Archive for motherhood
Let’s Pretend It’s December
Posted by: | CommentsOK, we’re just gonna pretend that it’s December. Looks like December outside. Except for the Christmas decorations. Anyway….
***note: If this were a movie, the screen would get all wiggly, ‘cuz we’re going back in time…***
The Christmas buzz was in the air. The kids were ready to be done with school and score some loot. But here’s the thing. Becca REALLY wanted one of those darn zhu-zhu pets. Along with every other kid on the face of this Earth. A few weeks before the Christmas break began, my niece-in-law (who we’ll just say is my niece, because it’s easier) asked me if I had bought Chloe a zhu-zhu pet for Christmas. Nope. Hadn’t done it. Chloe wasn’t really asking for one all that much. She went through a few days around Thanksgiving saying that she wanted one. But then it changed to something else…and something else…and something else…
You get the idea.
Well my niece found some zhu-zhu’s online for a good price and got one for Chloe. Which was great. As I thought about this situation, a vision of loving sisters danced in my head. And I thought it would be a little experiment. They had been getting along great (I’m sure it had something to do with my Santa-Cams-in-every-lightbulb-ever-made story). So, I had this vision of them sharing this gift. Really.
I did consider getting one for Becca. My sister in law called me the Friday before Christmas (as I had three children in my car on the way to school). She was at Wal-Mart and they had seven more left. They were only letting customers purchase one. She got one for her daughter. Could I get there in time? I still had to drop off these darn kids!!! Needless to say, I didn’t make it.
We open our gifts on the morning of Christmas Eve. (Yup…maybe I’ll tell that story later. Maybe I already have. I dunno). We would see Tony’s family (and aforementioned zhu-zhu pet) at Tony’s sister’s house that night. We get there, see everybody, chow down on some fantastic Christmas dinner, and get to the gifts. The kids tear in. I’m watching Chloe with excitement and anticipation. She opens the zhu-zhu, smiles a gigantic smile, runs up to Becca and says “Becca, WE got a zhu-zhu pet!!!”
My heart about exploded. I was so proud. They were so happy. Christmas is beautiful.
Really? Did you think it was gonna end there? Nope. After about an hour, Chloe wasn’t so excited about the sharing. Becca wasn’t complaining (which is not exactly like her). She just sat on the couch very quietly. I did the correct mom thing. We talked about it. She presented her case in a very lady-like, calm manner. Which also made me proud. I told her that the best I could do was to try on the day after Christmas. I would call the stores.
Well, I called. Nothing. So, we head to Amazon and find a zhu-zhu pet with a couple of accessories. But, even with the super-duper-fast-and-expensive shipping, it wouldn’t come until Tuesday. She was OK with that, and started counting down the days. I wasn’t about to spend fifty bucks on this toy and shipping, so I took the offer that Amazon always has for the $40 credit if you open a credit card. Like I need another credit card. But I digress…
That Monday, as I was headed off to work, the UPS man walked up to my car. There it was. Becca’s zhu-zhu.
I ran it up to her. I was the hero. I was better than Santa because SHE got to pick out her zhu-zhu. Mom saved the day! She rocks! Mom can always make it better.
I think the last day they played with zhu-zhu’s was December 30. Which will lead us into New Years Day. And this one goes down in history…
Wanna Sleep Over?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, my girls made it through their first sleep over. Wait. Scratch that. Becca made it through her first sleepover.
My friend up the street had some girls over for the night. They started out with a tent outside, a craft and a campfire. There were lots of kids (from 2 years old up to 9 or 10 years old) at the campfire. I had a feeling that Chloe wouldn’t sleep over…and I was fine with that. I told both of the kids that if they wanted to come home, no big deal. I’m only three houses away. Chloe is the kind of kid who, when she gets tired, she just wants her bed.
Around 10:00 or 10:30, there was a knock on my back door. There was Chloe with one of the other moms from the neighborhood. She announced that she was ready to come home. She was fine, though. As soon as she walked into the house, she burst into tears. “I missed you, Mommy!!!!” ::swoon:: I was secretly happy that she missed me. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying a little bit of ‘me’ time. I did some work on the laptop and watched Dexter (something I DEFINITELY can’t watch when the kids are around!!!). Anyway, Chloe came in, cozied in on the couch and fell asleep watching an episode of Spongebob.
When Chloe came home, I called to check on Becca. Now, she told me that she was going to stay the whole night. She was pretty determined. By this time of night, my friend brought the girls inside to watch a movie and set up shop in the family room (we ALL knew they wouldn’t sleep in the tent all night!). She said that Becca was doing just fine, and I told her to call if there were any problems.
Well, no calls. There were four girls for the sleepover (the girl who lives there (5), Becca (6) and two other girls, ages 8 and 9). I did get a call around 7:45 in the morning. They called to invite Chloe down for breakfast. Down we went, and it was just super-cute. There were fuzzy slippers, robes, and messy hair. The girls stayed down there for an hour or so while I came home. After they came back into the house, Becca sat next to me and was just…well…bitchy. I chalked it up to lack of sleep (turns out they didn’t go to sleep until about midnight, and woke up at 7:00). I calmly told her that if she is going to be crabby every time she comes home from a sleep over, that maybe we shouldn’t do sleep overs. Then it came…
“But Mommy!!! I missed you!!!!!”
