Soccer Life

Lucy just finished her very first season of soccer. It was a rec league through our city, which teamed up girls from the same school together. Consequently, no other kindergarten girls from Lucy's school signed up, so she got to meet some new friends from other schools instead!

The season was only 6 weeks long, with a total of 8 games. There were only 3 teams of kindergarten girls, so we played the same 2 teams all season. Lucy had a lot of fun and made friends easily. She started of the season pretty tentatively, but definitely learned a few things along the way and had a little more contact with the ball as the season went on. It's so fun watching girls at this age, most just learning the game, and a few standouts with older siblings who know what they're doing. :) Most often they all cluster around the ball, too polite to really get in there and starting kicking. Towards the end of the season they were catching on a bit more to defense, and realizing it was OK to stand outside the cluster and wait for the ball to come out. Lucy scored her first goal this way, in the last game! The ball popped out and she was on the outside, and took it in for a goal! She loves to do goal kicks and has a wicked little leg on her. The coach made a few comments about it throughout the season. She liked it and says she'd like to play again, so we'll sign her up for spring league.

As a new "soccer mom," I enjoyed myself immensely. I really loved seeing how the girls grew throughout the season, and liked spending time outside and seeing the same faces week to week. We were lucky to have a very mild fall weather-wise...only one week did I need to bring a blanket to keep me warm!

Turns out we picked up some soccer skills and a new friend...Lucy and the coach's daughter got along great and we've already lined up a play date. I'm loving feeling part of this community!

"The Cluster"

Like a boss.

We had out-of-state spectators!

Keepin' it casual.

Run, Forest, run!

"Go, Grasshoppers!"

"What, are we playing?"

Kickin' machine.

The team, minus one.

Soccer Sweetie!

Bang, Bang

Isn't she cute? But what made us decide to give her BANGS?!

It wasn't really by choice. It was a small force of nature called Lucy Laabs.

She cut her own hair. Quite short. In the front. Sigh.

You may recall this happened last summer, but we were lucky enough that it didn't really affect her coiffe too much. This time, it was on my watch. She was happily crafting lastnight; kind of doing her own thing. We were in the same room. She climbed up on the couch and promptly fell asleep. I carried her to her bed, and didn't notice a thing until this morning.

She had no explanation, and I found the scissors and hair under her desk.

I was fretting over it as we dressed for church, and Husband was telling me it was bothering me more than it bothered Lucy. Well, of course. There is one piece, right in the middle, that she cut very close to the scalp. We're talking buzz cut territory. I was quite wrapped up in what I was going to do to try and make it look better.

We got to church and at the start of the service, this prayer:

God of forgiving grace,
We are not always patient to wait for your words and your actions in our lives.
We whine and complain and we try to control those things which are out of our control...

I chuckled to myself.

There was nothing I could do about it but take her to a stylist and see about options. Turns out, the only option was bangs. This will allow the short pieces to grow out while somewhat covering them up.

It's cute, but it's going to take some getting used to. Lucy has already said she wants her hair off her forehead... which I guess is a good physical reminder of why she shouldn't do this again.

Because certainly, I don't want to test the theory of "third time is a charm."

'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten...

The backpack is packed, the outfit is laid out, and the child is asleep. Tomorrow is the big day, and I've had bits and pieces of this blog roaming around in my head for a few weeks, and now I've finally reached the point (and summoned the courage) to write them down.

The past couple of weeks I've been off. Stressed, tired, cranky, emotional. As the end of the month loomed nearer, I grew more anxious. Kindergarten was coming.

All summer long I think I was in some sort of denial. It was still far away. I did all of the required things - filled out the forms, bought the school supplies. But it still wasn't here - just one of those things in the far-off distance.

Don't get me wrong, I want Lucy to go. She needs to go - she's beyond ready. I'm so very excited for her to experience new people, a new place, new things, new ways of learning. She's going to grow and learn so much socially and intellectually in this year.

Yes, my little girl is growing up, and there's nothing I can do about it. Time has gone by so, so fast...I mean, how the hell did we get from this:

to this:

to THIS, in such a short time?

Sigh. Heavy sigh, heavy heart. It's this weight I've been feeling. This is my baby. We're not having anymore kids, this is my only shot. They say the first five years of a child's life are the most impressionable. Did we do it right? This step into kindergarten is a big leap away from us. This is the point at which outside influences become much stronger, and from now on it will stay that way. Does she know what she needs to know? She doesn't know how to read, should I have pushed that more? Am I a bad mom because I didn't spend the summer practicing writing her name in lower case letters?  As if that isn't enough to worry about, my email inbox and Facebook feed has been full of back-to-school parenting articles like "10 Signs Your Kid is the Class Bully," and "Your 5-year-old: Brave New World," and "Keeping Your Young Daughter Body-Positive." Too. much. information. Then I got a reality check.

