a huge plastic kite when empty and in 40 mph gusts) into the garage.

Fred Flintstone, where can I get your car?

I picked up X-man in the bike trailer yesterday. Yes, he's really too big for it. So today, I broke down and ordered him a Schwinn bike component that attaches to mine. (I was too cheap to purchase the Trail-a-bike. I figured I have a Schwinn from Target, it'll do fine until he's big enough to keep up on his own bike.)

Anyway, on our way to the Savoy Rec Center's Wild and Wacky Wednesday (which is strangely only one Wednesday a month rather than every Wednesday), we passed a Twike.

The two people in it were pedaling and they had their hands up like they were in a roller coaster having a blast. They were followed by two other cyclists. I smiled at them and the dude yelled, "You need to get one of these!"

I laughed because I had been investigating something a little less modern (i.e. without any kind of electric engine). I'd been wondering about those multi-person bike cars that you see when you're on vacation. We used to see them all the time from the bike rental place in Rondeau when I was a kid.

And I thought, I could just throw my kid in and take it up to Schnuck's or the back roads to Meijer. No gas, lots of exercise... and X-man and MacTroll could get in on it, too. But I don't think I'd ever have the guts to take it up Prospect or Mattis or any other busy street... because let's face it, getting crashed into would not be fun, and we don't have double wide bike trails.

Plus, wouldn't you pay money to see me dropping off MacTroll at the airport in it rather than his blue sports car? He'd be all red-faced and embarrassed like some teenage son getting dropped off in the family minivan at the mall in front of his peeps.

If only they didn't cost thousands of dollars...

A Sense of Belonging

I've been noticing lately that X-man has inherited a lot of my social skills. He plays with everyone. He wants everyone to like him. He identifies a handful of people that he really thinks of as good people to play with. Sometimes he'll designate someone as a best friend one day and then freak out about how that little friend doesn't seem to like him at all the next. Social anxiety has taken ahold of my four year old, and, of course, he perceives everything from his point of view. That is, X-man believes himself to be good and just and a good friend and when something goes wrong, it is, of course, everyone else's fault. 

I know this is an issue some people carry with them into their forties, which, as disconcerting as that is, is something I don't think will evolve with him. But what I worry about is the hunt for a soulmate. The one friend, the best friend, who you know you can turn to over your entire relationship and he or she will be there arms open. Someone who gives as much to the relationship as you do, and is able to reap as many benefits from your shared time together. 

He appears to be on a hunt for someone like that. He brings up that other children have siblings from time to time and he feels like they always have a playmate. I think he sees enough playmates and friends throughout the week, but he doesn't seem to like to play alone any more -- not even for a moment. And he used to not care at all. 

The hard part is that last week he hugged me and said, "Mommy, you're my best friend." I had to tell him that I loved him, too, but that I wasn't his best friend. I was his Mommy, and that I was going to make some decisions that he would find wildly unpopular from time to time that would confirm that I was not a friend. He looked at me quizzically and then said, "Daddy, is your best friend. I need to find a Daddy friend." 

"Sounds good."

Review of Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore

While we were on vacation MacTroll and I decided that while our niece and nephews were in school and MacTroll's brother and SIL were working we'd take X-man to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. He's been "Under-the-Sea" crazy for a while now, but we decided against the National Aquarium (one of our favorite aquariums) because adult tickets are $30 each and children are $25. Instead, we went to the Port Discovery Children's Museum just down the street. We figured there'd be more for X-man to climb and play on, and we could each get in there for $13... which meant we could have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards (See where our priorities are?). If you have a reciprocal membership through your local children's museum, Port Discovery qualifies as an Association of Children's Museums Member (which makes it free for you).

Anyway, as far as Children's Museum's go Port Discovery was a nice change. We caught the end of their Curious George exhibit, got to see a new remodeled pretend play "Diner" area and X-man thought their mini soccer field (similar to the mini hockey rink at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto) was pretty fun.

They had similar exhibits to other museums like a car you can gas up and pretend to put air in the tires. There was a play grocery store, and, of course, the obligatory climber and a Water Room. The thing I liked about this water room was that rather than the little smocks, they had actual children's raincoats. And since the water was a floor to ceiling kind of experience, they had Crocs available for kids to wear... which is nice, but even though the sign said they're cleaned all the time, I still got the willies from the idea (and I'm NOT a germaphobe).

The museum had a little kid/nursing mothers area, but there are no food sales inside the museum. No food or drink is allowed except for the small room with tables that school groups use for brown bag lunches when they're there. But the lovely part about the inner harbor is that food is plentiful just outside the door.

House renovations

When MacTroll and I built our house there were  few things we wanted to do that we couldn't afford at the time, so we put them in a holding pattern. One was a backsplash in the kitchen. The other was having more wood floors than carpet (life with a child, pets and a spouse who cannot learn to take off his shoes).

Then we found out we needed to tile around our bathtub because if X-man bathes in it... water is EVERYWHERE. So, over the next few weeks we'll be doing updates here and there to accomplish theses tasks. I'll put up some before and after photos when we're all done.

But you know what I should be doing? Getting the last of the pile of mulch that's been in our drive for a month off of it and onto the gardens... oh wait, they need to be weeded first. Sigh. Love summer. Just when I get the outside kicked into shape, I go inside and all hell has broken loose in there!

And then it's time to go back to school...

Speaking of, X-man moves to the 4 year old room on Monday. He's visiting all day today in All Stars II. He says he's excited to be in a building with no babies only big kids. He also starts swimming from 3:30-4:15 every day next Monday.

Nightmares

Usually I write that X-man is having troubling bad dreams. Instead, it's me. Very seldom do I get enough sleep that I actually get to dream. But the last few days I've been having these total stress dreams between 4 and 6:30 a.m.

Dreams where I'm making dinner and it is for some reason buried in dirt and rotting and I'm gagging as I dig it out.

Dreams where I'm still advising the student newspaper and I open it up to find that 4 of the 16 pages don't have material on them and the students think that this is okay -- "Because they were only supposed to be ads in those spaces."

Dreams where I can't find my child.

Dreams where my house is burning down and I can't find one of my cats.

Do you see? And what do I have to show for it? Apparently a lot of water retention and emotional eating according to today's weigh in.

I've been grouchy all day. And if that's how I'm starting the day, with having the shit scared out of me, I guess being grouchy makes sense, right?