We May Wimp Out

Since last we typed, the deputy has learned to roll over.

He rolled over for the first time Thursday night. He was trying to look at the TV while on my lap, and I set him on his mat facing away from the screen. He arched to find and stare at it and eventually rolled completely over to -- and this is most important -- get up on both elbows. He did it again Friday while she was watching, and he was a rolling-over machine this weekend. He moves in one direction -- to his left -- and he once accidentally rolled onto his back again. It's a new trick, and he enjoys doing it. He and I had lots of face time Sunday while Your Sister backed. She made cookies for the carpentry class, who just finished the deck, and made another upside down cake for us.

She and I had another dust up Saturday over the boy. She picked lunch at the local pad thai restaurant and specifically ordered crispy tofu. Just after the food arrived, the deputy wailed, and she began to move to take him outside to settle him. I leapt up and took him instead. She objected hard. I argued that she should enjoy her food while I care for him. He always acts up when our food arrives, and I always grab him first. I see it as courtesy. She saw Saturday's move as a rude veto of her gesture. This debate went on for a while even after I apologized and promised to let her grab him first the next time it happened. When we had lunch out on Sunday, I positioned myself in the corner of a booth so I couldn't get to him. She got him first, and that seemed to settle it. We get frazzled. We chafe. We grumble through it and let it go.

I especially felt Saturday afternoon that I needed to let her sit and eat in peace because I planned to go to roller derby that night. And I did. It was another blow-out win for our gals, and I have yet to hear anything about the team logo I made. I did ask a "fearleader" if they plan to have a B-team to use that logo, and she said yes.

It was a cold walk back to the car as fall gives way to winter in Asheville. My town didn't get the snow that fell near the Tennessee border, but the cold did kill off my remaining pepper plants. I yanked them up Sunday evening, officially closing the garden this year. We did not plant any cold-weather crops.

We are considering staying in town for Thanksgiving this year. We're wary of taking the deputy on his first long car ride, through Atlanta no less and speeding to Alabama to make a lunch date. We hesitate about this. It is our turn to go down there, and we always like the food and company. But ... It feels daunting. We're daunted. The idea dauntifies us. And Your Parents claim they're holding out to save money, but they always say that and they always break down and go. Feels like we should too. If we do stay in town, we'll make dinner for whoever wants to come by. Maybe we could set up webcams on our laptops and have a virtual dinner with the Alabama folks.

Speaking of plans, I'm going to write the first draft of my new convention comic this week. I must give myself more time to make that comic now that we have a mobile fire alarm in onesies.

Picture of the Day
How fresh was that bundle of kale we got from a neighbor? This fresh:


He didn't survive the night in the fridge. We didn't discover him until after.