The other day in the car, out of the blue Lucy told me she was worried if the teacher gave her a paper with a line on it to cut, that she couldn't cut straight. "Mama, what happens if I can't cut straight?" Bless her little heart, this is the biggest thing she's worrying about, that she might get kicked out of kindergarten or get in trouble if she can't cut straight. So we talked about three important things to remember for kindergarten:

1) Try your best.
2) Be kind.
3) Be respectful.

That's all I can ask of her, and that's all I can ask of myself. I took last Friday off, and we had orientation today so it was a nice 5-day hiatus. I had some time to think. I also had some time to be fully immersed in my daughter's imagination, creativity, sass, and overall awesomeness.

You guys, she's going to be fine. We did fine (and it's not like we're done!) And you know what? Things are going to happen. Life happens. She's going to cry, she's going to be made fun of, she's going to get hurt. I can only hope we've given her the tools to dust herself off and try again. As if I needed some extra reassurance, today at orientation when it was time for the kids to separate from the parents and go outside with the paraprofessional, she charged forward with an eager smile and never looked back. I thought maybe something like that might make me feel sad, but it didn't. I felt proud. I felt reassured.

I love this child to the moon and back, and it's time to let her go just a little bit. I'm not saying I won't shed a tear tomorrow, I might. But I know she's going to rock it. As of tonight, Lucy is pretty confident she will, too. Check out her thoughts on kindergarten here.

Knock 'em dead, kid.

You Think We'd Learn...

You might recall this experience (scroll all the way down...)

This morning, poor Dad was just trying to wake the girl up with a cheerful little Woodstock Christmas toy.

Backfire.

(Click image to view larger)

 

Good news - we can't even find where it was cut. No harm done (just to Husband's pride). I love him for trying. He is a morning person surrounded by non-morning persons!

Everybody Needs Mom

I will preface this post by saying that last week was a long week. I was really looking forward to the weekend to catch up on laundry, Christmas shopping, and oh yeah - SLEEP.

What I neglected to mention in my last post was that Saturday morning, Husband woke up with a sore throat and feeling generally crummy, so he skipped out on the Christmas activities. So Lucy and I had a busy morning as chronicled, after which I ran her up to my sister-in-law's house to spend a few hours while I attended an important event with Brandon. Both Husband and I were supposed to go, but he still wasn't feeling well enough.

After spending the time with Brandon, I went back to pick up Lucy, and on returning to my car realized I had a voice mail. The message was from an Emergency Room nurse telling me my husband was there, but not telling me why. 

So...I dropped Lucy off at home with Brandon, and headed to the hospital to find Husband. A couple of hours later he was released, diagnosed with a bad case of strep and some other complications for which they gave him four different prescriptions. I had run back home to get Lucy and Brandon in the meantime, so Brandon drove Husband and his car home, while Lucy and I went to the pharmacy to pick up the meds. Turns out, the Target pharmacy closes at 6PM on Saturdays, and it was 6:30. Everywhere else was closed. We picked up a few other things and headed home, exhausted. 

Sunday morning was moving along pretty regularly. Lucy and I attended church and Sunday school, and then hustled home so I could finally go pick up Husband's prescriptions. The pharmacy opened at 9AM, but we had to be to church by then, because our family was scheduled to light the Advent candles. This involves one person reading a passage while the other lights the candles (and the kids observe). So, absent my husband, I had to read and then the light the candles, causing a moment of awkward silence with all congregational eyes on me and my daughter. 

Then, after Sunday School which I taught, back to home to drop Lucy off, and left again for the Target pharmacy. When I returned, she was sleeping and had been doing so for about an hour. I took the opportunity to do a little work (in hindsight, I should have napped!) since I had intended to go in that afternoon with Lucy in tow, but had already decided against it because of the weather. At around 3:30, Lucy finally woke up. I didn't think too much of the 3+ hour nap, as we'd had a busy day on Saturday. But as she was eating a snack, she complained her throat hurt. I grabbed a flashlight and took a look...and it didn't look good. 

Target Clinic was closing at 4PM, but I found a CVS Minute Clinic that was open until 5:30. We slipped and slid through the snow and slush to get there at 4:30PM, only to find the kiosk outside of the doors housing a nurse practitioner AND a doctor indicated they weren't letting any other patients sign in. There were three people ahead of us, and they didn't think they could get done with those by closing time. By this time I was getting pretty frustrated.

ALL I NEEDED WAS A THROAT SWAB AND A PRESCRIPTION.

