Bob the Barber

This past weekend, Mick and I took Jack for his second professional haircut. The first dozen or Jack needed to see someone who could do more than just cut in a circle.

The first cut Jack had at this barber (which is right on the University of Michigan campus and directly next door to my all-time favorite ice cream shop, Stucchi's) was back in January. The barber was fantastic and even pointed out to me a lump on the back of Jack's neck that he strongly encouraged us to get examined by a doctor. (We did: it's just a swollen lymph node.) He played with Jack when we arrived and did a great job with Jack once he was sitting in the barber chair (a little red car). What I love about this place is that the barber is so good with kids yet it's a true barber shop and not one of those gimmicky kid places where they charge you twice as much just to sit your kid in front of some cartoons while they cut hair. I mean, a cut still sets us back $20 (parents of bald kids, rejoice!) but if it's a good cut, it's worth it.

Unfortunately, this time the cut hasn't turned out as nicely as it did back in January. You can't tell from the pictures I took with my phone, but the front is very uneven and the back is really choppy. Jack didn't wriggle around much so I'm not sure what happened with this cut. It's a good thing his hair grows back so quickly.

Here he is from his better side where the front isn't quite as short (sorry about the resolution - taken with my iPhone):
Once the haircut was over, we went to one of my favorite bagel places that I haven't been to in over ten years. It was so weird to be back. I literally had butterflies in my stomach as I passed Michigan Book & Supply as I instantly felt as if I were back in school and had to buy textbooks again. (Not sure if the anxiety I felt had to do with the idea of being in school again or of dropping $500 every semester on textbooks that would later sell for about $20.)

Jack enjoyed a cinnamon raisin bagel while he sat - by himself - in a "big boy chair" and watched out the window for campus buses.
I'm sure one of these days it won't seem quite as weird to be back on campus with my toddler, but for now it just feels strange.

Sanity Buster: Kids' Music

Jack and I drove up to Big Rapids on Monday so we could retrieve our much-missed Shergar, who'd been staying with my parents since early February while we traveled. We stayed with them Monday and Tuesday nights and then headed back here Wednesday evening so we could attend our music class on Thursday morning.

Jack was... how shall I say it?... lively on the three-hour-drive back to Ann Arbor. For a while, he played nicely with toys - but then he started hurling them toward me. So I stopped handing things back as I realized his chosen activity was quite dangerous for us as I was driving over 70 mph. Then he started shouting "out" telling me he wanted out of the car seat. I was really trying to get home by 7:30 or so as I wanted Jack to be able to see Mick and then go straight to bed. Jack decided he didn't want the radio on (he plugged his ears while I was listening to NPR... there goes one of my guilty pleasures) but I asked him if he wanted me to sing. "Yeah" he said. (He's finally figured out the difference between "yes" and "no" which is actually quite helpful. He used to just say "yeah" for every question you asked him, which was funny but not really productive.)

So, I started singing the ABCs, always a sure hit with him. "NOOOOOO!" he shouted. Great. I tried Happy Birthday, another favorite. Again, the screaming and the "noooo!" I ran through my repertoire: "Jack, do you want BINGO? Itsy Bitsy Spider? Twinkle Twinkle? You Are My Sunshine?" All were met with a fierce "NO!"

Growing exasperated, I disgustedly said to him something along the lines of "Fine, if you don't want any of these songs then I guess we ride in silence until we get home... because I'm NOT stopping to get you out of this car."

"Seeeeshhh" he replied.

What?

"Seeeeshhh! Seeeeshhh!"

I thought for a minute and then realized he must be requesting a song from his music class: She sells seashells by the seashore.

So I asked him, "Do you want me to sing the seashell song?"

"YEAH!"

So for the next THIRTY FIVE MILES I sang it over and over and over and over. Every five minutes or so I'd try to slip in a Baa Baa Black Sheep or something but he'd immediately scream again until I resumed the damn seashell song.

Seriously, 35 miles. I really thought I was going to go certifiably insane by the time we pulled into the driveway. Thank goodness Mick was home when we arrived. I walked into the house (leaving Jack in his car seat) and simply said to Mick, "your turn."

Then, yesterday afternoon, we were on our way back from music class and Mick and I were trying to keep Jack awake as he was so tired but we wanted him to wait to fall asleep until we got home. I asked if he wanted us to sing. He said yes, but this time he wanted the star song.

So, I (and Mick, grudgingly) began:

"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are..."

At which point Mick says "well you're a STAR, duh."

I couldn't stop laughing... and still crack up every time I think of this. Why did it never occur to me before that these lyrics are totally non-sensical?

Thankfully, Jack is learning all about the Beatles and he often asks for Paul so we're spared traditional kids' music much of the time. But when we're not, it can get rough.

An Alternate Universe

Leaving my house to collect the mail, I walked past a kid from the neighborhood who was on his way home from school. Standard issue teenager - baseball cap, headphones, backpack, and baggy jeans. Too be honest, I didnt expect much in the way of conversation. And yet, we engaged in a brief, but oddly revealing, exchange:

- Teenager: "Hi...how are you?"

- Surprised homeowner: "Good. And yourself?"

- Teenager: "Fine, thanks. How are you liking the neighborhood?"

- Surprised homeowner (after falling to the ground in amazement): "It's great, thank you."

Where else in the world do teenagers have such polite conversations?

Home - And Still on the Mend

We arrived home last night after 17 hours of door-to-door travel. Jack was a champ! This was really nice for us as both Mick and I caught Jack's cold (no surprise). Mick's in worse shape than I am with pretty intense chest pain every time he coughs. He has an appointment to see the doctor later this morning. (This is only the second time in ten years I've heard Mick say he "needs" to see a doctor asap and the last time was pretty awful... so I've got my fingers crossed that whatever he has now isn't too bad...) I've just got my usual sinus infection so the ascent and descent in the planes was a bit rough for me given all of the pressure.

Jack was in such fantastic spirits yesterday though that it made our travel a million times better. He slept on Mick for about two hours on our flight from Manchester to Chicago and then played happily on the plane for the remaining 6 1/2 hours. The worst part of our travel was the layover in Chicago. We had to clear customs & immigration, get our luggage, then re-check our luggage and go BACK through security for the flight to Detroit. Poor Jack had been constrained for about 9 hours by this point and just wanted to run. But the security lines were long and moving at a snail's pace (our line only had one screening machine that worked so it took ages to get through). My lone meltdown of the journey home came not long after we finally got through security and were boarding our flight to Detroit. I only handed the ticket agent one ticket and then looked at Mick for the other one. He said he didn't think we had another one. I tried to set everything down so I could look (stroller, diaper bag, Jack's backpack, two coats, one sweatshirt, etc.) and my coins flew everywhere. I said a few choice words (stress relief) and then realized I was holding the other ticket. Nice.

Jack was so great though on the flight from Chicago to Detroit that we had multiple people comment on what a happy kid he was. They were all pretty surprised when I told them how long we'd been traveling. By the time we took the shuttle bus to get our car, I think some of Jack's silliness was due to him being overtired but he never had a tantrum - which is saying a lot for a kid his age. He dropped off in the car on the way home and then continued sleeping right through the night - until 4:45 this morning. Jet lag is tough on little ones!

I have some good videos of our time with Chris, Jan, and Harry -- particularly Jack kicking around a football (soccer ball). I will post the videos as soon as I've unpacked and loaded the videos and pictures to my computer.

We're looking forward to a return visit in June where all three of us are healthy. Being sick at any time is not fun. But when you're thousands of miles from home and feel torn between visiting with everyone you want to see and just spending the day in bed, it's even tougher.