Well something really strange happened today… I’ve been meaning to put up more pictures of the 4th of July activities, but this kinda trumps them. Charlie and I had gone grocery shopping this afternoon, while Sebastian played at a friend’s house. Unfortunately, Charlie had the butt throw-ups while we were at the store, and I had to hurry home and change his diaper. While he’s laying on the changing table and I’ve got a hot mess in one hand and his ankles in the other, I hear a sound.
Charlie's Crib
See, the nursery is pretty small and the crib is right behind me while I’m at the changing table. The shelves have been on the wall there since we moved in, and it’s always been a great place to keep Charlie’s stuffed animals and books. The stuffed reindeer there has a button on his left foot that turns him on. He sins “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and his nose lights up and flashes red.
This is the sound I hear in the almost silent room as I’m changing Charlie’s diaper. Oddly enough, I wasn’t really scared when I heard it… just sort of hesitant. I guess you could say I was leaning toward curious as well. I felt a little crazy, but I asked out loud “if someone present did that, can you do it again? Can you make the reindeer come back on?” and nothing happened.
I laughed it off, finished changing Charlie and snapped a few pictures. No creepy ghost faces or anything… so I put him down for a nap. Just because I’m a believer, though, I started to lift the reindeer off the shelf and take it with me. Charlie cried out, and just as he did so -it went off again in my hand. I was holding it by the body -not touching the button or the leg at all. He insisted that I put it back on the shelf, and so I did. I haven’t heard it going off since then and he’s been asleep for about an hour.
…I’ve always sort of wondered if my dad’s spirit ever visits the nursery. I suppose I could say that I have felt as if I’m being watched in there occasionally -not in a creepy way, but more in a wistful kind of isolated way. Like he just wants a peek at his namesake and grandchild. Bastian and I certainly wouldn’t mind a visit from dad, as long as he wasn’t menacing or morbid or anything. Then again, I’m willing to chalk that up to wishful thinking. I miss my dad alot.
So anyway, here are a few more shots of the 4th and the fireworks settings on my Canon Digital Elph, PowerShot SD790 IS. I absolutely love this little camera. Despite being the size of a deck of playing cards (or maybe slimmer) it takes the best photos I’ve seen out of any other point-and-click. Besides all that, the flash is powerful enough to light up a pitch black room and make it look like the photo was taken outside at noon. There is also an aquarium setting and underwater, although the waterproof case is a little too rich for my blood.
Well, July has been fun so far… Charlie got his first three bee stings, all at once. The kids were playing in the driveway near the back of the house, and when I went in to grab my camera he got into it with a few bees. We’ve got a wasp nest under the deck, so I’m thinking they were most likely the culprits. Poor baby was upset, but considering how bad they look he really didn’t cry for long.
Charlie has taken to standing on the damn thing, which I know can’t be good for it, and so in order to prevent him I created a magical talisman that my illiterate 2 year old must somehow understand. Anyhow, I was never much good at 2 dimensional graphic art (Translation: I can’t draw) and so this makes me proud.
I had another interesting set of dreams last night. At one point I was out to dinner with the kids and a friend’s husband and child. We were waiting for our significant others to arrive, I believe, only in the dream their child was nearly bald. Next the dream shifted and all of us were swimming in a lake somewhere. I saw Charlie jumping off the end of a pier into the murky water and panicked, swimming over to save him. Before I could get there, however, he surfaced and began floating on his back like a pro -spurting water out of his mouth in a fountain up in the air. Next I was in a car with two of my friends (who get along fairly well these days, but aren’t really close with each other) and we were all in the front seat together. I think we were all going to a movie. Somehow they both ended up climbing onto my lap, and it was really difficult to see and drive safely. I slid the seat backward to make more room and the girl who was on the lap of the girl who was on my lap exhaled with relief, because the steering wheel had been digging into her stomach.
My schedule got changed up a little today, so I’m going in 9-5. At least I’ll be home in time to spend the evening with my family. I mentioned a couple in my last post that are trying for a baby. Well last night I dreamed about them. In the dream there was a party for some event (father’s day?) and she gave him a large gift box. Inside was another gift box, a gift bag, and a smaller gift box. Inside that there was a pregnancy test with a positive result. We all cried, and I gave her a hug.
