Today after Gabriel's piano lesson, more of such talks.
Gabriel often asks me about news stories he overhears on the radio. It's a lot of fast grownup talk, volume low, with car noise, and Gabriel's questionable hearing. Yet out of a lot of mumbo-jumbo I was barely listening to, he heard enough to ask:
"Mom, who's Barack Obama? And where's he running?"
I explained as best I could. Fortunately, Gabriel does know about voting: "Yeah, we voted for chocolate ice cream on the last field trip!" Now he wants to vote for Barack Obama.
Meantime, Julian wants to be a policeman when he grows up, but he doesn't want his police car to have a siren.
Our return trip was a much more familiar "conversation": NO FIGHTING IN THE CAR BOYS. ONE MORE TIME AND I WILL STOP THIS CAR AND YOU BOTH WILL GET IN HUGE TROUBLE. screeEEECH! brake fast, enage ABS -- that freaks them out.
Before that, the boys played on an odd bridge structure outside the community center (one with about a 6' dropoff into what looks like a dry fountain; what is that doing there?).
Later, in rebellion to alllll the things we have to do around here, I made cookies with Julian. I couldn't really pack anyway; I was burnt and Katrina was a short-timer by then, so I spent some quality time keeping my younger son out of my older son's hair (though daughter picked up the slack and bugged him anyway). Julian measured, poured, stirred and practiced his excellent egg-cracking skills (no shells, didn't even break the yolk!), and was full of loving comments, relishing the moment alone with me <guilt>.
Fresh home-baked cookies became an incentive for a quick bath and PJs -- no putzing around when the stakes are this high!
Katrina had a great time today playing in music class, provided I did the exact right thing, which today was not to interfere. I get remarks from other grownups in almost every class about how independent and free-spirited she is (tantrum moments aside). Most kids roam around on and off too, but she's rarely in my lap past the first few minutes.
We did one song "Dancing with Teddy" with teddies, borrowed from the teacher's daughter, and this was a big hit.
She followed another little girl's lead (who's just a few weeks older) in sitting on the teddy and bouncing on it. Their interaction is pretty cute (well, to me):
We got a visit from the city's Public Works department today, probably in response to an email Dave sent this morning expressing waning confidence in the process (such as mentioning a water meter upgrade when we already did that in 2004). The guy was not expecting to talk to us, but happened upon a rare moment that we were both home and I saw him and flagged Dave.
His lame explanation of the mysterious fees, and other statements that sounded like bad excuses for not doing his homework has made us decide to request a complete itemization of the nearly $10,000 in permit fees. He had an ancient record with him that says our house is a 2BR/1BA/single-story (it was, 30 years ago), and was prepared to "nail" us for having a much larger house than that. There is far, far too much hand-waving going on with our money here.
I'm working on a quickie Web site devoted to the whole remodeling project, using Google Page Creator. It's got serious limitations, but it'll have to do! I wish it had password-protection; I want to keep it detailed for our own reference, but dissing city officials isn't in our best interests right now.
This photo is the most heartwarming and comforting scene of the day. This is what you want to see when you're about to tear your house apart: your architect and your contractor talking together. Every conversation is another prevented problem.
6/2/08
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