The Small Family     

Okay, be prepared for a rather long blog--it’s been an eventful week around here, in terms of Theo stories. He has been full of both wisdom and humor, leading me to decide that this week, he is a rather sage little clown! But more on Theo later--let me start with exciting but less entertaining developments….

So at this point, it’s been six weeks since Chris interviewed for the Genentech position, and we pretty much assumed he hadn’t gotten it. We assumed wrong. Chris got an email early this week that they had selected him for the position and will be in touch this coming week with more details. Excitement and…ARGH! Excitement because obviously, I’m really proud of Chris for landing a great job offer with a reportedly excellent company. ARGH because we just paid our rental deposit up here (which we’ll lose if he takes the job--bye bye to $1,500, which is no small amount for us) and because while it’s great to know he got the job, we’re still in limbo because we have no idea what the salary offer is. And because the Bay Area is so phenomenally expensive, whether he’ll take the job is almost completely dependent on the salary. There are, of course, other factors involved, but the main one is salary. The job is a great opportunity, but if the salary isn’t high enough for us to break even with the relocation, we’ll stay here--simple as that. So it would be nice to have some idea of what they’re offering! But hopefully we’ll find out this week. Oh boy…

Genentech has already had their relocation company contact Chris to ask him some questions about our relocation, so I guess that means they’re providing us with some assistance, though heaven only knows how much. Evidently, if he does take the job, a rental specialist for the relocation company will set up showings of rental properties in our desired areas, and they’ll even put us up in a hotel overnight if we need two days to look at properties. Well, wow! That’s actually a load off my mind. We know the Bay Area in general, having both grown up in that general vicinity, but we really don’t know that part of the Bay Area well enough to make a quick decision about where to live. Supposedly the rental company has all sorts of info on school districts, crime statistics, cost of living, etc. to help us narrow down our options.

I was wondering how I was going to have time to research all that, so I’m glad they’ll be able to help. Especially schools--one thing that’s going to be really hard for us to leave, if we go, is Theo’s preschool. We were talking the other day, and Chris said he had figured preschool would be worth a try, but if it wasn’t a good fit for Theo yet, we’d just try again when he was a bit older. (He’s on the young end for preschool at the moment--a lot of kids don’t even start until age four.) And I said I had been pretty sure that he’d like it, but what I didn’t realize (and what Chris didn’t either) was just how much he’d blossom from it. I mean, he not only enjoys it, he really thrives in it. We just marvel at how great it’s been for him. So while there are preschools everywhere and I’m sure we’ll find a good one, it’s hard to leave one that has just turned out to be such a totally awesome fit for him. And aside from that, we’re really happy with how the Montessori structure has worked for him, so I did a bit of research on Montessori preschools in the Bay Area. Um…OUCH! We pay $400/month for three days a week here, and in the part of the Bay Area near Genentech, it’s $800/month for three days a week. HOLY COW! Who can afford that?! We did discover that if we lengthen Chris’s commute, the housing gets more affordable and the preschools do too (more like $550/month), so we’ll probably consider the East Bay so we don’t go broke paying for housing and preschool. Genentech actually has an onsite preschool that we’ll certainly consider (not sure how much it costs, but it's probably pretty reasonable), but we’ve just been so happy with Montessori so far that I’m inclined to try to find a good Montessori preschool down there if we can.

In the interest of considering the East Bay as a place to live, we went down there on Sunday to do a bit of scouting. We managed to find some cities and neighborhoods that we liked and that we could potentially afford depending on the salary, so at least now we can give the relocation company some ideas of places we’re interested in, if we get to that point. It wasn’t just a scouting trip, either--there happens to be a great wildlife museum and park down there that we get into free with one of our museum memberships, so we took Theo there and let him play for a few hours. Was quite a fun day for all of us, really.

