I generally can’t read in the car without wanting to vomit after 5 minutes, but we’ll see if I can write and not destroy my keyboard. (Notes from the road trip)
Hour 1:
At 4:15 am, Hubster and I were up to finish getting ready for the big trip north. (Note to would be burglers - we have a big dog who likes to eat fresh meat, and neighbours who will shoot first and ask questions ... um, never). In the past, we’ve left at the buttcrack of dawn, put the kids in the car in their pj’s and they sleep for a couple of hours while we motor through the sunrise before we stop for breakfast and hey! We’re half way there!
This time… it did not go as planned. Baboo woke up soaked, which required a change of clothes and instead of being half asleep, she was mostly awake and not happy about it. Mouse woke up bouncing in bed with excitement. Clearly, no one intended to sleep.
An appropriate theme song for this morning is Ralph’s “M-o-m-m-y needs c-o-f-f-e-e”. Oy. We tried to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a much needed coffee before getting on the highway, but they didn’t open until 6. Even though the guy on the phone last night said they opened at 5.
It’s now 6:30 am. We’ve been on the road an hour. ONE. HOUR.
We’ve had 72 “are we there yet”s, 2 requests for potty breaks, 1 “I’m ready to go home”. We’ve had 2 “I’m hungry”s. We’ve had NO coffee. (Curse you Dunkin Donuts!) We nearly had 4 meltdowns.
ONE HOUR. Of an 8 hour drive WITHOUT breaks. We were thinking it would be about a 9-10 hour drive with breaks, but now, if the rest of the drive is anything like the first hour, we’re doomed. We may not arrive. Or maybe, not ALL of us will arrive.
So we stopped after one hour at a McDonald’s. It was not our plan, but before someone lost it, it was wise. We pottied, had breakfast and admired an enormous pink plush unicorn that Mouse INSISTED was the perfect item to bring on vacation - if we bought a trailer to carry it. Both girls could have sat on it with room to spare. Ridiculous.
Hours 2-4:
Then, we got back on the road WITH the portable DVD on (I caved soooo early in the game) and they lasted a bit longer for the second stretch. Baboo slept and Mouse watched some of her videos.
I usually plan to save the movies for when they’ve really had enough. This time, “I” had had enough. The thing is, I had a box of snacks/activities/toys – things to entice and entertain them for HOURS – NEW movies, NEW games, NEW colouring books. Travel Bingo, people. No reading required. How fun is that? Apparently not very, judging by my girls’ lackluster responses. They are not impressed and were barely entertained for more than 5 minutes by ANY of my carefully thought out plans and purchases.
Hour 6:
Side note: I did long car trips with my family EVERY summer. How did we do it without tv? I feel like a total cop-out.
However, that doesn’t stop them from asking for something new to do every 7 minutes. Or to eat. Or to ask to see the map. Or to get the crayon/toy/game that fell on the floor. I’m sure that all the contortionist twisting I’ve done counts as yoga. Unbalanced yoga. And while the seat covers may seem nice and smooth, when you’ve got an eczema rash under your arm and you keep rubbing up against the cover, it really isn’t as smooth as it seems. It feels like sandpaper.
Hour 7:
Now we’re about 2 hours away from our destination, we’re hoping that a rest stop was the last break we need. We let the kids run around outside after a bathroom break in a somewhat questionably clean bathroom. Ok, so maybe we MADE them run around. It was beautiful out and there was grass and trees and grasshoppers. We told them to touch every tree and catch a grasshopper. We killed 15 good minutes that way.
We’ve got the tv on, AGAIN, with a LONG movie and though everyone’s feeling a bit frazzled, we’re almost there. And I understand that every minute feels like an hour, especially when you’re 5, but if I hear “Are we there yet” one more time, I may just eat a piece of that red licorice that I’m very allergic to and ask Hubster to just dump me on the side of the road and leave me to die so I can rot away like the 70-odd roadkill raccoons we’ve seen along the highway.
Hour 9:
We arrive. Everyone is in tact. The girls are giddy with excitement at being with Grandma and Grandpa and Hubster and I are ready to collapse from mental anguish and exhaustion.
It feels a bit surreal to be back in our home town, where everything is so familiar and generally unchanged. As we're driving through town, I'm pointing out to the girls where we used to live/work/go to school etc. It feels like a whole life time ago.
And so begins this summer's vacation!
End note: I did NOT vomit on the keyboard, in fact I felt fine. Does this mean I get to get a netbook so I can write while in transit?! Oh, think of the possibilities! Whoo! Too bad I'm too damn tired to think that hard. At least not today.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Come Swim With Us
Last night at dinner, the girls were talking about their day. We had been at the pool for a couple of hours and they were detailing what we’d done there, when Baboo looked at Hubster.
Baboo, excitedly: “Daddy!? You wanna come to the pool wif us?”
Hubster: “Well, I can’t come right now, but I’d like to go to the pool with you again sometime.” (meaning, it’s almost 7 and bedtime)
Baboo: “Oh Daddy.You not ready. You need to get your swimmy diaper on!”
Hubster: “Uhhhhh…” Then looking at me “You’re going to blog about this, aren’t you?”
Me, laughing hysterically: “Oh yeah!”
Baboo, excitedly: “Daddy!? You wanna come to the pool wif us?”
Hubster: “Well, I can’t come right now, but I’d like to go to the pool with you again sometime.” (meaning, it’s almost 7 and bedtime)
Baboo: “Oh Daddy.You not ready. You need to get your swimmy diaper on!”
Hubster: “Uhhhhh…” Then looking at me “You’re going to blog about this, aren’t you?”
Me, laughing hysterically: “Oh yeah!”
Dora in Dreamland
I was jolted awake at 3:04 am by Baboo’s cries; the kind of cry that makes me hurry. Half awake, I fumble for my glasses in the dark, trying NOT to knock over my half full glass of water, slide them on my face as I hit the carpet running – ok, hobbling, as my feet just aren’t working yet.
As I walk into her room and see her little body shaking and sobbing by the glow of the nightlight, I call out “Mama’s here. What’s wrong?”
I sit on the side of her toddler bed and gather her into my arms, rocking a little to settle her down. She snuggles in tight against me, and is still crying, when I ask “Did you have a bad dream? Do you want to talk about it?” She nods against my chest with a deep sob.
Baboo leans away from me a bit, and starts to wail “Fwiper took my fwip-fwop! And he hided it!”
I wait for my tired brain to interpret what she’s said and then repeat “Swiper took your flip-flop? Is that what your dream was about?”
“Y.Y.Y.esssss” she wails, “And that’s NOT NICE! I want it back!”
“Oh, that ISN’T nice”, I empathize. Then I point to a spot on the carpet and exclaim that I see it. I reach down to the imaginary spot and pick up the imaginary flip-flop and hand it back to Baboo, who pretends to take it in her hand.
After a little cuddle, her cries turn into little hiccuppy sobs, and I lay her back down on her pillow, get her blankie and fill her water sip cup up with water. As I’m giving her a kiss I say “You just tell that Swiper; Swiper NO SWIPING!”
“Ok, Mama. I say dat” she says.
As I’m leaving the room, I hear a quiet “Fwiper, NO FWIPIN’!”
I can’t help but smile.
I pad down the hall to our bedroom and climb back into bed. I settle back into my comfy spot and close my eyes with a sigh, waiting for sleep to come. But after a few minutes, I’m still lying there. It’s 3:15 am. I’m wide awake.
