Three

Marc-Adam~

You're three now!! You've grown up so much in the last year! Such a big boy now! You really understood the concept of turning three, because when I asked you how old you were you yelled, "THREE!" and when I asked you how old you were yesterday, "Two." You are convinced that this additional year has opened all sorts of doors for you because when you wanted to do something today, I told you to wait. You insisted you COULD do it (I knew you could, it just wasn't a good time) and you pleaded to me, "I can, Mama, I can! I'm three!"

(Marc-Adam at 3 years old)

This past year, you moved from your crib to a toddler bed, and now you share the bunk beds with Zachary. You love sharing a room with your brothers, and I can hear you talking or whispering to them when you are supposed to be sleeping, or at least being quiet.

You are still our little firecracker, and I'm convinced that if I look close enough, that one gray hair on the top of my head has your name on it. You had your first ER visit this July when you fell off the bunk bed ladder you weren't supposed to be on. No stitches, thankfully.



You are learning SO MUCH. You seem to soak up a lot of the lessons that I gear towards your brothers and you can say your ABCs, count to 20 (although occasionally you leave out 5-8 and throw in a few extra 15s), you know most of your colors and can even recite the planets for me! You LOVE to work in your workbooks for school and right now your favorite is the Thomas the Train book with the flashcards....I don't know if you ever actually seen the Thomas the Train show.

Speaking of shows, you definitely have favorites. Being the third brother, you've never really gotten to enjoy the toddler shows like your older brothers did. Your favorite show is Phineas and Ferb and I could listen to you say "Perry the Platypus" all.day.long. Arthur is another favorite that you watch because of your brothers. But if given a choice to pick something to watch when no one else will watch it with you, you'll pick Wow! Wow! Wubbzy. For a long time it was Yo Gabba Gabba and can I just say how glad I am that you're off of that kick now? :)

You're at the age when you want to do everything yourself, and you can not be deterred even when you do it wrong. You think which ever way you do it is right. If I tell you you're doing it wrong, you say in a sweet little voice, "It's okay, Mama, it's okay." You also pull out that cuteness when you get caught doing something you shouldn't. It makes it really hard to fuss at you when you say that to me. But I can fuss at you when you are being hard-headed, which you are. A lot. When you get it in your mind that you are going to do something or that you want something, you will not let down...and a lot of times will just keep doing what you want until I either raise my voice or physically stop you.

You are speaking wonderfully now. You talk in normal sentences, about 5-8 words, but I still have to translate for you once in a while, and sometimes even your brothers have to translate for me because I don't understand (but usually only when I can't get the context of what you are saying). One of your most used phrases is, "Mama? Can you come here for a second?" And if you keep saying it so sweetly, I will follow you where ever you want me to go! You have the same language challenge Stephen did at that age and you can't say a hard G or C sound and replace those sounds with a D or T (so you would say "tootie" instead of "cookie"). But you'll grow out of it, I know....hopefully before Evie starts to pick up on it!

Speaking of Evie, you became a big brother this year!! You love having a little sister, and you try to take good care of her. You are a little rough with her sometimes, though, but I don't think you are ever trying to be malicious. You are just curious. Many times, I have to tell, "Please don't make your sister be a pirate" because you think it's funny to close one of her eyes and yell, "Argh!! I'm a PIrate!" She's not so amused. You also like to pull her ears out and make monkey noises. Again, she's not so amused. One of these days, my dear, I think you are going to get payback. ;) Your brothers love playing with you now. You have finally become fun to them. You make them laugh and play right along side them during their pretend play. You'll run through house yelling, "I'm Hulk! HULK SMASH!"


You are still my most daring, and I HOPE we can get you into gymnastics sometime after the first year. You would be so good at it! You also LOVE to play games and can beat any of us at Uno! You are really good at Memory, too. You like to read, but rarely sit still long enough to finish a book and when you do sit still for a while to read, it's because you want to read to me. Your newest favorite book is your storybook bible and you read it to me almost everyday. You think every grown male character on every page is Jesus. And every other character is either happy to see Jesus or sad because he/she misses Jesus.

