Are we all Apple crazy or what?

I certainly am. I'm trying to buy an IPad for my parents 50th wedding anniversary (I know it doesn't sound romantic, but I'm going to load it with pictures from the last 50 years). I've gone several times to the Apple store to no avail, they don't have the model I'm looking for. I've called every day this week to check if the received it, since they don't put items on hold. And today I finally got a positive answer. So I got quickly dressed and put my newborn on the carrier only for him to spit on me big time. I got him out, got rid of my bra and t-shirt, and put the Baby Bjorn back on. Only when I was by the door did I realize that I forgot to put another t-shirt on. I was in such a hurry that I almost exited my apartment half naked. I even drove with the Baby Bjorn still attached to me (don't worry, I put the baby on his car seat). I can't say much about the comfort level of that thing when worn underneath a belt.
And that IPad? By the time Ia arrived to the store, 15 minutes after my call, they were gone. Sigo buscando.

Going back to the mommyhood issues (and smoking)

As you see, I either don't post in months or do it twice in the same day. Yesterday was a crazy day, from start to finish. With two weeks left before we hop on a plane to Spain, i thought I could spend the day working on a project that was due on Christmas and that I have to finish by this weekend. I poured my tea, set up my laptop, had my newborn sleeping, and had been working for a good hour when the telephone rang. It was my four year old's school. He wasn't hurt. He was hurting others and I needed to go pick him up. I hadn't smoked since I got pregnant almost one year ago, but all I was able to think about at that time was a cigarette. And a glass of scotch. I don't even like whiskey, but it sounds dramatic for 12:30 pm.

I didn't do any, instead I put my baby in his Baby Bjorn (which I hate, but that belongs in another post), drove to the school crying hysterically, picked him up without a word (I probably should have talked to someone, but keeping my tears behind my sunglasses is all I could do by then) and I drove back home, letting the tears go down again. Actually they got worse when I was told that he had to stay home the next day too. I'm sure that at six weeks postpartum hormones are responsible for my reaction, but you have to admit that having your son expelled from school at the tender age of four is quite shocking. Where does he go from here? Straight to juvenile, and then jail? Will this stay on his academic record? What the heck was he thinking? What the heck were the teacher, principal, etc thinking to let the situation escalate to this point? Is he ok? What am I doing wrong?

At that time I was just mad as hell at the kiddo. I couldn't even talk to him for the first hour. He is been in his room since. But at least I extracted some information from him. His frustration was due to the rejection he felt from his peers (I know that classmates not wanting to see your really cool Bakugan may seem petty, but for a child this age it can be self-steem crushing). Knowing that, sending him home doesn't seem like the best solution, because it only makes him feel more rejected. God knows what will happen on Monday when he goes back. If were him I would be rather angry at all those people who kept punishing him without asking what was upsetting him. Thankfully he is not me, but a much better version, and probably he will just be fine. Until then, he is grounded. In his room during the hours when he should have been at school, no TV, no candy, no playing with him.

And of course we will have a little talk with the school about their handling of the situation. I don't want to turn into one of this moms who try to justify whatever bad behaviour their kids have. I'm not. My son's hitting and kicking was not acceptable under any circumstances. But I think they handled the situation poorly, to say the least. Sending him home for the rest of the day made sense. The second day at home sounds more like a tantrum thrown by a principal who is not used to disobedience. Leaving a preschooler alone in the corridor feet away from a door that leads directly into a very busy street doesn't seem safe. Doing it four times when it obviously is making him more frustrated and nervous and aggressive without trying to figure out what's the root of the problem doesn't seem very pedagogical. I guess we have some thinking to do.

And I ended up smoking that cigarette and two more, but it was much later, when I went out with my girlfriends. And just after spending a solid hour doing Internet research and making sure how long I had to wait before nursing in order for the nicotine to leave my organism. Hopefully, I won't need to smoke again anytime soon. Unless I'm sent to the Principal's office.

Fifty Words

A long time ago, back when I lived in a small city is Spain, I used to go to the theater quite often. A very good theater festival and a father an brother in law who were in politics and passed me the tickets they didn't want helped to feed my drama hunger.

Since I moved here I think i have attended four plays. In eight years. Sad, isn't it? The last one was yesterday night, with three friends, in a very cozy tiny theater in the north of Chicago called Profiles Theater. The play was Fifty Words, directed by Joe Jahraus. The theater itself is very interesting, a tiny place, probably not more than fifty seats, each half set on one side of the stage. It makes it feel very intimate. Which in a play that gets as intimate as this one, may be too close. Specially if you are in first row and things start flying out of the refrigerator (I forgot to mention that the whole action happens in a Kitchen) and break a mere foot from your own feet. Despite the risk it involves, I still loved the ambiance it gave to the night.

The play shows us a night in the life of a married couple, in particular the first one they spend alone since their son was born nine years before. The absence of their son makes them talk about things not related to him, and the underlying problems the couple faces start to surface. Infidelity, bankruptcy, anger, frustration, all drive the action to a climatic, violent and very graphic sex scene. I won't spoil the end, since I'm not a drama critic and I don't have the right to do so. It's worth going to see it and find out for yourselves.

The performances were both good, although i found Darrell W. Cox's Adam way more credible than Katherine Keberlein's Jan. Still, she has a difficult character to perform, going from coldness to giggles to rage in mere minutes.

I just hope this turns into a regular outing, because I really enjoyed the play, the company and the night out.