The Positive Spin on You

Rather than complain about you today, I’ve decided to take the positive spin on your actions and decisions. I feel you should be commended for not even grazing my small child as you drove on the sidewalk today. He’s really very little and the sidewalk is so narrow, what compared to the road, it must have been hard to actually miss him. And I’ve been thinking about those two different times you interrupted me to speak to the person I was talking with and I’ve decided that your rants about housing prices was obviously so much more important than whatever nonsense I was talking. And though I usually look down upon people that continuously park in the fire lane, I figure since you are there while I’m releasing one of my three children from school and have the baby with me at all times, really I only risk losing one child should the fire trucks not be able to put the fire out in time as you move your van out of the way. Saving two out of three ain’t bad, eh? And finally, after seeing a child lift her car seat with her when she stood in the car before getting out, I decided after all you should leave your smallest child in the car while you run in to get your middle child. It all goes back to saving two of three ain’t bad. I see now that parking in the fire lane makes your trip into the school so much easier while leaving a small child in an unattended car makes your trip all the quicker. Sure the walk home will suck the day your car and your child are stolen, but you managed to save about ninety seconds by not taking her with you. I get it. I understand. Maybe those firemen will save her when they break your windows to get the hose through your car to put out the fire that may come. Or maybe not. Maybe some random sicko will take your van with your small child left inside and drive away. But no worries…you will still have two more children, and I will be happy to drive you to a field and drop you off after I leave your remaining children at a safe home or the police department. I’ve decided it’s also a great thing that you advertise to everyone that you have left your small child in the car. I hate it when criminals actually have to work to get their jobs done. I constantly hear about how many car doors they had to try before finding the one that was unlocked or before they found the one with the cute little girl left inside. Molesting takes time you see and when they have to waste so much looking for small children, they lose a lot. So I’m sure they are so appreciative of your loud voice carrying all over touting you left your kid in the car. Me, I’m not happy it’s a choice you make, but I also wasn’t happy about almost losing my child to your wheels or your rudeness or even your need to control people you do not know. But since looking at the bright side of you, I’ve decided if I hear you talking about leaving your child in the car again, you just may find the police waiting for you when you return. That would bring a smile to my face and I’m sure the alternative of someone stealing your van and child would be so much worse. Yep, this positive spin is so much more fun when dealing with you.

School drop off

Is it really that hard to be respectful to other people? Are you in such a rush to get to a line that you must put the small lives that entrust us adults to see them through to their own adulthood safely in complete risk and danger? I’ve seen you squeal your wheels and drive on sidewalks so you can be the first to get to the stop sign…to stop and wait. I’ve watched you drive on sidewalks, even had to move my child out of the way of your tires one morning. Why are you in such a rush and why do you not consider the children that are only trying to get to their school safely? Tell me why you open your doors in the middle of the street and push your children out like a helicopter dropping soldiers in the middle of a war zone. Please explain to me why small children have to dodge land mines with Chrysler emblems making their way to the sidewalk while you try to push your way back into traffic fighting for the first car at the stop sign award. And how about those of you that almost pull over to the curb but don’t actually quite make it sitting there with the nose of the car at a small portion of the curb that is open with your ass hanging out in the street for the rest of us to drive around while dodging children that were left in the middle of the road, and your left blinker flashing to let the rest of us know you plan to take your place back in traffic. Are we supposed to go around your back side while you do your war zone drop off forcing the oncoming traffic into the side mirrors of the parked cars along the other side of the street? I just want to know the rules here because obviously my way of driving slowly down the road, stopping to let children cross the street, stopping at the stop sign, and letting my child out with a teacher at the front door is not the correct way. Should I be running over your children to get to the stop sign quicker? Should I be driving though the stop sign as I’ve seen you do? Or maybe while there are basically four lanes of traffic on a small neighborhood street, I should decide to U-turn while my kid’s backpack is stuck in the closing door and while she’s trying dodge the car sized land mines to make her way to the safety of a sidewalk upon which you are driving. Is that the correct way? Will someone for the love of children tell me what the hell is wrong with people, and is this happening at every school? My young children can’t walk safely on a sidewalk without fear they will be pushed along by a Michelin. My oldest daughter feels so uncool because she’s not dropped off in the street like so many other young children. And you all feel you should be honking your horn at a driver who actually stops at a stop sign or pause after stopping to let a child cross the street. I will say this though… Some of your children actually seem to know just how dangerous it is to cross at a stop sign where it should be safest. If there is a child standing there waiting to cross, please include them in the amount of small numbers that run through your mind as you are counting turns until it is time for you to go. If there is a child there…in the cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow or heat…waiting to cross the street to get to school….LET THEM GO! If you were standing there carrying a forty pound backpack and whatever project you had to finish before morning that is larger that you are tall, I am sure you’d appreciate it if the drivers inside the nice cozy warm cars with no more baggage than the cell phone on which they are currently texting would follow the laws, be respectful and let you cross the damn street. Do you think you could show that same respect for the students? It’s just school, folks. It isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. It’s driving on straight streets with sidewalks on either side, two stop signs and a drive way. Not much different than the neighborhoods where you live. It can’t be that hard. And your trip to get to the stop sign to sit and wait or get to the back of the line to sit and wait can’t possibly be that important to you that it’s worth putting children in danger – or making me angry!

