Coming Storm

Another seriously heavy storm is passing through Chicago tonight. Incredibly gusty winds. I love storms, and these have been pretty damned fierce. On top of that, somewhere in one of the units in this building, I can hear a woman getting it on somewhere -- could hear her crying out, borne on the wind; no idea where, plenty of people have their windows open. I just love that sound. It's so beautiful! Now I just hear thunder, wind, and downpouring rain, drowning everything out; that's beautiful, too.

Guess I should sign off before my computer gets fragged by the lightning and hail and whatever else is coming down from above!

Clementine...

My clementine sapling is doing fine, in case you were wondering.

*SNIFF*

B1 and I were talking earlier, and I was mentioning what a good memory he has, and he said "I wish I could forget things, too." and I said "Like what?" and he said "Sad things." and I said "Like...?" and he said "Like Newt dying." And I could see him fighting back tears, asking me about why his kidneys failed, etc. I held him and told him that he needed to just remember all of the good things about Newt as a way of keeping Newt alive in his heart. It was so heart-breaking to see B1 fighting back tears. He's a crier, like I am, but this is the first time I've seen him shed any tears over Newt -- and, uncharacteristically, he was fighting them back a bit. I just tried to comfort him. Sweet lil' guy. He's such a good kid. He's got a big heart like I do. I'm glad for that.

I've had a couple of "ghost cat" dreams, like seeing Newt watching me from the hallway and such. B2 keeps asking every now and then where Newt's gone. B2 was trying out a new face today -- his "statue face" -- he did some amazing acting! He stood there with a neutral expression and then, without breaking character one bit, he let his eyes go blank -- it was a marvelous metamorphosis, and I'm impressed that he already could do that. Also, he was being loud at one point and I pretended to turn the volume down on him, turning an imaginary knob on his shoulder -- I said "Let's get this down to 3, howsabout?" and he whispered to me. Then I said "Well, maybe 5." and then he talked in a softer voice, but louder than the whisper. I was impressed that my four-year-old could understand that and, on the first try, get that just right.

*KOFF*

I took a day off of work, as B2 was sick, I took him to the doctor's. He's got pneumonia, the poor lil' chap! He got prescribed amoxicillin for it, and is already rebounding nicely, but I'll be sure he takes the 10-day course prescribed. Definitely not one of those antibiotic short-shrifters.

We had a serious-ass storm blast through Chicago around 4ish. Really powerful. Amazing.

This weekend: writing and World Cup!

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT* <-- vuvuzela impression