Day 16: If Only Tonight We Could Sleep...

 After a short night, and getting up early for work, my work meeting was canceled this morning so I thought I'd get some blissful sleep. Thought.

I woke up Betty and asked her to get ready for school. She has a poster with the 6 things she needs to do to get ready. #1 is eat breakfast.

"Betty, you should go downstairs and eat breakfast"

"I need help"

"No, you don't. Have some pop tarts. You can do that yourself."

"I don't want pop tarts"

"Ok, how about cereal?"

"I don't WANT cereal!"

"Yogurt? Pudding?"

"I DON'T WANT THOSE! I WANT TOP RAMEN!"

"Top Ramen for breakfast? Are you sure? Why not have a nice bowl of cereal?"

"But I want Top Ramen!"

"OK Betty. You know how to make Top Ramen." (she really is a capable 6 year old) "Why don't you make some Top Ramen for yourself?" 

"I don't WANT to make Top Ramen. I want YOU to."

"But I'm going to sleep"

"MOOOOOOOM!!! DADDY'S BEING MEAN TO ME!"

Yep. that kind of morning. So, Betty climbed on Jen's bed and whined at her. I tried to sleep in the rocking chair. Jen's morning alarm was going off every 5 minutes on her phone.

...FOR TWO HOURS. Jen and I were both so tired that we couldn't really wake up and process what was going on. Betty was being stubborn and rather than have a decent breakfast of Cereal OR Pop Tarts OR Yogurt OR Pudding (OR Toast, OR a bagel), she whined and poked at us all morning.

So.. Betty was late for school. Finally, at 9:30, I stumbled downstairs, defeated, and made some top ramen. I then fed Ida and fell asleep with her on my chest while Jen took Betty to school.

We had our first well-child checkup with Ida this afternoon. Things went OK. No real surprises or anything. She's in the 5th percentile for weight, 8th percentile for length, and 1st percentile for head size. She's tiny.

Then home to try to cobble some naps together before the big evening:

THE CURE!!!

 

All dolled up and ready to see the world's biggest goth band.

 

Good friends Mick & Daisy (post concert)

An awkward selfie. (all my selfies are awkward)

During the opening band (The Twilight Sad. First I've heard of them. I was super impressed. I need to listen to their music), Jen found the Rose Garden mother's lounge and got Ida fed and milk pumped. She was the only one in there.

above: Superwoman: somehow managing to pump, feed baby a bottle, and take a selfie all at the same time.

 

In the hall, I ran into our midwife Tracy. She wasn't involved in Ida's birth, but we love her so much.

 

Betty has been on (facebook) Kids' messenger on her tablet for a while now, but she mostly just uses it to do video calls and put dog faces on people. She's discovered, however, that mom and dad don't do video calls in concerts, so she tried texting. This is a first. This is really good (goob) for a 6 year old:

 

 

 Jen managed to get back from the mother's lounge and stumble into our seats just as the first song was beginning. (and what a song!) I quickly fed Ida (who was a little squally but nobody could hear), and by song 2, she was asleep and slept the entire concert with her little earmuffs on.

 

snuggling Ida during the show

My hair glows in the blacklight.

So Ida slept the whole show! She was so peaceful and cute! And the show? Phenomenal. What a setlist! Some really obscure songs. Some really old songs. Lots of dirges (love the dirges). They played If Only Tonight We Could Sleep! and Burn! and Disintegration! and From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea! Plus, they played 6 new songs, and the new album (if it ever comes out) is going to be awesome.

yep, that's a band down there.

Ida was also the hit of the party. Everyone who saw her gushed over her. I think our neighbors at the show were a little worried when they saw her, but by the time she zonked out, I think her cuteness (and quietness) won them over.

 

The demographics at the Cure show were interesting. Most concerts tend to slant male, but this one was different. Mostly older people, as expected; but several twenty-year-olds and teens. We even saw a handful of kids; only one BABY though. We got a lot of ooohs and ahhs-- I'm sure it was memorable: big fat guy with bright orange hair holding a tiny baby. 

 

I got a lot of "She's going to be the coolest kid when she grows up!" and "She will be so cool for going to this show"... but I did the math. Ida seeing The Cure in 2023 would be like my parents taking me to see Glenn Miller and His Orchestra or Bing Crosby when I was born. An interesting fact, but not cool in the slightest, or even relevant.

 

After the show, I made a bad recommendation to my friends. We went to Virginia Cafe in Portland. I've only been there in the daytime, and it's quiet, if kinda seedy. Their hamburgers are delicious. Maybe the best I've had outside a summer cookout. I've also seen on their hours that they're open late, but ... I haven't actually been there late, until now.

When we got there, it was super sketchy, with a group of loud, LOUD drunk people outside. Also, it said "No Minors", which would probably get Ida kicked out. We decided to leave,  and then one of the drunk ladies rolled off the picnic bench and cracked her head on the concrete. 9-1-1 was called, and we disappeared before we could get in any more trouble.

Ida was done after sitting in the concert for so long. She cried most of the way home. Then, Jen and I had some late night cereal and an Ida feeding, then blogging. Ready for the sleeping.