Rachel: Michael, you deleted the Saturday Night Live from the DVR.
Michael: I thought you had watched it already.
Rachel: No, I only watched the first 20 minutes. I was really looking forward to watching it today.
Michael: Oh, poor baby. So you had to take a nap instead?
Rachel: Yes, it was horrible.
One month and no nail biting.
Almost long enough for manicure.
Oh and Parker is doing better too. Elizabeth is still munching away on her nails.
Yesterday, I brushed my hair, put on a dress, some mascara, and even lipstick and headed into San Francisco to celebrate the retirement of my boss at the Federal Reserve Bank. He had worked there 29 years. My good friend Shari, who also still works there and is getting close to 29 years herself, invited me and I was glad she did. I saw all sorts of people I hadn't seen in years and years. Some looked older and larger. Some looked like they hadn't aged a day. Hopefully I was somewhere in between. It was fun catching up with them, telling old stories, see old bosses, and laughing at the good old days. But it also reminded me how glad I am not to be working. (Everyone seemed shocked when I told them I was "just a mom.") The BART ride alone was enough for me to silently thank Michael for being the breadwinner in the family. Hopefully I'll never have to be a corporate gal again.
Parker was off school today. It was teacher training day or something.
After we took the girls to school, we did a couple errands and then Aidan came over (he was off school too). Then we went to Roberts park where we were going to meet a bunch of classmates. It was completely foggy and cold near our house, but at Roberts is was sunny and warm. I left the boys with Kathie, Zoe's mom, and went to get the girls around noon. Then we went back to the park where we stayed for another couple hours. Other friends from kindergarten and preschool showed up and it was a big group of people before long. All the kids played wonderfully together irregardless of age or gender. No major issues and only a couple scraped knees. All the kids know all the moms so they would just come up to me and say, "I'm thirsty. I sure could use another juice box."
Then we went home to prep for the next round of excitement. Lucy, Rachel's (preschool friend) mom, picked up the girls for a pump it up birthday party and left Jonah (preK friend) here for a playdate with Parker. They played games, climbed trees and I fed them dinner. Then we all went to pick up the girls.
By the time the day was over, everyone was tired and dirty. Including me. An exhausting day of doing not much.
Yesterday was the last day of the girls' trial ballet class. We only signed up for 4 weeks in case they didn't like it. Turns out, Miranda likes it and Elizabeth doesn't. My guess is that Elizabeth actually does like it, but since she is so contrary, she says she doesn't like anything. But, I didn't push it. So we dropped Miranda off at class, then went to the library and grabbed a Chinese lunch that we shared. It was actually quite nice sitting in the greasy hole in the wall place sharing a big plate of fried rice, chow mein and lemon chicken. She's a good eater and so am I. I guess Thursdays from 1-2 will be Elizabeth and Mommy time. And Miranda will get to do something on her own.
Speaking of on her own, Miranda is really becoming independent at school. She was never really clingy, but now she eats with her friends rather than me when I work. And when I'm not there, she sits separate from Elizabeth. She also runs around with a group of girls, playing fairy or butterfly or vampire. It's great to see. Elizabeth still is mostly doing her own thing and occasionally will talk with someone else. When asked who she likes at school, she says, "No one." Oh joy.
Parker: Stupid is a bad word.
Me: Why is that?
Parker: It just is.
Me: Well, some people think it is a bad word, but others don't. Like me. Do you know what it means?
Parker: No.
Me: It means not smart. It's true that some people are not smart. But if you say that word at school you will get in trouble. And if you say it at a friends house, you might not be invited back. Do you know any other bad words?
Parker: No.
Me: Do you know the word Shit?
Parker: Well...I think so.
Me: What does it mean?
Parker: It's something you say while driving when and you do something that isn't right. Like, "oh shit."
Me: Yup, that is true, but do you know what it means?
Parker: No.
Me: It's another way of saying poop. But if you said it at school you'd get into a lot of trouble. You might even be sent home. And if you said it at a friends house, you would definitely not be asked back.
