One More Mommy

The Baby Baby Baby

2009-03-24T09:59:00.001-05:00

So, as virtually everyone who knows me knows already, we are pregnant for the third (and last) time. I'm about twelve weeks along, but the third child neglect has already started as am I 11? or 12? Maybe 11.5 weeks? Who knows. Certainly with Luke and Courtney I had a MUCH better idea of where I stood.

But in good news, so far this time I've only gained a pound. Which didn't stop me from pulling out all the maternity clothes last night. I'm in the midst of some insane nesting/spring cleaning and I had to GET THEM OUT NOW!

Probably because I missed maternity underwear. I don't need them at all yet, but it's an attractive option to be able to pull your underwear up to your neck...

How to make sure the day doesn't pass you by

2009-03-23T05:59:00.002-05:00

Buy your four year old a clock or watch. Place in room.

(feet running down stairs)
MOMMY! It's 4:31!!!
(feet running up stairs)

--pause--

(feet running down stairs)
MOMMY! It's 4:32!!!
(feet running up stairs)

--pause--

(feet running down stairs)
MOMMY! It's 4:33!!!
(feet running up stairs)

--pause--

(feet running down stairs)
MOMMY! It's 4:34!!!
(feet running up stairs)

Wakes and Funerals

2009-02-18T08:35:00.002-06:00

It's been a rough year or so on my father's side of the family. In a little over a year, three of my uncles have passed away. Two were my father's brother, one his sister's husband. I'm not very close to my father's side of the family - my mother wasn't close to them, so when my father died (I was 11) we stopped having regular contact with them. We see them at weddings and funerals. That's pretty much how it still is except for a couple connections with cousins here and there.

So losing these uncles doesn't have a tremendous impact on my life (which is horrible to say, but true) except for the fact that these are my uncles, and their existence is simply taken for granted. They are out there, with my aunts, doing their thing.

The first uncle that passed away was cremated and there was simply a memorial lunch. No body to view, but a gathering to commemorate him.

The second uncle had nothing. No memorial that I know of (or I missed it) and no wake.

The third is having the standard wake and funeral. And I going (at least to the wake).

I don't mind wakes and funerals - and I've been to a lot. They bring closure for me, a chance to say goodbye and give some hugs. Shed some tears for a person and acknowledge their life. It's family, it's community, it's saying this person mattered. I still feel there are loose ends with the second uncle - he's somehow still out there, though he's not.

Of course, I don't mind cemeteries either (well, in daytime). The stones a physical reminder of a life, and particularly my 'family' cemetery, where a dozen plus relatives are within 50 feet of each other. So I'm off for a wake in a few days, to say goodbye to the man who looked incredibly like my father, though was nothing like him in personality.

Four!

2009-02-12T05:25:00.003-06:00

I can't believe my baby boy is four today - 'they' don't lie when they say it goes by quick. I remember holding him in the delivery room, alone for a few minutes - he was content, I was shaking and weak. Now, at four, he struts around like he owns the place and pretends he has crickets in his pants. He gets more and more like us every day, silly above all else.

There are a lot of ages I would like to have frozen him at, and this is no exception. I can still pick him and he wants to snuggle in at bedtime. He gives a good hug and can't wait to hang out with us. And yet, he's independent - able to go to grandma's house and spend the night, without wearing her out. He goes to sleep at bedtime without a fight (something I can't say for Courtney right now!)

He loves games, games, and more games. He'll play several board games by himself and is starting to learn some strategy. He certainly plays by the rules and will correct you if you don't! He dances, he plays soccer, he rides a bike.

Four is pretty awesome already, and we haven't even started yet.

Get Over It Already

2009-01-19T15:36:00.003-06:00

I had a discussion this past weekend that referenced the SAHM vs WAHM "debate". I'm in a group that is made up of mothers of every variety - at home, to part time employment, to full time employment. Business owners and those that work for 'the man'. Creative types, science types, people working basic jobs just for the spending cash. Those of us who don't work and sacrifice vacations and new gadgets and remodeled kitchens to do it. (ahem, guess where I fall?)

We make these choices. Some people never wanted to stay home with children all the time. Some people do but can't afford to quit and live the lifestyle they want. And some people forget that they are making a choice.

I glanced at local moms groups and saw a group titled "Full Time Mommies" - my first thought was "Who's doing this part time?"

I have not encountered the judgemental mother - the one who thinks that you are doing it wrong because you have not made the choice she has. At least, not to the degree that I see it on the internetz, where nasty comments abound behind the veil of anonymity.

But I do see thinly veiled jealousy. The people who want to stay home, or want to be able to afford the shiny gadgets, and thus become bitter and say things with a biting edge. I don't mind the jealousy - I am unabashedly jealous of kitchens with appliances under, say 41 years old. But just admit that you are jealous.

It's been awhile since I've seen this behavior, so I'm not sure why this is resonating with me today.

Normalize

2008-12-28T18:19:00.003-06:00

It's been a week solid of activities and cleaning and destroying, unwrapping, unpacking and playing. Whining and cookies and beer. Bowling and parties and The Improv. The children were completely fried by Saturday afternoon, and yet, there was still another family party to attend. Today (Sunday) has been filled with sitting around the house and playing with toys and a three and a half hour nap for Courtney - and she woke up from that still looking tired. They're trying to sleep in, but they're small and they can only get to 7:30 or 8 before the sun wakes them up. And then those new toys beckon. But tonight we all ate actual food, with vegetables and meat and no sugar, so hopefully their little systems will properly reboot.

Party Mania

2008-12-21T21:41:00.002-06:00

We have now solidly entered the era of childhood birthday parties. Everyone is having one this year, Luke included. Childhood parties nowadays are extravagant. Buildings dedicated to giant bouncy equipment, craft parties, art parties, Chuck E Cheese - you can have a birthday party just about anywhere you can think, if you shell out the cash.

I have clunked around with guest lists and ideas for months now, it feels, until finally coming to the decision that Luke will be having a SMALL birthday party at home. Small as is 5 kids on the invite list, not small like my SIL's 12 children... Luke prefers smaller groups, I prefer smaller groups, and we can probably do cooler things with a smaller group.

And it's a space party. I spent this evening making up rocket ship invitations that are just too gosh darn cute for words, and easy as well. I only had year old pictures of Luke on hand (because you can see his head in the window of the rocket ship, of course!) but I'm not concerned. They are AWESOME.

Next, games, favors, and lunch. This should be fun. Especially since I really like all the kids we're inviting!

The monies

2008-11-30T22:17:00.002-06:00

As per usual, we lack money. Please send cash.

***dramatic sigh***

I am spending approximately $60 per child for Christmas. This may be world-record cheap on my part, but hey, they have four aunt/uncle sets and two grandmothers. They're fine.

I will also take Lotto cards because I hope to win.

C'mon February, let's get the tax refund going.

Anti

2008-11-10T20:52:00.002-06:00

Luke: When can Courtney and I get married?

Mommy: Well, you hve to find other people to marry. Right now there's a little girl* out there who will someday be a woman and want to marry you when you're a man.

Luke: But I want to marry Courtney.

Mommmy: That's called incest and that's not allowed. You and Courtney are already brother and sister and that's a very special relationship, you can't be husband and wife.

Luke: Courtney and I are going to marry each other.

(It did cross my mind 'what if' he's gay and there's actually another litle BOY out there, but really, let's not overly confuse the issue, we're trying to clarify NO MARRYING YOUR SISTER.)

Gobama!

2008-11-05T23:03:00.003-06:00

I didn't get into any heated arguments re: presidential candidate BEFORE the election but now that (my) candidate has won, I've stumbled into a more than a few comments about the horrible way our country is going to go now, or even better, how those who voted for Obama CLEARLY didn't understand the ISSUES. Clearly, or maybe WE JUST DON'T THINK LIKE YOU.

One person asked exactly what issues did I agree with Obama on? and my mind went (glarble glurp?)... and I could hardly even name an "issue". I blame lack of sleep and giddiness. To remind myself what I agreed with I went to the big O's website and read through his issue stances, saying, oh yeah! Word! Got it! all along. And so yeah, pretty much I agree with Obama on ALL of his stances.

The people who say they are moving out of country or fear for our future shock me at this point because, um, where have you been living these past seven years as GWB drove us into International scorn? You think things are going good? Obama or McCain - both are better than GWB.

Speed Read

2008-10-02T07:22:00.003-05:00

I read fast. I always have, I like to read. This skill is only good if you have a lot of good books to read and time to read them, it was not helpful at all in reading textbooks, I would still fall asleep for those.

I read a book last night - 404 pages, less 42 pages at the start/end of chapters, assuming 10 words per line on average, 32 lines per page, it took me about 4 hours to read it. This means I read between 450 and 500 words per minute.

Apparently there's some guy who can read, ten. thousand. words per minute. There are not that many good words to read. That's too fast.

Anyway, read "The Woods" by Harlen Coben - good mystery, liked it. New author, yay!

Explosion

2008-10-01T14:19:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how this happens to SAHMs, but it does just the same as it happens to working moms - you look at your kid and he can suddenly do five more things than you thought he could and it completely blows your mind.

We've been watching SuperWhy and WordWorld (in addition to Land Before Time, oh I hate the Land Before Time) pretty exclusively these days and it's been, like, teaching my kid stuff. Stuff about words and sounding things out and that letters make up words and the light bulb has gone off in his head. We are writing letters, lining up letters, sounding things out - it's a whole new world. I don't know how long it will be from here to reading, but if the kid's whole hearted attention to a topic (see: cars, numbers and dinosaurs) is any indication, we should see progress.

Then there was the solar system lesson this morning, in which we cut out nine planets (and by we, I mean HIM) and wrote their names on them (sounding them out and with much help) and hung them on the wall. Tiny purple stars were even cut and taped to the wall. It was a half hour of focused learning there.

And for the final Holy Crap - he's interested in playing SONGS on the piano. Like, MUSIC. The boy wants to play MUSIC. Good grief.

So today, mind has been blown.

Guess!

2008-09-28T10:56:00.003-05:00

No, really, guess what Luke did at Sunday School today.

Here is the exchange in the car on the way home:

Me: Luke, did you have fun at Sunday School?

Luke: Yeah, but I didn't like this finger being a light.

