Paging Dr. Freud! …Help?

Two nights ago I awoke to the Worst. Dream. Ever. While that may not say much comparing it to my dreams of shopping, walking around the park or talking with a friend about the most recent episode of Lost, I can honestly say that I cannot imagine a worse dream. It was awful.

Worst Dream Ever started like any other dream I may have…

I was at the Pittsburgh Zoo with Alex. My camera was around my neck and I was enjoying a leisurely stroll, taking pictures and pointing to the animals. Alex was people watching, not taking any notice in the animals. When we reached the Lions, I put the brakes on the stroller and zoomed in to take a picture.

Alex was making all sorts of noises, so I looked down to see what was going on. He wasn’t in his stroller. When I looked up, I saw a man holding Alex.

I had never seen this man before. Alex reached his arms out toward me as the man started walking away. I threw my camera into the stroller and started chasing after the strange man holding my son. He started running. I started running. I was screaming and screaming, “Stop him! He has my child!” but no one was doing anything.

The man was getting away. He was much faster than I was, and I was angry at myself for wearing flip flops. I couldn’t run fast enough. I saw a couple and decided that I would enlist their help. The man looked at me and stood up with worry in his eyes. “Somebody stole my baby! That man kidnapped my son!”

He started running after the man who had taken Alex. He was running extremely fast, and it looked like he was going to catch up.

The path to the zoo was just one long straight-a-way. I could see them gaining distance on me. I continued to run as fast as I could, but was not anywhere near catching up to them. I could hear Alex screaming and crying.

Suddenly, I had a horrible pain on my left foot. I continued running. The pain got worse and worse. My foot was starting to go numb. I couldn’t run anymore.

I sat down on a small bench, and the wife of the man who was chasing after Alex sat down next to me. She looked at my foot and had a look of utter horror on her face. “I think you got a snake bite…” I looked at my foot, and could tell she was right. There were two small, deep, wounds, bleeding profusely. My foot was completely numb, and I could feel my lower leg tingling.

The snake bite was quickly paralyzing me.

Looking up, I couldn’t see Alex anymore. I couldn’t see the man chasing after them. I burst into tears, and the woman told me that everything would be okay.

When I woke up, my eyes shot open. I looked around the room. I could see a small amount of light entering through our curtains.

Alex was fast asleep. He was curled up, laying on his side, in the corner of his crib, arms wrapped around the bumper. His blanket was kicked off of him, and his little socks were falling off of his feet.
I put the blanket on top of him, and crept back into bed.

Worst. Dream. Ever.

Thursday Thirteen #5

This is part 5 in my Thursday Thirteen series, getting me up to 104 things about me!

Allison’s Thursday Thirteen: Part 5

1. I was in the 5th percentile for height until I was in 5th grade. I hit a growth spurt at that time, and since then have been just above average. I’m 5′5″ now.
2. I love to sleep. If I could, I would sleep for 12 hours a night and be thrilled.
3. I took four years of French. I couldn’t hold a conversation in french if my life depended on it!
4. I have gone on many long drives. My Mother and I always drove places. We drove from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, PA to Florida, PA to MA, PA to ME, PA to AR…basically, I have spent an enormous amount of time in the car!
5. I type at around 100 words per minute It varies a bit. I just took two typing tests online and got 98 and 112 wpm. (I am always about 95% accurate too.)
6. I have freakish hair. It grows insanely fast. I can chop it all off and within a year it will be back down to my shoulders.
7. I love taking baths. I don’t take them to get clean, but to relax. Generally, I shower and then take a bath to relax. It’s wasteful, so it doesn’t happen very often.
8. I hate buying people presents from a list. I feel like it doesn’t show how much I care when I just choose a gift from a wish-list (like on Amazon.com), so I try to rely on thinking of something on my own.
9. I love to shop. Fortunately, I’m also really cheap. The two even each other out pretty well.
10. I have bad knees. They got bad during that growth spurt and have never been great since then. While I rarely feel them now, I still can’t run very much without them throbbing.
11. I love Pixar. They make the most unbelievable movies.
12. I enjoy reading Sci-Fi. My most recent read was “Red Planet” and I loved it.
13. I wish I had a talent. Most people are amazing at something and I haven’t yet found my something. Hopefully I will.

Wordless Wednesday: Incoming!

Stop Touching My Child!

I don’t know how to make people stop touching Alex.

