Postcards from Motherhood

Playground Politics

2010-05-11T21:17:00.005-05:00

We've had some issues over the last few weeks with little Bit's daycare/preschool. I'm going to copy and paste my Facebook statuses about it so I don't have to retype. So, if anyone comes by here (I know I haven't been posting) and has some advice...

May 6th -
School has called us three times to come pick Little Bit up early. He is climbing to the top of the playset, refusing to come down.. He has also hit one of the teachers in the face, knocking off her glasses. Today while we talked to the assistant director, he locked himself and another child in the bathroom, then threw wooden puzzle pieces at his teacher's face, making her cry. =:-o

The assistant director said that she was thinking he might be getting bored with his age class he's in because he's gifted. We had thought of the same thing. I'm going to look into what gifted programs the local school has, though I don't know that they have something for a(n almost) four year old. However, I read awhile ago that they test all incoming kindergarteners to see if they are gifted and need extra attention. Some school districts will test early if requested.

Last night, Little Bit asked if his dad would write out some words for him. Little Mike then proceeded to sound them out -- he read them, ya'll!! He read them. One of his teachers said within the last few months that he's also ready for early math concepts. If he follows in his dad's footsteps (what DH knew by the time he was in kindergarten), he will be reading on a college level and doing math on a high school level by kindergarten. I requested a few books on parenting gifted children at the library that were on a recommended reading list of the Texas Associated for Gifted Children.

May 11 -
Last week, we came up w/the plan for my husband to be there at playground time (when the majority of the problems were happening) as a visual deterrent. Yesterday when DH arrived, she had already pulled Little Bit to the front office. She said that LB had tried to run out the front door. Then, she seemed to think that was the last word and just walked off. DH waited to talk to her, saying I've seen other kids try to run towards the front door (IE, what's the big deal; you just stop them). She said, "NO, they don't" and then said that the director would be back today and she could decide what to do.

DH and I both went in to talk to the director this morning and tell our side of the story. It seemed the asst. director was holding a grudge and raising the bar unfairly to us. Also, while we could be sympathetic for his afternoon teacher bursting into tears, if having a child throw a puzzle piece at your face makes you cry, maybe you need to be in a different job.

Unfortunately, the director said that he can't move up to the four-year old class (and out of the current three-year old class with the new, young afternoon teacher) because there's no room. She said they were waiting until summer when some of the kids are out of the classroom and there would be room. The director suggested just seeing how Little Bit did on the playground today without DH there. At the end of the day, we talked to her. She said that LB again refused to come when the teacher called; he ran away However, he did not climb to the top of the playset as he has been doing. The new teacher has been freaking out about it, because it seemed like he was going to jump. Of course we don't want him to be hurt either. However, the director said that she talked to district/corporate, and they said if he did it (climbing to the top of the playset and not coming down or listening) again, that maybe he should stay home, because it's a safety issue. I was stunned that she said that, because he didn't even climb to the top of the set today; he was just doing his usual running around and not wanting to go back inside.

DH and I are both unhappy. We said what about the option we have already offered of Michael being here every day at 3:30/playground time to watch or to just take him home for the day to head off any problems. She said we could try that, but just the fact that she basically threw out the idea of kicking him out of school, he thinks she's made up her mind already.

We know that his morning three-year old teacher loves LB, and the four-year old teacher (he's been in there sometimes during the days) loves him a lot. He has some "best friends" among the kids. *sigh*

Edited to add -
We think he was climbing up the playset to freak them out and that he wouldn't jump, too. I think the young, new teacher just hasn't had enough experience yet, and the assistant director was just also too inexperienced at being the go-to person for issues. Of course corporate is going to go right to protecting themselves against a lawsuit and say it's a safety issue.

After a long talk, DH and I are going to be proactive -- we are taking Little Bit down to half days. If afternoon playtime is the issue, then he will just be there for the morning. We are also going to demand a firm date for when he could be moved to the four-year old room.

We will re-evaluate as the whole situation changes (if both I and DH get full-time work, etc). Little Bit will love being able to be home with us. In a few more weeks, the neighborhood pool will be open during the week and not just weekends.

A small update

2010-02-22T18:59:00.002-06:00

A few memorable quotes recently from Little Bit --

While watching an episode of Dora about the seasons, Little Bit named the seasons for his dad, "Winter, Spring, Fall, and hot." (which is oh, so appropriate for Houston).

This evening when he came home after DH and I had finally cleared off both our coffee table and kitchen table of all the various magazines, piles of mail, etc, he asked, "Why is the table clean?"

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While I've been on hiatus from blogging (still no luck on the job front; I just haven't felt like blogging), Little Bit has continued to develop in leaps and bounds. He started asking us what each letter was on books and signs, as they were working on the alphabet at school. Just in the last few months, he's been asking us to show him how to write letters and wanting to practice them. For Valentine's Day, I received my first signed card from Little Bit. He signed the letters of his name all by himself (with just reminding verbally from his Dad what some of them looked like.)

I can't believe that in just a few months I'll have a four year old. How did that happen?! He's still struggling with dealing with frustrations when he tries to do something, and it doesn't work or when we tell him no. Such big emotions in such a small body. For a long time, we've been trying to get him to stop throwing things on the floor when he gets angry. Just recently, he started throwing himself on the floor instead! Small victories, I guess.

