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Monday, June 25, 2018

filling hours

one of my favourite books to read to my son is gigantosaurus, which is a retelling of the boy who cried wolf. but the lying dino survives, which i think damages the message so i always leave out the last page while repeating to him how naughty and dangerous lying is.

tonight he forced a page turn before i realized what was happening and saw the gigantosaurus walking away from the bad little dinosaur, and i found myself hurriedly explaining that the gigantosaurus had digested him and pooped him out.

i feel like i'm going to pay for this.

---
sunday 10th:

make that 2.30am... and then getting up half an hour later for a wet bed followed by a tantrum triggered by changing his (wet) hulk shirt for another hulk shirt

5.30am dreaming of stepping in the long earth to organize myself for a canadian burning man

a slow morning but feeling much better than in previous days, taking mr smear to kirstenbosch, wasabi chips and sunglasses, stomping on mole hills, disappearing oranges and bubbles ("hulk smash!"), stalking another new friend and splashing in the pleasantly surprisingly full stream, sailor joining us for lunch, a delicious double-hummus and falafel lunch, mr smear becoming impatient but mostly sweet and learning to be polite, a stroll towards the car and a fall by the river hurting his hands, managing to get him into the car without waking him, the sudafed suddenly wearing off while sailor and i said goodbyes

a quiet drive home, mr smear waking up just after we arrived, a quick chat with my mom

my first attempt to scan an old comic, surprised by a grocery run, dinner and shower and bedtime (mostly smooth), manhunt: unabomber

monday 11th:

some productive time, lots of nostalgia, climbing into bed with a sore throat at 1.40am

4.15am up for mr smear's coughing fit and finding it painful to swallow myself

everyone sleeping in a little, feeling a bit better but still needing a sudafed, gd enjoying teen titans at least as much as mr smear, doing a bit of mobile dev research, breakfast and adventure time before heading out to my therapist

a good session, but failure to update and connect with gd which generated a storm; (mostly) calmly facing the storm and feeling quite good about it - although i now suspect that my relative zen was due to the meds

an apartment chase while i was making a call leaving me giggling and choking when an insurance representative picked up, a pleasant drive to hout bay with mr smear falling asleep *just* before we arrived at our destination, going to their vida instead and learning that we'd dodged a bullet before because their falafel snack pot's dip has dairy in it

a moment on hout bay beach, our visit to the world of birds cut short because mr smear couldn't handle being there without the next day's playdate (serious tantrum)

stopping on the llandudno road to take a whizz and some photos, mr smear having a good time; then stopping at camps bay beach for a fantastic late afternoon stroll in and around the water, both myself and mr smear absolutely loving it in the perfect weather (and gorgeous sunset)

straight home and into the shower, toy story and dinner, a pleasant and quick bedtime, meeting prep and most of the second-to-last episode of manhunt: unabomber, a sudden and violent cranial nerve not-mograine (nausea, dizziness, faintness) that i think went (mostly) away fast because of my self-neck-massage, a good meeting, posting a ton of photos on instagram

tuesday 12th:

a bit of work, finally going to bed just before 2am (with a very sensitive thumb, the latest casualty in the winter dry-skin war)

dream: a fox assassin with a stripe, star and crumpled-up tissue on his forehead who warns his targets by approaching them and saying "ah-TISSUE!"

up early, dropping mr smear off late as usual, getting some work done at my mom's coffee shop, meeting gd at the hospital just in time to sign the documents and find her ward, returning home to pick up mr smear's ready bag and some food for him, dropping by gd quickly then picking up mr smear then returning to the hospital just in time to see her off to surgery, taking mr smear to find lunch and making a bad call - royale eatery has a good reputation, but their vegan offerings just don't taste good. mr smear having a great time playing and eating the side orders and going nuts for their chocolate peanut butter shake (that's brilliant, at least), going back to the hospital expecting gd to be out already and discovering that she hadn't gone in yet - i thank all the gods i don't have a regular job or that would have ruined my day. instead i stopped by the neurologist to leave a message, changed mr smear at their baby station and walked him to watch tennis and walk in the park

"the hard way" (carrying him over my shoulder) with him screaming "i want to walk like a big boy!" was an absolute breakthrough moment for us

a happy but frozen gd, fleeing the air conditioning as soon as we could get her discharge papers signed

heavy traffic home and mr smear passing out, a quick emergency grocery run, waking mr smear getting him to the car, leaving right into rush hour

seeing what most capetonians suffer daily was eye-opening and shocking, waze waiting 10 minutes of gridlock before taking me on various alternate routes, after an hour of discovering new dimensions to the problem and finding my fellow drivers increasingly loathsome i gave up, turned around and was home in less than ten minutes.

