velco, goldfish, and a proof!

The days fly by and time passes in the blink of an eye.  I try to remind myself to make the most of each day as it happens but they seem to woosh by in such a hurry.  I am in no hurry.  The excitement of each day is here and now and I feel as if I am in the thick of it.  I have moved out of my home, my possessions are in a container parked somewhere, my new home will be mine at the end of the week.  In the mean time, I’ve been camping,  I wrote a final exam for an electrocardiography course I was taking, I’ve taken my little Peanut to Children’s Hospital for some rather severe allergies to milk and eggs (he now has an epi-pen for those just in case times), and now I’m living in a hotel – it’s a temporary arrangement.  The whole thing is a bit surreal…..

I drove with my two small children for miles and miles and miles and miles on my own.  We stopped a lot.    In no particular order  - here are a few things I’ve learned about travelling alone with very young children. 

   *  Before setting out on a long car trip with children, many parents pack freshly cut carrots and celery. These would come in handy if a hungry deer wanders up to your car at a stop sign - carseats are places where goldfish crackers go to die  -  when driving long distances nutrition goes out the window – if gold fish crackers keep them happy – provide endless supplies of goldfish crackers .. Lollies that take time to chew and have the ability to fuse the jaw together are also particularly useful.

*      public toilets are scary places – and for toddlers they are positively terrifying.

*     be thankful for Velcro  - As well as saving valuable time, now I can hear the sound of my son taking off his shoes which gives me three extra seconds to activate the safety locks on the back seat windows right before he hurls them out of the car and onto the freeway.

*      every community has a playground…. I am slowly getting intimately acquainted with ALL of them.

*      a personal listening device with a set of ear buds or headphones so your child can keep his music to himself can easily save you a fortune in therapy later.

*      if the baby falls asleep, inevitably the toddler wakes him up with an enthusiastic rendition of “Dingle Dingle Wittow Star” which he can’t be reprimanded for because he’s cute and he didn’t mean to wake his brother. Just breathe.

*      take breaks where there is a toilet but away from any venue that has too many desirable items available to purchase. Like alcohol.

*      estimate the travel time, then double it.

*     it all ends with the game “everyone look out the window and be quiet” while Mum tries to remain calm and delete swear words from her internal dialogue.

But we’ve made it so far, and there are really only 2 or 3 more days to driving to go.  Then I can look forward to a year of single parenting, a small one bedroom apartment, and the printing of my book!!! Oh yeah!

I got the first proof (digital copy only) back from the designer that is putting the text into the artwork.  This is really so exciting.  I’m requesting a few edits, but I’m pretty happy with it.  Extremely excited to be at this stage in the process!!!