Kelly's Weblog

It was a very busy few days in Toronto, and I was glad to get on the plane yesterday to come back to NY...but Jamie's slipped back into the grip of the cold that had him last week, and he had the worst night ever last night. I spent most of it walking in very small circles in this very small apartment with a mostly-sleeping but very stuffed up boy wrapped in a blanket against my shoulder. He was whiny and fussy all day today, and too feverish to be packed off to daycare; I feel whiny and fussy now, but there's nobody for me to whine and fuss at: Paul's got a crisis of some sort on one of his deals and is working late. I guess that's one advantage of this weblog: I can express my whiny fussiness and feel better, but nobody actually has to listen to me.

Last night we celebrated our seventh anniversary (which was actually Sunday past) in a modest manner: a bottle of the fun sparkling dry red wine I like so well, and two most excellent steaks from our local butcher done to perfection by the spouse on the barbecue. I'm teasing Paul a bit about the seven-year itch. Where did the years go?? I have a feeling I'll be asking that question more than once after today.

Now that I have a few grumps out of my system, I have a couple of things I'd like to do before attempting to catch up on sleep...and there's no guarantee that the boy will stay asleep for very long either. So I'll be off.

Jamie and I made the trip to Toronto again this morning, after another partially sleepless night. Bless his heart, Jamie fell asleep as we were taking off and slept until we reached the house in Toronto, which allowed me to sleep until the plane landed!

We took care of some Christmas shopping this afternoon after a good lunch and a play at the house. Jamie's always so excited when he arrives at his other house, whichever direction we're moving in. He has to check out all his favourite places and rediscover the toys we keep exclusively at one or the other house, and he gets so excited and smiley! It's fun to watch. Of course, one of the things he had to check out right away was the staircase, resulting in another narrow escape: I caught him just as he was starting to go over, and put up the standard roadblock right away. Little rat!

I'm here to help run the Pax Christi Chorale concerts this weekend. The group is presenting Handel's Israel in Egypt with soloists and orchestra up at Grace Church on-the-Hill; details can be found on their website if anyone is interested. I wish I were singing as well as managing; it's a good vocal workout.

Tomorrow I have to see to the collection of print materials, and then be up at the church for the dress rehearsal. I think Jamie's going to come with me for that. He's playing with Silvia while I work on Saturday and Sunday.

Our sturdy old TV - the one we bought from Patrick a million years ago! - finally packed it in. The sound went, intermittently for maximum irritation. The night before last, we were going to watch a video, but had to give up after fiddling with the set for half an hour. So yesterday Jamie and I went and got a new TV. It's a flat-screen - no, not a plasma screen; the screen surface is merely flat - and no larger than the old one. But it works!

So last night we celebrated by watching the DVD we had rented, a film entitled Mumford. Nancy Reynolds had recommended it to me during one of our drives home from Kitchener (for War Requiem rehearsals & concerts) as a movie we'd both enjoy. She was entirely correct, and now I'll find out if she ever checks in on my weblog! It was a fun movie that took itself only just seriously enough, and I thought it was very creatively filmed.

Thank goodness for online shopping! I'm doing OK on my Christmas shopping so far. Christmas cards, on the other hand...are more challenging. Jamie doesn't like to be told he can't have the pencil!

Poor monkey has a cold again. At least in part for selfish reasons, I hope he sleeps better tonight than he has in the last two.

We came back to NY on Thursday in the high winds. Our flight was cancelled and so was the next one, so we were at the airport for about four hours of unscheduled waiting. Jamie was very good, but sadly he managed to jettison his red blankie (and the pacifier clip that was supposed to be securing it) someplace in the departure area - it could have been in the little restaurant, the bookstore, the corridors or the lounge for gates A-E - and although we looked all around and asked everyone in sight, we never found it. Thank goodness he's not at the stage where he misses objects if he doesn't see them, and thank goodness Grandma was clever enough to make him three identical red blankies, one of which was waiting for him in his bed in Brooklyn.

The winds blew our plastic patio table off our third-floor deck on Thursday night, and it lies in pieces in two of our neighbours' gardens as I write. We're going to leave them apologetic notes this afternoon offering to come and clear away the debris. Now we truly have no dining table here...not that we'd have had much use out of that one from now on in any case: it's getting cold.

Today we have to remove the air conditioners from the windows and find someplace to stow them - a jolly job.

After a couple of false starts involving paperwork, Jamie went to daycare yesterday for his first day. He's going to be going two part-days a week: Tuesdays and Fridays, 8:45 through 3:00. I felt somewhat guilty about leaving him there yesterday morning, but came home and got to work; the day flew by and I was hurrying up to get him before I knew it. The report they gave me was that for a first day, he was very cheery...which leads me to think that he wasn't super-cheery or they wouldn't have qualified it. Nonetheless, he was in fine spirits when we got home. I suspect he's going to enjoy himself...and even more so when he's walking and gets promoted to the toddler room, where the other kids are ahead of him and show him stuff to try out!

Jamie and I were in Elora today with Diane for the last time as outgoing managers of the Elora Festival Singers, and Jamie had about the best time in the world. There were boxes to climb into and over and to empty, and markers to chew on, and all kinds of people to visit with, including Nancy Scott (our host last summer during the Festival), who came to see us mid-afternoon.

In honour of the visit, Jamie decided to learn to walk while we were there. He'd been cruising for a while, and would walk from one person to another if he had the second person's hand to hold onto before he moved his feet, but today on at least three occasions he let go entirely of support and took a couple of steps. He seemed mightily pleased about it, too! He's a very clever boy. I had him walking by Christmas in my mind; I think I've just revised that back to no later than his birthday.

This evening we went to Diane's for dinner and I enjoyed looking at her new house, which is just as beautiful as I remembered it. Jamie enjoyed playing with Diane's son Evan, who is nearly four. The two of them had a great game of hide-and-seek all over the downstairs: Evan did the hiding, and Jamie was a very energetic seeker. I was afraid that having slept in the car, he wouldn't be ready for bed on time, but thanks to Evan, I brought home a very happy, very tired little one. He's sound asleep.

Given that this weekend and early next week are Britten's War Requiem performance dates, I think I should follow his lead. Goodnight all!