Long time no talk

2009-11-01T19:04:00.007-06:00

There have obviously been lots of changes in the last month. I was very sad to have to turn in my NASA badge. My last day at work was October 2nd. I've been job-hunting and networking. So far, I've had two phone interviews from HR folks. The one job wasn't a good fit, but the other could be. Hopefully, I'll hear back from the hiring manager. Through my contacts I know I'm still in the running for another job that's an awesome fit, however, there is talk they may go with someone they were already considering before I applied. At the end of last week another job posting came up which would be a good fit. I applied. (fingers crossed)

The biggest thing with Little Bit lately is trying to get potty training. He just resists peeing on the potty at home. He won't tell us if he's pooped in his pull-ups either, even if we ask him directly. Last week we bought 10 pairs of cheap sweat pants and "big boy" underwear and put him in them except for nap or bedtime. He just held his pee as long as he could at daycare. By the end of the week, he was peeing in the potty all day, but had a poop accident in the afternoon. Still at home, he would just stand there looking at us and pee in his pants, so we had pee puddles on the floor and our rug. On Friday night and Saturday, he pooped in his pants another 3 times!!@ With the 4th pair of poopy underwear, DH and I were done. I put him in a pull-up at the end of the yesterday.

It seems he's just not ready to do this (at least at home) for whatever reason. We'll keep trying to send him to school in underwear, and talk up being a big boy and being able to move up to the 4-year old classroom once he's completely out of pull-ups. (Not having to buy pull-ups would certainly help our budget!)

On the lighter side of things, Little Bit dressed as Superman for Halloween. Too cute! He loved being a superhero! I bought butterfly wings to wear around while we took him trick-or-treating. DH bought some awesome real feather angel wings. Little Bit proudly told everyone that I was a butterfly and his dad was "an eagle".

2009-09-17T19:32:00.002-05:00

I was going to write a post about the exciting things Little Bit is doing -- yesterday he learned how to trace his blocks and his hand really well. He also drew a very nice smiling face with representative legs and arms (an advanced drawing skill). The biggest thing happened earlier today. DH walked into his classroom at daycare to pick him up for the afternoon. Little Bit was playing with wooden letters by himself. That's when DH noticed that Little Bit had spelled out his nickname with the letters, all by himself!! I had shown him how to spell it the other week in writing; he remembered. I got a little teary-eyed when DH told me, because, that's my bayh-beee!!! He's only 3 years and 3 months old.

That was going to be my post, maybe going on about the excitement and awesome prospect of raising this gifted little boy. However, my manager pulled me into his office at the end of my work day today. Our departmental 2010 budget has been cut. I got the short straw. The 2010 fiscal year begins in less than 2 weeks at the beginning of October. They will try to find me another position on the contract, but if not...I'm out of a job. I feel like I've been sucker-punched. I'm the primary breadwinner right now. I don't even want to think about how much COBRA health care coverage will cost us if I'm unemployed in a few weeks.

Fabulous Friday

2009-09-11T13:15:00.005-05:00

You have to check out this post from The Bloggess -- Tim Gunn, Iron Man, the Wienermobile, and a video of a cat taking a shower. What more could you ask for? The kitty in the video reminds me of our dearly departed kitty. He didn't take showers, but I sure do miss him sometimes.

Also, I want to have lunch with Tim Gunn! We could totally go shopping afterward with the $25,000 winnings.
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Last week, Little Bit was coloring a sheet with drawings of various farm animals. He started asking me what the animals were, like he was my teacher. As I answered correctly, he said, "Good," and wrote down a scribble like he was taking notes. After he had gone through all of the animals, he started going back over his scribbles, like he was adding up my score! He's only three, ya'll.

Politically Incorrect

2009-08-31T13:50:00.005-05:00

Little Bit learns so much at daycare - songs, counting, ABCs, sharing, etc. Unfortunately, that learning includes things that we don't want him to learn. I'm beginning to see why some parents choose to homeschool. There are lots of good things about his daycare. The problem is one or two of the children in his class who act up. Several of the "lovely" things he has learned include:

1. pointing a stick-like object at me (or his dad) and saying, "You're dead. Ha ha ha ha." The laugh is a fake laugh that particularly grates on my nerves.

2. doing something he's not supposed to do (like yesterday, throwing a pillow directly at my face), then saying, "I was jus' kidding."

and, 3. in general, he's started getting an attitude sometimes where I get flash forwards of him as a teenager.

When I was young, I tested as "gifted" at a fairly young age. From fourth grade on through high school, I was in the separate gifted program classes. We moved at a faster pace and had many more hands-on and field trip activities. Maybe it's snobbery, but I was glad to not have to deal with the lowest common denominator in the regular classes who only wanted to cause trouble in class. DH and I and our pediatrician suspect that Little Bit will test as "gifted"; he's already show some signs. Part of me looks forward to getting him into the gifted programs where he will be surrounded by other bright, inquisitive children who want to learn.