The Sweetest Little Girl

Tonight I had a few friends over to scrapbook and Arwen had a tough time going to bed. She wanted to read lots of books and wanted to know what I was going to be doing downstairs with the other Mommies. About ten minutes after putting her down, lighting her stars, turning on her moon and leaving her room, she comes downstairs with one Minnie Mouse slipper on one foot and tells me she needs her other slipper before she can go to bed. The two of us go upstairs together and find her other slipper in bed hidden beneath a princess blanket. I bid her goodnight again and head back downstairs to work on the scrapbook I haven't seen in well over a year. I look at the pictures of her from two years ago and wonder with a small tear in my eye who that little girl is in that picture. Before I can recover from the emotion a three year old walking into the kitchen brings me back to the present. She looks around at the faces around here. Faces that she sees a lot, but is probably unsure of since they do not have toddlers attached to them at the moment. She finds my face and says, "I have to go potty" So we head upstairs together again. Now as soon as we get into the bathroom, she tells me she is bothering me, so I have to stand out in the hallway.(Yep, she is bothering me) I peek at her through the door – you can do this with your own three year old – and wait until she's done, pretend like I'm just checking on her, knock on the door and come back in. I ask if she went potty; like I didn't know from peeking, and then we head off into her bedroom. Now you may ask what makes all this so sweet…besides the fact that it is all really sweet. When we get to her room, she tells me "I was looking for a present for you everywhere. In the play room, in your room, in the bathroom, and I can't find a present for you." Now I'm starting to think to myself, as us parents do too often, you are just trying to keep me here a little longer because there are people downstairs. And though I'm not showing it yet, I am starting to feel that little sense of impatience coming on. She continues telling me that she wanted to find a really special present for me but couldn't find one in all the places she looked. Then she grabs Pablo off her bed and says "Here, you can have Pablo." She is the sweetest girl I could ask for. Sure she wanted a little extra attention because she knew I had some extra to give since I was giving it to others that were downstairs. But I got a very special gift, not just Pablo, but a sweet thought from my little girl that my pictures are showing is growing too fast! Now Pablo and I must head to bed – I do fear a small meltdown if he is not found in bed with me in the morning!

Arwen potty training day 1

Potty Time Day 1
Arwen has been talking about her poop for quite some time now, so back in December I decided to buy her a Royal Potty. As soon as I sat her on it she cried. Santa was on his way, so we decided to give her a break with the potty and wait until after the new year to introduce it to her. For a few weeks I asked her about her potty, she'd get real excited and run over to it, put one foot in the bowl and stand in it. This isn't going to be easy, is it?

Time for another try. I start by telling her when I am going to the potty. I sang songs, I did the potty dance and get her attention enough to come into the bathroom with me when I went. Once she was in the bathroom, it became a different story. Suddenly, the cat food or the tower of toilet paper was more exciting than watching Mommy pee.

So I decided I would wake up bright and early today, get showered before she woke up and the moment I heard her awake, I would begin Operation Potty. I bought a training seat to go over the toilet in her room since the Royal Potty is only good for standing. Promptly at 6am, my alarm clock went off and then again at 6:07am...like clockwork. And like a woman that hasn't depended on an alarm clock in almost 2 years, I rolled over again telling myself five more minutes never hurt anyone. Somewhere around 6:30am, I heard Arwen playing. I had two options. Get up, shower and just let her pee in her diaper, or get her up, and sit her on the potty with both of us only half awake. I opted to wait until I had at least one cup of coffee and she was a bit happier.

Somewhere around 9am, I was feeling a bit awake and had to pee a bit myself, so we came up stairs and talked about the potty. I asked her if she had to pee in the potty. And she emphatically said "YES!"

