A Ghost in the House

This particular ghost wasn't very coordinated, though. It kept running into the couch and the table, and falling down.

XOXO

"Awwww. I LOVE hugs!" I squeeze T Junior, who has his left arm around my neck and the side of his face resting on my left shoulder.

"Awwww," he parrots, then pulls back.

"Do I get a kiss?"

Pressing his lips into such a thin line that they almost disappear, his eyes go dreamy and he tilts his chin forward. I give him a big, loud smackaroo and he giggles.

I'm loving this. I'm eating it up.

He hasn't been the most cuddly baby. A few times, after a nap, he still seemed sleepy. So, I took him into my room and tried to cuddle. Before I could switch on Disney Channel, he squirmed away in order to stand up and peer over the headboard out the window overlooking the back yard.

He's just too busy for snuggling, which makes me sad. I hope he will want to when he gets bigger.

However, he's pretty big on huggies and kissies right now. Well, most of the time. Occasionally, if you ask him for one, he'll ignore you. He's like a cat that way.

But the way he greets me when I pick him up after day care is more like a dog. "Mama!" he cries joyfully as soon as he spots me, then runs into my arms for "big hugs," as Mr. T calls them.

Sometimes we have our arms locked around each other for minutes while I hear all about his day from Ms. Kadie.

"Oooo. I love hugs. I LOVE you, buddy."

This is NOT Okay

She slid into the empty chair across from me at a two-person table in Panera, and quickly turned to face T Junior in his restaurant high chair.

"Hi, hon!" she said joyfully. "How are you? Are you having lunch? Is that a sandwich?"

T Junior smiled back at her. "Nunch."

The lady, who looked to be grandmother-age, laughed. "Yes, lunch!"

Who IS this woman?

She popped up and then down at the table next to us when her company arrived.

Okay. That was weird.

But T Junior thought it was great, so he kept looking at her, trying to get her attention. It worked.

"Touch!" he yelled.

The grandmother, who was only an arms-length away, held out her hand.

Oh my god.

T Junior teased her by sticking his saliva-covered fingers out and then pulling them away.

Thank god.

But the woman wouldn't stop playing with him.

"T Junior, eat your lunch, please. T Junior. T Junior," I said, tapping his plate in order to make it obvious we weren't here for play time. We had other things to do.

Then, to my absolute horror, T Junior held his sippy cup out for the woman to see, and she took it from him, cupped her hands around the wide plastic straw, and pretended to drink.

"Yum!"

She had her hands all over my son's cup and mouthpiece. I laughed quietly, nervously. Well, I guess he's done with his water. Has this lady never hear of the freaking swine flu?

Once T Junior got his sippy cup back, I snatched it from him and set it aside. "T Junior. T Junior." I hammered the tip of my index finger on the plastic dish. "Eat your sandwich."

I was desperately sending out the "leave us alone" cue: no eye contact. But this woman wasn't taking the hint. This was annoying. This was not the enjoyable lunch I envisioned earlier. I wanted to change tables, but felt it would be too rude. I wanted to pack up and leave, but felt it would be too difficult.

Thankfully, her table's pager went off. Her friend got up to retrieve their food. "I need some water," I heard her say. She got up and walked away.

Phew. A break.

Suddenly, T Junior shouted his word for water. "Abbah!"

I glanced behind me and saw the grandmother en route to her table with a small, clear plastic cup of H2O.

Before I could slap the cup out of her hand Before I could stick out my foot and trip her Before I could protest, the woman was offering my son a sip out of her drink! I nearly died.

I lunged forward. "Oh, nonononono!" I pushed T Junior back to get his lips off the rim of this crazy-a$$ lady's cup.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

The only reason I didn't faint on the spot was because it was obvious she had not yet had a sip from her water. Still. I was pissed.

What if she's sick? Do you really know when you are about to get a cold? And, hello? What if T Junior's sick? Does she just not care?

Not to mention, what she didn't know was that I completely disinfected the table and the wooden chair my son was sitting in with Clorox just 2o minutes before she so generously wiped her germy hands all over him and his sippy cup. She didn't know about T Junior's life-threatening infection (almost a year ago now) that I still am not entirely over.

I made the decision to abort lunch after that little stunt. Once we were in the safety of the minivan, I wiped my son down with Wet Ones.

Now, thinking back to this afternoon, I should have said something. But what?

Free to Roam in the Germ Farm

The letting-go has already started. *sniff*

A couple of weeks ago, I took T Junior to Southcenter mall. We were looking for birthday presents. We were unsuccessful. We were cranky. Well, I was cranky (post-Babies 'R' Us breakdown). T Junior was bored.

Luckily, da-da-dum!, the mall has an elaborate play area for toddlerish children. The Germ Farm, I call it.

I never let T Junior play in one those types of places before. Mostly because he only started walking a few weeks ago. But, also, because of the scary salmonella sepsis hospitalization he had when he was 5-months-old.

