Monday, May 11, 2015

Birthday and Mother's Day

There were two holidays in the Artax household this weekend. Jonathan had a birthday. And, in the US, it was mothers day. (Ok. Is it mother's day? Or mothers' day? Or mothers day? Where does the apostrophe go? If anywhere? Is it my day? Or our day? Or just a day about mothers? Do you see how it makes a difference?)

For his birthday party, Jonathan invited a bunch of kids from school to go ice skating. For the mother's party (mothers' party? mothering party?), I spent a lot of time in bed. Because bed was snuggly-warm, and it has been cold here again the last two days, with a lot of rain. And because I didn't notice that Tim had turned off all the heat in the house until I was walking around freezing and glanced at the thermometer and found that it was barely over 60 degrees! So I totally feel justified in spending the whole day under the down comforter. What else is mother's day about if not snuggly-warm bed and chocolate? (If it's actually mothers' day, with the apostrophe shifted over, then it might be about something else, but I'm still claiming the bed and chocolate for myself.)

Saturday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate the two holidays. We couldn't decide on a restaurant, so I proposed buffet dining. Everyone eats whatever they want to eat.

I had to take a picture of what Jonathan wanted to eat:
A plate of pickles and cucumbers, a plate of applesauce, and a green slushy. That was dinner. He did go back later for a slice of meat and a pile of French fries, but he barely touched the meat and fries after eating all those pickles and applesauce. No wonder he is getting so tall so fast!

Meanwhile, on the house front, it has been nearly two weeks since we put our house on the market, and the house has not yet sold. But the drum set sold. And some Nintendo stuff sold from Tim's childhood (yes, Tim has been saving Nintendo stuff from his childhood for 30 years!). There is still much more to sell, especially the house. It makes me very very tired. In fact, it makes me so tired that I think I will crawl back in bed, where it is snuggly-warm. And maybe eat pickles.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Ice Skating

I told Jonathan he had to do something athletic every week. It could be running, it could be a team sport. But he had to do something. And he could choose his activity, unless he didn't choose, and then I would choose for him.

Jonathan chose ice skating lessons.

And since he chose ice skating lessons, and it sounded like fun, and there were adult lessons at the same time as the kids' lessons, I signed myself up for ice skating too. And Jonathan and I have been taking ice skating lessons since January.

Ice skating is fun!

I have learned how to stop, to glide, to glide on one foot, to skate backwards. To skate backwards on one foot (kind of). To turn from forwards to backwards while moving. To spin!

Today after my lesson ended, Jonathan's teacher came over to find me. She said that Jonathan is a super star in her basic level 3 class, and that he should be in private lessons, and competitions! Because he glides and spins and skates backwards and skates backwards on one foot. And turns from forwards to backwards while moving. He is a natural!

I feel like a proud parent, yes I do. But part of me is jealous for having been shown up by a 10 year old.