Excuses

Crap, I did it again. I'm really quite terrible at this whole blogging thing. You guys should see my baby now. Check this out:

Yup. That's my boy. He's three feet tall and he's a ginger. He's a lot taller than any of the kids in day care. He went through a phase of crying when I dropped him off, mostly after he fell and busted his lip, but then was fine for a long time until last week. He's had two ear infections in the last month, which is a bummer, and when he got the second one he reverted to the "NO DON'T ABANDON ME" crying he used to do, and it doesn't start my day off on a good note. He does race over to me at the end of the day and give me the best hugs, though. And the day care is a good place, from everything I've seen. The teachers know and seem to care about the kids, he doesn't cry for long when I leave, and he stays clean and gets food and a nap and a place to play and social interaction, and what more could I ask for? He's hitting the language explosion phase and we bought him a potty to try that whole thing. His words now include: slide, ball, beep-beep (car), button, TV, book, story, juice, mine, diaper, spatula (which was actually "payala"), and oh yeah, counting to five. He counts to five. Dear God, he's really not a baby anymore. He repeats a lot of things, which could be good or bad, so I'm making a REALLY conscious effort to control my language. I almost got him to say "dinosaur."

Work is going well. It took me a little while to adjust but I adore my freshman class, my tenth graders are crazy but all right, and I have one class on the alternative side that's hit or miss depending on their moods. We have this thing at the end of the day called team time where we get kids from one academy and we have some character development or career prep stuff to do with them, but no one cares about it and it's not well structured, so the end of the day is always chaotic. Also, I'm getting AP certified this summer! But I'm glad to be back in the classroom, and I like my coworkers a whole lot. There are some teachers close to my age that I've actually hung out with outside of school, so I guess I have friends here now. I like it. I like my school, I like my house, I like being close to friends and family. We've made a couple of trips to Raleigh, one to Asheville, one to Greensboro, several to the Charlotte area, and none of those drives are bad. We're driving distance to the beach (although it'd be a long drive--six or so hours) and will likely go at least once this summer.

We joined the YMCA and I've been working out, swimming or running or doing Zumba, which is super fun. They have an amazing outdoor pool and water park thing that Calvin and I are going to use this summer. And also, I'm going to the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, DE this July. It will be SO AWESOME. A lot has happened that I haven't documented well. I wish I were better at this, but it's hard when you're so busy.

New Girl

We got moved into the new house and at some point I should probably take pictures. Not only that, but I'm going back to work starting Monday. It's kind of terrifying and exciting and heartbreaking, because it also means Calvin will be in daycare 5 days a week. I think it will be good for him, but I'm a worrier and my child is the most important thing in the world to me, so I'm apprehensive. The place seems really nice and I spent an hour there on Friday with him to see how he did. He ran right in and started playing with toys. He isn't terribly sociable just yet, because he's never been around that many kids at once, but he didn't seem afraid. I'll probably cry on Monday when I drop him off.

My new job is teaching English at the magnet school here, and it's two weeks into the semester and I'm replacing the English I and II teacher. There is no time for orientation or planning or decorating or anything. I'm jumping right in on Monday. I hope it goes well, and we need the money. We're hoping to save up enough to get a house within the next year or so, and we owe my parents money for the car they sold us, and Brandon's still paying off student loans, and now we have daycare costs, so...yeah. Lots of things to work towards.

The rental house is pretty good for a rental. We've had a few hiccups--the thermostat went crazy, the hot water went out, there are some repair issues we've had to handle with the back deck and the garage door--but mostly it's a super nice house for a decent price, much cheaper than what we paid in Massachusetts, and my parents are less than an hour away, and we can easily make day trips to Charlotte or Greensboro or Asheville and weekend trips to Raleigh, and all in all I think it's going to be nice. It's funny to think that I actually have a legitimate reason to look at real estate sites, and to consider that we could buy this house if we wanted to, and to start researching school districts for Calvin and and future kids. I feel like this is the kind of place we could settle in for a long time, and even if we want to try living somewhere else for a while or going back to Raleigh, it's going to be years before that happens, and we can actually put down roots.

I miss Molly and Jack like crazy, especially because we don't know anyone locally and there isn't a MOMS club, but with work starting and Calvin getting into daycare I'm hoping we can network a little. The other teachers that I met at the school seem pretty cool. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, dear.