Parker: What the hell!
Me: Heck, Parker. What the heck.
Parker: Mom...are we in space?
Me: Yes. How did you know?
Parker: Well...we live on Earth and Earth is a planet and planets are in space.
Miranda: Is that thing to help your boobs stay up?
Me: Yes.
Miranda: Why do you wear it?
Me: To make them look better.
Elizabeth: Does they look nasty hanging down?
Me: No, not nasty.
Elizabeth: Just weird?
Me: Yes. Just weird.
When Michael and I are being lazy or have a baby sitter, we give the kids, top ramen and frozen pizza. Otherwise known as noodles and soup and pizza. Luckily, this is the kids' favorite meal. Parker could eat it every day. The girls could eat pizza every day. (Parker doesn't like pizza.)
We did it tonight since I'm a wreck after a long (over 4 hours) 34 mile bike ride and Michael is tired too. Parker helped "make" dinner, where "make" means measuring the water in the pot and putting the dry noodles and spice mix into the water. Apparently, Michael said anything could be added to the soup, so Parker requested adding broccoli and carrots. So they did. And boy, was he happy with that. As was Elizabeth saying, "More carrots and broccoli please!"
Took the kids to Bay Area Discovery Museum today as we had not been there in a long while. They had a fantastic time and got along great the entire time. I was more "chill" myself, simply letting them tell me when it was time to move on rather than telling them. They did some climbing on the these pretend leaves. I'm guessing they were not meant for climbing, since no one else was doing it and I've never seen anyone else do it, but my kids climbed them. They also climbed this tree. Every parent that was anywhere close commented on Elizabeth's climbing. They pointed. They told their spouses. Their children. They asked how old she was. They tried to make their own kid feel adequate. And when she started doing leg lifts to her nose while hanging on a branch, they didn't know what to say except "Have you gotten her into gymnastics yet???"
We were there over 4 hours. The best part of the day? When Miranda had a huge bowel movement with little problem towards the end. 
Someone gave Parker a weather station (tracks temp, wind direction, rain levels, wind speed) for his birthday. It required a 1 liter plastic bottle, so we couldn't put it together for while. We finally did this past week and just in time. Parker's class started learning about wind. So he brought it in to school and all the kids were simply amazed. They thought it was the most incredible thing. A mom who worked that day said Parker explained it to at least 10 different sets of kids on the playground. And every morning this week, he went out to see the status. It didn't rain all week, but we had some incredible wind on Wed and Thurs which made it spin around super fast.
The kids planted some apple seeds in the front yard last week and immediately started reading to them and singing to them to help them grow. They were out there for a good long time.
Today I did a 9 mile run in the morning.
Then I took the kids to Bay Area Discovery Museum for a long, long time and let them do whatever they wanted. They were all delightful and lovely to be around.
A good day for everyone (even Michael who got some quiet time.)
Parker (sitting on the porch swing): I can't think real big thoughts when Miranda is playing with the blinds.
Second in a series.
A few times in the last month, some mother at preschool has come up to some other mother at preschool to tell them that their child hurt or offended their own child in some way. Today it happened to us. A girl a bit older than the girls told her mother that Miranda stepped on her hand. So then they came over to us to tell us. I asked Miranda if she did that by accident and Miranda immediately said yes and continued with "I said sorry to her, but she didn't hear me." I asked Miranda to tell her sorry again. Which she did. The mom said thanks and they walked away. Miranda went on to say that she wanted to sit next to her at second circle time, but that she wouldn't.
I think that whole situation is lame. Miranda did the right thing on her own at the right time. I don't think she should have had to say anything again, but had I not done what was expected I would have looked like the insensitive mom. And why didn't the other mother make her child say sorry for being mean to Miranda at second cirle.
What is up with all that?
