Mother Hen and Other Stories

I feel like a mother hen with all my chicks gathered 'round. Parker started at the new Tuscaloosa Magnet Middle School for 8th grade, and Neil and Henry are now BOTH at the RISE School at UA. All are within walking distance of our house. What a dream! And, they are all very happy!

The opening available at RISE for Henry was in the 4 year old room (Neil is in the 3). Henry told me last night that he hugs and kisses Neil when he meets him in the hallway. Henry has been so excited about this that one night he named everyone he could possibly think of that he has ever known and talked about having a celebration party with BBQ hot dogs, BBQ pizza, BBQ turnip greens, etc... I think he was still naming people and BBQ'd items when I finally fell asleep. Needless to say it is wonderful to have them in one place.

Dad and Parker have completed the backyard play structure and it is fabulous. Dad spent MUCH of his time securing everything for safety. We tried our best to think like Henry and Neil would. Well, after about a day, Neil discovered that he could climb all the way to the top, get to the slide, raise his hands above his head, hold on to the beam above him, pull his legs up and swing like a little monkey! Terrifying! He does this with one of his beautiful, big smiles on his face. Thankfully, Mom can quickly climb the nearby tree and get to him! So much for trying to stay ahead of these guys. They get us every time!

After six years of competitive swimming Parker thought he'd enjoy a break--and he has. We have loved having him here in the evenings. He wanted more time to play tennis and has joined the Fall USTA team. He has been a part of the Cross Country Team at his school and has enjoyed that. The meets are held in beautiful areas (Arboretum and Sokol Park) and it's nice to see all these children out in the fresh air. As of two weeks ago, Parker started guitar lessons with Tommy Sorrell and is soaking it up. It's amazing what a child does with a musical instrument when it's their idea.

That catches me up to this week. The "piggy flu" as Parker calls it or the "flying swu" as Henry calls it has hit. Parker tested negative but Dr. Pettit says that "clinically" he has it and has been out of school all week. He appears to have had a mild case compared to some I've heard. Neil and Henry are running wide open on Tamiflu to try to prevent it. Richard and I are hoping for the best and taking our C and Zinc.

Hot, wet and mad

Well, we're approaching the end of summer and what a summer it has been. Everyone in our house over the age of four is ready for a break from the heat and humidity, but we've had a blast and have really enjoyed the fact that Neil has been so very healthy. He has had a wonderfully normal summer for a little boy - swimming, walking in the woods, playing in the back yard, etc. No hospitalizations, no illness more serious than a cold, nothing beyond routine medical checkups. Just learning new things and playing and being a little boy.

We are always amused if somewhat exhausted by the different stages of development in our house. As Irene said this morning, everyone is in a different place. Neil is moving along at his own sweet pace, experiencing life's adventures in his own way. Henry is I guess what you would call a typical 3 1/2 year old, if a bit more "strong-willed" than some. Parker is definitely a teenager now. Irene was watching Mary Poppins with Henry last night while Parker was in his room playing "Sunshine of Your Love," and Neil was running around with his cars trying to impart to others some of his passion for the various models - "Look! Look!"

Another "Henryism" cracked us up this morning when apparently Parker gave him a look he didn't care for. "If you look mad at me, I'll look mad back at you!"

Lucy is nearing recovery thanks be to God, and we all look forward to not having to keep her separated from Willie in order to preserve her stitches. What an ordeal this has been - a solid argument for male pets. We love her, though, Parker more than any of the boys maybe, while Neil has a special fondness for Willie (WiWee!, as he says).

I finally finished the tree platform and it was with great satisfaction that I watched Neil and Henry climb up and slide down, climb up and slide down, climb up.... We'll be adding a few refinements as we see what sorts of things they want to do with it, but for now it seems to be a hit.

18 Years, nightmares (unrelated) and other stuff

Wrote the beginnings of this a couple of nights ago and forgot to post it. So for the record:

Tonight my best girl and I had a date to celebrate our 18 years together. The intrepid Zach and Rebekah agreed to keep the twins while we went to DePalmas for dinner. We rode around for a little while and talked, then while waiting for a table we saw the Polhemus sisters I had lived next to forty odd years ago, and we were ultimately given a pleasant booth against the wall where we had a lovely meal together. Even a few minutes together is such a rare thing for us nowadays, and three hours was just splendid.