Fabulous Friday

2009-08-21T09:22:00.002-05:00

In honor of the premiere of "Project Runway" last night...

Three things

2009-08-18T15:41:00.008-05:00

Three things important to me in parenting

1.) This one you've probably hear before. Pick your battles. Or, as we say around the avonlea household, Is this the hill you want to die on, soldier? I ask myself if whatever I want Little Bit to do (or not) is really that important? Does it matter if he eats his food one way or another, as long as it ends up inside his tummy and not on the floor? Then, why try to force him to do it my way? Does it matter if that item he wants gets "toddlerized"? No, then let him carry that advertising booklet around and color on it, or drop it on the floor. Related to this is...

2.) Respect Little Bit as a person. Yes, he's still a child, but if I can give him choices, if I can give him some say in his life, then he gets a little autonomy. He has his own likes and dislikes, and they can change. At one point, he was fine with us cutting up his dinner roll into bite-sized pieces, but one day, there were going to be tears if he didn't get a whole roll, unblemished. So I gave it to him, and laughed when he smooshed the whole thing against his mouth trying to get a bite. Sure, that's a trivial example, but there are lots of little choices he can make.

3.) Let him play! I do not want to overschedule him with a bunch of activities and lessons. First, he's only three. However, when he gets older, we'll sign him up for one or two things at a time, eventually working our way through different sports, scouting, martial arts, music, etc. so he can find out what he enjoys. For now, just playing is pretty darn good. I will not be pushing tutoring on Little Bit, like the people mentioned in this article, in order to prepare him for kindergarten.

[Play is] also a critical way that children develop language, express their creativity, expand their social skills, solve problems and generally learn about their world — all important abilities that will help them in kindergarten and well beyond.

-- Joan Almon, Executive Director of Alliance for Childhood

Big Boy

2009-08-16T20:50:00.003-05:00

Me, speaking to Little Bit: Let's take off your sandals; they make your feet stink.
Little Bit: No, they don't. My poo-poo makes me stink.
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We took Little Bit for his three-year old checkup. The pediatrician says that he is still in the 75th percentile for height and weight. His vocabulary is good. She had him try to draw a few shapes that she drew first. He got the circle (a three-year old skill, she said) and the plus sign (a three and a half year old skill). He's not quite up to drawing a square yet (a five-year old skill), but he did get one corner on the shape he drew. Just in the last few months his coloring skills have grown. He no longer just colors with big swipes of color across the outlines on the page. He tries to color inside the lines and does a pretty good job of it.

When we told the pediatrician that he likes to "read" back his bedtime story books to us, she was impressed. She said that telling stories was closer to a five-year old skill. We need to video Little Bit "reading" The Cat in the Hat. It's hilarious. "You go 'way now t'ing One and Two. No here while Mommy away! You go 'way!! Please!"

Last week, he was reading a bedtime story back to me. The story had asked questions like, "Do you see the present with the big red bow?" Little Bit asked me the questions and when I answered correctly, he said, "Good, Mommy!" My little teacher. Then, he surprised me by coming up with his own new questions. Though, of course, he is still only three. "Can you find the red... with ladybug spots?" I pointed to the picture of a ladybug.

A first visit to the boardwalk

2009-08-05T09:46:00.004-05:00

We took Little Bit for his first trip to Kemah Boardwalk last week. He was so excited when he saw the huge carousel and the train. We rode the carousel first, then the train around the boardwalk. No kiddie rides for us. We even rode the full-sized ferris wheel. He wasn't scared at all to be up so high.

Like his cousin, he is in the full-on "why?" stage.

"Why the wheel stop up here?"
"Why dat boat out there?"

We saw the stingray exhibit at Kemah. Little Bit was so excited and fascinated to see the huge stingrays and the colorful fish in the tanks. The stingray tank was set up so people could feed them and pet them. I was too chicken to do either. Little Bit laughed in surprise when one stingray came splashing out of the water at the edge of the tank. It saw us standing there and came looking for food.

"Why dat fish do dat?"
"Why...?"

At the end of the evening, we carried a very tired little boy, clinging to his new stuffed turtle (from the visitor store), to the car. The first thing he talked about the next morning was that he had gotten to ride the carousel, the train, and the ferris wheel the day before.

Blah, blah, blah

2009-07-29T11:30:00.003-05:00

I haven't felt like posting lately, mostly because it seems like it would all be about the same thing -- how tired I am of being tired. While at least the hormonal roller coaster has smoothed out (though with monthly grumpiness), I still keep getting sinus infections. Little Bit has brought home two run-of-the-mill colds over the last month or so. I catch them, and they immediately turn into infections for me.

My regular sinus doc, Sinus Doc 1, wanted to refer me to a "specialist" specialist -- a sinus doc who sees all the unusual cases. The original "specialist", Sinus Doc 2, was out of the country until August. OK, I went and saw Sinus Doc 3, the head of the department and the doc who taught Sinus Doc 2. What a big fat waste of time that was. I had to drive down to the medical center (about an hour drive in traffic), then first talk to his nurse in detail about my history, then in detail to two of his residents, then finally he came in. His residents, and then he, kept asking me, "what's the worst symptom?" How about getting sinus infections all the effing time?!?j

"No, that's a diagnosis. What's the worst symptom?"