Because flying to new york for free wasn't good enough, my now greatest friend in the whole wide world, Sara, hooked me up with a 2 BR apartment in the village for the weekend. All we have to pay is $100 for cleaning. How incredible is that? Now, let's see if someone gives us show tickets for free!
When Miranda isn't whining or crying, she is usually singing. Almost every morning, she sings to herself upstairs while getting dressed. I usually can't understand what she is singing, but it's loud and usually involves mermaids or princesses. Sometimes babies or dogs. The songs are usually complex and go on for a long, long time.
Yesterday during her "quiet" time, she was singing as loud as possible, "A - E -I - O - U" over and over again. I guess it was something they learned in preschool yesterday.
I think I've said this before, but I've lost almost all sense of sympathy these days. My kids hurt themselves so often, by the end of the day, I barely even turn my head when they cry out.
Today, for example, Elizabeth fell in the street on the walking school bus because she was running. Something she is not suppose to do.
Miranda ran into another kid at school (who was playing statue) and bonked her nose.
Elizabeth walked into a pole at Safeway this afternoon and hurt her head and back.
Miranda walked into the ottoman this evening and hurt her foot.
Miranda also has various "owie's" on her fingers from god only knows what.
Parker was at school and then a playdate today so I didn't see him much, but usually he is the worse, walking into everything and anything.
As you can see, most of these accidents could be easily avoided if the kids just looked where they were going.
When the hell do they learn that lesson????? Will they be 14 years old and walking into things?
Elizabeth has recently decided that only one or two outfits can be worn. She even wants to sleep in them. When an outfits looks familiar and I ask her if she wore it the day before, she lies and says no. She'll wear it if it is dirty, if she has worn then for the last 2 days, and if I tell her not to. For example, today she is wearing striped stretchy pants under a jeans skirt, one long sleeves striped shirt, a short sleeve butterfly shirt and a ribbed zip up sweater on top of all of it. Third day she has worn this.
It's kinda weird.
For the last 10-15+ years, I've had a United Mileage Plus Credit Card. I don't know why I have it since I've never really been a traveler. So I've been saving miles for some time now. I only get miles when I buy something since I never fly United. I finally have enough to go somewhere. So me and Susan are gonna go to New York for a weekend in May. We are gonna fly there Friday, return on Tuesday and spend much of the time over the weekend seeing Broadway shows. I'm so excited!
If anyone out there has any recommendations on where to stay, let me know.
Parker likes to make lists. He made a list in Hawaii of what we would do each hour one day. He makes lists of his friends names. He makes lists of lots of stuff. Today he brought me a list of what he wanted to learn about each month this year.
January: Camouflage
February: Disappearing
March: Hiding
April: Rock
May: Sticks
June: Leaves
July: Clouds
August: Trees
September: Wind
October: Pumpkins
November: Pies
December: Snow
Michael's at work. Kids are home from school. And I'm just letting them hang out at home. Everyone, for the time being, is happy. I'm a little bored. I suppose I could clean or organize something, but that seems like too much trouble.
Still holding strong on my "no nail biting". Not even using the bitter stuff.
I'm thinking I'll be ready for a manicure in 2 weeks.
I'm about to enter my 4th week of training for my next half marathon. I'm trying to be more structured and serious about the training this time, doing some speed work, hill work, and lots and lots of running. I've run/worked out 12 of the last 13 days. Which means getting up at or before 5am 5 days a week. Apparently, it caught up with me today when I took a long nap.
And tomorrow, I rest. Thank god.
Parker was acting bored this afternoon, kicking a ball around the house, so I suggested he build something with his kapla blocks.
So he did. And used them all.
I took Miranda and Elizabeth to Farmers Market today. Didn't really need anything, but it was a nice day and thought it would be fun. And it was.
On the way home, Miranda said, "Mom...where do all the workers at the Farmers Market come from?"
The only answer I could come up with and one that totally satisfied her was: "Their homes."
Miranda is always asking questions like these.
At dinner tonight, she said, "Is vanilla ice cream and snow the same thing?"
