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.