 | Diary Navigation:
|
August 8, 2003
Friday, August 08, 2003
The new fish x 2…
Where to begin? I am still foggy because Mac and I were up half the night last night putting together Jake’s new aquarium, so he wouldn’t realize that his beloved goldfish died yesterday. Let me back up…
When we explained to Jake that we were moving to a new house, his main concerns were: 1. Would he be able to take all of his ‘guys’ (stuffed buddies) with him? 2. Would he be able to have a pet at our new house? The answer to the first question was easy…of course he could bring his ‘guys’. The answer to the second question was harder. Jake is borderline asthmatic (a whole different entry) and Mac is highly allergic to furry pets. We decided that we could all live with fish as a compromise.
We moved into our new house on June 25 and since then, Jake has been patiently (relatively speaking) waiting to get his fish. Finally, last weekend, Mac was out of town and my parents were in town helping me with some things around the house, my mom and I decided to spend the afternoon with Jake doing just ‘Jake Stuff’ – we ended the afternoon with a trip to the pet store to pick out his goldfish. He wanted two, so that ‘they can keep each other company’. How could I refuse that? He picked one black-colored fish and one gold/orange-colored fish. He had already picked out names – Jackie Chan and Uncle – from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoons (we don’t let him watch this, so I’m still trying to figure out how he came up with the names!).
We got the fish home, filled the bowl, treated the water, tested the water…did all that we were supposed to. We fed them the noted amount each day and they seemed to be doing well until…Thursday morning I was on the train on the way to work and my phone rang…it was Mac calling to tell me that the fish were both dead. I almost cried on the middle of the morning express train!
Thank goodness Jake was spending the day with my mom Thursday and then sleeping over at her house – that gave us Thursday night to do some shopping. Thus, we were up half the night getting the aquarium ready for the two new (same colors, of course) fish along with a new ‘algae eater’ fish so that when my mom brings Jake home today he will think that his fish just got a bigger, better home. Are we doing the right thing by not addressing death with Jake right now? I’m already wondering if he will be angry with me when he reads this diary when he is older. He was just so in love with those fish, I couldn’t bear to see his face if he knew they were gone.
Busy weekend coming up…
This weekend promises to be a busy one at our house. For starters, I am going on a long bike ride with my training group leaving at 5:00am tomorrow – eeeek. Mac and Jake will be fast asleep for most of the time I am gone – this is how I get past the guilt of putting in my training time. After that, we’ll spend the afternoon playing with Jake and trying to squeeze in a little work around the house – the goal is to put up closet organizers in Jake’s closet and our own and to mow/edge the lawn (well, front lawn – we still don’t have sod in the back!). In reality, who knows what we’ll accomplish? – I want to be done with the house, but not at the expense of time with Jake. For now, he does love to help me work in the yard – we’ll see how long that lasts! Tomorrow night (Saturday) we’re heading downtown (Chicago) for the ‘Elvis is Alive 5k’ in Lincoln Park. It’s a great race that we always try to run. Mac, my father-in-law and I will run and Jake will hang out with his Grandma Patti during the race – then we’ll all go out for a yummy and too big dinner! Sunday we’re having friends over to the new house for the first time (thus the work we need to do on Saturday!). I’m nervous that the house won’t be clean enough or organized enough, but then I tell myself that these are our friends and we’ll have a good time no matter what…right? Jake is excited because he’ll have playmates for the evening.
A pleasant surprise from the furniture store…
Just wanted to share something positive that happened yesterday. When we moved, we went to Harlem Furniture to purchase some new pieces. We fell in love with a sofa and chaise-type chair (more like an easy chair w/ ottoman attached, as it has arms on both sides) that are the ‘shabby chic’, slipcovered look. Since our house is very neutral (builder’s spec) we decided to spice it up a bit and purchased the pieces in bright red. They arrived, looked great in the family room and were so comfortable that I long for more time to just relax on them. About a week later, I looked at Jake and his khaki shorts were tinted pink…can you guess where this is going? I was about to ask him what he had been into that would turn his shorts pink, when I realized that Mac’s shorts were also pinkish…it hit me then that our sofa and chaise were bleeding dye onto our clothing!
I called the furniture store’s customer service line and I was told that the procedure was that a technician would have to come out to ‘verify’ the problem…that was fine because there was also a fairly bad scratch on our new dresser, and the technician would also be able to fix that. I made the appointment, put aside the shorts that Jake and Mac had been wearing (thankfully they weren’t Jake’s favorites, or he wouldn’t have been a happy camper without them for a week) to show the technician as ‘proof’ and then covered the furniture with old sheets in order to save our clothing.
The technician came out, verified the problem and then said that he would recommend that the furniture store send out their cleaning crew to do a thorough cleaning of both pieces in an effort to remove any residual dye. I wasn’t sure I liked this answer, but didn’t want to argue. I was back in touch with the furniture store yesterday and after telling the customer service rep about the situation I asked what the procedure for setting up the recommended cleaning was. She told me that we have been through enough and that we shouldn’t have to have our brand new furniture cleaned just so it won’t turn our clothing pink. She said that she was just putting us in the book to receive 2 BRAND NEW pieces! Woohoo!!! I couldn’t thank her enough and I did take her name and address and the name of her supervisor so that I can send a letter about her wonderful service. This proved to me yet again that what goes around comes around. I didn’t get upset with the technician who was just doing his job and now I’m getting the end result I initially wanted. Sorry for that long story – but it gives me hope that sometimes life actually is fair.
Jake…
I’m going to try to close each entry with a little more about Jake…in addition to loving his goldfish this week he is on a big macaroni and cheese kick – as in everyday for every meal. Part of me hates this and part of me figures that he will eventually get tired of it – right? The good part is that I can easily get him to down a glass of milk in return for getting his macaroni. This is a good thing because Jake doesn’t usually like to drink his milk. He also loves going to the kids’ area at our gym, Lifetime Fitness. The kids’ area IS amazing and although I would rather play with him all night every night, there are nights that he just begs to go to the gym – so, so be it. I know that this is just the beginning and that as he gets even older, he will choose more and more to be with his friends instead of mom and dad – so I suppose that I have to prepare myself for it (as sad as that makes me, it also makes me happy that he enjoys his friends).
Well it is time to sign off and get this entry posted. I have to run to catch my train so that I can get home to my two favorite guys!
In closing, HUGE thanks to Tanya for all of her hard work and dedication in getting these diaries up and running. I can’t say enough how very happy I am to be here in this wonderful community.
Take care all…
Kristi
Mom to Jake
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
