Hi, I tried to post this on Sunday, but I think blogger hates me, or in another scenario it is just as tired of everyone else of me whining about my useless husband. At any rate this was the start of my Sunday...
I hate Daylight Savings Time.
I hate going to bed and waking up and not knowing what time it is. I hate making sure you reset all the clocks and trying to figure out what time it is. I hate getting used to what time it is and them having to readjust my kid's internal time clocks accordingly. I just fucking hate it.
So this morning when Abby woke up it was 6:11 am in daylight savings time, but 7:11 am in her world (this borders on late for her, kind of). I went and got her and let her hop into bed with us as I always do. Usually there is a 7am rule, but I didn't feel like explaining it to her. So we all pile in bed, I nurse the baby, and we watch a little 64 Zoo Lane.
I usually get bounced out of bed by this scenario first, but I was determined to sleep in this morning. Usually whoever gets fed up with the family bed first loses the sleeping in time, but I was determined this morning. Alas, Tim rolled over and said something about it being too early for all this and that he could not be awake before 7am (he was unaware that I had changed the clock last night so in truth it was about a quarter to 8 on his internal clock). This set me over the edge and I gave up the half hour I sometimes get of sleep in time and took the girls downstairs.
As I was leaving our room and closing the door in a huff, Tim told me to "make sure" that he "doesn't sleep through the Bears' kickoff."
I want to kill him for so many reasons this week. This is just the most current.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The Rundown
Last night I was going to fill you all in on the blogs I write while driving in my car, but alas blogger wasn't cooperating and it didn't happen.
Here are the things we were going to talk about:
Play Dates
Abby has been on 2 playdates this week. One where she decorated a pumpkin with all kinds of cute paints and glitter glues and another where all the girls from her pre school go together and made cookies. They actually did real structured activities, can you believe it?! As much as I complain about her friend Rachel, at least when she goes over there Rachel's mom just reads the paper and checks her email. Now I have to schedule palydates with these girls at my house and come up with activities...any suggestions?
Baby Boom
There are babies in the air around here. Well, not here exactly, but in our world. Our good friends are finally pregnant after 3 years of trying. As my sister says, people get really myopic about fertility when it isn't working for them, and these people are case and point. Just after we had Abby they started trying, then trying more aggressively, and still nothing happened. This pregnancy (I don't dare say baby in the singular until we know for sure it is singular) is the result of 3 rounds of invitro. They talked about adopting, but wanted to exhaust their invitro options first (it is covered by their insurance). I am excited for them because they can store some of my baby shit while it is not in use. Oh, yeah, they will be good parents too. My long time on again off again hair dresser is also expecting. Her circumstances are a bit different, and I will be interested to see how her soap opera unfolds. (She has 2 older kids and had an "accident" with some guy she was not that serious about, but she's keepin' her baby so papa don't preach) I think she and I might have to reunite over my hair (she does great color, but has too much of an opinion about how I should wear my locks) so I don't miss any of the story line. Mrs. Materialism ( a good friend of mine) found out that she is having a girl so we have been talking about about buying new bedding for the babe. I am officially done with this project, anyone interested in listening is more than welcome to take my place on the Internet shopping trips for the perfect pink toile bedding.
Also, a woman I work with had a baby boy yesterday. When I asked who he looked like she said a raisin. When I asked how he was doing she said she hadn't seen him yet today (this was at about 11am) because she had asked the nurses to keep him in the nursery. This relationship between mother and child does not seem to be getting off to a good start.
The King of 90%
Tim is on the list this week and his prospects for getting off just seem further and further away. He is physically incapable of completing a project and I am beginning to resent this about him.
Here are some of the things that are 90% finished in my house (in no particular order):
My computer is missing a side cover, I am unclear why, but he is going to "get to it"
The bills- there are 3 left that need to be dealt with and they stare at me everyday. He made a production of taking care of it because I forgot to mail one thing last month and so I am hands off, but it is killing me
The Great Basement Cleanup- about a month ago (actually over a month ago) we decided to revamp the basement. I have cleaned up and out all areas pertaining to me and the Ladies and it is still a disaster area. If I have to watch him blow up trolls on his computer one more night this week while this shit piles up more I may hurt him.