Well, this is going to be easier than I thought. So I brought her favorite potty book into the bathroom, took her sleeper and diaper off and sat her on the potty. She didn't try to put her foot in it and stand up, but she did want "Down-da" a few times before she got really comfortable. I read "The New Potty" to her about five times and then asked if she needed to pee in the potty. Again a very
enthusiastic "Yes!"

Now she was reading the book and I was telling a story about a little girl names Arwen that relaxed, read a book and then peed on the potty. A couple of minutes later, she was ready to get down. When I asked if she needed to pee on the potty, she said "no"

I'm not going to push it and at this point I was hoping for a bit more coffee. Note to self, bring more than one book into the bathroom with you next time.

So she goes down for a nap. And when she wakes up, I rush into her room, thinking I will strip her down, put her on the potty and she will pee!
As soon as I picked her up, I felt the warmth spreading across her diaper. Too late. Off to lunch.

In the afternoon, I reintroduced her to the Royal Potty. Every time she stepped in it and stood there like king of the throne, I picked her up and played a game called let's sit on the potty. I kept her naked for about an hour and decided that it might be best to go back upstairs where the potty is on the toilet. She can't climb that and seems to enjoy sitting on it.

Upstairs, she sat on the potty, we read a book, played with a duck and she told me YES a few times when I asked if she needed to pee and then she wanted her milk. Immediately thoughts of liquid producing pee ran through my head. "Let's go get your milk," I said; and off we went. I was going to give her about ten minutes of holding her milk cup, drinking it and playing before I asked the question again. A few more sips and the question would be flying out of my mouth.

That's when Arwen said "Pee pee potty!" and peed on my bedroom floor!

We got dressed and went on a few errands. There will be a day two!

Words should be taught by children
Why bother teaching children the proper way of saying a word. Personally, I'd prefer to wake up in the morning and have a big cup of "fawkey" to wake me up before I start the day. Arwen is starting to put real words into sentences now, but I miss the days, you know last month, when potatoes were "Toe Pees" and coffee was "fawkey".

She still says down-da when she no longer wants to be in her highchair and she says climb when she wants me to pick her up, but lately her cutest thing is saying
"Ein tine" when you draw a picture of a face with hair sticking straight up. This of course is from the Baby Einstein videos. I wonder if she will be disappointed when she discovers Einstein was not just a stick figure's face on a children's video.

So I say grab a cup of fawkey and learn a few things from your children for a change.

A Day in the Life...