Oooohhhh maaaaannnnn.
As I walk into her room and see her little body shaking and sobbing by the glow of the nightlight, I call out “Mama’s here. What’s wrong?”
I sit on the side of her toddler bed and gather her into my arms, rocking a little to settle her down. She snuggles in tight against me, and is still crying, when I ask “Did you have a bad dream? Do you want to talk about it?” She nods against my chest with a deep sob.
Baboo leans away from me a bit, and starts to wail “Fwiper took my fwip-fwop! And he hided it!”
I wait for my tired brain to interpret what she’s said and then repeat “Swiper took your flip-flop? Is that what your dream was about?”
“Y.Y.Y.esssss” she wails, “And that’s NOT NICE! I want it back!”
“Oh, that ISN’T nice”, I empathize. Then I point to a spot on the carpet and exclaim that I see it. I reach down to the imaginary spot and pick up the imaginary flip-flop and hand it back to Baboo, who pretends to take it in her hand.
After a little cuddle, her cries turn into little hiccuppy sobs, and I lay her back down on her pillow, get her blankie and fill her water sip cup up with water. As I’m giving her a kiss I say “You just tell that Swiper; Swiper NO SWIPING!”
“Ok, Mama. I say dat” she says.
As I’m leaving the room, I hear a quiet “Fwiper, NO FWIPIN’!”
I can’t help but smile.
I pad down the hall to our bedroom and climb back into bed. I settle back into my comfy spot and close my eyes with a sigh, waiting for sleep to come. But after a few minutes, I’m still lying there. It’s 3:15 am. I’m wide awake.
Oooohhhh maaaaannnnn.
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Rambling Post of Mostly Nothing-ness
Yes, I’ve been MIA again. Maybe I’ve fallen into the void where my keys are. No, I still have not found my keys. &^%@#
So what have I been doing? Well, last week was hot so we were at the pool. A lot. I think I’ve seen gills starting to grow on my kids. And webbing between their fingers and toes. My kids are the crazy, kamikaze kids you see at the pool – you know, the smallest ones jumping in the deep end with no floatation devices. Or diving to the bottom of the pool for rings/sticks. We elicit a lot of stares and amazed head shakes. They are nearly fearless (especially Baboo) but are confident, good swimmers. Mouse swam from the end of the deep end all the way to the shallow end by herself yesterday, without stopping. It was awesome and she felt like a million bucks. Even the lifeguard (we’ve been there enough that they all know us) was clapping and cheering her on.
I’ve also been in decorating mode. I found the fabric that fits my combined kitchen and family room perfectly and working with my Mum, we have devised a great plan and I’ll put her to work later this summer, painting furniture, making curtains and the like. And we’re doing it all for $500 or LESS! Hey, maybe we should make a show about that? NEVER MIND… there’s already a show with EXACTLY the same theme. HA!
I think I’ve been reluctant to really DECORATE our home. The previous owners were well liked by the neighbours and left a few things (curtains, wall shelves etc) that while they didn’t really suit us, weren’t highly offensive either. I felt bad booting their presence out of the house. But they don’t live here any more. I know. It’s stupid.
But now I feel like I can put our STAMP onto the house and make it ours. ! I’m very excited about it though. It’s going to look great and to me, it already feels more settled.
I’ve been attempting to clean up a bit. It looks like a bomb went off in just about every room. I’ve been cleaning out some books and baby stuff and have set up a few things to sell on Ebay. I sold my Hypnobabies cds/book last night in 5 minutes. Seriously. While I’m happy about that, I think my heart broke a little bit. It seems so… final. Admitting that yes, we are done. No more births. I can’t say that I got rid of ALL my birth books, I just can’t.
And my sling. I had it all ready to post and I caved. I can still use it with Baboo, though I rarely do, mostly because she’s so fiercely independent. Mouse in particular, lived in the sling until she was 3. Maybe I need to hang onto it and pass it down to her when she’s ready. I used the denim LLL carrier my Mum used on my brother for both kids when they were tiny babies. It worked great.
And I’ve learned that I can’t sell my cloth diapers on ebay. Anyone want to buy some cloth diapers and covers, in excellent shape??
It doesn’t help, that for Father’s Day I got Hubster a digital picture frame and loaded it with photos of the kids from the year dot. And then I watched them grow up in front of my eyes when I previewed the slide show. And then my heart broke into a hundred tiny little pieces. It was wonderful and bittersweet at the same time. I love who they’re becoming but at times I miss their baby-ness so much. Those days that seemed endless at the time, now seem to have passed in the blink of an eye.
The girls loved watching the photos and laughing at their funny faces or crowing “THAT’s ME when I was a BABY” when one of their photos came up.
In other news that makes me feel old, especially with my birthday right around the corner, my brother, my little brother (who is also almost 33 years old!) is getting married. Yes, married. Not for a few years, but this weekend he proposed to the young lady that he loves and he called to tell me all about it. He sounded happy and excited and I'm happy and excited for him. I wished them well and am already looking forward to meeting his fiance in a couple of weeks.
So now I’ve rambled on about mostly nothing, which is mostly how things are going for us these days. We’re rambling around at top speed, not really getting much of anything done, but mostly enjoying ourselves none-the-less.
So what have I been doing? Well, last week was hot so we were at the pool. A lot. I think I’ve seen gills starting to grow on my kids. And webbing between their fingers and toes. My kids are the crazy, kamikaze kids you see at the pool – you know, the smallest ones jumping in the deep end with no floatation devices. Or diving to the bottom of the pool for rings/sticks. We elicit a lot of stares and amazed head shakes. They are nearly fearless (especially Baboo) but are confident, good swimmers. Mouse swam from the end of the deep end all the way to the shallow end by herself yesterday, without stopping. It was awesome and she felt like a million bucks. Even the lifeguard (we’ve been there enough that they all know us) was clapping and cheering her on.
I’ve also been in decorating mode. I found the fabric that fits my combined kitchen and family room perfectly and working with my Mum, we have devised a great plan and I’ll put her to work later this summer, painting furniture, making curtains and the like. And we’re doing it all for $500 or LESS! Hey, maybe we should make a show about that? NEVER MIND… there’s already a show with EXACTLY the same theme. HA!
I think I’ve been reluctant to really DECORATE our home. The previous owners were well liked by the neighbours and left a few things (curtains, wall shelves etc) that while they didn’t really suit us, weren’t highly offensive either. I felt bad booting their presence out of the house. But they don’t live here any more. I know. It’s stupid.
But now I feel like I can put our STAMP onto the house and make it ours. ! I’m very excited about it though. It’s going to look great and to me, it already feels more settled.
I’ve been attempting to clean up a bit. It looks like a bomb went off in just about every room. I’ve been cleaning out some books and baby stuff and have set up a few things to sell on Ebay. I sold my Hypnobabies cds/book last night in 5 minutes. Seriously. While I’m happy about that, I think my heart broke a little bit. It seems so… final. Admitting that yes, we are done. No more births. I can’t say that I got rid of ALL my birth books, I just can’t.
And my sling. I had it all ready to post and I caved. I can still use it with Baboo, though I rarely do, mostly because she’s so fiercely independent. Mouse in particular, lived in the sling until she was 3. Maybe I need to hang onto it and pass it down to her when she’s ready. I used the denim LLL carrier my Mum used on my brother for both kids when they were tiny babies. It worked great.
