Happy Fourth, and notes

And enjoy the day. Meredith's working, so it's me and Sam in bachelor's paradise. I'm thinking burgers are in my near future.

It's been an interesting summer leading up to this point. Meredith survived a job cut, I survived the beginning of my return to school. Sam has learned to pick up and eat even the tiniest bits of debris we leave around the house.

We took him for his 9-month-checkup on Monday and got the "Yep, still normal" OK from his pediatrician. He's ahead of the game in a lot of things, behind in a few. His height/weight percentile's are a little wierd: he's taller than 70 percent of kids his age, and weighs less than 90 percent of them.

Tall and skinny doesn't exactly run through the Segrist family, so Sam can thank Mama. I no longer say "amen" at the end of his bedtime prayers, I start chanting "Six feet tall! Six feet tall!"

Running wild
The doctor says Sam may be walking in a couple of months. That'll add some wrinkles. He's crawling all over everything and getting into everything, as it is.

I just want him to stop licking the toilet. We keep the bathroom door shut, but anytime I open it, he's running towards the porcelin like Emmitt Smith to daylight.

Algebra done with
Summer school is over. I'm skipping the second term for several reasons, but mainly because I'm investigating what I want to do next. There's about 843 different alternative certification programs, and none of them do things the same way.

At first I was looking at UT-Arlington, then I discovered that, to qualify, I'd have to take about 2-3 years of math classes. Then I heard about an online program I-teach, which moves pretty fast. Most recently I hear that Texas Woman's University offers certification with a master's degree so you can start at the better pay levels.

No idea. I'll be making a few phone calls.

Sorry, honey
I had to ask a really strange, disturbing question this morning.

"Did I hit you last night or was that part of the dream?"

All I remember is I was standing in a room and marshmellow cream began pouring in through this tube, and it was vitally important that I stop it. I reached for it suddenly, and then heard Meredith: "Ow! You hit me! You hit me!"

I apologized, several times -- mainly because I wasn't sure if I had fallen back asleep and had only apologized in my dream.

She's OK. The fact that she now has bump makes me queasy.

I can only figure that it had something to do with my tiredness, stress levels working out in sleep. It's been a rough opening of summer and we're both exhausted. The studying has taken a lot of hours and Meredith has had to lose a lot of sleep to pick up the slack I left with Sam. I'm happy we have a few months to put some things back in order.

Just hope I don't become one of those freaks who have to be tied down when they sleep that you see on Discovery Channel documentaries.

Some pictures for Grandma ...