Finding Nemo and Saving Myself

Today was sooo much better. E listened, and really was so sweet.  My sitter called in sick and I was worried I wouldn't get anything done, but E was so patient and just hung in there even when I knew she was tired or hungry (I had to clean out her closet and drawers).  And when we took a walk with the dogs she just hung by me and didn't try to run away even once!  I was so relieved.  I promised her that if she was good today we would watch, "Finding Nemo" before bed, and I guess that was the magic bullet.  She sat through the whole thing and was an angel at bed time.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for today- because man I needed it!
I also wanted to recap the weekend.  E and her little buddy L had the best play date I've seen her have ever.  She and her little buddy played together so well, L's mom and I were pretty speechless.  There was no tug of war over toys and they just really seemed to enjoy being together.  L's mom and are thinking of making this a regular thing.  On Saturday J and I had an awesome wedding, our neighbors have been together for 10 years and have 2 kids together.  They decided to get married and it was a beautiful ceremony.  It was nice to go out again with J sans child.  A rare occasion and we both enjoyed it.  One complaint, since J is a cinematographer he kinda disappears to take photo/video of the event. I'm pretty used to it at this point but I always end up being the third wheel to another couple for the night- so I'm thinking of bringing a date to our next occasion.  For the rest of the weekend J and I just watched Mad Men at any chance we had, we are behind a season so we were playing catch up.  I am obsessed with the show!  It's hard to explain, but part of me wishes we were still functioning in a time when roles where so defined by gender- and that's strange for me to say because I consider myself a feminist.  But sometimes it's all too exhausting!  I just want a script to follow and know the role I'm playing. But on second thought the minute J came home and expected anything- things would get ugly!  Anyhow I do love the show.   And I can't wait to get up to date with this season.
Other than that I am so behind on sending out wedding and "new baby" gifts to people.  I'm going to attempt a dig in tomorrow and also try to gets E's 2nd birthday invites in the mail.  She turns 2 in about a month!! We're having a costume party- can't wait to see all the little ones in their halloween costumes!! Oh, but so much to do between now and then, and then there's the house.... still not finished!

Sugar and Spice, sometimes not so nice....

