That'd Be Fun!

Things have really begun to fall into place for us here in Chicagoland.  We have begun to settle into the new house with great comfort.  I am proud to say that I’ve hung all of the family pictures around the house and created a very homey feel to the place.  There are still some boxes around that need to be emptied, though.  Most of the stuff in them is completely useless and I need to throw it all away, but for some reason can’t seem to manage it.   I don’t know why this is.  I guess it is because I feel the need to “go through it” before I toss the stuff.  The reality is that I haven’t needed or used it since before we moved, so I SHOULD just take the box to the trash and dump it.  I tried it with a couple of boxes, but it didn’t work.  I just took the box downstairs, looked inside and thought to myself, “there might be something in there I want”.  I then sat the box down by the stairs and that is where it remains.   For the past month, it has sat in this spot.  I even put it in a slightly inconvenient spot so that I wouldn’t ignore it.  Alas, I just walk around it and say to myself, “I will get to that tomorrow.”

Simon is still having silly dreams about the basement flooding any time it rains.  I really don’t understand why he has this fear in the back of his mind.  He knows that it is completely irrational.  Maybe, one day, he won’t worry so much.  I’m not going to hold my breath, though.  Even our last house, with all of its problems, never had a flooded basement.  Yet, for some reason he felt the need to go down and check for moisture.  I tease him sometimes and ask if he needs to take his snorkel.  Luckily he can, at least, laugh at himself about it.  This house is much newer, though, has a brand new roof and has TWO sump pumps… just in case :).

 

I have also been able to find part-time work for myself.  This has really helped to maintain my sanity at home and keep many of my skills honed.  As many of you know, I am a fitness trainer by trade and one of my goals was to find a fitness facility where I could teach a variety of fitness classes.   Well, I have accomplished this goal and now teach three (different) fitness classes at a physical therapy center close to our house.  It even has a playroom that Gavin can go to while I’m teaching.  It has really worked out well.  I had been worried about his lack of interaction with other children.  He is such a social child and I felt a little bad that he only had ME to play with all day.  Since taking this new job, he has been able to play with a group of kids his age twice a week AT NO EXTRA COST to us.  Plus, I get to interact with some adults for a little while.  They apparently have really great trucks to play with because anytime I mention the playroom, he tells me, “Go play with trucks!”  I guess that means he likes it.  

Gavin has become so observant.  The little mimic picks up on things that you had no idea he even noticed.  Back in the summer, we all went to Florida for a little vacation.  While we were there, I had to put on the brakes really hard at a red light and said under my breath, "$hit".  For awhile, anytime I put on the brakes, Gavin would scream "OH $HIT!" It was so embarrassing to have people ride in the car with me.  I have tried to discourage this by trying to redirect his thoughts to another word.  At first, I tried, “Oh Chipmunk!”  but that didn’t work very well, probably because he doesn’t know what a chipmunk was.  So, lately, I’ve turned it into “Pirate Ship”.  Believe it or not, but that seems to be working.  He then starts talking about the pirate ship that he saw in Home Depot over Halloween.  He doesn’t do it as much anymore, thank goodness.  He still says it once in awhile and I am reminded that I need to watch my language.

He has also picked up some less embarrassing phrases.  Recently he was telling us, “Wanna go zoo, mommy daddy.  That’d be fun!”  Simon and I thought that was too cute, but wondered where he had picked up that phrase.  Well, we were talking with his grandma a few days later and she was asking Gavin about what he was going to do that day and after he told her, she said, “That’ll be fun!”  She used the same word inflection and everything.  I guess we know where he heard that one.  Then yesterday, he and I were playing in the floor and he tooted, which he thought was just hilarious.  We both laughed really loud and when he stopped he exclaimed, ”Oh goodness!” just like I do when I finish laughing really hard.  I laughed even harder at thatJ.  Hearing his little voice say these adult phrases is really cute.  It is even hard not to giggle when he says the embarrassing ones.  It is a reminder, though, that I need to be more conscientious of the words that come out of my mouth.  There may be some that I wish not to have repeated back to me.