Where to begin?

So much has happened since July, and I have only a few minutes before I am back in class, but the biggest news around here is that Abe is getting huge. Here he is with Max.

Abe.

Is.

Clean.

Summer of Nuthin'

Ah, sweet unemployment. I left my job on July 2 and have been living like my 12 or 22-year old self ever since. Plus two kids, give or take. Either way, it's been fantastic. The weeks leading up to my retirement were hectic, to say the least, as I had to write 15 performance reviews. Most were long but easy as nearly everyone with whom I worked was very good at what they did, and it is always fun to write a positive review and give people raises. The one I saved for last, though, was not a good one and demanded a lot of specific citations from notes and so on. Then the person about whom it was written went on vacation without telling me - oops - and so I had to leave it for my former boss to deliver. I felt bad about that. But not that bad.

What have we done with the empty summer days? We arrived for July 4 with my family and quickly settled into a routine of wake up - go running - get to the beach - home for Max's nap - happy hour - dinner - stay up until midnight with Abe - wake up at 7 and do it again.

Max slept on my parents' floor and handled it well except for one night when he woke up at 3 a.m. and had a protracted discussion with my mom about whether it was day or night. Finally my mom prevailed by letting Max look out the window to see the pitch darkness and got him back into bed.

Soon part two of the trip began and we shuttled over to Truro for two weeks with Leah's family. Her brother and his family flew in from Oregon and her parents from Washington DC. The cousins hit it off quickly over Freeze-pops. Max is a little younger than his cousin Jesse (about 7 months) but they quickly became partners in crime as Max, always a little shaky on his feet compared to kids his age, tried his darndest to keep up but sometimes was left wondering about how to run faster or climb higher. His older cousin, Becca, is six, and sometimes she avoided the younger kids and their rule-breaking exploits and sometimes led the charge, earning Max's undying love and respect. She also taught Max a game that has become his new favorite, hide-and-seek, though he really does not understand how to hide. He likes counting, and dutifully searches for people for about thirty seconds before yelling, "Guys! Where are you?" But put him on the hiding side and he starts by saying, "I'm going to hide in the flowers," and then does it every time. Never mind that when he got to the flowers, he didn't really hide.


Nonetheless, he loved (nearly) every minute of it. For a while, we let him skip his nap, but he turned into a tiny, fire-breathing dragon around five o'clock each night after chasing his nap-less cousins around without a siesta. The first day we insisted on a nap, he slept from 1:00 until 5:45. So I guess he was tired. Once we started to get him enough sleep midday, he was easier to live with. Until, that is, he decided that a monster had taken up residence in his room. For a couple of days, he couldn't tell us much about the monster other than the fact that it made him wake up shrieking at midnight or 2 a.m. or woke him for good at 5ish.

Then, there was this exchange:
Me: Max, does the monster have a name?
Max: Yes. His name is Abe.
Me: Ohhhhhhhhhh. I see. What does he do?
Max: I'm scared he is going to take Mom away.

I have no idea what this could mean, but you can call us if you have any ideas.

There's also been potty training and tomorrow we start swimming lessons, but more on that later.