Sometimes it is so hard to be 2 years old.
I woke up this morning, ready to play, but not remembering how tired and behind in my sleep I am. I managed to hold it together through breakfast and some playing with Mom, then I became incredibly sleepy and wet my pants, I mean full-out peed in my shoes, for the first time since I can remember. I swear, I just couldn't get the words out in time. After having a bath at 9:30 am, I felt quite ready for lunch, so I ate my leftover chicken and fries and let mom put me down for a nap.
This was all fine, except I awoke at 11 am with no intention of resting at all for the remainder of the day. Instead, I just felt like crying about everything. Mom got mad at me for my continuous crying, and that just made me feel worse, so I cried more. And louder.
Finally, around 3pm, mom said we could go to the Y. Something about she needed just 30 minutes to herself with no one demanding anything from her...? Anyhoo, we got there and my frazzled mom realized that the kids' room re-opens at FOUR, not one o' clock as she had thought, so I didn't get to play with the kids and Miss Keisha, instead, I had to go to the grocery store.
However, things seemed to be turning around. For once, there was a race car cart available and mom let me ride in it. We got all the things I like: bananas, cereal bars, yogurt, and then mom said we could go to Sam's. I love that place! Today we got to try some brownies and ice cream. Good trip.
When we came out of Sam's, the sun had finally come out and Mommy and I both felt we could make it until Dad came home, and ultimately, bed time. When Daddy came home, he wanted to ride bikes with me, hooray! Mommy said she had work to do (?) so she didn't come, but I rode my bike and Daddy walked to my pretend church around the corner where the sidewalk ends. I got off my bike, took off my helmet, folded my hands and sang, "Jesus Loves Me" and said Peace to all the pretend people. Then, I went up for a blessing and a mean, horrible, stupid BEE stung me on the eye. THAT HURT!
By the time Dad ran me back home and Mommy gave me 2 kinds of medicine, I just wanted this day to be over. I ate a little bit, cried some more, and finally went to sleep. Tomorrow just has to be better.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Greener grass?
Sorry to shock anyone, but being a part-time-contract-work-from-home-stay-at-home-mom is MUCH more physically demanding than going to an office job all day. When I worked out of the home all day I got to sit on my derriere most of the day, eat and drink whenever it was convenient for me, and rarely had to bathe someone in the middle of the day because that person had eaten too many mandarin oranges the day before.
Yesterday, for example, my schedule may have sounded simple: do normal Ainslie things, stop by Robert Morris to pick up books and syllabi, be on a conference call at 9:30, work while Ainslie naps. OK...
Get up at 6. Take care of hyperactive blind diabetic Labrador. Put contacts in, along with workout clothes that I did not get to put to use. Get Ainslie out of bed, juiced, fed. Bring laptop downstairs. Create a play-doh station, coloring station, and put in a dvd to facilitate me being on the phone. Participate in conference call, explaining that the noise in the background is Disney's Cinderella.
Wait for client to send documents. Download them, while wrestling Ainslie into clothes. Change my clothes, realizing the dream of working out today is just that.
Go to Robert Morris. Become secretly mortified that my new boss-to-be (who is thankfully a grandmother) is pushing Ainslie around in an office chair to occupy her. Run to packing place to fax back a contract. Get home, feed Ainslie lunch, put her down for a nap, sit down to work. Wish I could take a nap.
I'm not complaining; I feel very, very lucky that I am able to earn some decent money doing things I am actually educated to do and still get to spend so much time with Ainslie. I'm just setting the record straight. Physically, working outside of the home is less demanding.
Yesterday, for example, my schedule may have sounded simple: do normal Ainslie things, stop by Robert Morris to pick up books and syllabi, be on a conference call at 9:30, work while Ainslie naps. OK...
Get up at 6. Take care of hyperactive blind diabetic Labrador. Put contacts in, along with workout clothes that I did not get to put to use. Get Ainslie out of bed, juiced, fed. Bring laptop downstairs. Create a play-doh station, coloring station, and put in a dvd to facilitate me being on the phone. Participate in conference call, explaining that the noise in the background is Disney's Cinderella.
