Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Thursday evening we were met with what we knew was coming, but still dreaded it anyway... the flipping of construction on Seven Mile, meaning the road will be torn up on our side. It's a good 4-foot steep ramp we have to make it up to go from the newly paved road onto the old paved road (they've dropped the height considerably). Our own street is blocked off, so we have to navigate through the neighborhood - not bad, but when everyone else is funneled into 2 streets it gets hectic. Anyhoo... it's the last of the inconvenience. Roman is becoming more and more like his Mama every day. His temper... he sealed it for me this evening when he threw an absolute temper tantrum when we ended his bath early (even though he knew why - he dumped a cupful of water onto the floor). He was thrashing around, screaming, kicking, just carrying on. I dumped him in his room to let him calm down. After it got quiet, I opened the door - and he was in a fantastic mood, putting his pirate eyepatc...

Roman has known Maxwell from his previous daycare; Max has just turned three. Max loves trains too, and we have run into him and his Mom at Barnes & Noble a few times (both there to play with the train table!). We saw them again last Wednesday and Max's mom asked why we weren't at daycare anymore, and we talked... she apparently is having the same reservations we did about the bigger room. We finally exchanged numbers and we talked tonight. We have a play & pizza date Tuesday from 5-6:30. I'm probably as excited as Roman will be. Dara is the mom's name... she's working part time as a teacher (little ones, that's all I know - maybe preschool?) and really likes time to herself too. In fact, the reason we met is because she was taking Max to daycare 1-1/2 days a week even when she wasn't working, just so she'd have "downtime." Now that's a woman after my own heart! We even have the same bedtimes for the boys, which we laughed because...

"All sunshine and roses... no rain came my way..." Well, that's Larry Cucumber's version of the blues. Me, it's more like - "all sniffy and achey... no Puffs coming my way..." Been down and out for 3 days now. Been getting to bed by 8:30 the last two nights, asleep by 9:15. Heading that way again in a few minutes. Hoping to return to my regularly scheduled life tomorrow. Roman has been suffering the same thing, just a day or so "ahead" in symptoms. He appears to have energy, just stuffiness now. One can only hope.

Today is Constitution Day . Or was, since I'm writing this at 7:50pm. In 1787 our Constitution was approved; flexible, yet strict; changeable, but unchanging in its goal to be the light for the great experiment of democracy. Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day . No more explanation needed. Roman was able to recognize his own illness today. He asked me in the car if I was "kind of tired." I said I was, and he agreed - "yeah, I'm kind of tired too." Then later, as we watched a video, both lying on the couch, he kept wanting me to put pressure on his temples. I asked him how he felt, and he said "Good." I asked again, "you feel good?" And his reply was, "Actually, I don't." Poor guy. He is in bed (note the time above) with nary a complaint. I'm going in just a few minutes. Both of us are suffering the "postnasal drip" from allergies/weather changes.

Roman threw up for the first time today. He had gone out with me for "juice" at the Box Bar with some coworkers, and we shared fries with "the silly guy" (Mr. Wooster) and a couple onion rings from Ms. J. 1-1/2 hours later we were trying to get him to taste the Cowboy Stew for dinner (he was chowing on the chips) and he kept refusing. Finally, he said okay and took a bite. Now, Roman is classic for faking a gag reflex to try to demonstrate how much he hates our dinnertime food. This time, it got out of control... and he gagged so much he actually did throw up, right at the table. Poor thing, it scared him so much! Down his shirt, in his lap, on the floor, on his hand... Daddy wiped his face and then I carried him to the bathtub, where I helped him out of his clothes, we rinsed off, and we changed into our dinosaur loungewear (jammies, but don't tell him that at 6:30 at night!). He's good now, we rested and had some water & crackers before bed. But ...