And I’ve learned that I can’t sell my cloth diapers on ebay. Anyone want to buy some cloth diapers and covers, in excellent shape??
It doesn’t help, that for Father’s Day I got Hubster a digital picture frame and loaded it with photos of the kids from the year dot. And then I watched them grow up in front of my eyes when I previewed the slide show. And then my heart broke into a hundred tiny little pieces. It was wonderful and bittersweet at the same time. I love who they’re becoming but at times I miss their baby-ness so much. Those days that seemed endless at the time, now seem to have passed in the blink of an eye.
The girls loved watching the photos and laughing at their funny faces or crowing “THAT’s ME when I was a BABY” when one of their photos came up.
In other news that makes me feel old, especially with my birthday right around the corner, my brother, my little brother (who is also almost 33 years old!) is getting married. Yes, married. Not for a few years, but this weekend he proposed to the young lady that he loves and he called to tell me all about it. He sounded happy and excited and I'm happy and excited for him. I wished them well and am already looking forward to meeting his fiance in a couple of weeks.
So now I’ve rambled on about mostly nothing, which is mostly how things are going for us these days. We’re rambling around at top speed, not really getting much of anything done, but mostly enjoying ourselves none-the-less.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wiped
No, I have not found my keys yet. I remain minutely hopeful that they’ll turn up, but I’m not holding my breath. I don’t want to pass out.
I’ve mentioned a little too often lately how tired I am, and not just tired. Wiped. Out.
Things have been very busy for the past few months and though I hoped this summer would give me a bit of a reprieve, it has not. In fact, things have intensified.
As of this writing, its’ 9:47 pm. I have been awake and “Mom” since 6:24 am. Baboo has not napped and yet has been out of bed 10 times in the last 1.5 hours. Though I did have adult conversation today for a few hours during a play date, it felt a bit like I was “entertaining” and so feel that I have had no time to myself. I feel like I’m going to snap if I hear those adorable little feet get out of bed one more time to go potty/yell that she’s scared/or ask for help to find “Tweet-hawt” the little stuff dog who fell off the bed for the 100th time. Yes, Hubster is helping out to get her settled, but the point is, I can still hear it. I can’t SHUT OFF.
The girls are at a very busy stage right now. They want to explore and be with their friends and be stimulated and go, go, go. I want to encourage this, to a degree. Baboo rarely naps and if she does, bedtime is screwed for hours. Though Mouse will go to bed without too many issues, she does very little by herself during the day and requires very frequent direction/redirection/interaction/reassurance.
I feel like a cruise director trying to keep the girls busy, but encouraging them to play by themselves to a degree. But it still requires me to monitor thing; after all, Baboo is only 2. And she’s still potty training so that does require a certain level of constant awareness and attention. I’m having a hard time finding any kind of rhythm that doesn’t feel frantic.
And in between this, I’m trying to squeeze in meals, a bit of cleaning/laundry – even enough just to try to keep it from taking over, errands, email when I can. Phone calls are a luxury that are often jilted, interrupted conversations that make me feel like I’m losing my mind because I can’t seem to finish a thought.
Lately, its’ 9:30 by the time everyone’s in bed and SETTLED, despite starting bedtime at 7 pm. I’m so FRIED by then. I have projects I want/need to work on and can’t find the time or energy to get them done. I often just flake in front of the tv for an hour (and even that feels too late) and stumble off to bed for too few hours of interrupted sleep. There is very little time for “ME” where I’m not left feeling guilty because something or someone is being neglected/inconvenienced. I know I can’t make everyone happy all the time, and I’m not trying to, but lately, I don’t feel like anyone’s needs are being met in even a close to satisfactory manner. I know that part of this incompetent frame of mind is because I’m just plain tired.
I stopped going to therapy because I can’t seem to get the timing right and frankly, I’m resenting the time spent there. I feel like I’d rather do something more constructive with my time. I’ve been feeling “done” with it, and maybe this is what “done” feels like.
I’m having a lot of mixed feelings: guilt, resentment, anger, sadness about not being able to fully embrace this time with my girls. This is the last summer before we’re into full time school and life will change permanently then. I’m trying to keep up with what seems like a frantic pace, trying to stayed charged and ready to go and yes, we are having fun and I am enjoying it, but god help me, I am tired.
If this is the new pace of our lives, which seems to be going just so damn fast, I need to get into the game and find a way to function more efficiently because I’m going to get dragged behind this fast running horse and it’s going to be messy.
And now, it’s late because I’ve spent way too long bitching about how tired I am (wah, wah, wah. Poor me. Snort) instead of getting my snarky, cranky, over-tired self to bed. And tomorrow is another day full of busy possibilities which I must be ready for.
I’ve mentioned a little too often lately how tired I am, and not just tired. Wiped. Out.
Things have been very busy for the past few months and though I hoped this summer would give me a bit of a reprieve, it has not. In fact, things have intensified.
As of this writing, its’ 9:47 pm. I have been awake and “Mom” since 6:24 am. Baboo has not napped and yet has been out of bed 10 times in the last 1.5 hours. Though I did have adult conversation today for a few hours during a play date, it felt a bit like I was “entertaining” and so feel that I have had no time to myself. I feel like I’m going to snap if I hear those adorable little feet get out of bed one more time to go potty/yell that she’s scared/or ask for help to find “Tweet-hawt” the little stuff dog who fell off the bed for the 100th time. Yes, Hubster is helping out to get her settled, but the point is, I can still hear it. I can’t SHUT OFF.
The girls are at a very busy stage right now. They want to explore and be with their friends and be stimulated and go, go, go. I want to encourage this, to a degree. Baboo rarely naps and if she does, bedtime is screwed for hours. Though Mouse will go to bed without too many issues, she does very little by herself during the day and requires very frequent direction/redirection/interaction/reassurance.
I feel like a cruise director trying to keep the girls busy, but encouraging them to play by themselves to a degree. But it still requires me to monitor thing; after all, Baboo is only 2. And she’s still potty training so that does require a certain level of constant awareness and attention. I’m having a hard time finding any kind of rhythm that doesn’t feel frantic.
And in between this, I’m trying to squeeze in meals, a bit of cleaning/laundry – even enough just to try to keep it from taking over, errands, email when I can. Phone calls are a luxury that are often jilted, interrupted conversations that make me feel like I’m losing my mind because I can’t seem to finish a thought.
Lately, its’ 9:30 by the time everyone’s in bed and SETTLED, despite starting bedtime at 7 pm. I’m so FRIED by then. I have projects I want/need to work on and can’t find the time or energy to get them done. I often just flake in front of the tv for an hour (and even that feels too late) and stumble off to bed for too few hours of interrupted sleep. There is very little time for “ME” where I’m not left feeling guilty because something or someone is being neglected/inconvenienced. I know I can’t make everyone happy all the time, and I’m not trying to, but lately, I don’t feel like anyone’s needs are being met in even a close to satisfactory manner. I know that part of this incompetent frame of mind is because I’m just plain tired.
I stopped going to therapy because I can’t seem to get the timing right and frankly, I’m resenting the time spent there. I feel like I’d rather do something more constructive with my time. I’ve been feeling “done” with it, and maybe this is what “done” feels like.