I said, "No."
She said, "But they are both soft?"
Me: "They are not the same because ice cream is made from Milk and snow is not." This totally satisfied her too.
There are a lot of things I can say about Elizabeth that aren't so flattering, but to her credit, she is fantastic at taking a nap still. On days when we don't have classes and have no where else to be (Usually Monday, Tuesday and Friday), I tell her we are going to take a nap. She never argues. Never complains. She knows Miranda is not napping (she does quiet time which involves a lot of made up stories and songs with her little people.) She just goes into Parker's room, gets snuggly in his bed and goes to sleep. She usually sleeps for an hour and a half to two hours, but sometimes I have to wake her up when it's time to get Parker from school. That girl loves to sleep.
After dropping off the girls at school, I went back to Parker's school since he left his library book at home. When I popped in to return it, Parker was on the floor reading his book to 3 kids on the carpet. He didn't notice that I was there as they were all so into the book. He brought the book for "sharing" today. The teacher said she didn't ask him to read it to them...it was just their choice of what to do with their free time.
After gymnastics class today, Elizabeth told me her coach talked to them about behaving or going to another class. Since this is all I got out of her, I went up to the coach and asked if there were any problems in class today and mentioned what Elizabeth said.
Her coach said, "Oh, I sort of gave them a pep talk today because in between rotations (leg lifts, head stand leg lifts and pushing up to a hand stand), all three of the girls sort of just sat there. In other words, when the Coach wasn't assisting them, they were just watching or rolling around on the ground. The coach reminded them that this was a serious class and if they wanted to take a class where they just rolled around on the floor, that could be arranged."
(Do I need to remind you these are 4 and 5 year olds?)
Anywhooo....Elizabeth asked me what the coach told me and repeated the quote above.
There was a long pause and Elizabeth says, "Mom...can I just do the class where you roll around on the ground?"
Perhaps it's time I actually explain to Elizabeth what kind of class she is in and why others aren't in it. I have kept this info to myself thus far for fear of hurting other's feelings, but perhaps I need to be explicit at this point.
I have four friends with cancer right now.
An old friend from college.
A new friend from bootcamp.
A sister of a friend.
And a not quite three year old daughter of a friend named Rachel.
All diagnosed in 2010.
All doing very well and on the road to recovery today.
Thank God.
I have many friends who feed them children healthy and organic meals almost exclusively. Sometimes I feel bad that I'm not like that. But not often.
You see, having been raised on healthy, homemade, good for you food, and not allowed to have candy (except for halloween) or really anything processed (we had ice-cream for dessert from time to time), my adult life has been full of cravings for fruit loops, snickers bars, and artificially flavored food. The more fake tasting, the better. I mean, who would want a home made berry crumble (a favorite dessert at Chez Martin) when one can eat some sort of processed, high fructose corn syrupy thing instead?
So my goal with the kids has been to provide a range of food from very healthy to not so healthy. My hope is that treats are more part of the "norm" rather than the exception and they aren't craved as much, since they are not forbidden. Now, sure I tend to go overboard on this rule more often than not, but since so far (knock on wood) none of my kids are over weight or even close to it and their teeth are still free of cavities, I'm not worrying about it all very much. The kids and I recently had a discussion about the difference between healthy food and unhealthy food. They got the most obvious ones when quizzed, but were a bit confused with regard to pasta, waffles, and peanut butter, which is reasonable as they are confusing. I tried to focus on "moderation", but I'm sure it will be a conversation we repeat a lot.
Today, after school, it was raining and the kids were tired, so I plopped them in front of the tv to have a picnic snack. I never understood people that watched tv while eating, but who can resist a snack on a blanket while watching the Magic School Bus?
Anyway, I put out four bowls for them to share: Pretzels and peanut butter, goldfish crackers, tangerine slices, and trail mix. The trail mix, left over from the snow trip had raisins, nuts, carob covered things, and generic m and m's. I even gave a second thought to the trail mix since it seemed pretty silly a thing to put out.