Well, here we are again, for the third time in less than two years. First it was from Raleigh to Massachusetts, then across town, and now back to North Carolina. Hickory, to be exact. That's part of why I haven't written--it's gone on the back burner while I try to figure out what the hell is going on. This is because we don't actually know when we're moving. I'm flying home, one-way, on Tuesday. But I don't know when our stuff will be moved, when my husband will be down, or anything! It's this frustrating limbo period, and it's going to resolve itself suddenly, and then BAM! we'll be moved. It's our first time using a moving company and I feel like I can't do anything.

In other news, Calvin's word count is up; in addition to Mama, Daddy, Nonnie, and Pops, he's saying Oma, dog, banana, and hey/hi/hello. He throws me his juice cup when he needs a refill, and eats with a fork if I load it for him. He knows where his bellybutton is, occasionally his nose, and he knows what phones do. He's allergic to something (possibly a contact allergy to tomatoes) but he eats lots of different things; he watches Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, and Phineas and Ferb; he likes reading board books (sometimes on his own, especially the one with the photographs of babies in it); his favorite CD is Lykke Li's "Wounded Rhymes" and his favorite lullaby is "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show. He takes one nap a day when I can get him to, goes to be between 8 and 9, and wakes up around 9 most days. He knows how to take batteries out of things, turn things on and off, use controllers of various types, and generally investigate his surroundings.

Until I know what's going on I feel like I'm in suspension. Things need to get moving soon.

Wikipedia

It's pretty safe to say that you can measure a person's level of fame by the amount of information in their Wikipedia entry. You're not truly important until your link on Wikipedia goes to your own page. If I were ever to have a published book, for example, I would get a Wikipedia page. This is not an assumption. It's a certainty. I'd create it.

Once when we were in college, my best friend edited the Wikipedia page of my high school to say "The school's most famous graduates are Jessica Stephens and Amy Duncan." We weren't famous. Wikipedia (or someone) took it down.

If you click on any links to Scott Disick's name on Wikipedia, it links you to the page for Kourtney Kardashian. Yeah, I wasn't 100% sure who he was either. He's Kourtney's baby daddy. That has to suck. Apparently he's on the reality show all the time, and he's some kind of...actually, I don't know what his job is...but all you get is a link to your girlfriend's page. You are Not Important, sir.

(And the reason I know that is because I was looking at information about Kim Kardashian's wedding, and then I clicked on links, and it was just a spiral, but you know that eventually all links lead you to the Philosophy page. Wikipedia is deep, yo.)

If I ever do have a Wikipedia page, I want to put something strange on there, like "Amy is an avid collector of miniature things." I'm not, but it would be a cool way to start a collection. I could keep a shelf of miniature things that people sent me based on the information on Wikipedia. It would probably include a variety of things, from miniature marshmallows to dollhouse furniture to tiny action figures. I would be thrilled if someone sent me a teacup pig. You know I've always wanted one. That could go on my page, too. "Wants a teacup pig."

Carl Sagan, Halloween, and Toddler Trickery

Today I thought I'd tell you about the title of my blog. It's a piece of a quote from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, the best TV series about the universe to exist, ever. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is going to be reviving Cosmos sometime in the near future and I AM SO EXCITED. But back to the title. The quote I have on the blog (look right) is one of my favorite Sagan quotes, and the one that gives me the title is: "Every cell is a triumph of natural selection, and we're made of trillions of cells--within us is a little universe." There's a kickass compilation of Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and other great scientists autotuned and set to music, called The Symphony of Science. Check it out. Anyway, Carl Sagan is highly respected in this house.

So if there's a universe in each of us, then the three of us in my little nuclear family are actually a multiverse, but whatever, it's cool. I'm listening to a dubstep remix of the Imperial March from Star Wars. That's unrelated.

OR IS IT? This is a perfect opportunity to transition into the fact that Calvin was an Ewok for Halloween:

And he made out like a bandit! We went with Jack and Sara and Zach, and it was a lot of fun if kind of cold. There was snow on the ground, which should never happen. He was good for most of it and then we came home and hung out with some of Brandon's work folks.