The Garage- if you have ever been to my house you understand
I really could list about a million things about him that make me want to scream, but I won't bore you with the details. I will just let them fester and burn my soul until I can no longer contain them and he turns up missing. Then they will find him choking on all his papers and the crap that he leaves laying around the house with the dishes that her never puts in or takes out of the dishwasher broken over his skull.
My Car
Everytime I sit down to blog I get crabby because it is never as good as the blog I write in my car. Can we do something about that?
I think that about sums up what has been happening here. Nora went to the doctor this week and weighs 22 and one half pounds. The doctor also confirmed that she did in fact get cuter since the last he saw her. Just as I suspected....
Here are the things we were going to talk about:
Play Dates
Abby has been on 2 playdates this week. One where she decorated a pumpkin with all kinds of cute paints and glitter glues and another where all the girls from her pre school go together and made cookies. They actually did real structured activities, can you believe it?! As much as I complain about her friend Rachel, at least when she goes over there Rachel's mom just reads the paper and checks her email. Now I have to schedule palydates with these girls at my house and come up with activities...any suggestions?
Baby Boom
There are babies in the air around here. Well, not here exactly, but in our world. Our good friends are finally pregnant after 3 years of trying. As my sister says, people get really myopic about fertility when it isn't working for them, and these people are case and point. Just after we had Abby they started trying, then trying more aggressively, and still nothing happened. This pregnancy (I don't dare say baby in the singular until we know for sure it is singular) is the result of 3 rounds of invitro. They talked about adopting, but wanted to exhaust their invitro options first (it is covered by their insurance). I am excited for them because they can store some of my baby shit while it is not in use. Oh, yeah, they will be good parents too. My long time on again off again hair dresser is also expecting. Her circumstances are a bit different, and I will be interested to see how her soap opera unfolds. (She has 2 older kids and had an "accident" with some guy she was not that serious about, but she's keepin' her baby so papa don't preach) I think she and I might have to reunite over my hair (she does great color, but has too much of an opinion about how I should wear my locks) so I don't miss any of the story line. Mrs. Materialism ( a good friend of mine) found out that she is having a girl so we have been talking about about buying new bedding for the babe. I am officially done with this project, anyone interested in listening is more than welcome to take my place on the Internet shopping trips for the perfect pink toile bedding.
Also, a woman I work with had a baby boy yesterday. When I asked who he looked like she said a raisin. When I asked how he was doing she said she hadn't seen him yet today (this was at about 11am) because she had asked the nurses to keep him in the nursery. This relationship between mother and child does not seem to be getting off to a good start.
The King of 90%
Tim is on the list this week and his prospects for getting off just seem further and further away. He is physically incapable of completing a project and I am beginning to resent this about him.
Here are some of the things that are 90% finished in my house (in no particular order):
My computer is missing a side cover, I am unclear why, but he is going to "get to it"
The bills- there are 3 left that need to be dealt with and they stare at me everyday. He made a production of taking care of it because I forgot to mail one thing last month and so I am hands off, but it is killing me
The Great Basement Cleanup- about a month ago (actually over a month ago) we decided to revamp the basement. I have cleaned up and out all areas pertaining to me and the Ladies and it is still a disaster area. If I have to watch him blow up trolls on his computer one more night this week while this shit piles up more I may hurt him.
The Garage- if you have ever been to my house you understand
I really could list about a million things about him that make me want to scream, but I won't bore you with the details. I will just let them fester and burn my soul until I can no longer contain them and he turns up missing. Then they will find him choking on all his papers and the crap that he leaves laying around the house with the dishes that her never puts in or takes out of the dishwasher broken over his skull.
My Car
Everytime I sit down to blog I get crabby because it is never as good as the blog I write in my car. Can we do something about that?
I think that about sums up what has been happening here. Nora went to the doctor this week and weighs 22 and one half pounds. The doctor also confirmed that she did in fact get cuter since the last he saw her. Just as I suspected....