of a stay at home mom...
My day.
Goals: 3 mile walk in the morning
3:15pm doctor's appointment in Thornton (leave at 2pm to arrive
early enough to feed Arwen before appointment)
We get out of bed at 9am after about 4 hours of sleep total between midnight
and 9am.
Feed Arwen - that takes about 30 minutes. Get dressed in walking clothes &
change her from a sleeper to a onesie.
We leave the house at 9:50am for our walk....she will be hungry again at
11am.
Return from walk at 10:45am.
She is happily sitting in her carseat attached to her stroller, so I leave
her there and make breakfast for myself - a rare occasion.
While I make breakfast, she begins the pooping session. I am
happy....singing a little song about her pooping and Mommy eating breakfast.
When I get the eggs and toast on a plate, she begins to cry. Ok, I can
eat one handed. So I pile my food, milk, and vitamins on the table in the
living room and prepare ti get her ready to eat too.
Here we go. It's now 11am (we have to leave the house in 3 hours). I
pull her out of the carseat to find her covered in POOP! Yep! Poop. And
let me tell you, it's not pretty. It's all over her onsie, on her legs, on
her hands, her arms..and you guessed it, in a little puddle in the bottom of
her carseat. And she is screaming.
So Super Mommy kicks into action. I get her cleaned up, a clean diaper,
attach her to the boob to eat and I begin to eat my now cold eggs and toast.
11:15am. I must now take apart her carseat and clean it up because we
will need it in just under 3 hours to drive to Thornton. So it begins, but
I don't know how to get the seatbelt out, so I have to call Jeff (who is in
Atlanta) and ask him. In ten minutes, I have the fabric in the washing
machine and I am rinsing out the shell in the sink. Arwen is happy in her
bouncy seat.
Perfect time for a shower....maybe she will sleep. So we take her bouncy
chair upstairs, rock her to sleep, hop into shower. Before I get out of the
shower, she is crying.
Get out of shower, soothe baby, throw on clothes, dab on a bit of
make-up so I don't look like the walking dead, and Arwen is crying again.
Run downstairs to throw carseat fabric in dryer. Back upstairs.... Turn on
hairdryer (remember this...hairdryers, vacuums, and fans create white noise
that will quiet a baby in seconds) Dry hair half way before she begins
crying again...(no amount of white noise will quiet a hungry baby.) It's
now 12:45pm and it's time for her lunch. Feed her....rushing through it.
We now have an hour to dry the carseat fabric, the seatbelts, and the shell,
put it all back together (how do you do that - note to self, may have to
call Jeff again), give her a bath...because baby wipes don't really
hygienically clean up poop, dress her, gather items for diaper bag, hit the
road.
1pm....She's eaten, but maybe not enough to make her happy for very long.
Take the bouncy seat back downstairs, put her in it and try to reassemble
the carseat. Wait...the seatbelts are still wet. Back upstairs to get
hairdryer. Arwen is crying. Pick her up, turn on hairdryer, and dry
seatbelts. Pull fabric out of dryer. Reassemble. Not too difficult, but
she is now screaming...so loudly, I am quite surprised that social services
didn't knock on my door.
Put screaming Arwen in carseat to see if it's all correct. Nope...one
belt is backwards. Try again. Hummm....how did I do the same thing twice?
Oh well, we have to move.
Bath time. Get baby bath tub from downstairs bathroom. oops, last time
I was upstairs, I remembered to get her clothes but forgot the towel and
washcloth. Go get those things. (Trip one up the stairs) Oops, where's
her body wash? Oh, yeah...in my bathroom. Trip two up the stairs. Wash
baby. This she likes...until it's time to get out....buuurrr. It's cold.
So she cries. All through drying her off, diapering and dressing.
hummmm....this new outfit is still a bit too big. Trip three back up
stairs. Get duck dress. Dress screaming baby. oops, forgot duck
socks....what trip is this again...up those stairs...with Arwen in my arms?
I will lose this extra weight in no time.
So she is too upset to leave. At 1:50pm, I sit down with a clean baby,
a clean carseat and rock her to sleep. At 2pm, she is sound asleep in her
carseat ready to go. Now I need, watch, shoes, and a diaper bag ready to
go. At 2:15pm, we are out the door.
A little late, but we did it. We pull into the doctor's parking lot at
3pm and I feed her. But she wants to play and doesn't eat very long. We
have to go inside, so change her diaper, back in the carseat, refill diaper
bag, and inside we go.
10 minute appointment....doc says I look exhausted. No kidding. He
clears me for normal activity. (If he only knew how much activity I have
been getting....should I have not made 20 trips up and down the stairs in
one morning with a 10 pound baby in my arms.) And get this he releases my
restrictions on sex....like I want to do that again. If I get an
hour.....or even 20 minutes...I am napping. Note to self, tell Jeff I need
another 6 weeks....doc's orders.
All of that worry to get to a 3:15 appointment on time...and at 3:35 we
are out the door.
On our way to Kim's house to see Kim and Kendall. And to feed since Arwen
didn't eat enough and was crying in doc's office. Drive 10 minutes. Get
there and Arwen wants to sleep for an hour!!!
now????? not when I needed her to sleep, not when she was screaming
while I was trying to get her carseat back together....not when we can sleep
at the same time. No, she wants to sleep when we are at a friends house an
hour away from home.
So, an hour later, se eats a little bit...and sleeps again. Kim holds
her while I take her carseat apart again and finally fix the belt that I
backwards. And she sleeps again. Just before 6pm, we drive home. She
eats....and I think she'll go to sleep since I haven't eaten since
breakfast, but she wants to be held...and she wants to cry.
So I nuke the chili I slow cooked all day Monday and eat standing at the
counter with her in one arm and the hairdryer on to soothe her.
Now it's almost 3am...I should be sleeping, but she just ate and needs to
be rocked back to sleep....I am waiting for her swing to do that.
Oh....and the chili, by the way. It was very good - I make good chili.
But after cooking it for 8 hours yesterday, I realized last night that I
didn't put any spices in it. After I ate my first bowl, I was on the phone
with Jeff and I told him it was good, but not as spicy as usual. But I was
happy about that because I didn't want anything too spicy that might upset
Arwen's tummy. While on the phone, I open the pantry to see all of my
spices, chili powder, etc...sitting right in from of me, unopened!
So basically, my chili was meat, beans, rotel and spicy V8.
Don't let anyone tell you being a mother is easy.
I hope to see you soon, but I want to be sane when I do. Tomorrow is a
break day. I plan on taking a walk and nothing else. Thursday is zoo day.
So maybe next week.

Stephanie