Wait for client to send documents. Download them, while wrestling Ainslie into clothes. Change my clothes, realizing the dream of working out today is just that.
Go to Robert Morris. Become secretly mortified that my new boss-to-be (who is thankfully a grandmother) is pushing Ainslie around in an office chair to occupy her. Run to packing place to fax back a contract. Get home, feed Ainslie lunch, put her down for a nap, sit down to work. Wish I could take a nap.
I'm not complaining; I feel very, very lucky that I am able to earn some decent money doing things I am actually educated to do and still get to spend so much time with Ainslie. I'm just setting the record straight. Physically, working outside of the home is less demanding.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
It's true
ballerinas actually (Ainslie's new favorite word) don't poop in their pants.
Ainslie hasn't had a daytime pee accident since May, but the pooping, well, she just didn't seem to mind going in her pants. If she really didn't get it, I wouldn't mind, but she does get it, since she would also poop on the potty.
So, I told her we could take ballet (or bal-Yay, as she says, which is actually more correct in French) IF she stopped pooping in her pants forever. So far, so good... heck, I'd promise her just about anything right now.
Ainslie hasn't had a daytime pee accident since May, but the pooping, well, she just didn't seem to mind going in her pants. If she really didn't get it, I wouldn't mind, but she does get it, since she would also poop on the potty.
So, I told her we could take ballet (or bal-Yay, as she says, which is actually more correct in French) IF she stopped pooping in her pants forever. So far, so good... heck, I'd promise her just about anything right now.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Overheard Toddler Talk
"Actually, Grandpa, I'm not hungry."
"I'm doing math." (as she holds her 5 fingers out in front of her)
"Then we'll go to Ice Deli. How 'bout that?"
"It not Bop, it's TTtttttttop! With an S!"
"...and ballerinas don't poop in their pants."
"oh, it nice of Grammie get me this big girl bed" (as she is supposed to be napping in it)
"Prince not a singer, he with Ellaella!" "And No White."
"I'm doing math." (as she holds her 5 fingers out in front of her)
"Then we'll go to Ice Deli. How 'bout that?"
"It not Bop, it's TTtttttttop! With an S!"
"...and ballerinas don't poop in their pants."
"oh, it nice of Grammie get me this big girl bed" (as she is supposed to be napping in it)
"Prince not a singer, he with Ellaella!" "And No White."
Friday, August 18, 2006
Any Day Now
I am reeeaaallllyyyyy trying to be optimistic here. We are beyond ready to move into our own house. I won't go into detail, but really, it is so beyond time. You know, for awhile this spring, everything seemed to just be falling into place for us, making us sure this move was the right decision. Well, after a horrid last couple of weeks, I decided the other day to really try to *listen* again and to be optimistic.
So...first I had an awesome second interview to teach at Robert Morris College. This was a pretty unexpected thing to fall into my lap and it looks like I will start there at the end of September. Ok...then I get an email saying that a large project I was supposed to get through Intulogy fell through. Well, crap, I was counting on that in our budget, but trying to stay optimistic, I noted that at least travel for that project would not interfere with teaching, and hopefully, moving.
Yesterday, I noticed that a house that has been for sale Forever had a SOLD sign on it. Good sign.
Barb called to say that the state has instituted some funky process for obtaining a loan in several test areas in Chicago. The areas border our block ever so closely but do not include our house. Good news if someone is deciding whether to live on 102nd place or 103rd place. Ours is now easier.
Got a call this morning for a super-quick, easy design project that will net me personally the same $ the lost project would have, with no travel and frankly, less intense work.
Can an offer be far behind?
I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle.
So...first I had an awesome second interview to teach at Robert Morris College. This was a pretty unexpected thing to fall into my lap and it looks like I will start there at the end of September. Ok...then I get an email saying that a large project I was supposed to get through Intulogy fell through. Well, crap, I was counting on that in our budget, but trying to stay optimistic, I noted that at least travel for that project would not interfere with teaching, and hopefully, moving.
Yesterday, I noticed that a house that has been for sale Forever had a SOLD sign on it. Good sign.
