Rain, Rain Go Away

I hate rainy days. Especially when they are semi warm rainy days in the middle of winter. You just don’t know what to wear at that point. Walking anyway makes you really hot, and the steam from the rain hitting your body makes it worse!

This morning I had to walk O to day care, and it was pretty nightmarish. I was drenched by the time I got to school. And then she refused to go inside without me as I was trying to close the stroller and put it away.

But I am excited about this weekend.  I am part of a book club and we are meeting for the first time this weekend. Our first book is Beloved.  I have discussion questions and everything. It was a great book to start off with!

My Kind of Town, Chicago Is!

Normally I don’t like to say on Facebook or on the blog where I am when I am away. Call it paranoia. I mean you never know what those spam messages are all about.

But today, I make an exception because I have HAVE to share this with you because it is totally unprecedented.  I am in Chicago for business trip for two days. And let me tell you, my two days are scheduled to the point of ridiculousness.  I arrived at 8:20 am, took the EL to my hotel (50 minutes), dropped off my bag (room wasn’t ready), then carried two heavy-assed bag to my first meeting (15 minute walk), and I made it to spare 10 minutes.  Then I had some free time until lunch meeting and a meeting following immediately. Tomorrow is even crazier: public transport and back to back to back meeting and to the airport. CRAZY!!

I spoke to O tonight. She kept asking me if I was coming home tonight. No, tomorrow. Oh ok. Here is Daddy.  I guess that’s it!

Tonight I took the opportunity to go to Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill. As I sat in my unusually gigantic hotel room (it’s the size of a small studio apartment in Manhattan), I was getting super lazy, but I knew I had to leave then or I will ordering room service.  But I pulled myself by my bootstraps and off I went in the cold (in all honesty, I was expecting it to be much colder, so it felt a bit like a crisp winter day. I’ve been here with like 3 feet of snow, so this was nothing!) I arrived, sat my ass at the bar, and reviewed the menu. I was so exited to order, that I ended up ordering three things, two of which I immediately regretted two seconds after they came. Don’t get me wrong, the plantains and the baked beans were awesome, but it wasn’t exciting enough. As I sat there regretting my food, drinking my wine, and reading my book, three gentlemen sat down next to me.  They ordered something that looked awesome, and I wished I had ordered it (sigh).  As I sat there drinking my 2nd glass of wine, the guy next to me starts asking me about my book.  And I tell him, but thinking yeah, yeah, go back to your gin and tonic, dude. But he keeps talking, and it turns out we work in the same industry. He was way too drunk to keep in mind that I work in a completely different part of the industry than what he was trying to connect me to. I tried explaining that I don’t do that, but I think he was three sheets to the wind, when he asked me for the 4th time where I am from.  As we keep talking, he tells the really nice bartender,  Put hers on my tab.  I though I heard wrong. After 10 more minutes he tells me he has to go back to his colleagues, but it was nice to blah blah blah. I return the compliment.

I finish my wine, and I ask for my bill. The bartender says, Well, he said he’ll pay for it. I say to him, do you think he knows I ordered food too?  I don’t know, just say thanks, I guess. I thank the gentleman, I give the bartender a tip, and I walk out before the guy changes his mind.

Now I totally regret my food selection.  Damn! I should have ordered something better! And I wasn’t even wearing anything sexy, just a very conservative turtleneck. I know, S-E-X-Y!! But still, it’s never happened to me before.

I don’t feel so bad. The guy was pretty high up in his company, and to be honest, he won’t remember what they ordered!  Free food for moi!

I’m Sorry, Mommy!

Life with a preschooler is easy and hard.  It’s easy because she tells you what she wants, when she wants it. And never fear, she lets you know it.  It’s hard because she tells you what she wants when she wants it. And her wants are much MUCH more than before. Her world is no longer limited to just the house, or just the day care. She is now exposed to friends, what they like and don’t like, what they do and don’t do.  Her world grew bigger.

But she also keeps pushing her boundaries.  She fancies herself a comedian. She goes around entertaining us, and making us laugh. The problem is that she can’t stop when it’s over. I guess maybe as grown ups, being told the same joke over and over again, gets old. For a preschooler, I guess it’s never enough.  For us it gets old. And usually she is so revved up and wound up, that she won’t calm down.

This weekend was challenging because she just wouldn’t stop. The worst is when she does something that I know can hurt her. Like jumping on the couch. Or running with the tooth brush in her mouth.  After the whole day of almost running with scissors in her hand and jumping in the bathtub, I had to put a stop to it. Several warnings later, I said, That’s it, no story tonight. You have not listened all day today.  She starts with the waterworks. I’m sorry, Mommy, I want a story!  After I calm down too, Thanks for apologizing, but I’m sorry you are not getting a story. But I said sorry to you (more tears!)  O, you didn’t listen all day, and you need to remember that if you chose not to listen, there are consequences for your actions. Like no story at bedtime.  More tears.  More drama. I finally get her in bed with no story. She calms down, and then she starts telling from her room that she didn’t get a story today because she didn’t listen. That’s right, I respond. Then she tells me that tomorrow she will listen so she can have a story.

