Wednesday, December 2, 2009

What a day!

Sweet Pea and I have not had a good day. In fact, it was pretty miserable for the both of us. It started out in a semi-contrary way and careened downhill from there. There were many stops on our adventure today that included getting our keys fixed, going to the doctor's office, eating lunch, and buying boots.

She really was a typical two year old: Opening the door as the doctor examined me, climbing up the exam table; shoving her books under the exam table so that they got stuck; opening the bathroom door in the mall while I was mid-stream; almost running out the door as I was paying for the boots; climbing up her bookshelves and then crying to get down. Who is this kid and what did they do with my sweet, Sweet Pea?

Tomorrow is another day. I am actually looking forward to going to work. I say that now, but tomorrow morning when I am trying to get ready, I am sure that things will look alot different then.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Whew!!

What a month! Sweet Pea had some lovely virus / bacterium over the last month. What started out as fevers, morphed into tonsillitis and an otitis media, to only fully change into croup. The icing on the cake was a mild reaction to the amoxicillin. I am most grateful, however, that it was only tonsillitis, otitis, and croup. It could have been a ton worse, like H1N1 on a vent or some childhood leukemia.

Needless to say, the month has certainly had its ups and downs. What I will cherish most, will be all the cuddling time we have had. Nursing and reading in her bed. I suspect we were reading about 30 books a day. Well, it most likely was not 30 different books, but we were certainly reading alot. Who says you need TV when you have Maisy and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Lately, Sweet Pea has been saying that she needs a 'new mommy'. I am not sure what this means exactly. My hope is that she does not either.

Sweet Pea has taken to sharing information about everything with us as of late. (I am hoping that this trend continues well into adulthood.) In relaying much of her doings to her grandma, I have been told that she is now at the "Informer Stage." I now know which of her friends gave her a boo boo, that Daddy stands, and a whole host of other things.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Big Mommy and Other Odds and Ends

SP: Mommy, you look nice.
Me: Wow, Sweet Pea that was really nice to say that (especially since my hair was a mess, and my attire included a blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans).

It was this comment, in addition to the fact that my daughter does not recognize me in Wedding Photos, that I have realized that maybe I have let myself "go" as we should say. I asked my husband this question, and very odd look came upon his countenance. I know, he was between a rock and a hard place, with neither looking very appealing.

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She says the funniest things these days. Both D and I really enjoy these new found conversations. Yesterday, she admittted that she had a "really good daddy" and I was her "big mommy."

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I had to work yesterday and with Sweet Pea under the weather, D stayed home to play Daddy/doctor. Because she had been enduring fevers for the previous two days, we were trying to get her to drink. While this is generally not a problem for me since she is still nursing, D is lacking the goods. To convince her to drink water, her dad had to sip water out of his water bottle. She seemed to fall for it and also began to drink. Then, she turned the tables on her dad.
SP: Want water?
D: No
SP: Ok, go ahead, Daddy.
D: No thank you, Sweet Pea. You drink it.
SP: Go ahead, Daddy.

Small blessings and contentment: Your soul mate cooking in the kitchen, your little one nuzzled in your lap, a roof over your head, and a sense of peace.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

To sleep, or not to sleep, that is the question!

Sweet Pea truly is a comedienne at heart. Yesterday, while trying to put her down for her nap, she informed me quite forcefully, that she wanted to lay down by herself.

"Move, mommy. Sleep self."

Naturally, I was thrilled. Could it be that she was going to finally, go to sleep on her own. Wow! This is way to easy. I cannot wait to tell her dad.

Me: So, Sweet Pea, you want to go to sleep by yourself.
SP: Me, shut door.
Me: Oh, you would also like to shut the door yourself?
SP: Yeah.
Me: Ok. Make sure after you shut the door, that you get into bed. Ok? Good Night.
SP: Kiss first
Me: Ok, ((MMMMM)
Me: Good Night.

So, I turned my back to finish the dishes. It was way to quiet in there. As I snuck back to check in on her, I could see her peering out the French Doors to her room, looking at me, smiling.

SP: See that? (she said as she opened the door wide, proud as can be).
Me: See what? Say, isn't it time for nap? I am going to come in there and lay down with you until you fall asleep.
SP: NOOOOOOOOoooooo! Sleep self .
Me: MMmm. Ok. But if you come out again, that means you are telling Mommy that you want my help. Ok
SP: Ok

Pause

SP: Kiss first.
ME: Ok. MMMMM.
SP: Kiss dolly.
Me: OK. MMMMM

And so it went. I called in my resident parental expert (my sister of 4 kids, 2 cats, and 1 dog) to consult her on this very important step. Who wants to crush a child's desire to be independent? Yet, no nap means one very crabby kid. So we reviewed the situation at hand. Ultimately, the kid was snoozing by 3 pm in my arms after reading "Go, Dog. Go." for the third time that day.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

AAAGH!

It was 7:30 this morning and already Sweet Pea was in rare form. She is a fairly independent kid and generally wants to do it "self." This morning was no different, except that the intensity with which she wanted to do things hit a 7 on the Richter Self scale. As my husband rode off on his bike to work, all I could do was wave and pray. Pray that he arrived safely, as he does ride through some less that safe places, and pray that Sweet Pea would settle down.