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Go East Young Family!
So Tim's father's day present this year was a trip to Virginia International Raceway to drive his beloved El Diablo too fast with a bunch of other people way too interested in their cars (my father included). When it was just a thought 6 months ago it made sense; we would drive out to my dad's in Bethesda MD, hang out for a day, Tim and my dad would go racing for a day and we would have a nice little family vacay. I hadn't really worked out the particulars of travel, but it is rare that I can get Tim to commit to travel so I ran with it.
(not that this father's day gift totally beat the pants off the crappy $25 gift card to Target I got for Mother's Day)
I spent the first part of last week getting my life together, my kid's lives together, and my house ready for us to be gone for a while. Tim and I only had one meltdown when I told him that I was not his mother and he had to pack his own damn bags. Now anyone who knows Tim understands that he does not transport well. He is very anal and over cautious in his packing. He worked all day Wed with the plan to leave before dawn on Thursday. By 9 on Wed I was in bed with all my stuff, the kid's stuff, and the house packed, ready to get rest before hitting the great wide open. Tim was still running around like his ass was on fire freaking out about having a tool kit and 100% cotton clothes for racing (he left a shirt behind that was 95% cotton and 5% spandex in case he caught on fire).
So by some miracle we are all set and packed into El Diablo and on the road by 2 am. Tim wanted to drive the first leg because he was so "wired" on Monster energy drink and his general hyperactivity. He got about 60 miles and we switched. The drive really wasn't all that bad. We were crammed into the car, but we kind of expected that. The leaves were pretty and the girls were good (the recent release of The Little Mermaid on DVD kind of helped. You can think less of us for being the people who let our kids watch TV in the car, but really, it was great, and she didn't watch it the whole time so back off and go judge someone else).
We got there with little incident, ready for a weekend of family fun. Tim was leaving Friday night with my dad so we went to the National Zoo to see the Pandas during the day. Abby was an insufferable brat. She was tired and crabby and completely over stimulated. In all honesty she was a little shit, and I don't think that went over too well. Tim and I deal with it because we know it comes from a place that is not her. There was so much going on in her little (almost) 4 year old world that you had to feel bad for the kid. 12 hours in a car followed by a house where there is 1 room where you can be free to be a kid where something priceless won't get broken, and a strange bed to sleep in, it could put anyone in a state. Add the impending doom of her beloved daddy and Grampy leaving for the weekend I am sure she was on overload. The day was fun other than her spurts of brattiness, and we had a nice dinner before the boys left.
That night, Abby called me at about midnight and asked me to cuddle her. I told her to come get in my bed because the commotion had woken Nora and I was going to nurse her back to sleep. We all piled into my room until 3 am when Abby woke up to tell me she was going back to her bed. Huh? What had happened was that she had peed in my bed because she had taken off her sleep pull up (I know, she should be potty trained at night, but she isn't get over it) and didn't want to sleep in the "wet spot". Fun to clean up at 3 am, right. Oh wait, the baby woke up again.
Saturday we went to see my great aunt and uncle who live about 2 hours away (just what my kids wanted a car ride, meh, they survived, I wanted to show them off to the old people). We had a nice visit with them and continued on to lunch and a trip to the outlet malls.
Saturday night was just as much fun as Friday. Nora was up constantly because she chose this weekend to cut 2 new teeth (we are now at 6, how many does she need, really?) and Abby wanted to sleep in my bed again. Whatever, we survived.
The boys finally came home Sunday with all kinds of tales of auto racing. I stopped listening after about the first 10 minutes (I am a bad wife/daughter, I know). Sunday night was by far the worst night I have ever had with Nora. She would not stop crying. If she wasn't nursing she was crying. If I wasn't holding her she was crying. If she was not in my bed she was crying. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep, jealous?
We spent Monday on the Mall looking at the monuments. How do you explain the Vietnam Wall to a(n almost) 4 year old? It was actually one of my favorite days I have ever had in DC (check my flickr page this week for pictures). We had great parking luck, great things to see, and my kids were back to normal once Tim came back.
