Happy Birthday, Aunt Leanne!
I know that your favorite gift this year arrived early, but
the good news is that you didn’t spend your special day delivering that
particular present – since it isn’t like someone else could do that for you no
matter how much you joked about it last week.
Uncle Adam was in charge of the morning part of Aunt
Leanne’s birthday celebration, and while I’m sure that we don’t need to write
about all of the details here; it was funny when they told us that all three of
them had breakfast in bed - though Uncle
Adam didn’t need to cook anything for Zack.
While their new baby was Aunt Leanne’s favorite gift, the family ring
that her boys gave her was very nice too, and like the ring Dad gave Mom; it
has diamonds that can be switched out for birthstones as their family grows.
While they were having the birthday breakfast in bed party,
my morning was fairly quiet by comparison.
Mom did a Tai Chi lesson with Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and me; and we
were indoors again so that we could do a more advanced lesson than we could
have done by the river. Michael went
home for breakfast, and there isn’t anything exciting to report for the rest of
my morning routine today. Now that all
traces of the fall festival are gone from the park, kid and teen attention is
turning to Halloween. Though we still
have two weeks to the big day, the school Halloween dance is a week from
Friday; so dates and costumes are top chat topics now. The football game on Friday is big news for
the guys too, and Rowen and I can’t escape that topic if we want to spend time
with Michael and Tim; but they’re getting excited about Halloween too. We’re even tossing around ideas for doing
matching costumes, and I’ve had fun teasing Tim with suggestions that I know
he’d never go with – though, for example, Rowen and I both think that he’d be a
very cute Care Bear!
While I’m on the costume subject, we did decide on what to
do for Halloween while studying and babysitting after school; and we’ll have
Ethan and Ehlana with us too – just as Rowen and I have done for the past two
Halloweens. Tim and Rowen are going to
be Anakin Skywalker and Queen Padme Amidala, and while the significance of that
choice may dawn on Tim eventually; Michael’s grin was all the evidence I needed
to know he understood, and I explained it to Rowen later when the boys weren’t
around.
Okay, for those of you who don’t have photographic memories
or have no knowledge of Star Wars trivia; Anakin and Padme are secretly husband
and wife. That’s why I thought that
those characters were perfect for Tim and Rowen.
Michael and I are going to be Luke and Leia Skywalker, and
though we talked about having Michael go as Han Solo instead; we decided to
‘keep it in the family’, since Luke and Leia are Anakin and Padme’s kids. Yes, we also thought about doing that
combination with Michael and me as the parents and Ethan and Ehlana as the
twins; but Ethan and Ehlana wanted to be Ewoks.
That’s too cute; and I liked their choice better anyway.
That’s enough Star Wars information for one day, so let’s
get back to the main news of the day.
We managed to get our homework done while talking Halloween
costumes, and then Michael, Rowen, and Tim all needed to get to work; and I
needed to take Ethan and Ehlana over to Aunt Leanne’s so I could help Mom,
Grandma, and Aunt Grace with making dinner.
The guest list tonight was family-only so that Aunt Leanne wouldn’t get
any more exhausted than she already was keeping up with Zack day and night; but
that still meant we had eighteen for dinner – sixteen to cook for, excluding
Zack and Leah.
Aunt Leanne’s birthday roast was very entertaining; though
the women at the table spent as much time talking about babies as they spent
telling stories about the birthday girl.
Christine and Andrew are new to their grandparent roles; and they really
liked having a few hours to spend with Zack without the family competition they
had all weekend. They were happy to
share him with Grandma, Grandpa, and Zack’s Great-Grandma and Grandpa Johnson;
and our two families are moving closer together with the new grandchild
connection.
I was on the clean-up work crew too, but the Moms, Aunts,
and Grandmothers were sent off to hang out with Aunt Leanne, Zack, and Leah
while the ‘younger’ men worked too; and the grandfathers, Ethan, and Ehlana
supervised. The party after that was
more like a post-dinner social hour, and when it was time for Zack’s next
feeding; most of the guests headed home.