I’m having a lot of mixed feelings: guilt, resentment, anger, sadness about not being able to fully embrace this time with my girls. This is the last summer before we’re into full time school and life will change permanently then. I’m trying to keep up with what seems like a frantic pace, trying to stayed charged and ready to go and yes, we are having fun and I am enjoying it, but god help me, I am tired.
If this is the new pace of our lives, which seems to be going just so damn fast, I need to get into the game and find a way to function more efficiently because I’m going to get dragged behind this fast running horse and it’s going to be messy.
And now, it’s late because I’ve spent way too long bitching about how tired I am (wah, wah, wah. Poor me. Snort) instead of getting my snarky, cranky, over-tired self to bed. And tomorrow is another day full of busy possibilities which I must be ready for.
An Interesting Girl
I’ve been saying for a while that Mouse is just not that into toys. I don’t think she ever has been. As a baby, she wanted to be where I was; seeing, doing, participating in whatever I was doing. She’d play with a toy if I was sitting there with her, but otherwise, it was very rare for her to go and play with anything on her own. She’s still that way and she’s 5.
Whenever a birthday or gift giving holiday comes around I cringe when people ask me for gift ideas, because I know they’re expecting something straightforward like “She loves Lego/Barbie/xzy”. But honestly, I never know what to say. We struggle with ideas for ourselves.
For the last while she’s been very into princess things, much to my dismay and DESPITE trying to avoid them. However, she really only likes the dress-up clothes and accessories and real clothes/accessories with princesses on them. She’s not into the dolls, the toys etc. None of that attracts her at all.
She has toys. Balls, play kitchen, baby dolls, blocks, various little trinkets, electronic toys, Little People and a beautiful dollhouse that my mother made a few years ago. She rarely plays with any of this.
So what does she do? She follows me around the house asking me to figure out what to do. She colours. She’ll do crafts or play board games – but right now, those require a lot of my attention, which is fine, except well, it’s hard to give her 14 hours of interrupted time a day. She’ll play on the computer, she’ll play outside (swinging, mostly), she’ll run around and make nests out of flowers and will chase her sister around until they’re both crazy. Of course, she’ll happily watch tv. (Not exactly my first choice)
When she’s with her friends, she wants to play chase, pretend animals and dress-up, and many versions of rescue games- princess rescue, animal rescue etc. Again, all of which is fine. She’s not into animal dress up outfits or puppets or anything like that.
She loves to take any kind of class. She recently started tumbling classes and not only does she love it, she’s actually pretty good at it. She loves to swim and said after 2 hours the other day when Baboo and I were waterlogged and headed home “But we were ONLY there HALF an hour!” Clearly time passed faster for her than it did for me. She loves dancing and music and anything where she can interact with someone, ANYONE else.
I worry a bit because she really doesn’t spend a lot of time by herself. I want her to feel comfortable being alone and being able to entertain herself.
Today, after 5 hours of play time with 5 other friends, she complained to me that NOBODY, particularly ME ever played with her. Hmmm. This is mostly because after a house full of 6 kids and 3 adults I was ready for a break and asked her to play by herself. I had set up a pretend grocery store in the playroom (which is a whole other blog topic, suffice it to say for now, that it’s used a guest room more than it’s played in) and got both girls interested so I could go and clean up the typhoon mess from the playdate. It lasted all of 4 minutes. Sigh.
So, tonight, I did a little test. I had $10 in Kohl’s cash that was going to expire today. I told the girls they could each get anything they wanted that cost about $5. Baboo found some little figurines that she wanted right away. Mouse wandered up and down the aisles (all 4 of them) for 20 minutes. She initially looked at a $20 princess “music” (code for annoying) book, even though she knew it was too expensive. She did say she didn’t really WANT it. And then she asked about an Ariel princess Barbie type doll that could go in the water, but it was also beyond the budget and she also wasn’t that interested. Then she asked to look at the clothes.
We wandered around there for another 10 minutes before she decided on an oversized (read, for older girls) pink, sparkly t-shirt with horses on it that says “Free to be yourself”. She wanted to buy it to wear as a nightgown (and it will probably still be a nightgown on her in 7 years). However, it was $4.99 on sale and she said it was what she wanted.
As soon as she came home, she ran to put it on and danced around with joy. I shook my head.
For her birthday, she received some money from my brother. $20. A fortune to a 5 year old. When asked where she would like to go to spend her money, she said she wanted to go to the Disney (ie Princess) store. When I asked her if she’d like to look at Toys R Us, she said no. So, I took her to the mall. Again, we wandered around and she had hoped to find an Ariel or Jasmine dress up outfit that was within her $20, but there weren’t any. (We’re going for a full set, I guess). She had a very hard time deciding, but in the end, bought: a small plastic Ariel figurine, an Ariel beach bag, an Ariel plate, little snack bento-box thing and spoon/fork set. She paid for it herself and used her little wallet and got her own princess bag to put it all in. She came in under budget and was happy to have a bit of change to put in her piggy bank. She certainly got a haul of stuff for her $20!
On the way home, I asked if she was happy with her purchases, feeling a bit guilty that she didn’t find something FUN, but she was thrilled with them. So, who am I to argue?
I guess I have a hard time relating to her in some ways because as I kid I played for hours with my baby dolls, Barbie dolls to an extent, Legos, stuffed animals – you name it. I’d often play by myself, but also played pretend (house, school, dolls) with friends. I loved to read and did that by myself as well. At one point, I had a little “fort” made it my closet and stayed in there a lot. I loved toys and was always happy to receive them. I would have KILLED to have the dollhouse she has.
I keep trying to find the THING that captures her imagination, but so far I haven’t found the real winner. There have been a few “almosts” but nothing that’s really been a hit with her. I try to watch her at her friends houses to see if she seems taken with things I likely wouldn’t buy for fear of wasting my money on her disinterest. But again, so far, nothing seems to click for her. Not that I think she “HAS” to have something, I’m just curious to find out what really makes her tick and how to help her grow.
So if you wonder why I have NO ideas for you when you ask what to get her as a gift… know you know I’m not kidding! It makes me crazy to waste money, time, space on things that she just is not interested in.
It’ll be interesting to see how she turns out as an adult and if I’ll be able to keep up until then.
Whenever a birthday or gift giving holiday comes around I cringe when people ask me for gift ideas, because I know they’re expecting something straightforward like “She loves Lego/Barbie/xzy”. But honestly, I never know what to say. We struggle with ideas for ourselves.
For the last while she’s been very into princess things, much to my dismay and DESPITE trying to avoid them. However, she really only likes the dress-up clothes and accessories and real clothes/accessories with princesses on them. She’s not into the dolls, the toys etc. None of that attracts her at all.
She has toys. Balls, play kitchen, baby dolls, blocks, various little trinkets, electronic toys, Little People and a beautiful dollhouse that my mother made a few years ago. She rarely plays with any of this.
So what does she do? She follows me around the house asking me to figure out what to do. She colours. She’ll do crafts or play board games – but right now, those require a lot of my attention, which is fine, except well, it’s hard to give her 14 hours of interrupted time a day. She’ll play on the computer, she’ll play outside (swinging, mostly), she’ll run around and make nests out of flowers and will chase her sister around until they’re both crazy. Of course, she’ll happily watch tv. (Not exactly my first choice)
When she’s with her friends, she wants to play chase, pretend animals and dress-up, and many versions of rescue games- princess rescue, animal rescue etc. Again, all of which is fine. She’s not into animal dress up outfits or puppets or anything like that.
