Five, etc.

I'm trying to post more, I really am.  It's just weird how you can so easily get out of the habit of doing something, you know?

So, some other stuff that has been happening since my last post ...

Nathan turned 5:

I know I say something like this every year, but I can't believe he is five.  Every age seems hard to believe, but five is like ... wow.  It has been five years since he was born.  The thing is, for me, the first few years of Nathan's life did not fly by.  I remember when he was a month old, somebody was like, "Wow, can you believe it's been a month already?" and I was like, "I feel like it's been about five years."  And that pretty much sums up the first two years of Nathan's life vis-a-vis my perception of the passage of time. 

The years after age 2 or 3 seemed to move at a faster pace, so now I can't believe he actually is five years old.  And I realize this occasion probably deserves a post of its own, some big sappy nostalgic thing where I wax poetically about how much I love Nathan.  Except, I feel like everybody is all BTDT on those, and anything I can say is going to be trite and hackneyed.  And also I'm sure saying I can't believe he is five will just inspire a bunch of people to think/say/write something like Just wait until he's a teenager [going off to college/getting married/having kids of his own, etc.]

(I do feel guilty about not writing him a birthday blog post, as though "birthday blog post" is some kind of requirement on the checklist of Things Good Mothers Do.)

My mom came on Nathan's birthday.  He picked to go to McDonald's for his birthday dinner.  The next day we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory, which is an indoor greenhouse that lets people in Chicago see some green plants during the winter months, for free.

Also while my mom was here I got some new shoes.  I mention them because when I bought them my mom said they would be perfect for future Halloween costumes, especially a witch.  All insults about my current non-Halloween footwear aside, I am excited to maybe be wearing them in Jack and the Beanstalk, where I am playing Surla, Witch Queen of the Giant Kingdom.  The fun thing about Surla is that, in addition to being a witch, she is a pushy Toddlers & Tiaras-style stage mother.  LOVE IT. 

Except I might not get to wear the shoes for Surla, because apparently the costumes for this show are going to be "Seussical." 

Which is a good segue into mentioning that we saw The Lorax.  Nathan had a bout of extremely unacceptable, crazy child behavior outside the theater, but when he got it together enough to go in, I thought it was a pretty good children's movie.  Normally at children's movies my trajectory of opinions goes as follows: OMG I'm so excited to be at the movies! -->  This movie is so good, even for adults! --> Okay, I am getting bored, but I'm not this movie's key demographic. --> Seriously, get to the inevitable conclusion and stop dragging this out. --> Wait, what?!  Another obstacle to the obvious conclusion?  --> Phew, finally they got there and I feel all warm and fuzzy about the conclusion, but I also really have to pee. 

But The Lorax didn't drag out like normal kids' movies, so I thought it was good. 

Also it was $2 popcorn and $2 soda day, so that may have colored my opinion about the movie. 

Then on Saturday we took my mom to the airport, and I volunteered at the Cancer Support Center gala, which required me to take a shower and put on makeup and a dress and whatnot at eight o' clock p.m.  And I didn't get done until 11:30 p.m.  The thing that stands out most about that whole event was not that I assisted in raising thousands of dollars to provide support programs for cancer patients, but that I had to put on tights, and it was so hard to squeeze into them that by the end I was panting and sweating.  I told myself to keep the visual of struggling into tights on the forefront of my mind whenever I was tempted to eat.  It only deterred me from eating for two days. 

Also, did you know that in 2012 I have already read 13 books?  I credit my brand-new Kindle Touch and my willingness to buy books whenever I want (versus the more responsible choice of using the library). 

Plus, I stopped watching Smash.  I liked the show, and the music was great, but I just decided I couldn't commit to another show.  Which is pretty lame because I only regularly watch four shows, and all are half-hour comedies.  Except, you know, with Mad Men coming back on, I really need to be careful about making any additional TV commitments. 

And so, in conclusion, this is the conclusion to my post.