Parker came to me first thing one morning recently to tell me about his nightmare. He said he dreamed that he had come into my room in the night to say Dad I hate to wake you to tell you the bad news, to which I responded something like What is it, someone's blood pressure or cholesterol? Yes, he said, the Sox traded Youkilis (their first baseman, one of his favorites) because his cholesterol was too high. I was reminded of how dreams tell us so much of what is on a person's mind - in this case baseball as the backdrop and his awareness of conversations Mom and I have about things like my medical checkup.

I've been renovating the treehouse the last several days, a minor repair turning as such things tend to do into a major project. As Parker said, Just think, all this started with the removal of a little rot in the roof. Several days later I'm still working on it and probably have a few days ahead of me. Having a little trouble getting the steps right, and this is the sort of thing that slows a project down. The devil is indeed in the details. I think it will be worth it ultimately, and the yard looks better already.

I'm taking Lucy to be spayed in the morning. We debated whether to postpone this given the extra work load with the twins out of school for at least the next two days due to what Henry calls the flyin swu. No one in our house has been hit yet, but it's definitely in the schools, so we're being extra cautious. Anyway, Lucy is supposed to be calm for the next week or so after this procedure, which should be interesting, but we decided that the effort of keeping her still outweighs what we would have to deal with should she come into heat.

So another installment in the saga of the Evans clan. Tired now, going to bed.

Whipped Cream and Other Delights

You may think I'm about to write about my love of the Herb Alpert album. No, much better.

Some things happen around here that draw me to write on this blog mostly for my sanity and a little time out.

This morning I've been going from room to room attempting to clean up the tornado debris that appears to be all over our house. At one point I walk though the living room and notice that Henry in playing nicely under the big quilt on the big red chair. I see him a little later with what looks like milk on his chin. I ask about it and he says, "it's shaving cream." I say, "you need to get a napkin and wipe it off" - dismissing the fact that he may have been in the bathroom into the shaving cream--thinking, well, I'll get to that mess later. So, about maybe 2 hours later, I notice that there is a huge can of Whipped Cream lying on the big red chair--and several dissolved blobs of it on the chair. There you have it. Henry under the quilt with a huge can of Whipped Cream. Ok, I feel better now. I'm laughing -wasn't at the beginning of this.

Other delights of the day:

• Neil saying "go" and getting one shoe out of the shoe pocket and putting it on.
• Henry pulling out the whole roll of dental floss--Mom slowly winding it all back in.
• Neil saying Willie in a really cute sort of way-"Wiwi."
• Henry putting shaving cream on his chin, getting to Mom's razor, and coming out of the bathroom saying, "I just had to get that beard off."
• Henry and Neil taking a bath with Mary Poppins. Henry said her hair really needed washing.
  
• And, a really BIG DELIGHT: Dad and Parker have been in the backyard all day remodeling the tree house! We are all SO excited!
  

P.S. I really do love Herb Alpert's "Whipped Cream and Other Delights."

Summer from the 4th on...

Whew! I am sitting here tonight thinking about how much we've packed into this summer and how far behind I've gotten on blogging. And, thinking about how wonderful it is that I'm behind on the blogging because these boys are ALL running wide open!

Everyone was well by the time we left for the coast trip on July 6th. Our friends Pat and Annabel shared their lovely home with us and we soaked up everything there--the beach, the bay, bicycle rides on the canals, Souvenir City, golf with the pirates, go carts, boiled shrimp. Had good visits with our Rowe cousins and cousin Patty.

We returned to a much cooler house than the day we left. And, a happy hamburger-eating Willie. Turns out that old Willie did his job by not letting anyone in the yard, including our nice AC man--that is until he went home and had his wife make homemade hamburgers. Mr. Hayes had no problem the rest of the week after he paid his hamburger fee at the gate.

Parker has loved the two trips with the Natural History Museum. Tubing and caving. I think I would be a nervous wreck if I'd been on the caving trip --bats and squeezing through very small spaces. Hearing more and more from Parker on the guitar. In addition to "Blowin' in the Wind," we now have "Locomotive Breath," "Stand by Me," and "Lodi." Neil has finished up his first year at Rise and will move up to the 3 year old class in a couple of weeks. Really good year for him there. The new word of the week is "happy." He loves to say it and we love to hear it. Henry so proudly "washed" the new soap Farmer Sue gave him at the Farmer's Marker yesterday. He was standing at the sink with me yesterday doing very well washing the okra, squash, and corn until I looked over and he was pouring dish detergent all over them. We had lots of good, clean vegetables for dinner last night. Dad has enjoyed some good walks this Summer with Willie and Lucy. They are quite a sight--7lb. Lucy and 70 lb. Willie. I promise to get a picture of this soon.

