Tue 30 Aug 2005
We’ve just returned from my brother’s wedding in Florida. That means that Aitch has been sleeping in a hotel for the better part of two weeks. Aitch, like Eloise, is eminently suited to hotel life. He has an active and social disposition and loves to explore any new environment at full speed. Push all the elevator buttons! Run up and down the hallway! Climb on some strange man’s lap in the restaurant! Dash to the edge of the pool! He occasionally takes a break, but only at the most inopportune times.
Aitch’s parents, on the other hand, are active and social only in measured doses. At virtually all other times, we prefer to read. We read magazines in the bathroom, books before bed, and newspapers at meals. We read e-mail and blogs during conference calls. In the event of an emergency — for example, being stuck on a long plane flight after having exhausted all reading material — we make anagrams out of any visible text:
A CAB DEED UNIFIES CHINESE SNOUTS TO ‘VOLT, CA
When traveling, as you can imagine, Aitch’s need for speed comes into direct conflict with our need to read. Guess who wins? Here’s a hint: We are exhausted.
It’s a bit strange, having a child whose personality is so different from ours. I suppose we knew, intellectually, that our child would not come out of the womb clutching a New York Times and a backup Economist, but we thought there would be lulls. Our hopes of turning Aitch into a nice quiet, indoor, anti-social geek or bookworm are faint. Our aspirations for an occasional quiet interlude are pretty much pinned on child #2 now.
When we returned from our trip, we found a Notice of Favorable Disposition Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition in our mailbox. This means that the government is finally satisfied that we are not felons. We’re that much closer to having a second child in our family. We’re on the list!
September 26th, 2005 at 1:21 am
This is a funny entry to me, well, funny NOW! Cuz I grew up in a family of four readers, and one adopted hyperactive social sports fanatic child. hehe. I was one of the readers. My brother was not understandable to us, nor us to him. He only discovered books with the ones that you choose your own ending after every page. The rest of the time he harrassed the readers during their reading til someone (his older brother) lost patience and all hell broke loose. Very exciting climax to a lot of kinetic annoyance. Thank god he liked tv, and we could read with the tv on. I am happy to say that as a reader, I have fewer bodily woes than my sportsyoungster brother, and he eventually did read enough to get a degree at university. Have fun! btw if I were you, I’d hope for another kinetic sibling and they can play together while you and hubby read. If not, there will be three readers trying to adjust to one odd man out gogogo child.