OK. Fine. PTHththththt!!

He looked into my sinuses with the scope (not even using the numbing spray, which I should have spoken up about). Owwww. He said that since I didn't have an infection at that moment, he couldn't tell anything, what was causing the infections to keep coming back. So, I'm supposed to go back when I have a sinus infection. We scheduled me for ~5 weeks after that appointment. I had a sinus infection last week, but could I move my appointment up? No, of course not. The next opening was only one week sooner than my original appointment. So, rather than suffer from the symptoms and mind-numbing exhaustion for another 2.5 weeks, I self-treated (as my regular sinus doc said I could) with my nebulized antibiotics.

Now, I actually get to hope I somehow manage to get another sinus infection at just the right time, not too many days before my appointment. Oh, joy.

I just feel like it never ends. The infections keep popping up. I can't get my head above water.

Sleep, perchance to dream

2009-07-17T09:39:00.006-05:00

We have had some success on the sleeping/bed front -- within the last week, Little Bit has slept a few times all by himself in his own bed in his own room. The rest of the time he still slept in his bed, but, he has toddled into our room about 3 am and said sleepily to me, "Will you come sleep in my bed?" I stumbled down the hallway with him, settled him down, and slept next to him the rest of the night. It's a step in the right direction.

Getting him to bed has been getting harder and harder. He keeps trying things to stall. He wants one more story (on tv or a book). He wants some juice. He's hungry. Sometimes we can get him into his bed without too many tears. But once he dissolved into hysterics. He was so tired, so upset and crying hoarsely. Finally, I just picked him up in my arms and held him in a cradle hold close to my chest. I rocked him and made soothing sounds. Soon, he calmed, and I was able to lie down next to him.

He's been stuttering off and on again. The daycare teacher said it's very common for his age and that their thoughts are going much faster than their words/vocabulary can go. We just let him take his time when he's telling us something and not draw attention to it. It's hard not to feel a little concerned, though, wondering if it's the start of a problem.

We went to a 4th of July celebration at the park and got to spend time with DH's family. Little Bit and his cousin Bethany had a most excellent time dancing to the music of his Uncle. While we were there, I got to hold the little 3-month old baby girl of a friend of our niece. Oh, dear...those sweet little chubby legs, those cute, tiny toes, that little ruffly outfit...She was just so small. It made me remember when Little Bit was just born and how wonderful it was to hold him over my heart, with his little legs folded under him like a frog, small and compact. I had a dream within a few days of that where DH and I were discussing Do we really want a second child? How are we going to afford two in daycare? Do we really want to do this? Gulp.

However, even with those baby-induced ovary twinges (hey, quiet down there! Haven't you already been giving me enough trouble?!), I know that we're "one and done". While it would be awesome for Little Bit to have a little sister or brother to play with, having a sibling doesn't always mean you'll be close. My brother and I are worlds apart and have never been close. We're just too different in personality and have different interests.

There are also practical reasons to be "one and done" -- since DH is 15 years older than I am, he'll be nearing retirement when Little Bit is in high school. We'd like to be able to retire sometime, you know, before we die, and enjoy time together, and also still provide some college money for Little Bit.

I also selfishly enjoy being able to hand-off between me and DH, knowing DH is not outnumbered, so I can go for some 'retail therapy' or take a nap or read a book.

Ach-chooo!!

2009-06-25T14:45:00.005-05:00

I finally got an allergy test done to see exactly what causes my almost year-round stuffy nose and sinus issues. Yep, I'm allergic to everything...OK, not really. However, out of 38 allergens tested, I'm allergic to 23 of them to varying degrees.

There's nothing quite as fun as getting stuck with 40 + small needles filled with various diluted allergens. You want to inject me with "Cockroach Mix"? Awesome. Oh, and two different kinds of dust mite allergens? Sign me up. My upper arm still has a cross-hatch pattern of red dots from the testing. It looks like I had a run-in with Pinhead.

Also? I now know more than I ever wanted to know about dust mites. And where they live. And how much of their "waste" adds to the weight of your pillows and mattress over the years. Just don't google it. Trust me. I wish I didn't know.

So, my list of allergies includes the ever popular dust mite and molds and several grass and tree pollens, as well as cat and dog. Not mice though. Or horse. So, you know, if I wanted a pet mouse, that would be ok. I'm allergic to Virginia Oak tree pollen, but not Eastern Sycamore. It seems very random to me. Why am I allergic to this tree or grass, but not that one?

Now, Allergen-Free Bedroom! is on. (Or as allergen-free as we can get it.) I need to get full mattress and pillow encasings to block the dust mite allergens. An air filtering unit for the bedroom would be wise. Just those things will probably cost about $200 to $300. We need to minimize dust collectors sitting around the bedroom, and dust, vacuum, and launder weekly*. Next, I will start allergy treatments, which are going to cost about $100 a month! If it improves my sinus situation though, it would be worth it. I hope.

*I almost forgot to add -- I now have a doctor's excuse for not cleaning. Heh heh heh. The literature says that an "allergy sufferer should avoid being home when cleaning is done, ~~or wear a face mask~~". Sorry, DH, I have to go have a manicure while you clean. Heh heh heh.