Okay, off Genentech and on to Theo. He has been hilarious this week! I’ve decided that talking to him is like talking to a combination of a preschooler, an old man, and Yoda. A preschooler because he still can’t pronounce certain words (including his own name) and mixes up pronouns, an old man because he comes out with strange observations apropos of nothing, and Yoda because he sometimes mixes up the phrasing of things and arranges words in strange orders. All in all, it’s quite amusing. This week, he was just full of gems. Let me share a few….

First, he’s rather obsessed with the T-shirts we got from our recent Walk to Cure Juvenile Diabetes. On the back of the shirts are a bunch of logos of companies that sponsor the walk. If you know Theo, you know that if he sees a logo once and is told what it is, he will forever remember it and point it out wherever he sees it. (He’s been doing this since he could barely talk.) So he likes to spread out the shirts, point to all the logos, and tell you what they are. So one day, he was pointing to them and telling me, “That’s Wells Fargo--that’s a bank. That’s 100.5--that’s a radio station. That’s SaveMart--that’s a supermarket.” I was half listening and murmuring agreement when I heard him say, “That’s the Lion’s Club--that’s a zoo!” I started laughing, thinking, “Hmmm, a zoo of elderly men, perhaps!” It was a logical deduction on his part, though.

Another amusing moment was when he was in the pantry, perusing its contents one morning, and I said, “What do you want in there, Theo?” He very calmly replied, “Feo would like some coffee or some beer.” I started laughing and said, “I don’t think that’s going to happen--pick something else.” He replied matter-of-factly, “Maybe some wine.” (See what I mean about him thinking he’s about 30 years old?!) What cracked me up was the seriousness of his tone--as if to say, “Of course I can have some coffee or some beer!”)

I’m going to have to veer into the slightly off-color for this next story, but it’s too funny not to share. Theo has learned so many awesome things at preschool, but he has also learned a few downright funny things from his peers. One is his new favorite word: penis. Now, I’ve always used the correct anatomical term with him, mostly because I feel like a fool saying something like, “Make sure to point Mr. Winky in the potty!” But I’ve always been very calm and matter-of-fact about it, so he certainly didn’t learn that “penis” is a funny word from me. (And in fact, it hasn’t come up that often, really--it’s not like we talk about genitalia on a regular basis.) But suddenly this week, he was on the toilet going #2, and he announced to me, “Feo make a giant poop--it’s just like a big airplane!” I started laughing and said, “Well, that’s great.” I assumed that was the end of it, but then he grabbed himself and shouted, “Penis, penis, penis!” and started laughing hysterically. And I’m thinking, “How does he know this is a word that kids typically giggle about?” But then a day or so later, I noticed that he was starting to try to stand to pee. (We’ve just had him sitting down, as he doesn’t like to use a stool and he wasn’t tall enough to clear the toilet until recently.) I saw him try it at preschool, and I asked one of the teachers if she had taught him. “No,” she said, “but he’s probably seen some of the other boys doing it and wants to try it.” Fair enough--and I’m going to guess that perhaps he learned that “penis” is a funny word from one of the other little boys. Ah, boys...

So anyway, another day or so later, I heard rustling in our second bathroom, so I went in to find him leaning over the toilet in his “pee stance.” (This is an amusing stance in and of itself. He braces both hands on the toilet bowl and leans way over it to sort of “dangle” in--which really looks like he’s staring into the depths of the toilet bowl as if it’s some sort of mystical reflecting pool.) I said, “Oh, you’re going to try standing up--good for you!” He looked at me very calmly and said, “Feo want to pee like a penis.” I had to turn away not to laugh in front of him. I don’t know where he got the idea that standing to pee is “peeing like a penis,” but it completely cracked me up! Ahhh, I love kids and their funny phrasing! Anyway, he’s been practicing since, and he’s getting pretty darn good at it.

