The Big Shave

Before

Have you ever had a crazy yet attainable dream you wished you had the guts to live out? For me, it was shaving my head. It's unexpected. It defies social norms. It is fun! (hopefully...)

A few weeks ago I told Peter that I should stop toying with the idea and just put it to rest. I wasn't going to shave my head ever and I should get over it. He surprised me by saying I should seriously consider it. I suspect that at first he was just calling my bluff, but true to form, he stood by his words and was genuinely supportive. After a few helpful conversations with some friends, I decided to take the plunge.

After!

I'm not much of a risk taker, but this is a great risk for me. It's not trivial, but it does eventually un-do itself. Motherhood helps you realize life is comprised of phases, which makes it easier to take on a big change. It's only a phase that will eventually pass.

So in addition to hearing about Desmond and my random thoughts on life, I'll now give an occasional reflection on my journey to shave my head and grow it back!

But I STILL love technology. Always and forever.

What goes on in that little head?

When I was little my grandparents would record messages or read books on cassette tapes and mail them to me. My sister and I would send them tapes back. Back then it was a modern twist on the pen-pal concept.

Fast-forward a few decades to the world of Skype. Desmond loves to Skype. He knows most of the sounds and makes sad noises when he hears someone go offline. He's learning family members' names from Skyping with them. He knows which people show him the clocks in their house, which read books to him online, etc. He can tell when a conversation is ending and sometimes pre-empts us with is own "bye-bye."

Maybe Skyping is like the telephone was to me as a kid, except with a moving picture. I don't know how he makes sense of all the things he sees on the computer, but he's definitely integrating it into his understanding of the universe.

Happy Thoughts - Part 3

More Happy Thoughts. (Part 1 and Part 2)

1. Little boys with mohawks
   
2. People feeling at home in your house
3. Putting on high heels
4. Taking off high heels
5. Chopping vegetables, especially without distractions
6. Watching Desmond learn to walk and talk
   
7. Successfully applying mascara on the first try
8. A hairbrush against your scalp after taking your ponytail down
9. Watching the sunlight change throughout the morning in my kitchen window
10. Getting through a workout you didn't think you could do
11. Lentils and burnt onions
12. Shocking people....more to come on this one
    

Scoobabber and Skype

Desmond is at a really fun stage where he's doing all kinds of things that are interesting and cute to me because I know they are new. I'm not sure how fun they are for the rest of the world (minus grandparents and aunts, of course). That's why I haven't written about them much, but I'm going to try. Hopefully I'll improve in the art of toddler story-telling.

Peter worked on the basement one afternoon this weekend. We let Desmond roam around while I kept an eye on him. He was fascinated by Peter and was trying to imitate everything. If Peter used a hammer, Desmond wanted to try. If Peter blew sawdust off a drill hole, Desmond walked around blowing dust off things. He loved the real tools, which was a bit stressful. This also precipitated his first three syllable word, "scoobabber," which is screwdriver for those of you who don't speak Desmond-ese.

Desmond-ese also contains "tao" as telephone, "up" as down, "up" as up, "fuk" a fork. Very cute.

Peter likes to build block towers and Desmond likes to knock them down. A good symbiotic relationship.

He has an obsession for keys and telephones. It now extends to toothbrushing. We let him stand on the rug in our bathroom and "brush his teeth" with an adult toothbrush while we brush ours. Some of his worst meltdowns come when it's time to put the toothbrush away. He must be my child, as I'm a bit obsessed with clean teeth.

I'm grateful for that reassurance because he's also figured out how to put a lid on his sippy cup. I am severely lid-impaired; it's almost embarrassing. Maybe he didn't inherit all of my faults.

I must vacuum and sweep a lot, because he also loves the broom and vacuum cleaner. When I'm vacuuming he wedges himself between me and the vacuum and insists on helping. When I sweep the kitchen, he squats over the pile of dirt and says, "Dirty, dirty, dirty." I know he will eventually be embarrassed to do what his mom does, but for now, I'm grateful.

I have to harness this willingness while it lasts!

The only TV he really watches is Duke basketball games. When a game is on in the afternoon, we sometimes watch it as a family. Desmond now has the right inflection of "Let's Go Duke" and can say "Duke." It's really cute when he says it to himself while trying to fall asleep. (I've tried to get it on video. He refuses to say it while I'm filming, but babbles away after I turn off the camera.) Unfortunately, he's still very impressionable. Uncle Chris had Des saying "Terp" with only 10 minutes of coaching.

As with basement work, Desmond also tried to imitate Peter juggling limes. Have I used "cute" enough yet in this post?

We Skype a lot with family. Since learning how to climb into chairs, Des will climb into the computer chair, say, "Skype, Skype" and sing the Skype connection tune. It's interesting to think about what types of connections kids will make to understand new technology.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll dole out the stories at a more even pace in the future!