Trout Fishing in Dallas, and more

[celticdragonfly]

Long, exhausting day.

So I'd found out that Trout Fishing in America was playing for a KERA live broadcast out at the Dallas City Library today at 1 pm. Cool. We're fond of their music, and I'm not able to go to the regular concert, due to kids and money issues. (Pity - they're playing with the Austin Lounge Lizards, much recommended by kd5mdk ) So what the heck, it was free, I kept Brendan home so we could go. Went crazy this morning getting everybody fed and bathed and dressed and packing lunch for everybody and headed out.

(Realized on the way home that I was supposed to go by the doctor's office on the way out to pick up Brendan's prescription, and I didn't. Pardon me while I bang my head against the wall...)

This was the first time I've driven into downtown Dallas. I've been around some of the edge, like going to Richardson for ConDFW, but not central Dallas. Interesting. Okay, any Dallas people, help me out here. There's a building labeled "Children's", with a balloon for the i, nothing else, just Children's. Children's what? Is it a hospital? And what's that building right across the 183 from the Medieval Times, near the something Trade building? All over panes of glass and fancy ironwork, looked like it ought to have been in Queen Victoria's Exposition or something. And downtown, what's that building with the spire with a buckyball thingy on top? Curious minds want to know.

Got there in time to deal with parking, changing diapers, etc. Had to go upstairs to the children's section to find a place to change the babies. My gods, I'm impressed. Their children's section is larger, better stocked and equipped, and far better decorated than the whole Saginaw library. Sigh. (Look forward to getting that all-Texas library card in the future, but I have to have had 6 months and 6 successful checkouts from here first. Must start checking out random books to fulfill this, as I don't think they have anything I want at Saginaw. Realized we've ended up in the town with the good school district and the crappy library - if we'd been in Fort Worth proper we'd have had the opposite. Which if we were going to homeschool everybody would have been the way to go. But this school district is doing good work with Brendan.)

The concert was fun. But gods it's tough juggling three kids! My poor autistic boy Brendan found the guitars too loud, and had his hands over his ears most of the time. We need to get him earplugs - need to do that for school anyway, where he's been taking to wearing the computer headphones over his ears some of the time protectively, and I want him to use the earplugs instead to make him less conspicuous. Maggie wanted to run and play, and go upstairs to be where I couldn't see her, and generally be difficult. What is it when my kids are more trouble than anyone else's? She wasn't as loud as Brendan was at that age, but still, the wanting to run off in various directions, when everybody else's kids seem content to focus on whatever they should be, worries me. (Back to the whole "I shouldn't have kids" feeling, sigh.)

We got through it. It was too crowded to go talk to them afterwards, so we went back upstairs for more diaper changes and a chance for Brendan to check out the stairwell solar system diagram he'd been able to see from downstairs. I'm impressed with the children's section, I saw several books that I wanted to check out! When we went back downstairs they were finishing things up and it was quieter, so I did talk to them some. They're going to play at the Fort Worth library in October, on a Sunday, so I can drag selenite along to help me.

Had to get selenite on the phone to help me get out of downtown, as I'd neglected to get "reverse directions" and there were lots of confusing one way streets. Stopped at Irving Mall on the way home to do some clothes shopping for Jamie, who's outgrowing things at a prodigious rate. That was difficult and exhausting. I did release a book into the wild. Unfortunately the shopping ended up delaying my drive home into rush hour. Ugh.

I got home and just barely had time to feed Jamie again and grab stuff and head back out with selenite to go to the CUUPS full moon circle at FJUUC. He was going into the circle, I was staying in the nursery with the kids, but at least I got to socialize before and after. It turned out to be Amy's birthday, and she was inviting people to come home and have a bite and then go out dancing with her. We went by her house for a bit, stayed for the cake, and then headed home. I am TOTALLY exhausted. My eyeballs hurt!

Comments

tower with bucky ball

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

I suppose you'ld gone off to college. Jacqui, Robyn, Dad and I went up in that tower. It has an outside walk around it's upper circumerance. Gives you a nice gory look at the book deposity building, et. al. Can you believe we got Jacqui up there? yes, but never again! Bwah ha ha!
Mom

too much sound!

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

Told the story to Robyn. She, who was the "girl in front of the band" as a jazz vocalist, still remembers being little and there just being too much sound around her. Interesting.

Re: tower with bucky ball

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I recall a trip when you guys all went to Dallas, and I was at the university in Oklahoma for a Junior Classical League yearly convention, and you guys drove out from Dallas and picked me up there, and then we continued on for the Molybdenum business trip/family vacation trip into Colorado. So it must have been that trip.

So what IS that building?

[archangelbeth]

Don't worry -- there will be some mom around who is thinking, "Oh, thank goodness someone else has kids like that, too!"

On the practical side, can you get one of those harnesses? Aka "leading strings" in British, and "leashes" in slang? Saved my mind a few times with the minx... She was orbiting tables in restaurants a few times, and we just passed the leash back and forth...

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

> On the practical side, can you get one of those harnesses?

Heh, that would just increase the volume. She often reacts to someone trying to walk and hold her hand the same way my cats have always reacted to a leash - by completely going limp and collapsing. Except she's often also fussing or screaming.

I had her in the stroller at first, and that was okay for a bit. And there were parts of it when she was content to sit on my hip. But she likes to move around and explore.

Landmarks

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

"Children's" is the hospital, a very nice one. "Queen Victoria's Exposition" is probably the InfoMart, a computer-geek preserve... many of the non-standard machine/OS user's groups
(BeOS, Amiga, Linux, etc) meet there recreationally, several businesses have offices there. The spire-with-ball is "Reunion" tower .... Union being an unfortunate concept to link with
a structure the shape of a giant dildo.

Harnass

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

An idea/invention I've never implemented... but:

Take a stuffed plush toy like a teddy bear, and amputate the arms. Thread a bungee cord
thru the body. Sew accordian pleated fur tube arms back to the toy. For toy "hands" at
the end of the arms, a velco equipped loop .

You velcro one of "Bear's" hand to your wrist, and one to the child's wrist, with
admonishon to "hold hands with Bear, okay?" The bungee takes up shocks as the child
lunges around. The bear reduces the shock, to passersby and witnesses, of a parent
who feels the need to put a kid on a leash.

Re: Harnass

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

> Take a stuffed plush toy like a teddy bear, and amputate the arms

Okay, this is a very disturbing way to start a description.

But overall, yes, that sounds like a marvelous idea.

Really get fancy - add an alarm that goes off if the kid manages to disconnect their end?

[archangelbeth]

Oh dear.

Pouncer's idea is probably better.

Me, I just sort of dangled mine if she tried that. (I'm so heartless.) But with a babe in arms, that wouldn't work well, probably.