thursday 14th:
going to bed just after midnight, sleeping a lot but every short wake up feeling sicker and more sore
tough getting up, waiting in the car while gd dropped mr smear off, an interesting conversation with my tax consultant, taking gd to the chiropractor and hanging around instead of driving back and forth
collecting tax documents until early evening, with breaks to pick up mr smear (did i alienate a class parent when we said goodbye?), shop quickly and bounce him into a nap
dropping gd off at class, my mom joining me in feeding mr smear, psytrance shower (he loved it!), a quick bedtime, fingerprint documents and picking up gd (seeing a very small projector with an enormous display), troubleshooting an IIS installation before chatting with SxS before working
friday 15th:
before climbing into bed around 1.30am
another night of intriguing dreams (rollerblading down crazy hills behind an old friend - the crow - listening to music with headphones), another hard morning starting at 6am
dentist visit, my dry skin finger cracking painfully
telkom's technical support getting my telkom phone number wrong
picking up mr smear then four hours struggling with troubleshooting, tax documents, fingerprint documents, a frustrated child who wouldn't nap and the consequences of responding badly to an impatient cook
mr smear passing out unexpectedly while we got ready for shul, mom taking over and us arriving in time for pre-service meditation, a good service but falling asleep before choking and struggling to sing in key, waking mr smear for dinner, a fun evening, the illustrator "delivering" the work to mixed feelings. the artwork is gorgeous, but how is it that an illustrator doesn't understand "portrait" and "landscape"?!?
saturday 16th:
a very sore tongue going to bed at 1.30am
getting the early slot with the original charlie and the chocolate factory and dr horrible's sing-along blog, absolutely knackered and at some point sleeping a little on the couch
heavy winds all day, car shopping with my mom with interesting results, lots of coughing, delicious wraps from pulp (mr smear thought so too) and a fun chat with a vida regular, a "quick" stop for gd on the way to the waterfront, mr smear largely unimpressed, trying to go to the park but literally being blown back home, an evening in (dr horrible again* and breakdancing), dinner and bedtime then a bit of trainspotting t2 and an idiot abroad before crashing early - almost, i got caught up checking out an interesting parenting book i picked up on sale (It's a Boy!: Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18) so i only climbed into bed after 11pm
sunday 17th:
a really tough night respiratorily, up at 6am for dinosaur train and not-quite-jenga
a park mission with mr smear's best friend and running into other class parents, late lunch then bouncing mr smear to nap which we could properly take advantage of, resting a bit and getting good work done before he woke up, gd taking extra time so i read with him before we tried out sonic generations and returned to a little goat simulator. waking to gd and leaving alone to do a shopping run, generally successful and including an interesting chat with an old friend, then getting home in time to greet sailor and his girlfriend before jumping in the shower with mr smear and readying him for bed so we could go out for falafel and talk mostly like adults for an hour or two (or in my case, talk and cough awfully). since they left it's been work,
monday 18th:
and very soon, bed. i'm seriously in need of some rest.
* i was becoming concerned about the violence in the show, but after much research it looks like it's quite benign. if i have energy available at some point i'll post more detail.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
in the blink of an eye
monday 11th:
12.45am after doing a lot of nothing (although that nothing did include rewriting an old nursery rhyme)
up at 7am with barely an interruption but mr smear suffering conjunctivitis... taking him to school anyway once we were reasonably sure it'd cleared, going to the gym and running surprisingly well before receiving a call informing us that we'd been wrong - rushing to pick him up, then picking up gd and caring and working for a couple of hours before seeing the doctor
an indoors afternoon, gd's victorious battle against the clique moms, decent work progress, apparently clearing up some confusion with the illustrator, gd over-catering an afternoon snack into too much dinner, the bedtime ritual and passing out halfway through guardians of the galaxy volume 2 which is phenomenally good
tuesday 12th:
2.30am up to double-team mr smear for an hour of eyedrop application trauma and getting him back to sleep, fortunately sleeping a bit later than usual
a long morning, eventually getting to the police station for fingerprinting (every officer claimed the illegible scrawls were clearly readable, wtf?!) and police car watching (there was only one, unfortunately), the postnet for posting (R450 or R20? we'll take the less secure route, thanks), spar for phat fox vegan chocolate mousse (amazing!), a moment laughing uncontrollably face to face with mr smear crying because i ate "his" spoon of mousse, home, trading up a whiteboard for a pad of paper then a big shopping... no almond milk, though, and i had to go through two other stores to find some because of a nationwide shortage. on the way i got out of the car to yell at an old white woman who'd hooted aggressively in my ear after a pedestrian inconvenienced her by legitimately crossing the road; i was so infuriated by that and the fact that her grandchild was in the back that i said some of what i intended and probably garbled the rest
gd wearing down mr smear (and herself in the process), taking him to the park and returning ten minutes later with him fast asleep; settling down to work, trying to help gd quickly, doing something stupid and being chewed out for most of the rest of the napportunity...
... a little work, a rushed park visit and then getting gd to her class almost on time, mr smear upset that i'd only repeat "a brand new day" once but still eating a bit of his dinner, a well-timed pre-shower poop on his behalf leading to bedtime. not smooth, but not too much trouble either
boxing gym music at high volume at 8.30pm
troubleshooting an installation while i developed a sore throat, then sitting down to an idiot abroad and delicious vegan fudge before getting into work
wednesday 13th:
until 1am, going to bed after a couple of failed attempts to manage my throat, intense dreams (taking place in video games)
watching mr smear until the nanny took him outside, working and Getting Stuff Done for most of the day
working at my mom's place in the early afternoon when mr smear wanted to play with me and not the nanny, the battery on my expensive workstation running flat in an hour when my own cheap second-hander from 2013 has more juice
detecting the stench of athlete's foot from a man taking off his shoe about 50m upwind of me
taking mr smear to the waterfront for a quick mission, him sliding around on his belly over bird shit and then squirting boxed guava juice all over himself
cough regression
work / dinner / staring, fascinated at our little boy who's very quickly gone from baby to autonomous little human
the rush from table to breastfeeding with a shower in between
that surreal moment when you manage to convince your two year old to sing himself to sleep
an idiot abroad then work
12.45am after doing a lot of nothing (although that nothing did include rewriting an old nursery rhyme)
up at 7am with barely an interruption but mr smear suffering conjunctivitis... taking him to school anyway once we were reasonably sure it'd cleared, going to the gym and running surprisingly well before receiving a call informing us that we'd been wrong - rushing to pick him up, then picking up gd and caring and working for a couple of hours before seeing the doctor
an indoors afternoon, gd's victorious battle against the clique moms, decent work progress, apparently clearing up some confusion with the illustrator, gd over-catering an afternoon snack into too much dinner, the bedtime ritual and passing out halfway through guardians of the galaxy volume 2 which is phenomenally good
tuesday 12th:
2.30am up to double-team mr smear for an hour of eyedrop application trauma and getting him back to sleep, fortunately sleeping a bit later than usual
a long morning, eventually getting to the police station for fingerprinting (every officer claimed the illegible scrawls were clearly readable, wtf?!) and police car watching (there was only one, unfortunately), the postnet for posting (R450 or R20? we'll take the less secure route, thanks), spar for phat fox vegan chocolate mousse (amazing!), a moment laughing uncontrollably face to face with mr smear crying because i ate "his" spoon of mousse, home, trading up a whiteboard for a pad of paper then a big shopping... no almond milk, though, and i had to go through two other stores to find some because of a nationwide shortage. on the way i got out of the car to yell at an old white woman who'd hooted aggressively in my ear after a pedestrian inconvenienced her by legitimately crossing the road; i was so infuriated by that and the fact that her grandchild was in the back that i said some of what i intended and probably garbled the rest
gd wearing down mr smear (and herself in the process), taking him to the park and returning ten minutes later with him fast asleep; settling down to work, trying to help gd quickly, doing something stupid and being chewed out for most of the rest of the napportunity...
