Rock To Wind A String Around

especially if your brother’s booty lands on your arm while you try a handstand.  She cried so hard on Wednesday, I was sure it was broken, but she was using it again on Thursday (fairly freely, and by the end of the day she was trying some hanging exercises at fencing), so I decided I was overly anxious for nothing. Except, she wouldn’t use it again today, complained every time it was bumped, and her hand began to look swollen.  The quickest of trips to the Children’s hospital outpatient office ended with this BLUE! arm, a blue tongue (from the ice pop they foisted upon her) and a sympathy gift of paperoni from mama,  something she has wanted for the last 6 months or so.

I am bummed by the loss of independence (hers and mine), the interesting alterations we will need to make to her nun’s habit (have I mentioned that she likes to be covered from top to toe?) and the need to delay many potential fall activities including music and dance lessons.

A day for the history book though, Astrid Meklit is the first Chapman-Layland to have a cast…we are all SO proud!

Let’s hope for warmish weather until October–AM will be really sad if she can’t wear her long sleeves when it’s actually chilly.

“you spin me wrong round baby, wrong round

like a record baby,

round round round round”

The dance floor aka the family room is going to seem awfully quiet over the next month or so…

Here’s a shot of my crazy little gal, dancing through an empty parking lot on the way to the Metro.  Astrid Meklit loves life!  She was thrilled by our museum choices, our restaurant selections and the shopping we did.  She had a king-sized bed all to herself this week and she refused to share it with her doll Meskerem, “she takes up too much room.”  Poor Meskerem was given a pillow for resting on the floor so that AM and kitty could slumber undisturbed (it’s exactly what we did with you, girlie, when we wanted unblemished rest…)

The rest of us enjoyed the too-short week full of museums and trains and gluten free pizza.  I can’t believe it’s really over–Elliott will be off to school a week from Tuesday. Grappling, really grappling with that new reality.  I hope to make peace with it soon, in the meantime, there is a great deal of Enkutatash planning left to do, and I’m fully immersed.   Busy-ness is a nice distraction tool.  At this rate, I won’t have time to think about our many life changes until sometime in 2011—well done, me!

exhibit a

exhibit b

and c…

I do a lot of volunteering these days–Enkutatash is just around the corner, so I’m busy with preparations on behalf of ETSS and since becoming vice president of EOR back in January?  Well, let’s just say that I’ve added a lot of hours there too.

While I don’t receive a regular paycheck for any of these tasks, there are all sorts of other perks related to my work.  Desalegn, the founder of EOR’s newest partner, Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children, blogged this news yesterday:

OUR OLD TOILET, THE NEW ONE IS COMING SOON!!!

So yesterday, I promised some news.

To help prolong the big buildup, I’ve added pictures for your enjoyment.

This is my first reaction to the decision we needed to make…

(not me, but an actor representing me)

For awhile, I dealt with the upcoming decision like this…

even knowing that Albert felt like this:

so, I did a little more of this:

and I came to a decision.

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Elliott  will attend the Graham Expeditionary Middle School next fall.

He wants you all to know that this is how he feels about it:

I think I’ll feel that way soon too.

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Wow.   School.   Wow…

It’s been so long since I’ve offered a post of any merit, I thought I’d post a laundry list of current happenings and we can pretend that you gleaned all of this information from several thoughtful, witty posts.

A.  fencing camp:  Elliott finished his two weeks of fencing camp with a strong measure of enthusiasm.  We were warned that 3 weeks of 9-5 fencing camp would be too much for the lad, so we opted for two, but Elliott had energy to spare at the end of the day and daily reports suggested that he worked hard–so I should start saving my pennies now to fund the third week next year.  At the end of week 1 we received the unhappy news that Astrid Meklit’s main squeeze aka Elliott’s fencing coach would be leaving the gym for a new job in Texas.  We are happy for him, but sad for us–Sergey is an amazing coach–he knew exactly what Elliott needed to push him without frustrating him.  The gym is closed for classes until labor day (although private lessons now with Sasha will continue)–I may take up a foreign language or a new hobby in all of the extra time I will have each week.

Oh wait, instead I will attend to my volunteer duties!  Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year) is just two months away (celebration on September 18th here in Cowtown)–lots to do for that and The Dead of Winter Gala is being planned in earnest.  So many fabulous items are rolling in for the silent auction, now the team needs to work their magic and help me find sponsors and libation donations.