She loves to take any kind of class. She recently started tumbling classes and not only does she love it, she’s actually pretty good at it. She loves to swim and said after 2 hours the other day when Baboo and I were waterlogged and headed home “But we were ONLY there HALF an hour!” Clearly time passed faster for her than it did for me. She loves dancing and music and anything where she can interact with someone, ANYONE else.
I worry a bit because she really doesn’t spend a lot of time by herself. I want her to feel comfortable being alone and being able to entertain herself.
Today, after 5 hours of play time with 5 other friends, she complained to me that NOBODY, particularly ME ever played with her. Hmmm. This is mostly because after a house full of 6 kids and 3 adults I was ready for a break and asked her to play by herself. I had set up a pretend grocery store in the playroom (which is a whole other blog topic, suffice it to say for now, that it’s used a guest room more than it’s played in) and got both girls interested so I could go and clean up the typhoon mess from the playdate. It lasted all of 4 minutes. Sigh.
So, tonight, I did a little test. I had $10 in Kohl’s cash that was going to expire today. I told the girls they could each get anything they wanted that cost about $5. Baboo found some little figurines that she wanted right away. Mouse wandered up and down the aisles (all 4 of them) for 20 minutes. She initially looked at a $20 princess “music” (code for annoying) book, even though she knew it was too expensive. She did say she didn’t really WANT it. And then she asked about an Ariel princess Barbie type doll that could go in the water, but it was also beyond the budget and she also wasn’t that interested. Then she asked to look at the clothes.
We wandered around there for another 10 minutes before she decided on an oversized (read, for older girls) pink, sparkly t-shirt with horses on it that says “Free to be yourself”. She wanted to buy it to wear as a nightgown (and it will probably still be a nightgown on her in 7 years). However, it was $4.99 on sale and she said it was what she wanted.
As soon as she came home, she ran to put it on and danced around with joy. I shook my head.
For her birthday, she received some money from my brother. $20. A fortune to a 5 year old. When asked where she would like to go to spend her money, she said she wanted to go to the Disney (ie Princess) store. When I asked her if she’d like to look at Toys R Us, she said no. So, I took her to the mall. Again, we wandered around and she had hoped to find an Ariel or Jasmine dress up outfit that was within her $20, but there weren’t any. (We’re going for a full set, I guess). She had a very hard time deciding, but in the end, bought: a small plastic Ariel figurine, an Ariel beach bag, an Ariel plate, little snack bento-box thing and spoon/fork set. She paid for it herself and used her little wallet and got her own princess bag to put it all in. She came in under budget and was happy to have a bit of change to put in her piggy bank. She certainly got a haul of stuff for her $20!
On the way home, I asked if she was happy with her purchases, feeling a bit guilty that she didn’t find something FUN, but she was thrilled with them. So, who am I to argue?
I guess I have a hard time relating to her in some ways because as I kid I played for hours with my baby dolls, Barbie dolls to an extent, Legos, stuffed animals – you name it. I’d often play by myself, but also played pretend (house, school, dolls) with friends. I loved to read and did that by myself as well. At one point, I had a little “fort” made it my closet and stayed in there a lot. I loved toys and was always happy to receive them. I would have KILLED to have the dollhouse she has.
I keep trying to find the THING that captures her imagination, but so far I haven’t found the real winner. There have been a few “almosts” but nothing that’s really been a hit with her. I try to watch her at her friends houses to see if she seems taken with things I likely wouldn’t buy for fear of wasting my money on her disinterest. But again, so far, nothing seems to click for her. Not that I think she “HAS” to have something, I’m just curious to find out what really makes her tick and how to help her grow.
So if you wonder why I have NO ideas for you when you ask what to get her as a gift… know you know I’m not kidding! It makes me crazy to waste money, time, space on things that she just is not interested in.
It’ll be interesting to see how she turns out as an adult and if I’ll be able to keep up until then.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Distraction from Lost Keys
So, still no keys, despite offering the girls a dollar if they found them and a concerted effort on my part, which largely involved making a larger mess before cleaning up an original mess. Like the play room, the swim bag and Mouse’s dress up clothes. Oh and getting grass stains on my pants as I crawled around on the lawn.
I did, however, find a blue key chain that says “Las Vegas” on it. It does not have my keys on it, or any keys for that matter, though my key chain is blue. I also found a dead bird under our deck. None of these is overly helpful.
I will distract you from my key finding incompetence with some funny Baboo anecdotes.
Tonight at dinner, we were all pretty over tired which meant a lot of giggling and general silliness. Baboo started asking what colour everyone’s eyes were. She asked us to take off our glasses so she could see, then she’d howl with laughter when we took our glasses off. Why? I don’t know. So I asked her what colour HER eyes were. She proceeded to twist her head this way and that and rolling her eyes to “see”. She stopped after a few seconds and shrugged her shoulders and said “I don’t know! I can’t SEE them!” I think Hubster and I wet our pants laughing.
We have a lot of maple trees in our area that are dropping their “helicopter” seeds like crazy. When we go for a walk, she collects them by the handful and puts them in the cupholders in the stroller trays. Mouse calls them “twirly-twirlies” because, well, they twirl. One day we were walking with Hubster and it was taking forever because Baboo was collecting so many of these things. He said that it seemed like we had enough “twirly-twirlies”. She stopped, put her hands on her hips, shook her head from side to side and said “Daddy! They are called SQUIRRELY-SQUIRRELIES!”
Ok, there was another one I was going to write, but I can’t remember, and generally that’s a sign that my brain is getting ready to power down. So I suppose I should wrap this up before my brain battery just dies. (ha).
Oh, I will share another yummy thing to do with 4 lbs of strawberries and leftover whipping cream used to make ice cream. Looks good, huh? And yes, I did whip that cream by hand. Wonder why I’m not losing any weight? No, me either.
I did, however, find a blue key chain that says “Las Vegas” on it. It does not have my keys on it, or any keys for that matter, though my key chain is blue. I also found a dead bird under our deck. None of these is overly helpful.
I will distract you from my key finding incompetence with some funny Baboo anecdotes.
Tonight at dinner, we were all pretty over tired which meant a lot of giggling and general silliness. Baboo started asking what colour everyone’s eyes were. She asked us to take off our glasses so she could see, then she’d howl with laughter when we took our glasses off. Why? I don’t know. So I asked her what colour HER eyes were. She proceeded to twist her head this way and that and rolling her eyes to “see”. She stopped after a few seconds and shrugged her shoulders and said “I don’t know! I can’t SEE them!” I think Hubster and I wet our pants laughing.
We have a lot of maple trees in our area that are dropping their “helicopter” seeds like crazy. When we go for a walk, she collects them by the handful and puts them in the cupholders in the stroller trays. Mouse calls them “twirly-twirlies” because, well, they twirl. One day we were walking with Hubster and it was taking forever because Baboo was collecting so many of these things. He said that it seemed like we had enough “twirly-twirlies”. She stopped, put her hands on her hips, shook her head from side to side and said “Daddy! They are called SQUIRRELY-SQUIRRELIES!”
Ok, there was another one I was going to write, but I can’t remember, and generally that’s a sign that my brain is getting ready to power down. So I suppose I should wrap this up before my brain battery just dies. (ha).
