Birthday Girl on Call

Yesterday was Sumie's 28th birthday.  Amazing.  I still don't quite know how she got through college, medical school, residency, and fellowship so quickly, but she assures me the age is correct.  And she looks it, too.  I suppose those supposedly "missing" years somehow transferred to me as I'm constantly being told (perhaps by my wife?) that I look good for someone in his late forties (ouch).

Unfortunately, Sumie was on call for her birthday weekend (she'll be on call through Thanksgiving, actually).  We wanted to have some family over for a party, but we'd have to host it at our house so that Sumie could be close to the hospital should she be called in.  This meant some heavy cleaning and prep for me and Mimi, but we were definitely up to the job.

We started our shopping with a few cakes from Schubert's bakery on Clement.  They're amazing.  I got two - one strawberry mousse and one chocolate mousse - as the members of our family have a tendency to refuse cake at first only later to down two or three pieces.  From the bakery we swung by the Salvation Army Home Store to see if they had anything worthwhile.  They did, and Mimi was ecstatic!

I think the box of Lego weighed as much as Mimi, but that didn't stop her from hoarding it.  The girl really loves those little plastic blocks. 

After picking up supplies from Safeway it was time to cook and clean.  Sumie's sister and her family would be arriving around 5 and they'd be bringing Sumie's mother, who had just come out from New York and would be staying with us for a few days.  Mimi was a tremendous help by sitting on the couch and, for the very first time, not screaming as I vacuumed the living room.

Before I knew it, Kae and her family had arrived and it was time to pick up Sumie.  She'd gone in extra early that morning (around 7:00am) and now, at 6:00, she was finally ready to come home.  I drove over to the hospital where Sumie practically leaped into the car.  She likes birthday parties, particularly her own.

There was a ton of food, as usual: Kara-age (Japanese Fried Chicken), Harumaki (spring rolls), Inari (slightly sweet rice in tofu packets), and much, much more.

After loading up our plates in the kitchen, we then sat ourselves around the coffee table which, for all intents and purposes, has turned into our formal dining space. 

Everyone started to eat.  Everyone except for Mimi.  She seemed to have other plans. 

Now I understand why she was so excited to get that box of Lego earlier.  She wanted a new hat.

After dinner and cake it was time to open presents.  Mimi loved the ribbons.

All told, I think Sumie had a fun birthday, even though she'd been on call.  All the hard work and excitement took their toll, though.  By 11:00pm Sumie had passed out on the couch.  I tried to get her to go to bed, but she refused, saying she wanted to enjoy all of her birthday.  That's my wife.  She loves her birthdays.  Even when she's sleeping through them!

12 Days On, 2 Days Off

We're quite happy it's Friday around here.  The weekend has been well-earned.

As part of her new position, Sumie takes call for a full week at a time.  The shift begins on a Friday morning, passes through the weekend, and finally comes to a close the morning of the following Friday. Thankfully, this week her call shift has been relatively light - no 2am emergency pages - but it has made for some very long days, and an even longer week.  A 12-day week, in fact.

Sumie did an amazing job over this last call.  No matter how tired she might have been, or how early she had woken up that day, once she got home she was all Mimi's.  I can't begin to share just how proud I am of her for being there for Mimi so thoroughly and consistently.  Mimi's thankful, too.  She may not be able to say so yet, but given that she yells out "Mama!" with unbridled eagerness whenever she hears the garage door, I think it's pretty apparent.

Naturally, when Sumie's on call it means that I, to a certain degree, am on "Papa-call."  Weekends are like weekdays - just me and Mimi - and I can't go out evenings as Sumie may be called in.  The first time I took Papa-call, several weeks ago, I went a bit haywire.  I've always liked having time to myself and, as I've discovered, toddlers are not very good at giving parents their "space."  As the week progressed, I felt more and more tied down.  Though I was technically free to do whatever I wanted, my actions had to meet with Mimi's approval.  As such, freedom only came at nap time.

Because the last one was a little rough, I was anxious about going through this week's call with Mimi.  I'm very thankful to report that things have improved.  The week really has, for reasons I can't fully explain, been a joy.  Though Mimi and I have had our disagreements (7 or 8 regarding the reading of books have occurred while writing this blog post.  Mimi won every time.) we're learning how to live with each other in relative harmony.  She's starting to get that when Papa's in his chair, Papa's working.  And I'm starting to get that even when I'm in my chair, sometimes there are things, like a quick book read, that supercede whatever I'm working on.

One major difference between the last Papa-call and this one has been how Mimi and I interact.  Only a few weeks ago, the relationship felt much more like care-giver and client.  But now, it's more like we're playmates.

I'm still in charge - at least theoretically - and she still drives me nuts on a regular basis, but there's a much greater sense of play, and even teamwork, in all that we do.  It's almost as if our small, daily actions - reading, flashcards, drawing, eating, napping, shopping, etc. - are helping us to form a greater dialog.  In other words, there feels to be some actual two-way communication now!

I didn't expect the change, but it is a very welcome and very heartwarming one.  I guess both Mimi and I have grown up a bit this last week.

Granted, one of us still likes to crawl under the coffee table, but I think we'll let that one slide.