August 24

August 24, 2006

Still no word. Or rather, they discovered that the problem with the alternator was a blown fuse – much less expensive than getting a new alternator! Course I suspect that their discovery of the fuse came in part because Tom, who is, after all, a ‘failure analyst’, wanted to look at the part to determine the cause of the problem. The folks at Motorplex are well aware of Tom’s background and so they are generally very careful to check everything… However, we have not been able to get the car back in to get the other issues worked on as the loaner car that Motorplex owns is still out. It was supposed to have been returned several days back but has never reappeared. Hmmm… and then there is the recall – yes, Ford Co. has issued a recall on the Merc because of a failure in the cruise control – a failure which might cause the control to spontaneously ignite – even if the car is just sitting parked! Tom had made an appointment for me to take the car in this am at 10 BUT he had forgotten that the boys have swimming at 9:30 am. As this is likely to be the last session for Jason, at least for this year, I am not inclined to skip it. So we will have to, somehow, reschedule the inspection on the car.

Lord. I am tired. Boys have slept well the past two nights, thank heavens. Previous nights were not so good. But I am stressing – worrying about the car, worrying about Tom, worrying about all the commitments I have made – I am taking care of a friend’s animals while she and her family are off on a road trip. That mean that two times a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, I have to load the boys in the car and head over to her house. There I let the dog out to do his business and, while he does that, I go take care of the two cats. Yesterday morning, when I went into the house, I discovered that poor old Malcolm had had an accident – on the floor of Andrea’s bedroom and all down the hall. As I was starting to clean it up – and it was more a lake than a piddle – I heard Jason call ‘Can I come in, mommy?’ Thank heavens the child asked! ‘NO!!!’ I yelled, rather frantically. ‘DON’T COME IN!’ Malcolm, a pony sized dog, raised his shaggy eyebrows at me and hurried back outside. Hmmm…. That favor lasts until Sept 2 and then they will be back. I have also agreed to take care of Chris starting tomorrow through Wednesday. His mother has some ‘pre-work’ work to do. Sigh. I am impressed with people who can have and care for three + children. Just thinking about it exhausts me!

Of course, part of this stress is my nerves about Jason’s going off to kindergarten. He has announced that he will ride the bus to school (I will pick him up at noon). I am terribly nervous about that, I admit. I remember only too well the problems one can encounter on the bus. To my best knowledge, the only adult on the bus will be the driver – who will need to be concentrating on driving and will not be in a position to police the kids. In theory, at least, the littlest ones sit towards the front of the bus. We shall see. Moreover, Jason’s teacher is a new-hire which means that no one knows how good, or awful, she is. Jason goes in for ‘orientation’ and ‘assessment’ on Sept 5 and 7th. I have arranged for Donna to come and take Xander for me so that I can go and concentrate on Jason. He is quite casual about the whole thing, of course. Sigh… Mommy nerves strike again.
Tom took Mom off to the airport this am at 5 and Xander woke at 5:30. He will be wiped by the time swimming happens but… such is life. It was nice having Mom here though I cannot think that she had the best time. We were all quite sick – Tom was sick enough that he took the day off (the day she arrived) and slept in. He has to be really sick to do that – especially with all the work he has on his plate these days. He informed me recently that overtime is looking to become the norm – as Boeing gears up the 787 project they are pulling more and more people off other work and that means that those not tagged for the project are left to pick up the pieces. That means the next three years will be hectic and then?
Anyway, it was nice to see Mom and I know that we will all miss her. Xander especially, I suspect, as he had the pleasure of ‘waking’ Ama Pat in the mornings. Don’t ask me why but for some reason the child gets a real thrill out of waking people up. ‘I go knock Doorway.’ He announces. ‘I go wake up Ama.’ Or, when I have picked him up out of the crib and am heading out the door, he will say in a whisper ‘Mommy say ‘Shush Xander. No wake up BaBa.’’ Then, at the top of his lungs, he will yell ‘WAKE UP BABA!!!’ His speech is so weird these days – a mixture of clarity/precision and babyese. For example, we were walking up towards the library and he suddenly announced, very clearly, ‘Nemo Daddy say ‘NEMO – You get back here right this minute, young man!’’ An older man, walking back to his car, looked over with a grin and said ‘And I will bet he drove the car here too!’ I just sighed. On other occasions, he will say ‘I be, I be, I be…’ whatever the ‘I be’ is – perhaps ‘I be done’ or ‘I be want dat’. One never can tell with him.

And Ama Pat was willing to read to Xander – books that his parents had gone out on strike against. (He would willingly have certain books read and reread and reread on and on and on.) Yes, he will miss Ama Pat.

Jason will miss his grandmother too though his interactions with her were somewhat less. Jason is very physically active – up, down, and all about – and Mom is not so. Her hip has been really bothering her and that means she moves slowly and cannot get down on the ground and back up again easily. I
Just realized, after all this that I hadn’t told you the results of Xander’s blood work – everything came back normal – Thank god. The likelihood of Xander having Cystic Fibrosis was slim but that the spectre even lurked was sufficiently scary. So now we are back to not knowing why he is so vulnerable to sinus infections. One friend has the theory that it is environmental – that everyone is sicker these days and that that is because we have so polluted our air and water that it is nigh unavoidable. She may be right.

Oh dear. The painters are painting the front door and Jason and Papillion are providing assistance. I had better go intervene. Will write again in a bit.