The Go-To Girlfriend for New Mommies
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Last night I was lying in bed with Cora
and talking about nothing in particular when our conversation
turned towards spring. “What is it right now, Mommy?”
she asked, and I said, “Why, it’s spring now!
It’s spring already!”
“Really? It’s spring NOW?” she said.
Yesterday morning I stumbled down the
stairs and looked at the daily calendar to see what was on the
agenda for the day. “Huh, I forgot that’s today,”
I mumbled as I saw our schedule.
An hour or so later, I sat with a bleary-eyed Cora as she ate her
oatmeal. “Hey, baby, guess what we’re doing today?
It’s a special treat!” I cooed. Cora looked at me,
skeptical. “What, mommy?”
“You get to go to the dentist today!” I said
enthusiastically.
Yesterday Cora got her first haircut EVER.
Yes, Mommy got a little weepy.
I had to talk Cora into it, which surprised me about me normally
gung-ho little girl. First she wanted to wait until her big sister
could go with her to hold her hand. Then she wanted Daddy to go
with her. Apparently she was worried that getting her hair cut
would hurt, since we talk about how sharp scissors are and how
they’ll cut her. I finally persuaded her by reminding her
that Maddie always gets ice cream after a haircut.
I blogged last year about the rising
concerns over the links between artificial dyes in our food and
hyperactivity – or worse – in our kids. I saw for
myself the effects of artificial dyes when Cora began eating
store-bought birthday cakes laden with blue “ocean”
frosting or purple “flower” frosting; after one such
party I found her an hour later literally climbing the curtains.
Between Cora’s incredible bouts of turning into Hyperactive,
Uncontrollable Girl and her four-day-long blue poop (yep, it stains
your intestines for several days afterwards) I was convinced enough
to actively work to rid our diet of artificial dyes.
During spring break I wanted to take the
girls to see a movie – the only other time they’ve been
to a movie theatre was over Christmas break, and it’s now
considered the highest form of luxury and indulgence in our house
– but I had a hard time finding one that would work for the
girls. I thought about Gnomeo and Juliet, but after a
pre-screening determined that Tybalt’s death-by-smashing
would worry them for the rest of the movie, not to mention the
deep-seated fear I could see arising over that monster lawnmower in
the final battle of the movie. At that point I panicked a little;
I’d promised a movie in the theatre for the girls, and
wasn’t sure where to turn.
Then I looked at the dollar theatre.
A few weeks ago Maddie was introduced to
“Wild Kratts”, a new television show on PBS, through
recess play time. She begged so enthusiastically for me to record
it that I did, though I had no idea what it was about.
Fast forward a few weeks, and it’s now the girls’
favorite show.
I’m teaching a new class this
semester at my theatre school – improv for teenagers - and
they’ve got their first show coming up tomorrow. To entice
their friends to come see it (and thus hugely boost the laughter in
the audience) I promised my students that I’d offer free
candy and cokes at the show.
Of course, when I say “free”, I mean out of my own
pocket. They all thought this was a terrific idea, and gave me
their list of “fave” candies that I “HAD
TO” make sure I have there. Armed with my list, I hit my
local grocery store last night.
And let me say, as I walked into the store I felt as if I needed
dark glasses and a disguise wig.
On March 21, the American Academy of
Pediatricians released a statement issuing new recommendations for
car-seat use for babies and children. The biggest change? They now
recommend rear-facing car seats until children are AT LEAST TWO
years old. Yep, TWO, not one.
Read up on it on
target="_blank">this link; there’s also a great
target="_blank">video from the
lady (a pediatrician and certified child passenger safety
instructor) that shows multiple crash tests done with child-sized
dummies in varying positions. And parents of school-age children,
you don't get off scott-free either; they recommend booster seats
until the child is somewhere between EIGHT and TWELVE years old.
Yep.
Let’s just say that I’m glad my youngest is four, and I
don’t have to persuade her to turn back around.
As part of our Staycation last week, the
family went to a nearby wildlife preserve where you can ride an
open bus through the land – a sort of mini-safari, if you
will. We’d gotten on the bus and were sitting waiting for the
tour to start when I noticed that there was something on my wrist
– it felt like a gnat or something, right under the sleeve of
my jeans jacket. I absentmindedly brushed it, and then felt an
intense pain.
Which was the moment I realized it was a bee.
We spent a glorious week last week tasting
a tiny preview of what summer will be like – sleeping in,
being lazy all day, doing fun stuff. Add in several hours at the
pool and you’ve just described our typical day in June. And
July. And August.
Alas, though, all good things come to an end: specifically,
sleeping in.
Yep, this morning when I walk upstairs in a few minutes and rouse
my five-year-old, it will hurt. It will not be pretty. It will
downright stink.
Did I mention it will hurt?
Yeah, I'm still here. Just enjoying being
lazy and hanging with the girls. We're doing some serious spring
cleaning and serious funning around. So busy.
Maddie’s reading has been steadily
improving, and now she can read passing street signs, billboards,
and magazines lying around. As we lie in bed at night reading
chapter books, she follows along. And though she can’t quite
keep up with me as I read, she’s getting pretty darn close.
I love seeing her get hooked on reading. She’s always loved
books, but reading by herself has just become easy enough –
though not easy – that she is tantalized by everything she
sees. Those words jump up at her, begging to be read, and
it’s worth the work and agony of having to sound out the hard
words.
At night now if she’s not sleepy she’ll turn her light
on and read two books by herself. And yes, she has done that for a
while now – flipping through books she knows – but now
she can actually read them herself. And she loves it.