Awesome...we're only at a heat index of 106, instead of the forecast 117

2009-06-25T14:35:00.001-05:00

You know you live in Texas when...

2009-06-19T10:54:00.003-05:00

You park farther away from the door just to get the spot that is shaded (even if that "shade" is just a few piddly leaves/branches).

Your city's forecast looks like this - Highs: upper 90s and Lows: upper 70s - for the next billion days, or until August, when it will get even hotter.

Even your three year old knows the score. "Let's go there, where it's nice and cool," he says, when talking about what to do next.

You love to look at the flowers in your garden...through the window, from your air-conditioned living room.

You ignore the weeds in said flower garden, because it's too damn hot to pull weeds.

You actually can watch the grass grow (it grows so fast), unless the grass is turning brown from no rain.

Short takes

2009-06-15T08:31:00.006-05:00

We were discussing dinner. I asked Little Bit, "Are you going to eat a lot?"

He said, "No...a little a lot."

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DH and I were dropping Little Bit off at the drop-in daycare near our house this past Saturday. (Yay -- date time for mom and dad!) This place has a huge indoor play set that looks like a tree, with slides, climbing boards, tunnels, and bridges. Little Bit grew very excited when we said that he was going to that daycare for the afternoon. The daycare rules say children have to be over 3 years old to climb on the tree play set. Sometimes in the past, they have let Little Bit climb on it because even though he wasn't three yet, he was tall enough for a three year old. However, he remembered clearly his disappointment the last time when a daycare worker said he couldn't climb it because he wasn't old enough. He wanted to be sure that they knew he had a birthday, and that he is three now.

As we checked in at the daycare desk, Little Bit proclaimed to the woman there, "I older. I feel old."

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Little Bit has taken to declaring all the things he will be able to do when he is older. These things are quite varied. According to him, when he is bigger he will get to watch cartoon after cartoon on the tv. He'll be tall enough to touch the ceiling while standing on the top step of his bunk bed. This morning he commented on my dress (a dress he has oooh'ed over before and said was pretty). He said, "I be bigger, and I can wear that [points to my dress] and that [points to my cardigan] and that [points to my necklace]!"

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Now that the days are longer it has become more difficult to convince Little Bit that his bedtime is approaching. Some of the neighborhood kids were playing in the turn-around at the end of our street after dinner last week. Little Bit insisted on going to see them. DH took him. Little Bit had the best time playing with the "big kids" and the "big girls". They were throwing and kicking a ball and drawing on the street with chalk. The olders kids were great with Little Bit, including him in the fun. Little Bit wanted to keep playing and playing. DH finally had to physically carry Little Bit home as it was getting dark (and way past his bedtime).

The next morning, the very first thing Little Bit said as he got out of bed was, "The big kids getting up? We go play the big kids?"

Apparently, another thing he thinks he'll be able to do when he's older is play for as long as he wants. "I get bigger and play the big kids!"

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It's always fun to have your words thrown back at you, isn't it?

Me: (calling Little Bit to come here, please)
Little Bit: Just a minute!

DH: (joking around with Little Bit, but Little Bit is in one of his 'No!' moods)
LB: That's enough!

Big Boy Bed

2009-06-03T08:52:00.006-05:00

Little Bit's "big boy" bed arrived at the end of last week. We got an awesome bedset from RoomsToGo. Ours doesn't have the desk on the end, but is otherwise like the picture. It's like having a clubhouse indoors. Little Bit kept saying, "Come see my new bed!" several times a day. He wants to sleep on the top bunk, but we have made it clear that he can only play there during the day; when he's older, he can sleep up there. He loves climbing up the steps and throwing himself down on the bed.
For now, he has to sleep on the bed on the floor. Over the weekend I showed him how to hang a blanket from the top bunk to make a tent. Little Bit thought that was the coolest thing ever!
"Come on, Mommy! Come inside the tent!....This is fun!"

Now that he has his big boy bed, we've begun the transition to him sleeping in his room in his bed by himself. While it's been awesome having a snuggly little boy snoring quietly with us many nights, he also can be a flopper. Somehow he'll end up with his feet on his dad and his head on me. Or he'll be completely flipped with his head at the foot of the bed. He sometimes cries out or talks in his sleep if he's having a dream.

Little Bit loves his new bed so much that he'll excitedly run to his room when it's bedtime. When I go to bed, I sleep next to him for now. I tried just going back to my bed, but he toddled into our room in the middle of the night. The next day it took some convincing to get him to go to his own bed, even when I reassured him that I would sleep next to him. I think he got scared when he woke up by himself and then had to walk through the shadowy house to find me.

Next, I may sleep on the floor of his room, all the while during the day talking up him sleeping in his room by himself, and that mommy and daddy will be just in the next room.

He's at the age where he talks about monsters - more in an abstract way and possibly feeling the idea out. He'll make up stories or pretend play. "Mommy!! There's a monster! I'll hit it!!" Sometimes he hits the monster or dinosaur; sometimes the dinosaur goes stomp!stomp!stomp! through our house. I have been telling him that no monsters are actually allowed in our house.