Preschool, Month 1

2008-09-25T06:50:00.004-05:00

Luke has gone through a month of preschool now, and he's got it pretty down pat. The teachers report that the class is a smart group, they were involved and ready to go from day one, though they are acting up as they get more comfortable with the routine and each other.

He has never cried when I leave and is always happy to head to school. He has two best pals, one of whom is a friend we've known a couple years, and the other is a new kid they picked up. His friend's mom volunteered in the class last Tuesday (we're required to) and she reported that the three of them spent much of the time playing together. When I picked Luke up last Thursday, I saw all the children on the playground, and those three were chasing each other.

At the end of the day, they march in from playing outside while the parents wait in the hall - a three year od parade. Luke always has a proud cat-that-ate-the-canary smile on his face, and never runs to me as others have done to hug their moms. They have to go sit down in class, you know, there's none of this hugging in the halls! (He always gives me a big hug in the classroom).

He's done more art in preschool than he does at home, which is something I really wanted him to get from classes. I do as much as I can, but there's so much to gain from seeing other kids doing something.

Girls Are Different Than Boys

2008-09-08T19:22:00.003-05:00

I think I've mentioned it - stereotypes suck. Get your son a doll and your daughter a truck. BUT... girls and boys ARE different, and it rocks.

We've made a couple purchases over the past few days - small Cabbage Patch Dolls at a garage sale and dress up from the dollar store - including a police helmet and police vest with walkie talkie...

Courtney loves the little dolls, she stripped them naked and carries them everywhere. Luke likes them, too, he tucked them all under his blanket in his room, but he also named them Hammer, Nail, and Drill.

Luke loves the dress up - he has another shield and a skeleton mask and he spends his time yelling and roaring and screaming. Courtney likes the police hat and vest in particular, refusing to take it off at the store and blindly stumbling around in it (because it's far too big for her head and falls over her eyes) at home.

The two worlds collided when Courtney tucked her dolls into the police helmet and began 'feeding' them with the stem of the walkie talkie. Sometimes, nature wins!

Take Your Kid to Church

2008-09-08T08:03:00.002-05:00

If only for the humor...

Luke had his first day of Sunday School this past weekend and of course there was singing. Singing for Jesus. I like a lot of church hymns, they can be beautiful. But children's church songs are insufferable. There were 17-18 kids in Luke's three year old Sunday School, and for the singing portion, they brought in the equally large 4 year old and kindergarten classes. Picture 45 children in a room. (Remarkably well behaved, though, I think they were confused. Also, they didn't know each other.)

The singer has a guitar and starts singing The Jesus BeBop or some such thing. *shudder* The kids were supposed to JUMP UP every time she 'beeped'. There was one kindergarten-er in particular who was actively instructing her younger brother to jump at the appropriate time (across four children), and Luke happened to be standing next to her. Standing. Absolutely still. Arms at his side, as 44 other children jumped and bounced and BeBopped with Jesus.

It was really hard to stifle my laughter in the back of the room. Luke does not do the BeBop for Jesus.

It got better when the older kids left and we moved onto the creation myth for the three year olds. (Yeah, myth. I really don't understand why some Christians have to cling to a LITERAL interpretation of the Bible, because it doesn't make scientific sense. I like science.)

They had a big giant book about the six days of creation. You know what they didn't have pictured in the big giant book of creation? Dinosaurs. And Luke is a tad obsessed. So of course he had to add in there that "Dinosaurs came before people". I don't think the teacher heard him... is it wrong to want her to address dinosaurs?

Five Years Approacheth

2008-09-06T22:44:00.003-05:00

In two weeks we celebrate our five year wedding anniversary, and can I just say HOLY CRAP THAT WENT FAST?!?! I mean, we do have two kids and all, but we've also been in this house four years. The last couple-few years have been pretty slow on the ol' accomplish-o-meter, as in travel/life experience shit like that, but I guess the "two children" are a pretty big thing and decent reason to have slowed down on the travel. They kind of rock.

Courtney, easiest child on the planet. This is where the second child wins because she could possibly not be the easiest child on the planet, but after the first one, my perspective says she is.

Booking a hotel in downtown Chicago to celebrate 5 years without spending $350 is chafing my ass.

Parenting Happy Days Style

2008-09-01T22:04:00.004-05:00

As we are all waiting, desperately, for the new TV season to start (anything, people, ANYTHING), I turned to MeTV for entertainment tonight, and found first year episodes of Happy Days. You know, when the Cunninghams lived in a different house, there was an older brother Chuck, and Fonzie didn't even wear a leather jacket?

And yet, in the episodes I watched, Richie went to a stag party - after asking Mr. C if he could go, of course (Mr. C agreed, easily) - and he and Potsie got drunk. When he got home drunk, Mr. C tucked him into bed and made a few jokes at his expense. Marion woke up and tut-tutted a bit and then went off to bed.

Is it just me that thinks this is a far better reaction to a kid drinking than the hard core, zero tolerance insanity we have going on now? Let's teach people how to handle alcohol, not ban them from it so it becomes a prize to attain. But then, I also credit people with a modicum of intelligence, and that' not always a good idea on my part...

Command of English

2008-08-28T06:54:00.002-05:00

I buy things off Craigslist at times - toys and clothes for the kids - and the typical gaffes annoy me. THE TYPING IN ALL CAPS. Not listing a location. Overppricing. And of course, spelling and grammar. I do like to give a spelling a grammar pass to those who have English as a second language, but there is a lot of horrific typing out there. And when I *think* I'm dealing with a foreign-born person and show up to buy something and their speech reveals them to be clearly American-born, it's always a shock. How can they communicate THAT poorly?

But this one, HAS TO be foreign born just because of the correct grasp of SOME of the English spelling tricks...

TETTER TAUGHTER

College

2008-08-27T20:37:00.001-05:00

It's the only video available on YouTube. I don't know this guy. But I sure as hell know that 'poetry'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trldoxlu8cU

Two and A Half Hours

2008-08-27T20:10:00.003-05:00

Does not want to try dinner.
Screams.
Does not want to take a bath with sister.
Screams.
Does not want to brush teeth if toothpaste was put on the toothbrush by someone else.
Screams.
Does not want sister to be OUT of the bath, as he had not yet gotten IN.
Screams.
Plays with toys in his room and the hall for half an hour, happily.
Eats watermelon - three slices - for dinner.
Does not want to change into PJs.
Screams.
Kicks mother.
Sent directly to bed, BEFORE SISTER!
SCREAMS!
Loses a bedtime book.
SCREEEEEEEAMS.
Sobs.
Hysterical.
Still crying about that book.
Hiccup crying.
OH GOD, GOING TO BED BEFORE MY SISTER!
AAAAAGH!
Throwing self on bed.
Light turned off and mother exits.
Comes out begging to brush teeth.
Request denied.
Further screaming.
Sobbing.
Hiccough crying.
Wants water.
Mother lays with him to calm him.
Accuse mother "You NEVER come when I ask!"
Mother brings water.
Sleep.

THEY DO NOT!

2008-08-26T13:46:00.004-05:00

The scene:

Mother and son sitting at the table with an array of paint pots, paint brushes, paint in trays, paper, and a wooden craft dinosaur. The boy wears a blue smock to "protect" his clothes. A stack of used, paint filled baby wipes sits in one corner of the table.

Begin:

The boy picks up a small paint brush, sweetly calling it 'the tiniest brush in the world', and the mother begins to contradict him but thinks the wiser as truly, it is the tiniest paint brush in HIS world.

He dips his tiny paint brush in the black paint and gives the wooden dinosaur an eye, which ends up taking over most of his head. The boy exclaims "He's got lots of eyes." Again, the mother thinks to correct him but refrains and simply says "hmmm" in an approving way.

He paints the body of the dinosaur black and then dips his still black soaked brush into the blue paint with a quick follow into the green paint.

"What do blue and green make?" he asks as he aims his paintbrush at the dinosaur. "Black!" he exclaims as the residual black on the brush overtakes the colors. "No, no, honey..." the mother explains...

Repeat for red and yellow, red and blue, green and blue (again). Each time with returns to the black paint the boy creates BLACK rather than the actual mixing of the colors.

The mother's brain starts smoking as she attempts to prove to her child that mixing colors does NOT in fact always create black. The boy disagrees, as his experiments have clearly proven that when mixed, colors create black.

The woman begins waving her hands about talking about corrupted experiments, isolating variables, and generally poor use of the scientific technique.

The boy states he is done with the dinosaur craft. It is all black.

End scene.

Facebook... All the Kids are Doing It

2008-08-25T14:39:00.002-05:00

I joined Facebook recently, or months ago, I really don't know. It's all recent to me. I had tried Myspace last year, but the whole thing burned my retinas and made me cry - people had pages set up so freaking music started blaring out at me immediately, the 'skins' and the scrolling... I'm particular about how my pages read and I should never had to scroll left-right to see anything. Only up-down.

So, Facebook! I jumped on and found a few people from high school - two, I think. These were people I actually spoke with on a regular basis in jr high or high school. So I have some memories of them. Now through them I've been found by other high school people. Who I have virtually NO memories of - good or bad. I guess it's nice to connect? But I don't... have anything... to connect you with... sorry.

Eight Hours in the City

2008-08-24T21:27:00.002-05:00

Crap, we have gone to Chicago more this year than in the last three years combined! Esposo competed in the Accenture triathlon with his brother and sister, and my MIL and I schlepped my nephew (8), niece (6), Luke, and Courtney in the see them race. You know, for the five seconds you see them run by at the end. But the kids were ridiculously excited! And then we spent some time wandering around watching other racers, seeing Buckingham fountain and going out to lunch while Luke (again) tried to physically meld himself to him 8 yr old cousin. Who, as it happens, is a perfectly normal eight year old boy. And perfectly normal eight year old boys are not always the best influences on their three year old cousins as they wander off, punch their shadows, ask incessant questions, and operate in general all around conceit. Please proceed to blame all of Luke's bad behavior on his cousin. Even if it's been around since well before he saw his cousin. I LIKE MY CONVENIENT SCAPEGOATS.

People in My Neighborhood

2008-08-18T20:27:00.002-05:00

For the vast majority of the time - and I do mean VAST majority, no one in my neighborhood bothers me. Sure, the people across the street with their dead dead dead tree that they haven't cut down are causing some visual twitching but that's OKAY. Really. siiiiiiigh.