For a long time, you weren't very affectionate or cuddly, I had to sneak in my hugs and kisses when you weren't paying much attention to what I was doing. But lately, you've loved having me hold you and snuggle you. You give fantastic kisses complete with little growly noises. I think I do something similar to you, but I didn't know you paid that much attention.

My baby boy. I am LOVING getting to know who you are and who you are to become. You are so much fun and even on the days I think I could put you on the curb with a "Free to good home" sign, you still make me laugh and make me thank God that I'm your mom. I love you, boy.

Love,
Mama

(Marc-Adam at 3 months)

Look! A post! And a video!

I know. It's been a while. But I've been thinking about you all and my little blog here. I'm going to be back to blogging real soon, but in the meantime, here's a clip of Evie having her first taste of food. Avocado! (Doesn't it seem like just yesterday when I was posting pics of Marc-Adam's first food?)

SCHOOL!

We finally started school this week. Wednesday was our first day, and so far things are going well. It's still a lot to juggle...the care and feeding of Evie, keeping Marc-Adam entertained, and squeezing in everything we want to get done. But we still get everything (or at least the important things) accomplished.

As much as I enjoyed the curriculum we used at the end of last year, I knew we'd have to do something different this year to better fit our needs. I just don't have the time to plan and go into lengthy projects right now. So we're sticking with the basics and hoping that next year we can dive in to curriculum that's a little more in depth (and fun!).

So, this year, we are sticking with Math-U-See for math. We're doing the Alpha book and plan to take it a lot more slowly than we did the Primer. Math-U-See teaches concepts to mastery, not the spiral approach like other curricula and public schools use. So, this year, we have to make sure that Stephen masters each concept before we move on. That wasn't so important last year. The Alpha level teaches single-digit addition and subtraction, skip counting by 2, 5, and 10 (which he's already pretty familiar with) and even has a lesson for "solving for the unknown". There's also some appendices for telling time, which I've been lazy about teaching. Stephen's concept of time is fantastic. He can tell time from a digital clock and gets that when it says 12:30 that it will be 1:00 in 30 minutes and he knows what time something will happen if I tell him "10 more minutes". There's really nothing else I need to teach him about time other than how to read an analog clock (with the arms and all that). He's actually been asking me to teach him that. I might take a few days to skip ahead to the appendices so that he can learn how to read a clock.

We're also sticking with Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting. This year, Igot Zachary the preschool book, which he's excited about. We didn't work much on handwriting over the summer, but I can already tell that Stephen is picking it up much better than he did last year. I think he just needed a little more time. I've read that some kids just can't write well until they are closer to 7 or 8 and I think that's the case with Stephen. It's too early to tell with Zachary.

For reading, I've worked in more independent reading time for Stephen while I'm working with one of the other boys. Then I ask him questions about the book or ask him to tell it back to me so that I can assure that a) he actually read it and b) he comprehends what he read. I personally have issues with comprehension sometimes, so I want to make sure that's not a problem with him. I'm also starting Scaredy Cat (our version is different than the one in the link) with Zachary. Actually we touched on it last year, but I intend to actually finish it with him. He's doing really well with it so far, and is reading many many "consonant-vowel-consonant" words and is fantastic at sounding words out. He's very excited because he gets to get a library card this year (our rule is that you have to be able to read before you get your own library card, before that you have to use Mom's). We also a couple of Explode the Code books, too, that they enjoy doing. We use those to take a break from our normal books and to enforce what they've already learned. In addition, I'm also using First Language Lessons to start learning grammar and parts of speech and such. Those are easy 5-15 minute lessons that we do a couple times a week.

This year, we're using a separate science curriculum. I found out about Apologia Science several weeks ago....I looked into it and thought that it might be good for us, since I didn't want to take the unit study approach this year. I gave the kids their choice of the different science subjects (they could have chosen from botany, zoology, astronomy....and something else I can't remember) and (of course) they chose Astronomy. We did a little bit of astronomy last year, and they loved it, so we're doing it again. For the whole. year. But this curriculum also has short lessons that we do a couple times a week, so it's just small bites of info. I was thinking about getting Stephen a telescope for Christmas (he's been asking for one), but a friend from church offered to let us borrow theirs. I think I'll take them up on it.

