Purgatory

If there is hell on Earth, I think maybe I have found it. For one of my classes I need my social security card, no problem right? I keep my card and Cole's together, the only problem is that when I went to get them out, they are both missing. I've torn my things apart but can't find them. I'm sure they will turn up eventually, but I need mine by next Tuesday. With my crazy school/work schedule the only free time I had to get new cards was two hours this morning.

Last night I printed out the forms I needed and gathered the required paperwork that was listed online. This morning in the freezing, foggy weather I headed to the local social security office to get replacement cards. Of course, it was rush-hour traffic that moved at a snail's pace. Once there, I stepped through the gates of hell. I checked in and got the number A66, they were on 21 when I arrived. The lobby was full and there was almost no where to sit to begin the long wait. They had plenty of windows to serve people, but most where closed and the remaining ones that were open weren't moving very fast. Plus, the office had only been open and hour, but the kept closing remaining windows so people could take a breaks. I watched one unfriendly clerk after another provide "service" to the waiting public. Over an hour later and they still were on A41....grrrr. Another hour later when they finally called my name, I hurried to the window and gave a smile and said "hello".... the unfriendly zombie never looked my way. She literally snatched the paperwork from my hand. She never once looked at me or said a word. She typed my information into her computer. I kept looking at her, waiting for horns to sprout from her head, fire to come out of her mouth, or her head to spin around and spew green bile. Letting out a big sigh, she got up from her desk to retrieve a form from the printer and tossed it on the desk for me to sign. When I told her that I still needed to get a card for my son, she pushed his birth certificate back to me and told me they can't use those. What? I said on-line it said to bring it, but she said that isn't true anymore. She really needed a picture ID....for a five-year-old? Now I have to call his doctor's office to have them write a letter with his date of birth and etc. to give the the SS office. No more trips to the SS office for me, I will be mailing Cole's request in... As I stood up to leave, she said my card would be in the mail in 7-10 days and to make sure I "don't lose this one". Gee thanks for the advice, friendly SS clerk. Have a great day.

I will add SS office worker to my list of jobs I would NEVER do....like bill collecting. What job would you never do?

I love technology

I can count on one hand how many non-kid movies I've seen since Cole was born. When a movie comes out that I want to see, I usually have to wait until it comes out on video. Not anymore! I wanted to go see a movie this weekend, but not a kid one. I decided to download a kid movie on my iPod for Cole. My mom and I got see '27 dresses' while Cole watched 'Underdog' and we all shared popcorn. Thank you iPod.

Where has the time gone?

It seems like time is just passing us by. As I spent the day with Cole today, I felt like I was watching him through new eyes. "Did he get this big overnight?", I thought to myself more than once today. We went shopping for new baseball cleats and tennis shoes that he's outgrown since the fall. As I watched him walk down the aisle picking out his own shoes to try on, in his slightly too short jeans that I just bought at the start of the school year, I couldn't stop staring at him. He just seemed like such a grown up kid browsing the shoes and looking for his size in the styles he liked. It seems like just yesterday I was picking out cute toddler shoes for him while he chubby toddler fingers grasped mine.

After shopping and lunch we headed out to get him a haircut. On the drive there he said, "I'm going to get a number 2 today." I had no idea what he was talking about. When I asked him what he meant, he said in his gee you're so silly mom voice, "the haircutting number, mom." The blade size, he knows the blade size? I can't even remember what size he usually gets, I usually ask the stylist what she recommends. I spent the entire time staring at him in the mirror while he got his haircut. I felt like I should permanently record every thing about him, if I looked away and turned around again, he might be 12 or something.

Time is a crazy thing. On one hand, I want time to fly. I want to be done with school, out of my parent's house and into a house of my own, and hopefully moved on with my life. But on the other hand, I want to hit the pause button. I want to be able to really enjoy this time with Cole, to make him grow up a little slower. Since he's my only child, I only get to go through these stages once and I want them to last just a little longer.

Let the games begin

A guy that I dated in high school came from a large Catholic family. On Friday they had mandatory game night. Family and friends would come over and play games. Of course, he hated being stuck at his house on Friday nights it but I LOVED it. Laughter, light-hearted competition, and snacks...what's not to love? When we broke up that's the thing I missed most.

Growing up, we occasionally played games and anytime my grandparents visited we always played card games or dominoes. Cole loves games too. Some of my favorite times with him are spent bent over a puzzle, playing "Go Fish", or board games. We picked up a new game this weekend "Flippin' Frogs". You place a tree in the center of the table and use launchers to try to "flip" your frog onto a spinning tree. At the end of the time, the branches pop up and the one with the most frogs on the tree wins. We played for quite awhile the other night with my mom. Tonight, even my dad got in on the action. As, I looked around the table at everyone's radiant face launching frogs onto a spinning plastic tree, I got that warm "game night" glow all over again.

Literal

Cole went to work with me on Monday. One of my co-workers came in and asked me to teach her to draw blood. Cole looked up at her and said, "I know how to draw blood." "You do?" she asked, clearly impressed. "Yes, it's easy", he replied. He sat down, picked up a red marker and "drew" red lines all over the paper. "See, I told you it was easy." God, I love that kid!