But lately, there have been some new people in the mix. The first is the most annoying, as he walks by every day with his small yappy dog. Small yappy dog is uncontrolled on leash and runs into our yard, yapping. Snow, being a dog, hears yappy, and either starts barking at it, or if it's outside, barking and flipping out a bit more. Snow does not particularly like other dogs. She would prefer everyone just keep on moving. But not only is Yappy jumping, barking, and running at our fence (set well back from the sidewalk), Yappy's owner likes to then STOP and let Yappy run about making Snow flip out further.

MOVE ALONG, MY DOG IS NOT HAPPY.

The second was a one time incident and she freaked me out right good. Last week sometime, the kids and cat went out back to play, and I popped in to grab a pump for the constantly deflating play balls. Give me time gone at 10 seconds - ON THE HIGH END. I walked back outside to find a woman with a German shephard on leash staring over my fence.

My fence, that is, as I just said, set well back from the sidewalk. So, she's in my yard. WELL in my yard.

"I was just looking at your cat!" She said. "He's big!" Er, yes, he is. Please go now.

CREEEEEEEPY.

Wrap it Up

2008-08-17T20:01:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'm pretty well done with summer. Not that we did a tremendous amount of summery things, but we've swum, we've boated, we grilled and even ate otuside a few times (giving the neighbors an unwelcome glimpse into This American Life With A Preschooler and A Toddler). I'm good, bring on the fall and the holidays and such. I don't know what crafts and activities to do with the kids anymore, I would like some clearly defined Seasonal Activities. Pumpkin carving, turkey eating, present opening and the like.

Also, I would like preschool to start. Now. I knew August was going to be a giant PITA, what with the no PDO once a week, but holy crap I am exhausted and pretty much tired of my kids around me all the time. COME UP WITH YOUR OWN AMUSEMENTS. That are not destructive, messy, loud, smelly, sticky, hairy, ET-CET-ERA. Learn how to read already, GAWD, you're THREE AND A HALF.

Also, I've decided that we should attend church more just for the stories. We scuttled our butts out the door at 7:45 to make it to the 8 AM service, during which Luke admonished Esposo for not rising fast "Stand Up, Daddy!" and also proclaimed with a laugh (remember Luke's big fake sounding laugh? Yeah, that one.) "You can't drink your BODY!" Hey, at least he's paying attention.

Stress Be Gone

2008-08-15T21:33:00.003-05:00

Just looking at these pictures makes me happier.

Two Weeks, Four Days

2008-08-15T11:49:00.002-05:00

The countdown to the start of Three Year Old preschool has begun - or as Luke prefers to call it "Three and a Half Preschool". What would he say if he knew they let in mere THREE year olds!??!

We received a packet from the school asking us about our kids and their home lives, which I filled out and brought in late (good impression maker = me). It asked us what we hoped the kids would get out of preschool - I dunno, how about BEING AWAY FROM ME FOR AWHILE?

We received another letter from the teachers, clearly meant to be read to the kids, about how much fun they would have in preschool. This was accompanied by a letter for the parents, warning us not to tell the kids that they would be scared or cry when they went to preschool.

Seriously, what kind of fricking moron of a parent does this? "You'll probably cry your eyes out when Mommy LEAVES you ALL ALONE in the STRANGE ROOM with a lot of MEAN KIDS and BROKEN TOYS. And when you CRY, the teacher will BEAT YOU!"

Not Speaking the Same Language

2008-08-14T08:09:00.003-05:00

The dynamics of two children is a wonderful thing, even if there is screaming about her taking a puzzle piece or him ripping a toy out of her hands, even if heads bonk and we have to learn NOT TO WRESTLE WITH A ONE YEAR OLD. I love love love having two children and could not vaguely imagine only one. Which is really good, because dude, am totally stuck with two kids, there's no return policy.

Courtney seems a bit slower to talk than Luke, but is much more frequent about generally babbling nonsensical phrases. Well, maybe they mean something to her, but to the rest of us, it's just "Aahbadadeeeeeee!!" This is very reflective of personality, because Luke talked more when he could actually say words, there wasn't much babbling, and he has only started drawing a bit more because he can make the pictures look like something. Courtney is content to scribble a mess and then hand it to me as art.

We've been checking out Spanish DVDs for Luke to watch (and Courtney, as she passes in and out of the TV area, she is not nearly as enthralled with television - GOD these KIDS and their DISTINCT PERSONALITIES!) so he's starting to pick up a bit and ask what this is in Spanish, or that, or tell me that he has a primo, Brendan.

They sat in the desk chair this morning, happily together side by side, and Courtney said "Aah ba bee doooooo!!"

Luke looked at her quizzically and asked me "What did she say in baby Spanish?"

A Very Good Day

2008-08-11T19:18:00.002-05:00

I was going to call this "A Pretty Good Day", but when I thought about it, I had to reassess. Really, if every day was like this my house would be more organized, my errands would be done, and I would weigh 25 pounds less.

We managed to make it to the gym, where I ran 2.25 miles, and the kids played with friends in the child center. Then we went out to the pool (at the gym) and played, following that with lunch and light bulb purchases at IKEA. (Note: two light bulbs, specially made for IKEA, cost more than the sconce from IKEA. I smell racket.) We headed home, where Courtney napped and Luke and I cleaned house, watched TV, and played War (the card game). Guess who did what on the cleaning/watching part!

Insanely, we headed to the grocery store at 5 PM, with Luke going potty before we left - AND HE POOPED ON THE POTTY!! Shopping took until 6:30 PM and was by far the most stressful part of our day. But I managed to save 39% on the grocery bill and get almost all of what I needed. And they gave me a free Starbucks coupon! Yay! Coffee I NEVER pay for, for FREE!

Home again, eating dinner (all three of us staaarving) and the kids are watching a Spanish video and goofing off in the basement before bedtime. The dog did throw up, but she did so on the kitchen floor, not carpet, and all I could say was "Thank you, Snow."

A very good day, really.

Debates I Don't Have (Yet)

2008-08-08T06:19:00.002-05:00

Luke does not color a thousand pictures for me, nor glue mosaics or create clay masterpieces. I usually moan and sigh over this a bit because three and a half year olds are -supposed- to create art. I always thought that silly dancing and coloring would be easy ways to keep my child entertained.

There is a definite upside to my oh-so-right-brained kid, though. I have no box of important art that I need to save. Every art project I've seen him do has been haphazard at best and he's displayed no joy in the finished product. He may like DOING the project, but hanging it up? Deliberately saving and displaying it? Entirely unnescessary, no matter if I exclaim over it or not.

He did attend a Parent's Day Out (PDO) program and I thought he would create art in there that would need to be displayed. They did do weekly crafts, but each craft was so clearly assisted by a teacher that there was no point in saving it - he just played with the masks or puppets until they ripped and they got tossed.

With preschool two days a week (starting three very long weeks from now) I expect there will be more art starting, and perhaps some pride in it.

The Art Institute is definitely not on our list of museums to visit, where is the Math Institute?

Get out the scissors

2008-08-06T08:46:00.004-05:00

There's a large-ish trend towards letting little boys hair grow long(er) these days. Isabel's Babboo has longer hair, and Noah just got his hair chopped. In "real" life, I have a friend with two little boys with longer hair, and we met one boy in our gymnastic class that we actually thought was a girl due to his below shoulder length mass of curls.

Generally, I don't care what you do to your kids head. I don't even care what my kids will want to do to their heads (on this point, Esposo and I disagree. I say, if they're good kids and they want a mohawk or purple hair, fine. He thinks they will become 'burnouts' or some such thing). But pay attention when you're growing a preschoolers hair long. There's a point you may need to cut it.

We headed to the library and were sitting at the puzzle table when a child about Luke's age with shoulder length blonde hair came up and sat by us to do puzzles. I didn't much notice, and nor did Luke, because he's an antisocial little jerk when it comes to meeting new kids.

First thing out of the kid's mouth? "I'm a boy."

Cut that child's hair - he has to CLARIFY HIS GENDER before he says his name! That's just wrong.

Scheduling

2008-08-01T06:02:00.002-05:00

I am trying to figure out what classes and sports Luke and Courtney should take this fall, and the options are about making my head explode. I'm not at all an 'overscheduling' mama, or a 'Type A', competitive mama, but I can see how easy people could get sucked into that attitude. There are SO many options, and some of them sound so good and so fun. I would love to take gymnastics myself!

Ooh, and this exploration class about a different topic each week! One week is dinosaurs! Luke would love that.

And the foreign language classes - I wish I had started a foreign language when I was young, it would be awesome to be fluent.

Same thing with sports! Maybe I could have gotten a college scholarship if I had played one sport all the way through! Maybe I'd be THIN now! What should Luke play that will insure him health, happiness, and save us thousands of dollars of college tuition??

And so I have to remind myself to PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPE, he's THREE. (and a half). The language classes are prohibitively expensive ($1300 for 90 minutes one day a week from Sept-May. We're already paying about that for preschool!) so instead, I went to the library and picked up a 'Spanish for Kids' DVD. I started talking to Luke about saying colors in Spanish and he eagerly jumped into question mode - "How do you say cat in spanish?" "How do you say people in Spanish?" "How do you say baby in Spanish?"

Did I mention I took German?

I told him I didn't know the answers to his questions and that the show would tell him how to say things in Spanish.

Naturally, he refused to watch it.

He also expressed a great deal of interest in playing basketball. DADDY IS 5'7", KID. THERE ARE NO SCHOLARSHIPS FOR YOU.

My Little Hindu

2008-07-27T07:19:00.003-05:00

Luke has recently become rather obsessed with death - what happens when we die, does everyone die, when will we die, etc etc etc. I'm not a 'religious' person, but I do believe in God, and long ago before we had kids Esposo and I agreed that we would be providing some churchin' to our kids. Looks like it's time for Sunday School!

But back to the discussions about death. On the ride home from the Field Museum last week, Luke asked:

"When I'm died, will I be made again?"

Esposo: "If you believe in Hinduism, you will."

Luke: "I will believe."

I'm not sure where he came up with the concept of reincarnation, if he saw it somewhere (it wasn't from us) or if it was referenced in some Noggin show (Little Arun comes back as a cow! A horse! This is a great show idea, let's run with it!).

Impressive for a three year old. Oh, I'm sorry, three AND A HALF.