A double meaning, today's title. Or applies to two different things. First and most obvious, is the sadness over today's date. Mitch Albom had a great article in Sunday's paper about this impending 5th anniversary, "Remembering the Day before the Day." And last night on CBS was Jules and Gedeon Naudet's accidental documentary on 9/11, with extra interviews with firefighter survivors at the end. I like it a lot - it's my second time watching. Had my good cry for the month, although I'm sure there's more in store tonight. It is not hard for me to remember the thoughts and emotions of that day - probably because I was alone without Doug at the time, as he was driving home from Tennessee that day. I came home from school (after a couple drinks at the Box with coworkers) and sat in front of the tv all afternoon, evening, and night - Doug didn't come home until 11:30pm or so. I remember every large moment that day, almost hour-by-hour. And I especial...

I'm pretty excited about this. Long story short, through the Teaching American History Grant, about 18 of us are going to DC for a weekend in October. Got my airline tickets yesterday evening! The Grant is covering airline and hotel. We are responsible for everything else, which basically only means food as most monuments/places are free. And try to resist buying all kinds of cool souvenirs, history dork that I am. The mornings will be an organized tour of someplace, the afternoons & evenings we have to ourselves. Four teachers are going from my school so we're all flying together - we actually have conferences the night we fly out! Leaving Thursday night the 19th, returning Sunday morning the 22nd. Saturday morning's tour is being specially arranged - an inside tour of the Pentagon! October can't come soon enough, I'm so darn thrilled! I haven't been to DC since my freshman year Government trip.

*The following is what Roman reported to us after his first day, scattered among playing trains and dinner. I got up so early this morning! We left our house and I rode with Daddy, and Mama led the way to Red Bell. I was kind of nervous walking in the place so I held both Daddy's and Mama's hands. We went to the Yellow Room but there was no one there! I did see a bunny rabbit in a cage, though! Mama remembered that everybody meets in the Green Room before 8am so Daddy held my hand as we walked upstairs. There were kids and teachers everywhere! Even Mama was shy about where to go and who to talk to. I met my teacher, Miss Marie. She took my bag of naptime stuff and told us to play. I was a little overwhelmed and wanted Daddy to stay with me. The big boys in the corner were so loud! I did agree to look for some toys, and Mama and Daddy left. (I hear that Mama got teary when she left!) I went to the Yellow Room with my class. There are lots of kids but I don't know any names. ...

Because Roman has been on the computer at his previous daycare, he kept asking to get on ours and "help" us on the Internet. So we went out to Costco last week and bought a 4-pack of computer games for ages 3-5 ($16.95!). Only one of them is a little above his age - surprisingly, the Pooh & Tigger one. His favorite so far is the "Reader Rabbit" where you have to play different "carnival" games to restore the carnival that used to be in the town. He plays Body Builders and Hide & Seek (like a "Where's Waldo" thing). On his Arthur one, though, he has really impressed us. He is so awesome at finding the right size shapes to fit into a "shadow" on the wall. Like they'll have a triangle as part of a truck, and give you two blocks of differing size, color, or angle. Roman is probably 95% accurate at choosing the right ones. The most frustrating is that he doesn't have the patience to listen to directions - he just wan...

We actually got Roman to take a nap this afternoon - he was THAT tired. Stinker has to be woken up during the week, but comes bouncing into our room at 6:35am this morning ready to have breakfast. I don't think so! Because he napped until 4pm (yup - from 2:30!) we realized he would stay up later. This called for a Family Movie Night! Seeing as Roman was not so impressed with "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" from NetFlix, we sent it back and relied on an already-owned movie. So popcorn popped and jammies on, we all curled up for a showing of "Cinderella." Neither Roman nor Doug had seen it before. I don't remember it being so s..l..o..w... but always good in the end. It ended around 8:30pm and Roman was in a daze. It might have been a popcorn-induced coma, because he ate almost an entire bag. The rest of our plans for the weekend are simply relax... relax... do a little something... and relax. Church tomorrow for the first time since end of July. We have di...