Mike had to pull a half eaten baby rabbit from Turbo’s clenched jaws yesterday. This was a very traumatic experience for me. I realize that dogs are dogs and that hunting down and eating wild meat is simply bred into their nature, but why can’t he just stick to his Science Diet. It’s so much less bloody. Mike was actually on the phone wishing his dad Happy Father’s day when I noticed Turbo through the window, tiny Thumper feet hanging from his mouth. Without any particular plan in mind, I grabbed one of my shoes and ran out to do…something. But, by that time it was clear that the poor thing had departed from this world, I sighed and I contemplated just letting him eat the rest. Then I started thinking about the size of Turbo’s stomach and the size of said rabbit. He was eating it whole, kind of like a snake would. I worried that this might cause some sort of blockage in his stomach because surely, he doesn’t digest fur, does he?

It’s been storming off and on for almost two weeks now. Usually I love storms. I love listening to them, falling asleep to them. But unfortunately all the rain is causing a great deal of grief when it comes to our house, and belief it or not, my car. The house is flooding/dripping on two ends. My dad and Mike have been working on the corner flooding next to Liam’s room. After digging for a day they discovered that someone had drilled a who in the wall, which is probably where the majority of the rain was coming in. However, there still seems to be some leakage problems but they need to wait until everything dries properly before they seal it all. Meanwhile, it just keeps raining. Very annoying.

The sun room ceiling is still dripping, even after Mike and his dad spent days trying to seal up all the gaps. The car. Well, my car is always a mystery. It continues to be tempermental about starting. It died on me just before my massage therapy appointment last week. Not a good time to have a dead car. I was so looking forward to that massage, I was totally prepared to hike my way their in the heat. But the new mystery is that the trunk fills up with water after it rains and we can’t figure out where it all comes from since every “test” we’ve done on it seems to indicate that everything around the top of the trunk is sealed tight. I’ve had to chuck my spare tire because it got all rusty. Hopefully I won’t get a flat anytime soon because that would really suck.

New Liam words: bug, baking, honey (my heart melts when he says this), air conditioning (ok, so it doesn’t come out exactly like that but he has the syllables right).

New Liam challenge: getting him to sit down for dinner, eat dinner, show any interest whatsoever in dinner.

But still, I’m stuck. I need some suggestions. My only request is that it doesn’t require the consumption of bugs (if I’m stranded in the desert…ok, fine, roast up that beetle) but stick with the crafty, creative, sporty and adventurous endeavors (except, I did mention the bugs, right?).

Tomorrow’s Friday. I swear, this week seemed endless. But, if I’m remembering right, this also means that Mike will be posting his photo of the week soon. We went to the park the other day and he took some really great shots using the blue tinted filter again. I’m using one of the pictures he took of Liam for our banner. It really is nice to see Mike using a camera for artistic purposes again. He never lost his touch, that’s for sure.

This weekend was Sun Fest. It’s like a craft/music/family entertainment festival they have in Bartlesville every summer. I’ve gone every year I’ve lived here (minus the few years I was in college). It’s grown a lot since I was in high school. The vendors used to be mainly country crafters but now there are potters, candle makers, horticulturists and artists of all kinds who attend trying to sell their stuff. I buy something every year, usually from my friend Jennifer and her mom. Jennifer makes delicious natural bath scrubs and soaps (I say delicious because some of them do contain coco) and her mom paints lovely flowers on pretty much anything she can get her hands on, mirrors, chests, tables. One year I bought an old vintage suitcase that I now use to store material. Hopefully one day I’ll use that material to make something extraordinary (must master that sewing machine).

They also had a dog show. Like, the cool type of dog show. They were all rescued dogs that had been trained to catch frisbee’s and do crazy stunts. Really made me want to go home and try some tricks with Chani and Turbo. They’ll sit and shake hands for a treat, and Chani used to be able to “find” treats when I hid them but it’s been awhile. I feel bad sometimes, I don’t feel like I spend enough time with my dogs. I look at Chani and remember what things were like when it was just me and her during the day (Mike would be asleep since he was working the night shift). Those were lazy days. Walk, play, watch a little t.v., play, read, walk again, dinner and then back to the couch again.