Today we get home from school, and she declares, Today I listened at school so I have a story.

I do feel bad. I mean she did apologize. But it’s hard to tell if she understands. DH doesn’t think she does.  I still feel bad.  I think that no story at bedtime brought the not listening thing home. Tonight when we picked her up, she was acting up. All DH had to say, Remember if you don’t listen, you don’t get a story.  And all of a sudden she quieted down, and her mood changed. There is something to taking away the things that she loves to bring the point home.

OMG, I Have a Mommy Date!!!!

What on earth will I wear???  I have finally taken the plunge and am making an effort at making friends with other mommies in the neighborhood.  It’s been tough because there aren’t many places in the area where you can meet new mommies, especially when I first had O. The Y only recently reopened. And there are not Mommy and Me classes. It’s a very traditional Polish neighborhood, where they already have friends or family in the area to help.  Then O’s first daycare was pretty far away from the house, and none of those mommies seemed all that keen to meet outside of daycare. Granted, the woman who took care of O for the first while has two daughters now, and the oldest one was O’s original older sister and best friend. We are still friendly and see each other every so often. So I shouldn’t totally complain.

But now that O is in a bigger preschool, I decided that I should really make an effort. And plus not having family around, it might be nice to trade off kids to have a date night or sleep night!

So with the Christmas show, I met a lot of the parents, and they all seemed really nice. Part of my New Year’s Resolution was to make more Mommy friends. On Tuesday, I took the plunge and asked my first Mommy on a date.  And today she responded. We (O and I) have a date with O’s best friend and her Mommy.  We are going to kids film festival, and I hope we like each other. And possibly become long lost Mommy soul mates!!

And Yes, I already judged them at the Christmas show. But they passed. They are young,  trendy (could possibly be too trendy, but let’s wait and see), and O and their daughter are super sweet together. So a plus!!

I’m so nervous for my first date!!

 

Bad Parent

Not a good way to start 2012, but I have to admit… we did something that was not so nice.

On Monday, as we were coming back from our skiing and freezing our asses off in the mountains (if you thought it was freaking cold here in New York, the mountains were no picnic.) All of Sunday was spent indoors, watching football (GO GIANTS!) and stoking the fire.  Fortunately, we limited our activities to the living room, and two bedrooms in the front of the house. The rest of the bedrooms were closed off.  Anyway, so we leave on Monday, and head home. I had already told the day care that O will not be attending on Monday. But at the last-minute, we calculate, well we’ll be home by noon, why don’t we just drop O off at school, and spend the rest of the afternoon in peace and quiet?  At first, when DH proposes this, I feign shocked and hurt. But as O starts to complain and whine, she is really not helping her case.  The whining continues, and I too agree, it would be nice to vege and do nothing. After all of Sunday was NOT spent vegging and watching football.  We already paid for the day.  We will probably make it there right before lunch is served.  So we call up, and say something has come up and we have to drop her off.

As we get to the school, she sees it down the street and says here is my school. I take her inside and she starts crying. Mommy, I want to stay with you and Daddy… (tears…) I am such an evil mother, as I say, I’m sorry sweetie, but Mommy and Daddy have to go to work.  (more tears) and for two seconds there I think that maybe we should just take her home. But Season 1 of Downton Abbey is calling me… luring me to laying down in my comfy bed and watching the show…. So close my ears… Then she refuses to come out of the toilet when I try to say bye.  Oh well, let the teacher deal with it.

When we went to pick her up, she was very excited to see us, and told us that she had fun at school. Her best friend wasn’t there, she was sick. And then she tells us how she painted and played with Michael!

We might not be getting an award, but hey, everyone was happy in the end!

O, the Future Downhill Olympic Skier

This weekend, MLK long weekend we had a lovely time!  We took O skiing.  First time on skis. And let’s just say, what we suspected (that she is fearless, loves speed, and danger) are completely true. She absolutely L-O-V-E-D it! I take her to rent her skis and helmet ($28 later), she is equipped to take on the mountain. That is the bunny slope.  I had several fears. One of them being that if the boot didn’t fit the first time, she would not be interested in trying on a larger size. This has been displayed a number of times with new shoes. But I guess this time because she was so exciting about skiing, she didn’t really care about the shoes. I barely put her foot in the boot, and she’s like, It fits, Mommy! At this point, I’m still trying to jam her foot in the boot.  After jamming her foot in there, she still says it fit. If it didn’t fit, well, she didn’t really mind. But I guess it doesn’t yet have to be the best fit since it’s like she’s going down black diamonds or anything.  The helmet, although she wanted a purple helmet (my favorite color, Mommy), I had to fight with her a little bit. It was super big, and the only to somewhat make it fit better was to keep her hat on.