Whenever we go out, wherever we go out, people come up to him. They talk to him, touch his face, brush his hair with their fingers, and try to hold his hand. Women and men alike will come up to him. If it is just the two of us out, at least three people will walk up to him every hour. It seems that when I’m with more people it doesn’t happen nearly as often. Because of this, I’ll avoid going out without someone else with me. I don’t like strangers touching my son.

Walking up to an infant, or any child, without invitation, is unacceptable for so many reasons:

1. You aren’t talking to me. You know, the adult. You are ignoring me. Treating me like I’m just an object in the way. Clearly, you need some help, because he can’t talk yet. Oh, and he probably doesn’t like you because I probably don’t like you. He follows my lead on whether or not to like someone.

2. He’s not property. He’s not a pet. He is a human being. Would you come up to a grown adult and just grab them because you felt like it? If you would, you especially need to stay away.

3. You’re probably carrying some sort of illness. Most of us are, so it’s not really personal.

4. It’s just rude. Would you want me coming up and interrupting your conversation? Would you want me to walk up, pretend like you are not there, distract you, all while you are clearly in the middle of something?

Seriously, back off. I don’t know how to tell you nicely to get away, so I’m probably going to say something rude. It would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to say anything. If you would just keep your hands to yourself. Weren’t we all taught that in Kindergarten?

Adventures Of Crying Baby

We live in a very interesting apartment building. There are many elderly people, a lot of small families, and quite a few students. On our floor we have an older couple who likes to take walks with walking sticks, a young couple with a giant dog (the giant dog in an apartment complex don’t add up in my opinion), our 20-something neighbors who like to throw parties and smoke a lot of weed, and, my favorite, the baby in the apartment attached to ours.

Said baby likes to cry. All. The. Time. Before Alex was born, I was petrified. If a 15-month old cries all the time, what is a newborn going to be like? Fortunately, I had a lot of experience with young children and knew that most of them did not cry all the time.

When we brought Alex home from the hospital, he never cried. I distinctly remember the one night when he did, and how he was inconsolable for about 20 minutes (Yes, I’m really lucky, I know). He was less than a week old. Before the crying started, during the crying, and for long after the crying, there was another baby crying. Crying Baby was having a fit.

Another fit.

I don’t know why Crying Baby is always crying. She cries in the morning during breakfast, she cries all day long, and then she cries all night long. It’s almost constant.

For the first five months, Alex slept in our room with us. Our bedroom must be right next to the Crying Baby bedroom because we would hear this baby crying all night long. I’m convinced that one of the reasons Alex continued to wake up so much during the night was because of the incessant crying coming through the walls.

Maybe the parents just ignore Crying Baby. Maybe they believe in not responding to a baby when she cries. Perhaps it is part of the way they were raised. I never hear them consoling Crying Baby. I never even hear them with Crying Baby.

Whatever the reason is that Crying Baby is disturbing my sleep, I hope it stops soon. She must be over two years old now. She walks, she talks (in two languages, mind you), she’s ready to stop crying all of the time.

Obsessed? Maybe.

Showing off all of his teeth. There are now 8, four on the bottom and four on the top. My guess is that the molars aren’t far off, because he’s putting everything in the back of his mouth and chomping these days. And the drool. Oh the drool!

Alex already loves Catch Phrase. He’s going to fit into the family so well as he gets older! Once he’s old enough, he, too, can turn it into a fun game to play while you are having some drinks.

Always a curious child. (There was nothing under there, in case you were wondering.)

Every time I see this picture, I just imagine what’s going through his head: “I have the giraffe! If you don’t give me 2 bananas in the next five minutes he’ll be gone!”

Right after I took this picture, I found something in his mouth. I have no idea what it was, or where he got it. He was not amused when I dug my fingers in his mouth to retrieve it.

“Babies are such a nice way to start people.”

Thursday Thirteen #4

This is part 4 in my Thursday Thirteen series, getting me up to 104 things about me!