The weather’s getting hotter. There’s so much that needs to be done in our yard but the mosquito’s are awful right now. It looks like Liam has my sweet blood because they pick on him too. We try to spend as much time as we can with him outside, going early in the morning or later in the evening when it’s a little cooler. He’s discovered the monkey bars at the park now. He grabs a hold of the shortest bar and swings, then laughs, I guess at the tickly feeling it creates in his tummy.

So, my birthday is coming up next month. My birthday present is going to be a night to myself in a cabin in Osage Hills, and possible a kleen kanteen. We were going to get me a bike but it’s too expensive right now so we’re saving up, twenty-five dollars each pay check, until we have enough for two bikes and one of those canvas tents for Liam that attaches on to the side. I’m having serious hip problems and was recently told that I have to quit running. I’m having a really had time with this since running has been my “escape” exercise for some years now. I was never a very good runner. I could go a good distance but I don’t think I had very good form which is probably why I ended up with hip/back problems. One of my longterm goals was to run in a race but I never got around to it. I guess I’ll have to find a bike race to participate in now.

The weekend before my birthday we’re taking a trip upstate to see Mike’s parents and take part in a family reunion. I’m excited about this, Liam will have a chance to meet more family and that’s always a good thing. The sad part is that I have to come home on the following Monday (not enough vacation days) and Mike and Liam are going to remain in New York for about a week. This will be the first time I’ll be away from Liam for that length of time. It’s over a month away and I’m already dreading it but I’m excited too because it gives Mike more time to be back in his hometown and visit with his family and friends.

I’ve uploaded a few new photos to our Flickr from our trip to the Aquarium last week. Liam enjoyed petting the sting rays. Mommy was a little edgy around the sting rays, given that she was stung by one while vacationing in South Carolina one summer. I accidently stepped on it (you know, it might help if their skin were a different color than say, SAND). We had also planned to go to Big Splash while I was on my vacation last week but unfortunately the weather was so bad that they had to close down. In fact, we’ve had quite a few storms the last few days. Mike took Liam over to my parents today so I could work some more on cleaning out the craft room (Mike was about to lay orange cones around the doorway….it was getting really bad). I big thunderstorm hit while they were there. Apparently, they both sat out in the sun room and watched while Liam pointed to the sky and said “Boom!”. Meanwhile, I was at Wal-mart picking up more storage bins. The down pour started just as I was leaving. I was a soggy-bottom girl by the time I got home. Still, there’s something about being drenched in thunder storm rain that’s very refreshing.

This particular treasure box was packed with clothes, toys, diaries, dolls, wallets, Donald Duck comics, my grandmothers tiny hand bible from her confirmation, dresses from special occasions, calendars, posters, phonics books…the list goes on. Anyway, I felt very nostalgic as I was going through it all and was compelled to take pictures of everything before I stored it all away again probably never to be looked at for another ten years but I only had a few hours before Liam woke up from his nap so I came up with the idea of making a short video instead. It was the librarian part of my brain talking to me. I just felt I needed to document the moment.

YouTube only allows a certain length of video so I uploaded to Vimeo but for some reason the Vimeo embed wouldn’t work in wordpress so I remembered that Flickr allows you to upload videos now. But they only allow you to upload 90 seconds worth. The entire clip is almost 15 minutes longs. I babble. I’ve been messing with this for a few days trying different ways to get the clip embeded into this post but you know, I’m on vacation, I’m not foolin’ with it so to view the clip just go here.

So, this is like, my first video upload where it’s just me and the camera talking. You’ll notice, I’m kinda flaky.

Which means he’s starting to do little boy/little kid stuff. He climbs things constantly. In fact, it’s rare his two feet remain on the ground because if they’re not climbing, they’re running somewhere and if he’s not doing that he’s on the floor trying to body slam the dogs, etc.

