Nov. 13: Friday

I should have had a post all ready to go today, but I didn’t because I’m the worst mom in the entire world.

Happy birthday, Jack-Jack!

Yes, today is my baby’s eighth birthday. So far the biggest change in his life as an eight-year-old is getting rid of the booster seat in the car. He purposely took his time getting ready for school this morning so I would drive him because that meant he could ride like a grown-up. What he didn’t realize is that the Jetta seats are really low, and without the booster seat he can’t see out the windows very well. Is this the time to point out that life is full of good things that have down sides, and vice versa? Because BOY HOWDY, could I lecture on THAT for a while.

I’ll try to post photos of The Boy tomorrow. His party is at 2:00, and we’ve got lots to do to prepare for it. If I’m still sitting upright by the time everyone’s gone, I might even post party photos. I gotta say, though, I hope I will not still be sitting upright late tomorrow afternoon. In fact, I kinda hope that I’m passed out by then. From all the fun. And even more so from the alcohol.

This morning I woke up with an intense headache. This was after being awake from 3 a.m. until whenever I finally fell asleep again. I think it was around 5. I had appointments and errands all morning, and thought I might be able to ignore the headache away, but it was not to be. My head’s still pounding.

My long-awaited appointment with the rheumatologist was one of the things on my to-do list this morning. It went very well. We are on a new track with treating my back pain and that’s the best news of all. Of course, it’ll be another week or more before there’s really any difference to be seen (felt), but just knowing there’s possibly an end in sight? Pretty. Effin’. Awesome.

Oh, and I came this close to smashing a cyclist in the parking garage at the hospital. Vic asked if it was Dr. [BadCyclingHabitsGuy], and I said I didn’t know, but it was almost one of those “Physician, heal thyself” moments. He was riding up the ramp, in the left lane, around a blind corner. Hm... Did he deserve to be smashed? Probably. I didn’t realize immediately that he’d been riding stupidly, just that suddenly he was sprawled on my hood. Well, not so much “sprawled” as “still on his bike,” but when you almost smash a cyclist, details can get fuzzy. I was all ready to get out and apologize all over myself, but the guy just kept going. Maybe he was embarrassed, assumed if I got out of the car that I’d yell at him? I don’t know. Thank goodness it was nothing more than a close call. Also, the blood washed right off my bumper, so this is all our little secret, okay Internet?

I need to sleep off this headache or I’ll be super-duper grouchy when those eight noisy LEGO-lovin’ party boys get here tomorrow. ‘Night.

Aug. 18: Jack’s new ride

Last fall we knew it was time for Jack to have a new bike, but we wanted to wait until this year to get it, y’know, just in case he went through a tremendous growth spurt over the winter. As soon as the weather started to improve this past spring Jack started asking when he was getting his new bike. We kept putting him off; there were always other projects going and things keeping us busy and other reasons we didn’t want to take him to the store, like having to walk past the Lego aisle and the Wii games and other things he always always always asks for.

Several times we tried to talk him into taking Katie’s bike. We promised to paint it for him. Vic suggested that where it says “SeaStar,” he could paint over the “Sea” and then Sharpie the word “Wars” after “Star.” Jack soooo did not go for that.

So far this summer he’s been riding the too-small bike, and we chuckle because he looks so little on it, like Homer Simpson riding a tricycle in clown college. The real push to finally go shopping, though, was when he wore a big hole in his tire on Saturday. Jack and his weird friends think it’s super-cool to ride really fast and then brake really hard, and we’re pretty sure that’s how the tire wore all the way through. (Look at the pic above and guess which tire is the flat one. And no helmet? I know, but he really just sat on the bike so I could take his picture. It’s not exactly ride-able anymore.)

Sunday morning Victor and Jack trekked over to Toys R Us and came home with a big-boy bike that Jack chose all by himself. It’s got hand brakes and everything! Now he looks so little because the bike is not just taller, but longer than his other one. This is one proud little man, finally having the right sized bike with which to race his friends. The weather here is usually good enough for bike-riding through October or so—pa-lenty of time to learn to wear through his tires with hand brakes, as well as break bones and get road rash. Yay.

Oh sure, he loves the bike now. But he’s gonna hate when we add the big orange flag and white plastic flower-festooned basket and spoke lights. And then wrap him in bubble wrap. And kisses.