Too Much Information

Another child’s birthday has come and gone. It mostly went well and was mostly relaxing during the day. We had done most of the work on Saturday so that we could spend more time together during the day. Most of the presents were items he listed on his wish list. He’s not really one for surprises so that’s been the standard process the last couple of years. One of the exceptions was a guitar tuner from his uncle, who also helped him out a bit with his guitar. He seemed quite pleased with it and seemed a bit more confident about playing. I’m hoping this will help motivate him to keep trying to play.

Family and friends came in the early afternoon and stayed for a couple of hours. It was nice but it was also nice to get back to just us again. It’s a bit overwhelming with everyone here because neither of the boys cope with crowds very well. I must say that Lego Lover was quite well-behaved throughout the day, even while we had visitors. The brownies went over quite well as did the chickpea and vegetable patties. Also going over well was the guacamole dip that Game Fanatic prepared before everyone arrived…I think that was my favorite.

We mostly played games during the evening, including another stint on the Zelda game we started recently. That went a bit disastrously because I was trying to play and took so long to complete certain parts that it was incredibly frustrating for Game Fanatic (who has already played the game all the way through). There were times he had to take over to get certain things done because either the Scientist or I were pretty useless at it. Still, all good fun.

Nighttime was probably the only part of the day that didn’t go as well as I expected. I won’t really go into that here except to say it was related to some of Game Fanatic’s issues. He did have a bad case of insomnia the night before, falling asleep late and waking quite early. So I suspect tiredness was a contributing factor. I thought he would surely fall asleep earlier than usual but he was up so late that I made him go to bed. He said he was afraid of having a repeat of the previous night. He was in better spirits by this time, and fortunately fell asleep pretty quickly, which was good considering how hot it was last night following a hot day with hot easterly winds.

The psychologist asked how I was when we arrived at the appointment this afternoon and the best I could come up with was “Hot and bothered.” I was mostly referring to the major increase in temperature today after fairly cool temperatures for October so far. The day had gone mostly fine with just a few little hiccups. Lego Lover was in an okay mood and Game Fanatic was okay…The scene as we left the appointment seemed to accentuate the bothered part and continued the next forty-five minutes or so as we travelled home with a rather volatile Lego Lover in the back seat.

I arrived home, feeling quite frazzled from the journey and discovered the new signed Augie March cd I had ordered in the mailbox. (I obviously had forgotten its impending arrival despite it being posted on Thurday from Melbourne…an advantage since I had missed out on the impatience of waiting for mail from the east coast!) Lego Lover changed moods to something far more positive within minutes. Bliss! Well, sort of bliss…

I had a quick shower, which went a long way towards relieving the hot part and a little ways towards the bothered part. Then the Scientist and I went off to buy a birthday present for my niece (which I somehow hadn’t quite managed to get before then for a number of reasons) before going for a short visit this evening without the boys.

Watched Two on the Top End on ABC1 HD which continues to amaze me each week, mostly with the gorgeous photography of the natural wonders of the top end of Australia. Then watched Packed to the Rafters on Channel 7. We really enjoyed the program and yet found it infuriating the way the network advertises its programs during the ad breaks, overdramatising what are often minor parts of episodes. Also found the whole concept of all those ads just plain tiresome and tedious. Reminded me of why we watch far less commercial television these days.

Have all the windows open tonight as it’s a warm night, finally! Currently on the second listen of the new Augie March album. Oddly enough, still feeling a bit tense from the day despite a return to normal. Maybe I just need to sleep now.