I e-mailed our Children's Director at our church and got a list of the bible verses the kids' are covering in Sunday School each week, and it's my intention to go along with those for our bible time each day. And I got Stephen an awesome devotional bible a couple weeks ago, so we've been reading out of that, too, the last couple of days.

As for Marc-Adam, well, he's welcome to sit in quietly on any of the lessons we're doing, but since nothing is quiet about Marc-Adam, he's usually playing, coloring or playing on the computer while I'm doing the other kids' lessons. He also insists on having a workbook of his own. Last year, I just sat down with him with a coloring book and a fat pencil and he was happy with that. But this year, I got him his own workbook about shapes and colors. I also intend on making sure we cover letters and letter sounds with him this year. But really, I think 3 is much too young for a formal curriculum and that kids that age should just be allowed to learn through daily play and interaction, so I don't want to do too much formal work with him yet. I just give him 5 minutes of "workbook" time, so he doesn't feel left out when the boys are working on their handwriting or math.

So. I guess that's it. Even with all that, we still have lots of time for free play and to play outside. I worked out a schedule for us that I wrote up and hung on a wall, and we have yet to stick to it, so I may have to re-work it. And Stephen (being the classic first child he is) is obsessed with it and gets a little upset if we aren't following it. I just did it so we would have an idea of what we should when and to make sure that we fit everything in. But it might be more trouble than it's worth.

I can't believe that we're starting our second year of homeschooling. I don't feel like such a newbie anymore. I think we're really finding our groove, and again, I'm so thankful that we live in a state that allows us to homeschool in the way we feel best and that Sweet Hubby and I can afford being able to to live on one income so that I can stay home and teach our kids. We are so blessed to live this lifestyle. And I can't imagine doing anything differently.

4 months!

My girl is 4 months today. 1/3 of a year. Yikes. She's such a fun addition, and has really just fit right in to our family in the last 4 months. Here's what's up:

* We go to the doctor tomorrow for her 4 month well check, but I had to take her to the doctor 2 weeks ago (because I freaked out over something weird), and she weighed 11 pounds 2 ounces then. Tiny little thing, but still bigger than her oldest (eldest? whatever) brother was at this point. I'll be surprised if she's broken the 12 pound mark by tomorrow. *UPDATE* She only weighed 10 lbs 12 ounces at the doctor's appointment. The doctor wanted to weigh her again...she peed when I took her diaper off and then she only weighed 10 lbs 10.5 ounces. So we'll be working on getting her weight back up. I'm going to start out by trying to feed her more often and hope that she's actually hungry.

* Stephen made her laugh out loud spontaneously for the first time a few days ago. It's so precious to watch her watch her brothers. They are so in love with her.

* She's trying to turn from back to tummy. She mostly does it when she's mad, and she hasn't completely accomplished it on her own yet, but she's trying. It's still amazing to me that she can roll from tummy to back because the boys didn't start doing it till they were a little more than 4 months.

* Nursing is going great. I've recently started to extend the time between feeds to about 3.5-4 hours and she seems to be doing well with that.

* Sleep is fantastic. At least, night sleep is fantastic, and that's all that matters to me. Not long after her 3 month post, she started sleeping 12 hours at night. And has done it every night since. Naps aren't great. They're ALWAYS hit or miss. But I'm not going to complain. I can deal with whatever she does during the day as long as she sleeps well at night.

* It's clear that her favorite place to be these days is in the sling. When she's having a hard time napping, and I can't commit to sleep training in her room for 30 minutes or more, I put her in the sling. The other day, she was screaming when it was naptime, so I grabbed the sling and as soon as I picked her up and folded her legs the way I do just before I put her in the sling, she immediately quieted down and didn't make another peep for an hour until it was time to eat. Sometimes she sleeps in it, sometimes not, but she always snuggles in and sucks her thumb.

* Speaking of sucking her thumb, she's getting really good at finding it whenever she wants it. She doesn't prefer one over the other and she'll even suck on her fingers if they land in her mouth first, but mostly it's her thumb she wants for comfort. She's ALWAYS got her hands in her mouth and it's really cute when she starts sticking her tongue out and you can see it peeking out from between her fingers.

* Even though she's four months now, I have no intention of starting solids anytime soon. Just not ready.

