Saga of the Car

My Xterra is getting old. It will be 7 in August, but it only has 65,000 miles. In my dreams, I would love to have a nice, new Tahoe, but they are expensive and serious gas hogs. As a consolation, I would settle for a Traverse or even a, gasp, minivan! I want something bigger that lots of people can ride in. I never thought I would live to see the day when I actually wanted a mom car, but that day has arrived. Alas, not having a car note is too nice to give up just yet, so I'm sticking with my Tonka truck for now.

While I'm here in FL and have access to an extra car, I decided to have the 60,000 mile tune up done. I've never had a problem or any work done, but I knew things were probably wearing out. I should mention here that the extent of my knowledge about cars is that when I stick the key in and turn, it should start. I hate being a girl and dealing with mechanics and car dealers. I feel like they are always trying to screw me. Fortunately not much was wrong other than needing a recall fixed in the steering column.

When I got the car back, I thought everything was good, then I drove off and realized the steering wheel was all cock-eyed when I was trying to drive straight. It was like it was off center or something. I thought maybe it would fix itself but it didn't. Cue today when I called to have them check it out and the service guy treats me like a complete idiot when I explain the problem. He tries to tell me the car just needs an alignment. I know it needs an alignment, this has nothing to do with that, though. Sure enough, the part they put in there to fix the recall was defective and I am vindicated! I love being right.

It seems like every time I have these regular tune ups done on an otherwise perfect car, something catastrophic happens. I'm really hoping that is not the case this time!

In Which I Nearly Have a Heart Attack

Being a mom of a toddler is fraught with peril. Being a mom to a male toddler, even more so. I cannot tell you how many times Asher scares me half to death, usually on a daily basis. In the past two days he's run into a table with his eye, ran straight for a pot of boiling shrimp outside only escaping a burn because he fell and scraped his knee, and bumped his head on the grill since he has a habit of not looking where he's going when he's walking.

Tonight was no exception. I just knew we were going to have to go to the ER. You see, my child doesn't like to listen. At all. So when we are trying to fix his crib he grabs a screw out of my hand and he takes off running, he's not going stop when I tell him to. When I finally caught up with him, it looked like the screw was in his mouth. This is another super fun trick of his. He took off running again (did I mention how fast he is?) and when we finally caught him and forced him to open his mouth, there was no screw to be found. Upon questioning, he repeatedly admitted to swallowing the screw. At this point my mom and I are both freaking out. This is no ordinary screw. The thing was huge. It was not going to come out in the usual way. I was envisioning x-rays and scopes to retrieve said screw. Not to mention the fact that we were going to be unable to put his crib back together. Fortunately we found it hard to believe that he could have swallowed the screw so easily and we know the unreliability of a 2 year old witness, so we continued to look for the screw. We finally found it under PopPop's chair and another crisis was averted. At least for now.

Carnival Time!

We are in FL right now and this weekend just happens to be the St. Paul's church carnival. St. Paul's is the parish I grew up in, so we've bee going to the carnival since we moved here in 1989. I remember how grown up I thought I was when I was finally old enough to walk around with my friends without our parents. Of course, it didn't occur to me that I had about 100 sets of parents there since we knew practically everyone back then! After hearing the music that they play on some of the rides, it's pretty apparent that the soundtracks haven't chanced since the mid-90's either.

Yesterday, I got to share the carnival with Asher and he had the best time. He got to ride a few rides all by himself and he rode a few with me or with his Uncle Joe Joe. The look of sheer joy on his face and the screams of glee as the rides took off were hilarious. He's still talking about riding the horse again from the carousel. It's days like yesterday that make me so happy to be the parent of a toddler and to experience things through his eyes.

Preschool Tales

Yesterday was the first day that new families could sign up at the preschool we have chosen for Asher. There were already very few spots left for the 2 1/2 year old class. I had always heard about how competitive the preschool scene is in places like L.A. and New York City. I had no idea it was also so competitive in Jacksonville, NC! I got there right at 9:00 am and we were lucky enough to get a spot in the class we wanted. I feel relieved now. I was worried he wouldn't get in and we'd be stuck with choices that weren't that appealing.

I know it's not necessary for him to even start preschool this young, but I felt like it was something he needed to do. I can already tell from his personality (that is pretty much identical to mine) that he's not going to learn well from me. I knew I was never cut out for homeschooling anyway, but he is confirming it every day. Add in the extra dose of stubbornness that he receives from Rob and he becomes unwilling to listen to practically anything I tell him. On the other hand, he listens and behaves extremely well when I'm not around. I'm not expecting him to learn algebra this year, but I think this will be really great for him to learn how to get along with other children his age and learn some social skills. It's hard for him since he's still an only child, although we are working on those skills at home too.

So, starting in August, Asher will be going to preschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 to 11:30. We've met his teachers and they seem really lovely. I'm excited for him and at the same time in disbelief that my baby is old enough for preschool.

Mass with a 2 year old

Taking Asher to church is one of the most stressful things in the world. It should not be so! Unfortunately, not many Catholic churches have nurseries for the little ones. I know it's important to bring children to church, but it's hard for a 2 year old to sit quietly for over an hour! It's especially hard for my 2 year old. It becomes more about me trying to keep him calm and quiet rather than getting anything out of the Mass. It doesn't help that I'm almost always alone since Rob doesn't usually come with us. I go in prepared for every contingency. We have multiple kinds of snacks, drinks, and books. Of course, he has the most fun jumping up and down on the kneelers and finding new friends.

 After our bad experiences with 2 different churches in 29 Palms, I was reluctant to take him to Mass here. I can say after two visits with Asher, everyone here at Infant of Prague is exceptionally welcoming. There are three cry-rooms, which is where we sit, so at least everyone with a toddler is not fighting over the same small space. Both priests are kind and loving towards people with children, which hasn't always been my experience. I still spend a lot of time trying to keep Asher quiet, but he is getting better. He was really well-behaved today, or at least well-behaved for him! I guess it's one of those "practice makes perfect" sort of things.

At least he has to come with me to church now. There's no complaining or whining about going to Mass. I need to remember this when he's 16!

Blog Revamp

I tried the blogging thing minimally when Asher was first born. I should have tried harder. I suck at scrapbooking and there was a complete baby book fail, so most of our memories are in photographs. That's a nice way to have them, but I wish I had taken the time to write down the important things. I'm going to give it a go again, even though I always feel incredibly self-conscious writing blog posts. First, who is even going to read this? Second, who cares what I think about random topics?

This blog is not strictly a blog about Asher. Nor is it strictly about being married to a Marine, being Catholic, being moderately conservative, being a SAHM, being a former teacher or any other thing. It's about all of those things and none of those things. It's really an attempt to capture what's going on in our world and in our life right now, because it's always changing so fast.