... a little work, a rushed park visit and then getting gd to her class almost on time, mr smear upset that i'd only repeat "a brand new day" once but still eating a bit of his dinner, a well-timed pre-shower poop on his behalf leading to bedtime. not smooth, but not too much trouble either
boxing gym music at high volume at 8.30pm
troubleshooting an installation while i developed a sore throat, then sitting down to an idiot abroad and delicious vegan fudge before getting into work
wednesday 13th:
until 1am, going to bed after a couple of failed attempts to manage my throat, intense dreams (taking place in video games)
watching mr smear until the nanny took him outside, working and Getting Stuff Done for most of the day
working at my mom's place in the early afternoon when mr smear wanted to play with me and not the nanny, the battery on my expensive workstation running flat in an hour when my own cheap second-hander from 2013 has more juice
detecting the stench of athlete's foot from a man taking off his shoe about 50m upwind of me
taking mr smear to the waterfront for a quick mission, him sliding around on his belly over bird shit and then squirting boxed guava juice all over himself
cough regression
work / dinner / staring, fascinated at our little boy who's very quickly gone from baby to autonomous little human
the rush from table to breastfeeding with a shower in between
that surreal moment when you manage to convince your two year old to sing himself to sleep
an idiot abroad then work
Monday, September 11, 2017
august and september
friday august 11th:
finally getting a handle on securing files properly before going to bed around 3.15am (as if i hadn't regressed enough during the previous days)
7am up for the spongebob movie: sponge out of water, the more i saw of it the more impressed i became
i smoked cigarettes for a decade, and i know there were times when i smelled so much like an ashtray that *i* could smell it and it bothered me. not enough to quit, but enough to make me regret. if i could go back in time to bring myself vaping equipment, i totally would. what's with all the smokers who haven't switched yet?
dropping off gd at the acupuncturist and mr smear off at school, home for a very short nap then picking up gd, home for some work then picking up mr smear, home for a forgotten asthma pump then to town for a disappointing lunch at kauai with mr smear asleep on my shoulder followed by the two of us doing some compulsive book shopping while gd had her hair cut
home in time for a long security meeting, a pause, a discussion about plant-based lifestyles, and then a serious conversation while alone with mr smear who was very unhappy about not being invited to participate
getting ready for the synagogue, the service less unpleasant than expected (we don't like the opera singer)
saturday 12th:
once up, an early start with gd suffering a bad neck spasm, a very slow morning (and lots of pancakes), taking mr smear to see my uncle and cousin and literally running after him almost non-stop, coming home and making him toasted sandwiches, properly burning the roof of my mouth in the process, keeping him occupied with food, books and dub and eventually thinking i was getting him to sleep but it was actually me falling asleep and then i woke up and found him looking at my half closed eyes unsure of whether or not i could see him... drawing on his plastic table, then his plastic chair, and then finally, after assuring himself that i was out, turning to our table...
slowly making our way to the waterfront, mr smear passing out before we arrived and giving us a chance to peaceably get most of our shopping done and enjoy wellness warehouse's surprisingly good vegan offerings, waking up in time to make the grocery shopping more interesting than it should have been
home, dinner, bedtime; an episode or two of aquarius - absolutely brilliant - then gd went to bed
interrupted texas hold'em, and testing out a cheap but great humble bundle
sunday 13th:
until quite late, sleeping until 8-8.30 and starting the day brilliantly with netflix's ask the storybots, which is like sesame street on steroids, and competing with my son for turns playing geometry dash
all three of us going out to kirstenbosch for a lovely afternoon, picnicking with the "chicken-a-ducks" (guinea foul), mr smear passing out on the way back but waking up on contact with his bed, managing and entertaining mr smear while gd cooked, my mom coming over for coffee and mr smear on form
a little trouble (general naughtiness) post-shower but otherwise getting him into bed fairly quickly, although a coughing fit freaked us out because we still couldn't give him antihistamines
aquarius still at 100% after quite a few episodes, a little geometry dash, lots of research into digital watermarking
monday 14th:
until 1.30am
early up for storybots, dropping mr smear off then coming home to hunt down visa documents, drop gd off at the gym, work a bit, pick up mr smear, watch him walk up stairs by himself with no hands for the very first time, arrive at the gym just in time to catch gd about to walk home because my phone wasn't working, a call to telkom and learning that they hadn't contacted me about my network connection issue because they'd tried to call me while it was failing, a visit with the allergist and 20+ needles (mr smear was NOT impressed), learning that we've been absolutely right about his milk allergy, a visit with the lung specialist immediately afterwards, home for much-needed nap time (and a big bowl of "we're all being poisoned anyway" rice), a visit to the chiropractor, grocery shopping, and finally home
really bad leg and foot discomfort, most likely the sciatica, yokai and a big dinner, mr smear's bedtime, aquarius
our landlord gearing up for a fight
going to bed early with indigestion (in spite of a ppi)
tuesday 15th:
so much for getting up early, aside from a 6am feed nobody wanted to get out of bed on a cold rainy morning, and it's hard to wake up a beautifully sleeping child at the best of times
dropping mr smear off in the rain, straight to woodstock to arrive on time for a meeting with two guys who weren't there... using the wait to solve a problem i'd been having at work, then accepting a "real" coffee which was waaaay too strong for me (got me completely wired), cosmically good timing to pitch my service to the boss and propose a partnership - did i really compare my idea to uber?! how embarrassing - a good chat with his recruiter, my phone battery dying just as i returned to town, picking up mr smear (still raining) and possibly saving one of the mom's husbands a vasectomy, coming home intending to work and instead being sent on errands to assist the nanny in cleaning duct tape glue from the windows before showing the apartment (of course the viewer never showed up, although meeting the agent was productive), lots of food for mr smear and working / meeting before getting gd ready and to her class while my mom looked after mr smear for a few minutes, then a chat with SxS and a little eat and playtime (more playtime that eating) before shower and bedtime
surreal: when your two year old buys extra time before bed by requesting an apple and passes out while chewing
the cockroaches released by our building renovators wasting our dinner, aquarius (realizing that sam hodiak -> s.hodiak -> zodiak), sore feet again plus shoulder pain, installing borderlands on the ps3 and working through
wednesday 16th:
to 4am trying to sort out restify middleware
snoozing for almost half an hour after waking up furious from a really unpleasant dream, dragging myself out of bed for breakfast and to drop mr smear off at school, then return home for a deeply satisfying nap for an hour or so, coffeeing up to pick him up again (experiencing the panic of a child deliberately going limp in the middle of a pedestrian crossing on a short light), rushing home to sort out fingerprinting only to arrive at the police station five minutes too late, dropping gd off at the gym (uber failing spectacularly while i was trying to introduce her and that having a rather strong influence over her faith in the concept)
psytrance and lunch and the plumbers with their shoes, no naps but eating well, sandwiches and not peeing in the potty but on the coffee table and the bed instead
intro call with a new dev and mr smear chiming in, finalizing a big refactor and showering mr smear and bedtime; quick and painless, aquarius and a hunter's and chocolate before work - and a little break to watch last week tonight and double my digital dosh in an exciting few hands of texas hold'em
a building blackout, committing my code (locally) on battery power before hitting the hey early (11.30pm)
thursday 17th:
after two years of sleep deprivation, every reasonable night's sleep becomes harder and harder to wake up from
planning hebrew lessons, a long introduction for our new dev, paying an unsettled bill, picking up mr smear, fingerprinting taking a long time and not being done right (not to mention the cold wind mission for change that was entirely unnecessary), roof bleaching equipment, an eagle at our window (!!), work and winning my first game of poker night at the inventory, lying down for a few minutes, mr smear waking up and joining me for my first completed level of geometry dash before we met a friend at the blue train for a few minutes before scrambling to get him home and showered so we could leave him with my mom
an interesting hebrew class, a surprisingly intriguing conversion class and a rewarding chat with the rabbi afterwards, home to hear entertaining stories from my mom until 11pm
friday 18th:
dreams: don't hang around the volcano incinerator with the goods, the treehouse cage puzzle, i was a robot dog bike jumping on the back of big robot dog sentinel to destroy him
standard morning procedure, my first haircut in months (actually falling asleep in the chair, dropping a surprising amount of grey hair), lying down briefly then getting some results at work before picking up mr smear (chatting in the parking lot until they kicked us out); shopping and running into krybabie's wife, mr smear passing out on the way home, lunch and a bit of work until he woke up, a little geometry dash then meeting friends at the park
i should've put on sunscreen earlier, a fun late afternoon made even better when running into a great couple we met a couple of months ago and actually trading numbers
home for a lovely shabbat dinner with all the traditional rites, mr smear advancing rapidly linguistically (and also generally being very naughty)
game of thrones, bad poker and a little work,
saturday 19th:
1am suddenly feeling a bit faint and responsibly going to bed
a decent night's rest, up early for crash bandicoot control wrestling, then off to the temple for a couple of hours of chasing mr smear around, ending on an angry note because it's freezing in there (gd feeling trapped and me not considering that the converts wouldn't know to just get up and take a break)
a perfect nap, then taking mr smear to the blue train (it was a beautiful, hot day); leaving after mr smear bashed his knee, meeting mom at home, coffee and chinese before the internet went down, half of ali and burned popcorn before passing out from exhaustion
sunday 20th:
early up and tired, insanely tired considering how much we'd slept the previously couple of weeks... a relatively relaxed morning, desperately needing a second coffee as soon as the first began to wear off, finally scripting the children's book i've been working on, a quick shopping mission taking much longer than expected, hitting the gym for a medium-paced walk while engaged in a conversation with krybabie's mother, a brief argument about mr smear learning jiu-jitsu and ice-cream headaches from a smoothie
thought for the day: as a jew, i'm surprised that it only just occurred to me how inappropriate it is to suggest that a pregnant jew has "a bun in the oven" post-holocaust.
