Lake Cumberland Vacation 2011

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Case in point

Exhibit A:

Trash talkin'

Woah, did a whole month go by undocumented?! Must be a sign that summer vacation is in full tilt at the Ferrara household. Annie's already completed 3 of her 4 summer day camps. She crafted her way through her Montessori camp (with a rockin' tie-dye T-shirt to boot); danced herself into oblivion with ballet camp; and partied it up animal style at zoo camp (last but not least, "Diggin' Dinosaurs" at the Science Center). Oscar is now attempting full-ish sentences such as, "Iahndis" (read: I want this) and "thrawitawayah" (read: Throw it away: odd, I know, more on this in a minute). None of his new phrases, however, speaks more to my heart than his unsolicited "Thank you" we get when we hand him something, especially something he really wants. It sounds more like "Did do" but hey, we'll take it.

And nothing says summer vacation like a rash of sudden illnesses. ... No? Well, in our house it apparently does. Oscar has been sporting a low-grade fever for almost a month now, then last weekend Annie came down with a high fever and some crazy red throat with spots (not strep, would have been easier if it had been, though; damn viruses!), then she handed the torch back to Oscar and he woke up yesterday with a 103º fever. Scary day, most of it spent at the pediatrician's office.

Oh, and did I mention Jay is on call this week? Give me a straw with that glass of wine, please.

Did do.

Alright, violin gently placed aside, let's get to topic. Oscar is a little OCD, which we've always sort of known. He had a thing with light switches a little while ago and won't eat his Yo-Baby yogurt until you throw the lid in the trash. And here we are: He has a weird love affair with trash. Any trash can he calls "throw-it-away" and gets so excited when he sees one. Any scrap of paper he finds lying around the house, he immediately looks to discard it, including important ones (like today's grocery list... still looking for that one). He takes joy when I replace the shopping bag in our tiny kitchen garbage. He wants to touch every, and I mean EVERY, trash can he sees. I really had no idea that the jokes associating his name with Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch would be so apt. He truly does love trash. I even hate to say that he has brought me more dirty diapers out of his diaper bin than I would like to admit. But, to our relief, Oscar is also a steward for our planet. He takes great joy in his "job" of placing items in the recycling bin every morning. No matter what tantrum he's in the middle of throwing, if we ask him, "Oscar, do you want to throw this in the recycling bin?" he will immediately pop out of it and perk up, "Yes!" Note to self: save recycling material for especially bad days.

And on a final note, because my wine glass is empty (those straws really make it go fast!), Jay's old. Well, not really old, just one year older, and he doesn't look a day over 16. Seriously, it's a challenge with his patients. They think they're seeing Doogie Howser. I keep telling him to grow a beard, but that's neither here nor there. What I meant to say was: Cheers to you, my sweet, I couldn't pass my days with anyone better.