I like Billy Joel probably more than most people. That’s a fun fact.
So, now that the truly massive Bonanza Extravaganza story has reached its conclusion, I can talk about other things.
There isn’t a whole lot that’s going on with Will, but there are other matters to discuss.
Editor’s note: These “other matters” necessitate a significant portion of time. Also, I had to remake the chart. I skipped a week.
First things first, though. Babby!
The latest with Will is the same thing I always talk about: eating. A woman from the day care called me last week and said that Will is sometimes still hungry after a bottle and a serving of food. She wanted to know if it was OK to give him part of another jar or some of the applesauce that they have. It is nice that they keep us apprised of his condition, and I appreciate them asking before doing certain things with him, but really? Your job is to keep him happy. If he’s hungry, feed him! The thing about it is, since I’m eager for us to start the formula downswing, I gave them three jars of food one day as opposed to the two they usually got. Isn’t that sort of a tacit agreement? I gave you the food, which means you can give it to him. Yet ever since, there’s always been one jar of food left over at the end of the day.
I guess there’s no time for critical thinking when you’ve got to give all the love, encouragement and diaper changes you can muster.
UPDATE: Between the writing of that section and the time of posting, the day care has started giving him all three jars. Which once again proves the point: In order to make something true, I must simply state the opposite in public.
However, it seems Will is actually not too fond of the jar food lately either. This is the routine every morning in the high chair:
1. Drinks about 80 percent of his bottle before starting to play with it.
2. Opens his mouth as widely as possible for the first few spoonfuls of food.
3. Starts to cry when I move the spoon toward his mouth.
4. Eats some actual solid food, like this or this.
5. Takes a few more spoonfuls of the jar food.
6. Repeat Step 3.
7. I decide we’re done.
He’s gotten quite good at feeding himself the puffs and whatnot, so I’m wondering whether we should be giving him actual pieces of food instead of the pureed stuff. He still only has the one tooth, but those gums are pretty fierce. He mashed a few pieces of banana into submission this morning. It does seem kind of early for that, but then again, he has typically been ahead of the food curve.
He has also really started to grasp the idea that he can move his feet while standing up and holding on to something. Day care ladies report that of all the babbys his age, he’s one of two that are most likely to walk in the near future, i.e., he has the strength and disposition. We’ll see if that’s the case.
They won’t, though. Because:
(Remember the other stuff I had to talk about? It’s kind of a big deal.)
Gina and Will are moving back to Michigan. We’re going to be separated for a little while.
The method to this madness is illustrated in this helpful chart (with acknowledgments to Katie Gill):
And some of you may have been wondering (though, probably not) what I’m talking about when I make vague references to Gina’s work environment. Now that she’s out of it, I’m free to give details and not fear her getting in trouble. I could make an entire post out of this, actually, so here’s the Cliff’s Notes version.
Gina’s not really the type of person who’s happy confined in an office, especially when she’s doing tasks not native to her (accounting). She got into the job by accident, really, and after getting fired from a job where she was set up to fail, she starting working this job, assistant controller for a D.C. hotel. During her tenure, the controller who hired her quit abruptly, and she ran the accounting department for a few months while her higher-ups found a replacement. The department could have fallen into total disrepair, but it didn’t, despite the fact that her subordinates ranged in competence from “mediocre” to “DURRRRR.” These people’s gross underperformance was overlooked by the old controller. When the new controller came in, she had the chance to document them for the inability to do their job correctly and help them improve or, if they couldn’t, dismiss them. Instead, she (the controller) tried to have them written up for clocking in late or early. That never happened. Meanwhile, the sloppiness continued. Eventually, Gina was blamed for their past performance. When Gina came back from maternity leave, she told the controller she had to leave by a certain time of day to pick up Will from day care. The controller took this as a sign of unprofessionalism and decided to make Gina miserable for it, mostly through passive-aggressive psychobabble that I won’t go into. The controller likes to goof off during the workday for hours at a time and then stay in the office until 7 p.m. or later; meanwhile, Gina worked through the day and left around 5. This was apparently a problem. And, as the above graph shows, the commute often measured two hours or more in one direction, so if Gina showed up late, even though she got her work done and was a salaried employee, this was a point of contention. A couple of weeks ago, the controller took Gina into her office and basically asked her to quit citing these reasons because the boss has neither the grounds nor the cojones to actually fire her.
It was the last straw. We came up with a plan, including finding a job for Gina to supplement her photography income, and she put in her resignation. I really can’t tell you how much happier she is now that this is happening because honestly, I can’t remember what it was like before this situation.
So, she and Will are moving in with my parents. My mom will be able to watch the little guy while Gina works, and she’s already got several clients lined up in Michigan. I reiterate: If you know someone in the market for children’s, family or wedding photography, please consider her. She’s got her website up! It can be found at www.ginaclarkphotography.com. Tragically, it is not Google-able yet, but that problem will be remedied post haste.
I realize this is not an ideal course. We prefer not to be separated, and selling our house might prove difficult. But, it is a big step in the right direction, and one that needed to be taken before something bad happened.
And that’s where we stand. The only thing left to talk about is
World Cup, baby! U.S. looked horrible, then got lucky, then got really unlucky, then drew. Spain has broken my heart, they had better make it up to me.
Also — being the huge soccer geek I am — this calendar is one of the coolest Flash presentations I have ever seen.
So … U-S-A! U-S-A! And Gina’s voyage to the Mitten is this weekend, so expect updates in that timeframe.
No, really. I mean it.