home to a napping boy, but not being able to take advantage as he woke up fairly soon after we returned; a real nice park mission with mr smear's best friend and a bunch of parents we get along well with (and could hold a serious and funny conversation about flatulence with), eventually coming home just before sunset when it started getting cold to watch hunter x hunter, transform timeouts, develop acid reflux and take a ppi for the first time in five days, put mr smear to bed with his second breastfeeding of the day (!!), watch shark tank, game of thrones and a few minutes of the defenders with sore feet before calling it a night
(sort of, i'd get a little work done on my way)
monday 21st:
an awful, uncomfortable (sore back) night with barely any sleep and unpleasant dreams, a hard wakeup and a little work frustration, dropping mr smear off at school and spending the next couple of hours fighting with an under-performing machine while trying to figure out self publishing and fiverr illustrators
picking up mr smear, experimenting with bubble blowing (water vs dishwashing liquid) and an angry walk in miserably cold weather (or maybe that was later?), making overdue phone calls then heading off to the hospital
not only poorly designed, but we eventually realized we were at the wrong hospital. mr smear's nap being interrupted because there's literally not a single thing on the hospital restaurant menu that doesn't cause heart disease and it was too cold to go anywhere else but home
work / getting stuff done then taking mr smear to the aquarium for a bit, coming home to good philosophy, mom's visit an excuse for a drink, paying significantly more than originally intended for an illustrator (not realizing i had been negotiating in US dollars, for some reason)
gd playing brain it on, a few more minutes of the defenders then passing out
tuesday 22nd:
sleeping well, up early (like 2.40am) and working hard until 6-ish, then sleeping well again (crazy dreams) before being dragged out of bed to the couch... sleepwalking through drop off procedure, then home for a bit of work before returning to pick gd up
most of the afternoon spent working, eventually mr smear going down for a nap (every time the nanny takes him outside, HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?!? i'm beginning to suspect chloroform...), being woken up at 4pm from deep and peaceful sleep for an explosively tense rush through traffic to get to the pain specialist
arriving just in time for gd's lesson so that mr smear could say goodnight, a slow but steady success feeding him, an easy shower but a nightmare drying him and brushing his teeth - he's really figured out all my buttons and knows just how to press them
poor kid didn't see bedtime coming, gd arriving home just after he went back to sleep, disappointment with the defenders setting in, going to bed early
wednesday 23rd:
up around 4am (or earlier), exploring book publishing and making some progress at work before mr smear woke up at 6 begging to read a book; a few books and a couple of slices of toast and by 7 i was ready for bed (not that that was going to happen)
dropping him off in a haze, coming home to work a bit and receive a long lesson in pancakes before gd wrapped up my wrist in an ice bandage and i napped for forty five minutes, waking up groggy and hallucinatingly tired to pick up mr smear and bring him home, working a bit before beginning the hour or two of trying to get mr smear to nap, eventually succeeding by taking a stroll in miserably cold winds and unwittingly walking into the centre of an active construction site when he'd just passed out (i pray his hearing isn't damaged), returning to find gd in bed and really feeling like life wasn't playing fair
good work in spite of my severe napstipation, eventually trying to lie down only to jump up with some book publishing inspiration and continuing to work until (and even after) mr smear woke up, making good progress until his bedtime
my two year old sings along to nirvana, so we're doing just fine. and it was great being able to rinse his hair (and him) standing in the shower for the first time instead of having to pick him up
perhaps i shouldn't have asked the three giants what drugs they were on but did i really need to explain to a bunch of adults that heavy construction at 9pm in a residential area isn't okay?
it's nice when your coworkers get excited about your ideas!
the defenders and in bed at 11pm with acid reflux (probably shouldn't be eating dark chocolate, or so much of it, just before bedtime)
thursday 24th:
up with reflux at 0.30am, otherwise sleeping until alarm time with only one interruption (first feed)
a busy morning, dropping mr smear off late and just making it to my first laser hair removal session in cape town to fix the bits of my beard the montreal technicians missed: a phenomenally better experience, even though i'd forgotten to shave the night before and i noticed a massive snarly as i approached the mirror
the illustrator's first sample, banking research (bitcoin needs to become a thing, like, yesterday), picking up mr smear and coming home to work pretty much until the nanny left, which was right after i recalled her from the park when i realized that we were about to be late for gd's chiropractor appointment
mr smear's version of crossfit in the chiro's office, coming home to cancelled plans for the conversion course and progressively increased tension
mr smear kissing the gruffalo on every page turn (great book!) vs his timeout hug manipulation
mom's late visit in time for dinner, a final straw just before shower time
aquarius and bed without chocolate
friday 25th:
epic dreaming and waking up just before alarm time in the same place we'd gone to sleep, or perhaps worse...
dropping mr smear off at school and heading through to the housing tribunal, managing to find supporting documentation in spite of the poor reception and apple mail's awful search functionality, the tribunal agents being knowledgeable and helpful but initially dismissing me on the assumption that i got legally owned by a sneaky landlord
stopping at my mom's for two minutes to stew, then returning home to have things get much better before becoming much worse; picking up mr smear, returning to make matters worse before the two of us finally communicated, leaving me with a lot to think about that goes back to my revelation on our flight back from victoria
a sunny afternoon, four shopping trips and one visit to the park (mr smear using the big slide all by himself!), the timing of the realization that the timing of our leaving our lease couldn't have been worse (though we couldn't have known they'd go back on their word), mom coming over for dinner and mr smear barely making it through grace after meals before we tucked him into bed, watched an episode of game of thrones, medicated my rls (if that's what it is, and not sciatica), and went to bed playing brain it on together
saturday 26th:
5am to change a heavily wet diaper and soothe him back to sleep before trying to deal with an awfully scratchy throat that i'd been nursing since going to bed, playing brain it on for an hour before going to bed for a little more sleep
a much better temple service experience (water and shells and an amazing yoyo kid and gd moving around and managing much better), hangry and royally screwing up brunch plans with new friends, taking mr smear to get falafel which was so good we all demolished it (partially because i'd learned enough to check the pickles before putting them on, they're awful), a long, napless afternoon with freaks and geeks before taking a walk to the promenade and spending time wearing mr smear down, gd almost being run over by an entitled driver, shopping and mom's visit and dinner time and shower time and bedtime
"not our business" open doors on a cold windy night
aquarius, a couple of hours of ffix (actually continuing with the story for the first time in ages),
sunday 27th:
finally going to bed just after midnight
hard night with difficulty breathing and swallowing, lots of dreaming ending with k-twang and his wife and me clearing oily spiderwebs from a gate with our sandals so we could pass through
waking up to a stuffy morning for mr smear as well and gd sore, mr smear starting the day by pointing at my laptop and shouting "goat" until i understood that he wanted to watch me play goat simulator, playing until i got motion sickness then moving to crash bandicoot (what a rough sunday morning!), reviewing the mayweather vs mcgregor highlights (interesting fight), readying mr smear for the next few hours then heading off to dragonfire - how cool to see a new generation of claws that's finally motivated again!
a pleasant catch-up with a couple of the guys, some really good advice from my comic store friend and his coworker, a surprising vegan muffin and a game of thunderstone with shadowslight and a couple of kids; the game was awesome in spite of my being freezing cold from the moment we started and the fact that we had to cut it short when i got a message informing me that our nanny had gone home and my mom wasn't available to babysit; i thawed in the car on the way home to find gd very sick (flu?) but cleaning up after some potty progress had been made
taking mr smear to the aquarium where he repeatedly insisted on returning to the coin-operated game, an abysmal failure to share sorbet with him (he didn't want any, only pretzels), picking up some things then going home, on the way teaching him "we will rock you" (yay!) and "asshole" (uh, oh!)
