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Saturday, Jun. 15, 2002 - 10:03 a.m. - Moving On and the Heat
If you don’t read my weblog you might not be aware of the heat we’ve been having here the last few days. Wednesday, June 12th was over 80 degrees. I was melting, especially being that I’m now a little over 6 months pregnant! And I thought the 80+ degree weather was bad on Wednesday. Thursday I went to the grammar school graduation ceremony for the little boy I used to nanny. Yes, that's right, the little baby I held in my arms, whose poopy diapers I changed and who spit up constantly for the first 9 months of his life, who I watched learned to crawl and then walk, learned to talk and read, is moving on to middle school! I can't believe it! It was a pretty overkill ceremony, but then the school is comprised of children who come from very well-to-do families (for the most part) and who are tested before even being accepted into the preschool. Granted, it probably was a good environment for little B though, because they probably provided him with a more enriched and challenging environment than he would have had at a public school. While he is unaware of the fact, he has tested off the scale for intelligence; particularly in mathematics (no big surprise being that both parents are math professors at the UofW). I must say that I was impressed with the school for encouraging the children without turning these little "geniuses" into the snotty know-it-alls you often see at these kinds of schools. In fact, I believe that B is still completely unaware of the results to the many tests he had to take to apply for some of the middle/high schools he wanted to attend. I love the fact that he is still just a sweet little 10 year old boy (yes, besides being in a “gifted” school, he’s also the youngest in his grade because he skipped a year) who loves any kind of sport first, then chess and mathematics. He is your typical 10 year old in pretty much every way. I’m so glad his parents raised him to be “normal.” He still gives me hugs and kisses (well, kisses only when others aren’t looking now) and still calls my parents “Oma” and “Opa”. He will always be my “first” child in many ways, just as his parents refer to me as his “other mommy.” They constantly tell me that part of his being such a wonderful little boy is due to my care when he was a baby and toddler. I so appreciate the recognition for my contribution to this lovely little boy. Anyway, the graduation ceremony was held in the school gymnasium (it just happens to be named after my little B – his parents won the “right” to name the gym at a school auction so it now says “BL’s Favorite Gym” on a plaque on the wall --very appropriate for the little boy who loves sports so much) and of course there was no air conditioning. The ceremony started at 10:00 am and it was already getting warm. By the time the event was over around 11:30 I thought I was going to melt and it was even hotter outside. Of course this wasn’t the end of the celebration. The celebration continued with cake and punch and pictures, and then a lunch at 2:00pm downtown at a pretty posh restaurant which is owned by the parents of one of the students in B’s class. Of course after the lunch there were little awards handed out to each student (B’s award was for “The most likely to hit a home run while attending a chess match) and in the end the whole thing didn’t end until 5:00pm. Just in time for rush hour traffic. I swear I have never been so uncomfortable due to heat in my life. At this point I had no idea just how hot it was, but the worst was that unlike our usual Seattle weather, there was no breeze at all. Usually we get nice cool breezes from the water (Puget Sound) to help when it is warm, but it was completely stagnant. I do have air conditioning in my car, but even so, I thought I was going to melt into the seats. It wasn’t until later that I heard the temperature was 93 degrees! Definitely a record for Seattle in June! We might get 90 degree weather in August for a day or two, but never in June! Generally it stays between 73- 85 in the summer around here and always with a breeze. It sure made me feel fortunate not to be pregnant in those areas that get hot and humid weather regularly in summer. I think I’d spend my summer in a pool or cool tub if that was the case. As it was, by the time I got home I was all flushed and overheated and the first thing I did was peal off all my clothes and take a cool bath. Ahhhh….relief. I actually got a few goose bumps for the first time that day. Fortunately our weather has returned to normal again – highs in the low 70’s. Don’t get me wrong. I love the sun, but my pregnant body can’t take the heat this summer. Anyway, it was a special day. I admit I started crying when I saw my little boy walk down the aisle in a suit and tie (!!). I never understood why my mom always cried at these kinds of school events and now I’m the worst! I don’t know how I’ll handle it when he graduates from high school or college! At least I know that he’ll always be a special part of my life and from what his parents tell me, I’ll always be a special person in his life too. In other news, I did test positive for Gestational Diabetes. I was pretty upset with the news when it came, but I’m doing better with it now. I still have to wait until Wednesday before receiving my instruction on how to manage my GD, but some of my wonderful readers have provided me with some guidelines in the meantime. I’m trying my best, but I must admit that I’m not sure I’m doing the right things at times. The hardest for me is breakfast and snack ideas. Particularly snack ideas for on the go. I know I need protein, but so many protein products need to be refrigerated (cheese, meat, etc) that I don’t know what I can take with me for when I’m on the go. And because I’m not a big fan of eggs, breakfast ideas are hard for me. I’ll be glad to have a schedule to follow and some ideas. Fortunately we will be going in for an ultrasound on Monday, so hopefully we’ll be able to tell if the baby is growing too much and make sure that she is doing all right. I’m so glad we have these ultrasounds to (hopefully) reassure us. We also have my 28 week (!!!) OB appointment, but with a different OB since mine is out of town on vacation. Since I’m not so terribly keen on my OB currently anyway, I’m looking forward to meeting one of the other OBs in the office. Well, I’d best be going. We are going to run around looking at carpet options for the baby room. I just about turned purple when I found out how much it was going to cost to re-carpet the room, but unfortunately it something that we have to find a way to do because the carpet that is in there is just simply sickening. I could not, in good conscience, put my child down on that carpet. Besides, I want something lighter in there, especially with the dark colors of the walls and ceiling. So off we go.
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