Wordy Wednesday: Flying Leaps

Is it already Wednesday? That means the piano teacher will be here in an hour and I better get myself up and in front of the kitchen sink. We’ve gone all old fashioned–doing our dishes by hand out of a deep abiding sense of moral and environmental superiority…just kidding. The dishwasher won’t drain but someone is coming to look at it this morning. It’s going to be so great. Just as soon as I once again carefully remove all the dirty dishes by hand and wash them and put them away.

Have been locked in a little war with Matt about where things go in the kitchen. He thinks the plates go in this one certain place where they manifestly Do Not go and I have to keep moving them. In this new life of a new house, I made every effort to put every single plate and bowl and cup in a place where a child could reach it without climbing on a tall stool. In this way I have thwarted and destroyed my collected offspring’s first love, which is climbing on everything, to which has now been added taking a running and flying leap down the full length of the graciously appointed stairwell. I crept up behind Alouicious yesterday, just as he was about to launch, and whispered, “You’d better not.” He leapt a half inch in the air and spun around and whined, aggrievedly, “You mean I can never jump off?”
Stunned, I reposted, not at all in a whisper, “I’ve been shouting at you for two months to stop jumping off the landing!”
We stood by in tense shock, both of us, unbelieving that the other was so completely unreasonable. In between classes today he is going to have to run laps up and down the hill, hopefully with his dog.
Yes, he and his sister have class and no I’m not starting everyone else. Not until all the laundry is done and the school room is finally done, which should happen this morning. And then we can pull everything off the shelves and start losing books and pencils in the usual way.
Oh, and I’m going to make meat loaf, without breadcrumbs. It’s probably going to be awful, but I’m going to try it anyway. I feel in my heart that it should be fine, dense perhaps, but what could possibly go wrong. And when I’ve finally worn myself out, and all the work is completely done (because if I don’t do it all to completion I will prove myself to be the failure I am, dammit, I have got to take that book back to the library) I’m going to sit down and indulge in this incredibly fine little item that arrived in the mail yesterday, as a complete and charming surprise.

Have a lovely day.