The long and the long of it

Last night I had a dream I was preparing to go back to London on another study abroad program. I was laboring over what I should pack, scheduling my flights, taking care of all my mail etc. But in addition to that I was worrying about Noah – because I was taking him with me but I hadn’t told the organizers. I figured if I asked them they would say no so I was hoping to just show up with him and everything would be okay. Though I was a tad worried that my roommate would feel put upon.

So the weekend was good, busy and tiring. While Mark worked commencement on Saturday, Noah and I headed for the hills of Qtown. My mom watched Noah for a few hours while I went to Kristen’s baby shower. The shower kind of sucked aside from seeing Patrice. In fact she was the only person I really knew there aside from Kristen, the mother-to-be, who we were both friends with in high school. Patrice and Kristen remain friends while Kristen and I see each other about once a year, and only through Patrice. We were never quite friends unto ourselves. Our relationship reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld when George and Elaine try to hang out without Jerry and it fails miserably. Kristen is nice and all, there just was never a spark. But I’m all about welcoming another sucker into the joys of motherhood, so to the shower I went. I bolted after the gifts were opened and returned to find Noah coated in a thick layer of dust. Seems Grandma had him rolling down dirt piles, playing with a load of stone, climbing into backhoes and running around in the garage. He was exhilarated. It took a thorough cleaning and promises of Pa Joe and chocolate to get him back into the car. On our walk from Pa Joe’s to Applebee’s for a Father’s Day dinner Noah and I stopped in Payless and got him two new pairs of shoes for $12. His toes were just about to spring forth from his size fives. And after “eatin’ good in the neighborhood” we headed back to Dad’s house to let the boy run around until it was dark enough for me to head home. The plan was that the boy would sleep, however he waited until we were ten minutes of our home to do that. Tricky thing. When I got home I made Mark open his Father’s Day gift because I’d been sitting on T-shirts from Threadless for weeks and it was killing me.

Sunday we went to the Aramingo Diner for Father’s Day breakfast, then for a small animal spotting stroll through Petco, a hair trimming for the boy at Haircuttery and then to the Thrift Fair to buy a couple of bags of assorted toys for a dollar each. After lunch and a nap, we went to Ezra’s second birthday party and consumed wine, hummus, samosas, feta and divine chocolate cake. (Kiss my big dieting behind.) We all had a really nice time and Noah was more outgoing and playful with the kids his own age than usual. Though true to form he instantly fell in love with Shelly, the eleven year old girl that was there for half and hour. He’s been listing her in his love proclamations (“I da dub Mama… I da dub Daddy…Ahwee… Pa Joe… Shelly) since Sunday.
Yesterday afternoon Noah and I went to a picnic at Penn Treaty Park. Wierdly enough it was a farewell picnic for a playgroup that we had never attended. I finally got all the information about where and when to attend to then be told that it was ending for the summer. Oops. I look forward to taking Noah to it or something like it in the Fall. Especially after getting a taste of group play and circle time yesterday - I know it’s something from which Noah would definitely benefit.

This morning we headed back to the Thrift Fair because since Sunday I’ve been obsessing about the vintage Fisher Price Family House I didn’t buy. In fact they also had and I wanted the Sesame Street Family House (which I owned when I was a kid) and the A Frame – but I restrained myself and only bought the house today. None of the sets came with any people or furniture unfortunately, so I’ll be on an Ebay hunt real soon. But while at Thrift Fair I also scored a toy kitchen for $3.99 and a cheap plastic train set for my rail enthusiast. Of course both of those were also missing a bunch of pieces in authentic thrift store fashion – but cheapos can’t be choosers.

And now you’re all caught up. A big relief, huh?