Barb called to say that the state has instituted some funky process for obtaining a loan in several test areas in Chicago. The areas border our block ever so closely but do not include our house. Good news if someone is deciding whether to live on 102nd place or 103rd place. Ours is now easier.
Got a call this morning for a super-quick, easy design project that will net me personally the same $ the lost project would have, with no travel and frankly, less intense work.
Can an offer be far behind?
I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
"Excuse me, is this the E Room?"
"Eh?"
Ainslie nearly has the entire Letter Factory dvd memorized. Maybe because she watches it at least once a day; this morning she watched it twice in a row. I get so excited watching her perfect her knowledge of letters and sounds, and pick out words she has memorized, mostly from the BOB books. She has also taken to talking to herself a lot, and these little 'lessons' about letters or snippets from Sesame Street are what she babbles about.
I have come to realize that what makes me so excited about her pre-reading isn't the fact that she is ahead of the curve for her age (well, ok, so that is part of my excitement), it is really the fact that I can begin to share a passion with someone I love. I love to read, and it makes me so happy to think that Ainslie may very well be a reader too.
To me, there is a chasm between People Who Read and People Who Don't Read. People who read, in my opinion, have higher expectations from life, because we know all these fabulous stories about wonderful characters and exciting places that I can't imagine life without. I hate to think of my life so far without my travels and tribulations with the Ingalls family. I feel like I really know more about the holocaust than what history books teach because I experienced it with Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom and Elie Weisel. I've had wonderful adventures in Oz with the Baum books and also with Wicked. Of course, my friend Harry P. has given me hours and hours of adventure, and so has my pal Bridget Jones.
I love the language and double entendre of Shakespeare, the tragic story of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the unfair treatment of Hester Prynne.
I could go on and on about how much richer a love of reading has made my life. I have pretended to be a princess with Sara Carew as I suffered through my own girlhood "crises". I've traveled across the Atlantic inside a peach. I've seen redemption from a guillotine, and cried tears of bitterness, tragedy, loss, and laughter. I once got myself caught in grade school giggling at something funny in an outside reading book that I was reading instead of paying attention in class. My teacher was actually happy; she said that that was one of the happiest sounds she knew.
So, yes, I hope Ainslie is an early reader. There simply is not enough time to go on all the adventures life and the library have to offer.
Ainslie nearly has the entire Letter Factory dvd memorized. Maybe because she watches it at least once a day; this morning she watched it twice in a row. I get so excited watching her perfect her knowledge of letters and sounds, and pick out words she has memorized, mostly from the BOB books. She has also taken to talking to herself a lot, and these little 'lessons' about letters or snippets from Sesame Street are what she babbles about.
I have come to realize that what makes me so excited about her pre-reading isn't the fact that she is ahead of the curve for her age (well, ok, so that is part of my excitement), it is really the fact that I can begin to share a passion with someone I love. I love to read, and it makes me so happy to think that Ainslie may very well be a reader too.
To me, there is a chasm between People Who Read and People Who Don't Read. People who read, in my opinion, have higher expectations from life, because we know all these fabulous stories about wonderful characters and exciting places that I can't imagine life without. I hate to think of my life so far without my travels and tribulations with the Ingalls family. I feel like I really know more about the holocaust than what history books teach because I experienced it with Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom and Elie Weisel. I've had wonderful adventures in Oz with the Baum books and also with Wicked. Of course, my friend Harry P. has given me hours and hours of adventure, and so has my pal Bridget Jones.
I love the language and double entendre of Shakespeare, the tragic story of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the unfair treatment of Hester Prynne.
I could go on and on about how much richer a love of reading has made my life. I have pretended to be a princess with Sara Carew as I suffered through my own girlhood "crises". I've traveled across the Atlantic inside a peach. I've seen redemption from a guillotine, and cried tears of bitterness, tragedy, loss, and laughter. I once got myself caught in grade school giggling at something funny in an outside reading book that I was reading instead of paying attention in class. My teacher was actually happy; she said that that was one of the happiest sounds she knew.
So, yes, I hope Ainslie is an early reader. There simply is not enough time to go on all the adventures life and the library have to offer.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Little Things That Crack Me Up About Ainslie
This entry is mostly for Doe and Jena and other friends who don't see Ainslie much and wonder what she is up to. Here are just a few things that crack me up lately.