Moving from the funny to the wise and sweet, I had a bad day early this week when I woke up with chest pains that wouldn’t go away. I felt pretty lousy, so Chris volunteered to take Theo to preschool so I wouldn’t have to drive. I told Theo that daddy would be taking him, and Theo ran downstairs and started rummaging around in the pantry. I went down to check things out, and he was standing there with a box of Jell-o in his hand. That box has been in the pantry for months, and he’s never mentioned it. But there he was with it, so I said, “What are you doing with the Jell-o, buddy?” He said, “Dis will make Mommy feel better!” I realized what was going on in his sweet, wise little mind--the last time he was really sick, about six months ago, it was with a nasty virus that causes painful blisters in the throat and mouth. And at that time, I made him Jell-o and told him it would make his throat feel better. So in his sweet little mind, he was going to do the same for me--make me feel better by making me Jell-o. I actually started to cry because I was so touched! (For the record, the chest pains, which lasted a lovely seven hours, turned out to be a gas bubble, I think. Isn’t that absurd? I had no idea a gas bubble could lodge in your chest, but apparently it’s not at all uncommon during pregnancy. I mean, I was certainly glad it was nothing more serious, but I felt a little ridiculous that gas caused me such discomfort! Ah, pregnancy--such a "beautiful" thing.)

In case any of you were wondering about the much-anticipated pumpkin patch trip, let’s just say I’m glad there are no more preschool field trips planned anytime soon. ’Nuff said. ;-) Let’s move on to much more fun adventures: this weekend! I already told you about Sunday’s visit to the East Bay, but we had a super good time on Saturday, too. Grandma Kathy and Papa came to visit and help us with Theo so we could get some packing done. We took them up on this on Friday and intended to take them up on it on Saturday as well--until I got wind of their plans for Saturday. They had heard about an “open cockpit day” at our local Aerospace Museum. Well, this I could not miss! Perhaps a little-known fact about me is that I love airplanes! My Dad loved planes, too, and he used to take me flying when I was a little girl. His favorites were WWII planes, whereas I’m partial to jets (think Top Gun). Ask Chris: I’m like a kid in a candy store when I get to watch planes take off and land close up. I once made him stand in the long-term parking lot at the airport for half an hour while I watched planes take off, because they happened to be taking off and landing on the runway adjacent to the long-term lot. Bliss!

Anyway, we decided to skip packing and accompany Grandma Kathy, Papa, and Theo to the Aerospace Museum, and boy am I glad we did. What fun! Theo had a wonderful time getting to climb in the planes and push all the buttons and flip all the switches. Nothing open was off-limits--he could flip switches and turn knobs and press buttons to his heart’s content. He was pretty much in heaven! And so was I--I love the Blue Angels, and Theo and I got to sit in the cockpit of a Blue Angels jet! We also sat in an F104 cockpit and played for a while, and when we climbed down, the docent told us that exact plane had been flown by both Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong. Oh my gosh--that was seriously a hugely exciting moment in my life! I sat where Chuck Yeager sat!! I pretended to fly the same plane he flew! Wow, it was incredibly awesome!

I capped off the most excellent Saturday by visiting a good friend who had a new baby last weekend. Said friend wishes to remain anonymous in all public forums, so I shall say no more except that her baby boy is adorable, and he makes me so excited to meet our little newborn in another four months or so! I had really forgotten just how tiny they are at that age….

Speaking of Garbanzo, here’s the latest update: He’s 22 weeks along now, about 11 inches long, and probably weighs just about a pound. He’s developing his little tooth buds beneath his gums now (though if he’s anything like his big brother, he won’t sprout any of them until he’s a year old!). He (or my body) also seems to have finally decided to spare me from migraines. I haven’t had one in a couple of weeks, and while I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, I’m really enjoying feeling better. I’m still really exhausted, but the debilitating migraines seem to have really improved. I wake up a lot at night with achy legs, but if that’s as bad as it gets this trimester, I can surely handle that.

Hope you all had a wonderful week, and send good thoughts our way that we make the right decision in this whole job thing. It’s hard to know what the best choice is when we’re faced with two good choices--which certainly is far better than two bad choices!