Today I was the TA for E's class, each parent helps out one day a month.  The start of the day was kinda hectic.  I had to get E ready, feed her, walk the dogs, and move the car- one of the pains in the butt of living in the city, alternate side parking for street cleaning.  The TA also has to bring a snack- and of course I can't bring anything pre made.  But I found a great recipe for homemade granola bars.  The prep time was really fast- bakes in 30 minutes and the kids loved it!!  I found it here, toddler snack recipes.  So class went great!  The kids are all really cute and really everyone was well behaved.  E went to the teacher with a felt triangle and said, "Triangle"  the teacher went to the easel and drew a triangle and E came up behind her and said, "Triangle, three sides."  Needless to say I was soooooo proud!! The teacher looked at me and was speechless, she said that I had a little Einstein!  One of my proud mom moments- no matter how short lived.
The rest of class went off without a hitch.  But as soon as class was over, E started acting out, this is now part of the routine I guess.  She went and knocked over the blocks that she had just helped me stack up.  We made it out the door only for her to run away from me- in the city, and probably anywhere, this is really scary, people fly down the street doing 50 in a 25!  She knew she was supposed to come back to me but just laughed and kept running.  I sprint after her, pick her up and we head home.  We get to the house, and another melt down, not sure exactly what happened but she wasn't happy about something and decides to fall to the floor in the middle of the foyer screaming and kicking.  She gets up and we head out to walk the dogs- only to have her run away again.  A neighbor walking down the street hears the building anger in my voice as I yell after her and decides to help out.  So he walks her home and she walks very nicely for him.  I try to hold her hand to walk with me the rest of the way, only to have her wrestle free a few moments later and run into someone's front yard to step all over their flowers!! She totally knows better than this and was looking at me with an- "FU mommy!!"  look!  I almost lost my cool!  I threw down the dog leashes and picked her up like a sack and carried her under my arms the rest of the way home.  I gave her some silent treatment and when she eventually took notice we had a talk.  She always seems to get it when I sit down face to face with her, but I never really know if it sinks in!  She said, "Sorry mommy." and we hugged- it's so sweet to make up with such a cutie.  We were late for her nap but she still had to have lunch.  So we moved on and made a bagel.  Nap time, no problem and she woke up in a great mood.  We head out to music class, all is well, she's great, playful, cute like she normally is. But as soon as class is over, the cuteness stops.  She starts acting up again and so we head home.  I get her home and start dinner, I give her a glass of milk and when she's done with it, she tosses the glass, yes it's glass not plastic, onto the floor.  This is the second glass in 3 days that she's broken.  I know some of it's my fault because I give her glass and not plastic, but she's never broken them before and has been pretty good about handling breakables.  And I'm kind of a stickler for table manners and "real" dishes.   But I almost lost my cool again and had to take a moment.  Turbo tried to eat the glass on the floor- she thought it was food, poor thing is blind and deaf.  So I had to work quickly, and in the meantime E is trying to get out of her high chair whining for yogurt.  I love E with all my heart but when she whines, I want to run from the house screaming!  So I'm on the floor, with bare feet, we have a no shoes policy in the house, cleaning up glass trying to get Turbo to stop going after the glass and having E shout for yogurt.  Hmm, did I mention I'm going to Miami alone in November.  Glass cleaned up, no blood, and I hand E a yogurt. I turn to get a napkin and when I turned back around E has poured the yogurt into her lap. I take the yogurt and walk into the dining room and sit down.  Of course J's on a jog.  Not that he shouldn't be, he worked all day and has been working non stop, but I need a break!! Seriously!  Of course E still wants some yogurt, so I get her another and sit with her.  I thought about not letting her have another but if she doesn't have a full belly she won't sleep through the night.  I loose either way. I sit down with her and she says sorry again and gives me a nice messy hug, I'm a total sucker.  She finishes without incident and we head up for a very fun bath time.  Oh, I almost forgot the best part!  Just before we get into the bath she asks to sit on the potty. She sits a few times and 'toots' but the last go she does a little poo!!! So proud!  After bath we settle in to read some books, about halfway through she says she needs to use the potty again.  After such a long day I kinda just wanted to get her into bed, so I asked if she really needs to go and she says yes.  So off with the pj's and diaper and another go on the potty, and she peed!!  I was so proud, again!! And she played it so cool, like, 'no biggie mom, let's get back to the book.'  So back to The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss.  We finish up with My Friends by Taro Gomi, one of her favorites.  A little nurse and then she asks for the crib. A kiss and then off to bed.  Phew!! I think we are officially entering "The Two's".  I think I'll earn every wrinkle....

Another Day another Poo!

So I woke up today with a list of things that I had to get done that seemed pretty impossible.  And Turbo had other plans for me from the start.  J left for a shoot at 6 am and I thought I would get an early start as well.  So I'm up showered and dressed by 7:30 am. E's still asleep.  So I head downstairs and lo and behold  Turbo, asleep in another pile of poo!! Seriously she's never down this- and now twice within 7 days!!! I took a deep breath, grabbed some gloves and cleaning supplies and dug in.  Of course E wakes up as I'm just getting started.  So I had to make an executive decision and finish with the clean up- but I decided to wait on Turbo's bath since she was waiting outside.  15 minutes later I'm pretty much done- I have the clean up down to a science.  Off to pick up E- who is particularly upset at the wait she's endured.  Kay- our sitter comes in and takes E so I can head outside to give Turbo her second bath in less than 7 days.  At least she smells great.  Among my items 'to do' today are finishing guest gift baskets for our friends wedding.  For some reason I love going out and thinking of and buying items that I think people from out of town would enjoy.  Since I was only making 4 I could think a little bit bigger.  I snuck in a little item from the movie J did- not exactly high brow but I thought it would be fun for people to open up and think WTF?  The rest just items like tissues, Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies(the best), lotion, body wash, mints, lollipops, water, granola bars, gum, Emergen-C, Airborne, Chapstick, organic anti-bacterial wipes (no super germs please)... you get the idea!