We left DC late last night and drove through the driving rains of Ohio to get home before noon today. Again, the drive really wasn't that bad, but I think it was because our dear Tony lent us his GPS system which totally rocked. I used to make fun of it, but now it is all I want in life. It gives you an ETA based on where you are going. It will tell you where the closest Gap Outlet is, and lets you know everything short of what color that state trooper's boxers are. (Both Tim and I got Certificates of Merit for our ability to exceed the speed limit; mine in Ohio, Tim's in Maryland)
It is good to be home, but of course we kind of exploded back onto the scene here and have a ton of stuff to do this weekend. Both girls are tucked safely into bed and Tim and I are blowing off our responsibilities for the evening to catch up on all the great Tivo we have missed (I am dying- did Flav pick New York or Delishes?). This is actually a red letter day in our world, Tim told his dad to take a cab home from the airport. That was worth blowing off belly dancing tonight, right?
(not that this father's day gift totally beat the pants off the crappy $25 gift card to Target I got for Mother's Day)
I spent the first part of last week getting my life together, my kid's lives together, and my house ready for us to be gone for a while. Tim and I only had one meltdown when I told him that I was not his mother and he had to pack his own damn bags. Now anyone who knows Tim understands that he does not transport well. He is very anal and over cautious in his packing. He worked all day Wed with the plan to leave before dawn on Thursday. By 9 on Wed I was in bed with all my stuff, the kid's stuff, and the house packed, ready to get rest before hitting the great wide open. Tim was still running around like his ass was on fire freaking out about having a tool kit and 100% cotton clothes for racing (he left a shirt behind that was 95% cotton and 5% spandex in case he caught on fire).
So by some miracle we are all set and packed into El Diablo and on the road by 2 am. Tim wanted to drive the first leg because he was so "wired" on Monster energy drink and his general hyperactivity. He got about 60 miles and we switched. The drive really wasn't all that bad. We were crammed into the car, but we kind of expected that. The leaves were pretty and the girls were good (the recent release of The Little Mermaid on DVD kind of helped. You can think less of us for being the people who let our kids watch TV in the car, but really, it was great, and she didn't watch it the whole time so back off and go judge someone else).
We got there with little incident, ready for a weekend of family fun. Tim was leaving Friday night with my dad so we went to the National Zoo to see the Pandas during the day. Abby was an insufferable brat. She was tired and crabby and completely over stimulated. In all honesty she was a little shit, and I don't think that went over too well. Tim and I deal with it because we know it comes from a place that is not her. There was so much going on in her little (almost) 4 year old world that you had to feel bad for the kid. 12 hours in a car followed by a house where there is 1 room where you can be free to be a kid where something priceless won't get broken, and a strange bed to sleep in, it could put anyone in a state. Add the impending doom of her beloved daddy and Grampy leaving for the weekend I am sure she was on overload. The day was fun other than her spurts of brattiness, and we had a nice dinner before the boys left.
That night, Abby called me at about midnight and asked me to cuddle her. I told her to come get in my bed because the commotion had woken Nora and I was going to nurse her back to sleep. We all piled into my room until 3 am when Abby woke up to tell me she was going back to her bed. Huh? What had happened was that she had peed in my bed because she had taken off her sleep pull up (I know, she should be potty trained at night, but she isn't get over it) and didn't want to sleep in the "wet spot". Fun to clean up at 3 am, right. Oh wait, the baby woke up again.
Saturday we went to see my great aunt and uncle who live about 2 hours away (just what my kids wanted a car ride, meh, they survived, I wanted to show them off to the old people). We had a nice visit with them and continued on to lunch and a trip to the outlet malls.
Saturday night was just as much fun as Friday. Nora was up constantly because she chose this weekend to cut 2 new teeth (we are now at 6, how many does she need, really?) and Abby wanted to sleep in my bed again. Whatever, we survived.
The boys finally came home Sunday with all kinds of tales of auto racing. I stopped listening after about the first 10 minutes (I am a bad wife/daughter, I know). Sunday night was by far the worst night I have ever had with Nora. She would not stop crying. If she wasn't nursing she was crying. If I wasn't holding her she was crying. If she was not in my bed she was crying. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep, jealous?