Finally, a point on the cognitive development of a 16-month-old: He tries to go down the stairs, and when I say "NO!" he picks something up off the ground like "What? Stairs? Never! I was just looking for this broken bubble wand here. Yep. That's it."

Sleepytime

In news of Calvin's sleep habits (which I'm sure concern all of you greatly), he's FINALLY, for the first time in his life, gotten to a point where he actually likes being rocked to sleep. This is good because have you met my child? He doesn't cuddle. Any moments of cuddling are relished by his affection-starved mother, who gets apoplectic over a three-second hug or a minute of stillness on her lap. And he buries his head in my shoulder, pulls up a blanket, and falls asleep on me! GLORIOUS.

The downside is the drool.

Oh my God, so much drool. It's not even just damp, it's damp and slightly sticky because he brushes his teeth now with this fruit-flavored Thomas the Tank Engine toothpaste (OK, it's Orajel, but it has Thomas on it and it's called "Tooty Fruity" which always makes me think of the IHOP Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity breakfast, which I've never actually ordered, but has the worst name of any menu item I can think of off the top of my head at this second and I truly believe IHOP made it up just to give their waitstaff the pleasure of seeing who'll actually order it by name because it sounds so utterly ridiculous.) Anyway it makes his drool smell like fake fruit, and as you know spit is not water, so I have this SPOT on my shoulder where he rests his face.

Also, he's not actually asleep, he's in his crib going "Eeee! EEEE!" and I don't know why. He was totally asleep, and then just lying there when I set him down, and he seemed like he was going to go right back to sleep, and now he's...chatting. ("Nananananana.") Also adorable. I'm not biased.

Since Brandon is at D&D tonight I feel the need to be productive. I do this sometimes; get the urge to clean things or do something so I feel slightly more awesome. I'm actually going to. Really. As soon as I finish writing this. Maybe. I'm bad to say I'm going to do things and then forget to do them, or have an excuse, or just...not do them. BUT I WILL. I will unload and reload the dishwasher! I will clean off the kitchen table! I will clean up the living room! I will find the back to the remote control! And then I will come upstairs and get rid of all the trash! And pick up the toys! And take laundry downstairs to wash but probably not start a load because it will be late by then! I don't think I have time for all this ambition.

If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home

We went to Raleigh last week and it was AWESOME. I gained five pounds. We stayed with Kim and Jessee most of the week, and got to meet their adorable baby Owen, and apart from the first night Calvin slept really well. He's cut a second molar, which I think was paining him, but it's through now. He also got to know Adelaide, their Weimaraner, which was good because he's a little hesitant about dogs. It was only when she barked or knocked him over that he freaked out, and when she was outside barking he actually laughed. He also took to the dog bed quite well.

We spent some time at the State Fair, which was AMAZING. I love the fair so much. Here is a list of the crap I ate:

-chocolate covered banana with peanuts
-cupcake shaped like a hamburger
-part of a Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger
-part of an elephant ear (the fried dough, not the animal part)
-cotton candy
-some of the chicken and fries I got for Calvin's dinner

I feel like there was more but maybe not. It was all so heavy. I wanted to get a Cheerwine slushy but I never did. Maybe next year. BECAUSE THIS IS HAPPENING NEXT YEAR TOO. We managed to find Calvin a HEALTHY snack! The guy at the chocolate covered strawberry and banana stand gave us a stick of strawberries sans chocolate, so Calvin had strawberries for a snack. He ate 4/5 of them, and threw one on the ground. BECAUSE HE IS A PUNK. And he believes that when you're done with food, you throw it on the ground.

My parents were there for the first couple of days. We took Calvin to Marbles Kids' Museum where they got to see firsthand how much he loves to splash and play in water. They babysat him for us one night and we went to see Moneyball, just the two of us. It was our first "date" in a LONG time. And it was really nice, just to go and sit in the movie theater, and not worry about the baby. We didn't even have to get him until the next morning. They kept him overnight. AWESOME.

But then we had to come back, and Brandon's back to work, and I'm back to trying to clean the house (which I consistently fail at, but it's looking better today than usual, although I am sucking at laundry). It's cold here, but the leaves are changing, and my child looks like a person instead of a baby, and we carved pumpkins on Sunday and I made one that looks like Elmo. So things keep moving along, like they do, toward some inevitable end.