All the boys have loved the University pool this Summer and Henry and Neil are both much bolder in the water.

The end July we had a great trip to Tunica. Granddaddy, Aunt Susan, Rachel greeted us upon arrival in our beloved Oxford which was very special. Uncle John cooked wonderful burgers for our spontaneous cookout with lots of "the other Dulaneys."
Aunt Susan suited us all up in Japanese yukatas from her recent trip to Japan.

Aunt Marian, Uncle Tom, and Alley are en route back to the South as I write to make their new home in Hattiesburg. We are looking forward to Amtracking it between here and there!
Welcome home!

A little funny dream I had night before last. Neil was holding my hand and he was holding a balloon (helium) with a string attached. I let go of his hand and he floated up--just like Winnie the Pooh trying to be a rain cloud. I panicked. How in the heck was I going to get him down? I spend a lot of time trying to fatten him up. Maybe I'm a bit anxious about that?!!

Fireworks on the 4th!

Henry has an ear infection and isn’t sleeping, Neil has fluid on his ears, Parker has a cough that sounds consumptive, I found a nail in the front tire of the van and Parker discovered the windshield has a big crack. To top it all off the air conditioning literally had a meltdown. We had smelled smoke outside the nursery window Friday night and called the fire department; they insisted it was just someone burning leaves and left. Our heating and air guy came out yesterday afternoon to figure out why the house was 90 degrees and climbing and immediately located the source of the smoke smell the fireman said they had detected as soon as they pulled into the neighborhood; the inside of the compressor was charred black. Irene is getting a migraine and I'm grumpy as hell.

We thank God, though, for all we have and the knowledge that none of this ultimately defines us. Really, we were able to send Irene and the boys to a motel last night for a little respite, friends have given us a house at the beach for a week (with air conditioning!), we have an awesome HVAC guy who came out on the 4th and who can replace the system while we're gone, we can all reasonably expect to regain our health, we love each other and have friends and family who love us. We know that in fact, "all will be well."

But holy cow what a 4^th of July!

Zippity Do Dah

My oh my oh what a couple of weeks! My 27th high school reunion in Tunica, Mississippi, doctors appointments and a nasty Summer virus with fever and coughing that has gone through the family in this order over the past two weeks: Dad, JP , Henry, Neil, Mom. We're hoping we are all well before a trip to Gulf Shores on Monday the 6th.

The reunion was fabulous. About half of our class of 30 showed up. Henry and Neil were wonderful escorts (Dad and Parker staying home to recuperate from the D.C. trip) and by FAR the youngest children there. Good planning, I'll have to say to be such an old mother with such young children. Most of my classmates at least have one or more children in college and seemed to feel no burden in helping with Henry and Neil. So good for me to go and do this.

On Tuesday of this week I took all three boys with me to Birmingham for Neil's eye check up. I was a bit anxious about this as I always am when I take Neil to a doctor. On the way up, I was just trying to imagine how I was going to get him to keep a pair of spectacles on should he need them. I was thinking, okay, he has worn O2, surely he can do this, especially if it helps. I had even gone in the optical shop to look at the possibilities. The doctor did the exam with just about zero comment as he looked and I'm bracing myself for the worst. He finishes and says, "Well, he doesn't need glasses, he's a little farsighted which is normal at this age, come back in a year." We stopped by the Galleria for a celebratory ride on the merry-go-round. I'd post a nice picture of that but all I had for a camera was my cell phone.

On Wednesday Henry had his teeth cleaned for the first time and it went more smoothly than I ever could have dreamed. He jumped right into the chair, all smiles, and did everything he was asked. No cavities. We came home and I think he brushed his teeth about five times before bedtime with his new Sponge Bob toothpaste.

Parker has renewed his interest in playing the guitar this Summer and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear strumming coming from his room. When I returned from Tunica, he just about had Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" down pat. Maybe by the end of the Summer he'll have the harmonica added!

We made it by the Canterbury Farmer's Market this afternoon. I just love this every Thursday afternoon. Not sure if I get more excited about the wonderful iced coffee or the great fresh produce!

Looking forward to a quiet 4th with high hopes that everyone will be well by Monday morning.