The boys are back in town

Ian and Julian were in Waco for a few days this week, which left me alone in this house for more hours than I've been alone here since Julian was born (not much of an exaggeration, even with the long days of work I had this week...). Toddlers don't leave you much space or time for yourself. It's just a fact that parents of young ones grow to accept. I fight it still (Putting him down for a nap at 9:30 instead of 10 or ignoring his shouts of "mom" that start 20 minutes after we both go down for a nap, for example.) but there's little use. He's interested in everything in the house except his things. The DVDs are particularly of interest, especially since he's figured out how to reach the eject button even though it's as high and far from his reach as we can get it. Friends, babysitters, even family members — everyone but fellow newish parents — have a hard time really understanding the attention and energy required to tend to, much less entertain and educate, a 19-month-old.

That's where Ian gets the super gold stars. I've officially decided that staying at home with Julian full time is not anything I'd want or would be capable of doing. It's getting to the point where Ian, too, is having to make the conscious decision to continue with the current childcare situation. We've been talking about finding somewhere for him a few days a week, which I hope will happen in the next few months. It would be good for everyone in this house to have some more time to him or herself.

My time away from the child is taken up pretty wholly with work or work-related activities. Thankfully, that also means I've been eating some fine food and meeting some fabulous people. I even got to go to the circus this week! That food price story on Wednesday ended up being more work than I thought it would be, but it was worth it to try to explain why some of H-E-B's prices have dropped amid the largest food price increases since 1990.

Thanks to neighbor/sound guy Pat, we got to see the lovely Patty Griffin last night at the Austin City Limits studio on the UT campus. It was a great show; the live rendition of "Bad News" kicked ass and her last song, which she wrote for a graduating class, brought tears to my eyes. Sunday is My Morning Jacket, which I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding a partner to go with. Triste. They are too good to miss.