Night of the Condor

Inspirational song: Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band)

There was bonus babysitting this afternoon and evening. My kids went to Boulder to pick up a piece of furniture from Facebook marketplace, and since it was a gift to me, they had a legitimate claim to my time and grandparenting skills. The seller of a metal and glass shelving unit that we had been interested in previously contacted my daughter to say it was still available and did we still want it. I hemmed and hawed, since I spent the money I intended to use for it on the metal shelves I put in the plant corner weeks ago. My daughter took the initiative to get it for me anyway, as a thank you gift for all the free babysitting she gets from me.

Dmitri was asleep in his car seat when they brought him in, and he stayed that way in my dark bedroom for a solid hour and a half. Valerie and I had a lot of quality one-on-one time. We had been predicting a cognitive leap in the works, and today she demonstrated how much she has advanced. Her sentence structure and pronunciation are leaps and bounds ahead of a few weeks ago. She volunteered polite phrases like "thank you, grandma" at appropriate times. And when I gave her a dried fruit snack, and said see if you like this, she took a bite, and announced clearly, "I like this." Expressing opinions objectively is a new thing. I'm very impressed.

Dmitri eventually woke, and that's when anarchy set in. He is learning how to use his vocal cords, but he has not yet mastered volume control. I told his parents his usual squeaky bird time was more like shrieking condor sounds. It was quite the ruckus, and grandpa wasn't here to help out. It is nice and quiet now, but my ears are still ringing.

I haven't set the shelves up yet. I spent most of the morning and afternoon rearranging the dining room, taking a leaf out of the table and mopping and whatnot, so I could put them by the back sliding door. Then I started work on cleaning out my utility room, so that I could access the back of the pantry where the table leaf will be stored. Now that the frame of the new shelves is set in place, I'm questioning everything. It is huge. Tall and wide. It might make more sense to swap which shelves go where, so everything can fit. I am not going to do that tonight. I wore myself out moving heavy things and cleaning. It can wait until morning.