Only the first time of many that we'll hear these phrases

2009-05-28T13:59:00.005-05:00

After being told that we needed change to get candy from the machine (25 cents for a small handful of M&Ms), Little Bit ran across the restaraunt, shouting...

"Daaadddyyyy! I need some monnnnney!!"

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We were waiting to turn left when a Saturn Skye pulled up in front of us. Little Bit piped up from the back seat of the car, with wonder in his voice...

"That's a nice car!"

(Only 3 years old, and he's already noticing cars!)

Happy Birthday, Little Bit!

2009-05-26T15:22:00.003-05:00

Who knew three years ago such a small being could hold my heart so tightly? Your birth wasn't the way I "planned" it, but that was just the first parenthood lesson in being flexible. When your father placed you on my chest, wailing and red-faced, I said in wonder, "Hi, there, little one..." You stopped crying and just looked at me. You looked into my heart with those big blue eyes. You knew my voice; you knew me.

Now I look at your long legs, and they are already longer than your whole body was when you were born. I look at your hands which still seem small, but you are learning to build things and draw things and throw things (you've got a rocket arm). You keep us on our toes. You surprise us with your sly humor and your thoughtful sharing. We weather the storms of toddler hood together. Through it all, I'm so glad to be your mother.

A short post

2009-05-22T15:52:00.003-05:00

One of our two outdoor cats likes to lie under our cars and also walk on the grass beside the driveway. We always try to watch out for him since he's taken to walking nearer than we'd like as we drive up. If he wants attention, he'll flop down onto the driveway showing his belly for pets. It finally happened. He was walking on the grass, when DH was backing out. Only then he was behind the car before DH knew it. Poor kitty seems to be in some pain (maybe some internal damage?), but no broken bones. We have to just wait and see. I hope he's ok, and that he's just used up one of his 9 lives.

Welcome home

2009-05-18T11:38:00.005-05:00

I was away last week on travel for work. The morning I left I had to get up at "oh,god"-thirty in the morning to catch my flight. Later, when Little Bit woke, DH said he started playing with his toys. Then, Little Bit picked up his toy phone.

"I calling Mommy...Hello, Mommy!...I love you. Bye-Bye."

He said hello to me on the real phone later that day and told me he loved me, but the rest of my trip he refused to talk to me on the phone. I shouldn't take it too personally though. He does the same thing to his grandparents when he's watching cartoons.

I missed DH and Little Bit a lot. Little Bit asked about me everyday. Sometimes DH had to carry him around the house in the middle of the night to show him that Mommy wasn't hiding somewhere. Once he knew for sure I wasn't there, he let his dad settle him back to sleep.

Little Bit has the habit of repeating the last word or few words of most anything you tell him. He's repeating the words with a question in his voice. Maybe he picked it up from me. I repeat his words in a questioning voice when I'm making sure I understood (translated) his toddler-ese correctly. The repeating can be cute or annoying depending on how many nerves are left (i.e. "You're getting on my last nerve."). He also prefaces many of his statements with, "Hey, Mommy?" or "Hey, Daddy?" to make sure we are listening to what he's going to say.

DH relayed a variation of this occuring every day I was gone:

Where Mommy?
She went on the airplane, to see the rocket. She'll be back in threeeee days. (Hold up 3 fingers.)
Airplane?
Uh huh.
Rocket?
Yes. Remember, we watched it yesterday. It went "whoosh!" up into the sky!
Where rocket?
It's flying up in outer space. The mommies and daddies on it are working on a satellite. They'll be done soon, and will come back down and go home to their houses.
Flying?
Yep.
Home?
That's right.

When I got home from my business trip Friday afternoon, I found a sick little boy. DH had been watching over him all day. He had a virus and hadn't been able to keep anything down. He lay on the couch watching cartoons. I sat next to him where he could put his feet on me, and I could reach over to pat him comfortingly. I was telling DH about my trip, when Little Bit piped up.

"Hey, Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Stop talking." (Said in the sweetest little boy voice you can imagine)

DH and I fell over laughing. Little Bit was trying to watch his cartoons, and I was talking! Never mind that I'd just returned from being gone all week. I was interrupting his cartoons.

Little Bit had a few crackers and some water before bedtime and was able to keep them down. He woke later in the middle of the night asking for milk. I (silly mommy) gave it to him. He promptly gave it back all over our bed where he was sleeping between DH and I. Welcome home and happy birthday to me. (Yep, it was my birthday this last Saturday. Little Bit's is next week.) Thankfully, Little Bit woke up Saturday morning his usual bright eyed self.

Medical bills could give me night terrors

2009-05-05T11:09:00.004-05:00

Little Bit woke screaming last night. We rushed into the room to find him sitting upright in the middle of the bed. He wasn't fully awake and continued to scream, cry, or say, "No!" every now and then. I got him to lie down, snuggled up to him, and tried to comfort him. About 15-20 minutes later, he was finally breathing deeper and obviously in a deeper sleep. My first thought was night terrors. Screaming, sweating, thrashing around, impossible to wake up - yep. Supposedly night terrors aren't remembered the next day. He was his usual bright and happy self this morning.