In addition to these delightful events, I am also co-planning 2! baby showers for the month of August both to be held here at Mary Poppins.  MP’s spacious living area makes her a popular gal at parties.  I tag along for the ride–Mary doesn’t seem to mind.

With fencing camp is over and my mom  still visiting, we’ve opted to make this last week together ‘Vacation Week.”  Fencing camp ended Saturday at noon and Elliott was immediately whisked to a 3D showing of ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ at the Drexel, and then off to the splash pad/playground with the rest of us to kick off the week.

Sunday was filled with all of the best sorts of 4th of July activities:  a parade, water ice, a cookout with friends, and fireworks hours after bedtime. 

That should be enough joy for anyone, but wait!  there’s more…

Monday was my dad’s birthday.  I wisely planned a day-long outing to The Wilds which proved an excellent distraction.  It really is beautiful there and we got several terrific photos (as well as loads of bad ones) of animals out in the open. 

By the end of the day we were very hot, and tired and blissfully distracted.  My mom and I agreed that my dad’s birthday, while sad, was much easier than Father’s Day.

On Tuesday we hopped over to Chuck E Cheese (AM wants you to know that she loved it as much as she thought she would) and then my mom and Elliott went to the movies while the little gal took a much-needed nap.  Which is good, because today we toddled off to Holmes County to see all things Amish, which was fun, and involved horses and buggies but there was no nap to be seen and we didn’t make it home until almost 9.

Tomorrow’s vacation week activity will be much lower key.  Certain girls will nap.  Certain mothers (mine) will probably join certain girls in this activity.

Rounding out the rest of the affairs:  Albert was scheduled to work in town this week, but is in, yep, you guessed it, 103 degree DC instead.  We are hosting an Art Party on Saturday  to gather submissions for EOR’s art contest. And, there is BIG news, but you’ll need to tune in tomorrow to find out all about it.

And that’s the state of the state…

This last weekend was crammed full–Albert & I were asked to be motivational speakers at 2 different events, the boy had social commitments (a mall excursion planned with the fencing camp kids–his first without a hovering parent to guide helicopter over him), a movie at The Drexel, a library tournament thingy (again for the boy), half a dinner on the deck (the other half inside because it rained, oh how it rained), and all of the usual weekend stuff too.  By Sunday, I wanted a family outing that was reasonable in scope–no zoo trips, or baseball games, just something pleasant we all could enjoy, even my mom, who was a little under the weather.  I’ve wanted to take a trip to one of the local waterfalls for awhile, so we chose the one with the easiest paths and set out.  We were parked at Indian Run in less than 15 minutes, but waterfalls were in short supply.  My mom and I walked all over the upper trail while Albert, Elliott, the ever-uneasy Astrid Meklit hopped from rock to rock in an attempt to get close to the falls.  They gave up as AM began to panic on the slightly slippery rocks and joined us in time to report the lack of a waterfall, although a water trickle was evident (must go earlier in the spring, I think).  In the meantime, we continued to “hike” the trail, musing quite loudly about the lack of animals (I wonder why)…

We did find a fabulous photo spot before the walk was over.  Elliott preened and mugged, pretending to fall off the edge of the world.  I joined him for a quick tango before he plunged to his untimely demise.  See how pleased he appears!

All of this hiking (and dancing) left us in need of refreshment.  A Jeni’s splendid icecreams was sighted and a Sunday family outing was made infinitely sweeter.

Father’s Day, while heartbreakingly difficult in many ways, was also surprisingly lovely.  The day started with brunch.  I whipped up Karina’s fabulous eggs diablo over polenta, served it with a minted trio of fresh berries, and at the last minute, added a sample of some freshly made gluten free granola (Bob’s Red Mill offers gf safe oats) from the NY Times’ Mark Bittman.   This was the wind-down from the weekend spent in the kitchen (more on that later–I’ve got dishes to dish about).  I couldn’t seem to stop cooking, so I went with it, and nobody seemed to mind.

Add a trip to the movies, a fencing camp meeting, dinner and an episode of True Blood, and really, there isn’t room for much more, but we squeezed in a few gifts anyway.  A lovely new grill, an even lovelier new ice cream maker, and loveliest of all:   new pictures of the charm tots.

Behold!

and, well…

Every single one of youse will refrain from telling me how grown up the boy looks.  Really…