Grandma and Grandpa Carrington were the exceptions, and they stayed
while I went home to pack a bag; have a short Magi lesson; and help Mom with
getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night before going back to Uncle Adam
and Aunt Leanne’s house so that I could help out with Zack overnight and hopefully
let Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam both get a bit more sleep than they’ve been able
to get so far since last Friday.
Aunt Leanne and Zack were sleeping when I got back to the
house, and Uncle Adam went to bed too after his parents went home; while I’ve been
sitting in Zack’s nursery; working on my computer while he’s sleeping; and
taking care of him when he’s awake. He
isn’t on a schedule yet, but Aunt Leanne had already started pumping milk so
she’d be able to skip the occasional feeding or have a bottle available if she
was out somewhere; and I’ve managed to do two feedings without waking her or
Uncle Adam.
Yes, I cheated a bit doing that by using wards and sound
barriers, but Zack didn’t mind; and we’ve had fun together while his parents
have been catching up on their sleep.
I haven’t really written anything about the Magi side of my
cousin yet, and this is a good time for a first update on that. This wasn’t the first time I’ve talked
telepathically with Zack, since we did have a bit of contact when he was born;
but it was the first time we’ve communicated for any length of time. Being able to do that with my cousin is
another new step for the council; since they wouldn’t have allowed that before
with Magi cousins any more than they'd have allowed non-related Magi kids to
know about each other. We’re still
taking that very slow with Zack, just as we’ve done with Leah; but he’s doing
very well so far. His pre-natal training
has made a big difference too; and I think that Mom may be very close to having
an optimized program that the council can consider teaching to other new,
expecting Magi mothers.
While I can talk telepathically with Zack, and use other
talents around him, there are some rules too; with the biggest being that we –
Ethan, Ehlana, and I – do not attempt any form of link that might lead to a
bonding. He’s too young for that, and
Mom wants to make sure that nothing gets in the way of a Magi baby’s bonding
with his own mother and father. I
definitely agree with that, though I also think that we need to consider how to
handle developing that kind of a Magi relationship for the Magi kids who have
non-Magi parents.
Rowen, for instance, developed that bond over time with her
grandmother, but until that happened; it must have been very strange for her to
have all of those abilities with no way to express herself during the stretches
of time between visits with her Grandma Nancy.
We know from our Magi Project research that some Magi never get that
bond at all; though Uncle Adam has approached that particular question very
carefully.
Getting back to talking about Zack, while we’re not doing
anything that might encourage a Magi-level bonding; expressing our love is
definitely okay, and he responds to the empathic vibes he senses from us. Zack also loves getting to talk
telepathically with us, and while this was the first chance he and I had to do
that; he’s been able to talk with Ethan and Ehlana during the days when they’ve
been here with Mom; and the extra interaction with other Magi is helping his
development.
We both think that the cuddling is very nice too, and after
the first feeding I did with him; I rocked him for nearly a half-hour after
singing him to sleep before putting him back in his basinet.
It’s going on three now; I have my studies and work done;
and Zack won’t likely wake up again for another hour and a half or two; so I’m
going to put my computer away now and get a little sleep. I’ll need to wake Aunt Leanne for that
feeding; but she’ll likely be uncomfortable by then and need to have Zack nurse
anyway. I could go next door to the
guest room I was going to use tonight, but the love seat that Aunt Leanne
picked as part of the furniture for the nursery is comfortable; so I’m just
going to curl up here to make sure I hear Zack when he wakes – and hopefully
we’ll be able to get Aunt Leanne to join us without waking Uncle Adam.
I’m going to need to make up for that lack of sleep soon,
but this was worth losing the sleep for; and I’ll just give myself a little
Magi power boost in the morning so I can keep going all day tomorrow. For now, though, I’m going to nap while I can
before getting to play with my adorable little cousin again during his next
feeding.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
