Call It What You Want...

Today was a very special day. My dear friend Anne came by with her new son, Aaron, who arrived this month. It has been a long journey for them -- Anne, Andy and Aaron -- to become a family, and I feel like I've had a front-row seat.

I cried back in March when she called and told me that the adoption people had called, and that, surprise of all surprises, their child, for whom they'd waited for all this time (they'd been in "the system" for over two years) was a boy! (Okay, so everyone who knows me knows that I'm soppy anyway.)

So today, Anne and Aaron stopped for a visit and lunch. The boys got along wonderfully, and Adam was very excited to have someone to show stuff to.

"Look!" Adam says, showing Aaron yet another exciting toy.

At one point, all three of them started doing laps around the dining room table, and since Aaron doesn't walk yet (he's working on it), all three were making the laps on all fours. It was cute.

Mark, for his part, was nervous about meeting his new friend, but discovered after Aaron had come and eaten with us that he was all right. "I know you, Anne," he told her. "I like you." This echoed some of the things I told him while he was waiting for Aaron to arrive. "You know Anne," I told him. "You like her. You'll like Aaron, too."

I'm looking forward to seeing the boys growing up together and being friends.

We're getting to the punchlist, which is basically finishing up this and that. We need to put the drawer pulls on, the toe kick, scribe molding, and tile. But... behold...

The cabinets fit next to the window after all.

And the King of All Things Building and Fixing was able to use the cabinet over the fridge with just a little modification. You can't even tell.

Soon all the construction stuff will be moved off the counters, undercabinet lighting will be done, and the tile backsplash will be finished. And all will be happy and beautiful. But isn't it awesome?!?!?!

Turns out that the boy who doesn't like fruit is getting better:

No cut-up pieces for me, thank you very much. I'll have it "in the slice," as Mark calls it.

And today, "Bite!" he requested as he walked past the bananas on the counter. Yesterday at the store they had the first decent bananas in a long time. (Apparently there was a bad banana harvest in the places where they grow bananas.) He ate his whole banana, from the peel as well, like a big kid.

And Mark.

Apparently Mark can raise one eyebrow.

This calls for a little story. Back in high school, when I was keeping company with a young man who was employed at the local grocery store, I met a classmate who could raise one eyebrow most dramatically. I had always wanted to raise one eyebrow, and the classmate agreed to teach me to do it -- basically, he told me I needed to hold one eyebrow down and practice in the mirror, which was fine with me, because I was vain.

Now I can raise one eyebrow, though not very dramatically, and not as well if I'm not looking in the mirror. But Mark can! (This was his response to trying a new food.)

With only a couple weeks left until vacation, Daddy thought it would be a good idea to give the boys a chance to share a room togther, because, unlike their cousins with whom we'll be vacationing, they don't normally share.

Tim said to Mark, "Tonight we're going to do something special. You and Adam are going to get to sleep in the same room."

Mark frowned. "That's WRONG!" he said indignantly. "That is not special!"

In the end, a compromise was made: Mark would sleep in Adam's room, instead of the other way around. He wanted his mattress from his bed, and then decided that he wanted his tent, too. So Tim set up the tent and the mattress and tucked the boys into bed.

And all was most decidedly not quiet. There was a lot of giggling and quite a few thumps on the floor. After about an hour of carrying on, it was suggested that it might be time to go to sleep. Seems to me that Mark tried, but every few minutes, I would hear a jubilant shriek from the crib -- Adam saying, in effect, HEY! You're still here! Let's PLAY!

Things were quiet by 9:30, though by 6:30 (it was last Saturday, so Daddy was in charge), he was back at it again.

Yesterday, Mark told me that it was almost time for vacation, and he told me just how it would be.

"I'm going to share a room wif' Jonathan," he told me. "We will have bunk beds, and Jonathan will sleep in the top bunk and I will sleep in the bottom bunk!"

He has it all planned out.

This morning, he ran through his "Is it ___________ time?" list, which includes the State Fair, Pork Festival, and other things in the fall that will hurry along time for the combine to come to his newly planted field. But today, it was "Is it vacation time?"

Tara sent me the menu yesterday.

She and I are excited about it, too.

Yesterday was the last day of MOPS, and they brought the bigger kids in to sing a song for the moms.

I noticed a certain boy standing taller than all the other kids but one (who's 5). We came home and measured him on the growth chart in the hall. In the last year, Mark has grown 3 1/2 inches.

Adam has grown an inch since February, too, which isn't too shabby.