As Mike noted, we have started to potty train Liam. We’re doing it pretty informally for now, simply trying to introduce him to the contraption called “the toilet”, what it does, how to use it. He’s gone a total of four times now. He’s a very good student. But making him more aware of the potty process has also made him more observant about other methods, such as the way Turbo pee’s. It took awhile to figure out what Liam was doing when we went on walks in the afternoon and he’d stop short in the street to lift his leg against a nearby pole.

Somewhere I have counted all the words that he is saying now. “Ewww” is one of his favorites. We use it often to keep him from touching things that he isn’t supposed to, like trash can, trash on the ground while we’re on walks. He also uses the Norwegian word for bee (bie) to describe all insects including aunts and as we found out yesterday, spiders. He can also say most of his different body parts and many different sounds for different animals. He can also say mess. Not surprising since it tends to follow him around where ever he goes. I say that but have to mention that he’s also learning to “tidy”. For instance, one morning, early, just after we had all rolled out of bed, Liam walked into the t.v. room and noticed a plastic grocery bag on the floor. I had been organizing his old baby clothes the night before and used plastic bags to store them. I guess I left an empty one. After seeing the plastic bag, he promptly picked it up, walked into the kitchen, pushed open the door to the laundry room, and put the plastic bag in the bag where we keep grocery bags to be recycled, turned around, walked out of the laundry room, closed the door the best he could without jamming his little fingers, looked at us with a “why don’t you people pick-up after yourselves” look, and walked briskly back to his toys.

Cute things.

If you care to venture out of your rss readers you’ll note the change in template. Wordpress has been upgraded. I subsequently spent most of Tuesday night trying to master the widget feature…my twitter and shared items are available for view, as are the headings for Mike’s most recent post to his campaign blog, and the headings for my most recent posts on my library blog and brand spankin’ new yoga blog which is pretty much nothing but inspiring quotes, since I don’t really have time for anything else.

I will also soon be starting another blog that will chronicle my effort to teach my son Norwegian. This is going to be quite the task given that I am not actually fluent in the language myself. Who knows, he may end up speaking Dutch by the time I’m done with him at which point I’ll just send him down to live with Ellen and her family at their “compound” in steamy hot Texas land.

Work has been fun but busy these past months. We’re into the second month of our My Favorite Book Display. I also hosted a poetry night which was a total blast. I was also recently asked to help build a bookshelf out of books, a project meant to be a kind of collaborative out-reach thingy with the Price Tower Arts Center (they’re doing an exhibit on upcycling in August). So, I have about two months to figure out how to do this. Any ideas? (Please?) Step-by-step instructions will be very much appreciated.

Other than that, I am dazzled every day by my son who continues to suprise me with his curious and always adorable personality. Mike and I have been keeping note of his milestones on our wall calendar. Will post them at some point. Sigh. I have a few vacation days coming up at the end of May. Can’t freakin’ wait!

A few mornings ago, while I was staying overnight at my parents house, Liam woke me up by giving me a sloppy messy kiss on the lips. Putting Liam to bed at my parents is always tricky and more often than not, he ends up in bed with me, usually caddy-corner with both feet tucked tightly between my ribs. In any case, there was something special about this good morning kiss, something different. It occurred to me later what it was. My son was learning to show affection without encouragement, all on his own, without being goaded by some annoying adult.

Oddly enough, however, that same weekend there was another change in my son. Being displaced at my parents for a weekend is both enjoyable and stressful. Enjoyable because I get pampered and fed but stressful because Liam and I have to live out of duffle bags. Food has to be meticulously chosen and packed. A little of this in case he doesn’t like that, a little of that in case he isn’t in the mood for this…you get the picture. On this particular weekend I had to pack stuff twice. By Sunday I was in one of my “when will my life stop sucking so much” moods so I decided to lighten my spirits by taking my little one to the pond in his Rider wagon to feed the ducks. He loves his Rider wagon, calls it his “vroom vroom”. His grandpa decided to come with so off the three of us go to the pond. On the way Liam is pointing at the cars driving by, at the trees and the mailboxes, making his little ewok sounds, smiling, happy.