THE CRAP, PEOPLE

2008-07-24T16:57:00.003-05:00

Have I mentioned how hard it is to actually 'go green'? And not like recycling or composting is hard (oh, the compost is composting away!! I don't have enough!), but please do not give me plastic bags, people.

I took my plastic bag o bags to the store along with a cloth bag - the store I WALKED to with a CHILD, mind you. (By the way, check out the walkability of your neighborhood - I scored a 46) I shopped with my basket and handed my plastic and cloth bag to the bagger, asking that she place the frozen items together in the plastic bag.

So she placed the frozen items in a STORE plastic bag and then that bag into the cloth bag. @#$!@#$%!@#$! She also wrapped my 'Spray n Wash' in a plastic bag so it could be safely placed next to my watermelon. Rather than, I don't know, handing it to me if she thought I'd be concerned? So I went with two bags for two bags of groceries and still came home with two plastic bags. GAH!!

In-ba-fin-er-tee

2008-07-12T21:34:00.002-05:00

We recently moved all our VHS movies up to the lake house, set up a TV with a VCR and created a 'downtime kid zone' in the loft. Also known as, 'Look kid, I'm exhausted, you're exhausted, go zone out'. A lot of time outdoors being active can lead to whiny kids. It's been a FANTABULOUS solution. Plus, it got rid of all our VHS movies, and then my sister in law added hers! A veritable entertainment library!

So of course Luke wants to watch one movie over and over and over again. Toy Story.

You've seen Toy Story, right? It's a great kids movie, right? It's all about friendship and working together and all sorts of great things!

Except when your kid climbs to the tops of tables and couches and leaps off shouting "TO INBAFINERTY AND BEYOND!"

Sure, sure, we saw that coming. He's acting out Buzz Lightyear! Of course!

And then he says "Stop it, you gallits!"

Uh, what? Esposo figures out that one - when Buzz is being picked up from the crane game at Pizza Planet, Woody shouts at the aliens "Stop it, you zealots!!" You know, since Luke has watched the movie 400 times by now, he's picked up some lines.

So, "What are you looking at, you hockey puck!"

Ah, um.

And the coup de grace from this sweet Disney movie about friendship is "you idiot!", which Luke says about 20 times a day, with no clear idea what it means.

Thanks, Toy Story. Thanks a bunch!

Up North

2008-07-10T22:21:00.002-05:00

We just got back from spending a weekend 'up north', which is what a great deal of Chicagoans call Wisconsin. Also Michigan. Possibly Minnesota, too. Or Canada. Really, anyplace that we go regularly that is north of us. It was a long week, and a good one. There are stories and exhaustion and beer. One of my favorites revolves around Luke, of course.

Luke learned recently to use "Shut up". We told him in unequivocable terms that he was NOT permitted to use that phrase, and use thereof would result in the loss of a car EACH TIME he said it. He got the message loud and clear and quickly found other ways to get it across that he would like you to, uh, shut up.

When his cousins came up (they are 6 and 3), all three of them slept up in the loft at the lake house. My MIL (Grandma) slept there as well, keeping them in line or something. My three year old nephew woke up and went to find his parent's room. Luke woke up as well, but my MIL convinced him that he needed to be quiet and stay in bed since everyone else was sleeping.

And then she dozed off. And started snoring.

Luke took this as an affront to the directions he was just given and loudly proclaimed "SILENCE!", and she woke up to him glaring at her.

German much, kid?

In Love

2008-07-02T17:10:00.003-05:00

The basement is finished. Oh my. I may have mentioned it. Today is the first day that we've really gotten to take advantage of the fact that it's 5 or so degrees cooler down here AND be safe from the storm! Exciting!

The dog has settled into a new spot NEXT to the desk - which is so so infinitely much better than UNDER the desk where she layed upstairs. No dog footrest. The children are running like fools and playing with toys. Artwork has been done and it didn't stress me out. Since we have no TV down here we're not watching anything, either.

Man, this rocks.

Mama Needs Some Alkymahol

2008-07-01T18:59:00.002-05:00

Also, a day or two AWAY from children. Also, a child who poops. Because even though he's on laxatives daily, he hasn't pooped since Saturday. It's Tuesday. POOOOP.

The computer has been moved to the basement office, and an interesting side effect of this is that I can now hear the children moving around upstairs, so I know when they head into the kitchen or upstairs. Considering I'm hearing-impaired, they stomp pretty loudly. I can not hear them going into the 'magic cabinet' (art supplies), pulling out the markers and paint, and coating each other and themselves, though. I can hear crying and whining.

This is Week Four of Esposo working late, and it was supposed to be done last week. The children have not been particularly obnoxious or difficult, in fact they've been mostly well behaved - markers and paint not withstanding. HOWEVER, THIS Mommy is just a little tired of the wake up routine and the bed time routine and all the hours in between routine. And THIS mommy would like to jet off to Vegas for about 48 hours and then have 24 or so hours of intravenous fluids to flush out the alcohol and sleep.

And most sadly, our planned Weekend Without Children has been messed up, so now we have to re-plan a Weekend Without Children. This is our FIVE YEAR celebration of marriage (in September, but two weekends is a bit much to expect), so I'd like to do something fun, with beer.

Do I sound like an alcoholic? I guarantee I am not, since I never get to drink, but I am one of those people who thoroughly enjoys becoming a happy, obnoxious idiot while drunk. What could be more fun than being happy and silly and giggling? Nothing. Please give me beer and child care.

May Cause Discomfort

2008-06-26T21:29:00.002-05:00

I read there are debates about the children of Mommy Bloggers having their privacy violated by there parents sharing their stories, but I am of the position that sharing stories in whatever forum is only going to help us all be better mothers. So I'm writing this, wishing I had had it to read BEFOREhand.

Today I gave Luke a suppository. He hadn't pooped since LAST THURSDAY and he was holding it in and looking very uncomfortable all day. My MIL had mentioned the suppository option a few weeks back. I trekked to Walgreens after Esposo got home and read all the boxes. I came home with Pedia-Lax, for ages 2-5.

Basically, you're shooting glycerin up their butt. The box noted "May Cause discomfort and a burning sensation." Though we got only about a quarter of the dose into Luke, he screamed. And I mean he SCREAMED. "IT HURTS! GET IT OUT OF MY BUTT!" And he screamed and he screamed as we sat there with him, talking about what we were going to do the next day, wiping the sweat from his brow with a cool cloth, bracing his legs as he SCREAMED.

It was god-awful. I was terrified I had done something wrong and hurt him inside. I kept checking the toilet for blood. I didn't know how long we would have to wait.

I think it took 10-15 minutes before it was said and done, and EVERYTHING came out. Luke feels much better now, and I'm very relieved, but I feel like a rotten mother for not getting him back on Miralax sooner. He's still far more constipated than I thought, lsat week's poop success aside.

I would do it again, but I hope I never have to.

Haves vs Have Nots

2008-06-19T17:43:00.004-05:00

I mentioned to my SIL today that I was trying to get off of using the double stroller completely in the next month or two. "You won't do it." she scoffed, as she leaned over and put all her weight behind pushing her 3 1/2 year old and 6 month old in the sit and stand stroller she uses. Luke walked along side the blue Graco Quattro I've had since he was a baby. A single stroller, but still with a basket beneath for storage and pretty durable. I didn't say I was moving to an umbrella stroller, after all (though I am eyeing those maclarens and combis!)!

If I think about my mom-friends, I can pretty easily categorize them into strollers and non-strollers. There are those who have their children walking alone as often as possible and those that keep them strapped in as often as possible.

I would think I'm somewhere in the middle - I don't think weaning my very active, never napping, three year old from riding in a stroller to the park or the store is overly ambitious. If I were trying to do that with a two year old it would be far more difficult. But I don't like containment and I do like self sufficiency, so we are working on cutting off the stroller completely.

In Context

2008-06-18T20:37:00.002-05:00

I was washing up my newest Craigslist purchase on Monday (a kitchen set for $11.10! Sotve, cabinet and fridge all toddler sized!) when my MIL showed up with my nephew unexpectedly. Even more unexpectedly, my eight year old, rambunctious crazy nephew (who yanked on my veil as I went to stand up at the head table of my wedding reception when he was 3) started playing the piano. And he was REALLY GOOD!

Luke immediately got jealous of all the attention being lavished on this great big cousin who suddenly showed up and went to sit on the top of the piano and prevent him from playing. I commented to my MIL "I think somebody's jealous!", and of course Luke responded quickly with "I'm not jealous!"

Today (Wednesday) we were driving home from the gym and I started prepping Luke for the idea of swim lessons (we're thinking fall. Yeah, I give him that much prep time. We call him 'Mr. Adaptable'.) and he immediately stated that he didn't want to go to swim lessons alone, he wanted me to go with him.

"Why do you want mommy to go with you?" I asked. "Are you scared of swimming in a class without mommy?"

"No," he said "I'm just jealous."

Happy Mommy

2008-06-17T20:56:00.001-05:00

After a long long long LONG time, Luke pooped on the potty today. It makes a happy mommy when the poop is in the potty!

Location, Location, Location

2008-06-16T17:13:00.003-05:00

When we were looking for a house in the summer of 2004, we had requirements of four bedrooms and a good school district. We were looking while the bubble was still fully inflated, so it was some slim pickings. The houses we saw required massive updating or were 'quaint' (meaning no storage) in close to downtown areas. We like the IDEA of quaint.

And then we saw our house on the FIRST day it was on the market. And we jumped. And we got it, with two other people waiting behind us JUST IN CASE something fell through on our deal. We liked our house, but the location wasn't as perfect as we were looking for. We're on the major thouroughfare of the subdivision.

We've also found out that our house might not have the best construction ever. Or more accurately, has little to no updating over its forty years. This, of course, costs us money all over the place.

But the location, well, that's just gotten better. Parks and schools of course. Now that summers here we can walk to get ice cream. And I can walk to the store - two grocery stores, actually, as well as Kohl's. There are a few restaurants to choose from, though we rarely eat out. And now, I'm figuring out the bus schedule so that we can ride to the Metra train and meet Daddy one night. That might not sound all that exciting to an adult - but trust me, to a three year old, that is FANTASTIC.

This location was dumb luck!