It makes me so happy.
Our local arboretum is doing its annual
spring flower show, and this year the theme is Fairy Tales. To that
end, they’ve hired several designers to bring different fairy
tale castles to life, and the results – magic play houses to
climb on – are on display now.
Saturday morning I took the girls to the arboretum to celebrate our
spring break. And since the theme is fairy tales, I let them dress
like princesses. So I had a Rapunzel and an Ariel in the car, and
the girls were beyond thrilled. I am the annoying mom who never
lets their kids run around in costume outside of the house –
not because I’m embarrassed that my kids dress up, but
because I spent my whole life in the theatre having it pounded into
me: “Do NOT eat in costume! Do NOT get them dirty!” So
the fact that Mommy let the girls out in costume was a huge
deal.
Yes, down here in the hot South,
it’s spring break already! And we are going to sunny –
Um, here.
We are having yet another family Staycation, which I have
successfully hyped and spun until it could easily run for public
office. My kids now thing Staycations are just as cool as traveling
vacations, mostly because we 1) eat Fruit Loops (well,
fruit-juice-flavored Cheerios. I have my limits.) and because we 2)
watch movies. Or at least one movie.
I’ve drawn up a big poster of our Staycation day-by-day.
Maddie wrote in the name of each day, and Cora stuck the Velcro
pieces on each day. What is the Velcro for, you ask? Why,
it’s for the big star we drew, colored, cut out, and
laminated. Each day one of the girls is the Calendar Girl, and
moves the Staycation Star to the next day.
You gotta make your own fun, people.
My Cora is, shall we say, loquacious. The
child can talk. In a very stream-of-consciousness,
I-have-so-much-to-say-and-you’ll-find-it-all-fascinating kind
of way. Here’s a recent example:
“Mommy, don’tcha know that today at open gym we heard
this great song? It went ‘Menomenan, doo doo da doodoo,
Menomenan doo doo da doo’ and that’s so interesting
because we have that same song on our pink iPod! So I have that
song to listen to in two places – open gym, and my iPod!
Isn’t that so cool? Oh, look, my underpants are going up my
hiney. Hey, there, underpanties, get out of my hiney! Look, Mommy,
look, they’re going up my hiney. Speaking of hineys, did you
know the basilik lizard lays eggs out of her hiney RIGHT ONTO THE
WATER? And she can RUN on water, up to five miles an hour!
Isn’t that so interesting? Oh, look a tic-tac on the floor
– it’s probably still good so I’ll eat it.
Don’t you think I should? Don’t you think it would be
wasteful not to eat it? Don’tcha know tic-tacs make your
mouth feel better?”
And so on.
These are all things that have come out of my daughter’s
mouth. In one conversation.
What do I do about this? Because I have to admit that as annoying
as I’m sure it will be soon, it’s darn cute right now.
Don’tcha know.
Maddie and I were walking home from school
when she pulled out a silly band from her backpack. These stupid
elastic wristbands are banned from her school – thankfully
– so I could understand it being in the backpack, but it was
one I’d never seen before. “Where’d you get the
silly band?” I asked Maddie.
“From Joe,” she replied.
Of course. Joe. The boyfriend.
And then the bombshell –
“But I don’t think he likes me any more.”
I'm sick with a doozy of a spring cold,
and when I feel this way I invariably find myself thinking one
single, awfule thought:
I wish my kids were sick instead of me.
This sounds really really bad, I know. But if I have to choose one
of us to get sick, I'd rather it be the kids so I can take better
care of them. The girls need Mommy whether she's feeling great or
feeling stink-o, and dragging through the day gritting my teeth
trying to not lose patience is just no fun.
Of course, I will probably see my wish fulfilled - sort of. Because
Cora was complaining of a "lump in my throat" all yesterday, and my
cold drainage has given me a terrible sore throat. So I'll
probably have a sick, cranky Cora when she wakes up.
Laissez les bon temps rouler.
The weather’s turned nicer here
– well, darn near perfect, if I’m being honest. A bit
chilly in the mornings, then hanging around in the 70s the rest of
the day, balmy and sunny and lightly breezy.
Sorry, New York.
Last night, I was taking a shower with the
girls when Maddie said, "Hey, Mommy, your tummy looks like it has a
baby in it!"
Now, I know that I am not the world's largest person. Most people
- and I say "most" because somewhere out there are a couple old
ballet directors who would call me a "fat cow" because they did
before when I was skinnier - would not call me overweight. I also
realize that it was right after dinner, and there was a
cheeseburger and apple in there helping with the gestatory
illusion.
But still.
I'm going to complain to my friends Ben and Jerry. They understand
me.
I posted yesterday about my seeking out
fairy-tale-like alternatives to the Disney princesses. I want to
give the girls better role models (sorry, Ariel and Snow White) and
perhaps a smidge of self-esteem in the process.
Then, coincidentally, a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog
post yesterday from Christianity Today entitled href="http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2011/03/toddlers_tiaras_and_surviving.html">
“Toddler, Tiaras, and Surviving the Princess
Mania”. The blog is a review of Peggy
Orenstein’s newest book, href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCinderella-Ate-Daughter-Dispatches-Girlie-Girl%2Fdp%2F0061711527%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1299035267%26sr%3D1-1&tag=1mother2anoth-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatch From the Front Lines of
the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Based on the review,
I’m heading out to get that book.
I’m relieved to know it’s not just me.
But read the review – while not exhaustive on the topic,
it’s got some good points on the subject. And keep sending me
alterna-princess book ideas.
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