2010 Christmas Letter

Holding Space

What Now

I'm overwhelmed; I'm not ashamed to say so. I begin to fear that I will not get even half of what's important done, much less everything. This sense, I'm certain, is exacerbated by the fact that I spend a goodly portion of my day killing zombies with watermelons, cabbages, corn, and peas playing video games one particular video game on my cell phone.

Holden is sitting up with very little assistance. That is, I have to sit him up and make sure he has something to lean against, but he's practicing holding himself upright. Even now, he's sitting beside me on the couch, munching on his sock monkey, and he's been doing so for a good ten minutes.

Burgundy is home this week, and we put the kibosh on most all social stuff so that she and I could get to work on her academic stuff, cleaning the house, and preparing for her mission trip next week with the U.M. A.R.M.Y.  She spent this morning updating her online resume and choosing which scholarship she wants to apply for this week. We're going to apply for one, no matter how small, every week until school starts. After that, we'll re-evaluate.

I'm finally pulling together Holden's birth announcement, and I want to mail it before his six-month birthday. So I have . . . less than two weeks. Holy crap.

We have let him taste several solid foods over the last couple of weeks. Banana was the most rousing failure. He continues to blanch and shudder for several minutes after every taste. Oddly, the most successful so far has been a lemon wedge. He lunges for the wedge when we eat out, and he cries when he drops it. I think it feels good on his (as-yet unrevealed) teeth, but that doesn't explain his indifference toward oranges and lime.

Right now, I have tons more work to do, and so little time left! Just wanted to pop in and say I'm still alive!

Craftiness

Holden bounces like this every morning. He wakes, we nurse, and after a diaper change, I put him in the bouncer. He spends the next half hour (often more) burning off energy in true boy fashion. God help me when he goes mobile.

I made a mocha this morning, and I'm sipping it slowly while working on this blog entry. I fell off the housework wagon. I even fell off the keeping-up-with-the-laundry wagon. Right now, I just want to make my bed for a few days in a row. And slow way down on the sugar. I am a grown-up, yes. That does not mean I may eat Oreos for breakfast.

I bought a weaving loom. Upstairs Studio, a local fiber arts store (so much more than just yarn), took two floor looms on consignment. The smaller of the two holds up to 20 yards of woven fabric up to 60" wide. I decided to give up my table loom (24" wide) and my spinning wheel in order to buy it. I need to sell both, and I'll list them on Ravelry today. It's going to be difficult to say goodbye to the wheel, but I know in my heart that I just didn't "click" with spinning. I still have a lovely two or three drop spindles and plenty of fiber, so I'm sure all will be well.

I bought the loom because I've always had an interest in weaving, and I've decided to try my hand at plaid. My little brother wants a kilt; ultimately, I'd love to be able to weave him a true kilt in his family colors.

Meanwhile, I need to finish a pair of slippers I agreed to knit on commission (just about halfway done), and I have no idea on what project I'd like to work next. I still have a pair of socks on the needles, and I recently pulled out the 936 granny squares I've crocheted over the last 12 years to make an afghan. Also, several friends are crocheting another afghan, so I felt compelled to buy the yarn to make it, too. Meanwhile, Holden needs socks, and I want to start on a sweater for which I bought the yarn last November, also for Holden.

Right now, though, I guess I'd better rotate the laundry and make my bed. I can do anything for 5 minutes.

School's [Almost] Out for the Summer

Burgundy, smart little monkey that she is, earned exemption from all of her core classes' final exams. She had to take Band, Introduction to Education and Training, and German II. Band did not actually have a final exam, and the final grade for IET was a project they put together in class throughout the semester. I am sitting in a comfy chair at Starbucks, amusing Holden and typing while Burgundy works with her tutor to prepare for the German test, and after tomorrow, she is free.

Holden stares hopelessly out the window, contemplating
potential uses for his amazing toejam.

Holden's hair is starting to thicken, and I've noticed glints of golden at certain angle. At present, he's cramming a stuffed elephant into his mouth and drooling copiously. I'm rather impressed with his powers of drool. However, his truly astonishing superpower is toejam production. I never thought a baby could have icky feet, but holy God, Holden's sweaty feet rival my own. Sometimes they merely clam up. Others, he produces a veritable sweat slick more slimy than an athlete's. He produces toejam from thin air, and when be-socked, he produces vegetation. I swear, he makes lint-infused toejam vines. I don't really nom his sweet feet anymore.

Burgundy's hair reaches halfway down her back. Her lithe figure is that of a self-assured young woman. She smiles, and the young men fall before her like wheat before a scythe. Her summer promises a time of reflection and fun. She and I are going to take cooking classes and attend a woman's Bible study together. She'll take her first college-level class at the local community college; it's a speech class. We also need to enroll her to audit a calculus class in preparation for the AP Calculus class next year.

I think I've decided to go ahead with enrolling her at the other high school for the 2011-12 school year. That school has had a number of problems this year, so I am not certain of the wisdom of this decision, but I think it will at least place Burgundy back in the peer group for which she has pined so relentlessly the past two years.

And now, I have lunch to eat before my beautiful son decides he must be held.