My remaining (more expensive) option was Urgent Care at our usual clinic, which was open until 5:00. Luckily it was nearby, but I was cutting it close by arriving at 4:55. It was not too busy, and they were very accommodating. We got in to see a nurse pretty quickly, and then the doctor to confirm indeed, Lucy had strep. I was offered the usual course of antibiotics, or a one-time penicillin shot. Since I wasn't sure if I could actually get anywhere to pick up meds, the shot appealed to me...but certainly not to Lucy. As suspected, she freaked. I had to bribe her with a shake and a stuffed animal. After the shot, we had to wait 20 more minutes to make sure she didn't have a reaction to the penicillin. 

You got all that? We're now at about 6:20 on Sunday night. Thankfully, Husband had ordered pizza for supper so we didn't have to think about what to cook. I got the little one showered and to bed, and tried to make up some of the lost work hours I knew I needed to get in to not make Monday horrible. Which means nothing got done around this house that needed to get done.

Newsflash, Monday (today) was still horrible. I didn't get home until after 9PM and tomorrow I have a night meeting, and Wednesday night an event...

Everybody needs Mom, and Mom is TIRED. 

The irony? It was the annual Ladies' Spa Weekend at Grandview Lodge this weekend. For many reasons, I opted not to go this year. For many of those same reasons, this year I probably needed it the most.

If I can just make it to the end of the week, then perhaps I will get to sleep. Mmmm, sleeeeeeep....and PLEASE, don't let me or anyone else get sick!

For Those of You Who Think She's Always Happy...

All this because Daddy said "no" to ice cream.

The Games We Play

Tonight Lucy wanted to play a game before dinner. She chose "Hi-Ho Cherry-O," but when I opened the box, we discovered all the little pieces were missing. I had suspected this, because I have been finding little plastic fruits around everywhere, and have been after her about putting things away in the right place. She apologized and said she would do better. So we opened up another game, and inside that box, we found 2 wiffle balls and some foam letter stickers.

Sigh.

Summer Weekend Warriors 8/29: Des Moines (Part 1)

This long holiday weekend was so packed I have to split it into 2 parts!

Friday afternoon, Lucy and I headed to Des Moines for our annual get-together with some of my high school/college girlfriends and their kids. 14 kids and 6 moms, are we prolific or what? Kids ages 10 years to 5 weeks old. I think this might be it, but you never can tell with this bunch!

As you might imagine, this photo is nearly impossible to take...

Aside from the 4-hour drive down being one of the longest of my life due to constant (and repeated) questions from an excited 4-year-old whose Daddy had let her nap for an hour already that day, it was a fabulous trip. We spent Friday night in Newton with friends Amy and Broc and their two boys. Lucy enjoyed playing with light sabers and of course their dog, Gus.

Goofing around before bed.

This old boy is 13 years young!

Saturday morning we headed to Des Moines to meet up with everyone else at Monkey Joe's, a bounce house place. It was just too darn hot and humid to try and do anything outside, so this seemed like a good alternative. It was pretty loud in there, but the kids seemed to enjoy it and the moms got to catch up a little bit.

I'm pretty sure my kid was one of the reasons the staff kept coming on the  PA system
to remind kids they were supposed to go down the slides "feet first."

(Semi-) managed chaos!

After bouncing, we went to a nearby restaurant where we had a separate room reserved to have lunch and let the kids run around. Dana and her crew brought along some fun activities for the kids. The mustaches were especially entertaining!

Just look at this crew! And that's not even all of them!

Guess I'll be teaching my daughter the fine art of
waxing the upper lip sooner than I thought...

Lucy was quite at home with the dress-ups!

Saturday night was spent with the Houghtons, and more fun ensued...

The kids put on a show and even made tickets and wristbands.

Ironman and two princesses. I'm still not sure what the plot was,
but there was a lot of dancing so that was OK with me.

Gardening in PJs/princess attire

 Girls, we really must try to get a picture of all of US, and not just all of our kids. I only got 1/3 of us in a photo. Next time - was great seeing you all!

Adventures in Hair Cutting

It’s inevitable, isn’t it? At one point or another, it seems every kid takes a run at cutting their own hair, or is a client to another kid with a pair of scissors.

When I came back from my girls weekend last Sunday, something about Lucy looked different. It took me a minute, but then I realized there was a chunk of hair near the front that was distinctly shorter than the rest. After patiently growing her hair out to all one length, she now had a semblance of bangs.

I asked if Daddy took her to get her hair cut, and she said no. I asked her if she cut her own hair. Another no, along with “somebody else did it.” When I asked by whom and where, she indicated it happened at school, by a girl who is not there in the summertime. Eventually she admitted that she did it, but refused to tell me anything else.

I let it go but this past weekend while she was playing at Grandpa’s, I caught her unaware and prodded further.

“Lucy, did you cut your hair?”

“Yes.”

“Where were you when you did it?”

“At home, in front of the TV.”

“Where was Daddy?”

“Downstairs.”

