The other night, somewhere between being awake and being fully asleep, I mentally composed a blog entry. I’ve done that several times, and each time I’m too sleepy and too lazy to rouse myself and write everything down before I forget. And I do forget, and what I recall the next day or even days later is just bits and pieces. Fragments of what was once an awesomely worded blog entry, injected with just the right amount of wit to amuse my readers.
Ah well. If I recall correctly, my mental blog entry was about the kids, mainly about Ryan and how well he is doing with communication and talking. He will try to repeat just about anything, and in some cases repeats stuff that I don’t even remember saying to begin with! He goes around and tells Alyssa, “Good job” and “Don’t cry” when she gets in one of her little drama queen fits (this happens at least eighteen times per day, and this is not an exaggeration. If anything, it’s an understatement!). And he is absolutely fascinated with numbers and letters. He knows numbers 1-10, counts forward and backward, counts little groups of objects, and is able to correctly add and subtract 1-2 little objects from their groups. For instance, if he counts out six M&M’s, and I take away two, he’ll know that there are just four left, without having to do a re-count.
When it comes to letters, Ryan is non-stop. His eep-top (VTech Tote & Go Laptop) goes with him everywhere, ever since he latched onto it not too long after he received it for Christmas (from Dan’s paternal aunt, I believe), and he plays various word and letter games on it. He points out letters on signs, and basically reads letters from whatever source he finds them on. He even takes little toys, cards, strands of spaghetti, straws, etc., and forms his own letters. And O, U and X? Dear lord, those letters are next to heavenly for them, he gets SO excited over discovering them. He seriously bellows them out at us, while the rest he just says in a mostly normal tone of voice.
Alyssa has been a little trying these days. She gets such an attitude, and she gets into these whiny moods that make me want to slap her silly and then lock her in a soundproof box out in the middle of a corn field. I don’t, obviously, and go with the next best thing: time outs. I swear the most hated phrase in this house is, “I’m still waiting”. Doesn’t matter what she’s waiting for, she’s STILL waiting for it, it’s taking too long, she wants it now, and all of this must be accompanied with huffs, eye rolls, crossed arms and flouncing, and the occasional door slam. She is really a drama queen. So much of a drama queen, in fact, that she no longer gets riled up when I call her a drama queen, because I call her a drama queen so often.
Both kidlets are huge fans of the pool now. Alyssa seriously went off the diving board time after time for a good hour last Thursday afternoon, and Ryan makes a mad dash for his swimming trunks and a swim diaper as soon as he hears that we’re going to the “sim cool”. We were last there on Thursday, since we were busy on Friday and Saturday and today (Sunday) was just a take-it-easy day, so I’m hoping to take them again on Monday afternoon. Maybe. If Dan won’t go with me, then I’ll just take Alyssa. It’s a little much to handle Alyssa and Ryan, particularly since Ryan doesn’t respond to being called or directed a good 75% of the time. It should really be legal to stake your kids on a 50′ tie-out. Then they can do all the running around they need to do, without going out of sight and scaring their mothers half to death because they can’t/won’t respond.
I’m kidding, of course. 
Right now I’m at Denny’s, here by invitation from Jason. He actually got online right around midnight and asked if I wanted to come hang out for a bit at Denny’s, and mooch off of the wi-fi (which wound up being a no-go, but I have my Sprint wireless card, so it’s all good). I was planning on going to bed, simply because I felt tired and drippy, but I decided to go out. And I’m glad I did. My house is stressing me out right now:
On Friday, I discovered that a spring burst out the back of our sofa.
On Saturday, I discovered that my microwave was no longer heating food, and my dishwasher (an old hulking thing that wasn’t made to be a portable, but was somehow modified to be) wouldn’t hook up to the faucet.
My washer has been making an insanely loud racket during the spin cycle for a few months now (I’ve shelled out over $300 in repairs and the issue still isn’t fixed. Until I figure out what the hell to do next I keep the spin cycle speed to low and the wash setting to speed, so that the drum is spinning for the shortest amount of time possible.)
And tonight? I noticed that our living room air conditioner is leaking a bit of water from beneath it, which is dripping down our wall. It must have been doing this for at least a week or so, because the part of the wall that comes right up beneath the window sill feels… soft. Ugh.
The sofa is a lost cause, which makes me sick because 1) it was Daniel’s grandmother and thus has sentimental value and 2) the cost to purchase a high-quality, decent sofa? Is something I don’t want to really contemplate right now.
Dan verified that the microwave is indeed toast. Something about the microtron or micro-something not kicking out the spiffy little waves? So we need to purchase a new microwave, very very soon. I never realized how much we used the damn thing until we could no longer use it. Also? It was a wedding present from my grandmother. So that really sucks to have to get rid of it. 
Dan fixed the dishwasher hook up issue — something about stiff ball bearings? I knew the issue was that the hook up thingy wasn’t sliding onto the end of the faucet high enough, but I didn’t have the strength to shove it up into place like he did (and made it look so sickeningly easy, too!).
The washer? Ugh. Not dealing with that right now.
The air conditioner and soggy wall? UGH. I’ll be pouncing on Dan about that as soon as he gets home from work on Monday afternoon.
Speaking of Dan… I miss him. That sounds so silly, given that we’re married and we live together and sleep together, but I really do miss him. June has just been insane. For the first two weeks I was barely home, since I was at the hospital and then at the hospice center with my grandfather. Then after he died my mom and I were running around taking care of funeral arrangements and paperwork and this, that and the other thing. Then we left for our beach vacation on June 26th. We were together, obviously, but so busy with the kids and our plans that while we were side by side, we didn’t have the time to really “connect” emotionally.
And since being back home, he’s been working a lot of very early morning shifts, so he’s going to bed by 9pm, if not before, which doesn’t leave us much time together once dinner and the kids’ bedtimes are out of the way.
I am totally pouncing all over him when he comes home from work on Monday afternoon — his last very early morning shift for a while, whoo! I’m feeling sexually and emotionally deprived, dammit. I even told him to call or text me about 20 minutes before he’ll be home, so I can get Alyssa and Ryan settled for naps and get all ready for him. ;)
Okay… 2am. I think this is enough blogging. I still need to drive home!
P.S. I don’t know what’s up with the title. It bears no relevance to this blog entry. I think it’s just my sexually deprived side coming out!
Definitely check out yard/garage sales for a microwave if you don’t mind used. I got mine for $10. The display doesn’t always work, but everything else is perfect and it was immaculately clean when I got it.
That is awesome about Ryan doing so well with numbers and sounds. I found my microwave at a consignment shop for $10 in 2006 and my aunt is still using it (I moved home and hers burnt up) so the cost of getting a replacement shouldn’t be too bad I don’t think. I know repairs can be stressful but take things one at a time.
And there’s nothing wrong with missing him while living together. Sometimes life gets so hectic you don’t know which way is up and which is down.
Ugh if you find out how to fix that wall from the air tell me! I had it happen and I’ve tried everything short of cutting that piece of sheetrock out and replacing it, which would be mega work.
And yes, it is awesome about Ryan doing so well. Alyssa on the other hand, is normal to little girls. When my gyn asked me how Sydney was doing I said she’s a typical 6 year old smart mouth diva and the nurse and I were discussing how her 5 year old is the same way. We asked, it gets better right? She has an 8 yr old little girl and she said she’s still waiting, it seems to be worse and worse the older they get so brace yourself!
My advice? Tune her out, it works here.
Alyssa sounds a lot like my friend’s son with the dramatic performances. They usually just ignore him, and when he realizes it, he stops. Glad to hear Ryan is coming along well with his numbers and letters!