both kids crying over the cancelled playdate, coming home and taking mr smear and his bike to the promenade as compensation: he amazed me and made me very proud, riding his plastic motorbike at great speed all the way to the mouille point end of the promenade (i had to jog to keep up), and even though he was tired and somewhat out of breath he understood that he wasn't going to be carried home and either walked or rode most of the way back. i left him with gd, picked up falafel and ran into someone we hadn't heard from in a while, mr smear ate well and enjoyed shower time (i gave him what remained of gd's colourful soap and he took painting the shower doors very seriously), finding and reading a hebrew book i'd lost (the cleaning lady really isn't good with books and comics), mr smear going straight to sleep

completing manhunt: unabomber (excellent), getting into work and random chores

wednesday 13th:

and suddenly it was 2.15 and i was *tired*

a very sore thumb, gd feeling better, a good gym session, a good work session, picking up mr smear, no naps but resting on the couch while he watched boss baby, setting him up with little big planet and cheering him on as he completed the intro level by himself!!!

a family photo struggle, taking mr smear to print it, a visit to the park and bumping into one of his friends - who would not relinquish mr smear's bike and at one point even pushed him off roughly (and there was much drama)

coming home, a quick work meeting preventing me from emergency grocery shopping (i hate running out of tissues at the best of times, but in this case my sinuses were still performing)

a pleasant shower and bedtime, trying to watch defendor and passing out on the couch in spite of the sudafed, at some stage moving to the bed

thursday 14th:

getting up at 1.30am and working through to 4-4.15am, struggling to sleep until mr smear slipped into our bed, which was fine until he fell asleep; at that point i'd been cornered and had to move myself to his bed, having managed to hurt my neck and feeling awful

waking up really tired in a proper lightning storm (that got mr smear excited), gd not able to get in the car, a good run and stretch before work with a bit more shoulder mobility than i'm used to

finding entity framework's code first inability to handle a primary key's type change frustrating

mr smear apparently unimpressed by the substitute teacher, a pleasant ride home (i love him singing along to the chorus of danny gilboa's hayom she'ha'osher yagia)

reading some of leah moore's the complete alice in wonderland graphic novel with mr smear, playing ipad jigsaw puzzles, slash fiction inspiration

aquarium fail, grocery rush, protoplasm visit, emergency shower, quick bedtime, lost in space, couch sleeping (not a good idea)

friday 15th:

mr smear's midnight nightmares, followed by sleeping until morning

<that strange moment when you realize you've actually been sick for a few days and didn't take notes>

starting the day with a shitty feeling

gd joining me for twenty minutes of the school's father's day puppet show, an hour's work at gd's not-hypnotherapist, a visit to the olive branch and picking up a book and adventure time top trumps cards

a very productive meeting with the afrikaburn director

visiting my uncle who'd needed three stitches in his head after falling off his bed the night before (he appears to be on his deathbed) and flailing about helplessly for a few hours before falling asleep and being found by his domestic worker

making it to the temple on time, a pride-filled moment of mr smear singing the chorus of lecha dodi loudly and perfectly and everyone else either in awe or laughing - i giggled uncontrollably

the service running late and rushing to buy a laffa for dinner, everyone tired and crashing early

saturday 16th:

a late morning for all, adventure time
taking gd's phone to the waterfront, being sent to the cape quarter who then sent it to canal walk, picking up a bed roll guard for my uncle (which i would forget to deliver)
an exhausting but pleasurable afternoon playdate to make up for turning back on tuesday, mr smear taking a while to warm up to the girls but eventually playing well, aquarium madness (600 girl guides), ice cream nervousness, kale spinach frozen coconut yoghurt win (he remembered that the green was delicious)
adventure time, dinner and roughhousing
freezing after the shower and starting a headache
mr smear's dragon onesie
finally finishing defendor, really enjoying it

not enjoying a tig nogaro special at all but becoming increasingly certain that i had been cooking a migraine all day

sunday 17th:

sleeping better, waking up feeling much better (still sore and spasmed a bit, but less migraine)

adventure time and a slow start while gd prepped and left for her conversion course final exam, mr smear wearing his dragon onesie to a museum / company gardens playdate, gd meeting us there after her exam, everyone coming to our place for lunch, mr smear coughing into the hummus, taking them home and mr smear passing out on the way back, taking advantage of his nap and getting a much-needed back massage as a father's day gift, watching a bit of brother bear as a family then visiting my uncle upstairs to install the bed roll guard and have a chat about aging, priorities and fixing family karma

showering mr smear and turning an almost-accident into a successful poop in the toilet (hooray!), easy bedtime, ice cream and falling asleep during thor: ragnarok

monday 18th:

a long night dreaming about sleeping correctly, waking up still sore (left shoulder, right sciatica), adventure time:
"oh no, finn is being naughty!"
"no, daddy, finn is FINE!"

