Andrea's Adventures in Binkyland

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Life

Tonight, I went to my Yogilates class. You know, the one I didn't make it to last week? Breathe in, breathe out. Stretch. Sit up straighter, pull in your navel, breathe. It was so exactly what I needed.

Sasha is fine now. She stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday with a fever and a bad temper. Thursday she seemed all right and went to daycare, but by lunchtime she came home with her fever again. Friday morning, she was in such a poor mood that we brought her to the doctor once again, where they tentatively diagnosed a urinary tract infection. They stuck her finger for blood and took a urine culture, and sent me home with Baby's First Antibiotic. The doctor was quite surprised she had never been on one before.

By Friday night, her fever had well and truly broken again. Sadly, it was the day of her baby naming, and the first in a number of days where her schedule was thrown all off-kilter. Today, we got the urine culture back negative. So we still have the worrisome mystery of the 5-day nonspecific fever. All I can do is hope it was some virus that won't be bothering us again.

Her naming was probably beautiful. I spent most of the service outside the sanctuary trying to settle the poor baby, since the service only started after her bedtime. When Sasha's moment arrived, the rabbi said some choice words to Sasha, and Sasha, well, she had a few things to say to HIM, too.

Matt spoke about her Hebrew name, Shulamit Sarai, and the loved ones we have named her for, and the meanings of her names. Shulamit means tranquility, and Sarai means argumentative. Put together, I find it wonderfully Zen: the peaceful warrior, one who has a core of strength within to hold firm to her own convictions.

By the end of the service, during oneg (that's "snack" to you non-Jewish people out there) there was not a thing I could do anymore to settle Sasha. It was just way too far past her bedtime. I had one bite of cake and then we brought her home.

During all of this, my dad was visiting. Hi, papa! It is really wonderful to watch him playing with Sasha. There is one particularly great thing about my dad: He can play with a small child with the kind of abandon only really seen in other small children. He is not concerned with dignity. It is all about chasing the smile, and nothing is too silly in that noble endeavor. Thinking back, I can remember that quality even from when I was a little girl. I suspect there's some sort of moral lesson for the world, here, but I can't find it just now. I'm just a little sad he couldn't stay one more day for Father's Day.

On Father's Day, Sasha and I had our second annual Craft Day With Mommy. It went over much better this year than last. This year, we got a baseball and a collector's stand for it, and put a lovely big splotchy pink handprint on it. Daddy seems to like it very much. Although I do still have pink paint on my foot, no lasting property damage seems to have occurred.

The cashier in the craft store was not quite bright. I wandered in holding the baby, chose a paint, and asked her if she thought my choice would work on leather. It said semi-permanent, so I was a bit concerned. I explained that I wanted to put a handprint on a baseball for Father's Day. She gave me a funny look and said that it must be an awfully large baseball. I explained that no, in fact, it would be the baby's handprint in question. She kept trying to steer me to puff paint, for some reason. In the end, I found a fabric paint that worked quite nicely, and now I know not to trust the staff at the craft store for accurate advice.

I'm starting to see the sunlight break through this whirlwind of weddings, showers, parties, special events. Next weekend, we go to Atlanta for a wedding, and then we just might have a weekend free. In the meantime, I should just breathe in, breathe out. Stretch. Sit up straighter. Life is what's happening to us every second, and I shouldn't wait around for the calm, I should make it myself.

My kitchen is: Slowly, day by day, returning to a state of cleanliness. I have a goal of cooking dinner three times this week, which should help, since I always clean before I cook.

Posted by andrea at June 16, 2003 09:53 PM