We spent Monday on the Mall looking at the monuments. How do you explain the Vietnam Wall to a(n almost) 4 year old? It was actually one of my favorite days I have ever had in DC (check my flickr page this week for pictures). We had great parking luck, great things to see, and my kids were back to normal once Tim came back.
We left DC late last night and drove through the driving rains of Ohio to get home before noon today. Again, the drive really wasn't that bad, but I think it was because our dear Tony lent us his GPS system which totally rocked. I used to make fun of it, but now it is all I want in life. It gives you an ETA based on where you are going. It will tell you where the closest Gap Outlet is, and lets you know everything short of what color that state trooper's boxers are. (Both Tim and I got Certificates of Merit for our ability to exceed the speed limit; mine in Ohio, Tim's in Maryland)
It is good to be home, but of course we kind of exploded back onto the scene here and have a ton of stuff to do this weekend. Both girls are tucked safely into bed and Tim and I are blowing off our responsibilities for the evening to catch up on all the great Tivo we have missed (I am dying- did Flav pick New York or Delishes?). This is actually a red letter day in our world, Tim told his dad to take a cab home from the airport. That was worth blowing off belly dancing tonight, right?
A Crisis of Conscience
So as we were driving this weekend we were 24 miles from a place I used to visit as a child. It is my dad's hometown and the home of an aunt and a cousin whom I haven't seen in a very long time. They met Abby when she was a baby, but have not met Nora. I have very little contact with them for whatever reason. Partly because I am lazy and don't get around to emailing, but also because there just doesn't seem to be a connection there. I was all of a sudden in a crisis of conscience. What is the right thing to do?
As we passed all the signs pointing to this little town I got a pang of longing to go to a place that I remember spending summers and holidays as a child. I want my kids to know it, to know the stories and the memories and the people that this little town holds. I all of a sudden felt guilty for being 24 miles away from family I haven't seen and not calling.
When I got to DC, I asked my dad what he thought I should do. He didn't have an answer either. It is not like there was any big falling out or anything, we just don't really have contact with that part of our family. Would it be wired to call out of the blue? Kind of. Would it be welcomed. Maybe. Most likely, really. Would it be convenient? Probably not because of our timing (we were driving at night to keep the ladies on their "schedules"). Is it polite to call someone you haven't talked to in years and announce your presence after having months to plan for such an event? Not really.
We ended up scrapping the plan to invade, probably for the best. Tim keeps threatening to make this trip an annual thing, and if we do drive out there again I will try to orchestrate a visit. For now I will just feel guilty for not doing it this time.
As we passed all the signs pointing to this little town I got a pang of longing to go to a place that I remember spending summers and holidays as a child. I want my kids to know it, to know the stories and the memories and the people that this little town holds. I all of a sudden felt guilty for being 24 miles away from family I haven't seen and not calling.
When I got to DC, I asked my dad what he thought I should do. He didn't have an answer either. It is not like there was any big falling out or anything, we just don't really have contact with that part of our family. Would it be wired to call out of the blue? Kind of. Would it be welcomed. Maybe. Most likely, really. Would it be convenient? Probably not because of our timing (we were driving at night to keep the ladies on their "schedules"). Is it polite to call someone you haven't talked to in years and announce your presence after having months to plan for such an event? Not really.
We ended up scrapping the plan to invade, probably for the best. Tim keeps threatening to make this trip an annual thing, and if we do drive out there again I will try to orchestrate a visit. For now I will just feel guilty for not doing it this time.
The Ape House
So we have returned from the wild blue yonder with few scars- more on that later.
We returned to a cold house and a leaky toilet which Tim decided to fix as I started feeding the ladies dinner.
Abby "helped " for as long as her attention span would allow, then came to eat. We all learned some new vocabulary from Tim as he was moving the toilet, swapping out the wax seal, and reinstalling it. He "shit the bed" on the project, but left it as is, if I haven't told you already, he is the king of 90% (everything he starts ends up 90% finished). Before "shitting the bed" he was "asshole to elbow in shit" cleaning out the old wax ring.
