And None of Them Are Mine

Dave and I just spent 45 minutes looking for a bag of cumin that we used earlier this evening to make dinner. It was a tense search and we never found it. For the love of god, where could the cumin have gone?

The Hideout

This is where Sam likes to hide out. Just FYI. But what's that smile all about? I mean, it's kind of painful to look at. The kid, though? He's pretty great.

Cookie Is for Me

Even though Sam is almost five we've been hanging onto his quiet time each afternoon. Six days of the week he reads books for 30 to 40 minutes until it's time to "wake up." On Mondays, though, when Cassie is here, Sam naps. Without out fail.

We're glad for these naps. And Sam is too. But they do draw out the Monday night bedtime routine. Tonight, for example, it took Sam over an hour to finally fall asleep and in the meantime he came to check on us six or seven times. He's pretty chill when he comes down. Just wants to know what we're watching or what we're working on or what we think might be going on with a hangnail he has.

Sometimes, though, we have to be really sly about what we're up to. Tonight we were baking cookies. The aroma was a giveaway, but Dave intercepted Sam on the stairs and tried to take him back up.

"Dad, can I smell your breath?" Sam asked.

"No," Dave replied.

Sam put his chin up and sniffed. Then he asked for me. He didn't ask to smell my breath when I arrived, but he did try to snuggle in. I kept my distance and walked him back to his room.

It was a close one. But Sam has to learn sometime that grownups can eat cookies at 8:45 pm if they really want to.

Spinjitzu

I have some fluid in my ear that's been driving me crazy. I'm dizzy most of the time. There must be some fix for this fluid; I am sure of it. Dave thinks I just need to keep taking the nasal spray and eventually the room will stop moving. I'm going on four weeks of this disequilibrium. It might be time to get a second opinion. One outside of my own living room, for example.

Frog and Toad

Of course Sam already has his first cold of the school year. He told me over and over this morning, though, that he didn't feel sick and that he reeeeeeally needed to attend his schoolmate Max's birthday party. Who was I to keep him from his friend Max's celebration? I couldn't do it. 

So I took the sickish but pleased child to Max's party. 

"Okay," I said when we arrived, "I'll put the gift down and you can run over and wish Max a happy birthday."

"Okay," Sam replied. "Which one is Max?"

Workspace

The first week of classes went well. I had meeting after meeting and taught class and it all felt like I knew what I was doing. The second year at the same job has resulted in knowing some things. Hoo. Ray.

Now I'm working a writing project that I've had all summer to work on but only sort of worked on. The project is due tomorrow, of course. I'm teaming on it with a colleague who was really busy keeping her university together this summer (not even exaggerating) and couldn't get back to me until a couple of weeks ago. As such, we're behind and spinning our wheels and truth be told, I'm not sure where this project is going. But here I am plugging away. I think I need to read a few more articles to really know what I'm talking about, but there's no time for that, people. No time at all. I just need to wing it and hope for the best.

In conclusion, week two is upon me and I'm feeling decidedly less stellar going in.

What Sunshine Is to Flowers

I ordered some pencil cases to hold my pencils and various other supplies. These pencil cases are bringing me immense joy. Once they arrived I felt calm and prepared for the new semester. Bring on the doctoral level course! I have my pencils in place.

Zed

It's been a pretty good alphabet challenge over here at Slapdash. Sure, I skipped a letter and sometimes my headings had nothing to do with anything (rather Slapdash, don't you think?), but I did post something here a fair number of times during August. That was the whole point, after all.

Now it's September and things are getting busier. I'm back at work and struggling as usual to juggle everything required of my part-time gig while also trying to be with the kids as much as possible. Dave has decided to wire the new garage himself, so he's been drawing a lot of colorful diagrams, ordering various parts, and drilling here and there. It seems to be a second full-time job. Sam starts school this week. He's heading to preschool every morning now. And Eloise? She will be taking on ECFE and music class with mom. 

As you can see, there's plenty to write about.

Yosemite Sam

Deep thoughts from the Four-Year-Old:

Since John Denver was in charge of protecting the mountains and he's not here anymore, I think that we should do it for him. We can make signs about it and write 'from John Denver's helpers'.

Water

While I was in a faculty meeting brainstorming grand solutions to grand challenges, the kids were enjoying the last threads of summer.