Needless to say, that was not meant to be. The papers that I was supposed to grade and the class that I was to prepare for. . . not completed. Apparently, while she has begun to say that she would like to sleep by herself at naptime, that does not really mean that she wants to sleep. It actually means that she would like to close her door, and hang out in her own room; have privacy. I thought this began in adolescence. I had no idea that this 'privacy' thing was going to begin at two years of age.

So, when 3pm rolled around, I said enough. Sleep is a necessary ingredient for a happy Sweet Pea and after some cuddling and reading, her eyes were shut. I was so smug. Her eyes were shut, I had a note downstairs on the buzzer asking NOT to be buzzed since we were expecting a delivery, a cup of cider was within my reach. I was ready to grade some papers.

And I could not believe it. My student had actually cut and pasted parts of a journal's abstract into his/her paper without the appropriate citations. Now the ironic thing about this particular individual is that he/she has not only failed this course last spring, but they have had to complete two assignments on what constitutes plagiarism. How could they not know? I was flummoxed, flabbergasted, highly insulted, and a plethora of othe adjectives that are too numerous to name. In the midst of all my silent fuming, the buzzer rang and the delivery people were here. Of course, Sweet Pea, called me urgently, fear in her voice, as the buzzer really throws her for a loop. One look at her and I knew, this frightened little kid, who so needed a nap, would not be going back to bed any time soon. Hair was sticking out in sweaty ringlets all over her head, hands were shaking, and her eyes looked like she was going to cry.

"Buzzer, Mommy."
"Yes, Sweet Pea. That was the buzzer."
"Sweet Pea no like buzzer."
"Yes, Sweet Pea. I know. The delivery people did not read the sign."

Which is when that dawned on me. Most likely they were unable to read the sign as it may not have been in their native tongue. This thought, then lead me to think about our educational system, which then re-opened that plagiaristic wound that I had so recently experienced and I became all irritated again. Well, enough of the negative mumbo-jumbo. With this opportunity to solitude, I should actually use it for something productive such as completing my assignments for students or actually going to bed. Cheers.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Darndest Things. . .

We have had a lovely autumn day. Following the zoo (for the second time in three days), and a well deserved nap, my husband decided to grill. Sweet Pea and I were sitting in the chair beneath the birch tree,waiting for the coals to get hot.
Me: Sweet Pea, wouldn't it be great if we could sleep out here in this chair?
Sweet Pea: YEAH!
Me: But wait, wouldn't we get cold?
SP: No!
Me: But wait, where would we go to the bathroom? I would hate to have to climb up all those stairs!
SP: Outside.
Me: What? Where would we go to the bathroom?
SP: Outside!
Me: But where outside?
SP: On the floor. Right there!

I guess this explains why we are not fully potty trained at the moment. But oddly enough, that really does not bother me. Every child's journey is different. It's not like we will send out kids off to college in diapers.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

A Quiet Moment

Aahh. A quiet moment. These are rare, these days as I am trying to juggle 3 part-time jobs with a two year old. I don't know how some folks do it. But in the end, I guess we all do it, just some of us are more worse for the wear. Sweet Pea is at Grandma's house tonight with her dad. Her cousin is there tonight and I am sure they are enjoying the festivities. I would love to be there too... alas, I am grading papers. Actually, they are outlines for this class that I am teaching. In seeing the final product, I am greatly disappointed. It's as if the instructions that I had given in class, on Blackboard, in various emails, went in one ear and out the other. I am wondering if I texted them in bits every 5 seconds if the students would actually digest them more easily.

I reflect on this, and realize, really, that this is not a problem. Cancer - that's a problem. The loss of someone you love - Problem. These are the kinds of problems that are troubling my neighbors as of late. It certainly gives one perspective and makes me grateful for my own little bumps.

This is the kind of perspective that hit me yesterday when Sweet Pea awoke from her nap. She has been on this 'zoo' kick as of late. She loves the elephants and lions the best. Upon awakening yesterday, she ran into the living room as I was posting and was saying 'zoo, zoo, Mommy.'
Well, it was grey and drizzling outside and the zoo was closing in two hours. I was quite comfortable where I was, but how could I resist? Zoo it was. We had a great hour there, despite the fact that the elephants had already turned in for the night. Funny, while we were out there, she did not even seem to mind the rain.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Beginnings

Beginnings. We all have to start somewhere. So, I thought I would start here. I have contemplated beginning a blog since Autumn 2007 when my sweet pea was born. There is something indescribable that happens when one becomes a parent. I know that to be true as evidenced by the many blogs, published books, etc. on the speciallness (is that a word) on becoming a parent. The journey here has certainly had its share of bumps, but what journey worth taking does not have these? So, I begin. I begin to share about daily life with Sweet Pea, mental musings and other contemplations, and many of the other thoughts that cross this brain as I begin the balancing act that others of you out there have been doing, and done so oh so successfully. Best wishes and happy reading.