Decade Gone

This is probably only interesting to me, but I got thinking last night about all the things that have happened in the last 10 years. Time really flies.

A List of Things from the Last Decade of My Life:

Months out the last 10 years I WASN'T in a relationship with Chuck = 3 (I met him 3 months after my 20th birthday)

Years I was in school = 2.5

Number of grad schools I was accepted to and decided not to attend = 3 (2 for elementary education and 1 for public policy)

Number of times I moved my belongings = 8
[Third Sevy Quint my 2nd year at Carleton - to St. Louis - to a triple on Third Sevy - to a house in Northfield - to Hager House - to Goodsell (another house at Carleton - I moved rooms in there but I won't count that) - to an apartment in Bloomington, MN - to a house in Richfield, MN - and finally to our house in Bloomington, MN]

Number of concussions = 0 (this is only significant if you knew the decade previous to the last one - where I had 6)

Months I was pregnant = 20 (9 months is a myth, by the way)

Children = 2 (obvious, but I had to put it in here)

Pets I have known (some gone now) = Lester T, Rebel, Reese, Yuki, Tugboat, Norman

Jobs I have had = 13 (yikes!)
(Arena Theater worker, NYSP camp counselor, basketball camp counselor, Student Coach for Women's Basketball, Resident Lighting Designer for Semaphore Dance Company, Carleton Admissions worker, another stint as basketball camp counselor, substitute teacher and sub coordinator, HR at Wells Fargo, customer relations at Big Brothers Big Sisters, recruiter at Big Brothers Big Sisters, individual giving at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and finally donor relations at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

I am so lucky to have the friends and family that I have, to have avoided hitting my head even while continuing to play sports, and to be able to laugh every day. I'm so excited to see what the next 10 years will bring - Jackson will be 13, Ryker 10 - who knows what shenanigans we will have gotten into by then. I can't wait.

Jack's Big Gigantic Day

Imagine a day that is just PERFECT for you. Custom built to include almost every single thing that you hold near and dear.

That was Wednesday for Jackson.

The day started with a trip to the Farmers' Market with his daycare crew. They bought apples, which was exciting, but they took the city bus there and back, which was RIDICULOUSLY exciting. Jack loves him some city bus.

When they got back they ate lunch and I arrived to pick him up and take him to the doctor. He got to play lots of fun games - like "Say Beep Every Time You Hear a Beep in Your Ear" and "Can You See This Shape? What is it?" and everyone's favorite "Hold Really Still and This Cuff is Going to Squeeze Your Arm." For the most part he liked the doctor's office, until they had to prick his finger. But then he got stickers - Thomas stickers - so he was happy again.

We drove home from the doctor's office to find many, many big hachines and fixermen on our street, once again. I agreed to let him sit on the step and watch them work while I ate some lunch. That would have been thrilling enough - but it gets better! They came right up to our driveway and began pouring the concrete to replace the stuff they had to cut out when they replaced our road. So we had 6 or so fixermen on our driveway working with a cement mixer and lots of tools. I thought Jack might implode. He danced around the driveway, cheered, walked down to say "hi" to them (I explained to them that they were his heroes and one of them snarled back "I hope he stays in school though." Yikes. How do you respond to that, by the way? "Me Too!!!"?).

Finally I got him to take a nap. After the nap we went to my basketball game (met Daddy and Ryker there) which meant he got to see Abby and Lisa, who he loves. After that we went to Rachael's house to help them move some things, so he got to play with Claudia and two doggies. We didn't leave until about 9:15.

And thus ended Jack's Big Gigantic Day. The next morning he excitedly asked "Where are we going after school TODAY Momma???!!!"

Pictures

Here is a picture of my attempt to dress Ryker like a tough guy.

Here is our attempt to have Tugboat and Jack babysit Ryk for us.

Here is me loving my baby and him throwing up on me.

Aging

I'm getting older. I really am. I know that everyone is getting older, but I really feel it now after a second kid. And if I didn't fully understand it before, my attempt to get back on the basketball court Wednesday night really drove the point home. Hard.

Not having played basketball in over a year made me 7 years older when I stepped back on the court. Something akin to dog years. My feet didn't know how to NOT bump into one another. My legs didn't get on the same page with my brain, which wanted me to get back on defense and stop their fastbreak. Instead, they kept me lunging in slow motion somewhere near halfcourt for most of the game. I just sort of "ran" back and forth a few steps and then called for a sub.

My brain also aged considerably over the last 3 months. This was also called out at the basketball game, where I attempted to pay my league fee with a voided check. (My friend walked around the gym in socks after the game because she couldn't find her shoes, so that made me feel better.) Coworkers have been asking me to use verbs more. I bit into a dessert and said "it good" awhile back. I tried to write the word "from" and began with the "o."

Also, I'm losing my hair. I didn't have much to begin with, but what I do have is falling out. This might be my body trying to sympathize with Ryker, who is also losing his hair.

I listen to (and enjoy) a Prairie Home Companion. I watch Bob Schieffer and knew how to spell his name without looking it up. I regularly mix up the names of my husband, children and pets. I seriously contemplated buying a pill case to keep my meds straight.

I think this is the real reason why parents live vicariously through their children. It's not because they regret anything that they didn't do or weren't good at - it's because they just want to reverse the pre-mature aging process.

Things I'm Not Good at Explaining

Things I'm not good at explaining to Jackson, mostly because I never thought I'd have these discussions with a 3 year old and/or because I don't sleep much so I don't make much sense:

1. Why a popsicle negates the nutritional value of eating his vegetables.
2. Why he needs a parachute to go skydiving.
3. Why his teachers at school can't teach him to skydive.
4. Why people don't want to see me nursing Ryker in public.
5. Why some children don't have houses so he should be happy to eat his corndogs.
6. Why the workermen don't come on weekends.
7. Why we named our dog Tugboat.
8. Why he can't drink beer.
9. Why Ryker can't eat Pirate Booty.
10. Why they tore down the old Busch Stadium.

Potty Singing

Part 18 of Jack's Potty Singing Greatest Hits. Someday we'll teach him that he can sing elsewhere.

This is a color song they sing at school. It's the colors in English and Spanish. I'll get the spelling wrong (my Spanish is a bit rusty), but basically it's:

"Red is rojo
Green is verde
Blue azul
Yellow amarillo
Purple morado
Brown cafe
Grey is gris."

Party

3 posts about Jackson's 3rd birthday, 1 for each year he's been alive.

Here's a fun Jamie fact: I have an irrational fear of people not coming to children's birthday parties. Every year that we throw a party I have this image of no one coming and Jack being really sad. This never happened to me or anyone I know, so I'm not sure where the fear comes from. It's definitely there though.

But don't worry, lots of children (with their corresponding adults and various members of our family) all came. Jack was thrilled, and I was relieved. We had a great time - kids running all over our backyard and playground. It was great.

Pictures are up on Flickr (link on the right)...You can pretty much taste the icing by just looking at the pictures.

Thanks to all who came. You are slowly getting me over my fear of guestless birthday parties. By the time he's 18 I should be all cured.