Please Come Back, Brain

2008-06-14T06:12:00.002-05:00

I woke up at 5:30 or so this morning, because I think that's the time I usually wake up and shove my head into the pillow and squeeze my eyes shut and try to pretend I can ever get back to sleep. I love the feeling of laying in bed not having to get up, and sometimes I pretend I'm sleeping the morning away until 8 or even 9 o'clock. Aaaaahhh. And then when I get up it's 6:30. WTF??

This morning I was having a hard time with the pretend sleeping and ignoring the world, instead running through what we have to do today, first and foremost being that I need to call Firestone about what tire they need to put on my car. I've replaced tires on my car a few times, and each time they say "Well, we have two tires for your car, this one costs $130 (installed), and this other one costs $170 (installed)"

What's the difference, I ask...

"Well, the $170 has a white line on the outside."

Who gives a crap about a white line on their tire, SERIOUSLY?

Anywho, so I was going through the need to call and get the tire installed, specifying the non-white-line kind, and hoping I didn't throw away the coupon for Firestone, which I'm 99% certain I did because we don't need any car stuff done, when I finally decided to get out of bed because I wasn't going back to sleep at all.

I went into our bathroom and looked out the window at our driveway front lawn and immediately thought "Holy Crap! Where's my car?!!?"

pause... pause...

Oh right, at Firestone. The whole tire thing. That you were JUST THINKING ABOUT 2MINUTES AGO.

I blame the children.

Cutest thing EVAH

2008-06-10T15:45:00.001-05:00

For awhile now Luke has been helping Courtney onto the couch. I would leave the room and when I came back, she'd be perched among the cushions. I'm 90% sure she can't make it up there on her own - too dang short (20th percentile height at 15 months, and 10th% weight - she just hit 20 pounds!).

I didn't know HOW he was doing it, though. We were sitting in the family room with Luke on the recliner - footrest out. Courtney started trying to get up on the recliner. I asked Luke to help her up, expecting him to maybe grab her arms or around her waist and boost her up.

Instead, he lowered the footrest and then lay on the ground on his stomach in front of the chair. Courtney obviously knew the drill because she headed right over and used her brother as a stepping stool.

How could you only ever have one kid and miss out on moments like these?

Some Things

2008-06-04T19:43:00.002-05:00

There's been a lot going on here, and one of the things I am most happy about is that Luke is much more willing and able to walk a decent distance. For a long while there there was fighting about the stroller and who should ride in the stroller (if I only brought the single) and being tired. Now he can walk half a mile to the park and back home again, and I'm very happy with this. Because really, the KID needs to get more tired, not the mom!!

Our basement is almost complete, too!

I Shaved My Cat

2008-06-03T20:21:00.003-05:00

That's not a euphemism of any kind, either. We got this long haired cat last fall, so this is the first spring we've gone through with him. Apparently the dude can not keep up with the shedding and he developed many matted areas on his back. So I shaved him. With my husband's beard trimmer.

The other, short haired cat also can not keep up with the shedding this year, and he developed knots all along his back. I didn't know what the heck was wrong with him, all lumpy and gross to pet, until I started brushing him and there was more hair in the brush than on the cat. This has never happened before, the knots on the short haired cat's back and I've come to a conclusion about this.

The cat is too fat to properly groom himself. I wish there was something we could do about this, but the problem is that the cat is the MOST ANNOYING ANIMAL EVER when he doesn't have food. He might sit on your head while you sleep. And if you kick him out he will chew through all the strings in the house, or paw at the door incessantly. The cat is going to stay fat.

Little Chocolate Girl

2008-06-01T20:46:00.003-05:00

We had a BBQ on Saturday - not at our house, but we organized it with my mom group. It was everything I wanted for my kids - they ran and played and snacked and played and were happy most of the evening. The weather was gorgeous, the company was great, and the kids were up way past their bedtimes. And of course, there were tears when we had to leave!

Problem Solver

2008-05-28T14:24:00.002-05:00

Luke is using his brain in better and better ways, working on convincing me that he is indeed intelligent (honestly, there were a few weeks there where I was starting to question the boy's overall intelligence.) As we ate lunch, I asked him to eat two more carrots and then he could go. He snapped one in half and ate it, then asked "May I please be excused?" (for some reason that little lesson stuck in his head very well).

I said "No, you need to eat one more carrot."

He volleyed back "But I breaked it into two pieces." Lawyer.

As I sat here working at the computer, I heard a shriek of frustration from his bedroom, where he has the door closed building train tracks. I tried to open the door and couldn't, as he sat in front of it. I asked him to move so I could open the door and get in to help him and he told me "You can turn sideways."

No Regrets

2008-05-23T13:07:00.003-05:00

I have known quite a few people who claim to have no regrets, that they did everything exactly as they should have and it's a waste of time to regret anything anyway.

I think this is a load of crap. If you look back at every aspect of your life and think that everything you said and did went just splendid and all the issues you ever dealt with were someone's elses fault, you are probably a raging egomaniac. Like Donald Trump. That dude scares me.

I don't spend my days looking back at my life saying "Gosh, I shouldn't have made fun of that girl" and "If only I'd stood up for myself in that class." but I do clearly see how different behaviors on my part could have led to a better outcome. I do regret not being more capable, and I wonder what I will have learned to do better in five years.

Compost!

2008-05-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hey, my compost heap is working (I think)! It may even be becoming a "hot" pile. We're still not filling it very fast, so I'm going to start trying to figure out what else I can put in there. It definitely does not have an odor when closed and not a bad odor when opened. I've seen the smell described as 'earthy'. My flowers and plants are doing well, but I think all of them will benefit from more nutrients when this compost is done!

AAAAAAAAAUGH

2008-05-22T12:20:00.001-05:00

The child who woke up super early passed out on the recliner watching TV again... must get blinders for his room.

Not Winning a Parenting Award

2008-05-22T09:15:00.002-05:00

I don't really understand how people blog on a regular basis - I try to, but the children either suck my brain through my ears so I can't think, or, as just happened now, Courtney pressed a key and deleted an entire post. And as she waved her hands at me I said "No, I don't want to hold you right now!" and she burst into tears.

I rock at parenting. Also at my other random obligations. Do you know how many people I owe phone calls and emails to? Too damn many.

Also, my almost 15 month old still has a bottle a day. And my son, at 9:15 AM, is on at least his third episode of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. And I can't stop eating to lose more than a pound every month. This is apparently my list of 'how I am sucking today'. Fun, ain't it? I wish there were an easy answer to make everything fall in line - like a babysitter once a week, something simple and straighforward. But that's not it, it's just, well, life. And sometimes life is easy and sometimes your kid wakes up at 5 AM even as you're in the midst of the best damn sleep you've had in weeks.

Mocking Your Choices

2008-05-21T21:09:00.003-05:00

A discussion recently came up in my Moms group about having some "Mom's Nights Out" (henceforth known as MNO) at coffee shops and ice cream establishments. In an instant, the response was "WHA-WHAAAAAAAAAA??" by most of the people that I am close friends with. The issue being, of course, that at these MNOs there would not be alcohol. And we are all about the beer and liquor. And there was even mocking of the 'coffee' and 'ice cream' idea.

Now, I know I shouldn't judge. Coffee and ice cream might be nice (except at 8 PM, I mean, dude, I have enough problems with sleep) at times. But at this point, my times out of the house without children are limited, and since I rarely drink at home, I'm going someplace there's beer. And also, at ice cream places, there are frequently CHILDREN. Even at 8:30 at night. And I don't want to go to places where there are CHILDREN when I don't have any CHILDREN with me. I want to live unfettered and free with a pitcher.

I don't know why we're quite so appalled that there are people who want to go out without having alcohol present, I just know there's a reason those are the people I'm closest to.

The More Things Change

2008-05-20T22:20:00.002-05:00

The more they stay the same. I still do love the beer.

The Long Walk

2008-05-20T15:29:00.002-05:00

I didn't use the car at all yesterday, but then I screwed that all up by driving 15 miles out to a far away suburb to look at carpet. Between all the stops and such I probably put 35 miles on the car today and I'm not. done. yet.!

But I did walk to Luke's school to pick him up, which was a 25 minute walk there and 35 minutes back. Why so much longer back, you ask? Or perhaps you have children and you aren't asking that question because you know that I didn't have Luke on the way there but I did on the way home. And you know that on a long ish walk with a three year old there is infinite getting into and out of the stroller and switching seats and dropping things and putting feet on wheels and oh. my. god. That makes it a long long walk.

But overall the walk went well and I learned that there is a safe bike route with the trailer so I can save us 6 miles or $1.20 a week by biking and walking to the school. And for some reason I LIKE little calculations like that.

Our basement is moving along at a nice rapid pace - all the drywall is up and they are mudding and taping now. We're pricing out flooring.

Goodnight

2008-05-18T18:30:00.002-05:00

Me: Goodnight, Luke, sleep tight!
Luke: Don't let the bugs eat you!

The Reusable Bags

2008-05-14T17:05:00.002-05:00

My mother crochets and has made me reusable plastic bags from plastic bags. You can do a google search and figure out how she did it, you can pay $40 - $80 or more for them on etsy.com or you can suck up to me and I might convince my mom to make one for you for a nominal fee.

Anyway, when I use these bags, I get frequent comments and admirers. Today the checkout lady (at the store I WALKED to this afternoon thank you very much!) looked at my reusable plastic bags, admired my reusable plastic bags, commented on my reusable plastic bags, but I had to REMIND her to please USE my reusable plastic bags! She was looking at them as she put my purchases in a store bag.

AAAGH! Why is being green so hard??

Nocarday

2008-05-12T13:12:00.003-05:00

Now that the weather is nicer and gas is $47,839.67 a gallon, I have instituted "Nocarday", which means one day a week I will not use the car at all. I'm hoping that I can actually get to two "Nocardays" a week. I haven't joined the chidren's museum or the zoo because the additional cost of driving 10-25 miles to get there makes the total cost per visit too high for me. But, it lowers the cost per visit of nearby play places.

As you may have followed, Nocarday is not the same thing as Stayhomeday. Right now Nocarday is Monday, when we have soccer at the nearby (half a mile) park district, followed by playing at the park for a good 45 minutes.

But then I decided, hey, I need one small thing (spray paint) from the hardware store! It's only 1.7 miles away... and so we biked, me and two kids (60ish pounds plus trailer). Now THAT is one heck of a workout! And per my calculations, I saved $0.60 by not using the car for that trip :)

Things I've Been Meaning to Type

2008-05-09T13:17:00.003-05:00

Luke would like to stay three while Courtney gets older so they can be the same age. He's going to whip me in shape this summer - when I say we're going somewhere he asks if we are going to walk or take the bike and then gets upset if I say we have to take the car.

