The Po Show

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit

Ross got a new suit this week (well, he bought it last week, but got it back from being altered the other day). It's grey flannel, and OMG, he looks so good in it. I have a bit of a fetish for men in suits in general, and there is SOMETHING about grey flannel that really knocks my socks off.

His first "real" suit was grey flannel, purchased our senior year in college. It was from C&R Clothiers (if you lived in the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area in the '70s and '80s, you remember their commercials!), which is pretty laughable now that he has a closetful of Brooks Brothers and Ben Sherman suits. I got so worked up the first time he put it on in our apartment that I totally jumped him.

I relayed that story to my (all male) co-workers years later, and as part of our Dymo Tape Wars (we started writing out rude, oblique messages on Dymo Tape labels and affixing them to each other's possessions), someone put a label on my desk that said, "Flannel Makes Paula Hot." Yeah, baby.

So now, even more years later, he once again has a grey flannel suit. It's in his closet with his 20-something, mostly European dress shirts, many of which have french cuffs, that are worn with dapper hammered-silver cuff links. I still can't reconcile his current wardrobe with the khaki cargo shorts and Birkenstocks he always used to wear, but I sure do like how he looks in his new suit.

Ships that Pass in the Night

I've been in a phase for awhile now, in which I really like my husband :). Of course I always love him, but for several months now I've really really *liked* him. Liked him as a person, thought of him as sweet and funny and enjoyable to be around, admired him for how hard he works, appreciated how much he does for us as a family and for me personally. (He's also still a STUD, even if he is a grey-templed old geezer, but that's another story :D.)

A prime example is how hard he had to finesse his schedule so that I could go to Vegas for 3 days and 4 nights. He was swamped at work AND he had jury duty. A couple of days before I was set to leave, he got assigned to a grand jury! Yet he managed to schedule his jury days so that he did not have to go in on the Friday that I was gone. That weekend was a whirlwind of trying to keep his head above water with the work he was missing because of jury duty, writing papers long past midnight, helping Matthew assemble their new computer, and finding ways for Tessa to construct "training" sessions for him on various video games, since she was feeling left out of the whole computer business. And he never complained a bit.

He picked me up on Monday morning and then dashed off to jury duty again. He was dismissed around noon, and wanted to go into work, but decided instead to stick around and have lunch with me. Then we came home with time to spare before Tessa needed to be picked up (and yes, that *is* the Starland Vocal Band you hear in the background!).

He left for DC at 5:00AM this morning. He's there till Wednesday night (since he has to be back on Thursday for more jury duty). I feel like I just got back from Vegas (though I've been back longer than I was gone), and now he's gone himself.

I miss him.

My Toenails

I painted my toenails for the first time in over a year last weekend, as I was suffering through a MAJOR bout of insomnia in Vegas (the night that I was by myself, and should have been SLEEPING). This color is called Vixen. I remember when I used to be called that.

It's disconcerting still, looking at my feet, which look so different with the dark red toenails. I like it. I asked Ross if he thought my feet looked weird or better with the nail polish. He thought they looked fine, though perhaps they'd be better if they weren't the color of dried blood.

I don't think so.

What Stayed in Vegas

*I* stayed in Vegas, for an extended weekend, with my dear darling L.A. homegirls (minus one, unfortunately, though she was absent for the BEST of reasons, as she was in China to bring home her absolutely unbelievably INCREDIBLY ADORABLE baby girl, whom I FINALLY got to see on Skype during the Vegas trip. I apparently suck at Skype, and could never get it to work at home!).

We were there to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Divine Ms. D, only 360 days late :D. Nothing like extending your birthday party for an entire additional year! And what a party it was! I have not laughed and sang and TALKED (my throat is literally sore still from all the talking) that much in, well I don't know how long. I literally hit this period of time on Saturday night (and no, it was NOT after I had drank the yard of margarita) when I felt positively blissed out, from my head to my toes. It felt...like I guess people feel religion when the spirit takes them. I was just so fucking happy.

I've spent so much time feeling like a shadow of myself, all turned upside down and inside out till I don't know where the hell I am or who the hell I am. I've spent all my time being Matthew's mom, and Tessa's mom, and the person who pays the bills and does the laundry and waits for the cable guy. But this weekend I got to be *me*, the fun me, the giggling me, and who cares if I have somehow or another turned 42 overnight. A random guy on the street told me I was beautiful, and who cares if he was about 55 and gimpy?

Plus I lost less than $100, a minor miracle considering I was there from Thursday night to Sunday night, and I only play slots (though that total includes the $20 I bet and loss on the debacle loss that UCLA suffered on Saturday). That's practically a win in my book!

