Summer routine

Captain Callum drives the boat with Dana the Pirate on China Lake!!!

Uncle Jonathan and Callum take in the final day of the Tour de France....

I haven't written much about my day to day life this summer, and this thought just came to my mind this morning while I was feeding Callum his breakfast. I am lucky enough to be home with him this summer, and we're having a great time together; it is really tough--I won't lie--but I consider myself blessed to be able to spend so much quality time with my son each day. Amanda works from home on some Wednesdays, and sometimes grammy watches Callum for the day. But usually, Callum and I have our daily routine into which we've seemed to settle. My biggest fear is that, come the end of August when I am back in school, I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to not being with him! Almost like I'm going back from "paternity leave" or something. I notice this already when he does go to grammy's house; I really miss him and it doesnt make sense to have the house so quiet and empty.

People who know anything about me know of my horrific OCD tendencies, and my obsession with keeping a neat house. Just one of the hundreds of things Callum Stuart has done for me in the past year is exponetially mitigage these obsessions. Some of his favorite things to do are completely empty the tupperware cabinet, playing with all the bowls, take as many CDs as he can off the CD rack, and bang them on the floor, spread out all his toys all over the house, throw his mashed up peaches and chicken nuggets on the floor, rip up and chew my Bicycling magazines, and crash his walker thingy into all the walls. And, somehow, I am unbothered by this. Granted, I dont want him the drawers and cabinets that have batteries, cleaners, and all my loaded and un-safetied pistols in them, but I truly am, for the most part, unfluttered by his daily activities. I actually love watching him explore. And I am glad because this is one thing I was really worried about when we became pregnant.

He IS learning his boundaries, however (slowly but surely). He can't crawl past the wood stove, for example, without stopping, pointing, and repeating HOT HOT HOT over and over again. And it is funny to see his daily, repetitive routines. After Amanda leaves for work at around 7, we usually go and flip back between Martha Speaks on PBS, or TODAY so we can see hear about what kind of shuffle mix Michael Jackson had on his iPod when he died, or something like that. Then we eat breakfast, play trucks, read a few books, and take a nap (well, he usually does). This is usually the time I go on line and order most of my illegal guns from Colombia. We usually eat lunch, and then go out and do errands. He loves going to Joseph's market, Hannaford, and Agway....and the people there usually remember him!

For fun, we go on walks, splash around in his kiddy pool, and look at the bikes in the garage. His favorite thing in the world, lately, is a BIKE. He loves seeing people riding bikes, and he loves looking at my 2008 Specialized bicycle catalogue. In fact, that is one of his favorite nap/bedtime books lately! He just points and yells out BITT! BITT! (Callumish for "Bike"). We got him a Schwinn trailer for his birthday (actually just went to pick it up last week). But we had to order a special skewer at Mathieu's, and it isnt in yet. But he is going to LOVE riding around the neighborhood with mommy and daddy!

At around 4, he goes into his "destruction mode," which is usually the time when he REALLY starts tearing stuff apart--bowls, toys, DVDs, books, etc. So this is when he usually starts helping me get dinner going so we can eat as soon as mommy gets home. Since we are a "charcoal house" now, he loves watching the chimney starter on the BBQ billow with smoke. He also loves to munch on cheese or Elmo cookies while I cook vegetables or rice! When mommy gets home, we eat, bathe, go to bed, and then Amanda and I split our time (so one can be home while CS sleeps) enjoying a well earned, wonderful, stress reducing ride or run!!!!!!!

What a great day! Thanks Callum for exciting and unforgettable days! I know I will look back to this summer fondly when you are all grown up and out riding bitts with your friends all day!

(or, more often than not, on a day to day basis, I just strap Callum in front of Noggin all day while I text)

HAHA