No TV for Toddlers
Yesterday Joshua woke a bit early and was sitting on the couch. I was home also. Wren turned to me and said "Mummy, go out CAR. Watch BOB TV!"
Joshua is so busted.
Apparently, Joshua is not averse to Wren having a little Bob the Builder on TV when I leave him and Wren to bridge the gap between carpool (8.30am) and Heather arriving (9.30a). It is also apparent that Wren would prefer me to leave so he can watch TV. The blight starts young.
Joshua swears that it is never more than 10 minutes.
Tantrum Time
I am not surprised that Wren is bossing me around. He has become very strong willed recently and if he is tired and feels misunderstood or denied he is able to sustain a very loud tantrum: lying down, rolling about, crying and wailing for a long time.
The last tantrum was when I refused to serve him Eggo's for dinner. Eggos is a sweet corn breakfast cereal shaped like little wheels. Wren likes to be served a plate of it while he stands on his ladder at the kitchen island. I had made vegetables and cottage pie.
"No 'ottage" he yelled "EGGGOOOES"
Another tantrum was when I refused to let the large diggers come in from the sandbox, covered in mud and fresh rain.
Yet another was when I put away the dinosaur after he threw it across the kitchen. "No throw biganimal. No throw IT" he cried. I gave it back in that case and all was settled.
Car Repairs *****JOSHUA DO NOT READ!!!********
Yesterday, Wren and I spent our morning running around arranging car repairs. Initially, I contacted the dealer to buy a spare part and planned to have them install it. They gave me such a run around - could only be done next week, needed painting that would take days, would cost as much to paint it as the part, I would have to leave the car with them overnight etc etc. that I started to call around.
Online parts are not much cheaper and take a long while to arrive so that wasn't an option. I seriously considered having a tan plastic (unpainted) mirror OR installing a non-standard part that was not motorized OR sticking a bit of tape on the end and leaving it as a reminder of my folly.
However, due to the kind words of many friends (who shared their own mishaps and follies and a less judgmental response) I decided that I should have it fixed properly.
That's when I remembered JIM's BODY SHOP. There is all this talk about eating locally and I have often noticed this noisy and smelly little autoshop opposite the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. I called and it took forever for Jerry to answer but he was so sweet and friendly that I immediately wanted him to work on the car.
[RING RING RING RING RING - THIS NUMBER IS BUSY YOU CAN HANG UP AND TRY AGAIN LATER OR FOR A FEE OF 75C WE WILL... - RING RING RING]
Hello.
Hi, Is that Jim's body shop?
Yes, can I help you?
Well, I had an accident and broke off the passenger side door mirror - its a mechanical mirror - and I need it replaced.
Oh, that's not an accident. That's just life.
Oh. Um. Well, it FELT like an accident.
No, no. So do you have the new part or..
Yes, I have the part. Well, I will have the part. I ordered it from the dealer and they have it but they are asking $150 to paint it and that sounds a lot so I was wondering whether...
Hrmmm.. mmmm. Well, the thing is that they probably send it out to a body shop anyway. You have to match the paint, see. And paint comes in 1 pint minimum so that's $80 already.
So, its reasonable?
Well, I am trying to think of some way to make it sweet but.. mmmm...I could send you over to WestCo to get the paint. Look, if you want to... I would need to see the damage. Why don't you drop around the corner and I will have a look at it.
We dropped by later and Jerry was lovely. He's an older man who likes people and liked Wren. He let Wren pick his sungold tomatoes. It turns out that his son has Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and was treated in the cath lab at Seattle Children's. He knows where all the Doctors, surgeons and even the CEO from Children's live in our neighborhood and loves the hospital for the help they gave his son. He even played College Football with his heart issue (is a conduction problem) and eventually needed the intervention.
It felt completely different to have our car worked on by Jerry rather than the blokes at Kia. He sent me to get the paint myself (with no markup) and I don't have to leave the car at all. He's going to put the part on for $20 instead of $90 and so even if he charges more for the painting itself I feel happy.
I will also know how to get the Subaru fixed (yes, I banged the Subaru years ago and the mark remains) if we decide to. He gave me a quote for the repair caused by another driver in the parking lot at Remlinger Farm (she left a note on the windscreen). If she decides to honor that note and pay for the damage I will be able to use the same paint to have it done).
Not a bad outcome, considering.
Wren likes Jerry's tomatoes and liked the community center where we went afterwards.
More 'awoweens?
Wren loves Halloween decorations. He calls them "awoweens" - spiders, skulls, skeletons - are all "'awoweens." He finds the automated ones scary but compelling and likes us to pick him up and then go and look through the curtains at the spiderweb and scary skeleton guy who are set up on our porch.
In the morning when he woke today he said "'awoween SEE it. Little scary."
His attachment to things makes it difficult to move him about. If I want to go out he may be wanting to see the 'awoweens. If I am trying to leave the store he might be interested in the scarecrow or pumpkins. Everything is very slow (unless you want to risk a tantrum and scoop him up and make a run for it.)
Another cause for inertia is the VERY big pumpkin at PCC. It is about the size of a dishwasher and Wren climbs up beside it and pushes it with both hands. It has formed a nice flat bottom, settled down onto the earth with its weight, and does not move. While it remains he does not want to move either.
Soulumination
Last weekend we had a mini-photo shoot of the kids and family with a Soulumination photographer. This is a charity that offers free portraits of children facing serious health issues. At first, I felt wary of contacting them. Some of the children on their website are so sick that I felt that Wren was too healthy and happy to be photographed. Plus, I don't want him in that category.
After speaking with Sarah at Soulumination I felt reassured that they are very happy to photograph children with conditions like Wrens. I asked to mainly focus on Frost and Wren so we have a nice quality picture of them together.
We went to the local P-patch.
We haven't seen the pictures yet but I am looking forward to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment