Life Events

(I wrote this almost a month ago, but wasn’t able to post it until now.)

March? Seriously? That's how long it's been since I wrote a blog? Shame on me!

Well, we have been busy. We bought the house I mentioned in an earlier blog. With this move will be some pretty significant changes... most obvious is a bigger and much older house. One of my very best friends reminded me the other day that older houses require a different kind of love and family to inhabit them. Mere mortals could never be satisfied with an old house. I've put that idea on repeat in my brain since it was built in 1898. I am in love with this house…

Another big change is the move from Columbus to West Point. I’ve told myself all along that it’s really not that big of a deal and it’s only 20 minutes away, but it’s the psychological impact that I’m starting to feel. My child will go to school there. She’ll make friends and be raised there. This will be her hometown. And it’s different than mine. I have learned to appreciate West Point for all of its strangeness. After all, I married one of its strange products and some of my best friends are of that same species. But I have always assumed that Day would have the same experiences as me growing up… going to the same parks, schools, churches, library, etc. I’m just rearranging all that I thought it would be like. I guess that happens with every life event. And the unknown can be exciting and scary at the same time.

One of the greatest changes that is happening very soon is that I’ll be starting part time work! I have never in my life even considered it or played around with the idea. Not even since I’ve had Day. But I’ve worked with grants for 5 years now, and the nature of the game is that things can change. And quickly. I was forced to decide that we could make it on my part time salary because that became my only definite option. Once I decided we COULD do it, I wondered why I didn’t WANT to do it. Suddenly, my perspective shifted and the thought of spending more time at home became worth much more than having internet access and eating out at restaurants along with all of the other excesses in our lives. I’ll keep you posted on that shifting perspective.

So, now to the important stuff… Day Francis Magillicutty. (That’s what I call her when she is challenging me and I need to make sure she knows I am still the boss.)

Miss Day LOVES her new house. We “camped” there for a weekend before they started work on the floors and she played in the backyard, fell asleep on the front porch swing, and ran through the hall like it was an open meadow.

She has quite a flair for the dramatic. When she is upset (read: devastated) she grasps her mouth as if she’d just heard the most horrible news and throws herself down. Sometimes forward, but when things are really terrible (for example, when she’s been told “no”) she flings herself backwards. Hand over mouth, head flung back, back dive. This usually results in a bumped head which only adds to the drama. Then she looks at me as if I’d knocked her on the head just to be a mean momma.

Miraculously though, most of the time the only sure fix is to be held by that same mean momma. When she wants to be picked up (oh, say… 96% of her life) she reaches up to me and says, “Mmm, Baby?” I think this roughly translates into “Would you like to hold your precious baby?” I have tried a few diversion tactics, but mostly I just say, “Yes, I would love to hold Mmm Baby.”

Day and I went to the beach last month (pre-oil) with my bestest friends and their kids. It just magnified to me how much help Ken is and how child raising is more than a one-person job.

Babycenter.com tells me that tantrums and separation anxiety are par for the course right now. That really does make me feel better. I have to give myself pep talks along these lines… “You are not failing miserably at this parenting thing.” And even if I am, Ken is taking up the slack. Here’s proof: (early morning father/daughter outing while I slept = HEAVEN)