But this afternoon I did take him and Courtney on a long car ride (10 miles each way) to deliver some hand-me-downs (the rotation of children's clothes will never end!). I timed it late enough in the afternoon that I thought surely Courtney would drift off, since she only had an hour or so napping earlier in the day. To my great surprise, it was Luke who nodded off first and stayed asleep while I visited a little, through the ride home and the stop at the gas station ($59... but I am getting 23 mpg since the tune up - a 1-2 mpg increase). He got in at least an hour of nappage!

In other news, the composting is going... well, as far as I can tell it's going. It doesn't smell and we're not filling it very quickly (which is a good thing, doncha know). I still haven't gotten the indoor storage system done. Oh, and I planted a zucchini plant, too. Two tomatoes and one zucchini. Hopefully they yield us some veggies!

Proof that she's mine

2008-05-09T12:38:00.002-05:00

Courtney looks so much like her father it's as if she sprung from his hip, except that, oh yeah, I carried her for nine months and did the whole "labor" thing. No biggie, just wanted to mention it, you know.

But she's showing my genes in the oddest of ways - she likes to lay sideways in her crib with her feet through the slats, from there talking, perusing the latest baby book and generally hanging out. As a kid, when I went on marathon reading sessions (which was basically anytime I had a book I hadn't read) I would lay on the couch, behind the couch, with my head hanging upside down over the side, etc etc etc.

If reading in weird positions is truly hereditary, I look forward to finding her sitting on top of the fridge with a book.

Three Baby

2008-05-06T22:08:00.002-05:00

When Esposo and I were dating and getting married and doing all that theoretical talking about the theoretical children, we had two options - two children or four. I was in the "two children" camp and he was in the "four". Somewhere along the way we met in the middle to a nice average "three".

You may have noticed that we currently have "two" children and thus would need one more to meet the theoretical "three" that we had discussed. If you have known me for over 14 months, you may also remember that I do. not. enjoy. pregnancy.

If you have known me for longer than four years, you may even remember the days when I enjoyed beer. Beer and vodka and gin and other alcohol containing beverages. You may have stories regarding me in a bar, on a bar, on the floor, or hanging over a bush being particularly cruel to the bush. Apparently, I still do like the beer and the vodka nd the other alcohol containing liquids. Apparently, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other doctory type people still reccommend the cessation of all alcohol imbibe-nation during the nine months of incubation.

Perhaps you see where I am going with this?

I do not relish the prospect of not drinking for nine months of pregnancy and limited drinking for months of nursing. But I will do it for you, future not yet existent child. You better invite me to moms weekend at your college (UofI) of choice.

Rivalry begins

2008-05-05T15:27:00.002-05:00

Courtney has entered a new phase in her life of jealousy. She wants Mommy and Daddy all to herself and MAN does she get pissed when Luke comes to sit on our laps. She runs over, all 19 angry pounds of her and screams as she tries to shove him off. Luke screams in turn and wow is it FUN for all involved!!

This afternoon consisted of baseball, football, and more baseball. Did I mention that the football is tackle football? And everytime you get the ball you are tackled? Or you must tackle the other person. Crap, I'm tired.

Quack

2008-04-23T06:12:00.002-05:00

I just added a new link - Suburban Turmoil - to my list on the right, and so far I'm quite pleased with what I've been reading. Particularly her recent post with how she hates her dog, because our dog is a complete and utter moron. She's desperately needy, steals food, and pees in my house. I don't like her. But yet, I keep trying. I'm taking her for more walks and she's spending more time in the backyard with the kids and I. Not that she appreciates that AT ALL. After half an hour or so, she's desperate to go back inside and sleep under the computer desk.

I had left her in the backyard alone for ten or fifteen minutes yesterday, because we have a problem with ducks. I don't think most people have problems with ducks, but we have such a large pool of water from our sump pump exit hose that this duck couple thinks it's a pond. They're nice to see and all, and I find it particularly hysterical how the mallard is very protective - after all, he's a DUCK, what's he going to do to fend off attack? - but I do NOT want ducklings in my backyard.

So, I've been encouraging the dog - who is a BIRD DOG, by the way, so this is her very INSTINCT - to go out and chase away the ducks. Except she is apparently so non-intimidating that WHILE she was hanging out in the backyard, the ducks landed in their "pond".

Garage Sale - The Positive Day

2008-04-19T18:45:00.002-05:00

While I ended the day yesterday happy with our sales, I was somewhat disturbed by the general population. There was the woman who sent her child in to the bathroom with one of my 'mom friends' and the child needed a wipe - if your child can't wipe himself, he can't go in alone! There were the hagglers and also the possible theft.

The best thing about a garage sale for me, though, is that I talked to my neighbors and people in the 'hood. I met a mother with a child who would be in Luke's class at school and we exchanged numbers. I chatted with two direct neighbors and one indirect neighbor. We saw the mentally handicapped guy who bowled with us. It made my world smaller, and I like that.

The Garage Sale

2008-04-18T21:22:00.002-05:00

The Mommies, or The Coven, as one husband dubbed us, all got together for a garage sale this weekend. Pooling the crapload of toys from 20 (TWENTY) households on my very busy through street has paid off in spades. We made (wait for it)

$1500. In a DAY. So you can picture the selling that was going on and the number of people we had, right? Because it was FREAKING CRAZY. Garage sales bring out the crazy people more so than anything else, and they were definitely there.

First off, don't haggle with me at 8 AM *before the scheduled start of the sale*. I mean, dude, we haven't even technically OPENED yet. I'm not giving you a deal.

Then there's the "I don't speak English" haggler. Two fifty, I say. "2?" she says, with a giggle. Two fifty, I say, and giggle back. I'm getting better at working the sales with my age and wisdom.

Then there are the oddballs, like the woman who engaged me in conversation about her daugher's autism and lack of social skills, which, not to be rude, she clearly got from her mother. I feel for the socially challenged, but I simply had to figure out an escape. She had, apparently, decided I was her new best friend.

We think perhaps one thing was stolen today, though we had an overage in our funds, so perhaps not. Too many people working the sale and too many people chatting combined with 1,001 shoppers.

I'm curious to see what Day 2 brings!

Oh, We Are Outside

2008-04-16T17:15:00.002-05:00

We have been outside a LOT the past few days. It's finally warm where we are and that means yard cleanup! And trying to scare away the ducks who think my sump pump run off is a pond. This is a going to be a good year of outside, I think - Luke can really get into sports and can be half trusted for minutes at a time in the backyard while I weed in the side yard.

Of course, it's also going to be a summer of "No come INSIDE now" followed by screaming and whining and requests to go back outside and can't I play baseball with him? Soccer? Football? And OH DEAR GOD, I AM TIRED. And it's April 16th.

I also think I got a little burn on my face.

HA!

2008-04-15T06:47:00.002-05:00

I finally have lost another 0.4 pounds, thus bringing my grand total for the YEAR to 10.8 pounds. It took me SIX WEEKS to lose that 0.4 pounds and damn, do I deserve it. Now that things are warming up I'm hoping my general day to day movement will increase and help lose the pounds. So that means that there has to be no more snow, allright? It's the IDES OF APRIL, I should be able to reasonably request that there be NO MORE SNOW. Or below 40 degree weather. I can handle low forties. BUT NOTHING LESS.

I have been actively throwing food scraps and yard waste clean up into my compost bin. No compost yet.

A big black waste box!

2008-04-11T07:01:00.003-05:00

I am very excited today, because yesterday we got the compost box I ordered! Yay! Compost! This 'greening' thing has been impacting Esposo, too, I believe - he commented the other day that he was noticing all the garbage on our street on garbage day. Well, we are now going to make an impact on what we put out there.

Honestly, I'm rather nervous about composting - if you read up on it there are greens and browns, layering and turning. You really want a 'hot' compost pile, you know. If I can get a 'hot' pile, then I can start throwing the dog poop in there. But can I get the mixture right?? How much turning will I have to do?? But I'm ready to start doing this - just a $70 investment for the big black box!

I set up the box this morning and it went together pretty easily - four plastic sides and a black plastic lid - black to absord heat from the sun and help get things cooking! Once I figured out where I was putting the box (on the side of my house next to a bush, well away from neighbors in case things get smelly while I learn) I dug out the irises that were there (we have a huge patch of irises that have been needing to be moved) and put my box in. Then I collected all the materials I've been piling in various places - kitchen scraps and dry plant pieces - and tossed them all in there. My initial fill left it about 15% full. Already this has improved things, though, as I no longer have banana peels in my backyard!!

Not Much Baby Left

2008-04-09T12:11:00.003-05:00

I started clearing out my cupboards again today - removed all but two bottles, as all Courtney gets is a bottle at bedtime now. She definitely walking more than half the time, and we know she is saying 'Dada' (and probably more, but we haven't deciphered it yet). I'm actually thrilled by all this, the baby stage is not my favorite stage, though with Courtney it's certainly been an easy stage.

We even took out the bucket car seat and put her in a forward facing car seat. She's probably not quite 20 pounds yet, but this is so much easier! And there's more room in the car, too. With our regular trips up north, space in the car is a necessity.

Conversation

2008-04-08T15:59:00.001-05:00

Something woke me up, but I rolled over and went right back to sleep.

My husband, he knows how to get the conversation GOING.

The Nap Poop

2008-04-04T16:06:00.003-05:00

Courtney is still about the easiest child known to the world, and I still wonder about people who have this kind of child first. Seriously, this is your point of reference? They must think those of us who talk about our non-stop, screamy, exhausting children are bad parents.

However, she has been having some troubles with sleep, mostly because I torture her every day with trips to the gym and playgroup and classes and wherever the heck else we decide to go. And now, when I finally get her home and in her crib, she poops. One can not sleep in a diaper full of poop, I get this. But you'd think getting that out would relax you enough to get you to sleep after that? Not so much.

Just another parenting challenge...

In Your Face! With Cow Bone!

2008-04-04T08:38:00.003-05:00

I have one older brother. As Charlie Sheen said to Anthony Michael Hall in Breakfast Club, my older brother was a parent's wet dream (until later in high school, anyway). He kept his room perfectly neat. He did very well in school, he didn't mouth off, and he never had cavities. NEVER.

