Sunday, May 30, 2010

A Day of Contradictory Adventures

When Jacob woke up this morning, almost the first thing he asked was, "Are we going to church?" I said yes, and he asked, "Now?" I told him it was a bit early--7:15 for an 11:00 service. Thereafter he asked constantly, and when once I said "One more hour," he threw up his hands and said, "Oh, man!" Well, we got to church, parked with the valet, and made out way to the 4-year-old Sunday school. That child, who had been so excited about church, suddenly grew shy beyond belief--he hid his face in my clothes, he clung to me, he refused to answer questions from the teacher, who was a very kind woman. We comforted and cajoled, all to no avail. I offered to take his hand and walk him into the room where other children were playing. That was okay for a minute, until the teacher swooped him up in her arms (no small feat as heavy as he is) and hugged him. I thought for a minute we were home free, but he began to sob and reach for me and cry, "I want to go home." So go home we did. I paid $2 for valet parking for ten minutes. Once at home, he said, "I want t go to church." I said no, because he had cried. He said, "I won't cry." We have worked out sort of a compromise--we'll try it next week, but I plan  to take a book and stay in the schoolroom as long as I need to. He promises he won't be shy or cry--but that was in the comfort circle of his parents and his Juju.
We came home, and I seasoned the ground lamb for burgers tonight--more about that in a minute. Then I asked if he wanted to go get a hot dog. There's a drive-up stand not too far away that sells hot dogs and frozen custards. Jacob said he wanted a milkshake when I asked, so I ordered two hot dogs and a kids shake.
Jacob: I don't want a hot dog.
Juju: You said you did.
Jacob: I said I didn't.
Juju, to the person at the window: Never mind.
Jacob: What about my milkshake?
So I ordered a kids milkshake and a hot dog for myself with kraut. On the way home, was had the following conversation:
Jacob: I want a hot dog.
Juju: No, you said you didn't, and I only got one for myself. I'll fix you chicken nuggets.
Jacob: I don't want chicken nuggets. Will you share your hot dog?
Juju: No, because you said you didn't want one. And anyway mine has sauerkraut on it, and you wouldn't like it.
When we got home he wanted to see my hot dog and, on looking at the kraut, said, "That's yucky." So when his mom called at five I reported he had three waffles with chocolate chips and a chocolate shake to eat all day. He did eat a pretty good amount of his lamburger for dinner.
The lamburgers were delicious--the recipe called for chopped fresh mint (of which I have an abundance), cayenne, cinnamon, salt and pepper. You pan fry the burgers in olive oil, and dress with lettuce, red onion, feta, and hummus. Of course, Jordan had to cook hers until it was lifeless, but mine was delicious.I ate half and saved half for tomorrow. The recipe called for melting the feta, but we decided that would make a mess and just put it beneath the burger. They were, I confess, hard to eat--so thick! But worth it.
Not a lick of work done this weekend but tomorrow it's back to the pattern I've established--work on the nonfiction project in the day and the fiction in the evening. Meanwhile, tonight, I'm going to keep reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--it really is as good as Megan said and as all the reviews I've read have said.
A technological triumph: last night while Jacob and I were at dinner, my access to Outlook disconnected--I couldn't get on through the web, through my TCU connection at home, through the desktop at TCU or the generic TCU connection they've given me. I thought the whole system was down, but I called a friend who said hers worked fine. So I unfroze my account plus changed my password, and it works again. A relief, plus I do feel a bit like a tecchie.Simple, I know but hey, I figure it out myself!

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