Happy 2nd Birthday Ruthie - Part 1

We started off the day with a fun trip to the pool with my neighborhood friend, A. and her daughter Poodles. (not her real name, a pseudonym.) The girls and A. and I had a good time, and since I used my slightly improved "get out of the house" skillz, we were there at 10am when the pool opened which meant that we had a leisurely morning complete with pizza and plenty of time to play, meander, and still made it home before anybody got cranky.

After a long nap, David came home to take Selma to the vet. She can barely walk and is shaking at times, but still manages to get out of the yard! Ruthie was awake, so she got to go with David to the vet.As Ruthie was walking to the car, she looked over at Selma and said, "Back ah car, Felma. No car seat you."

Epiphany

I've had a few epiphanies as of late.

First, there is no amount of Wilton No Taste red food tint that will turn white icing into a red suitable for Elmo's fur. NO AMOUNT. I realized this after having used up 15 toothpicks transferring the food coloring from bottle to frosting. Because you shouldn't add too much at once lest the frosting turns too dark. Evidently you REALLY don't need to worry about that with red.

Second, I have mad cake decorating skillz. Pictures coming soon.

Third, my husband is very supportive even when he's pissed that I'm spending 3 hours baking/decorating a cake instead of buying one at Giant/Costco/Safeway for $20 OR just baking some regular square cake and frosting it with chocolate frosting like 90% of the population. This is not necessarily an epiphany, but still interesting.

Fourth, Elaine is evidently on vacation and does not have access to her home voice mail. I may sneak into her house and delete the nut job message I left begging her to tell me how to smooth out black icing when it keeps LIFTING OFF THE %$#@&* CAKE !!!

Perhaps I should have asked her for her mother's phone number instead. I'll bet she would know how to turn my frosting red.

Fifth, MAH BABY IS TURNING TWO!!! And she can sing almost the entire Happy Birthday song.

Sixth, when I had a "very serious discussion" with Esther's teacher about why she eats so little of her lunch and I babbled on about concern, and providing enough appropriate healthy food, and a child's ability to manage their own food intake, but still I was worried about how little she seems to eat at lunch and then when I FINALLY JUST STOPPED TALKING AND SHUT UP ALREADY she paused for a moment and calmly said, "Actually, Esther has a really good time talking and socializing with her friends at lunch and gets distracted." And then I got teary because this is a big and welcome change for Esther who used to be timid with her classmates at school. Luckily her teacher is around my age and has been teaching for a while and I hope has seen parents crazier than me. Like my neighborhood friend J. (and new blog reader - shout out !!!) who had almost the exact same conversation with our kids' teacher yesterday.

Seventh, I love my life. In spite of the stuff that worries/bothers/annoys me. I really, really love my life.

"My sister"

Esther has been referring frequently, of late, to Ruthie as "my sister." If we encounter someone at the grocery store and they ask Esther how old she is, she will respond, "I am almost 4 and my sister is almost 2." When she is correcting David and I for our treatment of Ruthie, she will still call her Sissy or Ruthie. As in, "No Daddy, you have to give one to Sissy too."

We were at McDonald's tonight for a special ice cream treat, and I asked Esther if she would like to ask the man for "two ice cream cones, please." She marches right up, no hesitation, and clearly says, "I would like two ice cream cones please. One for me and one for my sister."

It is so awesome to hear those words.

Oh, and remember how Esther used to be shy? She's still sensitive to large crowds and noises and will only occasionally ask other children to play, but the shyness with 1:1 interactions with adult strangers is mostly gone. She orders her own food at restaurants and responds to strangers questions in public. She's also made a super easy transition to a new classroom at her school. I'm sure that there are all sorts of reasons for this, typical development is probably one of them, but I can't help but think that part of the reason is that we never forced her into social interactions and we even protected her a little bit from them.

TMI

you-tee-eye

NOT fun to have one during a business meeting you are running nor the next day while trying to keep up with two active little girls. And yet, somehow I still managed to accidentally flirt with the doctor as he quickly dispensed my antibiotic.

get it? the "t" part???

I crack myself up. Seriously.

Hanging INNNNNN !!! A new meme.

It's been a good 48 hours of reflection since I wrote Hanging On.

It was good to hear not only snippets of advice, but also some good commiseration. But lest anyone think I was whining or complaining, I also want to acknowledge a couple things.

Yes, I know I am fortunate. I only HAVE to be at work and away from my kids for 24 hours a week (includes my long-ass commute). This was a choice David and I made and while it hasn't been without significant financial sacrifice, we're very glad and grateful for it.

Life is full of choices.

And as annoyed as we are about the quantity of domestic chores, I'm not depressed about. I just kind of accept it as the new (albeit overwhelming) normal.

On that note, I thought it might be good to look on the positive side of things.

Memes about/by/for moms have been circulating the Internet for a while. Around Mother's Day there was one for "Things I Love About Being a Mom." So I thought I would start one for "Ways I am good at being a mom." Interpret it as you wish - some moms may say they are good for keeping their kids clean, others may say they are good for letting their kids dirty. And to keep it easy, you only have to list THREE items.

So, here are mine:

1. I'm not afraid to look silly or embarass myself in general, but especially for my kids. You've undoubtedly witnessed this if you've seen me at our pool, in the grocery store dancing and singing in the aisles, at the open gym going in the foam pit, or at the playground with my giant butt running around, crawling through the tunnels and going down the slides.


2. I ask for emotional help and parenting advice. If I'm feeling blue or have an issue with the girls that David and I can't figure out, then I call or e-mail someone. In the same vein, I take parenting seriously and try to learn from my friends and their parenting values and styles.


3. I am (mostly) joyful about my children and the changes they have made in my life. I don't look at them as an inconvenience or something that has to be dealt with. It doesn't mean it is easy, but I really try to be joyful about them.

With memes, you also tag people. This is hard, because there are a lot of great moms that I turn to for advice, including one who is a regular blog reader but not a writer. But I think Moms need to acknowledge themselves, so I'm going to cast the net wide and tag a couple of famous and prolific bloggers in addition to people in my posse. So, I'm tagging Stimey, My Party of Six, Connor and Helen Grow Up, and La Vida Cochinillo. I know, I know, everybody groans when they get tagged, but come on. It's only three things...

T K K N O

Esther has picked up on my habit of spelling certain things to David. In fact, I even spell things to other parents.

Esther now spells things that she knows we don't want Ruthie to hear. So, if she knows that there is a special treat in the house she'll say "Mommy, after dinner and after Ruthie goes to sleep I get a T K K N O." Or on the weekends, she'll say, "Mommy if I take a short nap and Sissy takes a long nap we can go to the T K K N O S."

Sometimes it's T K K N O and sometimes it's T K K N O S but whichever way she spells it, it's still awfully cute!

Every day...

You learn something new every day. Every. single. day.

Here's what I learned today while watching the rerun of the Real Housewives of New Jersey finale.

The table flip. As when you are mad and you tip over or lift up a dining table so that the contents of said table slide onto the laps of the other people sitting at said table.

And the quote during the interview of one of the cast:

"If you don't know about the table flip, then you obviously aren't from New Jersey."