Unfortunately, during the trip back, Liam decided he didn’t want to ride in his wagon but wanted to walk. So we walked. Understandable. I mean, he’s just acquired the motor skills to be able to walk and run after spending the first year of his life sitting in contraptions with wheels so who can blame him for wanting to walk through a park. On the way, while getting a little over excited about something he saw, he accidently threw his sippy cup on the concrete pathway, popping it open so all the water spilled out. He had hardly drunk a drop of water from the sippy cup since leaving the house that day so I didn’t think this was a big deal but apparently, once he saw that the water from the cup was indeed gone, he decided he was thirsty. So thirsty in fact, that he started to cry and stomp away from the path in the opposite direction we needed to go. My father and I stared at him as he went, a little perplexed by his reaction, since Liam has usually been a pretty calm child, only throwing mild tantrums that were easily dealt with by simple diversion (look Liam, look at the birdies!). However, in this instance it seemed clear that it was going to take more than a makeshift noise maker to convince my child to walk the two mile hike back towards his grandparents house so my dad tried the ever reliable trusty pick child up, console child, place child on shoulders and say “Look! Liam is taller than everyone”.

Liam’s reaction to this was to vigorously shake his head and scream louder so we tried the wagon again. All of a sudden, out of nowhere my child started to grow additional limbs, possibly two heads, I’m not sure, all of them kicking, swinging and punching the air. It was around this time that a runner passed us by. I looked up and smiled trying my best “Happens all the time, just a spirited child, got it totally under control, completely know what I’m doing here. Really” look.

Then a thought crossed my mind, all this tantrum throwing must be making him hot so I took off his jacket and stood him up to see if he would walk again. Instead, he fell back on his butt and continued to cry so my dad picked him up and tried to hold on to him the best he could as we walked back to the house.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally made it back into the neighborhood and Liam was again walking, a crooked path, but walking and not crying anymore thankfully. We passed by a couple working in their yard and had a neighborly chat, got the usual coos and awes when Liam flashed his smile at them. We got to the corner of that street and things started to go down hill again. I don’ t recall exactly what got him started but it had something to do with not being able to go in the direction he wanted to, so, again with the extra limbs and heads flipping back and forth. My dad suggested I run back to the nice couple in the yard and ask them to fill up his sippy cup with water. So I sprint back and ask, trying not to sound like a desperate panicked mother, however, any attempt at this point seemed fruitless since I noticed my shirt was on inside out (navy shirt, white tag in the back…nice) and I think, not entirely sure, but I think my eye was starting to twitch. The nice couple quickly filled the sippy cup to the top and even include ice to make it nice and cool. I walked back towards Liam and Dad feeling proud. I felt like a hero. I had water. Things would be fine now. He drank a couple of sips but then something else upset him. Dad and I just kind of looked at each other, took a deep breath, picked him up and carried him the rest of the way home. A walk that normally would take about forty minutes tops ended up taking us nearly two hours.

And that’s kind of how it’s been for the past few weeks. Liam has entered a new phase. Mike and I have struggled a little with the adjustment, lost our tempers a little more than we would wish, however we’re taking it with stride. We’re delighted that he’s enjoying ball games and has gained the necessary motor skills to throw and kick balls, however, we’re not so delighted that he throws everything else he gets his hands on like, food, toys, phones and shoes. It’s complicated to explain to a eighteen month old that you can throw this but not that. He obviously finds throwing to be some kind of stress reliever because he also does it whenever he’s mad and is told he can’t do something. When my cousin, Jill, came to visit this morning with her two sons I took the opportunity to ask her advice on the throwing situation but the best she could give me was “duck”. She recalled that her son had gone through a similar stage but that, luckily, it was short-lived, so we’ll cross our fingers to that.