Medical bills and statements from my insurance for the two ER visits this year have been trickling in. Now we're really seeing the disadvantage of working for a small company versus a big company. My insurance coverage is nowhere as good as it was at my previous job. Based on what my current insurance paid and the bills from the doctors, hospital, technicians, etc, we owe $2000+ for two ER visits! Compare this to the coverage at my previous job: Little Bit spent two and a half weeks in the NICU. We paid $0, even though the total bill for all the NICU costs (room, nurses, doctors, labs, xrays, specialists, etc) and my labor/delivery was about a quarter of a million dollars. Again, we paid zero dollars. My insurance at the time, with the large company I worked for, covered it all.

Daycare has a program that will pay up to $5000 towards the medical bills not covered by personal insurance when a child is hurt in their care. So at least we won't have to try to squeeze $2000+ out of thin air.

The whole "in-network" "out-of-network" thing is a crock, too. The first hospital ER we went to was "out-of-network", so not very much insurance coverage. OK. Lesson learned. We went to a different hospital ER for the second incident. My insurance statements say that the hospital was "in-network", so the only thing to worry about was my deductible. However, the doctor who treated Little Bit's arm at the in-network hospital ER is considered "out-of-network". WTF!? That means we owe the ER doc close to $800. That's bulls---!!!

He's just a little feller

2009-04-24T14:03:00.003-05:00

Scene: Dropping Little Bit off at daycare

DH says, "Son, you need to leave your toys in the car. (points to front door of daycare) Miss Donna* put up a sign that says everyone has to leave their toys at home."

Little Bit considers this.
"Let's pretend it says 'yes'!"

DH quickly says, "OK. Then we'll pretend we took the toys inside."

Little Bit considers this...hrmmmm...then, he leaves his toys in the car.

*We live in the South, ya'll. All the daycare teachers are addressed as Miss Donna, Miss Kate, etc. Little Bit is also taught to say "Yes, ma'am" or "Yes, sir" as appropriate.

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I'm way behind on reading/commenting on the usual blogs I read, and of course I haven't posted much lately. There's only so much "free" time in the day; lately I've been reading personal finance blogs and getting lots of good ideas about being frugal and tricks to keep on budget, and so on. Either that or trying to catch up on the DVR'ed shows recorded while we watch the evening cartoons with Little Bit.

Little Bit is staying up later than he probably should. We let him watch his favorite cartoons on Noggin, which end at 8pm. By the time we get him to sleep, it can be past 8:30pm. That doesn't leave much evening. Last night we actually got him into bed and asleep by 7:30pm. He had quite a day though. He woke up feeling out of sorts, wanting to gather all his toys and things around himself on the couch. He really didn't want to go to daycare; he seemed like he might have a bit of a bug. So, he got to stay home with DH for some extra attention. When he felt better in the afternoon, they played outside for awhile. Unfortunately, Little Bit got really overheated very quickly. He has my fair skin, but he also has a high normal body temperature, and his face broke out in a heat rash.

This morning, Little Bit broke my heart protesting getting dressed to go to daycare. He kept crying for me to come hold him, while DH tried to put on a fresh pull-up.

Little Bit yelled, "No pull-up! I baby!"

:-( It broke my heart. He's been feeling insecure I think. I would imagine it's rough trying to dance along that line between wanting to get out and explore and wanting to be held close and safe by mom and dad. In another 10 years or so, we'll get to go through his puberty. Wheeeeee.

DH and I are thinking about taking Little Bit out of daycare part-time. That way he can get more one-on-one attention from his dad. Socialization is good, but he's only almost three. He's just a little feller.

These are not the droids you're looking for

2009-04-20T08:42:00.007-05:00

One advantage to having a one story house is that during a very rainy day, we can still play kickity-kick ball up and down the long hallway down the middle of the house. Little Bit loves to kick and throw the ball. We have to remind him to stay in the hallway with the ball. The hallway doesn't have lamps or expensive stereo equipment to knock over. Little Bit said over the weekend that he wanted to play basketball. So, DH held his arms out in front of him in a hoop shape.

After a few tries, where the ball went flying up and backwards over his head, Little Bit figured out the easy way. He stepped forward and threw the ball up through the "hoop". I love how clever he is.

Daycare actually sent home a note last week saying that we should stop using diapers at all and just go to pull-ups or training pants. Also, to bring lots of extra clothes to school in case of accidents. I guess they really want Little Bit to get all the way potty trained. However, he still won't tell us when he has to go potty. He doesn't seem to care if he's got a dirty diaper. We can smell it, but he just keeps playing and will even deny it if you ask him if he poo-poo'ed. We put him in only pull-ups over the weekend, and we took him to the potty, but he never did tell us before he had to go, and he didn't even go when we sat him on the potty. (sigh)

Little Bit seems to be entering the "threes". He wants to do things himself. He wants things done a certain way. If they aren't, he gets so mad! He'll cry and almost grind his teeth back and forth in frustration. He enters the "No zone", where he will only answer no to any question. Any hope for cooperation is out the window.

