Crooked neck and Wren-Is-a-Tyrant

Anyone who thinks that being a stay at home mother is light work should take a look at me today. I am walking around with a neck spasm after trying to balance reading a book with navigating a toy and lifting Wren up into an "airplane" over my head.

Something went tweak and now I am incapacitated.

My naturopath has prescribed massage and chiropractic work as well as Tiger Balm and hot and cold compresses to reduce nerve and muscle inflammation. Apparently, I also have signs of long term (chronic) nerve compression in my face / neck due to neck vertebra being misaligned. I am going to have a good relationship with a masseur and a chiropractor. The trouble I had with the Open Water Swimming is also related to this neck injury so perhaps something good will come of this in the end.

Wren, sensing my distress has been kind and helpful, NOT. He has developed a violent shriek of protest which he uses when I show that my will is not subject to his command. Frost, who has started playing a MMORPG (Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) and is developing a new vocabulary, has taken to calling Wren his minion but when the master gives commands this minion retaliates.

The scream is so far outside the boundaries of acceptable voice or volume that he is taken straight to his room until he stops. This can be a long time. The only true antidote for this behavior is to shadow him all day and remove any obstacle to his desires, to obey fully, to respond adroitly and to maintain a steady focus of listening and being present. I am not very good at this. Sometimes the demands are challenging (I want cookie for breakfast. I want watch Diego NOW. Shannon DO NOT GO DOWNSTAIRS WITH FROST." On other occasions they are reasonable but I am not able to respond immediately. Finally, they are those times when I am a lousy mother and lazy as a windsock becalmed. Then it is all my fault because I do not listen/ come/look/stand / sit and/or see in a reasonable time.

Still, the punishment for neglect is dire.

Anyway, there is good news. I have my US Citizenship application all ready. It was a lot easier when I realized that I have had my Green Card for 7 years and qualify to apply for citizenship as a resident rather than as a wife of a US Citizen. That means I don't have to prove that Joshua supports, loves and maintains me and that we have kids and a house and a bank account together and he is not dead and still lives with me. I still have to prove I am not a felon and have a good moral character despite my old arrest in Australia (for trespassing during an anti-logging protest).

Otherwise, we are all doing fine. Enjoying some cooler weather and some lazy days. I have the big box of lego duplo in the basement and Frost makes popcorn everyday. Wren chooses his own clothes and is potty trained (hooray). Josh has bought some new running shoes and a banjoy and hopes to run and strum more in the near future. The Subaru has a CHECK ENGINE warning and it has to go in for a service soon. Anything else? Not that I can remember.

Oh, if you LOVE YOUR LAPTOP please tell me. I am replacing the old iBook and am thinking of switching to our family desktop for most of my computing with an Asus Eee 1005 as my portable machine. Comments? Horror? Let me know.