Guess what the first thing the kids requested seconds of? The one that got eaten first and fast?
Tangerines!
Yay, my experiment impacting the overall health of my children paid off! At least today. Right now. Until later when they start complaining about the lack of dessert...
Elizabeth: "A while ago, but not a long while ago, remember when you and Miranda didn't like me? Well, now, Parker and Elizabeth don't like Miranda. But Miranda has friends at Sequoia, so it's ok. Hey, Parker, maybe we should get some more friends too."
Neither Miranda or Parker said anything.
No nail biting.
I can even see a little nail on my fingers now.
And I haven't taken up drinking, smoking or heroin.
Life has been fairly normal/boring these last few days which is why I haven't blogged. Here's a quick summary of the goings on...
Friday... Painters and the backhouse bathroom remodel workers showed up. They are going to paint the outside of the house now and then after we move out, they'll do the inside. The outside should take about 8 days so we'll get to live in it for a few months. They totally gutted the backhouse bathroom. Michael never really finished it when he did the floor in the backhouse so we had the option just putting some tile down or fixing it up a bit. We chose the later so we'll be getting a new tile shower and floor. It should be fancy with a bit bigger shower. That part should be done this week so we'll definitely get to enjoy that for a while too.
Saturday...I did my "long" run. Michael and I are both training for the March Oakland Half Marathon. I'm hoping to finish and maybe do better than I did last year and Michael is hoping to break 2 hours, which he should do no problem. I did 6 1/2 miles and it actually felt pretty good most of the time. I've decided to have a shorter stride. My legs don't feel as tired that way. The last two times I've run, I've kept up with gals that I previously had not been able to keep up with. So that is nice. Then Roy and the boys came over and helped me (ok, actually he did it on his own) remove the iron bars on three of our windows (which was needed for the painters). Roy had all the tools and did it very quickly and the boys learned some math on Parker's computer. We hung around the house the rest of the day doing not much. I'm getting better at doing that, but it's still hard. Reading a book makes it easier so I finished my second Michael J Fox memoir. That night, I had Indian food and saw a movie with Susan.
Sunday...Michael got up to do his long run while I stayed home with the kids. I was gonna take them to the park, but Miranda was doing so much crying and shouting that we waiting until M got home so I could leave her behind. She's having a hard time these days. Most things out of her mouth are cries, screams, whines or saying, "NO!" and stomping her foot. It's like she's just figured out that she can argue with us about stuff and chooses to it all the time. It's very frustrating to me, but I'm hoping it's just a phase. Then we decided to go look at houses through the tunnel. We looked at 5 icky ones and one perfect one. 5 bedrooms, huge lot, great front and back yard, cul de sac, pool, family room, new kitchen, walking distance to schools. I would have bought it today, but Michael was worried about the commute which would be much longer for him. About 20-30 mintues each way on a good day. Not the worst commute by any means, but worse than we have it right now. It's been on the market for months, so I'm hoping it's still on the market a big longer.
At dinner tonight, the kids were talking about hitting each other and then mentioned daddy hitting mommy. Michael pointed out that if he hit me, he would go to jail. This got everyone talking about jail and hitting and what would happen if mommy hit daddy too and we both went to jail. Elizabeth got legitimately sad and asked who would take care of them. I told them if anything ever happened to us, Aunt Amy would take care of them. That seemed to make them very happy (even though Miranda did say she would miss us). We talked about what rooms they would get at Amy's house and how cool that would be. Parker asked to sleep in the tv room. At one point, Miranda asked if they had hot water in jail (where we would be going.) Elizabeth mentioned that they wouldn't be a real family since they would have different last names as their cousins. We tried to reassure them that we wouldn't be going to jail and the conversation finally ended.
Michael put the kids to bed, I folded laundry, Michael did some work and now we are watching our nightly food network show. Tonight it is Iron Chef. Battle Lobster. Yum.