“Where did you put the hair that you cut off?”

And she says, without hesitation, like it’s totally obvious, “behind the TV.”

Sure enough, when I stopped at home later, there was in fact a shock of golden locks behind the boob tube!

It actually doesn’t look that bad, but for the fact it was only on one side of her part. But she took care of that, too…

The other night she was playing with her Zsu Zsu pet, which for those of you unfamiliar with the world of toys, is a small furry hamster-thingy that rolls around of four wheels and spins around, etc. (drives the dog nuts). We were downstairs and she was standing right in front of my chair, but I was distracted with something else when I heard, “Mommy!” I turn my head, and she has the Zsu-Zsu pet tangled up in her hair.

I cannot make this stuff up.

Yes, I took a picture! Of course this occurred a minute before we were going to Skype with my parents, so I sent them this pic in a text that said, “Need a couple more mins. This just happened.”

No matter how hard we tried, we could not untangle one of the wheels, so we ended up having to dismantle and then just break the thing so we could remove it without cutting her hair. However, when we were done there was still a pretty big chunk that had succumbed to the wheel. Just so happens, it was on the other side of her part. So now she’s got bangs on that side, too.

So we add this to the list of Lucy’s Life Lessons, garnered by direct experience:

1)      Do not put coins in your mouth.

2)      Do not put a Zsu-Zsu pet (or anything with spinning wheels) close to your hair.

More Than a Dog Walk

This is the way Lucy dressed herself to walk the dog the other night:

I have learned, as her parent, not to fight these moments. I could care less what the neighbors might think about her wearing a winter hat and gloves, with her purple socks pulled up under her apple dress, when it's 80 degrees out. Most likely, even if they don't know my daughter (but especially if they do), it will garner a chuckle and a smile. She is who she is, and she ain't hurtin' nobody...though I did draw the line at the snow boots, because I also know her well enough to know if her feet start to hurt, she will stop dead in her tracks and refuse to move.

The walk started out a little rough. It's not easy to hold the hand of a slow-moving preschooler, while also holding the leash of an anxious dog. We live in one of those annoying suburban neighborhoods with no sidewalks, so with two different walking speeds it takes a lot of maneuvering to keep them both in a safe area of the street. This is especially difficult when the girl wants to help walk the dog, who weighs almost twice what she does and could pull her down in two seconds flat at the sight of a squirrel. As I struggled, I thought back to that first summer after she was born, when it was so much easier to hang onto the dog's leash while also having two hands on the bar of the stroller, and take a much longer, faster walk. These days I'm lucky to make it around the block and maybe raise my body temp a few degrees. "I'm not really getting anything out of these walks," I thought.

A little over halfway, the dog tired a bit and we were on a quiet street, so I relinquished the leash. As I watched my little funny girl walking down the street with our pup, I was struck with how big she is getting, and how grown up she seems. And how that summer of 2009 sometimes seems like yesterday and these (almost) four years have gone by so, so fast. 

And I knew in that instant that I am certainly "getting something" out of these walks. 

An Unexpected Easter Surprise

After all of the Easter travel and festivities this weekend, we were looking forward to a quiet SUnday evening at home. This was not meant to be.

Brandon was over and we had just finished eating pizza, and were hanging out downstairs. Lucy was, per typical, traveling between the upstairs and downstairs, dragging various toys and Easter gifts here and there. Just before 8:00 that evening, I heard a call from upstairs – “MOMMY!”

Husband actually went to check on her, but then called me. “She won’t talk to me, she’s just hiding on the couch.” I went up and based on the slightly guilty-looking face, I thought she’d had an accident. He went back downstairs, probably thinking along the same lines. But no. “Mommy,” Lucy said, “I swallowed my money.”

Her money. She had a fistful of coins from an Easter egg and was supposed to be bringing them upstairs to put in her piggy bank. “How many?” I asked calmly. She stuck up one finger. I spotted some coins on the coffee table, and I put them in my hand. “Which one was it?” She pointed. At that point, a little composure was lost. I called down, “She swallowed a quarter!” A quarter. We tried calling a nurse line, but were put on hold and it said I was the third in line. Lucy was saying her throat hurt, so we decided to just take her to the ER.

So we headed to Methodist Hospital and waited almost an hour to get in, and waited a bit more for an x-ray, which showed it was indeed a quarter, and it was stuck in her esophagus. After more waiting, the doctor came in and said it couldn’t stay there, and we had two options: 1) stick a tube down her throat there in the ER, which would be very uncomfortable but quick, in hopes of pushing the coin into her stomach, where it could safely move through the rest of her system. If #1 didn’t work or we didn’t think she would tolerate it, then #2 would be putting her under anesthesia and performing a scope to remove the coin. This option involved a transfer to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, because they didn’t feel comfortable doing the procedure on children at Methodist.

