Random stuff follows.

Geoff and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine on Sunday night, and I can not adequately express how much I loved it.  I loved it, I loved it.  It made me wish I had written it, or some story like it.  If and when I ever create a fictional work, I hope that it will be something that makes people feel like that movie made me feel.  It made me feel like all of us are screwed up in various ways, but that despite that, we can love each other and support each other.  And what's more, sometimes we can actually understand each other!  And we can make each other laugh.  It made me laugh a lot.  It made me feel like I knew the characters in a way that I don't know lots of people that I see on a daily basis, and even more, I left the movie crying partly because I kind of loved all of the characters, and I won't get to see them anymore.  Until I see the movie again, that is. 

We finally replaced our totalled car.  To replace our silver 2002 Honda CR-V EX stick shift, we bought a silver 2004 Honda CR-V EX stick shift.  (On autotrader, there were only 14 Honda CR-V stick shifts within 100 miles of us.)  It's almost exactly the same in every way, except for being 2 years younger and with about 10,000 fewer miles.  We just bought it yesterday, and we love it.  Neither Geoff or I really likes the silver color for itself, but as we were looking, I realized that, post-accident, I now have some sort of emotional connection to the silver Honda CR-V.  It makes me feel happy and safe. 

Katie turns 2 and a half on Thursday (also our friend Tim's birthday - happy birthday, Tim!).  It is amazing (to us, anyway) how much and how well she talks.  She has also become a singer and a repeating monkey.  The other day she knocked a diet coke onto me, and I said loudly, without thinking, "Oh, goddammit!"  I wasn't really mad at her, so she wasn't upset, but about a minute later she began to sing this song: "Goddammit!  GODdammit...goddammit!  Goddammit..."  Imagine this sung in the sweetest most sing-song high-pitched toddler voice you have heard, and imagine the back and forth head tilting that went with it.  We didn't want to reinforce her saying it, so we tried not to react, but since I spent at least a minute convulsed in soundless laughter, I'm not so sure it worked. 

We also have video of her ignoring me while standing on the couch, at which point I pushed her down onto the couch to try to get her attention.  She laughed and said, "You pushed me!"  "I did," I said.  "I did push you."  She then began to sing her new song, which went like this, "You...pushed me...Mommy!  You pushed me...Mommy!  Youuuuuu pushed me, Mommy!" 

(If you click on that picture, you can read the lyrics to another Katie original.)

She speaks in full sentences.  She uses plurals and singular forms of words (not always correctly, but she's figuring it out).  She uses plural and singular verbs (again, not always correctly).  She uses masculine and feminine pronouns.  It used to be that a lot of things really weren't worth explaining to her, because we knew she wouldn't understand it.  Now there is almost nothing I won't take the time to explain to her, if she's interested, because her capacity for comprehension seems so great.  She talks about the past and the future, and other times she'll say she needs something "right now."  She usually says please and thank you, and if you applaud one of her performances,  it's entirely possible that she will bow repeatedly and say "thank you, thank you, thank you!"    She understands that other people have feelings and wants and needs; she's a toddler, so of course she usually believes that her feelings and needs and wants come first. 

But other times she can be surprisingly spontaneously generous.  The other day I broke three small squares of chocolate off of a chocolate bar in the kitchen.  As I was taking them to her in the living room, I ate one of the pieces so that I would avoid any sort of confrontation about "mine chocolate!"  But when I got there and handed her the two pieces, she handed one right back to me.  "This-a one for you," she said, nodding and smiling.  (She talks like she has an Italian accent, some of the time.  "Pick-a me up."  "I don't-a find it."  "People's-a coming.")  I tried to give it back to her, but she insisted, going so far as to push it into my mouth.  (Even when she's being generous, she is toddler-bossy.)

A week or so ago I asked Katie if she would like it if we had another baby, and she said yes. I told her that if I got pregnant, then my belly would get bigger because the baby would be growing inside my uterus, and it would push out my belly, and that eventually, when the baby got big enough, it would come out of my "wee" (what she usually calls her vagina when she's not calling it a "jine-jine"). She nodded and said, "And then? A baby will come out your butt."  I explained that no, no, a baby would not come out of my butt, ever, but I'm not sure if she was convinced.

Katie talks a lot about what is scary or about what might be scary.  I took her to the zoo the week before last, and she said she wanted to see lions and monkeys, but she said that "maybe the lions might scare me."  When we found the lions, they were sleeping.  She looked at them and told me, "I'm not scared of the lions, because the lions are asleep."  Whew!  She has also informed us that she "might" "maybe" "sometimes" be scared of thunder, rain, big bumps, and loud noises.  When we get together with someone that she knows but hasn't seen for awhile, she usually ducks her head and says, "I'm shy."  (She's not exactly shy, not really.) 

Geoff went to NY for his interview with the church on August 24th, and came home August 25th feeling excited and positive about it.  Now, almost two weeks later, we haven't heard a thing.  We don't know what this means.  We're trying not to think about it, but it's hard.  There are so many possibilities about the job that we're excited about, and also so many things that we're anxious about.  At this point, I really just want to KNOW. 

It's getting to be my favorite time of year.  It's getting chilly and crisp, with sunny day after sunny day.  I've passed a lot of anniversaries lately.  The 8th anniversary of mine and Geoff's first meeting was on August 1st.  August 1st also marked five years since I started working here at The Company.  The 36th anniversary of my birth was August 4th.  And August 30th made it 6 years since I started writing online.  Fall always feels to me like a time of milestones, new beginnings, and new opportunities. Who knows what the next six years will hold? 

There have been some bad times during the past six years, of course, but overall it's been good.  I'm having a good life.  Thanks for reading about it.

Comments

[Laura]

And thanks for writing about it. :-) Happy sixth journalversary. Best wishes for your possible new life adventure. It is *very* frustrating waiting to hear about such things.

[Meg]

Thanks for writing about it! For six years! That is awesome, Jessamyn. I hope Geoff hears back soon - I'm waiting to hear back about a job, too. They're only two days later than they said they'd be in contacting me, and I'm already antsy! Anyway, thanks for sharing Katie stories, too - she sounds like a fun kid!

[Bozoette Mary]

Katie is lovely, and so are you, and so is your writing.

[Lynne]

happy belated birthday, Jessamyn! (we were the same age for exactly one week!)

hope Geoff hears affirmatively & soon!

longtime reader, occasional commenter Lynne

[Alex]

Thank you for sharing it. :) And happy belated!

[Kate Smith]

Thanks for writing! I think I've been reading pretty much the whole time, and I've really enjoyed it. You are a wonderful writer.

BTW, I used to work in a church, and they operate by committeee, which means it's slooooooow. But eventually they do act.

[Amy]

Happy Birthday Jess! I am glad that all is well with all of you. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.

[TB]

I know how frustrating it is to wait for someone to make a decision about a job. Keep in mind they probably put things on hold over the holiday weekend because everyone was out on vacation. Also, if the church has a school associated with it, they have probably been super busy. I'll bet you'll hear something in the next week. I'm keeping you in my thoughts that you get what you want out of this.

I've so enjoyed reading about Katie's development and how she's grown into such a funny, beautiful little girl. Thanks for sharing her with us.

[april]

Katie is far too cute for her own good! I cant believe she's 2.5! The night you and I had pizza she was still a year away from being a reality, and now she's 2.5! Craziness!

Kevin and I are in the same limbo you guys are in with an exciting job/location change. I just want to know NOW. I dont deal well with uncertainty!