I wish I could have brought home the feeling I had, laughing and joking and singing with these wonderful parts of me, these friends that I miss in a visceral way, all the more when I realize afresh how much I love them. I still have the feeling, I guess, as a memory, but I wish somehow it hadn't all stayed in Vegas.

The Best Sentence EVER

Matthew just uttered the best sentence ever, in talking to Tessa about his day:

"I like that school MUCH better!"

:)

Finally, BTS

I cried after the school bus drove away, as it was the first time one of my kids has sailed off away from me on a bus, but it was mostly the release of pent up anxiety. I've been so stressed out about this day, the day Matthew would start at his new school. I worried about getting both kids ready earlier than they were used to. I worried about driving Tessa to school and then getting back in time to put Matthew on his bus. I worried about how he would react to the bus ride, and stepping into a completely alien environment, all by himself. I've escorted my kids every step of the way, from daycare to the present day, and I had to watch him ride away, without me.

I guess he did fine. When I asked how his day had been, as he returned to me on the school bus, he replied, "Good." I didn't press for details, not yet. As the afternoon wore on, I found out that they had been served breakfast at "morning meeting," but since he'd already had breakfast at home, he just had some coffee cake. Lunch was great. He didn't care for any of the drinks they had, so he had his lemonade that I'd packed for him. They had a variety of snacks available.

So the majority of the details I gleaned concerned food. But that was okay.

I asked how the kids in class seemed, and he said that they seemed very nice. So that's good. They played board games all together during recess.

Tomorrow Ross and I will go to a meeting with Matthew's therapist, and we'll probably get a better idea of how things went. In any event, it wasn't awful, and that's a good start!

Today's Orientation

Today's orientation went very well! I really do think it's going to be a great school for Matthew.

We met with Matthew's teacher (he's young and sorta cute ) and two aides, all of whom were SUPER nice! There are 8 kids in his class (including 3 girls, which I'm glad about, since a lot of these programs are almost all boys and I thought he would miss the mix of genders). There's a full kitchen in the classroom, so he can bring anything he wants for lunch and they'll cook it for him! So he'll get to eat his little Trader Joe's pizzas! I think that will really help his behavior in the afternoons, to eat a real lunch. He has never eaten more than fruit or at best yogurt for lunch at school and these days he really NEEDS to eat! They also serve them breakfast everyday as a group, and snacks, and they provide all drinks, even for lunch.

The teachers meet each kid at the bus every morning, so they are escorted to class right from the beginning. Specials are all done as a class, with no other classes, so it'll just be the 8 kids at gym and music and art. That is SO great, as Matthew used to have such a hard time in the gym with 40 kids (2 classes at a time) in it!

Matthew didn't talk too much during the meeting (he hates these situations when people pose direct questions at him, even innocuous stuff like "How was your summer?"), but he felt much better after the meeting. He was so nervous beforehand, so that was a real relief.

We'll see how Monday goes :)!

Goodbye to Summer, Sort Of

Thanks Meg, for asking about Matthew's school situation. He will be going to the therapeutic private school, and he doesn't start till Monday. Ross and I went in for our parent's orientation last week, and it went very well. Everyone is so kind there, and I'm feeling much better about the whole transition.

Tomorrow is Matthew's orientation. It's really nice: they bring each kid in individually to meet his (it's mostly boys at the school) teachers and therapist, so it's not a zoo with all the kids in the class there at the same time. Just the RX for anxious kids! Though "all the kids in the class" doesn't amount to that many, as average class size is 8, with a teacher and two aides. I'll definitely update after the orientation, and no doubt again when he starts on his first day.

Today was Tessa's day to see her classroom and meet her teacher. Her first day is tomorrow. It worked out well that my kids aren't starting school on the same day, so they get a little special attention on their first days (plus it was a real bonus to get to point out to Matthew that he gets a couple extra days of vacation!). Tessa was thrilled to find that many of the kids from her class last year will be in her class this year, and she was tickled pink (the best color, of course) that she is sitting between Sofia and Sophia. Sofia has been in her class for the last two years, so they are old friends. And last year Sophia was in her reading "group" (composed of the two of them, despite the fact that they were in different classes, because they were the only first graders reading at third grade level), so she knows her well. Tessa is stoked about starting school tomorrow, and this evening she took it upon herself to review her language arts workbook from last year, so she'd be prepared for the new year. That child blows my mind.

So it's the last day of summer vacation, sort of. Matthew doesn't start till Monday, but tomorrow he'll go to his new school. I think he'll be really relieved once he's seen his classroom, met the staff, and thus knows what to expect. He's actually done a good job of distracting himself from his nervousness. On Friday he goes to a new dentist and to the pediatrician, so it won't exactly be a "fun" day, but it still lets him eke out his vacation a bit longer.

I really can't believe summer is over, but it was a good one.