We skeptically elected Option 1, and waited another 45 minutes for the doctor to come back and tell us he didn’t have the right size tube and we’d have to go to Children’s anyway. Then another very frustrating 45 minutes to get all the paperwork for discharge and transfer. Meanwhile, Lucy was generally OK, but every once in a while would get really agitated and cry, “it hurts!” In one way we were relieved because it seemed the ER doctor was uncomfortable and inexperienced in doing the procedure in the first place, but we were also frustrated at having been there so long with no solution.

So, with already over 3 hours under our belts at Methodist, we were headed to another ER. At Children’s we had to wait again, explain everything again (tell me what is the point of a transfer?!) and then finally got back to where somebody could help us. We saw the actual doctor pretty quickly, and got in for another x-ray to determine if the offending coin had moved. No such luck. So we were back to Option 1. They explained everything to us, and we felt we were in very capable hands. So we waited a bit longer until they were all ready to go. This was taken about 12:45AM:

The doctor came back in with an EMT who was there to gently “bear hug” our Lucy and hold her down while the dirty work took place. Then they stuck about 20-25 inches of a rubber hose down our girl’s esophagus, with only a little spray anesthetic to numb things in the back of her throat. She had to be awake to basically gag repeatedly and get the hose down. It was not pleasant for any of us, trust me. It was quick, but we weren’t sure if it worked because Lucy threw up a little bit, and the doctor couldn’t get the hose down as far as she thought she should for fear of tearing her esophagus by forcing against the constricting. Only another x-ray could tell, but after the initial shock wore off we could tell Lucy felt better, so we were hopeful. Sure enough, the next x-ray revealed the coin had moved to her stomach. WHEW! It was 2:00AM and we could finally go home!

We’re all a little tired today, but Lucy is good. She slept in this morning but did go to school a little later and is eating, drinking, and playing just fine. It’s likely the sewer system will be $0.25 richer within the next couple of days, but we’ll go have another x-ray in a week or so just to be sure.

There have been plenty of quips about only giving dollar bills in the Easter eggs next year, and we’ve had a few conversations about only putting food and beverages in our mouth from now on. After her first x-ray, the tech gave her a little stuffed bunny. She decided to name him “Quarter” to commemorate the experience. This will certainly be one of those “remember that Easter when…” or “Lucy’s first ER visit was…” stories.

For posterity, here's Lucy's take on the evening.

3.5

Our little lady is now 3 1/2 years old...and boy, did we work hard in this half! I would challenge the "terrible twos" claim and tell you that 3, so far, has been MUCH more challenging. Lucy is very independent, and very smart. A deadly combination. She is working overtime to test limits and learn which buttons to push, and I admit, mine are sometimes very easily pushed. Especially my patience button. Getting this girl out the door in the morning has at times reduced me to tears. I feel like it takes her 5 times longer than any reasonable small person to do something. She easily (and purposefully?) gets distracted. "I want this! No, I want that!" Tears. Tantrums. "You're not my friend." Hiding from me. Refusing to stand up. SIGH...



But what gets me through those times is the good stuff, and there is plenty of that! There are days when she is simply delightful. There is no other word for it. So funny, so smart, so creative, so FUN! She is learning so much about the world and has questions about EVERYTHING. She spins her own stories using bits and pieces of anything we happened to be talking about the past few days, combined with things we did a year ago, sprinkled with things from school. She loves to talk, which is sometimes exhausting...but also fascinating. I love how her mind works, and seeing the look on her face when she makes a new revelation is priceless. She's very expressive and her facial expressions are sometimes quite hilarious.

During the winter we like to keep Lucy active, so she's got a lot going on. She was able to start Sunday School this fall, which has been very fun for her and for me, as I am one of her teachers. :) She is enrolled in dance class and swimming class. Dance class she likes, swimming class she loves. They must be paying off, because she's a strong little girl and can often be found carrying bulky objects up and down the steps! She is still around 40 pounds and has gotten a little taller in the meantime, just over 40 inches or so.

Some of Lucy's favorite things these days are:  talking about babies (lots of pregnant people/new babies in our life right now),  making meals for us ("Jessica, your food is ready!"), creating scenarios with her stuffed animals, leggings ("they're not pants, they're leggings!"), yoga with mom, singing (she has a great little voice), Barbies, breakfast with Daddy and his friends on Saturday morning, anything that has to do with her brother, Super Why, talking to Grandma and Grandpa on Skype, books about Christmas, chasing Buddy, and maybe most of all, art projects.

There are tough days, and it's with a combination of resignation and pride that I admit that part of it is because she's a lot like her mama. :)  The good days are SO good and balance all the rest of it out.  I thank God every day she is our daughter!



Isn't That What I Just Said?

