Update on a few things

Nathaniel has now gone to two ECFE classes. They've gone as well as could be expected. He's done pretty well with not taking toys away from the other kids, and while at his age you can't expect much active joint-play, he's always been interested in watching other children. The songs are, of course, inane and slightly insipid, but that's about right for the age group in question. It's stuff that I know they will enjoy, and it's amazing to me to watch Nathaniel's face as the group around him sings "and Nathaniel's here today, and Nathaniel's here today, yay Nathaniel!" or "The sign today is Water, the sign today is water, high ho a derio, the sign today is water." He's quite interested in what's going on and just taking it all in. The classes are on Thursdays.

This past Thursday went quite well. Stephanie had to leave at least as early as usual and Nathaniel got us up in plenty of time as is normal, but then I had to try to adjust his schedule so that the class doesn't come at the absolute worst time. It's scheduled for 12:30-2:30, which is, of course, right in the middle of lunch and then nap time. So instead, I've tried to keep him awake until about 10:00 so that we can have an early lunch and hopefully be ready to nap when we get home without getting too cranky. It went well, and I think it's going to work for the long term. It might even end up being the regular schedule rather than just on Thursdays. We'll see how he takes it.

But he ate well, he slept for acceptable lenthgs of time, and was not cranky for the most part. Even when Stephanie came home for around five minutes before going out again to a retirement party, he still was in good spirits and ate well, played calmly, read books and was agreeable in getting ready for bed (even if he didn't actually fall asleep until after a good hour of rocking.) I could do with more days like that. Far too often I end up feeling like I"m doing a horrible job because he's cranky, or I feel like I'm not giving him enough attention because I'm reading or browsing the web while he plays in the living room. I worry that I'm being too selfish in hoping he naps so that I can have an hour or if I'm lucky two to myself. (I haven't been able to bike in weeks and weeks for uncertainty in how long he'll nap.) If he remains this reasonable, I think things will be Ok.

Last night Jake and I went to Town Hall to watch the Twins game. I'd been wanting a night off away like that for weeks, and it finally came and it went pretty well also. The game was a bit of a bust, we lost 10-1, and my Walleye Hoagie was very disappointing given my wonderful memories of it, and there weren't any good seasonal beers or cask ales, but the beer was still good, and the ability to just be away, talk about nothing and reminisce for three or four hours was really nice. I brought home a growler of Hope and King Scotch Ale too, and look forward to having a chance to break it out and drain it.

The Twins were supposed to have Carl Pavano pitch last night, but having re-jigged the rotation to get the playoff order they want, it was Francisco LIriano. Which wouldn't have matter the least to me, had I not earlier in the day shaved a magnificantly ridiculous Pavstache in honor of his start. I will continue to sport it today (and we'll see for how long) as he pitches this evening instead.