dinner / shower / bedtime, leftovers and ffix: it took a lot longer to find a save point than planned and then suddenly the night was over...
monday 28th:
4am up and wondering if we were all sick, sleeping uncomfortably until mr smear got up, a pretty standard school morning
explaining mr smear's food issues to the substitute teacher, who was shocked that the other kids go crazy for his toasted fake cheese and vegan biscuits; trying and mostly succeeding to work in spite of gd making it very clear how awful she was feeling until it was time to pick mr smear up again
giving up on working fairly fast, developing an eyelid twitch, putting mr smear to sleep with psybient for a short nap, working a bit more
mr smear's first time going in the potty (although he did begin by peeing on me), taking him to our friends' in the heat where the kids played nicely for a couple of hours until the older brother decided he wanted us out of there; otherwise a pleasant playdate. making dinner plans and walking out into the cold wind of a brewing storm that failed to land, heading back out to pick up falafel for dinner, bohemian rhapsody sing-along in the shower, a couple of hours of work and finally crashing around 11.30pm
the first illustrations for review: wrong format but absolutely beautiful
tuesday 29th:
a miserable night, constantly woken by mr smear talking or crying out in his sleep
gd still sick, no first coffee, mr smear rushing into class to sit next to his friend (whose parents we don't get along with), a little work, sleeping for an hour or two because i felt sick, emergency shopping and a couple of sips of coffee before heading out to pick up mr smear; a fairly long meander back to the car, handing him over to the nanny soon after returning home
receiving confirmation that we'll be seeing our lease out, we've already paid the heavy cost anyway...
working well (and collaboratively), helping two coworkers set up my project on their machines (and learning a lot about doing so), which went on until late with a couple of breaks for dinner (which my mom brought over) and bedtime prep
wednesday 30th:
ted talks until 1am, up at 7 to rush through the morning and get gd's ear infection to the doctor before dropping mr smear off at school singing along to bohemian rhapsody, walking in on gd and the doctor discussing paranormal phenomena, picking up the prescription from a pharmacist who told us to take the probiotic and antibiotic together (?!)
a motivating chat with my comic illustrator, getting mr smear to sleep on a diaper mission, comic-ing and working until he woke up then an excruciatingly long prep for a sunset stroll
windy park evening and mr smear doing big boy things like the roundabout, then him properly helping me shop for the first time
a long day ending in frustration to the point where i just wanted to cry
police numbers and explosions and a long demanding meeting while distracted and an improvement and more meeting and 11.30pm heavy construction until midnight with no police intervention
thursday 31st:
working until 2am and nodding off while backing up
3.45am when parents disagree on midnight feeds
7am when they disagree on everything
the crazy store guy didn't know what post-its are?!
passing out to an idiot abroad
headache balcony trance
picking up mr smear, recording him and his buddies yelling instead of stopping them from disturbing the primary school students
work and finances
emergency shopping and coming home to cries
balcony bubbles
goat simulator sickness, recovering with funny videos and a park mission (mr smear alone on the roundabout and me making an ass of myself by trying to walk alongside) then being recalled to rush a shower and hand mr smear over to my mom before heading to gd's conversion class. an interesting hebrew class (not the worst "mizrachit"), the rabbi forgetting his speaker and me pulling one out of my pocket, an interesting class
home, leftovers, an idiot abroad and passing out,
friday september 1st:
waking up at 3 or 4am to brush my teeth, then spending two hours from 5 to 7am convincing mr smear to go back to sleep; of course, it would then take a while to convince him to get out of bed for breakfast...
pyjama day on spring day, a little work but mostly photos (healthy vegan kids), picking up mr smear (half an hour to get him to the car), gd's chiropractor appointment, picking up a "klaf" after closing time and mr smear falling asleep waiting for his vegan chocolate mousse, gd bumping into mr smear's buddy's mom on the way to meet us, arriving at the waterfront with massive gas, mr smear refusing the mousse until it was finished then being unable to scrape enough of the remains; the gift chocolate was either crap or dairy so we bought fudge, home in time to shower and leave
mr smear vs the cactus: he smacked one with an open hand as we walked past and it was only a little later when he touched a wall that they really hurt him, it was one of those cactii with tiny, sharp hairs and i had to take them out with my fingers... not only did this take a while, but i managed to get one embedded in my own hand so i'd realize just how much pain he was in. stoic little boy, he is, aside from his initial cry he just clenched his fist and attempted to carry on like that.
mr smear smashing the little girl's blocks on the bimah, otherwise a lovely service, his singing along loudly along to the blessing over the bread
lucky parking, arriving for dinner at 8pm, a fun evening, mr smear outlasting the other kids and our host and passing out in the car on our way home - a fantastic end to a tough week, passing out very soon after
saturday 2nd:
a night full of insane dreams, waking up pointing at the door repeating "no daddy"
i don't recall much of the morning (gd let me sleep in a while, and i accidentally shaved too much of my beard while demonstrating the concept for mr smear), but we hit the park for an hour or two and then stopped by nü at the gym for lunch (the israeli tennis players gifting mr smear with a ball, his first time on a treadmill)
a family nap, mr smear waking up particularly disagreeable for a rush to get him fed and ready for us to go be adults at airplane's birthday party, brilliant company, food and drinks for a great evening and actually having a little time to enjoy it before gd needed to get home (she'd been feeling much better, but still not well)
passing out on the couch again
sunday 3rd:
5am up with a stuffed nose and full of concern about my children's book
breakfast, shrek, fixing my pc (luck!), work and dealing with ingrown hairs in the sun on the balcony, putting up a mezuzah, nap time and syncing with sailor, our new parent neighbours coming over and getting a lot more advice and assistance than they bargained for (but they're finally able to breastfeed thanks to gd's intervention), lunch with sailor and deciding to hit the beach after mr smear woke up, a positive update from the illustrator, making it to the store just in time to pick up baby wipes and get to clifton 4th for a lovely end to the weekend, mr smear loving the water and becoming soaked, forcing us to leave just before the sun went down to avoid the temperature cooling
coming home to find gd's keys in the door but no sign of entry, shower, tough dinner, bedtime, an idiot abroad and persistent, painful rls forcing me into bed by 11pm
monday 4th:
a MAGNIFICENT spring day, up early with cloudy with a chance of meatballs, mr smear dancing and singing along to the dr horrible's sing-along blog soundtrack, dropping him off and return home to slowly and painfully figure out that we'd need more info before redoing gd's fingerprints, a chat with horseman for the first time since the beginning of the year and a visit from our friend, great news from the couple gd helped out the previous day, picking up mr smear, not getting much work done before the nanny went home, heading to a shell-covered beach for a while, then back home to an unruly boy making me crazy until his bedtime
a season finale of an idiot abroad with a cider, then digging in to work...
tuesday 5th:
... and making magic until 2.30am, also getting a little writing done (so far i'm very proud of my first foray into fairy-tale territory)
a grumpifying night of discomfort (seems to be a thing and becoming progressively worse) and unnecessary wakings, then up at snoozed-alarm to rush because gd booked a haircut for the same time we usually drop mr smear off at school; managing to get there only five minutes late and experiencing the excitement of dealing with an aggressive break-in in the wellness centre's parking lot
sitting down in vida enjoying the rain and an almond latte until gd was done, coming home to do some work (enjoyable, i was super pleased with the results of the previous night's efforts) and eat amazing pancakes before picking up mr smear and heading out to cavendish: public toilets where you don't have to touch anything after washing your hands? yes, please! forgetting the stroller and mr smear napping a short while on my shoulder but waking up far too early, gd finding shoes, and then returning home for an afternoon of mixed work and play; gd skipping off to see the doctor because her ear infection got worse and coming home with worrying news (completely deaf in one ear and a really bad chest infection to boot)...