Me: I think you should wear a long-sleeved dress today, because it's cold out.

Lucy: NO! I don't want to! I want short sleeves!

M: Fine. Which dress would you like to wear? This one?

L: NO. [repeat 4 times]

M: How about this one?

L: I want that one.

M: OK, here you g...

L:NO! [unintelligible sobbing/screaming which turns out to be...] I WANT THE ONE WITH LONG SLEEVES! IT'S COLD!

Lessons in parenting once again highlighted by this experience:
1) It's a great idea, if it's theirs.
2) Anything you say will be challenged just for the hell of it.
3) It will take 3X as long to make any decisions or get anything done when there is a preschooler involved.

Shoo

Lastnight (or shall I say this morning), at around 12:30AM when I had been snug in my bed sleeping for about an hour and a half, I was startled awake by shrieking from the bedroom down the hall. This was a little more frantic than "I peed in my bed" so I hopped out of bed and semi-sprinted (as well as one can at that time of night) to Lucy's room.

There she was, sitting on the foot of the bed, sobbing. I'm thinking night terrors, maybe she fell out of bed. "Oh honey," I said, "what's the matter?"

"There's a fly in here!"

Oh, lord. And as if on cue, the bugger swooped right by her head and she ran out into the hallway. She sat on the floor and demanded through her tears, "get it!"

So I trucked to the recycle bin to find something with which to attack, since no Target in the west metro seems to carry a fly swatter. I ended up with an empty box of Shore Lunch, which I folded in half and headed back to the bedroom.

Let me tell you something, trying to swat a fly in the wee hours of the morning without your contacts in is not easy. Not easy at all. I had to squint to even see the thing, and as I was following it with  my eyes, waiting for it to land, it would seem to disappear into thin air. It landed on the window sill and I swore I got it. I was even looking for it on the floor, but then saw it buzz past me. Another time it landed on the slightly open accordion closet door, in the uneven seam that makes it almost impossible to hit. Of course that didn't matter anyway, because I totally missed it.  I was swatting and flailing the air, and growing more frustrated by the second.

Just as I was wondering how on earth I was going to hit this thing, it flew out of the room. This of course prompted Lucy to run back in, and we shut the door. As we lay in her bed, she kept her blanket around her head so only her sad little eyes were peeking out. She was still relatively terrified. We talked about how when we leave the lamp on, if there is a fly in the house, it will want to come and be by the light. So I got her to agree to turn the lamp off, and turn on the ladybug nightlight instead. She took her arms away from her blanket only to place them around my neck and hang on for dear life until she fell asleep.

Oh, my baby. Although I'm damn tired, I'd battle flies to the end of the earth for you.

Mother's Day Mixed Bag

Today was a wonderful, mostly relaxing day...but Lucy had a few surprises in store.

First of all, a very early wake-up call [5:30]. Eventually Husband was able to get her to watch a movie with him and I could go back to bed for awhile. Then at a more reasonable time [8:00], I was gently awakened by "Mommy, we made breakfast for you! Wanna come sit by me?" Very nice.

At church, while Lucy was up for the children's sermon where they were talking about best friends, she blurted out "Nathan is my best friend!" and then later, "my grandma is in heaven with Jesus" which brought tears to our eyes and gave Husband a little gift on this day of missing his mom. What a sweetheart. But then, about 20 minutes later when she would not be quiet during the sermon and I asked her to please talk in a quiet voice, she took my face in her hands and said loud enough for many adjacent rows to hear, "you don't talk to me like that!" So I exercised my right as a mom and toted that belligerent tot right out of the sanctuary.

The rest of the day involved picking out flowers, planting flowers while she was down for a nap, then laying down to take my own nap just in time to hear her call for me. She was up, she was down, she was wild, she was calm...I was frustrated, I was excited, I was angry, I was delighted...

But that's just part of my job description, right?

Happy Mother's Day!

Step Inside My Snow Globe

This morning Lucy and I were heading out of the house to get to daycare. She was being her typical putzy self, and I was being my typical impatient self. Mornings are my most difficult time of day, because it seems that each one is a struggle – she wants pancakes instead of cereal, she doesn’t want to get dressed, she doesn’t want those socks, she didn’t make it to the bathroom in time, she wants a barrette, she doesn’t want a barrette…you get the idea. It takes forever to get out the door, and it is infinitely frustrating.

So back to this morning. We were actually on time heading out the door. A small miracle, so I was determined for it to stay that way. We usually go through the garage, but this morning I had gone to the gym early and just parked my car in the driveway, so we went out the front door. Naturally, Lucy had to inspect everything on the front steps, while I am putting the stuff in the car, trying to hurry her along. It wasn’t happening. She was standing in the yard, looking around, paying no mind.

When I realized she wasn’t budging, I resigned myself to having to trudge up the yard from the driveway and go get her. Time was a-wasting.

