Bank Appointment Gone Wrong

We’ve been busy! When have we not been. It’s the season of life, a baby, two gremlins (Caleb and Naomi), two goblins (Chicken and Tuna), and a floundering stationery shop. I wouldn’t have it any other way (maybe the stationery shop a bit less floundery, but I take what I can get).

But we have started the new year strong with getting things done, and while now, halfway through January, flagging just the tiniest bit, we march onward. Jon bribed me to attend a bank appointment with him, during some point of which my signature would be required, by promising me a bubble tea afterwards, but it turns out the bubble tea place isn’t open in the mornings, who knows why not, so we got pastries instead. Not the same, but not bad. One of the burners on the stove stopped working and Jon had to call in a repairman who could only come in the chaos of getting-ready-for-school and I’m pretty sure he’s never coming back. Countless minutes on various phone calls and one unresponded email later, I finally got a refund on a FedEX double charge of 26.63, and I suggested we put the money towards some bubble tea, since I missed out the first time, but Jon was ambivalent. “That’s not how it works, Liz. That’s not free money you got from FedEx, it was money that was yours in the first place that they shouldn’t have taken. Plus, accounting for all the time you spent on the phone, you’re probably in the negative.” It was a great personal triumph, nonetheless.

We have lots coming up ahead, new things, new shipments, new brands, new exciting projects, new moderately exciting projects. I am running behind on my end of things, which I blame on having to/getting to spend my days with baby.

It is a delight to have her coming along with me to various places! To the bank, to the shop, to pick up the kids from school, to pick up a package, to Naomi’s violin lessons, to the kitchen, to the bathroom. Is this attachment parenting, when the baby seems attached to you non-stop? She has very fine-tuned stranger danger antennae and you never know which way which antenna is going to go, bits of dust in the world causing static and buzzing and all of a sudden she’s crying and people are feeling called out for being a stranger just trying to say hello to what was previously a friendly-looking baby. She really likes kids, so if you are under the age of 10, please feel free to come up and say hello.

In any case, I have been trying to Get Things Done in between diaper changes and domestic cat photography and one of my key methods is distracting her with food. The baby loves string cheese: it is the highlight of her day, and I can see her watching me when I go to the fridge, crinkling the plastic. I used to give it to her in strings, because she feeds herself, but recently I’ve been giving her the cheese in little scallops, lopping off thick coins, in an effort to encourage her fine motor skills, and she’s been perturbed by the change. She dropped one on the floor, confused with this cheese in a different form, and we both looked down at it and watched as it rolled to a stop on the carpet, this little blob of bouncy cheese, sad and alone and no longer bouncy. Life comes at you fast, baby.