This adventure took a little longer than expected and the girls were fed by the time he hit 70%. Nora needed a diaper change, and Tim told me he needed "5 more minutes" so I let her crawl around naked far a few. Tim's 5 minutes stretched into 15, into 20 and by the time he was ready to evacuate the only bathroom in the house. I had left Nora safely playing on Abby's floor while I walked the 10 steps to the linen closet to get towels for bath time and when I came back in to get her she was playing happily with Abby's socks. Abby's socks had something on them. I thought it was ralph. It wasn't. About a foot away from Nora was a pile of her poop. And there she was playing in it.
At least she didn't throw it.
What is really sad is that this is not the first time she has shat on the floor.
We returned to a cold house and a leaky toilet which Tim decided to fix as I started feeding the ladies dinner.
Abby "helped " for as long as her attention span would allow, then came to eat. We all learned some new vocabulary from Tim as he was moving the toilet, swapping out the wax seal, and reinstalling it. He "shit the bed" on the project, but left it as is, if I haven't told you already, he is the king of 90% (everything he starts ends up 90% finished). Before "shitting the bed" he was "asshole to elbow in shit" cleaning out the old wax ring.
This adventure took a little longer than expected and the girls were fed by the time he hit 70%. Nora needed a diaper change, and Tim told me he needed "5 more minutes" so I let her crawl around naked far a few. Tim's 5 minutes stretched into 15, into 20 and by the time he was ready to evacuate the only bathroom in the house. I had left Nora safely playing on Abby's floor while I walked the 10 steps to the linen closet to get towels for bath time and when I came back in to get her she was playing happily with Abby's socks. Abby's socks had something on them. I thought it was ralph. It wasn't. About a foot away from Nora was a pile of her poop. And there she was playing in it.
At least she didn't throw it.
What is really sad is that this is not the first time she has shat on the floor.
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Blame Game
I have fabulous tales of this weekend, but I need to get my Monday morning off my chest....
So I am going through Saturday's mail which had been stacked up somewhere to make room for the bodies in my house and I find a bill from our pediatrician's office. The bill is for $600 some odd dollars for Nora's most recent round of vaccinations. Odd, I thought those were covered.
So I call the billing number, they have not heard from Blue Cross about covering anything. Looking back, the woman found that every claim submitted for Nora had been denied, hence the exorbitant costs from when she was born. Weird.
So I call Blue Cross Blue Shield to see what the story is. They have no record of Eleanor being born or ever being covered by our insurance. What?! I was told to contact HR (Tim's mom) at his place of business and see if they added her to our policy, which it appears that they didn't. Oh, and by the way, we are still responsible for the cost of the vaccines because we missed the 30 day window to add her.
So I call Tim, who promptly hit the roof. He asked me to pull all the bills and stuff from her to see if she was once covered and when it renewed in August she was accidentally dropped. I am glad that I didn't get right on that because his mom just called me to let me know "what really happened".....
According to her it is all Tim's fault that she didn't add Eleanor to our policy in January. Sure she knew Nora's date of birth and stuff, but Tim "failed to remind her" to add the baby to our policy. He "should have known" that she was "out of it" due to "all that was going on in her life". Tell me, am I right to be annoyed that she is not taking responsibility for her own mistake? Or is it really Tim's fault for not telling her to add her to our policy?
How we ended things was by her telling me that she would "try to iron this out" by the end of the day, but if she couldn't get to it, it was going to have to wait until next Monday. She is really busy, you know. Meanwhile I am hermetically sealing Nora into some bubble wrap so that we have to pay no more out of pocket.
I hate HR.
So I am going through Saturday's mail which had been stacked up somewhere to make room for the bodies in my house and I find a bill from our pediatrician's office. The bill is for $600 some odd dollars for Nora's most recent round of vaccinations. Odd, I thought those were covered.
So I call the billing number, they have not heard from Blue Cross about covering anything. Looking back, the woman found that every claim submitted for Nora had been denied, hence the exorbitant costs from when she was born. Weird.