On the other hand, my room was a disaster, I whined, and I ALWAYS had cavities. My teeth suck and I have two crowns to show for it now. They want to put on another one because basically, there's just so little of my actual TOOTH left, why even bother with fillings?

But my brother went to the periodontist because he has gum issues. And his gums are in such bad shape they're going to be putting COW BONE in his mouth (I've got a fever! And the only thing for my fever is MORE COW BONE!)

IN YO' FACE, BOYEEEEEE! My gums rock!

Celebratin' my genetic victory...

Searching for Sioux

2008-03-27T21:28:00.006-05:00

And Jenny Morrow, and Kathryn Pallotta. Elizabeth Goodfellow. Susan Handschiegal.

The Google Aerial view and Hola, Isabel's post on reconnecting got me googling.

I don't know what happened to these four girls. Beth was my KINDERGARTEN best friend. I don't really expect to have much in common with my best friend at age five, but I'm still curious what happened to her. I think she went along a very predictable route and is probably married with kids. She was blonde and pretty and thin.

Jenny was first grade - we talked far too much. She was a tiny, thin little girl who pointed with her middle finger. She was a bit left of center, and probably went a bit bohemian (I think her parents were, anyway).

Kathryn (Kit Kat), second grade, I vote most likely to have joined a sorority. Everything about her was neat and in place. She was small, and had two much older brothers. Possibly in college by the time I knew her.

And Sioux (Susan) was third grade, my crazy twin.

My friends never seemed to mesh well at the same time, and though Jenny, Kit Kat, and Sioux were all in third grade together, I think I was the only commonality among them. I have always wondered what happened to them. I think if you stay in one place your friendships have the luxury of growing and changing, and you can decide who will know you from age 5 on up. But when you move a few times your friendships are amputated, and though we tried to write, junior high doesn't translate well on paper. I wonder who I'd still be friends with had I stayed somewhere.

My front lawn

2008-03-25T12:16:00.004-05:00

I have frequently told people I used to live on six acres of land in rural
Jersey.

Well, this was my house.

See that driveway? It loops on the "left", also known as the "bottom" because the hill is quite steep. Our sledding would start "above" the house (in the picture), veer down across the left lawn and across the driveway to the bottom.

If you look below the house you will notice a stand of trees apart from the other trees. Those are Christmas trees that we planted in 1987, my father's idea of a cash crop.

Behind the house (to the right, that is) you can see the woods that we would just walk back into to go for a hike.

Edited to add: This Google aerial view is quite addictive.

Preschool/Kindergarten
(I actually had to google my friend's address because I didn't remember our address off hand, but I just looked for the park we would ride our big wheels through and yes, there's Franklin Hill Drive, that's the old road!)

First through Third grade

The above link was 4th-6th grade.

Junior High and High School was spent here

I must say, particularly from above, the New Jersey shots are the prettiest, right? All the trees and greenery, houses are far apart. I don't wonder why I take offense when people put down New Jersey - what I saw of it was beautiful.

Also, thank God I didn't have access to this type of mapping as a kid or my hiking from the Vernon house (the one that started all this) would have been even stupider. I can now SEE how I could have gotten to my friend Amanda's house and GUARANTEE I would have done it. I tried a few times but didn't quite know the angle to go.

Exasperation

2008-03-23T07:11:00.002-05:00

When I am dealing with my active boy running, jumping and climbing somewhere, I have gotten the comment about how it's hard now, but when he's a teenager, he'll be SO MUCH EASIER to parent than the little girls who are currently NOT using sticks as swords and smacking their friends on the head.

I now have a glimpse into the future. He's going to be a fun teenager, too!

We drove home from my mother's late last night, (um, 7:30. Late in respect to the KIDS) and I told Luke he would be going straight to bed or the Easter Bunny wouldn't come. He readily agreed since by the end of the day he is exhausted. I told that he wouldn't have to clean up his room before bedtime (as he usually must) because I had already cleaned today.

He leaned forward in his carseat "Did you clean up the cars?"

"Yes." I answered, leaning back to look at him.

He throws himself back in the carseat and rolls his eyes, and I was suddenly looking at our future, my three year old at 8, 10, 13. It's not pretty.

Proof of Girl

2008-03-19T09:26:00.001-05:00

Sorry for my commentary!

Lucid

2008-03-19T07:53:00.002-05:00

Esposo has lucid dreams - as in, he knows he's in a dream and then he can change what happens in the dream. I'm aware I'm dreaming in my dreams, but I've never consciously tried to change them, I just let them take me along for the ride. My unconscious is way more screwed up than my conscious.

So last night, I was talking on the phone to my college ex while the children were asleep - telling him how great the kids are while thinking 'Why am I talking to this person?' when I looked out my bedroom window and saw four funnel clouds.

I grabbed the kids (had to wake them up, remember) and headed to the basement. Then I tried to (literally) herd our cats into the basement. And there were PEOPLE outside so I got them to come inside into our basement. And I opened the back door and random cats were in the yard so I herded them in.

And I had to get candles and a radio and some water for everyone...

And the part where it gets weird? I went into the basement and the people I had pulled in off the street? They wanted me to organize their summer softball team.

And I said sure! Put your name, phone number, and email on this paper...

Anticipating

2008-03-17T15:57:00.001-05:00

"I want to play cars with you."

"Can Courtney play too?"

"Yeah"

"Are you going to yell at her?"

"Yeah"

"Don't yell at her."

"But she's gonna take cars!"

It's A Girl!

2008-03-17T15:46:00.002-05:00

It is becomig increasingly apparent that I have had a GIRL baby. Besides the lack of twig and berries, she is petite, social oriented, and noticeably (physically) slower. She also now loves her baby dolls. She has three different dolls that she hugs and pats and drags along with her. I find this rather cute, though I was not tremendously into baby dolls myself.

She is also developing an opinion on her clothing. She wants a coat on, no, not that one, the other one. And also that hat. No, take it off. No, put it back on. Off. On. How about some shoes? This clothing thing scares me, honestly. I expected it... eventually. But she's ONE. Not yet, thanks!

Not quite sure what to do with this girl...

3 is a Smartass

2008-03-14T17:09:00.003-05:00

I began cleaning up a bit this evening, and encountered Luke's cars spread from one side of the kitchen to the other.

"Luke! You need to come pick up your cars!"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to step on them! That would hurt and might break your cars!"

*pat pat pat* come three year old feet.

"No, Mom, you just need to step really high, like this." he says as he demonstrates the proper way to negotiate the scattered cars.

Green Again

2008-03-14T08:04:00.003-05:00

Our winter here dragged on for about 3 years too long, with the snow piling up and the weather all cold and windy, and in the midst of that I neglected my green missions. It's a hazard of winter for most of us, the loss of ambition and onset of depression. We're very thankful for spring around here!!

And since I looked out back and saw my tiger lilies poking through - hey, plants, guess what? Not REALLY warm enough yet, turn back! - I started thinking about getting green again. Specifically, this is the year of the compost bin. I have located one at Sam's Club online, which is an interesting conundrum in itself. Ideally I wouldn't have to buy a plastic thing to compost, but I do live in the suburbs and my house is visible from all sides. It has to be remotely attractive. And contained. Especially considering Esposo saw some coyotes running down the street the other night.

I digressed... we are back in cloth diapers and I'll be taking my plastic/canvas bags to the store again. And eating healthier again. And losing the 28 pounds I want to lose. And getting a Masters Degree in "Magic Money Tree Propagation". It's going to be a good year!!

Leader, Follower, or Independent

2008-03-12T07:05:00.004-05:00

I am always wondering what kind of personality my kids will have when they are a bit older, and what their school days will be like. My own were a mix because of frequent moves, and looking back at elementary school, I would say I was an 'independent' mostly, but I also frequently took the role of 'leader' in my close friendships. Later I definitely leaned more independent.

Luke seems to be following the same path, or so I thought. I certainly wasn't pegging him for leader, especially compared to some other children I've seen, who collect an orbit of admirers without even looking at them. But lately, Luke's leadership qualities have been coming out in a rather odd way.

He's been getting all his friends to take their clothes off.

It started when he and his friend Nuit (haha! Name changed!) were playing upstairs while the mommies were downstairs. We called up 'what are you guys doing?' and Nuit answered "We're just naked." Indeed they were, down to their underwear. Pictures were taken...

Later that week there was simple belly exposure from three boys (Luke included, of course) at a playgroup. Apparently growling was involved with the lifting of the shirt. More pictures...

At a third playgroup Luke was playing with one friend and told him to remove his shirt, same thing at a fourth playgroup with a different boy. And the kids do! I'm desperately curious as to what Luke is saying to these kids, I'm guessing it's as simple as 'You should take off your shirt.', because kids rarely need more incentive to get nekkid. But still, Luke is flexing his persuasive and leadership powers, one shirt at a time.

There is Esposo's family story of Oldest Brother convincing Middle Brother (Esposo is Youngest Brother, FYI) to ride down the street on his Big Wheel. Naked. I should keep an eye on Courtney...

There's A Reason I Don't Share

2008-03-03T21:10:00.003-06:00

We had some people come in to give us a quote on our kitchen remodel. And oh! The quote is high. It is many dollars, but it involves a lot more than simply replacing cabinets and appliances, it involves moving walls and covering up our giant wall o' brick fireplace. In involves all new electrical, a sliding glass door, and putting real, true, hardwood floor in half my downstairs.

Usually I don't share numbers with people. What I make, what I owe, what we bought something for. It's just not a good plan, there's always some aspect of competition or 'deal making' or something stupid. I don't like talking money and I don't like when other people talk money. I can presume someone is 'wealthy' or 'not wealthy' without having to know the details, and occasionally, when I find myself turning a bit green at something someone else has, related to money, I ask myself "Do I want their life?" Always, always, the answer is no.

But, Esposo shared the numbers and so I went against my usual thoughts. And shared other numbers.

Can I take it back? Because, dude, other people are flipping out about the numbers. They want to tell me how to 'do it cheaper' or give me their guys (literally, three people have offered up their 'guys'). Maybe if we had made some huge financial mistakes in the past I could see this. But we are so. freaking. conservative.

The people we like? They have a project plan. With bullet points. I like bullet points. This is half my house! My kitchen we are ripping out! No 'guys'.