I took the girls to ballet class today for the first time. It's a pre-ballet class for 3-5 year olds at a local dance center. They were appropriately attired in pink tights, pink ballet shoes (and I didn't even have to sew on the elastics!) and leotards. I wouldn't let them wear stupid looking outfits or silly fluffly skirts. Apparently I was the only mother who felt strongly about this and now I'm fully expecting Elizabeth to remind me about the other kids' clothes next week.
The parents had to watch from a video monitor outside the classroom. Which was fine. I was actually hoping to not watch at all. Watching the kids in classes just annoys me. And today was no different. I rarely feel the motherly pride that most parents feel when they watch their cute kids in cute outfits doing cute things. I just get annoyed. At the class. At the kids "not doing their best". At the music choices. At whatever.
It seemed that the girls were doing well and having fun and one would think that would be all I could ask for. But when the teacher brought out some rings and a balance beam and small trampoline in a pre-ballet class, I just got annoyed again. I counted the minutes until some parent told me "Oh, your girls are so strong." It was about 3.
Sometimes I wish I was just like every other mom I know who thinks the world of their cute kids and everything they do and say rather than someone who notices what is wrong with everything. Life would be easier and more fun that way.
Woke up at 5am. Met friends at Y at 5:30.
Ran over to a short, steep hill and then up it 10 times over really fast.
Ran around Lake Merrit (3 miles) at 6am. Good run.
Went home at 6:35 to find kids awake watching the Nutcracker and Parker "sick".
Sent appropriate emails to cancel walking school bus and co-op.
Made breakfast for kids who were still glued to tv.
Checked email. Responded to some. Checked Facebook. Posted some.
Arranged for girls to be picked up for co-op.
Ensured girls were dressed and had a snack. They were out the door at 9:15. (Thanks Sue!)
Read books with Parker. Decided he wasn't sick.
Cleaned kitchen. Made lunch for Parker.
Left at 11 to take him to school. Got bamboozled into laminating a bunch of stuff for teacher.
Picked up girls at 11:30.
Drove to Blockbuster to return overdue movies. Also actually remembered to put Netflix in mailbox.
Drove home by noon. Made lunch.
Returned some phone calls.
Checked emails and responded to several about preschool recommendations.
Got girls dressed for ballet class.
Cleaned up major pee accident by Miranda. Cleaned and dryed tights. Got Miranda dressed again.
Talked with painters here to test lead and prep for tomorrow's first day of painting.
Took girls to ballet at 1pm. Responded to expected questions from other parents about the twins.
Class was over at 2pm. Went home.
Got girls undressed and dressed again. Prepared snacks for girls and Parker.
Prepped dinner and actually remembered to set delayed over timer for potatoes.
Drove to school to pick up Parker. Tried to rush him, but that only slowed things down.
Drove to make up gymnastics class at 3:15pm. Watched Elizabeth have private class.
Drove to Parker's year old check up at 3:45. Arrived on time at 4pm. Hearing, vision, health...all great.
Got flu shots for me and kids at 4:30. Praised Miranda and Parker for bravery.
Carried screaming, crying Elizabeth to car.
Stopped to get ice cream to take home.
Finished dinner (with Michael).
Had dinner.
Had ice cream.
Cleaned up dinner and kitchen.
Prepped workout clothes for Friday.
Helped get girls to sleep.
Sat my ass on the couch and have not gotten up since.
Going to bed in 60 minutes.
Parker wasn't feeling well this morning which is quite unusual for him, so he stayed home from school. Within an hour, he was acting normally again so I suggested he do a puzzle or game or play on the computer. As soon as I said it, I regretted it thinking he would be on that thing all day. I checked on him a couple times while he was playing some addition baseball game and he seemed fine. I had an internal argument with myself about whether I should let the "sick" kid do whatever he wanted or make him get off the computer.