So I call Blue Cross Blue Shield to see what the story is. They have no record of Eleanor being born or ever being covered by our insurance. What?! I was told to contact HR (Tim's mom) at his place of business and see if they added her to our policy, which it appears that they didn't. Oh, and by the way, we are still responsible for the cost of the vaccines because we missed the 30 day window to add her.
So I call Tim, who promptly hit the roof. He asked me to pull all the bills and stuff from her to see if she was once covered and when it renewed in August she was accidentally dropped. I am glad that I didn't get right on that because his mom just called me to let me know "what really happened".....
According to her it is all Tim's fault that she didn't add Eleanor to our policy in January. Sure she knew Nora's date of birth and stuff, but Tim "failed to remind her" to add the baby to our policy. He "should have known" that she was "out of it" due to "all that was going on in her life". Tell me, am I right to be annoyed that she is not taking responsibility for her own mistake? Or is it really Tim's fault for not telling her to add her to our policy?
How we ended things was by her telling me that she would "try to iron this out" by the end of the day, but if she couldn't get to it, it was going to have to wait until next Monday. She is really busy, you know. Meanwhile I am hermetically sealing Nora into some bubble wrap so that we have to pay no more out of pocket.
I hate HR.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Wilma
There is a Lithuanian family who lives down the street that we sometimes fraternize with. It was great when Abby was little because they have 3 kids- An older girl named Monica, Wilma, who is in 1st grade, and Adonis who is Abby's age. We used to play in their yard and Abby would follow Wilma around (when Wilma would permit it) and they would play ring around the rosy and wear the Abster out when I was killing time before Tim got home.
This stopped last summer because I found that Wilma would get kind of rough with Abby and was not very nice to her. I like the mom enough, she complains about her husband constantly and talks about moving back to Eastern Europe. And Monica is a good kid, she just started junior high and isn't adjusing well. She is interested in things like iPods and boys, which her mother has forbidden. She thinks I hung the moon because sometimes I help her with her homework, and I let her come over and use our Internet. But Wilma is kind of a nightmare. She is the ultimate middle child and I think she would light her hair on fire for attention. I usually like those kids, but Wilma is just not very nice. We would come home from their house with Abby in tears more often than not so it stopped being worth the time.
Today I was passing by the elementary school in our neighborhood while all the kids were out at recess. I immediately saw Wilma (her white blonde hair is hard to miss). She was talking to a boy who pushed her down and kicked her before running away. Wilma got up and just stood there. I kind of paused for an extra minute at the stop sign to see what would happen next. She walked over to where some girls were playing and stood there, they seemed to be talking, but then all the girls ran away. Wilma stood there. I had to move, and I didn't see what happened next, but I felt bad for Wilma. I couldn't tell if she was being the Wilma I know from the neighborhood, of if the Wilma I know from the neighborhood was a product of what happens at school. I felt bad for her.
When we went for a walk this afternoon we passed Wilma's house. She was jumping rope, and came running up to us to see the baby. Abby tried to play with her, but Wilma pushed her. I was a little more forgiving of this than usual because of what I had seen earlier. I asked her how school was, and what her favorite thing to do at recess was. She told me that she hated recess because Monica wasn't there anymore to play with her. I felt so sorry for her. Monica's big move to junior high had been tough on both of them. I let her terrorize Abby for as long as I could stand it, and we continued walking. Abby doesn't notice that Wilma is not very nice to her. I guess that is a good thing.
One of my biggest fears is that I will have a kid who gets picked on, or worse yet, I will have a bully. I don't think that Abby is capable of being a bully because it doesn't seem to be in her nature. Her nature is so sweet (in my humble opinion) that I fear that she is going to be the victim of many mean girls in the future. How do I fix this?
This stopped last summer because I found that Wilma would get kind of rough with Abby and was not very nice to her. I like the mom enough, she complains about her husband constantly and talks about moving back to Eastern Europe. And Monica is a good kid, she just started junior high and isn't adjusing well. She is interested in things like iPods and boys, which her mother has forbidden. She thinks I hung the moon because sometimes I help her with her homework, and I let her come over and use our Internet. But Wilma is kind of a nightmare. She is the ultimate middle child and I think she would light her hair on fire for attention. I usually like those kids, but Wilma is just not very nice. We would come home from their house with Abby in tears more often than not so it stopped being worth the time.