dropping gd off at the temple, a brief stop for eating and reading (not much of the former) and the regular bedtime story, only earlier than usual and comprising a mix of adorable and aggravating - getting him in bed before 8pm and listening to about twenty minutes of him repeating "no daddy" to himself
a beer, chocolate and the do over - a really funny adam sandler movie - a good chunk of work completed just as the building's power went out
wednesday 6th:
3.30am up for an hour and a half of negotiating before i lost patience and gd took over, waking up completely exhausted after disturbing dreams (although the good witch helped us get away from the bad ones if i recall correctly); working both before and after dropping mr smear off at school (the nanny handled his breakfast) and then taking gd to the family massage therapist, hanging around for the history then picking up mr smear, dropping him at home with the nanny and returning to pick up gd who was feeling good (better, even). inexplicably only returning home an hour later, sending mr smear and the nanny off to the blue train to meet people who weren't there, napping for a bit then dragging myself out of bed to switch with the nanny and swing mr smear for a bit before deciding it was windy and a bit lonely and heading back: both kids (gd included :P) fast asleep so i cancelled the coffee
when you rush to catch an elevator to avoid a local drunk and he sneaks in behind you to loudly hit on a cleaning lady while your two year old is sleeping
brief nap, zombie-state but holding the fort until my mom arrived, mr smear waiting until the last minute to eat his dinner (vegan dumplings ftw!), a fun shower and fairly straightforward bedtime procedure
ozark is excitingly great writing
working in spite of an aggressive need to pass out
thursday 7th:
finally getting into bed at 1.30am, a mostly peaceful night, a cold, wet and windy day
too tired to work in the morning, so catching up on rick and morty and backing up before looking after mr smear after picking him up from school (the bfg is a beautiful translation), the day slowly becoming night with no naps, a visit from my mom and having to walk downstairs at 9pm to ask the guy with the jackhammer if he knew what time it was
friday 8th:
finally getting the latest job done in a satisfying way after a day of struggling to get started
it wasn't clear if the person hammering between 2-2.30am was a construction worker or a neighbour [it wasn't a neighbour], but that level of disrespect leaves me utterly gobsmacked
up at 7am (or earlier?) and resting on the couch, eventually climbing upright to slowly stuff myself with amazing pancakes before dropping mr smear off at school (eating too much and suffering acid reflux as a consequence)
tired but working until pick up time, mr smear chasing after his buddy and cutting goodbyes out entirely, naps and work and trying to backup my workstation (AOEMI backup software crashing my pc, nice one), angry childproof gate hunting, a quick run to the pharmacy (having to get mr smear past a small drunk guy poking me in the arm)
finally beginning to back up my workstation (EaseUS, much better) and a good dinner with my mom, rushing to put mr smear to bed, a conversation on identity politics, an idiot abroad, splashing peroxide, crashing early
saturday 9th:
up early, an emergency shower, mr smear generally behaving well in the synagogue but eventually getting bored; an unnecessary argument with someone who actually agreed with me (miscommunication ftw), from shul to the waterfront but without a stroller and mr smear passing out on my shoulder soon after arriving... tension getting him home and into bed, which didn't last very long, then passing out myself and needing coffee to go on a shopping mission that ended up taking the rest of the day (pharmacy, chinese supermarket, supermarket again, pharmacy at the waterfront with my mom) and rushing home to a dishwasher malfunction, brilliantly done dumplings and bedtime
generally not feeling well, sore feet and exhaustion
vegan chocolate muffin, a chocolate slab and tahini fudge watching the mummy before crashing
sunday 10th:
sleeping pretty deeply, dreaming of eating a LOT of ice cream and that gd and i were going to prison after i helped prevent a stranger from being raped due to an obscure miscarriage of justice
an unpleasant morning, a ceasefire to visit the holiday fair, too much crowd for me leading to more unpleasantness at the mojo market (apparently having emotions isn't an endearing quality) which would persist throughout the day
enforced nap (via psybient dancing), then up for mr smear's first haircut: what a weird transformation! he looks more boyish, but somehow softer
a short park mission until the sunset turned cold, then dr horrible's sing-along blog and dumplings (and a hunter's) before bedtime, finishing the mummy (pretty good, i was constantly surprised by how much better looking the princess was as a zombie goddess), then settling in to post this. which i've been doing with a spiking headache and an uncomfortable ear which i suspect of being in the process of developing an infection. it's now 11.10pm and i'm deciding whether to work or play or rest.
finally getting a handle on securing files properly before going to bed around 3.15am (as if i hadn't regressed enough during the previous days)
7am up for the spongebob movie: sponge out of water, the more i saw of it the more impressed i became
i smoked cigarettes for a decade, and i know there were times when i smelled so much like an ashtray that *i* could smell it and it bothered me. not enough to quit, but enough to make me regret. if i could go back in time to bring myself vaping equipment, i totally would. what's with all the smokers who haven't switched yet?
dropping off gd at the acupuncturist and mr smear off at school, home for a very short nap then picking up gd, home for some work then picking up mr smear, home for a forgotten asthma pump then to town for a disappointing lunch at kauai with mr smear asleep on my shoulder followed by the two of us doing some compulsive book shopping while gd had her hair cut
home in time for a long security meeting, a pause, a discussion about plant-based lifestyles, and then a serious conversation while alone with mr smear who was very unhappy about not being invited to participate
getting ready for the synagogue, the service less unpleasant than expected (we don't like the opera singer)
saturday 12th:
once up, an early start with gd suffering a bad neck spasm, a very slow morning (and lots of pancakes), taking mr smear to see my uncle and cousin and literally running after him almost non-stop, coming home and making him toasted sandwiches, properly burning the roof of my mouth in the process, keeping him occupied with food, books and dub and eventually thinking i was getting him to sleep but it was actually me falling asleep and then i woke up and found him looking at my half closed eyes unsure of whether or not i could see him... drawing on his plastic table, then his plastic chair, and then finally, after assuring himself that i was out, turning to our table...
slowly making our way to the waterfront, mr smear passing out before we arrived and giving us a chance to peaceably get most of our shopping done and enjoy wellness warehouse's surprisingly good vegan offerings, waking up in time to make the grocery shopping more interesting than it should have been
home, dinner, bedtime; an episode or two of aquarius - absolutely brilliant - then gd went to bed
interrupted texas hold'em, and testing out a cheap but great humble bundle
sunday 13th:
until quite late, sleeping until 8-8.30 and starting the day brilliantly with netflix's ask the storybots, which is like sesame street on steroids, and competing with my son for turns playing geometry dash
all three of us going out to kirstenbosch for a lovely afternoon, picnicking with the "chicken-a-ducks" (guinea foul), mr smear passing out on the way back but waking up on contact with his bed, managing and entertaining mr smear while gd cooked, my mom coming over for coffee and mr smear on form
a little trouble (general naughtiness) post-shower but otherwise getting him into bed fairly quickly, although a coughing fit freaked us out because we still couldn't give him antihistamines
aquarius still at 100% after quite a few episodes, a little geometry dash, lots of research into digital watermarking
monday 14th:
until 1.30am
early up for storybots, dropping mr smear off then coming home to hunt down visa documents, drop gd off at the gym, work a bit, pick up mr smear, watch him walk up stairs by himself with no hands for the very first time, arrive at the gym just in time to catch gd about to walk home because my phone wasn't working, a call to telkom and learning that they hadn't contacted me about my network connection issue because they'd tried to call me while it was failing, a visit with the allergist and 20+ needles (mr smear was NOT impressed), learning that we've been absolutely right about his milk allergy, a visit with the lung specialist immediately afterwards, home for much-needed nap time (and a big bowl of "we're all being poisoned anyway" rice), a visit to the chiropractor, grocery shopping, and finally home
really bad leg and foot discomfort, most likely the sciatica, yokai and a big dinner, mr smear's bedtime, aquarius
our landlord gearing up for a fight
going to bed early with indigestion (in spite of a ppi)
tuesday 15th:
so much for getting up early, aside from a 6am feed nobody wanted to get out of bed on a cold rainy morning, and it's hard to wake up a beautifully sleeping child at the best of times
dropping mr smear off in the rain, straight to woodstock to arrive on time for a meeting with two guys who weren't there... using the wait to solve a problem i'd been having at work, then accepting a "real" coffee which was waaaay too strong for me (got me completely wired), cosmically good timing to pitch my service to the boss and propose a partnership - did i really compare my idea to uber?! how embarrassing - a good chat with his recruiter, my phone battery dying just as i returned to town, picking up mr smear (still raining) and possibly saving one of the mom's husbands a vasectomy, coming home intending to work and instead being sent on errands to assist the nanny in cleaning duct tape glue from the windows before showing the apartment (of course the viewer never showed up, although meeting the agent was productive), lots of food for mr smear and working / meeting before getting gd ready and to her class while my mom looked after mr smear for a few minutes, then a chat with SxS and a little eat and playtime (more playtime that eating) before shower and bedtime
