snapshots

I've started my vacation, of which I have a month to use up before I actually quit my job. A nice transition to be off and still get a paycheque for a few more weeks. So I start my stint as stay-at-home mom.

A bit of a rough start with a crying/screaming temper tantrum on the afternoon of day 1, but it's been a lot better since. We've been out and about shopping, doing chores, lunching out together, and having a picture taken with "a real Santa!" She talked Santa's ear off and I had to pull her away to let the next kid have a turn. She's been very coy and refuses to tell me what she and Santa talked about, although I did catch a small part during the visit when she asked if he received her letter that she sent at preschool last week.

I've been managing to get up at 7:30 am, which is after Ray and Risa get up at 6:50 precisely. Risa comes into our room and wakes up her dad (I've trained her not to bug me when I'm sleeping); she's like a clock. I'm so happy not to have to set my own alarm clock anymore.

Spent money I probably didn't absolutely need to today, but this was the first time I cringed slightly at the cash register when I realized what I was doing. It was 60% off! I got a new piece of luggage in preparation for an upcoming vacation with extended family. As Risa grows, it's becoming more difficult for us to share a suitcase as we have been doing before, especially since weight restrictions seem to be tightening again at the airport. But back to the point. It never bothered me before to spend up to a day's wage on a single item, but today I thought about it.

And so starts my new life.

If there will ever be such a category. Risa seems obsessed with the idea of running for exercise and now asks to go on the treadmill. I start her quite slow, in spite of her repeated requests to go faster. I ran her up to 3 miles/hr for 15 minutes yesterday, with both hands on the controls, ready to stop at any sign of her faltering. She stopped only twice for a few seconds to take a sip of water. Today I felt comfortable enough to step back for a moment to take a picture! Sometimes, just to mock us, I'm sure, she will hop on one foot at 3 miles/hr while laughing. I put a stop to that as a treadmill is no place to fool around, but I feel like an old elephant. Ray and I are not runners. Already Risa is reaching beyond our boundaries.

ooooo... coxsackie virus... Very painful. Expect another 5-7 days of this.

My good doctor was telling us we basically have to wait out this infection. Another 5-7 days?! It's day 3 and we're getting frazzled with her constant whining, fitful sleeping, and demands for us to "Do something about it!!" Risa is on round the clock pain killers and is unable to eat much because of the sores in her mouth. There isn't much else to do about it but she isn't taking no for an answer. Not surprisingly, she didn't like the doctor's assessment! Risa is off to spend the night with my aunt which gives us a little break, but we have a long evening ahead as my former boss is throwing a dinner party for me at her home.

I seem to have missed some key events this year. With the exception of Halloween, I just realized I have not dedicated any posts to Risa's 4th birthday, our 3rd adoption anniversary and Xiaogan reunion, and Ray's and my birthdays. Not that we didn't celebrate these events - we did whole hog - but documenting them somehow was just not as big a priority as it was before. I have to chew on that for a bit as I find it mildly disturbing.

Anyway, I got two gourmet meals for my birthday yesterday. I took the day off and still got a phone call from work. Lunch was at Provence, and dinner was at my favorite restaurant, baru latino. I had the steak chimichurri. Along with ceviche and a pisco sour and I'm in heaven! Ray had the always excellent chepen duck. I'm really getting to enjoy beef done central and south american style. I ate only 1/2 the serving and brought the other 1/2 with me to work today for my lunch. Nothing like having birthday dinner twice.

I have only 7 working days left until my vacation. I do have 2 shifts in December, but I'm not counting them as I'd rather concentrate on the smaller number! Otherwise it's 9 working days until I officially quit. These last few days are dragging out rather painfully.

We had an easy going morning and I remembered a little trick I used to do with the bathroom mirror when I was young. I used soap as paint. So, to keep Risa entertained while I was brushing my teeth, I let her use my make up brush and hand soap to cover the biggest reusable canvas in the house. Next I'll teach her the trick of tracing the outline of her face in the mirror.

Raymond was away at an all day writers' workshop so it was Risa n me from 8 AM to 6 PM. We voted in the municiple election, went to the bank and produce store, had lunch, got her flu shot at the clinic, came home and had a lemon tart, walked 3 KM (yes, took us 45 minutes and she did it non-stop) to poh-poh and gong-gong's house where we hung out and played, and eventually Raymond caught up with us there for poh-poh's oxtail stew dinner. Whew! Definitely much better than working!

"What's that on your hand?" a senior supervisor asked as I arrived for a project meeting yesterday. That's my "love stamp", I said. Risa drew a picture of me on my hand (with a cheap so-called washable marker) and said it was a "love stamp", that when I look at it it will make me think of her. I have a happy face and the spindly things are my arms and legs.

I get into dress up fatigue, when I'm tired of wearing dress pants and manager heels. I had 9 hours of meetings within 48 hours this week. I look forward to days with no meetings when I come to work in my jeans and unwashed hair.

Unfortunately, schedule mix ups happen. I waltzed into work today not realizing that I had a high level meeting to go to. This is a regular monthly meeting so my brain has obviously shut down before my job has. I rushed off to the big house, only to walk into this meeting with the big bosses 1/2 hour late and looking like crap.

My former boss gave me a little tribute and announced that she would host a dinner party for me at her home to thank me for my 2 years of running the department at my site. I wasn't expecting that and I was really touched by this generosity. I felt really under dressed then. I just focused on my love stamp.