Home, Sweet Home

So we're finally getting settled! Other than some painting and purchases that will have to wait, there's a place for everything and everyone. After the first couple of days of unpacking, Jay left for Florida. The kids and I spent time getting to know the area and swimming (if you could call it that. Jayson walked around the kid's pool with his life jacket on and said "I'm floating!") We walked to the store, drove to Ikea (scary!), and went to the Post Office. They gave us a key to our new mailbox and we have no idea which box is ours. Jay went out when he got home and tried it on every mailbox in the complex and it doesn't seem to work on any of them. We live next door to a Giant (the popular grocery store chain) so we've spent a lot of time walking back and forth whenever we get a craving. I tried to catch a firefly one night after the kids went to bed so Jayson could see it in the morning but was not successful. I;m sure that was a great way for the neighbors to get to know me though...staring out of their windows at the nutter who seems to run a shelter for dogs and children out of her apartment because she always has a child strapped to her or chasing after her jumping around in the dark. We took Murphy to the Vet and she seems to think that he has allergies so she gave us new food, antihistamines, special shampoo, ointment, and antibiotics. She thinks that his constant paw licking that he started doing when we arrived in Virginia is perhaps psychological...a way of coping with the stress. He licked so much that bacteria started growing and now it's infected. His food is duck and potato flavored and completely hypoallergenic. Funny.

We've had the best couple of days with Jay home. Jayson laughs more with his dad around, and everything is just more fun with him here. Today we got out the door by 8:00 and went to the local Farmer's Market where we bought beets and cheese and a chocolate croissant for Jay. Then Jayson and I spent almost three hours at the Vet (not so fun, but Jayson found a tennis ball in the cupboard so we were entertained). After lunch, we all rode the Metro train up to Old Towne Alexandria (I don't know why they spell it that way!) and found a gigantic Whole Foods (the local natural food store chain) where we bought more produce and...a chocolate croissant for Jay (he needed to compare). We walked in the rain which felt great because it was so hot Then we came home and had dinner, then the kids went to bed early so they can get up for church in the morning and I'm just about to walk to Giant again, this time for a valid reason...we're out of Jayson's favorite:milk. Anything other than milk is not his favorite, which means that he would really prefer not to have it. I am happy to report though that after almost a solid week of wanting nothing but Honey Nut Cheerios to eat, he's been trying a new variety of foods including cold pizza. That may not seem like branching out, but for Jayson it was a huge step. He didn't even gag. He almost took a bite of salmon today! He smelled it and agreed that it was probably delicious, but that's as far as it got. This time. Lately he's been experimenting with things other than food...I caught him chewing on his flip-flop yesterday and today he chewed off a piece of his train ticket. Is he doing it as a way of coping like Murphy's licking disorder? Or is he just craving roughage? Or maybe he wants to find out why Aidan puts anything and everything in his mouth. I don't know, but I'm not going to worry about it unless he actually starts swallowing all of these non-edibles. Who has the time? We're just going to enjoy every moment together until Jay leaves again on Monday.