surreal: when your two year old buys extra time before bed by requesting an apple and passes out while chewing
the cockroaches released by our building renovators wasting our dinner, aquarius (realizing that sam hodiak -> s.hodiak -> zodiak), sore feet again plus shoulder pain, installing borderlands on the ps3 and working through
wednesday 16th:
to 4am trying to sort out restify middleware
snoozing for almost half an hour after waking up furious from a really unpleasant dream, dragging myself out of bed for breakfast and to drop mr smear off at school, then return home for a deeply satisfying nap for an hour or so, coffeeing up to pick him up again (experiencing the panic of a child deliberately going limp in the middle of a pedestrian crossing on a short light), rushing home to sort out fingerprinting only to arrive at the police station five minutes too late, dropping gd off at the gym (uber failing spectacularly while i was trying to introduce her and that having a rather strong influence over her faith in the concept)
psytrance and lunch and the plumbers with their shoes, no naps but eating well, sandwiches and not peeing in the potty but on the coffee table and the bed instead
intro call with a new dev and mr smear chiming in, finalizing a big refactor and showering mr smear and bedtime; quick and painless, aquarius and a hunter's and chocolate before work - and a little break to watch last week tonight and double my digital dosh in an exciting few hands of texas hold'em
a building blackout, committing my code (locally) on battery power before hitting the hey early (11.30pm)
thursday 17th:
after two years of sleep deprivation, every reasonable night's sleep becomes harder and harder to wake up from
planning hebrew lessons, a long introduction for our new dev, paying an unsettled bill, picking up mr smear, fingerprinting taking a long time and not being done right (not to mention the cold wind mission for change that was entirely unnecessary), roof bleaching equipment, an eagle at our window (!!), work and winning my first game of poker night at the inventory, lying down for a few minutes, mr smear waking up and joining me for my first completed level of geometry dash before we met a friend at the blue train for a few minutes before scrambling to get him home and showered so we could leave him with my mom
an interesting hebrew class, a surprisingly intriguing conversion class and a rewarding chat with the rabbi afterwards, home to hear entertaining stories from my mom until 11pm
friday 18th:
dreams: don't hang around the volcano incinerator with the goods, the treehouse cage puzzle, i was a robot dog bike jumping on the back of big robot dog sentinel to destroy him
standard morning procedure, my first haircut in months (actually falling asleep in the chair, dropping a surprising amount of grey hair), lying down briefly then getting some results at work before picking up mr smear (chatting in the parking lot until they kicked us out); shopping and running into krybabie's wife, mr smear passing out on the way home, lunch and a bit of work until he woke up, a little geometry dash then meeting friends at the park
i should've put on sunscreen earlier, a fun late afternoon made even better when running into a great couple we met a couple of months ago and actually trading numbers
home for a lovely shabbat dinner with all the traditional rites, mr smear advancing rapidly linguistically (and also generally being very naughty)
game of thrones, bad poker and a little work,
saturday 19th:
1am suddenly feeling a bit faint and responsibly going to bed
a decent night's rest, up early for crash bandicoot control wrestling, then off to the temple for a couple of hours of chasing mr smear around, ending on an angry note because it's freezing in there (gd feeling trapped and me not considering that the converts wouldn't know to just get up and take a break)
a perfect nap, then taking mr smear to the blue train (it was a beautiful, hot day); leaving after mr smear bashed his knee, meeting mom at home, coffee and chinese before the internet went down, half of ali and burned popcorn before passing out from exhaustion
sunday 20th:
early up and tired, insanely tired considering how much we'd slept the previously couple of weeks... a relatively relaxed morning, desperately needing a second coffee as soon as the first began to wear off, finally scripting the children's book i've been working on, a quick shopping mission taking much longer than expected, hitting the gym for a medium-paced walk while engaged in a conversation with krybabie's mother, a brief argument about mr smear learning jiu-jitsu and ice-cream headaches from a smoothie
thought for the day: as a jew, i'm surprised that it only just occurred to me how inappropriate it is to suggest that a pregnant jew has "a bun in the oven" post-holocaust.
home to a napping boy, but not being able to take advantage as he woke up fairly soon after we returned; a real nice park mission with mr smear's best friend and a bunch of parents we get along well with (and could hold a serious and funny conversation about flatulence with), eventually coming home just before sunset when it started getting cold to watch hunter x hunter, transform timeouts, develop acid reflux and take a ppi for the first time in five days, put mr smear to bed with his second breastfeeding of the day (!!), watch shark tank, game of thrones and a few minutes of the defenders with sore feet before calling it a night
(sort of, i'd get a little work done on my way)
monday 21st:
an awful, uncomfortable (sore back) night with barely any sleep and unpleasant dreams, a hard wakeup and a little work frustration, dropping mr smear off at school and spending the next couple of hours fighting with an under-performing machine while trying to figure out self publishing and fiverr illustrators
picking up mr smear, experimenting with bubble blowing (water vs dishwashing liquid) and an angry walk in miserably cold weather (or maybe that was later?), making overdue phone calls then heading off to the hospital
not only poorly designed, but we eventually realized we were at the wrong hospital. mr smear's nap being interrupted because there's literally not a single thing on the hospital restaurant menu that doesn't cause heart disease and it was too cold to go anywhere else but home
work / getting stuff done then taking mr smear to the aquarium for a bit, coming home to good philosophy, mom's visit an excuse for a drink, paying significantly more than originally intended for an illustrator (not realizing i had been negotiating in US dollars, for some reason)
gd playing brain it on, a few more minutes of the defenders then passing out
tuesday 22nd:
sleeping well, up early (like 2.40am) and working hard until 6-ish, then sleeping well again (crazy dreams) before being dragged out of bed to the couch... sleepwalking through drop off procedure, then home for a bit of work before returning to pick gd up
most of the afternoon spent working, eventually mr smear going down for a nap (every time the nanny takes him outside, HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?!? i'm beginning to suspect chloroform...), being woken up at 4pm from deep and peaceful sleep for an explosively tense rush through traffic to get to the pain specialist
arriving just in time for gd's lesson so that mr smear could say goodnight, a slow but steady success feeding him, an easy shower but a nightmare drying him and brushing his teeth - he's really figured out all my buttons and knows just how to press them
poor kid didn't see bedtime coming, gd arriving home just after he went back to sleep, disappointment with the defenders setting in, going to bed early
wednesday 23rd:
up around 4am (or earlier), exploring book publishing and making some progress at work before mr smear woke up at 6 begging to read a book; a few books and a couple of slices of toast and by 7 i was ready for bed (not that that was going to happen)
dropping him off in a haze, coming home to work a bit and receive a long lesson in pancakes before gd wrapped up my wrist in an ice bandage and i napped for forty five minutes, waking up groggy and hallucinatingly tired to pick up mr smear and bring him home, working a bit before beginning the hour or two of trying to get mr smear to nap, eventually succeeding by taking a stroll in miserably cold winds and unwittingly walking into the centre of an active construction site when he'd just passed out (i pray his hearing isn't damaged), returning to find gd in bed and really feeling like life wasn't playing fair
good work in spite of my severe napstipation, eventually trying to lie down only to jump up with some book publishing inspiration and continuing to work until (and even after) mr smear woke up, making good progress until his bedtime
my two year old sings along to nirvana, so we're doing just fine. and it was great being able to rinse his hair (and him) standing in the shower for the first time instead of having to pick him up
perhaps i shouldn't have asked the three giants what drugs they were on but did i really need to explain to a bunch of adults that heavy construction at 9pm in a residential area isn't okay?
it's nice when your coworkers get excited about your ideas!
the defenders and in bed at 11pm with acid reflux (probably shouldn't be eating dark chocolate, or so much of it, just before bedtime)
thursday 24th:
up with reflux at 0.30am, otherwise sleeping until alarm time with only one interruption (first feed)
a busy morning, dropping mr smear off late and just making it to my first laser hair removal session in cape town to fix the bits of my beard the montreal technicians missed: a phenomenally better experience, even though i'd forgotten to shave the night before and i noticed a massive snarly as i approached the mirror
the illustrator's first sample, banking research (bitcoin needs to become a thing, like, yesterday), picking up mr smear and coming home to work pretty much until the nanny left, which was right after i recalled her from the park when i realized that we were about to be late for gd's chiropractor appointment
mr smear's version of crossfit in the chiro's office, coming home to cancelled plans for the conversion course and progressively increased tension
mr smear kissing the gruffalo on every page turn (great book!) vs his timeout hug manipulation
mom's late visit in time for dinner, a final straw just before shower time
aquarius and bed without chocolate
friday 25th:
epic dreaming and waking up just before alarm time in the same place we'd gone to sleep, or perhaps worse...
