Child of God

Liam, my sweet man who gets more delightful by the day (he’s just so UP FOR IT and READY TO GO and EAGER, YOU’D BETTER BELIEVE IT, LET’S GO FRIENDS!)(I think ALL CAPS is a good way to describe him, actually), was baptized on Sunday.  The baptism was surrounded by a lovely weekend involving visiting family, beautiful weather, excellent food, lots of rest, and two very thrilled little boys, basking in the glow of adoring grandparents and aunts.

The first wave of family, The Professor’s parents, arrived on Thursday night in time for dinner – quiche, a steak salad, some tasty Whole Foods bread.  Jack’s eyes grew wide as he saw his Dee Dee and Chip-Ip come through the door, though he called them both Dee Dee all weekend.

We talked, we had cocktails, and then we sent them merrily off to their hotel to bed and got some good sleep ourselves.  The next morning, The Professor went in to work, and the five of us did some errand running and walking in the glorious sunshine.  We had Carolina BBQ for lunch, brought by our guests, and then lazed around all afternoon.  My parents and middle sister arrived in time for dinner, which was pizza from a local place we love.  (Are you sensing this is going to be a meal-heavy post?  That’s kind of how we roll when family’s in town.)  At the sight of even MORE family to spoil and dote on him, Jack nearly lost his mind.  He knows his other grandmother’s name, too (Nana), but never did figure out my dad (Doc) or my sister (her name is Caki, which he can say just fine, but he kept calling her Erin, which is The Professor’s sister’s name).  Nobody cared much.  As my sister said – he can call me Erin all day when it’s said with that much love in his voice.

The next morning was Saturday.  I had a brunch planned, and we normally would have eaten it after the baptism on Sunday.  However, there was a parade right after church that day, one of the first of the Mardi Gras season, and I really wanted the whole family to go see it, so we bumped the celebration brunch up a day.  I made shrimp, cheddar, and thyme omelets (modeled after a delicious omelet called The Louisianan that I’d once had at The Ruby Slipper downtown), cheese grits, fruit salad, toast, and mimosas.

After brunch, we took a walk to a lovely park about a mile away and basked in the sunshine.

That night’s dinner was a lasagna my mom had brought from home – and it was, as my linked post describes, too delicious for me to wait for it to cool down before taking a lava-hot bite.  We served all of our meals at our creaking old art deco dining table – a table and chair set that we found, years ago, at an antique store and bought pretty cheaply.  I love the set because it is unique and sturdy (if creaky).  I hate the set because if you look at it crosswise, the beautiful inlaid art deco surface will scratch and dent.  It is not a table that stands up well to scratches and dents, and ergo (given our progeny) was probably not a wise purchase.  The 6 matching chairs really need tightening and tuning as well, something that I once contemplated attempting on my own, and then decided that furniture built in the 1920s does not need any input from my manhandling paws of destruction.  One day when we have money we’ll hire someone capable to do it for us.  And we’ll also have a formal dining room that we set our lovely finicky table in and then never use it, but simply gaze at it adoringly from the other room, eating all our meals instead at our scratch and dent workhorse of a kitchen table.  (Which I have yet to buy, but I know exactly what I want on the day that we have a kitchen big enough to accommodate it – some big old antique farm style wooden table that looks better the more battered it is.)

Anyway, although it was a squeeze, and two of us (Caki and I) had to sit on the piano bench instead of chairs, we all did fit at our table to enjoy our meals.  It pleased me to be able to use our fine china (which I get out every chance I get, because it’s so pretty).  And there’s something so bountiful and indulgent about a table full of food and family.  I probably should have been a chef instead of a lawyer.

So, Sunday morning arrived, and it was time to get dressed for church and go get our boy baptized.  He wore a little pinstriped suit – except we couldn’t close the top button of his shirt around his huge chubby neck, so he couldn’t wear the tie, and my husband made the decision that the vest and pants together were too dark for a warm sunny baptismal day, so he didn’t wear the vest, so it ended up just being an untucked, wrinkly white button down and cute pinstripe pants and black dress shoes that kept falling off.  Jack was much more presentable in his vest and button down.  His shoes stayed on.  Anyway, both boys behaved in church, and behaved during the ceremony, and it all went swimmingly.

After church, we packed a cooler and some camp chairs and some KFC and drove on down to Slidell to watch the Perseus parade.  This recap is already too long for most people to read, so I’ll just say that the day was warm and sunny, the spot was excellent, the chicken hot and tasty, and the crowd family-friendly and fun.  The parade was not quite as polished and professional as the uptown parades, but nevertheless a lot of fun.  I always enjoy watching my mother get all excited and wave her arms and shout “Throw me something, mister!”  Jack would raise an arm – maybe both – and very timidly say “Wooooo!” which is what he did last year.  Liam just kicked it in his bumbo, watching the floats go by.  The adults took it in turns to sit in our chairs, or hold the kids up for beads.  It was lots of fun.

Sunday evening was another quiet one at home, enjoying some glasses of wine and leftovers, playing trains and coloring with the kids.  Everyone left us Monday morning, and it was kind of sad when Jack came home from school at noon on Monday and yelled “CAKI!  CAKI, WHERE ARE YOU?  DEE DEE!  NANA!  HEWWO?”

We can’t wait til we see them all again!  And with that, I’ll cut off this novel and get back to work!