Oh, I will share another yummy thing to do with 4 lbs of strawberries and leftover whipping cream used to make ice cream. Looks good, huh? And yes, I did whip that cream by hand. Wonder why I’m not losing any weight? No, me either.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
More Lost Things...
ARGH! I'm beyond frustrated. I have not been able to find my keys since Thursday night! I know we were out most of Thursday, I unlocked the door when we came home and I KNOW I had my keys. But when I went out on Thursday evening, I couldn't find them. I've looked in the obvious places and have cleaned off my desk, searched my pockets/purses/bags etc, but they are still MIA.
I'm more than a bit pissed because I've got all my grocery store/movie/library keychain cards on there. I actually went shopping at a "real" grocery store last night (instead of just Walmart/Aldi) and ended up just getting a new saver card because I could not even remember what phone number I put down on the old card. Good grief.
And I've tried asking the kids as well. They have no idea.
This is soooo unlike me. I don't usually lose stuff like this for DAYS.
Some one please kick me in the pants and help me find my damn keys!!! I'm sure they'll turn up someplace stupid, but I just wish the stupid place would reveal itself to me SOONER. ARGH.
I'm more than a bit pissed because I've got all my grocery store/movie/library keychain cards on there. I actually went shopping at a "real" grocery store last night (instead of just Walmart/Aldi) and ended up just getting a new saver card because I could not even remember what phone number I put down on the old card. Good grief.
And I've tried asking the kids as well. They have no idea.
This is soooo unlike me. I don't usually lose stuff like this for DAYS.
Some one please kick me in the pants and help me find my damn keys!!! I'm sure they'll turn up someplace stupid, but I just wish the stupid place would reveal itself to me SOONER. ARGH.
Nothing Says Summer Like...
STRAWBERRIES! And ICE CREAM!
Anyway, regardless, nothing says summer like strawberries. Lately, we’ve had some good ones from the grocery store, and cheap too. So we’ve been buying and eating them 2 lbs at a time.
However, the other day we had the opportunity to go strawberry picking and so we took advantage of the first sunny, though cool day to go and get some of our own. We geared up in clothes we could get grubby/stained in, rubber boots for the mud, sunscreen, hats, lunch, 50 dozen other things and headed out.
We were supposed to meet a group there, but for once, I didn’t get lost so we were pretty early. After the 100th “Can we start picking NOW, Mom?” in the space of 13 minutes, I caved and we started picking. We had to have a bit of a lesson on not sitting or stepping on the berry plants, not eating berries from other peoples' boxes, not picking the green ones , and distinguishing between a rock and a strawberry. Good grief.
We were half way through filling our box when some of our group started arriving. Mouse ran off to be with her friends and I’ll just say that I’m glad I decided to put the bright tie-dye shirt on her so I could see her running across the fields. Baboo decided about an hour in that she wanted to go home. Immediately. She walked to the end of the aisle and started for the car. I had to run to catch her before she truly wandered off. I was able to bribe her to stay a little longer with a snack and some mini bubbles I had in my bag. And the little yellow lab puppy someone had was a big draw as well. More than the strawberries were, I guess. Though when you’re 2, I can see the appeal of a puppy over a field of plants.
Once we had enough berries (4 lbs for us) our group got their lunches and we headed to the little shop to pay for our berries. We sat and ate in the sunshine, surrounded by corn stalks, blueberry and raspberry bushes while our kids ran around after the resident golden retriever, until we yelled “ICE CREAM”. Then all activity ceased until all children where thoroughly sticky from “Super kid”, “Moose tracks” or “Rainbow Sherbert”.
After much reluctant whining and mud walking, we got home and decided the best way to show these little berry gems our appreciation was to mash them and mix them into ice cream.
So, the following day, I made the ice cream base (almost like a custard), and then the girls smashed up 2 cups of our little berries.
We poured everything into the machine and then checked on the ice cream every 2.4 minutes. The excited pronouncement at each check point was “It’s almost near the top! It’s almost ready!” Lather, rinse, repeat for 30 minutes.
This kind of looks like some gory carnage.
While waiting take pictures of other produce.
Pears....
Our pepper plant...
Not only was this a fun process and the girls are at a pretty good age when they can be a part of this and appreciate where food comes from etc (and how much work it takes to pick berries etc), but for me it was a reminder of my childhood. I remember going strawberry picking with my grandparents. We’d bring our berries home, clean them up and make ice cream. We’d have the barrel with the hand crank and rock salt type machine and not the motorized version I have today, but my brother and I had fun cranking away as hard and as long as our skinny little kid arms could. There’s nothing so tasty or satisfying as that first delectable spoonful of creamy, cold ice cream. Mmmmm.
Anyway, regardless, nothing says summer like strawberries. Lately, we’ve had some good ones from the grocery store, and cheap too. So we’ve been buying and eating them 2 lbs at a time.
However, the other day we had the opportunity to go strawberry picking and so we took advantage of the first sunny, though cool day to go and get some of our own. We geared up in clothes we could get grubby/stained in, rubber boots for the mud, sunscreen, hats, lunch, 50 dozen other things and headed out.
We were supposed to meet a group there, but for once, I didn’t get lost so we were pretty early. After the 100th “Can we start picking NOW, Mom?” in the space of 13 minutes, I caved and we started picking. We had to have a bit of a lesson on not sitting or stepping on the berry plants, not eating berries from other peoples' boxes, not picking the green ones , and distinguishing between a rock and a strawberry. Good grief.
We were half way through filling our box when some of our group started arriving. Mouse ran off to be with her friends and I’ll just say that I’m glad I decided to put the bright tie-dye shirt on her so I could see her running across the fields. Baboo decided about an hour in that she wanted to go home. Immediately. She walked to the end of the aisle and started for the car. I had to run to catch her before she truly wandered off. I was able to bribe her to stay a little longer with a snack and some mini bubbles I had in my bag. And the little yellow lab puppy someone had was a big draw as well. More than the strawberries were, I guess. Though when you’re 2, I can see the appeal of a puppy over a field of plants.
Once we had enough berries (4 lbs for us) our group got their lunches and we headed to the little shop to pay for our berries. We sat and ate in the sunshine, surrounded by corn stalks, blueberry and raspberry bushes while our kids ran around after the resident golden retriever, until we yelled “ICE CREAM”. Then all activity ceased until all children where thoroughly sticky from “Super kid”, “Moose tracks” or “Rainbow Sherbert”.
After much reluctant whining and mud walking, we got home and decided the best way to show these little berry gems our appreciation was to mash them and mix them into ice cream.
So, the following day, I made the ice cream base (almost like a custard), and then the girls smashed up 2 cups of our little berries.
We poured everything into the machine and then checked on the ice cream every 2.4 minutes. The excited pronouncement at each check point was “It’s almost near the top! It’s almost ready!” Lather, rinse, repeat for 30 minutes.
This kind of looks like some gory carnage.
While waiting take pictures of other produce.
Pears....
Our pepper plant...
Not only was this a fun process and the girls are at a pretty good age when they can be a part of this and appreciate where food comes from etc (and how much work it takes to pick berries etc), but for me it was a reminder of my childhood. I remember going strawberry picking with my grandparents. We’d bring our berries home, clean them up and make ice cream. We’d have the barrel with the hand crank and rock salt type machine and not the motorized version I have today, but my brother and I had fun cranking away as hard and as long as our skinny little kid arms could. There’s nothing so tasty or satisfying as that first delectable spoonful of creamy, cold ice cream. Mmmmm.
