14 Months

Posted by E-George on December 8, 2009

November saw an uptick for us in terms of activities. Matthew was under an incredible amount of work stress, culminating in a trip to Portland for a work conference. He left on a Friday afternoon and Evelyn noticed right away. For the next seven days she would wander around the house, go into his office, run to the back door every time she heard the garage door and every time it wasn’t her daddy she would look quite disappointed. On Thursday the 19^th, Evelyn and I boarded a plane and took the 3.5 hour direct flight to Portland to join him. She did amazingly well on the plane. It helped that we bought her a ticket and brought her car seat. I had hoped she would nap for most of the flight, but the ambient plane noise wasn’t enough to override the obnoxious and, quite frankly, drunken gaffaws of the social ingrates sitting behind us. The ironic thing was they felt free to give us sneers and attitude for sitting near them (they gave a similar dose of capriciousness to a family of 3 kids sitting behind them) but they were far more disruptive than any of the children on the plane.

Once we landed and I told Evelyn her daddy was near by she was a fit of wriggles. Partly because she was so damn delighted to be off the plane and away from the cuss-monger brigade, and partly because she wanted her daddy. She could hardly contain herself when she caught sight of him – it was really quite gratifying for Matthew, I would think.

While we were in Portland, we were going to meet up with some of Matthew’s friends but before then we had a whole day to knock around, just the three of us. Based on a recommendation, we decided our first stop would be to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). The city has an amazing public transit system which made it very easy to get to the museum. Once there, we spent more than four hours walking, looking, playing, and having a great time.

The next day we met up with Megan, Beef, and Otto, and John, Shenais, and Quara. Thus commenced Rock The Tots ‘09.

None of the babies napped this day. Not so much as a five minute refresher sleep – nothing. This is what 3 babies look like after a day of hard play.

But, for all the tiredness, there were no tears, no fights, no grumpiness. Just affable play and happy squeals and laughter. While there, Matthew was able to realize a years-long dream. His friend John had in his house a certain kind of wall clock – the kind used in public school systems – that is AC wired and has a smooth second hand. Unlike traditional battery powered clocks whose second hands visibly tick, this clock just smoothly rotates. And, this is glorious. So glorious, in fact, that Matthew professed his undying affection for the clock such that John liberated one from his basement and gave it to him. The bonus is that the clock that Matthew got has a school bell. Oh. Joy.

Monday we flew home and Evelyn threw herself upon her toys dramatically as if to say, “Thank GOD you’re all right!” We had about one day of relaxing and laundry before we had to get ready for our annual wine and cheese party, Thanksgiving day, and family Thanksgiving dinner.

Matthew took charge for the Thanksgiving dinners that we had. On Thanksgiving day, he tested out a turkey brine and smoked a turkey. Easily, it was the best turkey I’ve ever had, you know, like, ever. Add to it some roasted brussel sprouts, gravy, and Berta’s sugar-free cranberries and we had a complete feast. The following Saturday we had family Thanksgiving dinner. Normally, we have Christmas dinner and Nathan has Thanksgiving, but this year he had hip surgery the day before Thankgiving, sort of ruling out his ability to host. So we traded. Once again, Matthew masterfully smoked up another turkey, Babka invented firesticks, and my medley of roasted root vegetables was grotesque and decidedly unpalatable.

All parties and traveling aside, Evelyn continued to create new forms of play for herself. The most recent has been an evolution of the traditional Unload All The Tupperware From The Container Drawer to Crawl Into The Container Drawer And Unload It From The Inside.

November was strangely occupied, but in a good way. Always in a good way. So, I leave November with some gratuitous pig tail pictures. I just love me some pig tails!

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