Easier

2008-02-28T21:54:00.002-06:00

I am regularly amazed by how much easier it is to have a 1 year old and a 3 year old than it was to have an 18 month old. Perhaps that is because of the 18 month old I had, or the 1 year old I have, or the fact that I'm not pregnant. But while I look forward to Esposo coming home every day, I don't NEED him to come home because I'm about to lose my mind.

Today we went to McDonald's for lunch (hey, we had the apple dippers in his happy meal and split my meal's fries, no judging!) and Luke was sitting nicely at the table and eating when he came out with "I love you, Mom."

I mean, that was a good moment. It was a good lunch. It was a good day.

Procrastination is...

2008-02-15T11:31:00.003-06:00

Watching the Yahoo! Video entitled "Kitten in a Boot" (and yes, that was an accurate description, the kitten was not shown getting into the boot, or trying to escape the boot, or doing anything other than BEING in the boot) when you have to pack and clean your house.

Traditions

2008-02-12T11:22:00.001-06:00

I like the idea of having some traditions with my children that are specific to our family. Yes, we set up a Christmas tree and decorate it and make Christmas cookies. Sure, we celebrate birthdays. But maybe every spring we'll go on a walk to find the first flowers. Something that not everyone does.

We've started a bedtime ritual without intending to, and I am loving it. After dinner and before bed is now one of my favorite times of day as I get the kids ready for bed (with or without bath) and then we play upstairs. If Daddy is home it's rambunctious and silly. If I'm tired it's Luke and Courtney in one of their rooms together. And we all have a great time every night right before bed. And that's pretty awesome.

I Have Lost the Ability to Speak English

2008-02-05T18:55:00.000-06:00

This can be the only explanation, because my child can no longer comprehend ONE GODDAMN THING I SAY. And he's admitting that he's not listening to me, too. Apparently you move directly from the tantrums of the terrible twos into the selective deafness of the traumatic threes. It doesn't seem to matter if I am speaking calmly or screaming like a deranged lunatic, he just doesn't listen for one second. And it's going to drive me over the brink and/or give me a heart attack.

As the Potty Turns

2008-01-31T07:25:00.001-06:00

Well, we have reached the end of the first month of potty training, and Luke is pretty close to 100% on peeing in a potty. We've had 2 or 3 accidents in the past five days. But pooping, ah pooping is an entirely different issue. We are weaning Luke off any prizes or rewards for peeing (which is not hard since the rewards were never compelling enough to make him pee) and I'm trying to remove all the truck stickers that have been placed on my toilet seat.

Since rewards weren't overly compelling for peeing, I don't know how they're going to work for pooping, but I am still trying to hold out some "Big" rewards there.

It was really fricking hard, the potty training, and my advice to people starting out would be that you will get through it. And you have to be ready for it.

And also, why the hell do they put the characters only on the REAR of the toddler underwear? Luke insists on putting them on backwards so he can SEE Diego and Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen.

Eating Together

2008-01-29T06:48:00.000-06:00

In case you are capable of ignoring the non-news, the 'experts', whoever they may be, are constantly telling us that we all need to SIT DOWN and EAT WITH OUR KIDS. I do try to do this, sort of, with a toddler and an infant. The problem is that by the time I get to the SIT DOWN part I'm so exhausted from getting the food and cutting it and cooling and "Mama I want wawer! In a glass!" that I just plop down and pull out something to read while I eat.

I don't think this is what the experts intended. But really, the talking is starting to exhaust me hourly.
(After I hang up the phone in the car)
"Mama, who were you talking to?"
"Grandma"
"Why were you talking to Grandma?"
"Because I like to."
"Why do you like to?"
"Because I love Grandma."
"Why do you love Grandma?"
"Because Grandma is nice"
"Why is Grandma nice?"
"Because she loves us." (screw the circular logic here, I was TRAPPED IN A WHY LOOP!)
"Why does she love us?"
"Lord only knows, kid, Lord only knows."

(pause)

"Why does Lord only know?"

Screwed Second Child

2008-01-24T12:08:00.001-06:00

When you have a *ahem* demanding first child, the second child is automatically screwed. It has been noted many times lately that Courtney is plopped into the center of some active playgroup or class and basically permitted to fend for herself. Trooper that she is, she does fend well. There are no tears from her as Luke whines or is dragging me somewhere or vice versa.

Right now we are taking one music class that is age appropriate for both of them. 3 - 42 months, the brochure says! Three! Through 42! Bring your babies! And your toddlers!

Except this is the second session we've done the class and I've only seen one other sibling set in the classes. Oh wait, two, but a twin-set doesn't really count. They're ALWAYS going to be able to be in the same class.

And right now our class is predominantly babies. 6 months, 8 months, 10 months, 13 months. Lots and lots in that group. Maybe one two year old. And that's a mild mannered girl two year old.

And Luke. Luke who runs around the classroom in a giant circle, rolls around the middle of the class and generally pays little to no attention to the class. Courtney even goes trudging off in a crawl to see what's going on while these other babies sit happily by their mommies.

WTF is wrong with these other kids?

So today I had to pick up and leave in the middle of the class because Luke was simply not listening and I had HAD ENOUGH. I didn't feel judged at all, I still feel my response was appropriate, but yet, I still felt like turning around and pointing at all those little Stepford babies, waggling my finger and threatening "YOUR DAY WILL COME!!"

Stairs Up!

2008-01-11T18:36:00.000-06:00

Guess who can crawl up the stairs now??? The only one who used to NOT be able to. I found out when I left her at the bottom to put something away upstairs and saw her up the landing and heading up the main flight.

CRAP.

Potty Training Sucks It

2008-01-11T06:37:00.000-06:00

This has been a long long, looong week. BUT! He is starting to get it and woke up at 3:30 AM wanting to pee on the potty! AND DID! I hope it was a light bulb moment...please?

My Babysitter is Sucking It

2008-01-02T17:27:00.001-06:00

The potty training thing? SUUUUUUCKS. So far we have had approximately 2.5 hours of sitting on the potty today and zero success on the pee and poop front. Dude, how long do I have to do this? Seriously, how the hell to I get him to pee? I've tried running water in the background, and pushing liquids (which doesn't work, he's at a set happy level of liquid intake and no, he would not like more). He just needs to pee ONCE and have some success I think...

Anyway, the kids are being absurdly cute, with Luke reading books to Courtney right now. Which leads to the point of my babysitter - AKA the TV - biting the big one. I was all worried maybe 1-2 months ago about Oh No! He Is Watching Too Much TV! Except now I can't get him to sit still for 35 minutes so I can work out. Dude, go rot your brain!

Obviously, I am the complainy sort.

Pee

2008-01-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

So I am more intensively trying to potty train Luke. In the midst of Courtney trying to pull herself up on the toilet (I don't care how clean it is, I don't want my infant pulling herself up on the toilet) and Luke crying about sitting or standing on or near the toilet, I may or may not have shouted SERENITY NOW!

May. Or may not. Take your pick.

I keep hearing about children who willingly sit on the potty. Or who just up and trained one day. This is not my child. Today we went to the Target clearance section and picked up a big truck that's hauling four other trucks - this is his potty prize. When he pees on the potty, he can have one of the small trucks.

He's never peed on the potty. In fact, he will pee in his pants/pull up/diaper five minutes after he sat on the potty. Either he's not ready, or he's evil.

Right now, I'm voting evil.

This is probably the one parenting task I'm most dreading, which really puts it all in a happy light for Luke, too.

He says 'I don't know how to pee on the potty!'

I KNOW, kid. You have to LEARN to get the truck. That's the POINT.

He screams.

More greener

2008-01-02T10:46:00.001-06:00

Okay, I've been slacking on the Be More Green thing. Kermit really had a point. I have been taking my tote bags to the stores, but plastic bags are still accumulating in my house. I think that really drives home the point for me - even though I am actively trying not to bring more bags in, they're still making their way in. And of course, we're still using cloth diapers, and now I'm trying to potty train Luke (let's just say he's resistant) so that would cut down on a lot of laundry but not necessarily water use (I don't think that If-It's-Yellow-Let-It-Mellow is a good thing to teach a three year old.).

I really want a compost pile, but starting one in January in the midwest doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do.

And since I'm trying to FINALLY lose the weight (I like the weight=IQ thing from Lynne, but I don't know my actual IQ. It would be interesting if that were true though, and we could identify the really stupid people by their weight.) I think it may be time to get more organic.

Trader Joes here we come.

Second Hand Addict

2007-12-31T15:43:00.000-06:00

I decided that Courtney's room, which is still decorated in the same motif (jungle animals) as it was for Luke, needed a little more actual decor, especially since the two of them are starting to play back and forth in both of the kids rooms. So I managed to find a dollhouse bookshelf on Craigslist for $50. If you recall, I bought Luke's car bed for $150 off Ebay. (Note the shipping charges associated with the item to understand what it REALLY costs).

Pottery Barn Kids has great, cool, beautiful products. But they are so horribly overpriced I can't imagine walking into that store and buying anything. Kids use and a abuse everything, so second hand is best. I assume that I'll be able to get 75% - 100% of what I paid for these items second hand back when I go to sell them third hand, and that's just cool.

Not Getting the Point

2007-12-27T07:13:00.001-06:00

After four days straight of big events with the kids, I was really happy to just be home on the day after Christmas and putz around the house. I covered the usual bases - laundry, cleaning, filing - and was energetic enough at the end of the day to run to Kohl's to exchange a few items.

I ended up finding new gym shoes and a Halloween sleeper on deep clearance. And then I tried to check out.

Of course today is one of the busiest 'return' days and the store was staffed up to help out - and of course my cashier must have been holiday help AND in her late 70's.

And she tried to scan my item - REPEATEDLY - over the discoloration on the counter rather than the scanner that was 6 inches to the left. I stood there debating how I was supposed to tell her that she was trying to scan using a spot when she finally figured it out. Oy!

And trying to be green, I requested no bag, to which she replied that it was 'easier' for me if I had a bag because otherwise I'd have to CARRY the items. Good Lord No! Carry a shoe box and a 18 month sleeper!?!? You mean, IN MY HANDS!?!? It's weird little things like that that make it harder to go green.

The Best Thing

2007-12-17T09:44:00.000-06:00

Cats that do this make me so so happy! I finally have cats that snuggle with each other.