* She now sings with, nearly word for word, the songs she knows. What is hilarious, is that her current favorite song is, as she says, "Daddy's grampa is 95." The real name of this song is "Dance, Dance, Dance" by the Steve Miller Band, circa 197something. Great choice for a 2-yr old, but I'll tell ya, she does know most of the words, including, "pick on!"
* She has taken to starting many sentences with, "Remember..." and "When I was a little girl.." Of course, now that she is almost 20, I guess she can say that. A few weeks ago, we were talking about birthdays and I was informed, "I be 3 and get gum and make-up!"
* When we were in Lee's Summit, she bounded into my mom and dad's house, declaring, "Here come me, Anee Ilson!" If you ask her her full name, it is Anee Nane Ilson.
* Fruit snacks have 2 other aliases, Boot Nacks, and BobLarrys. BobLarrys comes from the fact that we used to get a brand of fruit snacks that had VeggieTales character shapes.
*Speaking of VeggieTales, Doe, you and Ainslie now share the same favorite Larry moment; the Larry Go Round. She gets it. :-)
* When she goes to look at houses with us, we make her walk with her hands up in the air, like she is being held up, so that she won't touch anything. It also makes us laugh.
* She has started telling me she has questions, but I don't think she actually knows what a question is. For example:
A: Mommy, I have a question.
C: Ok, honey, what is your question?
A: It's about No White (or EllaElla)
C: What about Snow White?
A: I have a question.
C: What is it, honey?
A: About No White
etc
I have never pushed princesses or any character on her, but she loves the Disney princesses, and she informed me today in Target that No White and EllaElla and Minmiss Belle are all friends.
*Speaking of characters, Nick Jr should hire Ainslie to do a cross-promotion with Kelloggs. Here is how she sings the Go, Diego, Go song:
"Eggo, Go, Eggo, Go!" Think of what they could do with that?
There are a million other things she does that crack me up, but these are what come to mind today. There are also things that make me want to run screaming back to a full time job just to drink a cup of coffee in peace, but those aren't the fun things to read about.
* She now sings with, nearly word for word, the songs she knows. What is hilarious, is that her current favorite song is, as she says, "Daddy's grampa is 95." The real name of this song is "Dance, Dance, Dance" by the Steve Miller Band, circa 197something. Great choice for a 2-yr old, but I'll tell ya, she does know most of the words, including, "pick on!"
* She has taken to starting many sentences with, "Remember..." and "When I was a little girl.." Of course, now that she is almost 20, I guess she can say that. A few weeks ago, we were talking about birthdays and I was informed, "I be 3 and get gum and make-up!"
* When we were in Lee's Summit, she bounded into my mom and dad's house, declaring, "Here come me, Anee Ilson!" If you ask her her full name, it is Anee Nane Ilson.
* Fruit snacks have 2 other aliases, Boot Nacks, and BobLarrys. BobLarrys comes from the fact that we used to get a brand of fruit snacks that had VeggieTales character shapes.
*Speaking of VeggieTales, Doe, you and Ainslie now share the same favorite Larry moment; the Larry Go Round. She gets it. :-)
* When she goes to look at houses with us, we make her walk with her hands up in the air, like she is being held up, so that she won't touch anything. It also makes us laugh.
* She has started telling me she has questions, but I don't think she actually knows what a question is. For example:
A: Mommy, I have a question.
C: Ok, honey, what is your question?
A: It's about No White (or EllaElla)
C: What about Snow White?
A: I have a question.
C: What is it, honey?
A: About No White
etc
I have never pushed princesses or any character on her, but she loves the Disney princesses, and she informed me today in Target that No White and EllaElla and Minmiss Belle are all friends.
*Speaking of characters, Nick Jr should hire Ainslie to do a cross-promotion with Kelloggs. Here is how she sings the Go, Diego, Go song:
"Eggo, Go, Eggo, Go!" Think of what they could do with that?
There are a million other things she does that crack me up, but these are what come to mind today. There are also things that make me want to run screaming back to a full time job just to drink a cup of coffee in peace, but those aren't the fun things to read about.
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