dropping mr smear off at school and heading through to the housing tribunal, managing to find supporting documentation in spite of the poor reception and apple mail's awful search functionality, the tribunal agents being knowledgeable and helpful but initially dismissing me on the assumption that i got legally owned by a sneaky landlord
stopping at my mom's for two minutes to stew, then returning home to have things get much better before becoming much worse; picking up mr smear, returning to make matters worse before the two of us finally communicated, leaving me with a lot to think about that goes back to my revelation on our flight back from victoria
a sunny afternoon, four shopping trips and one visit to the park (mr smear using the big slide all by himself!), the timing of the realization that the timing of our leaving our lease couldn't have been worse (though we couldn't have known they'd go back on their word), mom coming over for dinner and mr smear barely making it through grace after meals before we tucked him into bed, watched an episode of game of thrones, medicated my rls (if that's what it is, and not sciatica), and went to bed playing brain it on together
saturday 26th:
5am to change a heavily wet diaper and soothe him back to sleep before trying to deal with an awfully scratchy throat that i'd been nursing since going to bed, playing brain it on for an hour before going to bed for a little more sleep
a much better temple service experience (water and shells and an amazing yoyo kid and gd moving around and managing much better), hangry and royally screwing up brunch plans with new friends, taking mr smear to get falafel which was so good we all demolished it (partially because i'd learned enough to check the pickles before putting them on, they're awful), a long, napless afternoon with freaks and geeks before taking a walk to the promenade and spending time wearing mr smear down, gd almost being run over by an entitled driver, shopping and mom's visit and dinner time and shower time and bedtime
"not our business" open doors on a cold windy night
aquarius, a couple of hours of ffix (actually continuing with the story for the first time in ages),
sunday 27th:
finally going to bed just after midnight
hard night with difficulty breathing and swallowing, lots of dreaming ending with k-twang and his wife and me clearing oily spiderwebs from a gate with our sandals so we could pass through
waking up to a stuffy morning for mr smear as well and gd sore, mr smear starting the day by pointing at my laptop and shouting "goat" until i understood that he wanted to watch me play goat simulator, playing until i got motion sickness then moving to crash bandicoot (what a rough sunday morning!), reviewing the mayweather vs mcgregor highlights (interesting fight), readying mr smear for the next few hours then heading off to dragonfire - how cool to see a new generation of claws that's finally motivated again!
a pleasant catch-up with a couple of the guys, some really good advice from my comic store friend and his coworker, a surprising vegan muffin and a game of thunderstone with shadowslight and a couple of kids; the game was awesome in spite of my being freezing cold from the moment we started and the fact that we had to cut it short when i got a message informing me that our nanny had gone home and my mom wasn't available to babysit; i thawed in the car on the way home to find gd very sick (flu?) but cleaning up after some potty progress had been made
taking mr smear to the aquarium where he repeatedly insisted on returning to the coin-operated game, an abysmal failure to share sorbet with him (he didn't want any, only pretzels), picking up some things then going home, on the way teaching him "we will rock you" (yay!) and "asshole" (uh, oh!)
dinner / shower / bedtime, leftovers and ffix: it took a lot longer to find a save point than planned and then suddenly the night was over...
monday 28th:
4am up and wondering if we were all sick, sleeping uncomfortably until mr smear got up, a pretty standard school morning
explaining mr smear's food issues to the substitute teacher, who was shocked that the other kids go crazy for his toasted fake cheese and vegan biscuits; trying and mostly succeeding to work in spite of gd making it very clear how awful she was feeling until it was time to pick mr smear up again
giving up on working fairly fast, developing an eyelid twitch, putting mr smear to sleep with psybient for a short nap, working a bit more
mr smear's first time going in the potty (although he did begin by peeing on me), taking him to our friends' in the heat where the kids played nicely for a couple of hours until the older brother decided he wanted us out of there; otherwise a pleasant playdate. making dinner plans and walking out into the cold wind of a brewing storm that failed to land, heading back out to pick up falafel for dinner, bohemian rhapsody sing-along in the shower, a couple of hours of work and finally crashing around 11.30pm
the first illustrations for review: wrong format but absolutely beautiful
tuesday 29th:
a miserable night, constantly woken by mr smear talking or crying out in his sleep
gd still sick, no first coffee, mr smear rushing into class to sit next to his friend (whose parents we don't get along with), a little work, sleeping for an hour or two because i felt sick, emergency shopping and a couple of sips of coffee before heading out to pick up mr smear; a fairly long meander back to the car, handing him over to the nanny soon after returning home
receiving confirmation that we'll be seeing our lease out, we've already paid the heavy cost anyway...
working well (and collaboratively), helping two coworkers set up my project on their machines (and learning a lot about doing so), which went on until late with a couple of breaks for dinner (which my mom brought over) and bedtime prep
wednesday 30th:
ted talks until 1am, up at 7 to rush through the morning and get gd's ear infection to the doctor before dropping mr smear off at school singing along to bohemian rhapsody, walking in on gd and the doctor discussing paranormal phenomena, picking up the prescription from a pharmacist who told us to take the probiotic and antibiotic together (?!)
a motivating chat with my comic illustrator, getting mr smear to sleep on a diaper mission, comic-ing and working until he woke up then an excruciatingly long prep for a sunset stroll
windy park evening and mr smear doing big boy things like the roundabout, then him properly helping me shop for the first time
a long day ending in frustration to the point where i just wanted to cry
police numbers and explosions and a long demanding meeting while distracted and an improvement and more meeting and 11.30pm heavy construction until midnight with no police intervention
thursday 31st:
working until 2am and nodding off while backing up
3.45am when parents disagree on midnight feeds
7am when they disagree on everything
the crazy store guy didn't know what post-its are?!
passing out to an idiot abroad
headache balcony trance
picking up mr smear, recording him and his buddies yelling instead of stopping them from disturbing the primary school students
work and finances
emergency shopping and coming home to cries
balcony bubbles
goat simulator sickness, recovering with funny videos and a park mission (mr smear alone on the roundabout and me making an ass of myself by trying to walk alongside) then being recalled to rush a shower and hand mr smear over to my mom before heading to gd's conversion class. an interesting hebrew class (not the worst "mizrachit"), the rabbi forgetting his speaker and me pulling one out of my pocket, an interesting class
home, leftovers, an idiot abroad and passing out,
friday september 1st:
waking up at 3 or 4am to brush my teeth, then spending two hours from 5 to 7am convincing mr smear to go back to sleep; of course, it would then take a while to convince him to get out of bed for breakfast...
pyjama day on spring day, a little work but mostly photos (healthy vegan kids), picking up mr smear (half an hour to get him to the car), gd's chiropractor appointment, picking up a "klaf" after closing time and mr smear falling asleep waiting for his vegan chocolate mousse, gd bumping into mr smear's buddy's mom on the way to meet us, arriving at the waterfront with massive gas, mr smear refusing the mousse until it was finished then being unable to scrape enough of the remains; the gift chocolate was either crap or dairy so we bought fudge, home in time to shower and leave
mr smear vs the cactus: he smacked one with an open hand as we walked past and it was only a little later when he touched a wall that they really hurt him, it was one of those cactii with tiny, sharp hairs and i had to take them out with my fingers... not only did this take a while, but i managed to get one embedded in my own hand so i'd realize just how much pain he was in. stoic little boy, he is, aside from his initial cry he just clenched his fist and attempted to carry on like that.