Then he comes out of his room with a book in hand and says, "I'm gonna read now." He plops down on the couch next to me where I was painting my (still un bitten) finger nails with more bitter crap. I ask him if he is going to read to me or if we should read our own books together. He said we would read our own books. I ask him if he is going to read out loud or in his head (which I've never seen him do, but we've discussed) and he says, in his head.
And that is what he has been doing ever since. (I, obviously, grabbed my lap top at some point.) He keeps flipping and flopping on the couch, changing positions, but reading silently the whole time. Every some often, he'll laugh or show me something. And I was worried about the computer...
Parker went to Lincoln's party this past weekend and made a few things out of boxes. He's been wearing/playing with them since.
Miranda had a complete meltdown at gym class today. It was totally out of the blue. There wasn't a sub. It was the same class she has been taking for weeks. She did fine on Monday. But today, not so much. I got her calm, we walked over to the class where she did fine for a few minutes. I left her there and she lost it again. A teacher brought her back to me. I calmed her down again. (And when I say I calmed her down, I threatened to take away some stuff from her) and brought her back to class again. I stayed with her a bit longer that time and she was finally fine.
When we got home, she drew this picture imediately. No one told her to draw it. She just did and then told me, "This is me at gymnastics class being sad."
I got a version of the nutcracker for Miranda to watch on DVD. Turns out it has a dancer in it who danced with me about a 100 years ago.
Elizabeth: Mommy. When you are a grandma, are you going to have long hair and put it in a pony tail?
Me: I'm not sure. I don't know if my hair will be long or short when you have kids.
Elizabeth: Well...this person in Hawaii who was sitting here (she motions across the pretend hot tub) had long, long hair and a pony tail and she was a grandma.
Me: Oh.
Miranda's dance class at the gym is not being offered next session. Since she is doing a lot of "shows" and putting on leotards and dancing around the living room, saying "Watch Mommy!" while pointing her toe, I thought I should try to find something for her. Luckily in the Bay Area, there is no shortage of kids classes. So I signed her (and Elizabeth) up for a 4 week trial pre-ballet class about 2 minutes from our house. My hope is that Miranda loves it and Elizabeth hates it. (Actually, I hope they both hate it, but that is just my crazy ballet background getting in the way.)
On a tangential note, I was talking to Amy over break about how I don't ever remember going to the gym where she worked out and being forced to watch and I was wondering how that was possible since it seems at least one of my kids will be doing a lot of watching of the other one or two kids for the near future. She said that I didn't watch her a lot, but she, in fact, did watch me a lot. So much so that she knew all the kids names in my ballet class, followed all the gossip, and had tons of memories of sitting there in the balcony bored out of her mind. Apparently, there are perks to being the older sister.
I went to the elementary school today to register the girls for kindergarten (yes, we decided these fall birthday gals would be quite ready for kindergarten in 9 months despite the fact that they aren't doing double digit multiplication yet). I'm not even sure we'll be in this neighborhood as we have officially started the process to sell our house this spring, but I figured better have at least a choice rather than not. With Parker already at the school, they are essentially guaranteed a place.
While I was there, one of the admin's was showing the other one how to process the paperwork. They asked about siblings at the school and I told them Parker goes here. The one learning said, "Oh, Parker. He's a smart kid." "Yes. Yes he is," I responded.
Then later I said, "How do you know Parker?" She told me she worked in the cafeteria during lunch. Which means she supervises at least 100 students, but probably much more. I said, "Wow. You know all the kids by name?" She said, "No, but I know Parker. We talk about math a lot and the other coaches quiz him." Great.
Then I turn around and see a bulletin board in the principals office called the "Brag Wall" It has samples of kids work and there, on the side was one of Parker's math books. I exclaimed, "Oh, and I see Parker's work is there." She replied, "Oh yes, Parker's teacher is always bringing his stuff in." Super.
So far, so good.
No nail biting for me.
Bitter crap on nails can be easily chewed off, but the smell reminds me what I'm doing and why.
Yay.
Me: Can I have a skittle, Parker?