Today I was passing by the elementary school in our neighborhood while all the kids were out at recess. I immediately saw Wilma (her white blonde hair is hard to miss). She was talking to a boy who pushed her down and kicked her before running away. Wilma got up and just stood there. I kind of paused for an extra minute at the stop sign to see what would happen next. She walked over to where some girls were playing and stood there, they seemed to be talking, but then all the girls ran away. Wilma stood there. I had to move, and I didn't see what happened next, but I felt bad for Wilma. I couldn't tell if she was being the Wilma I know from the neighborhood, of if the Wilma I know from the neighborhood was a product of what happens at school. I felt bad for her.
When we went for a walk this afternoon we passed Wilma's house. She was jumping rope, and came running up to us to see the baby. Abby tried to play with her, but Wilma pushed her. I was a little more forgiving of this than usual because of what I had seen earlier. I asked her how school was, and what her favorite thing to do at recess was. She told me that she hated recess because Monica wasn't there anymore to play with her. I felt so sorry for her. Monica's big move to junior high had been tough on both of them. I let her terrorize Abby for as long as I could stand it, and we continued walking. Abby doesn't notice that Wilma is not very nice to her. I guess that is a good thing.
One of my biggest fears is that I will have a kid who gets picked on, or worse yet, I will have a bully. I don't think that Abby is capable of being a bully because it doesn't seem to be in her nature. Her nature is so sweet (in my humble opinion) that I fear that she is going to be the victim of many mean girls in the future. How do I fix this?
First Blood
Today the ladies and I had a playdate.
I actually like the mom, and I thought it would be fun. It was, with one exception.
Nora was tooling around on the floor and found this wand to chew. I kind of half assed inspected it and found it to be safe so I let her chew away. All of a sudden she let out a cry not to be believed. I looked and she was winding up for another. What had happened? She stabbed her gums with this wand and was bleeding.
I rinsed her and comforted her, but there was not much I could do. I was really quite calm about it.
She seems fine, but her gum is swollen and looks sore. What I am really sad about is that this incident seems to have brought out another tooth. I can no longer call her "White Fang", and she is no longer my toothless little baby. She is actually a kid who is pulling herself up on anything she can.
Please don't clue her in about walking yet.
I actually like the mom, and I thought it would be fun. It was, with one exception.
Nora was tooling around on the floor and found this wand to chew. I kind of half assed inspected it and found it to be safe so I let her chew away. All of a sudden she let out a cry not to be believed. I looked and she was winding up for another. What had happened? She stabbed her gums with this wand and was bleeding.
I rinsed her and comforted her, but there was not much I could do. I was really quite calm about it.
She seems fine, but her gum is swollen and looks sore. What I am really sad about is that this incident seems to have brought out another tooth. I can no longer call her "White Fang", and she is no longer my toothless little baby. She is actually a kid who is pulling herself up on anything she can.
Please don't clue her in about walking yet.
What?
Sometimes when Tim is talking about work or cars or something equally as uninteresting I completely tune him out.
It is like he isn't talking at all.
When I tune back in he doesn't even notice that I left.
Does this make me a bad person?
It is like he isn't talking at all.
When I tune back in he doesn't even notice that I left.
Does this make me a bad person?
Bad Timing
Abby went to her friend's birthday party on Tuesday. It started at 1. I left with plenty of time to spare, and was there, walking in the door at 12:57pm. When we walked in Abby was met with a cheer and everyone told me that they were so worried about us because we were late.
I am confused, when it says it starts at 1 does that really mean that is starts at 12:45? Is there a social hour before the actual start time I was not aware of?
Someone please explain.
I am confused, when it says it starts at 1 does that really mean that is starts at 12:45? Is there a social hour before the actual start time I was not aware of?
Someone please explain.
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