Catching up with us

Sitting in the backseat, next to my sleeping baby.  The now sleeping babe has been resisting sleep like nobodies business.  It has been such a struggle to get him to let go of the wonders of the world, which are increasingly available to him.  He can’t relax when scooting off the bed and exploring the room are such at his fingertips.  And in the car as well, it took an hour and a half for him to let gravity do the job on his heavy lids.

We must not be the first family to have sleep issues, and Nolan is clearly in a phase that, as we’ve learned don’t last long.  This one is especially trying.  Now I have to wear him in the Ergo in order for his little active body to be contained enough to succumb to sleep.  He is so all over the place right now.  In less than a month, he has crawled, stood independently, squatted back down with control, walked himself along the wall and around free standing furniture, and has 2 teeth.  This has been an explosion of learning and I imagine his little brain to be making connections at an exponential rate.  So it’s not surprising that he can’t sleep, but it makes for a baby whose wobbly legs are a little wobblier. 

Nolan is also turning into an eater like others in his family: carb- centric.  He loves breads, crackers, cereals, cookies (yes, I’ve given him cookies), anything with a dry crunch to it.  Vegetables and fruits not so much.  Yogurt is another favorite.  And apple slices are delightful on those gums, but other than that, we have to mask foods by putting them on bread.  For example, he loves lentils and squash and hummus only when smeared on tortilla or pita or bread.  He won’t eat it alone.  Over the next 3 days of this increasingly short October break I am making it my job to offer/ prepare as many fruits and veggies as possible so that Dad has ready made choices for him while I’m working.  I guess I’m being extreme: now I remember that he likes roasted carrots too.  

So, as I alluded to earlier, we are in the car returning from a quicky visit to Dubuque.  And I am on my 1 week October break, cut down from 2 weeks because of the Chicago teachers strike.  I am pretty bitter about missing out on a week of break, but I am glad we aren’t tacking it on to the end of the year, which would be absolutely brutal. 

I have been meaning to upload this pic for weeks now.  We recently relocated our camera battery,  the picture flood is coming soon!

Our mini Dubuque trip can be summed up by what we ate.  On Monday night, Theresa treated us to Mario’s the ultimate family old fashioned Italian (reminds me of Norwood, OH restaurants).  My spinach tortellini was so rich that only a few bites were consumed, and Nick’s panzerotti was fried and filled with layers of meats, cheese and sauce (let it be known that he’s been eating the leftovers for breakfast for 2 days now).  Mario was sitting at the bar, and he kissed my hand like my Popsy used to, and he kind of looks like him too: same tummy and hair.   Nick wouldn’t let me finish this without mentioning the pizza bread, garlicky deliciousness that we just about finished before the meals came.  Nolan was a huge fan of the pizza bread.  I also would be remiss if I didn’t revisit  that our wedding reception in Dubuque was in the basement of Mario’s.  And that is such a good memory.

Tuesday we punctuated our morning with a visit to Hy-Vee (a grocery store), which if you’re wondering about the wonders of you can please ask Nick and he will wax on about what a great place it is, how the aisles are wide and there are friendly workers just waiting to help.  Nick stopped at Jitterz for a coffee, which would be where I would sometimes write when we were in transition before our road trip.  The real reason he needed a coffee was because the best bookstore around, River Lights honors a 10% discount with a coffee receipt from across the way at Jitterz.  I went a little crazy at the bookstore.  I’ve been feeling a little negligent with what Nolan has to play with lately, and some of the hard books there were so beautiful and irresistible that we treated him to early birthday presents (all books and 1 set of super cool stacking cups).   For me, books are guilt free purchases, even baby books.  I also got one book for my class, it is a Frankenstein version of Madeleine, and it is awesome.  Tuesday night, after a swing at the park and a visit with Lucy and Stella (cousin and cousin’s baby), we swung by Pancheros which is an expensive and delicious Chipotle.  For the record, I just finished my burrito for breakfast. 

And now we are over half way home, and I am grateful to be writing.  Lately I’ve been feeling such writing lust when I walk by coffee shops and see people (made interesting by their ability to sit in a cafe and write), just writing.  I am even jealous of the ones that are clearly writing academic work, quoting, probably in MLA style, and considering deeply esoteric notions.  The day that I get to just sit and write is going to come, but it won’t be for quite a long time.  Meanwhile, I will look at my still sleeping baby, and feel grateful for all that has been given to me.