A Special Kind of Angel

We have a lot to be thankful for in our family. There's the general thanks - thankful for everything we have, roof over our heads, food on our table, for living in such a beautiful place, for Peter's job, for family, for friends... and then this year, we have a few very specific things to be thankful for.

We are thankful for Alex's continued health - for the time, we seem to have his asthma under control - no major episodes despite a couple of colds, the most recent - his current bronchial mess, antibiotics included, and we didn't need use use the emergency medicine. For us, given months 13-24, it's a pretty amazing feat.

We're thankful that despite a few funky medical moments over the past year for me, all the scares were just scares.

We're thankful for our beautiful new home. We're looking forward to many happy memories to come.

And we're very thankful for the special angel that watches over Alex.

On September 30, we had an almost almost tragedy, but thanks to approximately 2 inches, I'd rather call it a miracle. Because the alternative still makes me nauseated and I occasionally burst into tears when left alone to think about what could've happened.

If you were in SoCAl the week of September 30, than you were sweating along with us. The a/c's were cranked up, the pools were getting used, and the fans were one high speed. Alex also came down with a terrible cold and simultaneous yet unrelated stomach virus (which lasted 10 days.) Pretty knarly. Since he was feeling so awful, he wasn't sitting in his usual spot in the family room - in the middle of the carpet in front of the couch, next to his train table and his toy garage. Instead, he was mellow, sick, hot, sitting on the sofa, in the very corner, nursing a soy milk (milk, is absolute favorite thing in the world, was verboten give the tummy issues). His toys for once, were untouched.

9/30 happened to also be one of the first days that we needed to use the fans in the house since we had such a chilly summer - averaging about 68-72 degrees for the majority of the season. I was in the kitchen, I think I was prepping Alex a light dinner or snack, something to get into his stomach, and my mom was at the kitchen table facing him. All of a sudden, I heard tremendous crashing sound and shattered glass followed by the piercing, horrified, screams of Alex. I froze for a second and then ran over to Alex. The fan had come crashing down 2 inches from Alex, shattering the glass from the light fixture. Alex's toy garage and his train table, as well as the leather cube that Alex loves to sit on, broke the fall of the fan. The fan that weighed 25lbs, with huge blades, and a light fixture that had a point at the base that served as a dagger and also pierced a perfect 2 cm hole all the way through his Sponge Bob Square Pants bat.




It took me a second to figure out what was going on, but I immediately grabbed Alex to make sure he wasn't injured. He was hysterical. Absolutely hysterical. But physically, unharmed. The blade from the fan was about 2 inches from the base of his feet; glass from the light fixture had shot up onto the sofa, but did not pierce him. For the next 15 minutes, I tried to hold it together while my son and mother continued to scream and cry. It was a horrible few minutes that seemed to take hours. Once I got everybody calmed down, and took pictures of what happened, I proceeded to clean up - I spent a good hour vacuuming the crash site, continually tracing the same grid pattern, listening to the shards of glass get sucked into the the tube and into the bag. Once the mess was cleaned up and everybody else was calmed down, it was my turn to lose it. And I did.
And then I filed a report with a consumer protection agency. I can't imagine this type of accident happening to another family, and causing some devastating injury.

I keep reminding myself that while a terrible thing happened, it could have been infinitely more terrible. Sometimes in the car I start to panic, and have to take deep breaths and check the rear view mirror to see a beautiful little man smiling back at me. Or screaming at me. Or singing the Yo Ho Ho song at me or Wheels on the Bus. I've heard people say that kids have special angels that watch over them, never really paid much attention to it - but now, I gotta say, after this, I have no doubts. So this year, Thanksgiving is a little more meaningful to us.

It's also been 2 years since my step-dad passed away, and oddly enough, tomorrow, Thanksgiving, is the actual 2 years to date; so while we'll probably have a solemn couple of moments, it's also a holiday that my step-dad loved, and I think one which deserved to be celebrated this year with him in mind. He used to be in charge of the pies, and my favorite was always his pumpkin - so in his honor, I made a pumpkin maple tart... from scratch... I hope I can do his memory justice. It was my first from scratch pie crust. Haven't tasted it yet, but it looks pretty darn good.

Heat Wave

This was the Friday after the fan incident. Alex was feeling better, his appetite was coming back, and I figured even if his stomach wasn't fully recovered, the kid deserved a cupcake. This is our favorite spot in San Clemente, he loves all the cupcakes, especially the mint chocolate one and the vanilla with sprinkles; my favorite happens to be the Cabernet Sauv cupcake (blackberry frosting, oh so delicious.)

On a happier note, here's a quick overview of our last 2 months. They've been crazy, busy, fun.
Despite having an all boy-boy, who turns everything into a ball, gun, weapon, tackles strangers, and runs around like a maniac, I'm determined to have a polite little maniac- who knows when to say please, thank you, and an excuse me follows a burp. (Instead of telling me he burped, he tells me he barfed. Close enough.) I also want him to know how to feed himself, so we've started cooking together, and yes, sometimes, in the grand Scripps tradition, we have afternoon tea. Since we can't have tea without baked goods, we make our own madeleines.


Alex is in charge of cracking the eggs, pushing any buttons, and of course, tasting.



He was also introduced to heavier rains this season, since this fall we've had some torrential storms. The "water falling down from the sky" was novel at first, but then... we started getting stir crazy. Not a whole lot to do with an energetic toddler when it's raining. We made many a trip to South Coast Plaza to visit the Puzzle toy store and carousel and run past Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Miu Miu, Escada, Bendel... Alex knows all the big names.





October also brought on the beginning of my favorite time of year. Starting with visits to pumpkin patches where we picked our own pumpkin, made friends with goats, and went on a tractor ride. We also did rounds at Disneyland, Legoland (we have passes!) and our favorite petting zoo, and hung out with friends at some of our usual haunts: Pizza, Mexican Food, Ice Cream, the cupcake place.







Me. and Alex. In a Boat. At Legoland.



Alex and Reggie.



More Rain. And Badminton.



Just another night at Pizza Port with his bud Anthony. Little boys like their big guns... it's in their DNA apparently.



The new Toy Story Ride at Disneyland. 3D. Big Hit. We now have a $20 Mr. Potato head. Thank you Disney.



La Costa Spa and Resort... we didn't play any golf or tennis or get any massages, but we had a great time just getting away for a couple of days.











It's Xmas at Disneyland!



Park date



Just another Tuesday with mom at the pier







Tree Lighting and Family Night at Fashion Island




Hot Cocoa with Mommy



Holidays at South Coast Plaza





I am also infinitely grateful for my amazing friends. Wishing everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving, and safe travels! Cheers to good health, happiness, and great friends forever.