As I walked up my gaze fell on the top of the bare lilac bushes, and I spied a flash of red. “Look, Lucy – a cardinal!” She couldn’t spot it, so I crouched down beside her and pointed it out. “It’s a boy one!” she said. We have a male/female pair that visits our yard from time to time, and we had just seen them both the other day and talked about how the red one was a boy and the brown one was a girl (ah, the cruelties of nature…). Lucy continued to look around and said, “Mommy, lookit!” She was pointing up the big ash tree, where I saw a little nuthatch staring at us. He is a frequent visitor to our feeder by the big window. “Cool!” I said. I looked around more myself, and I spotted little chickadees flitting around, and some juncos darting through the bushes. Snow had just started falling – that dizzy sort of snow that seems to float about with no urgency, and lands lightly on you, leaving hardly a trace. Crouching there in the yard at 7:30 in the morning with my daughter, snow falling, birds chirping…it was a rare moment of peace.

There are times I feel like my snow globe is constantly being shaken – always moving, no time, chaos… but it occurred to me that when I take time to just STOP – even for a moment…I notice so much more. Things come alive. I feel more at peace. And you know what? I was five minutes later for work. And the world didn’t end.

Sometimes it takes that same stubborn little girl who frequently shakes it up, to take the globe and SET.IT.DOWN. Take a look around and just be. Thanks again, Lucy.

 

Lucy's First Movie

Tonight we took Lucy on her first movie theater experience to see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. We are great fans of this book at our house, and since our little one has taken an interest in movies lately (and has a decent ability to sit still and hold her bladder), we thought we'd give it a shot.

So how did she do? Really well, I'd say! We made two trips to the bathroom, but both were "productive," so I didn't mind (and was happy she told me). She was surprisingly very interested in the popcorn, and hoarded the bag for most of the show. She may have eaten a little too much though, as she had a bit of a bellyache about 3/4 through and spent the rest of the movie on my lap. She was very interested in the movie and made several (sometimes loud) proclamations as she recognized certain characters or found things funny.


This was before the movie started, and she was saying "Mommy, I really 'ecited'!"
(and hello, can you believe this is a small popcorn?! I had forgotten how nutty the sizes are.)

I thought the movie was great. I was a little worried that because I love the book so much, the movie wouldn't stand up. They are certainly different, but the environmental message carries through and the specific Dr. Seuss phrases and tongue-twisters were featured appropriately. The animation was cute and the music had Lucy bobbing her head. I'd give it a parental thumbs up! I'm sure we'll be owning this one when it comes out on DVD.

Now that we know Lucy can do this, I have to admit, I am excited at the prospect of having an excuse to go see some of these cute animated films!

Sassy Pants

Lucy was so full of gems tonight, I couldn't pass up the opportunity...

M: "Lucy, did you eat all your lunch today?"

L: "You packed onages [oranges]. I don't like those."
_ _ _ _

D: "It's tickle time."

L: "No, it's not tickle time."

D: "Tickle time!"

L: [with a stern look and a hand on his arm] "I said NO, it's NOT."
_ _ _ _

L: "Daddy, Mommy's going to play with me!"

D: "That's nice."

L: "Daddy, go away."

M: "Lucy, that's not very nice!"

L:  "PLEASE go away!"
_ _ _ _

[while playing dress up, she draped a dress over my shoulders]

"You Super Mommy!"
_ _ _ _

M: "Lucy, can I comb your hair out of your eyes?"

L: [with not even a glance my way] "How 'bout not."
_ _ _ _

Halloween Hangover

So yesterday was the big day…Lucy got all warmed up at school with a Halloween party including a magician and fully-costumed toddlers and preschoolers. By the time I got home at 6PM, she was bouncing off the walls and ready to put on her purple butterfly wings and skirt (yes, small girl butterflies have skirts). By the time our first (and only) batch of trick-or-treaters left the front door, she was ready to go trick-or-treating, and I have to say, I was excited too. This was the first year Lucy actually knew what was going on and could trick-or-treat at more houses than just Grandma’s or the one neighbor who turns their light on.

It went pretty well! I pulled her around in the wagon and she got in and out at each house. We live in a suburban neighborhood, no sidewalks, and pretty dark. I forgot to bring a flashlight - rookie mistake - but we were okay. Some houses had lights on, others did not. Quite a few had lights on but just sat a bowl outside, which was a little weird...but I guess if you're out with your own kids, or just don't want to keep getting up to answer the door, it's the way to go. We got to meet a few neighbors which was nice, and several people remarked about how there aren't very many kids who come around anymore. They were just eating up little Lucy in her gold antennae!