* She's a sweet baby, but she's stingy with the smiles and laughs (but she has gotten a little more free with the smiles in the last couple days). And she's cranky if you take her out of her normal environment for more than just a couple hours. When we went to my parents' house last week for a little vacation, she was a crank for the first few days and by the time we left to go home, she had gotten used to it and was finally acting like her sweet self.

* We're still dealing with reflux and I'm so glad we go to the doctor tomorrow to get the new dose amount for her meds. I think that might be our problem with naps (well, besides the fact that she's spoiled rotten).

* Toys are getting interesting and she reaches out to grab whatever's there and tries to cram it in her mouth. Of course, she does that with pretty much anything within reach, not just toys (my hair, my shirt, the side of my face). But she loves to play on her mat and grab the toys to try to eat them.

* Still in 0-3 month clothes. Not much change there. 3-6 month clothes just hang on her.


Tiara pictures went much better this month...I even got some smiles!!

They wouldn't have made good pioneers

This afternoon, we had a heckuva storm blow through. It actually passed through pretty quickly, but it was strong. I was sitting in our bedroom nursing Evie when it first started to come through, and Stephen came in to show me (dramatically) how the tree in the back was blowing around (complete with sound effects).

When the thunder started, it was really loud. Normally, the kids (especially Marc-Adam) are afraid of thunder, but I've been trying to calm them down about it every time it thunders. The best thing I could come up with was to tell them that it was "just a sound". I told them it was a sound just like the quack of a duck is just a sound...don't ask me why I compared it to the quack of a duck, it just popped into my head.

So now, anytime they start to freak out about thunder, I say "Quack quack!"

When the thunder started today, they all stayed totally calm, Marc-Adam came to me smiling and said, "Don't worry! It's just a duck, Mama!" :) Love that boy.

Shortly after that, we lost power. At first they were a little lost and confused. They kept saying, "Well we can watch a DVD!" (as opposed to being able to watch the satellite.) Or, "The computer might still work!" And they still attempted to turn the lights on in every room they went in....but then again, so did I. Finally they gave up and we started reading some books and playing silly games like singing everything we said instead of talking. Once they wandered off to play, they kept getting so excited when they found a (battery-operated) toy that worked. Then, when Marc-Adam went to the bathroom, he came out screaming, "The toilet works! The toilet works!"

When dinner time rolled around and the power was still out, that's when the whining and grumbling began. By that time, the storm was long gone and the sun was even shining and we were all starting to get a little sweaty with no A/C and no ceiling fans. I didn't want to open the fridge or freezer so we had to eat of the pantry. We ended up with peanut butter on crackers and a can of fruit salad (I could've come up with more/better, but I'm lazy when I'm hot). Stephen tried to turn on the dining room light and started grumbling about it when it didn't work. I asked him if he had started feeling grateful for all the stuff we take for granted every day. He said, "Yes, but I still want it to come back on now." I told him that there were people in the world right now that live without power every day. Zachary asked me what their names were.

When the lights finally came back on, they weren't even excited about being able to turn the TV or computer on. They were seriously happy that the A/C kicked on! And that they could eat something out of the refrigerator.

It was a fun little break in our day, but I'm so glad I live in the time with all our modern conveniences!

Cue the tight rope music

This week, at the boys' gymnastics place, evaluations were held (and YES, this post is kind of about the kids, but also about me). Every few months, the coaches evaluate the kids to see where they are skills-wise and to make sure that the class that each kid is in is still challenging for them. They last did evaluations in May, and both boys got promoted (they started their new levels in June). Then this week, evaluations were held again, which I thought was kind of soon since they'd just been promoted 2 months ago. But I guess they wanted to move up the kids that didn't move up in June so they could make room for the new folks that are signing up at the beginning of the school year.

ANYWAY, the point of all this is that my boys were VERY excited about it being evaluation time again. I tried to tell them gently that they were not going to be promoted since they've only been in their new levels for 2 months. They understood, but were still excited.

Lo and behold, Stephen got promoted. Again.

Zachary did not.

So began my tightrope walk of being super-excited for Stephen (promoted! again! for the 2nd time in 2 months! to the acclerated level! you're getting so good!) and trying to explain to Zachary that it's okay that he did not (you've only been in the "green" for 2 months. you're still learning all those tricks. you have another full year before the kindergym level and if you promote now, you'll be in the next level for a whole year. we talked about the fact that you were not going to be promoted. it's totally okay! you're are really good, but it's just not time to promote yet.).

