The Latest and Greatest Things

This whole behind-the-scenes of a blog thing is driving me a little bit crazy. It’s no wonder so many people use Substack. It feels like you don’t have to stress about plug-ins and themes and ALL THE THINGS that could potentially take out your entire site along with all your posts. 

I mean, luckily, they’re still there. Sitting. Somewhere. And I can get back to them. But it’s been a pain in the butt with all the 404 and 500 errors. I just want to SHARE SNIPPETS OF MY LIFE HERE WITHOUT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THINGS THAT ARE VERY VERY HARD FOR ME. 

But the site’s been up for 24 hours without an error. And that’s the longest streak we’ve had. So I’m gonna post and cross my fingers and hope for the best. 

Okay, in bullet point form, here are the latest and greatest things.

• Ankur’s been interviewing for jobs. Like, real people jobs. Ones where he won’t be matched and bound to a program. Ones where he’s going to get a real salary. He finishes his fellowship in June and THIS TEN YEAR JOURNEY is coming to a close. It’s emotional in all the ways.
  
• We took a day off of school on Friday just for funsies. I brought Ishu back to the Children’s Museum where he was reunited with Yola after many, many years. It was so fun seeing him in that same space, still excited about everything even though he’s an almost-6 year old.

• We ended up spending most of the day there and I was totally overstimulated. Not by my kids, but by the museum itself. Still, it was pretty wonderful to hang with both of them all day in a place where they’ve they’ve each spent so much one-on-one time with me, but not really together.
  

• At one point, we sat together in the snack area and I pulled out all the snacks I brought the kids, including a bag of dill pickles. I put them down on a napkin, and Ishu looked at me and smiled real big and said, “Mama, you’re the best.” It’s moments like these that I realize he’s still so little. He’s never gonna say things like, “You were so thoughtful to think of all the things we like to eat. And pack them. And bring us here. And give us such a fun Friday experience.” Instead, he’ll definitely whine a little. He’ll wonder why I’m taking so long to leave the apartment. And he’ll get hangry at various points in the day.
  But he will most always have a moment where he snuggles up next to me and tells me I’m the best and I think I have to see that as a way of him saying all the things without necessarily saying all the things. Because I think he truly feels it. It makes me feel so loved.

• We took real photos with Santa this year. Ishu didn’t wanna do it. Riyu was all about it but then clammed up when Santa started talking to him. But they turned out great and I love them so much. Totally worth it.

• We are loving our Sunday pickleball tradition. Last week, we took over the courts. Four couples, three hours, two very tired legs. One of our ornaments of the year is a pickleball one. It’s very fitting.

• We celebrated National Cupcake Day at Molly’s today. We’ve been doing an advent calendar with riddles Ishu has to solve each day. Today’s riddle = Molly’s after school!

I don’t regret going. I DO regret not bringing along a little fat/protein snack to combat the BIG EMOTIONS that come after eating sugar on an empty stomach. Whoops. Lesson learned.

• OUR TREE HAS BEEN HERE FOR A WHILE and I have not properly introduced her on the blog which is very unlike me. Her name is Julianna. Jules for short. Ishu named her. She’s lopsided and already a bit dry and the star-on-top is always falling over a bit. But we love her very much and she cozies up our living room in the best possible way.

We also got a few Chicago ornaments because if this is our last Christmas in Chicago, we really want Ishu to have these sweet mementos of our favorite city. Especially because they’ve got the Willis Tower and the Hancock Tower or both of them on ’em and he’s currently very obsessed with calling them out each time he sees them.

• Riyu’s the naughtiest little monkey and he’s SO DIFFERENT than Ishu at this age that none of my Ishu-parenting strategies are WORKING. He just looks at me and smiles and carries on being his naughty little self. It’s MADDENING. And also he’s so cute sometimes that you’re just like emotionally whiplashed. LIKE, STOP BEING CRAZY AND ALSO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

• Ishu’s always been such a good big brother, but man. He really takes the cake, I think. He has more emotional maturity than I do in some of the more challenging moments. Riyu can literally slap him on the face and Ishu will just grab his hand, remind him not to hit, and then carry on loving him. What? Can you please teach me?

They’re sleeping in the same bed these days and are the best of friends. Ishu sometimes feels like a third adult in the house. When Riyu is being extra silly or naughty, Ishu will look over at us with an eyebrow raised or a little chuckle under his breath, and it’s so fun to share those moments with him. Life is so hard with these two and also so beautiful and I guess that’s just normal business.