AND, on the last day of MOPS, as he was being turned over to the Toddlers' teacher, Amanda, he stuck his hands out to her. AND he gave hugs to her and the other girl who is the teacher in his class, Chelsea. After a whole year of crying when I left him, he finally decided it was fun...

For more on the kitchen project, please see the spouse's site: http://newpics.org/tim for the latest... He's had a chance to update. He also has included a photo from before we moved in as a nice 1970s contrast.

In the meantime, here's a gratuitous picture of the boys:

Kitchen 2008 continues on...

This is partially installed, from where the kitchen table will be once things are done.

As installation continued, I was still without a sink or a surface upon which to prepare food. Or, frankly, any room to get around.

Last night the boys stopped work for a photo. Note the sink in the background. And the counter tops.

Here is the peninsula, minus the toe kicks (they'll be last), and the sink, minus the doors (waiting for the disposer to be rewired).

I guess maybe I should clean off the refrigerator and make a clean start...

Also titled "In Which Mark Rides a Tractor with a Seed Drill and Adam Wraps Grandpa Marv Around His Little Finger"

We had a nice evening with friends, and then Grandpa and Tim took the boys home while I hung out with the friends longer and gabbed. When I got home after 9 p.m., Grandpa was all excited. "Mark got to ride in the tractor! Adam and I went out looking for him and he had gotten a ride with the farmer!"

I could still hear Mark upstairs talking so I thought I'd get the story from him.

He was nowhere near asleep. He was sitting up in bed talking to his dad about the event, and when I came in, he had a lot to tell.

"The tractor came through the part where there are no trees, and I got to ride in it. I was a little crunky, but Daddy wanted to ride, so he held onto me. The seed drill was a little loud. It made the whole tractor and seed drill shake. The farmer's name is Seth. He's planting corn." Tim asked what he planted last year. "Soybeans. They didn't do so well. But then it rained." Apparently the rain salvaged what was about to be a lousy crop last year. Also apparently, Mark remembered everything the farmer had to say.

What happened was that while Grandpa was giving Adam an extended goodnight cuddle, Mark (already in his pajamas) and Tim went outside to see the tractor that was planting in the famous field behind our house. Unfortunately, the tractor got kind of far away, so they walked all the way to the trees (a long way) to see it. The farmer got out to check his seeds and saw them, and asked if they wanted a ride. Mark wasn't sure (big surprise there) but Tim convinced him to get in (they both did) and the farmer gave them a ride. Mark wanted more. Finally the farmer came back to this end of the field and dropped them right by our next-door neighbor's gate. In the meantime, Grandpa and Adam had come out looking for them and found them, and got to see the tractor too.

So it was back upstairs, and Grandpa cuddled Adam some more while Mark finished bedtime. Adam was still jumping in bed and shouting, so when Mark finished telling me the story, I went in and told Adam to go to sleep and started his music again. And shut the door. He got mad, and, like a trained seal, up came the spoiling-machine. "Can't I rock him?" Grandpa asked plaintively.

"Oh all right," Tim said, seeing the next week after Grandpa is gone as some repair-time for the sleep habits of someone little who's taken to being cuddled by Grandpa every night. But Grandpa's not here very often for spoiling, so we let it go...

But Grandpa is starting to see through him.

"I think, fine, I'll rock him, and he'll go to sleep," Grandpa reported as he came downstairs. "But no. He wanted to read a book!"

Fortunately, this time, Grandpa didn't give in.

P.S. The whole deal was a great way to blow bedtime!

I will refrain from any stories or tales of the work on our kitchen because they ultimately belong to the Noblesvillain.

But I thought I would at least share a little bit of progress for those who wonder...

So. That's the original kitchen, with the upper cabinets over the peninsula already removed. And a lot of stuff piled everywhere.

All the uppers gone, as well as all the stuff. (Grandpa Marv is ducked down in the center of the cabinets.)

Two of those cabinets in the boxes are now mounted on the wall beside the refrigerator. One will have to be reordered. I prefer not to talk about that part.

Cool new flooring going in.

This is the chaos I live in right now. Except that the floor is all the way in, even in the closet (right) and the small blue spots toward the pulled-out refrigerator (which is now back in place).

I fixed lunch today in this lovely kitchen. I believe it will be the last meal I fix in it until I get 1) a sink and 2) a counter top.

The guys are doing a great job and the floor is beautiful. I am very happy with the cabinets; they are gorgeous. It will be wonderful -- soon, I hope. :)