Awwww, shucks. I have to admit, as they were eating their pancakes that morning, I felt sort of sad that Becca didn’t need me. But that crying, the crying that usually makes me cringe?
That made me feel secretly happy.
Sssshhhhhh, don’t tell 
Motherhood Demerit
Posted by: | CommentsDear Woman Behind Me in Line at the Science Center Gift Shop,
Do you realize that when you talk to your child like he’s stupid, you are killing any bit of self esteem he might have? While you had your little ‘moment’ telling your kid that it wasn’t a good idea to spend the six bucks on the plastic slinky, it wasn’t the words that you chose, but your condecending tone. When your child went back and got the metal slinky, did you reassuringly tell him it was a better choice? No. I’m not sure if you saw my kids staring at you while you snipped and scoffed at your son. My girls looked at you like deer in headlights.
I understand that EVERY mother has her moments. I’m not saying that I don’t yell at my kids. But seeing that you did this in PUBLIC with everybody watching made me wonder what you are like at home. I wanted to turn around and tell you that you were being a royal bitch.
But I didn’t. Instead I wrote this.
And we made funof you in the car on the way home. And my kids said “Mom…you’re a fun, nice mom.” When they were acting up later in the day, I told them that I could be as mean as that lady in line. That worked, and they started behaving.
I really hope that you were just having a bad day, and that you’re not like that all the time.
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire
Posted by: | CommentsThere are many moments in time when my kids just plain crack me up. There are other times when I’m just amazed at how their little brains figure things out. This little snipped is about when both of those things happened simultaneously.
The other day, our friends’ kids were at the house playing. They live just a few houses away. I’m not sure if the paretns are comfortable with me slapping their names all over the internet, so let’s just call them by their initials. “C” is a girl, five and a half, and is about to start kindergarten. “B” is a little boy who turned three in June. The four of them were out playing in the yard and swimming (well, the girls were swimming. B was hitting golf balls). After a while, B decided that he wanted to come into the house with me. I was cleaning up toys, so I told him that if he helped me clean up, he was more than welcome to come in. He was a great helper, and just super cute. (He was trying on Halloween masks. Something about a body that small with a latex zombie mask on is just uber adorable!)
Well, all of the kids ended up coming inside. The girls all had their MP3 players. B doesn’t have one. Becca is pretty good at taking care of her stuff, and she put hers into her little purse. Now B is three, and a boy. Needless to say, he can be a little rough at times. And, he’s curious. He wants to check everything out. He headed over to Becca’s purse, obviously wanting to check out the MP3 player.
You could see the fear in Becca’s eyes. She loves her MP3 player, and you could see the scene playing out in her head. In that split second, her quick thinking little brain said to B, “B, you don’t want to go in there. There’s poop in there.” Her big, beautiful eyes looked up at me. You could tell she was proud of herself for coming up with something so ‘original,’ and proud of the fact that it worked. But I could also tell that she was looking for approval.
B said “Poop?” So, I went along. I told him “Yes, B, poop. Becca likes to walk around with poop in her purse.” The giggles poured out, even from B. With that one sentence, I helped keep B away from Becca’s precious MP3 player AND gave her my approval.
After the fact, I wondered if that was the right thing to do. I’ve always told Becca that she shouldn’t lie. But her I was, pitching right in. We haven’t sat and discussed the whole situation, but I’m still gonna stick with the fact that this lie was OK. That’s what my gut is telling me to do. So, I guess we’ll be discussing the fine subtleties of fibbing. But not tonight, because tonight is…
SLEEPOVER NIGHT. Or at least that’s what they both think. They’re headed up to the neighbors to sleep out in a tent. The adults all expect that the kids will be coming home, and not sleeping out all night. But if they DO decide to sleep out all night, that’s fine. (My poor friend has offered to sleep in the tent with them, if they DO sleep out there). Chloe has already asked me if she can come home if when she misses me. Becca, however, has told me that she’s going to stay all night. We’ll see how that goes
Just Call Me Superwoman
Posted by: | CommentsI’m very full of myself tonight. What a productive and sorta perfect day! I got my work done early, went to take a shower and…
The bathroom sink was broken. Seemed that the plug (which is attached to the little controller on the faucet that goes up and down) was stuck in the “let’s be a plug” position. Would have been easier if it was stuck in the “let’s let water down the drain” position, but no such luck. So, I get down and dirty. I unscrew the drain pipe, pull the stopper out (ewww…it was completely disgusting), clean it off and re-connect it to the little mechanism.
I am woman, hear me roar.
That was just the beginning. We headed to the mall, dropped the kids off at Giggles and Smiles, and I head to AT&T. We were due for upgrades on our phones. I treated myself to an iPhone. So far, I lurves it! I also got Tony a phone. And that’s all he wants and needs. Phone. So, got the phones, headed home. Set up the phones. Opened the pool. Made lunch. Sent hubby off on his merry way.
Added a five year old to our little mix for the evening. Set them up with a movie. Played with my new toy phone. Cleaned up the mess of a house. Got the kids into a little art project. Made them dinner. Closed the pool. Did some laundry. Bathed the kids and did the whole bedtime routine. And now, here I am, at 11:30 at night and I’m full of energy. And enjoying a tv show (Drop Dead Diva on OnDemand).
So, I’m enjoying this one day that it feels like I can do anything and conquer all.
Bring it on, life. Bring it on.