In between runs to the Slope, Fairway and Ikea I chatted with a few neighbors.  We are finally getting an Italian Food restaurant and I can't tell you how excited I am!! Our nabe is great but like I mentioned before we lack a few things- one major thing is restaurants! So I spoke with a neighbor of ours who writes really great cook books and thought he'd know some good chefs to head up the new place.  I am also trying to get a Whole Foods to come into our neck of the woods!!  So I harassed another neighbor who has been here for a while and knows the ropes and he also happens to be in real estate.  I ended the day pretty late- but almost got everything done. Tomorrow another day of school for E- hopefully we won't be late again!  Then we get some house guests for the weekend, off to the wedding on Saturday and prepare for J to be gone for another week of work.  Even thinking of the weekend feels like a blink. Oh to be at the beach again!  At this rate the year will fly by and it will be summer again before I know it!

Is Monday over already!

So this weekend flew by!  Brunches, a ton of birthday parties with more to come.  Husband returns oh wait he's in his office working so kinda sorta not really.  Someone's gotta do it, so thanks honey!  I think I broke my foot.  I'm only half joking.  I fell off a step directly onto the side of my foot early last week.  I thought it was getting better but for the past three days putting weight on it makes the whole thing feel numb.  Hopefully I'll get around to getting an X-Ray this week- not like they can do anything for a broken foot so maybe I won't and instead use the 5 hours I would have to wait in an ER to get a manicure and take a nap. I finally booked my trip to Miami- my first trip away from E since she was born.  I'm so excited and also terrified.  Not really worried about J being able to handle it- more about me being able to handle it.  But I'm going with a friend from VA and I know we are going to have a great time- we always do even if we are stuck in the house with 4 kids- she's a pro!  Tomorrow E has school again and it's a little sad at how excited I am for her.  She just loves it so much I feel like I love it that much.  Last week they did a leaf study so today we went down our block and into the park collecting all sorts of leaves- E is also is addicted to acorns so she picked up a few of those too.  We have a few dozen that she won't let me pitch.  While we were on our stroll E kept saying Bumble Bee.  I finally looked at her doodle pad and saw something that slightly resembled a bumble bee.  For those of you who don't know I have a not so secret fantasy that E is an art prodigy- not from me I can't draw a stick figure.  So far she's drawn a pretty decent duck, a scary looking fish and now this bee.  You be the judge...

I'm not going to go all pageant mom on her.  But maybe she's going to be an amazing artist and show at the MOMA when she's five :)  Or maybe she'll just have awesome some doodles. I'll love her either way;)

Ah, what a beautiful day!

This morning I awoke with beautiful sunshine peeking into a corner of my room.  When I actually opened up my eyes I saw not a cloud in the sky, just blue.  I've always  liked to lay in bed for a while to just think- thankfully E doesn't get up until 30-40 minutes after I do- yes I'm blessed and should never complain about anything ever.  This morning I thought about the blog and why I'm doing it and what I have to say, and why in the world would anyone besides me ever care.  And really I didn't have a good answer.  In fact, I'm pretty terrified that there would be someone else who would read this and pass some sort of judgement.  Secretly I care way to much about what other people think- one of my many flaws.  I'll get back to this later but for now- more about the morning.  E woke up a few minutes later and said, "I want mommy."  Pretty good sentence for not even 2 years old!  She's always happy in the morning.  I went into her room and picked her up and then back into my room for our morning nurse, yes I'm still nursing and will continue to nurse(thank you to G's doctor for the phrasing).  That's one topic I really don't care if people pass judgement on. Besides I live in Brooklyn as some mother told me at the playground the other day- no one cares.  So E likes to play in our bed- throwing pillows and flopping around.  Since J's still gone we send him a morning picture.  E's always been obsessed with my iPhone and taking pictures has become increasingly difficult- so the one this morning was of her sobbing because she wanted to play with my phone.  Still pretty cute.