Finally, after what felt like an hour trying to get her suited up, we take her outside.  DH had come down from this two runs on the slope. At first she is super nervous about the snow. Mommy, it’s COLD!!!  Well, once you start moving, you will feel better!  For some reason the line for the ski lift to the bunny slope is like an HOUR!  For me it felt like it took two hours to get started. We decide to walk her up the bunny slope a little bit. I am carrying DH’s skis, and DH is carrying O.  We don’t get very far well, because walking in ski boots is really hard, carrying skis is ever harder, and carrying O who is wearing her boots and skis is REALLY hard!  DH puts her between his legs, and off they go, on O’s first time down the mountain. We get to the bottom and wait with bated breath for her response. Daddy, do it AGAIN!!  And she is laughing!

So we all wait in the hour long line, and go up the ski lift, DH, O, and me and Auntie M. And for some reason, for a family who is obsessed with cameras, I forgot mine at home, and my dad’s TWO batteries both died. Thank goodness, Auntie M. has a video on her blackberry, so there is documentation.  Between DH and I, she was skiing for a good hour and a half. The line for the ski lift almost disappeared. I think all the kiddies went to lunch!  And O had a blast. Her cheeks were red and bright, and she had an awesome time! Her entire response was: Faster, Mommy!!! AGAIN!!

Watch out! I think we might have a gold medal contendor in 2026 for downhill skiing!!! When we asked her, which one do you like better? Speed or going around poles, she answered SPEED!

Prima Ballerina

We have been very fortunate because in addition to paying for daycare, we have not had to shell out another $500 to send O to ballet class. The school brings in a ballet teacher and the kids who pay a little extra for the outfit, tap shoes and ballet shoes get to participate in ballet class.  O missed the first two weeks because of her European adventures. And I was told by her teachers that she did not seem all the interested in it. I was disheartened, but she kept doing it.  And finally she took to it.  One day she comes home and shows us all her ballet moves. Technically her one ballet move: putting her hands above her head, finger tips touching together, and twirling.  It was cute, and we were super proud. A few weeks later, she came home with a new move.  While holding onto the coffee table, she extends her leg, and points her toe out.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she points the toe.  Even prouder!

The teacher took a break for Christmas, and so no new moves! But everyone got O some sort of ballet related present.  Dora the Ballerina lenticular puzzle, Dogs Don’t Do Ballet (a new favorite book), more tutus, crowns, ballet sticker book…

Then this weekend she surprised all of us by whipping a new ballet move.  And it wasn’t just pointing your leg out. I had to look it up what the position is called, and Wikipedia called it Attitude derriere: “a position in which the dance stand on leng (in this case leaning against the coffee table) while the other leg is lifted and turned out with the knee bent at 90 degree angle.”   And believe you me, she had her toe pointed!  But where did this new inspiration come from???

I think this summer she might be ready to attend her first ballet. If she stopps telling me she doesn’t want to be quiet and sit down and watch the ballerina.

Girls Weekend

This weekend O and I are all ALONE!!  DH went skiing with his friend in upstate New York.  So it’s just the two of us!  We have great plans this weekend!  Tonight we are going to play a new game she got for her birthday. Probably discuss for the 70th time where Daddy is.  And Why he couldn’t pick her up from school.  (It’s already been discussed in great detail yesterday, but obviously not in ENOUGH detail!) Then on Saturday, we are going to an open house for the YMCA.  And Saturday night, Auntie Jennybean is coming over to FINALLY watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.  This is more for Mommy than for O.  But I’m sure O will show her all her new toys. And maybe she will want to stay up and watch the movie with us, but I think it might be too scary.

I realized that with my sporadic posting, I realized that I haven’t shared the good news yet!  O has been going peepee AND poopy in the toilet for over 3 weeks now. We are all really excited not having to wipe her ass of the nasty, smelly poopy.  The gift idea DH had really worked!  But now that she’s going all the time, the gifts are really thinning out. I think once they are done, we won’t replace them.  She is still waring a pull up at night. And this morning instead of going on the toilet, she went poopy in her pull up. How three weeks make you forget how disgusting it is to wipe her bum like that.  In the morning, the key is to change her pull up after she has her milk. Then she is forced to go poopy on the toilet.

The other thing I just realized is that she now calls poopy Cacky, which is what she used to call her dad when she was little and she couldn’t say her d’s.  It was cuter when she was little. Now she just refers to her father by his first name.