Allison’s Thursday Thirteen: Part 4

1. I hate raw onions.
2. I love raw peppers, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, and most vegetables that you can eat raw. I don’t eat nearly enough of them, but hope that my new diet will get me back to eating them more often!
3. I have seven half brothers and sisters. My Father had seven children with his first wife. I consider myself an only child, but in reality I have seven siblings!
4. I have only broken one bone in my body. It was one of the bones in my middle finger on my right hand. I had to wear a little finger splint for a short period of time. Now, my right middle finger is fatter than my left middle finger.
5. I have an amazing memory. When it comes to my life and the life of the people I care about, I remember everything. Sometimes I may need a reminder, but it’s there!
6. I have a horrible memory. When it comes to facts, specifically about people or things I don’t really care about, I cannot remember a thing! Even if I enjoy a movie, I couldn’t tell you what it was about a few days later!
7. I have a tremendous sweet tooth.
8. I didn’t know that I loved steak until a few years ago. My mom insists on eating her steak medium-well to well done. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I tried it medium rare and realized that steak is delicious.
9. I used to have my belly button pierced. I took it out when I got pregnant.
10. I was taught how to tightrope walk when I was about five years old. My Grandmother had a student who became a clown, so when we went to visit him at a circus I got to walk on a tightrope. Don’t worry, it was only about a foot off of the ground!
11. I have done two illegal drugs. Both of them are actually legal, just not for me or here in Pennsylvania.
12. I don’t understand the whole Star Wars thing. I have only seen the original three movies once, and it was about 10 years ago. I guess I need to watch them again to really judge them.
13. I am petrified of getting old. The thought of aching all the time, losing my memory, not being able to walk without hurting, getting diseases, etc., all scare me. A lot.

Wordless Wednesday: “See, Mama? I Can Feed Myself!”

Vacation By The Numbers and Pictures

10 hour drive from Pittsburgh to Boston

9 hours that Alex spent sleeping on the drive from Pittsburgh to Boston overnight

1 amazing lunch in Harvard Square with the wonderful Sarah and her boyfriend, Andy

1 night out on the town with Sarah and a few friends

200 ounces of beer shared between five people in a beer “tower”

3 tiny little finger nails that drew blood on the side of my nose (thanks, Alex)

2 people that ended up whimpering because of that scratch

9 hours in the sun in New Hampshire at a family gathering

200 hugs and kisses for all of the family members

5 short naps for Alex throughout the day

30 sips from a straw in a juice box at Legal Sea Food by Alex

6 pictures taken of the first juice box adventure

13 hours spent coming back to Pittsburgh from Boston

7000 tears shed by Alex on the drive back from Boston

3 million calories eaten on the drive to Boston and back (thank you Wendy’s and McDonald’s!)

1 new (to us!) Honda Pilot

Thursday Thirteen #3

This is part 3 in my Thursday Thirteen series, getting me up to 104 things about me!

Allison’s Thursday Thirteen: Part 3

1. I would have been named “Tiffany” or “Melony” if it had been up to my Father. I’m glad my Mother didn’t approve, because I don’t think those names fit me at all.
2. I wore a size 8 shoe until I got pregnant, and now wear a 8.5 or 9. I really wish my feet had shrunk back to normal size, because I miss my shoes dearly.
3. I think my eyes are my best feature.
4. I am a Capricorn, though not always. I don’t know why it changes, but occasionally I’m a Sagittarius. My Mother is a Capricorn, my Father a Sagittarius. My Mom was in labor all day on what would have made me a constant Sagittarius, but I was born a few hours after midnight. I’m a “cusp baby.”
5. I scored higher on the math portion of my SAT than the verbal by 10 points. I can only think of one other person who scored higher on the math.
6. I have lost two dogs and a cat in my life. I sobbed tremendously after each of them passed.
7. I have taken two religion classes. One was a study of (parts of) the Hebrew Bible, the other an overview of a few of the most prominent religions. From my studies, I think Buddhism is the most beautiful religion.
8. I can’t whistle. It’s pathetic when I try because this tiny little high pitched noise sometimes makes its way out of my lips. Normally, I just blow out silent air and look silly.
9. I was amazingly good at gymnastics as a child. I competed multiple times a week, but quit because I hated the competition aspect. You couldn’t just do gymnastics at that level, they made you compete.
10. I have the most boring dreams you could possibly imagine. The last dream that I can remember having: I was at Whole Foods with my son, trying to find black beans. They weren’t where they normally are, so I had to ask someone for help. The person I asked for help told me that they were in aisle 10, but there was no aisle 10. I found the beans in aisle 11, which also had Heinz ketchup in very large glass bottles. See? If you even read that I’m impressed.
11. I love the movie “Big Daddy.” An inordinate amount. I’ve probably seen it over a dozen times.
12. I come from a family of educators. My Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Uncle, Aunt, Great Aunt, Great Uncle, and maternal Great Grandparents were all educators. Some teachers, some administrators. My Great Grandmother even had a Ph.D
13. I was pulled over by a cop for speeding once. I had just gotten my license, was pulling off of a main highway in Maryland, and there was no speed limit sign. I kept with traffic, and about 6 of us got pulled over. I started crying (out of fear) and he gave me a warning.