We can't lay about for too long because the dogs have to go out first thing or I will pay dearly.  Oops!  Too late!  The picture perfect morning was abruptly halted when I stepped into the kitchen- first welcomed by the all too familiar smell of dog poo, followed by the image of Turbo- the 14 year old Aussie- happily asleep in a pile of her own poo and pee.  We've managed to curb these accidents in the house by walking the dogs very very very late.  But being alone, and sick last night I just couldn't do it- so I guess this is all technically my fault:(  Then on to cleaning up this shitty mess.   I kick Turbo out in the back yard to await her bath.  Lock E out of the kitchen grab a nice big roll of Bounty paper towels- we used to use the recycled ones but they just don't cut it-sorry trees, then some 7th generation multi surface cleaner and then when it's all done I sprinkle a little bit of good old fashioned bleach (it is the kitchen floor I'm cleaning) and do the finalwipe down.  Normally I much more stressed out about this happening but today I wasn't.  Then off to the back yard to give Turbo and bath (thank god we had a hot water pipe brought outside or poor Turbo would've been an icicle.)  That was nice and quick and then the whole family, including E's mama and baby fox in their mini stroller out for a walk.  And it wasn't even 8:30 am. 

I have kind of an issue with wanting E to eat first thing and the only thing she'll eat consistently are pancakes (smart girl she's trained me well).  So we both have some pancakes- of course the pancake situation is not doing me any favors.  And then a very nice surprise call from my friend who just moved to our nabe- so excited.  They have a little girl about 6 months older than E.  So they walked over and the girls played- I love having play dates at our place because you can actually talk to the other mom!  At the playground you just watch like a hawk to make sure your child hasn't a) been abducted b) broken their neck or  c) broken any other child's neck. So it was really nice and I can't wait for this to be a regular thing.  But I didn't get E down for her nap early like I planned so I'm pretty sure we will miss one of the birthday parties today- no sweat there will be others.  Today is just too nice to be worried about anything.  Which is a welcome change from my norm.   J will be home today- I think he had a pretty tough week so we'll probably just stay home and actually that's pretty much what I like doing these days- yep I'm getting old and I kinda like it.

Walk around the Block

 So today E decided that we would walk the other way around the block for the dogs evening stroll. I wasn't too sure how far we would actually get since Turbo is on her last leg.  When she stops to take a pee or poop I have to make sure she's properly perched on her front legs or else she'll fall in her, we'll you get the picture, and it's not pretty.  She's 14 years old and every morning I fear I'll walk into the kitchen and find her dead.  Actually I guess that's not such a bad way for her to go.  But back to the walk.  So we head towards Flatbush rather then Bedford, which is our regular route.  E's pushing her stuffed fox in her baby sized stroller.  E is in the phase of stopping and waving at everyone we pass on the street so to go a few feet takes quite a bit of time.  Much to Sampson's dismay.  By the time we got around to the next block 35 minutes had already passed. One good thing (and there and many not so good things I'm sure I'll share in the future) about our new nabe is that it is really friendly- much friendlier than our old one. About half way down the block some kids were playing on the stoop- and their mom was hanging out with them.  E wanted to play with them, even though they were much older. As the mom and I start talking E started to infiltrate the older kids and then of course didn't want to leave but I guess that's the almost 2 year old will developing.  I chatted with my neighbor for about 45 minutes and by the time I got the herd home it was basically E's bed time.  I'm not too good with getting her to bed on time these days but I'm willing to forgive myself for that.  Next challenge getting her to eat.  Yes, she's one of those.  Actually that's not really fair, sometimes she eats and ton and other times I have to hold my breath and pray that she will not refuse the buffet I end up making her in hopes she eats something.  So yesterday I made a veggie lasagna, E's a pescetarian too for now, and we talked about her eating it for dinner on our 2 hour walk around the block.  So I heated it up, cut it up and served it up- and of course it was refused.  She wanted yogurt, except not, then raviolis- seriously how different is this from lasagna? But of course I jumped through another hoop in hopes that she would eat something.  The raviolis did it, then she asked for oranges- which I'm out of because she ate 7 yesterday! I saved the night by having a really ripe pear on hand.  Then onto a yogurt, we finished the night with some dancing and a bath.  When we headed to the bath she kept asking for her buddy that we vacationed with at the beach- so cute to think of her thinking of her little friends! This weekend J will come back- it's been a tough week being a single parent and getting over a cold, but I'm on the mend and tonight I'm catching up on Project Runway- J will be so happy he doesn't have to sit through this.  Tomorrow a birthday party and then two more on Sunday- now that E's really into her little buddies it should be so much fun to watch her socialize.