Our Shadow Selves

On days like today, when it's gray and rainy and about 50 degrees, I crave sunshine like I craved edible food when I was in St. Petersburg. I was perusing some pictures from our glorious fall to remind me that the sun, indeed, has shone before and it will shine again.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Simon went in for his 9-month doctor's appointment and the doctor informed us that Simon has a double ear infection. Of course Simon was smiling through all of it, so I felt terrible when the doctor gave us the news. He's on antibiotics and even more smiley so I think we caught it early. I did not know that cold and flu season started right after Labor Day. Next year I will plan ahead.

Sadie has taken to potty training herself, which is a marvel to me. She spends some QT each night sans diaper running around and playing, and then suddenly she will ask to go to the potty. Luckily, we have a growing collection of porta-potties in the house so she's never too far from them. She hasn't had one accident. While I have, on occasion, invited her to take her business to the potty, she has always declined and I have never pressed her. As with just about every other thing, it works best if Sadie gets to direct the pace and timing.

In the meantime, when not scrapbooking or looking for lost items that invariably end up in Sadie's play kitchen, I am really working up a mental sweat over the upcoming time change. I mean, if I have to get up everyday at 5 am again, I think I am going to need more than sunshine. A lot more. And it will need to be an over-the-counter dosage. I won't lie: I am nervous about the winter with its bitter chills and unflattering layering of clothes. It's hard enough to get two kids out the door during summer when no one really needs shoes and socks. What am I going to do with two unwilling snow suit wearers? Oh my god, I shudder to think. I keep reminding myself that it will only be about 4 months and some of those days may actually be nice, or balmy, or not more than 10 degrees below freezing. It will be ok. Millions of families do this every year. I think I need an Alaskan pen pal to give me a good dose of schaedenfraude for the winter. Nothing perks me up like a comparison wherein I come out on top.