This week, the Northeast endured the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. It's probably unfair to New Jerseyans and New Yorkers to refer to the damage in MA as devastation, as they are experiencing HORRIFIC damage-- still, even five days later. Roads are closed, power it still largely out, and people even lost homes and cars. Residents are competing to get the rations of gas available at gas stations. Entire sections of NYC were evacuated and later flooded. My brother, a Manhattan resident, was given a rental car and sent up to Boston to work from his company's MA office since the NYC office is out of commission for a while. It's hard to fathom that even in the technology area our lives can still be so thwarted by the powers of Mother Nature.
Up here. we had more typical tropical storm effects-- some flooding, some trees down, and a lot of power outages. In our house, power was down for about 29 hours. I wasn't sure how it would be experiencing a hurricane with an 8- month- old, but it ended up being sort of funny.
Mabel slept through the windy night, despite the howling, and even a few times when I will swear the house shook. Being only 8 months, she obviously had no idea what a power outage meant. I completely sympathized with my friends who have toddlers. I'm sure it is a test of one's patience to be met with the whines of, "But I WANNA watch Thomas the Tank Engine! Make that TV work!" Or, "Why isn't my food hotttttt?" You poor things, parents of tikes. You have my commiseration.
Mabel was instead almost creepily obsessed with the flicker of candle flames. She stared at them for what seemed like hours. Eventually, she seemed annoyed that she couldn't see well, clumsily bumping into her playsets and toys, unable to find her blocks and stuffed animals. J had fetched, in addition to candles and a couple of flashlights, his fishing headlight, which the wearer dons on his or her head in order to see the rocks and waves and sands ahead. Jokingly, J attached the headlight to Mabel's head. She immediately had a blast, scooting all over the house getting into anything she could shine her new- found light upon.
When we removed the headlight, Mabel even fussed a bit. But she was tuckered out from her adventures and slept well, even though I did not. I kept thinking the window panes would blow in, cutting our sweet baby's soft skin. I am nuts. I admit this.
The other fun piece of all this was Mabel's fascination with Catch Phrase. In boredom, J and I whipped out the board/ battery- powered games. Catch Phrase is a mutual favorite. Mabel shrieked and laughed with joy every time one of us hit "start" and the game piece would beep and light up. Mental note for the future: if Mabel is bored or fussy, give her Catch Phrase. Here were J and I, bored silly and on the brink of going to sleep even untired just for something to do, but Mabel could not have been more entertained by that silly thing. It was a good reminder that simple things can be fun. I've become altogether too reliant on technology and TV. I needed the wake- up call.
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