Goodbye Mr. Bill

This is the weekend I have been dreading for months. On Sunday Mr. Bill's moving truck drives away, and he ceases being my neighbor. I have no words to describe our relationship. We are closer than neighbors and have transcended friendship. In the more than a decade that he has been in our lives, he has become family. 

Every time I think about him leaving I become weepy. Robby is also having a hard time with his Mr. Bill moving to Florida. The two buddies have forged a unique and strong relationship. Robby has never known life without Mr. Bill, and I know that his young heart is shattering watching his surrogate grandfather leave.  

I have been trying to temper my emotions in front of Robby. He is already struggling to accept the move and doesn't need to contend with my tears. Instead of dwelling on our loss, I have been focusing on everything that Mr. Bill is gaining through the move. I'm hoping that talking about the benefits his friend will reap will help to soften the blow of his departure.  

Mr. Bill is moving to be closer to his daughter in Florida. I know he misses her and is looking forward to reintegrating into her daily life.  There is no doubt that he will be more comfortable, especially during the winter months. The cold temperatures wreak havoc on his body, forcing him to stay inside for weeks at a time. If I were not emotionally invested, I could easily see that this move is what is best for him. 

Of course the "not emotionally invested" boat sailed a long time ago. Mr. Bill has fully integrated into our lives, our daily routines, and our hearts. To say that we are going to miss him is an understatement!

Booty Dance

Hamlet has invited a new game. While he delights in his new activity, but I assure you that he is the only person who finds it fun. I wish he would adopt tag or even hide and seek. Not my kid. He prefers to drop his pants and shake his booty.

The "game" started by accident.  He loves shaking his booty and dancing, and one time he started dancing while we were trying to change his clothes. Scott and I made the mistake of laughing, and since that moment it has been game on for my Hamlet.

He has dropped his pants to dance in the middle of Olive Garden, standing in line at the grocery store and yesterday he did it in the Chick-Fil-A playground. The shock on my face, coupled with my sharp verbal reaction, turned the heads of every diner in the restaurant. If they hadn't already seen my little guy gleefully waddling and dancing around the playground wearing a pull-up with his pants around his ankles, they certainly were looking after I reacted!

I am used to people looking at me, and I am quite familiar with the judgemental glances when my children misbehave in public. The scorn that comes from your child dropping his pants to dance takes humiliation to a new level. 

The look on Timmy's face when he drops his pants and dances in public is one of pure delight. He is certainly having the time of his life, and I truly believe that he is entertaining people during rather mundane moments. Unfortunately for him, he is wrong. The stop, drop and shake booty needs to come to an end.

Cold!

It seems that the cold weather is here to stay. It is becoming increasingly difficult rolling out of my warm bed each morning. Having to don an icy cold liner onto my warm limb is an unpleasant shock that I dread for several months out of the year. It is amazing how cold the gel becomes overnight.

I try to remember to bring the liner under the electric blanket before I put it on, but I don't always remember. I instantly regret my lapse as soon as the cold silicone touches the bottom of my limb. Talk about an unpleasant way to wake up in the morning. It feels like my leg is being dipped into a bucket of ice water!

Not only does the liner become ice cold, but my limb becomes frigid in the winter. Even while wearing my leg, my limb often aches from being so cold. My winter evenings are spent with my limb wrapped up in a warm sock and under an electric throw. 

On "Cyber Monday" I ordered a case of hand warmers, which help keep me more comfortable during the winter. I discovered years ago that activating one or two and throwing them into the bottom of my socket before slipping it on really helps to keep the temperature regulated. With the dip in the thermometer, I'm chomping at the bit for my package to arrive!

Chaos

It didn't take long for everybody to get settled in since we returned home. My previously uncluttered and clean living room is being transformed into a train depot, thanks to the efforts of my littlest engineer. Robby's computer area is strewn with cups, assorted wrappers, and some random plates. Someday my house will remain clean and tidy, but probably not when the kids are still living here. 

When he hasn't been busy playing with his trains, Timmy has been dedicating himself to his role as a mischief maker.  While helping me make cookies, he took my bathroom break as an opportunity to add extra eggs to the bowl. When I returned he proudly showed me his efforts.  We ended up making 6x the original amount so I didn't waste the ingredients.  

Sitting on the couch, I slipped out of my legs so I could completely curl under the electric blanket. Hamlet lept on the opportunity like a lion pouncing on its prey. With a flash, he had grabbed my leg and ran to the back of the house, gleefully giggling. Without my leg and with no crutches in sight, I was captive to my four-year-old. Thankfully he only used the opportunity to get a cookie before returning my leg.  

I'm hoping that he calms down today because yesterday was exhausting!

Home Again

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, this includes our Thanksgiving week-o-fun. Although we were only at my Mom's for a week, we managed to pack a lot of activities (and memories) into those seven days. I'm not looking forward to the next few days as we play catch-up with work from our adventures.

Our shopping on Friday was successful but somewhat subdued. We have a nice start on our holiday shopping and we were even able to pick up a few items for ourselves. Robby, who has been alternating between three long sleeve shirts for the past few weeks, now has a fully stocked closet overflowing with warm and comfy clothes. Scott was able to find a handful of work shirts and I picked up some sweatpants and sweatshirts for Hamlet. I even treated myself to a new pair of cozy pajamas! 

The ability to shop online has definitely impacted our Black Friday traditions. We still went out late Thursday night but we weren't worried about nabbing a coveted doorbuster. It was nice being able to shop with Scott, Robby and my niece without the pressure of snagging an elusive item.

We were sad leaving my Mom's house, but it is nice to be home. Timmy immediately started assembling train tracks as soon as he walked into the house. Robby played with the cats and I was able to relax in front of the fire and decompress. It was nice to be away, but there is a comfort that can only come from being home.