Find out how I’m simultaneously saving my children thousands of dollars on shrink fees and causing them to miss out on the millions they’d make for their book deal about how their parents ruined their lives.
Family Time
Filth and Progress
The differences between filth and progress are very subtle so I will walk you through a few of them. [read more at Parenting.com]
My Little Village
Last week my body fought back. After months of pushing and pulling and running and jumping and multitasking to the point of insanity, my body decided it had reached its limit. The only way to get me to agree and give it a break was to shut down one of its vital functions. It chose walking. [continue reading at Parenting.com.
Magoo is Three-ish
“Something happened to Magoo on his third birthday. As he collapsed into an exhausted coma on my lap after a fun-filled day at Disneyland and slept sweetly through the singing and the candles and the cake, some crazy switch of three-ish mischief flipped on in his head. He woke up a new man and he hasn’t been the same since.”
Read more about the Swedish Fish and the rocks in the milk jug over at Parenting.com.
To Do
I wrote a post at Parenting today about how Laylee seems to follow in my footsteps.
Well here’s a big fat peek into the world of Laylee’s mom. That’s me. What kind of a person must I be if my daughter wakes up at the crack of dawn and creates a list of all the things she plans to get done that day? She is five years old. She is neurotic. She is awesome.
She told me what each of the pictographs meant and proceeded to work aggressively to complete all her tasks.
Write out the ABCs for Rowan
Draw a picture for Ellie. I hope it ended up looking better than that thing.
Play in the Sandbox. She writes this to get past my horrible tyranny. It’s been pouring rain and she’s been begging me to play in the sand/slop box. She thinks I can’t say no if it’s on a “list.” She is wrong.
Watch TV. Our TV isn’t quite that small. Almost, but not quite. And it has way more static.
Pick Flowers. Her favorite activity. Although she’s always surprised and angry when they wither and die 10 minutes later.
Eat Vitamins. The highlight of every day.
Play on the Wii. Oh how I love this little tiny drawing of a wii-mote.
Eat Cereal for Breakfast
Eat Chicken Nuggets for Lunch
Eat Macaroni for Dinner. I acutally made a quality dinner this night and she was STEAMED! Veggie chilli was not on her list! But then she loved it and this list was forgotten.
Exercise for Three Five Minutes. I love her little exercise pose with the fist up in the air.
Feed the Fish. Notice the tiny drawing of a fish on the fish food container.
Play in the Garden. If only our flowers were actually that big so Laylee would really look like Thumbelina in the garden.
Wicked
My next door neighbor spent a boat load of time today researching alternative treatments for hearing loss and we’re going to explore our options a bit this summer before kindergarten begins. I’ll keep you all posted. Thank you so much for all of your kind comments and suggestions today. I needed to have a little pity party and it was so nice of you to attend.
I didn’t buy Laylee the $300 dollhouse I thought she needed so desperately yesterday but I have been extra nice to her. I didn’t act at all like the wicked stepmother today… very much. [read more at Parenting.com]
Violence and Disneyland
We just got back from a fabulous Disneyland vacation. Magoo didn’t vomit all over the hotel room and Laylee didn’t get a 103 degree fever and wake me up every 20 minutes all night long.
I did break one of my strictest parenting rules and buy Magoo a piece. How do you deal with violent toys at your house?
Praise
I’m too dependent on praise. I want someone to pat me on the head and say “Good girl!” I want to feel that people like me and that they think I’m doing a good job. [Read More at Parenting]
My Favorite Husband — Mother’s Day Edition
And the award for My Favorite Husband Mother’s Day 2008 goes to… SLASH THOMPSON!!!!
This is a picture of us dressed up to play Rock Band this weekend with some crazy friends. Dan went all out with the nose ring and wig this time. He even painted on a gold tooth. No one can ever say that man’s not fly because he is.
Not only is he fly but he’s also the recipient of the MFHMD2008 award and I will tell you why. This year for Mother’s Day Dan asked me for a few gift ideas. I typed out a wish list, complete with links to websites, and then gave it to him way too late for him to order anything on the list in time for Mother’s Day. So he improvised.
I’m trying to consume less after following one of my reader’s advice to watch this video. When I do need something, I’ve been trying to buy more things second hand or from companies that follow fair trade practices.
On my wish list I’d asked for a fairly-made recycled glass pitcher, glass because it’s free of the toxins commonly found in plastic. (Yes I’m being assimilated by the granola-ites.)
So Dan took the kids to a giant antique shop where he spent over an hour walking them through the entire maze of breakable treasures looking for the exact right pitcher for me. He said he passed up several along the way, wanting to make sure he found one he knew I’d like. Be still my heart, it’s perfect! “Recycled” in the truest sense of the word, BPA-free and lovely. He couldn’t get me exactly what I wanted in time for Mother’s Day so he paid attention to the REASONS behind what I was asking for and got me something better.
At the store he let Laylee pick through every piece of jewelry she could find, advising her on my tastes. “Yes that IS pretty, but mom doesn’t really like to wear heart-shaped jewelry.” Heaven bless him for guiding her to a pretty bracelet I will actually WEAR! On the way home from the antique shop, they stopped for flowers.
I slept in late this morning and woke to find Laylee had created an avalanche of drawings for me, all on the theme of love, moms, mudders and LOVE. Dan made scrambled eggs with extra cheese.
From Magoo I got new non-slip potholders that match my KitchenAid perfectly and to top it off, I was presented with the final season of the West Wing so I can discover again whether Matt Santos, Latino for President, beats Allen Alda to become the next leader of these United States in Imaginary Political World Where I’m a Staunch Democrat.
And they were nice to me all day. And they made me breakfast. And I got to eat off the special plate. And Magoo magically fell asleep in the car on the way home from church and let me carry him inside and rock him like a baby for the better part of an hour, something he hasn’t let me do for months. It was a great day to be a mom and a great day to be married to Dan. How was your Mother’s Day? Was it a great day to be married to Dan for you too?