Although I’m fully recovered from my flu (for now), everyone around me is sick. I mean real sick. Co-workers, friends and family. Mike has been down with the full blown stuff, chest, cough, fever since Wednesday night. I’m here at my parents again trying to keep Liam and myself quarantined since I currently have no sick days left and don’t want to catch anything that will force me to have to go to work sick or stay at home with unpaid leave. I was supposed to go to Tulsa today for a workshop but my poor mom, who has already had the tummy flu twice, has now caught the other kind of flu or something of its kind we don’t really know yet, all we know is that she’s not well. We spent a frantic fifteen minutes this morning right before I was supposed to leave trying to figure out whether I should use my last family sick leave to stay at home since I really hated the thought of her taking care of Liam all day feeling the way she did. I felt guilty no matter what decision I came close to choosing. Staying home might make me look bad at work. Going would leave my mom under strain. Me staying would then make my mom feel guilty for being in a condition that would warrant me missing work. So then she would back out insisting she’d be fine. One look at her expression would tell me the exact opposite. Round and round we go. My dad, bless him, insisted that he could handle it, which I’m sure he could, but I know my mom and I know that if I wasn’t around and dad was left alone with Liam she wouldn’t rest like a good patient, she would be up and about helping.

So, I stayed at home, which turned out to be the right choice in the end since I just put Liam to bed with a 101 degree fever. He’s been out of sorts ever since he woke up this morning and went through several crying fits throughout the day. I’m hoping his symptoms are of the simple teething pain/bubbles in the tummy sort of stuff because Mike and I have worked very hard to try and keep him away from all the flu people so he doesn’t have to go through that kind of discomfort. I don’t know. We should probably just give up and hope that as one family member begins to feel bad, another will begin to feel better and somewhere out there they’ll be somebody to take care of our son in the meantime.

It never occurred to me until today how lost I’d be without my parents. It really got me thinking. For one thing, I’m not aware of my dad ever staying home from work to take care of Mitch and I when my mom got sick. She didn’t get “sick leave” from being a stay-at-home mom. So, as the working person in the house, imagining myself in a situation where I didn’t have my parents close by like this, do I get to say “Eeek, Mike, fever of 102. Man. That must suck. And that cough sounds horrible, hope you don’t end up with bronchitis again. Well. I’m off to work.”

Yeah, right. I mean, this is precisely the reason I did stay at home today. Parenting is changing for the better in someways at least. I’d be willing to bet if the tables were turned, Mike would stay home for me. I was faced with a situation where I could either leave my son at home with sick people, making things hard on them and risking the health of my child or stay at home and take responsibility for my child (no stranger or non-family member will be babysitting Liam until he’s able to talk…so alternative childcare is not an option…you should hear some of the horror stories I’ve heard). Yes, it was my last family sick. Oh well. We’ll just have to hope that March will bring with it a fresh breeze that will wipe away all the sickness in this town. As for all the headbanging at city hall? Who knows how long that will go on.

Since having Liam, I’ve been more worried when flu season comes around. It’s easy to catch stuff working a service desk at a public library. People come in sneezing, coughing, blowing their noses. Then they touch our books, use our computers, type on our keyboards. I have a bottle of Germ-X on my desk and have been particularly OCD about using it lately.

However, by last week I started to get the feeling I wasn’t going to be able to avoid the flu much longer. I had already been getting these random symptoms, that head fever headache feel but it would just never quite develop into anything. In the end, it happened so often that I put it down to allergies even though I’m not usually prone to allergies. But last week several staff members were out with the flu, and Wednesday night a teenager puked next to one of the public computers while I was at work. Then on Saturday, I played a volleyball tournament in Ochelata where someone’s kid puked in the gym. Here we were, in a contained building, with everyone sweating and passing around the same ball. At that point, I knew it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, early Monday morning, the Norovirus made it’s first appearance in my toilet bowl. I ran into the bedroom, woke Mike up to tell him that I was heading over to Mom and Dads for “quarantine”…and here is where I’ve been. I haven’t seen my baby in two days. I don’t think I’ve ever been away from him this long. I’m going nuts.

Thankfully, the worst of it is over although I do feel incredibly weak and woozy when standing. I’m also glad to report that Mike and Liam are still symptom free but just to be sure, I’m spending another night at my parents. By tomorrow, it will have been more than 48 hours since I’ve had contact with Liam. I miss him like crazy. I know I’ve already said that but I’m saying it again for emphasis.

Here’s a video of Liam rolling dice during Mike’s gaming session yesterday.