Parker: Yes, how many do you want?
Me: 41 (since everyone always answers that question with their age)
Parker: Hmm....that's a lot. Is it a prime number?
While we were away we had some house sitters. Friends of friends, this family was from New Jersey, in town for the holidays to visit family here. We communicated via email several times and despite the fact that we had no adult bedroom to offer them, they were happy to stay here, take in our mail, and take care of Zeke and Rainbow.
With three exceptions, there was no evidence they were here.
1.) They cleaned the place before both of our arrivals such that it was cleaner than when we left it. (When we were home for the 25th and 26th, they stayed with friends.)
2.) They left us a note and x-mas presents including candy, cookies and other delicious items. They also brought in the presents for the kids so they would be under the tree when we arrived home on Christmas day.
3.) Today, just a few minutes ago, Elizabeth came downstairs screaming and crying. She said she had something yucky in her mouth. I asked what she ate and she said she forgot. I asked again, and she said she didn't know. Her mouth was red and she was hysterical. I rushed her to the bathroom to rinse it out and again asked her to show me what she ate. She led me to the stairs where there was the outside of a large red pill. Great. I thought I would have to call Michael who was in a movie (I saw one earlier) to tell him we were rushing to the emergency room. I asked her if she swallowed it. She said no. I asked her again, she said, she "accidentally did". Fuck.
I went to my computer to find the phone number of the people who stayed here. While Elizabeth was still rinsing her mouth out, I called. Luckily she picked up. I said a couple pleasant greetings and then launched into my questions about the pill (that Miranda had told me Elizabeth found behind the chair right where we had set up the bed from the back house in the girls room.) Christin, the mom, told me it was a prenatal vitamin, apologized profusely, and then we said our goodbyes.
I told Elizabeth that she was ok, wouldn't have to go to the emergency room, and gave her a candy cane to suck on to get rid of the yucky taste (they *the prenatal vitamins, not the candy canes* ARE disgusting!). I also reminded her that we don't eat things we find on the ground even if the ground is in our own room. I think (I hope) it was a lesson learned the hard way.
I'm not one for new years resolutions. They seem trite and unattainable. I can't remember one that I've made that I've kept.
Until now. This is the year I am going to stop biting my nails. Biting my nails is one of the only bad habits I have. Sometimes I wished I smoked or drank or picked my face (I used to do that) so that I would have long, lovely nails. But...for as long as I can remember, I've bitten my nails. I've tried to stop a few times over the last 30 years, but I have not been successful.
For one year, though, I didn't bite them. From the day Parker was born until I got pregnant with the girls, I didn't bite my nails. I didn't try to not bite them. I just didn't bite them and didn't even notice for a month or so when they started to get long. It was a glorious time but it ended as suddenly as it started.
And really, if I'm being truthful, I don't even care that I bite my nails. I mean, really, it is better than smoking or drinking, right?
But...the kids are all now biting my nails. Parker is the worst, with his hands in his mouth all the time. Elizabeth is bad too, selectively gnawing on several fingers until they bleed or have horrific hang nails. Miranda isn't too bad, but is known to focus on a finger or two from time to time.
Elizabeth and I have been trying to help each other stop by saying "Hands out of your mouth, Mommy!" or "Hands out of your mouth, Elizabeth" but it hasn't worked and it sure is annoying to have your 4 year old shout across a large room, "Hands out of your mouth Mommy!"
Since I have no one to blame (not Michael or Amy this time) but myself, and I can't really make them stop if I keep doing it, I'm going to quit. Today I went out to buy that gross tasting bitter stuff you put on your nails. I put it on and so far, I'm 5 hours sober. No biting or chewing or picking. Granted I was eating popcorn during 2 of those hours, but I'm still counting it and considering it a successful start.
When I have nails that are worthy of a manicure, I'll start on the kids, painting their nails bitter daily until they too stop. This will free them up to have a life filled with tobacco and alcohol and I'll know I did my job well.