leaving late (as usual), mr smear enthusiastically singing along to rob zombie - dragula and making appropriately scary faces, taking the car for an insurance assessment (the address given was unhelpful), swimming (good lord, four laps wiped me out and i needed a while to catch my breath before doing another four), a good work session before picking up mr smear

another day without our cleaning lady

working during nap time, a horrible discussion about appropriate shows for mr smear, a walk to mr smear's first mini-golf experience and the group he "helped" giving us seven free passes, coming home to shower and catching him for a second toilet poop experience

a big dinner, a very long bedtime, exhausted but restless and feeling sick towards midnight

tuesday 19th:

getting some good work done, crashing around 1.45am after learning that my mother's flight was delayed

regular morning workout after dropping mr smear off (another half a kilo down, apparently), working well (long slog), picking up mr smear and driving home to unload the car and pick up gd, picking up my mom from the airport and dropping her off at home, key confusion leading to us going back to our place to pick up a spare then returning her to hers then dropping gd off at our place then taking mr smear to the hospital for his annual allergy test

the poop at our appointment time and the poop as we returned to the car

the sad news that his dairy allergy has become much more severe, scripts for blood tests and epipens

clementines in the car, dropping him at home and visiting the pharmacy, a long and interesting conversation at the sunshine food company, sailor coming over, managing to organize babysitting for the next evening, taking sailor home and showering mr smear, easy bedtime, sleeping for an hour or two

wednesday 20th:

working hard until 3am

four hours of crazy forgotten dreams, waking up feeling old in my lower back and joints, taking mr smear to school with frightening instructions, sadly witnessing him make one of his best friends cry, and returning home for a haircut (doing a pharmacy run while waiting for gd to return from acupuncture), quickly transforming into something decidedly not-engineer-like (needs product), picking up mr smear, taking him home, eating and leaving for my massage appointment

a great appointment but the hour going by way too fast, a quick shopping mission, coming home only to be sent out to buy mr smear's dinner, picking up a mystery parcel and dressing up nicely and dropping mr smear off with our cousins and picking up sailor and driving straight into rush hour on the way to stellenbosch

two hours on the road with cranial nerve pressure nausea and discomfort

a mixer with no food and unable to drink the wine

a quick stop for chai latte and "healthy" snacks, a fairly comfortable drive back to cape town, transporting mr smear to his own bed, fauda,

thursday 21st:

chores and work and in bed around 1.45am, getting mr smear to school, working for half an hour, joining gd at the school for mr smear's feedback session, more work, picking up mr smear and driving through to rescue gd, which turned into everyone getting lunch and watching a steel band, then gd going home without us two minutes before we were ready

lots of work, and not at all certain what the rest of the day was like although i am fairly confident that i went to sleep very early

friday 22nd:

up at 4-4.30am (about an hour after gd) and getting work done

mr smear's awful cough, no school and cancelling gd's not-hypnotheraphy session, going to wynberg anyway to visit an arts and crafts shop, mr smear throwing a tantrum when we wanted to leave without him getting what he wanted (i'd gotten him a few small things that he did warm up to, but i wasn't caving), hitting surprisingly heavy traffic and getting home late for a skype interview

a generally positive interview, more work, taking mr smear out for a walk (enormous waves and a sewerage fountain or two), complaining once again to the grocery store manager about the lack of dark chocolate on the shelves, running into sailor then literally running to the doctor, rushing back home and doing a couple of pharmacy runs then hurrying to get to our cousins for dinner

a generally pleasant evening, with some unpleasant bits (my sister and gd don't seem to be vibing, my mom calling me a helicopter parent, my cousin tasting the "test" dark chocolate which was awful)

putting mr smear straight to bed, chilling

saturday 23rd:

going to bed after 1.30am

absolutely nothing day, indoors with paw patrol and mr smear napping heavily after i accidentally gave him too much antihistamine, being impressed and engrossed by human resource machine, gd and i playing unstable unicorns for the first time and both enjoying it

sunday 24th:

1am and tired, then up in the middle of the night to mr smear's calls for me, climbing into his bed until he was asleep and waking up in the same place with a stiff neck to be dragged off to the couch to join him watching paw patrol. after a couple of episodes i switched to the playstation, his motorcross skills are improving somewhat but crash bandicoot wasn't for him. a long time getting ready to go and dealing with his snotty nose, quickly visiting my uncle upstairs then heading to town for a birthday party

1. only a couple of the birthday boy's friends were invited, and it was really nice to watch the three best friends playing together outside of school.
2. it's awesome when your kid's friends' parents are people you'd actually like to hang out with.
3. i'm very glad i held out on the gin and tonic until i'd had coffee. our new serbian friend makes STRONG g&t's.

getting a homeless harrasser off another mother's case, "befriending" a tuque seller by throwing his dumbass salespitch back at him (and as i type this realizing that i need a tuque and i should've bought one), taking advantage of mr smear's nap but still feeling groggy after resting a while, waking up to an urgent dinner mission and finding the chinese place closed, watching a bit of honey i shrunk the kids over dinner, mom stopping by with great gifts for gd, a pleasant shower and bedtime for mr smear, thoroughly enjoying thor: ragnarok in spite of passing in and out of consciousness towards the end and

monday 25th:

posting this before getting a bit of work done before going to bed, still very upset that my new onesie has been shrunk in the dryer

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