February 16, 2006

Does anyone remember that movie, Moving, with Richard Pryor and a very young Dana Carvey? No? Well good. It sucked. And, as with all movies about moving, EVERYTHING went wrong. Hell, Dana Carvey ended up turning poor Richard’s Saab into a Mad Max rejec, then Richard chased down his movers in it with a machine gun.

Anyway, none of that happened. It was actually a pretty stress free move. We had great movers. They didn’t damage anything. We even got our kitchen (the brunt of our stuff), living room, and the majority of our and H’s bedroom unpacked. It was great.

Now, if only Hayes would get used to his new room. Poor Jen got up with him at 4 this morning! 4!

February 15, 2006

As part of my ongoing effort to whore myself out, I’ve joined a band of mafia themed dads. Today I even posted. Check it out: In Praise of Boobah.

February 14, 2006

There is a problem when you move into a house with one key. An inherent problem. There is a problem when your child has one and only one security blanket. Again, an inherent problem. And, there’s a problem with daycare the first week. Not sure if it’s inherent, though likely it is, but, you know, kids have a problem adjusting.

Combine them and you’re totally screwed.

I know from experience.

Yes, I brought Hayes to his second day of daycare today… and he knew what was going on. He didn’t want to be there. He grabbed my legs, and hid. One kid even offered him a stuffed bear. Then when he started to head for the kid, I had a realization. I forgot his blanket. Yes, that blanket. I told the women at the daycare I was going to get it and be back. One picked up H and he started to scream and reach for me. I said bye, tried not to cry, and headed for the door.

Outside I had another realization. I have no keys for the house. The only keys are an hour away, with Jen, in Boston. I call her to let he know I need the keys. We have a discussion. I am getting dizzy I’m so stressed. She makes calls. There are no other keys, save for the one the previous owner has… and, oh, BTW, the are on vacation.

She calls a locksmith. They can get to the house in 45 minutes, which is 30 minutes after I’m expected at work. I make some calls, settle that, and wait for the locksmith. I shovel the walk, because, hey, why not? He gets there, tries to pick the lock for 15 minutes, then ends up drilling it out. We now have two keys. I get the blanket and head back to daycare. Fortunately H doesn’t notice me — I want so badly to see him, but realize it’s more selfish than in his best interest.

I get to work 1:30 minutes after I usually do.

Oh, and it’s our second wedding aniversary. Happy anniversary! I need some sleep. And beer.

February 13, 2006

Well, there were quite a few tears this morning, as Hayes headed off to his first day of daycare — none of them were his. Yes, it was tough dropping him off. It’s not that I’m anti-daycare. His is quite nice — with very friendly and seemingly attentive people. No, it’s more that it’s a big change from having a nanny entirely focused on his entertainment and safety to going to a group daycare situation.

Thus the crying. I know, I’m a wuss. Yup, when I had long hair, you could even get away with calling me “sensitive ponytail guy.” Man… Anyway, I don’t think I got the chance to tell them that he needs his blanket to get to sleep. I also am not sure if they thought I was crazy telling them I had to leave because I was crying.

What made it even harder is that H’s new word is Dada. Which he calls to me when I get out of his line of sight. Fortunately, he didn’t use that one as I dropped him off. He was unusually shy, though, and huddled close to my legs pointing at the kids and saying “‘dat?” (”what’s that?”). When finally he left my legs, it was for a book, and then he only took it and raced out of the room and down the hall. After what seemed like 15 minutes, but was probably closer to 1, he finally ventured in to make some introductions. That’s about when I thought I might explode in tears, so I headed for the door.

Now, I’m back at work. It seems somehow comforting. I’m going to try to leave early to see the boy before he gets to bed. I’ll have more on the move, which went very well, and the house, which is f’n awesome later this week. For now, I’m going to do some work and get my mind off H.

February 8, 2006

Well, it’s t-minus one day until our box filled apartment becomes a box filled house. Actually, more precisely, it’s two days until movers come and pick up our boxes and move them to our new home. Tomorrow at 10 AM we close on the house. Let me re-write that: at about 10AM tomorrow we WILL OWN A HOUSE! OMG, this is f’n awesome!

Hayes is going to be so excited! He’ll have room to roam. A playroom. A quiet environment. No neighbors directly touching our place. A yard. A YARD!

Bye bye, city! Hello… another city… and a HOUSE!

February 1, 2006

When you’re happily humming one of the tunes from your son’s highchair at work.