I had intended to just go around the block, but was distracted by a well-lit and festively decorated house which led me down a different street. I thought I was following the original plan (did I mention it was dark?) until I started thinking the houses didn't look very familiar. The people were nice though, minus a dummy who saw my two-year-old daughter walking up the driveway and put on a wolf mask to open the door. Luckily her freakout was limited to burying her head in my leg and standing there frozen for a minute until he took it off. I can appreciate getting into the Halloween spirit, but geez!

So we finished our beggaring of the previously unexplored street, we got to the cul-de-sac at the end and turned around, finding our way back to the original route. By then it was getting close to bedtime so we bypassed the remaining lights and headed home. She was awfully quiet so I stopped to check if she had fallen asleep, but she was wide awake - had just stuffed her mouth with a Snickers bar, bitten through the wrapper!

Our last trick-or-treat was to Daddy at home, then she sat down and examined her haul. One house gave a whole plastic baggie full of treats plus a bag of chips, and even gave a candy bag to the parents! Otherwise it was pretty standard fare, and her most prized treasure was a yellow rubber spider.

She loved dressing up and wanted to wear her costume to bed. I got her down to the pants and shirt (wings are hard to sleep in, after all) and she finally zonked out. Halloween had come to a close.

Or had it? Around 4AM, I heard cries and entered her room to find her sitting up in her bed, big tears running down her face, accompanied by sobs of  "I wanna put my skirt back on!" So I put the sparkly skirt back on, and snuggled up next to my little butterfly.

Happy Halloween to you all!

Toddlers and Target

Tonight I was home from work a little earlier than usual, Daddy headed to softball, and around 6:15 Lucy and I headed to Target to grab a few things. The trip was a mixed bag, but in hindsight, fairly typical. Let me walk you through it:

I parked the car and got her out; she wanted to walk so I let her, saying she had to be a good girl and hold Mommy's hand in the parking lot. There was no hand-holding, and we stopped 3 times to inspect shiny things (garbage) on the ground.

No big deal. She is 2, after all. Patience, Mama.

We burst through the automatic doors, Lucy moving in a way that is not really walking, not really skipping, but somewhere in between. Swishing in the sparkly skirt she insisted on wearing today, and singing a song from her new daycare, "Lucy's here today. Lucy's here today. Yaaaayyyy, Lucy!!" which garnered smiles and a "that is SO adorable!" from fellow customers.

Yep, she is pretty adorable...

She played with the gift registry computers while I returned something, then we got a cart and continued on our way. She still wanted to walk and did OK until we got to the kids clothing section, where she started pulling toddler-sized plaid shirts off the racks. I patiently put them back, and she continued to walk while we picked out wipes and diaper cream. At this point, she became obsessed with the baby pacifiers and would not put them back on the shelf. In the cart she went, and she was not happy about it. She stopped crying but then started chewing on the side of the cart (eww), because I told her not to.

OK, patience getting a little thin now.

I bribed her by going through a few toy aisles. Heard a lot of "I touch this one!" and "This is Lucy's" but she was still OK and we made it through without anything in the cart, or any fits.

Score, crisis averted.

About this time, I started asking her to "talk in a quiet voice." My daughter talks a lot; (like, constantly) and there is something about being in a store that makes her almost yell while she's doing it. My requests did not matter, of course; and her yelling turned into protests when we grabbed a bag of M&Ms (her pee-in-the-potty treats) and I would not let her chew on the bag.

Temperature rising again...

Somehow her attention was re-directed to something else, and we picked up a few more things. We were in the garbage bag aisle when she started chewing on the M&M bag again, standing in the cart, and everything coming out of her mouth was a whine. I warned her several times that we would put the bag back if she didn't sit down and talk nice. It continued, so I took the bag and put it on the shelf and walked away. WATERWORKS. The kid screamed as if I had just beat her.

Must...stay...calm...

I told her when she stopped crying and sat down, we could go back and get the M&Ms. I turned the corner into the next aisle and it was like a volcano erupted. "MY M&Ms ARE OVER THERE!!" I reminded her again of the required actions. She sat down, but she continued to scream. I crouched down at got at her eye level. She quieted down. I counted to 10. She made it. We returned to the next aisle and retrieved the M&Ms.

Thank you God, for allowing me to remain calm. And for nobody else being in those aisles.

The rest of our shopping was fairly uneventful. She was pleasant, and put the items on the counter for the cashier. She rode in the cart and got in the car seat with no protest. She asked nicely for a cookie and I gave it to her. She said "thank you." I smiled.

She can be a very good girl.

As I was on the entrance ramp to the interstate, there was a calamity in the backseat. There was cookie on her chin, and this was a travesty. Tears and demands to wipe it off ensued. I could not wipe it off, as interstate driving preferably requires two hands. This was not acceptable.

Sigh.

So that was one hour. This parenting of toddlers, it's not for the weak of heart.