*Edited to add note to self... after allowing youngest daughter to use camera, WIPE OFF THE LENS. Otherwise, even though it's obviously sunny and warm and everyone is dressed in t-shirts and little children are cutely covered in strawberry juice, it will appear as though everyone is deeply surrounded by fog. Lots of sticky, slimey fingered fog. Sigh.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Rings!
Yesterday wasn’t really a crazy day, but I was certainly out of it enough to forget my wallet when I was supposed to stop at the bank and delirious enough to try to convince Baboo to lie down with me so I could have a nap. That I was more mentally incompetent than usual will be important to the story. Trust me.
Mouse was at a playdate at a friends’ house and before she came home, I was trying to get dinner ready. Baboo, who did NOT nap was nearing the end of her rope and was nearing a meltdown. She was whiney and cranky and begging to be carried and pulling on my legs. I wasn’t really in good form either as I was tired, cranky and mentally taxed just making dinner, never mind dealing with a tantrum.
I’d decided to make hamburgers for dinner. As a compromise to holding her, I had Baboo pull a chair over to the counter to watch me mix up the meat and shape the patties and “help”. I took off my rings; a plain silver wedding band and my grandmother’s engagement ring and set them beside me before I put my hands into the bowl. She wanted to try them on, so I allowed her to, hoping that she’d be busy and quiet with those for a few minutes. Then promptly forgot about her wearing the rings. Brilliant, I know.
After the patties were ready, we went outside so to put the burgers on the grill and to play a bit before Mouse and Hubster came home. We were on the deck, in the grass and digging for worms in the garden. Not once did those rings cross my mind.
Fast forward to the evening. The girls are in bed, Hubster and I have worked out with the EA Sports Personal Trainer and are chilling out to watch Reaper. Half way through, I unconsciously move my thumb over to twirl my ring, and realize it’s not there. A sinking PANIC hit my stomach like a ton of bricks covered in acid. I said “Oh shit. My RINGS!” and Hubster looked at me like I had 2 heads. I mumbled out a description of what happened while running around the house frantically, before stopping in front of the back door.
I vaguely remembered Baboo having them on when we were outside, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I tried to remember all the places she had been when I was making the burgers. It’s amazing how much that girl gets around in the space of 10 minutes. I knew she’d be in the living room, the play room upstairs and… outside.
I wasn’t overly worried about the silver band. That is not my original wedding ring and it was not expensive. I bought it several years after we were married because it was more comfortable and I had been reacting to my original rings. The other ring however, though I’d never met my grandmother, as she passed away when I was a baby, was very important to me. It had a bit of value, but more importantly, it was a part of my family. I felt just sick thinking that it could be lost forever.
While we were looking around the house, Baboo happened to kind of wake up and I figured that maybe being half awake she’d be able to tell me where they were. When I asked her about the rings, she was kind of whiney, understandably, and did say she took them outside. By then it was too late for us to look outside.
I tried not to dwell on it so that I’d get some sleep and resigned myself to really look in the morning.
This morning, as soon as we got up, I asked Baboo if she remembered where my rings were. She said she took them outside and put them in the dirt. I asked “In the garden dirt or under the deck dirt?” She said “Deck dirt.” So, as soon as she was dressed, I took her outside and asked her to show me where she was when she dropped them. She walked a few feet from the door and pointed down. Sigh. Oy.
I didn’t make a big deal of it and didn’t have time to look right then, but figured I’d get to it. Later in the day, I’d mentioned the rings to a friend and she said “You should look before it rains and they sink in the mud”.
As soon as said goodbye to my friend, I went to hang out the swim towels on the clothesline and noticed it was starting to rain. Crap. Ah well, I figured, maybe it will just be a quick shower.
And then we had a HUGE thunderstorm with a side of deluge that made my knees weak, especially after this weekend. I kept looking anxiously at the deck wondering if it was worth braving being struck by lightning to go and look for the rings.
Regaining my sanity, I realized this was not a good idea.
But, after dinner, it stopped storming and the sun came out. I figured I might as well try to find them. The girls splashed in the puddles, covering me with water as I bent over with my ass in the air, nose pressed between the slats of deck wood, peering with one eye as far in each direction as I can, watching carefully for any hint of a sparkle and praying silently that I will find them. I started with an obvious grid pattern (I’ve watched CSI, you know!) and moved down one slat at a time, starting in the area Baboo told me she’d dropped the rings.
And then I found one, literally within 3 minutes. It was sitting right on top of the soil, right under a generous space between the boards. It was my silver ring, but it gave me HOPE! I jumbled something to Hubster about “RINGS! ACK! HOOKY-THING! HELP!”
He quickly came and rigged up a large paperclip on a bamboo stake, which was better than the wimpy extra long piece of gigantic twist-tie I had. He had the ring in just a few minutes. (My hero!)
The girls became very interested as I’m peering through the deck and are shoving their little butts and noses right next to me. So, not helpful!
However, working backwards towards the door, I found the other ring. I nearly cried! Hubster, again, had it out in just a few seconds. I think my hand was trembling as I took it CAREFULLY off the paperclip and put it on my finger.
The girls danced around yelling “Treasure! Treasure! Mommy’s got treasure!” and proceeded to ask if they could rescue the 10 year old barrettes and pennies that they’d spotted under the deck. Then Baboo said “I try your rings, Mommy?” It was all I could to not to yell, not just no, but “HELL NO!”.
I don’t blame her, I really don’t. It was my own stupid lack of judgment and attention yesterday that almost made me lose my rings. I’m generally ok with the girls trying on my jewelry and generally, I’m more careful to watch them. I don’t have anything that’s overly valuable dollar-wise, but lots it sentimental to me. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind next time I try to bribe a 2 year old to let me work in peace. Good grief.
Mouse was at a playdate at a friends’ house and before she came home, I was trying to get dinner ready. Baboo, who did NOT nap was nearing the end of her rope and was nearing a meltdown. She was whiney and cranky and begging to be carried and pulling on my legs. I wasn’t really in good form either as I was tired, cranky and mentally taxed just making dinner, never mind dealing with a tantrum.
I’d decided to make hamburgers for dinner. As a compromise to holding her, I had Baboo pull a chair over to the counter to watch me mix up the meat and shape the patties and “help”. I took off my rings; a plain silver wedding band and my grandmother’s engagement ring and set them beside me before I put my hands into the bowl. She wanted to try them on, so I allowed her to, hoping that she’d be busy and quiet with those for a few minutes. Then promptly forgot about her wearing the rings. Brilliant, I know.
After the patties were ready, we went outside so to put the burgers on the grill and to play a bit before Mouse and Hubster came home. We were on the deck, in the grass and digging for worms in the garden. Not once did those rings cross my mind.
Fast forward to the evening. The girls are in bed, Hubster and I have worked out with the EA Sports Personal Trainer and are chilling out to watch Reaper. Half way through, I unconsciously move my thumb over to twirl my ring, and realize it’s not there. A sinking PANIC hit my stomach like a ton of bricks covered in acid. I said “Oh shit. My RINGS!” and Hubster looked at me like I had 2 heads. I mumbled out a description of what happened while running around the house frantically, before stopping in front of the back door.
