February 6: A Long Day of Waiting in a Waiting Room

Phil's big Christmas present was three seasons of Duck Dynasty. He tells me that they are just as funny the second time through. The boys presumably agree with him.

Jadon has taken to making duck call sounds, a grating, non-syllabic, guttural sound. I had a night with a lot of wakings by various sons, and at one point I walked by the boys' bedroom and heard a duck call. Jadon was calling in his sleep.

Phil spent twelve hours in Charlottesville today. Our van is about to hit 100,000 miles. The automatic door gave out sometime this last fall, and the other door requires an unlatch from the inside before wrenching open the outside. With five sons in the back, having no doors that readily open is a safety hazard. We really should have dealt with this months ago, but the time got away from us (and we only take the boys out and about as a family one day a week; it's easy to overlook something so infrequent).

What a mercy we received. To have the doors taken apart, repaired, and reassembled was several thousand dollars. But Toyota basically had an extended warranty available (something like a recall), so most of the repair was covered.

I think Phil was worn out by most of a day in a repair shop waiting room, but how lovely to have a safe van again.

After a few days of trying to persuade the boys that learning scales is really fun!, the older two appeared to actually believe me today. At one point, I was holding Caleb over the sink, hoping he would pee (early potty training). Joe and Abraham were laughing. Isaiah was doing something he enjoyed. And Jadon was practicing the piano. It was so domestic, busy and blissful.

I uncovered my flute as I continue to unpack. I played for about fifteen minutes, and then longed to just spend hours playing the flute or the piano, something that required creativity and produced music. It's like my soul is craving music.

At one point while I was growing up, I was debating whether to buy some classical CDs. My mom said something like, "Buy them now, because once you're married and have children, you'll have neither time nor money for such things." Advances in technology aside, there is a lot of truth to that. I don't have an abundance of spare time or cash. I might want to practice the piano for an hour a day now, but that's not practical. The boys have the ability to practice that much, but do they have the desire?