I was feeling brave, but T Junior wasn't wearing socks. I whipped the umbrella stroller into Crazy 8 and bought the cute ones I'd seen about 20 minutes before. We hustled to the play area, I slid my new purchase onto his feet, cuffed his jeans and set him free.

"Bye, Mama. I'm a big boy now! I don't need you any more!"
Well, he didn't ACTUALLY say that...

I was close to tears as I watched him playing like a big boy. He wasn't scared at all, he just mixed in with all the other bacteria hosts kids.

He squealed and screeched while he waddled around, his arms bent with his hands up by his stomach, which sticks out like a beer belly when he walks. A shiny string of saliva connected his chin to his tummy.

I was so proud of him for being so fearless. I was so proud of me for letting him go.

Then, a little girl about 6 in a pretty pink princess dress, bumped him with her elbow and he fell down. I willed myself to stay where I was. The girl immediately turned around and helped him up. She bent over and looked in his face and said something, which I guess was probably, "Are you okay?" He seemed fine. She patted him on his head and then pranced off. T Junior toddled after her.

Last week, we went to Bellevue Square so that I could have lunch with a friend and former co-worker. We ate quickly at the Nordstrom espresso stand and then hurried up to the third floor for the Kids' Cove.

This play area is much larger (and cleaner) than Southcenter's. It has a boat theme with lots of plastic coated foam play structures: a tugboat, a Washington State ferry, fish, rocks, a lighthouse, plus a ton of other stuff. (And, there were many dispensers full of foaming Purell hand sanitizer. Yay!)

"Hi, Bish." T Junior at the Kids' Cove in Bellevue Square Mall.

Again, I set my baby boy free. My friend and I sat back and chatted. T Junior explored. Every once in a while his little blond-bald head would disappear. But even before I could get up to get a spot on him, his little question-mark face reappeared around the bow of the ferry or the hull of the tugboat. He was checking on me! I waved. He cracked a huge smile and waved back in his own herky-jerky way.

A few times, he even ran to me with his arms out like Peter Boyle's Frankenstein, threw his whole body on my legs and hugged.

Then, faster than I could say "I love you," he was off again, roaming free in the Germ Farm.

Updates: the Zoo, a Recall and a Rock 'N' Roll Necklace

I can't believe it's been more than a week since my last post here. It's not for lack of material. Trust me. That's why I keep a mother's notebook, an idea I got from Writing Motherhood.

Anyway, mostly, it's because I've been posting daily here.

But we've also been super busy.

Me and Mr. T took T Junior to the Woodland Park Zoo last weekend. It's a much bigger place that I thought. We were tired and sweaty when we left, but T Junior had a blast. We saw brebras (zebras), raffs (giraffes), an e-pant (elephant), biwdies (birdies), a nion (lion), and tons of other animals.

My favorite was the Siamang monkey. It came right up to T Junior, who was in his umbrella stroller (on the other side of the glass wall, of course), sat down, snacked on a piece of something that might have been a fruit bar, and stared. T Junior stared back, then reached out and touched the glass. The monkey put his hand up to T Junior's. It was pretty cool.

***

I want to post an update to my Babies 'R' Us debacle, too. I went back on Tuesday, like I said I would. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. I didn't even look for the pick up order they claimed I need to have in order to get my refund for the recalled crib. I know we don't have it. Why would we keep that?

Anyway, I lucked out and there was a different woman working the return counter on Tuesday. I walked right up to her, and handed over my stapled stack of proof and my reimbursement.

"I was here a couple days ago and the woman said I need proof of pick up to get my reimbursement. I looked everywhere (okay, I bent the truth here, but I did look everywhere in my car), and I cannot find it. Is there any way I can get my money back?"

The woman gave me a sympathetic smile and said, "Of course."

See, now why did it have to be so hard the Friday before?

So, there was some finagling that had to happen, and a manager had to help to get it to go through the computer and back onto my card because my husband had actually paid for it with his card. But, they did it, and they were very nice about it.

I guess the moral of the story is, don't freak out, swear at the cashier and storm out into the parking lot. Just ask to see someone who has a brain.

***

One more quick thing! I won this awesome necklace over at The Veater Family Blog. I was super excited when I saw a thick envelope in the mail this week. The necklace, hand made by Ampersand Designs, is so cool. I was a little worried it wouldn't fit when I opened the box. It has two chains, one short and one a bit longer. I have a thicker neck than most women because, as I learned recently, I have a goiter. Most people don't even notice this thickness; it's mostly me who's hyper-aware of it.

Anyway, the necklace fit! And, I feel so hip wearing it. The chain is thicker, kind of rock 'n' roll and it's perfect for shirts with a little higher collar because you can just see the pendant peeking out.

Thank you, Ashley, at The Veater Family Blog, and thank you Ampersand Designs!