I vaguely remembered Baboo having them on when we were outside, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I tried to remember all the places she had been when I was making the burgers. It’s amazing how much that girl gets around in the space of 10 minutes. I knew she’d be in the living room, the play room upstairs and… outside.
I wasn’t overly worried about the silver band. That is not my original wedding ring and it was not expensive. I bought it several years after we were married because it was more comfortable and I had been reacting to my original rings. The other ring however, though I’d never met my grandmother, as she passed away when I was a baby, was very important to me. It had a bit of value, but more importantly, it was a part of my family. I felt just sick thinking that it could be lost forever.
While we were looking around the house, Baboo happened to kind of wake up and I figured that maybe being half awake she’d be able to tell me where they were. When I asked her about the rings, she was kind of whiney, understandably, and did say she took them outside. By then it was too late for us to look outside.
I tried not to dwell on it so that I’d get some sleep and resigned myself to really look in the morning.
This morning, as soon as we got up, I asked Baboo if she remembered where my rings were. She said she took them outside and put them in the dirt. I asked “In the garden dirt or under the deck dirt?” She said “Deck dirt.” So, as soon as she was dressed, I took her outside and asked her to show me where she was when she dropped them. She walked a few feet from the door and pointed down. Sigh. Oy.
I didn’t make a big deal of it and didn’t have time to look right then, but figured I’d get to it. Later in the day, I’d mentioned the rings to a friend and she said “You should look before it rains and they sink in the mud”.
As soon as said goodbye to my friend, I went to hang out the swim towels on the clothesline and noticed it was starting to rain. Crap. Ah well, I figured, maybe it will just be a quick shower.
And then we had a HUGE thunderstorm with a side of deluge that made my knees weak, especially after this weekend. I kept looking anxiously at the deck wondering if it was worth braving being struck by lightning to go and look for the rings.
Regaining my sanity, I realized this was not a good idea.
But, after dinner, it stopped storming and the sun came out. I figured I might as well try to find them. The girls splashed in the puddles, covering me with water as I bent over with my ass in the air, nose pressed between the slats of deck wood, peering with one eye as far in each direction as I can, watching carefully for any hint of a sparkle and praying silently that I will find them. I started with an obvious grid pattern (I’ve watched CSI, you know!) and moved down one slat at a time, starting in the area Baboo told me she’d dropped the rings.
And then I found one, literally within 3 minutes. It was sitting right on top of the soil, right under a generous space between the boards. It was my silver ring, but it gave me HOPE! I jumbled something to Hubster about “RINGS! ACK! HOOKY-THING! HELP!”
He quickly came and rigged up a large paperclip on a bamboo stake, which was better than the wimpy extra long piece of gigantic twist-tie I had. He had the ring in just a few minutes. (My hero!)
The girls became very interested as I’m peering through the deck and are shoving their little butts and noses right next to me. So, not helpful!
However, working backwards towards the door, I found the other ring. I nearly cried! Hubster, again, had it out in just a few seconds. I think my hand was trembling as I took it CAREFULLY off the paperclip and put it on my finger.
The girls danced around yelling “Treasure! Treasure! Mommy’s got treasure!” and proceeded to ask if they could rescue the 10 year old barrettes and pennies that they’d spotted under the deck. Then Baboo said “I try your rings, Mommy?” It was all I could to not to yell, not just no, but “HELL NO!”.
I don’t blame her, I really don’t. It was my own stupid lack of judgment and attention yesterday that almost made me lose my rings. I’m generally ok with the girls trying on my jewelry and generally, I’m more careful to watch them. I don’t have anything that’s overly valuable dollar-wise, but lots it sentimental to me. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind next time I try to bribe a 2 year old to let me work in peace. Good grief.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Feelin' Old
Yesterday morning, Hubster took the girls out on an errand with him so I could take my time getting ready. It was nice to have a shower and not be rushed, or feel like I “should” be rushing.
As I’m brushing my teeth and doing my hair, I’m wondering who that tired, baggy-eyed, gray-haired old lady in the mirror is. Sigh, it’s me.
However, suck it up, I slap on a bit of make-up and a smile, finish getting dressed and go to meet the gang who have returned from their errand and are ready to move onto our next tasks for the day.
I slog through the day in a half-awake stupor. I’m exhausted these days in a bone-tired, barely focusing kind of way. We ran some errands and I’m HOPING for a nap after lunch, but the sun is out and the girls are begging to go the pool. So, we get ready to go.
When Hubster’s not here, I have to get them to help me put sunscreen on my back and they’re pretty good at it. Yesterday, Hubster was here, but the girls still wanted to “help” Mommy. I squirted some sunscreen into their COLD little hands and bent down. They’re both smearing away, mostly in one spot, so I reminded them to spread it around all over. Mouse is maintaining a very self-important chatter as she works. She explains to Daddy that she has to help me do this VERY IMPORTANT job because my arms aren’t very long and I can’t reach my back and that it’s very important to put sunscreen on so that we don’t get sunburned. And if SHE was a grown up with very short arms, SHE would want some help too.
And, she said, “Mommy’s old. She needs LOTS of help. She can’t do this any more because she’s SO OLD.” And Baboo, piped in “Mommy is OLD”.
And then Hubster’s face collapsed as he tried not to laugh. He was wise to leave the room so I didn’t shoot him down with my old lady laser beam eyes.
I think I sputtered “Gee, thanks” to Mouse. To which she replied “Its’ ok, Mom. It’s ok to be old. One day when I’m old, I’m going to want help to do this too” as she kept working the sunscreen into my spine.
Thankfully, this OLD lady got to have a NAP after we went swimming. Apparently, I needed it, you know, cos I’m so OLD and everything.
As I’m brushing my teeth and doing my hair, I’m wondering who that tired, baggy-eyed, gray-haired old lady in the mirror is. Sigh, it’s me.
However, suck it up, I slap on a bit of make-up and a smile, finish getting dressed and go to meet the gang who have returned from their errand and are ready to move onto our next tasks for the day.
I slog through the day in a half-awake stupor. I’m exhausted these days in a bone-tired, barely focusing kind of way. We ran some errands and I’m HOPING for a nap after lunch, but the sun is out and the girls are begging to go the pool. So, we get ready to go.
When Hubster’s not here, I have to get them to help me put sunscreen on my back and they’re pretty good at it. Yesterday, Hubster was here, but the girls still wanted to “help” Mommy. I squirted some sunscreen into their COLD little hands and bent down. They’re both smearing away, mostly in one spot, so I reminded them to spread it around all over. Mouse is maintaining a very self-important chatter as she works. She explains to Daddy that she has to help me do this VERY IMPORTANT job because my arms aren’t very long and I can’t reach my back and that it’s very important to put sunscreen on so that we don’t get sunburned. And if SHE was a grown up with very short arms, SHE would want some help too.
And, she said, “Mommy’s old. She needs LOTS of help. She can’t do this any more because she’s SO OLD.” And Baboo, piped in “Mommy is OLD”.
And then Hubster’s face collapsed as he tried not to laugh. He was wise to leave the room so I didn’t shoot him down with my old lady laser beam eyes.
I think I sputtered “Gee, thanks” to Mouse. To which she replied “Its’ ok, Mom. It’s ok to be old. One day when I’m old, I’m going to want help to do this too” as she kept working the sunscreen into my spine.
Thankfully, this OLD lady got to have a NAP after we went swimming. Apparently, I needed it, you know, cos I’m so OLD and everything.
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