Zachary was having none of it. He was totally fine with not promoting until we went to pick Stephen up and Stephen ran up waving his paper that told us what new class he was in. Z didn't understand why Stephen could promote and he couldn't. It was awful trying to contain my excitement for Stephen while being supportive of Zachary. I really am proud of Stephen and was so surprised that he promoted again. But I didn't want to make a huge big deal out of it because Zachary was already feeling badly. It was totally fine that he didn't promote. It doesn't mean he's not good at it. He really is good and he's a quick learner, but like I told him, he's only been in this level for 2 months and he's only got one more level before he starts the kindergym. And he's only been promoted once in the last year. But he didn't care. The fact that Stephen got promoted negated everything else that I tried to tell him. And the more excited Stephen and I were, the more upset he got.

Now, normally, I would just tell Z that that's just how things are and that it's not all about him and that his time will come. But this was genuine disappointment and I'm trying hard to not let him fall into the "middle child syndrome". But it was also hard because I didn't want to hold back our little "mini-celebration" in the car on they way home simply because Zachary was disappointed. That's not fair to Stephen. And we all have to learn to live with disappointment and we have to learn that sometimes other people get what we want.

Thankfully, things have settled down since then. This Sunday is promotion Sunday at church, so the kids will get to step-up to their new Sunday School classes. That helps. I'm just praying that next time evaluations roll around that Stephen will stay put and Z will get promoted (or at least that BOTH will be promoted).

For real!

*When I came back to read this post to Hubby this evening, I realized that the text was broken. It must've been because I just copied and pasted straight out of the e-mail. I think I've fixed it now. Sorry about that.*

My dad forwarded this to me in an e-mail this morning. I was laughing so hard, I had tears and had to quit reading at one point. I e-mailed him back and told him it was like someone followed me around yesterday and wrote down everything I thought about. Ok, so some of it's not stuff I actually think about, but a lot of it is, and it's still hilarious! I did delete a few because they weren't entirely appropriate for what I've got going on the blog here. And just FYI, there are still some words or phrases that aren't appropriate for little eyes that can read.

Random Thoughts of the Day:

* I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.


* More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think
about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own
story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.


* Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize
you're wrong.


* Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be
going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction
from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch
or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that
no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching
directions on the sidewalk.


* I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.


* The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This
recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be
ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.


* Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix
the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to
fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just
figured it out. Today's kids are soft.


* There is a great need for sarcasm font.


* Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and
suddenly realize I had no idea what the hell was going on when I first saw
it.


* I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes
stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes
shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right
parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a
millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really,
really gets it.


* How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?


* I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than
take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.


* I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer history if you die.


* The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish
a text.


* Was learning cursive really necessary?


* Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to
say".


* I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.


* Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron
test is absolutely petrifying.


* My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads.
Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired
about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy,
bro.


* Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I
hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".


* How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and
smile because you still didn't hear what they said?


* I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to
prevent a **** from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!


* While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.


* MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I
know how to get out of my neighborhood.


* Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.


* I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the
shower first and THEN turn on the water.


* Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.


* I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.


* Bad decisions make good stories.


* Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile
is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red
Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!


* Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every
year?


* If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would
probably just be completely invisible.


* Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go
around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly
nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a
problem....


* You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything
productive for the rest of the day.


* Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want
to have to restart my collection.


* There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going
to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.


* I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if
I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I
did not make any changes to.


* "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.


* I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching
TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if
I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It's
only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we
still be friends after this?'


* While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China
and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that
when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.


* I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!),
but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to
voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run
away?


* I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing
anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.


* When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't
already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.


* I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then
I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.


* As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but
no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.


* Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not
know what time it is.


* I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.


* Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to
with it.


* Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys
in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the
Donkey - but I’d bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button
from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every
time...


* My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would
happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?


* It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the
link takes me to a video instead of text.


* I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit.


* I think the freezer deserves a light as well.


* I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.


* The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw
they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone
at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and
then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require
such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s
nothing like being made to feel like a fat b@st@rd before dinner.