Happy 2012!  And Happy 400th post!

 

Survived the Holidays

The title is pretty dramatic. It actually wasn’t that dramatic! I was very nervous how O would behave and all the food she was supposed to eat. But it was all for naught!!

But let me start at the beginning.

On the Thursday before, O had her Christmas school recital. DH had to work since we were making our trek north for the holiday.  I wheel her to the church, and as we are almost there, one of her friends sees her, and they start enthusiastically waving to each other.  As our strollers meet, the little boy and her start holding hands. Super cute!!

As her class started coming out, they got on stage and started singing Feliz Navidad, a Santa Claus poem and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  Let’s just say that O stole the show.  The other kids were singing, but O was into it. She was singing (screaming!!) dancing, doing her choreographed routine.  She was the STAR! I mean, I know I’m her mommy and I would be bragging about her no matter what, but seriously, I have videos of what a star she was.  One of the teachers tapped me on the shoulder and said to me, O is the star!

In the land up north, O behaved herself, and ate all her food. Granted it took a long time, but she ate it. She ate chicken duck and chicken ham, and chicken pork minced pie, and she loved every chicken goodness of it! She said Thank you to her Oma, and played with DH’s aunt, and dominated her three older cousins, who were really sweet to her.  Including when her youngest cousin, who is a boy and is 9, volunteered to take her to the bathroom, and then closed the door on her as she was in the toilet.  Let’s just say she did not take kindly to being left alone.

First we set it up by using this great website, where you put your kid’s information and then Santa sends a video to the child. O watched it and you could tell that when the Santa said her name, her eyes almost popped out of her head. You could see the wheels in her head turning about all the naughty things that she did. And he knew exactly where she was…. that she wasn’t at home.

We had the real Santa come as well.  The kids got a quick glimpse of him, as he ran to the back porch to drop the presents.  And he ate his cookies and drank his milk that was previously left there by O and DH’s aunt.  Santa was her husband dressed with a red gortex jacket, and an impromptu beard that was made that night by me and DH’s aunt.

And to my surprise, O insisted on taking turns to open presents. First her, then each of her cousins, then Mommy, then Daddy….etc.  She got sooooo many presents.  She was opening for two days. And so much playdo, she won’t run out of it for at least a month (HA!!).  She got Hungry Hungry Hippos as well as this new Squirrel game, which I highly recommend.  She was pretty good about playing properly and taking turns including being OK when you take her acorns away.  The first few times she threw a tantrum, but we quickly stopped playing so she learned to play by the rules.

But of all the presents she got, she has been asking for a Barbie.  I mean, her wish list at school was Barbie. She was telling me about Barbie for a whole month. DH and I discussed, she already had a Barbie (not from me, but somewhat inappropriately given to her when she was 2 months old). Anyway, and she wasn’t all that interested in playing with it to dress it. She was mostly naked, and given a bath a lot.  And then today when we got home, I had a present sent from one of my colleagues. I had her open it and it was a BARBIE!!  She declared this was the BEST present ever!  And her favorite present EVER.  We played up saying that she got it because Santa knew she was a good girl, so she has to be really good this year so she can get the present she wants from Santa.  A little disappointing that the Playdo (one of the gifts we got her, and she got more playdo from DH’s cousins) was replaced by Barbie… but we were looking for a way to make Santa’s-watching bit longer than Dec 24th.  So now we have the proof that Santa is WATCHING all year long.  O, we have your number!

Happy New Year!

Crafitiness, Gone by the Wayside

I had huge plans this Christmas to do all kinds of really crafty things.  First of all I found all the fun projects really late in the month. And I feel like all the days just kind of slipped between my fingers.  I woke up one day and all I had were four days before our trip. And the end of my super plans.

But with all that and the list getting longer and longer, I managed to do a few things that were not on the list yet super crafty.

One football sunday, I took O and we made Christmas ornaments for the grandmas.  You can get glass clear ornaments at AC Moore and we added all kinds of extras in the ornaments. One had feathers. One had pompoms, one had little Christmas bells, and three were made using arcylic paint. This was her favorite because it was messy. DH was in a complete freakout thinking that we were going to make a big mess on the brand new carpet.  But all of it was contained.

Then my obession with Christmas wrapping was taken to the next level. I was really exhausted so I couldn’t take it to the next level. And some of my ideas became too expensive, so I was forced to stick to the usual, but with a little ribbon flourish!

You be the judge:

I think they are pretty good. I do have other really great ides.  I did a lot of wrapping while watching PBS Masterpiece Classic. Can’t wait for Season Two of Downton Abbey! Even though I’ve already seen it, I can’t wait till January 8th. I digress.

Merry Christmas, and hope all your present wrapping is a success and what’s inside them makes you all warm and gooey for giving it to your loved ones!