mr smear smashing the little girl's blocks on the bimah, otherwise a lovely service, his singing along loudly along to the blessing over the bread
lucky parking, arriving for dinner at 8pm, a fun evening, mr smear outlasting the other kids and our host and passing out in the car on our way home - a fantastic end to a tough week, passing out very soon after
saturday 2nd:
a night full of insane dreams, waking up pointing at the door repeating "no daddy"
i don't recall much of the morning (gd let me sleep in a while, and i accidentally shaved too much of my beard while demonstrating the concept for mr smear), but we hit the park for an hour or two and then stopped by nü at the gym for lunch (the israeli tennis players gifting mr smear with a ball, his first time on a treadmill)
a family nap, mr smear waking up particularly disagreeable for a rush to get him fed and ready for us to go be adults at airplane's birthday party, brilliant company, food and drinks for a great evening and actually having a little time to enjoy it before gd needed to get home (she'd been feeling much better, but still not well)
passing out on the couch again
sunday 3rd:
5am up with a stuffed nose and full of concern about my children's book
breakfast, shrek, fixing my pc (luck!), work and dealing with ingrown hairs in the sun on the balcony, putting up a mezuzah, nap time and syncing with sailor, our new parent neighbours coming over and getting a lot more advice and assistance than they bargained for (but they're finally able to breastfeed thanks to gd's intervention), lunch with sailor and deciding to hit the beach after mr smear woke up, a positive update from the illustrator, making it to the store just in time to pick up baby wipes and get to clifton 4th for a lovely end to the weekend, mr smear loving the water and becoming soaked, forcing us to leave just before the sun went down to avoid the temperature cooling
coming home to find gd's keys in the door but no sign of entry, shower, tough dinner, bedtime, an idiot abroad and persistent, painful rls forcing me into bed by 11pm
monday 4th:
a MAGNIFICENT spring day, up early with cloudy with a chance of meatballs, mr smear dancing and singing along to the dr horrible's sing-along blog soundtrack, dropping him off and return home to slowly and painfully figure out that we'd need more info before redoing gd's fingerprints, a chat with horseman for the first time since the beginning of the year and a visit from our friend, great news from the couple gd helped out the previous day, picking up mr smear, not getting much work done before the nanny went home, heading to a shell-covered beach for a while, then back home to an unruly boy making me crazy until his bedtime
a season finale of an idiot abroad with a cider, then digging in to work...
tuesday 5th:
... and making magic until 2.30am, also getting a little writing done (so far i'm very proud of my first foray into fairy-tale territory)
a grumpifying night of discomfort (seems to be a thing and becoming progressively worse) and unnecessary wakings, then up at snoozed-alarm to rush because gd booked a haircut for the same time we usually drop mr smear off at school; managing to get there only five minutes late and experiencing the excitement of dealing with an aggressive break-in in the wellness centre's parking lot
sitting down in vida enjoying the rain and an almond latte until gd was done, coming home to do some work (enjoyable, i was super pleased with the results of the previous night's efforts) and eat amazing pancakes before picking up mr smear and heading out to cavendish: public toilets where you don't have to touch anything after washing your hands? yes, please! forgetting the stroller and mr smear napping a short while on my shoulder but waking up far too early, gd finding shoes, and then returning home for an afternoon of mixed work and play; gd skipping off to see the doctor because her ear infection got worse and coming home with worrying news (completely deaf in one ear and a really bad chest infection to boot)...
dropping gd off at the temple, a brief stop for eating and reading (not much of the former) and the regular bedtime story, only earlier than usual and comprising a mix of adorable and aggravating - getting him in bed before 8pm and listening to about twenty minutes of him repeating "no daddy" to himself
a beer, chocolate and the do over - a really funny adam sandler movie - a good chunk of work completed just as the building's power went out
wednesday 6th:
3.30am up for an hour and a half of negotiating before i lost patience and gd took over, waking up completely exhausted after disturbing dreams (although the good witch helped us get away from the bad ones if i recall correctly); working both before and after dropping mr smear off at school (the nanny handled his breakfast) and then taking gd to the family massage therapist, hanging around for the history then picking up mr smear, dropping him at home with the nanny and returning to pick up gd who was feeling good (better, even). inexplicably only returning home an hour later, sending mr smear and the nanny off to the blue train to meet people who weren't there, napping for a bit then dragging myself out of bed to switch with the nanny and swing mr smear for a bit before deciding it was windy and a bit lonely and heading back: both kids (gd included :P) fast asleep so i cancelled the coffee
when you rush to catch an elevator to avoid a local drunk and he sneaks in behind you to loudly hit on a cleaning lady while your two year old is sleeping
brief nap, zombie-state but holding the fort until my mom arrived, mr smear waiting until the last minute to eat his dinner (vegan dumplings ftw!), a fun shower and fairly straightforward bedtime procedure
ozark is excitingly great writing
working in spite of an aggressive need to pass out
thursday 7th:
finally getting into bed at 1.30am, a mostly peaceful night, a cold, wet and windy day
too tired to work in the morning, so catching up on rick and morty and backing up before looking after mr smear after picking him up from school (the bfg is a beautiful translation), the day slowly becoming night with no naps, a visit from my mom and having to walk downstairs at 9pm to ask the guy with the jackhammer if he knew what time it was
friday 8th:
finally getting the latest job done in a satisfying way after a day of struggling to get started
it wasn't clear if the person hammering between 2-2.30am was a construction worker or a neighbour [it wasn't a neighbour], but that level of disrespect leaves me utterly gobsmacked
up at 7am (or earlier?) and resting on the couch, eventually climbing upright to slowly stuff myself with amazing pancakes before dropping mr smear off at school (eating too much and suffering acid reflux as a consequence)
tired but working until pick up time, mr smear chasing after his buddy and cutting goodbyes out entirely, naps and work and trying to backup my workstation (AOEMI backup software crashing my pc, nice one), angry childproof gate hunting, a quick run to the pharmacy (having to get mr smear past a small drunk guy poking me in the arm)
finally beginning to back up my workstation (EaseUS, much better) and a good dinner with my mom, rushing to put mr smear to bed, a conversation on identity politics, an idiot abroad, splashing peroxide, crashing early
saturday 9th:
up early, an emergency shower, mr smear generally behaving well in the synagogue but eventually getting bored; an unnecessary argument with someone who actually agreed with me (miscommunication ftw), from shul to the waterfront but without a stroller and mr smear passing out on my shoulder soon after arriving... tension getting him home and into bed, which didn't last very long, then passing out myself and needing coffee to go on a shopping mission that ended up taking the rest of the day (pharmacy, chinese supermarket, supermarket again, pharmacy at the waterfront with my mom) and rushing home to a dishwasher malfunction, brilliantly done dumplings and bedtime
generally not feeling well, sore feet and exhaustion
vegan chocolate muffin, a chocolate slab and tahini fudge watching the mummy before crashing
sunday 10th:
sleeping pretty deeply, dreaming of eating a LOT of ice cream and that gd and i were going to prison after i helped prevent a stranger from being raped due to an obscure miscarriage of justice
an unpleasant morning, a ceasefire to visit the holiday fair, too much crowd for me leading to more unpleasantness at the mojo market (apparently having emotions isn't an endearing quality) which would persist throughout the day
enforced nap (via psybient dancing), then up for mr smear's first haircut: what a weird transformation! he looks more boyish, but somehow softer
a short park mission until the sunset turned cold, then dr horrible's sing-along blog and dumplings (and a hunter's) before bedtime, finishing the mummy (pretty good, i was constantly surprised by how much better looking the princess was as a zombie goddess), then settling in to post this. which i've been doing with a spiking headache and an uncomfortable ear which i suspect of being in the process of developing an infection. it's now 11.10pm and i'm deciding whether to work or play or rest.
Friday, September 01, 2017
plant-based parenting
our experience raising a plant-based kid has been very validating, global media is flooded with scary stories about fringe morons - certainly not your "garden variety" vegans - in order to portray a plant-based diet in a negative light when reality couldn't be further from the truth.
it's extremely gratifying seeing a long stream of photos of other people's kids in a vegan group, all big and healthy and alert, and reading online lots of personal stories about raising plant-based kids in comment threads, and knowing that so many people are getting it right in spite of the pressures exerted by well-meaning but uninformed friends, family, teachers, and even doctors.
it's natural to be afraid of the unknown, and it's natural to push back at anything that informs you that everything we've been force-fed for generations has been nonsense. this is just an attempt to share an idea that's been buried deep, that you probably won't see anytime soon in your social media feeds or on your television, but that's validated by decades of research and evidence and more and more personal stories every day.
it's extremely gratifying seeing a long stream of photos of other people's kids in a vegan group, all big and healthy and alert, and reading online lots of personal stories about raising plant-based kids in comment threads, and knowing that so many people are getting it right in spite of the pressures exerted by well-meaning but uninformed friends, family, teachers, and even doctors.
it's natural to be afraid of the unknown, and it's natural to push back at anything that informs you that everything we've been force-fed for generations has been nonsense. this is just an attempt to share an idea that's been buried deep, that you probably won't see anytime soon in your social media feeds or on your television, but that's validated by decades of research and evidence and more and more personal stories every day.
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