I'm doing ok. I think the new prescription is helping with my hormone imbalance, but I still had some grouchy feelings during my regular PMS weeks. Hopefully after a few more months that will even out as well. I still feeling run down and think I still have a lingering sinus infection, because I don't always do the antibiotic treatment twice a day like I'm supposed to. My doc has me on the nebulized antibiotics still and wants me to wean off them slowly. I need to get to feeling better, so I can actually have the energy to start dancing/exercising regularly. I feel so blah about being so out of shape. I used to exercise regularly with dance, so it was fun and not "exercise". Now I'm so out of shape that the last time I got out a dance DVD a number of weeks ago, I was panting like crazy and could barely walk the next day. I didn't even complete the whole workout. Blech.

Purple -- One day all babies will be born healthy

2009-04-10T14:32:00.004-05:00

My heart and eyes are full of tears for this family. Their sweet, beautiful, little 17 month old girl passed away a few days ago. She was born 11 weeks premature in November of 2007. Her parents are requesting donations be made to the March of Dimes in memory of Madeline Alice Spohr in lieu of flowers. They had been planning to march in the upcoming March of Dimes walk with Maddie. The outpouring of love from the blog world is wonderful to see -- the donations for their March of Dimes walk team has gone from less than a few thousand to $21,000+ in the last few days.

While my little guy wasn't premature, he spent 2 weeks in the NICU for respiratory failure when he was only 2.5 weeks old. The March of Dimes cause is close to my heart as well.

Hug your little ones a little tighter tonight.

He's such a sweetheart

2009-03-30T07:58:00.003-05:00

Little Bit wanted to wear his sling for a few days, even though his arm was better. That was fine. It reminded them at daycare to be extra careful. DH talked with the daycare director and the teacher responsible. The teacher was just crying and so sorry it had happened. She said that she had taken hold of his hand since he had been hitting other kids. He threw himself down on the ground because he didn't want his hand held. She held on instead of letting go, and that's when his arm got pulled. She didn't realize it had happened. I know it was an accident, but I'm still mad it happened. However, Little Bit isn't holding a grudge. DH told me that as they were leaving daycare on Friday that Little Bit told that teacher, "Bye! I love you!"

I feel so bad that his self-esteem took such a beating last week though. The whole thing about being consolidated in with the "babies" after getting his arm hurt really kicked his feet out from under him. He said several times over the weekend, "I baby. I no big kid," even though he'd been so proud to be in the big kid class last Monday. He really needed extra TLC from us over the weekend.

Pissed off

2009-03-26T07:50:00.006-05:00

I am so, so pissed right now at daycare. At one of the teachers there. Little Bit was favoring his left arm, holding it close to his body in his right hand. When we tried to examine it, he cried and said it hurt. After asking him about it, we found out that apparently he had been climbing (something, not sure what) yesterday, when Miss So-and-So grabbed his arm and hurt him. Several bruises have appeared on that arm. "I in trouble....I in baby's room." The sad thing is, since they consolidated the Twos and Threes by the end of the day as kids left, Little Bit felt he was being punished by going back to the "baby's room." He said, "I no big kid. I baby." Oh, man, if that woman said something like that to him...It. is. on. As it is, she fu@#$ing grabbed my baby roughly enough to at least sprain his wrist and leave bruises.

DH is at the ER with Little Bit now to get Little Bit's wrist/arm looked at and x-rayed. I have to be here at work instead of with my baby. Little Bit is really being a trooper about his arm. You can tell it really hurts if it is moved. He didn't want to move his left hand or arm at all. He said this morning, "I go doctor for my boo-boo. No go school."

I'll update later when I hear what the doctor says.

Update: The doctor at the ER confirmed that it was "nursemaid's elbow, a dislocation of the elbow caused by a jerking motion on the child's arm. He said it's the most common pediatric complaint because the ligaments are still loose in toddlers. The doctor took some scans just in case, but saw nothing unusual. He popped the elbow back into place and gave Little Bit a sling. I met DH and Little Bit at the local bagel shop so I could see my baby and see he was ok. Between arriving at the bagel shop and staying long enough to eat, Little Bit's arm was obviously feeling much better. He had straightened the arm out so that the sling has slipped partially off, and he was using it.

Wordless Wednesday: Is it ironic to buy 3 (used) books about clutter clearing?

2009-03-25T17:17:00.004-05:00

Simplifying

2009-03-24T14:15:00.004-05:00

Over the last few months, I've been thinking about and reading about several topics that feel interconnected to me -- decluttering my life/my possessions and taking control of finances. I want to pass on good habits to Little Bit. I want him to have the things he needs, but to also know that "things" aren't the goal. I want to have saving, investing, and living well below your means to be a part of our lives.

I have been a bit of a pack rat for awhile, so it's going to take some time and work to declutter. Things that can stay have to be useful, beautiful, or loved. Those criteria will help me decide what to keep or what to get rid of. I know that there are some things that I won't be able to part with yet, even though they aren't used. It will be an ongoing process. It only took me about 10 years to get rid of some notebooks full of class notes from college!

As part of keeping the clutter out of our house, we can decide not to buy frivolous things and not to buy on impulse. That will help with the financial goals as well. We have a list of purchases that we are budgeting for in the next 4-6 months. A little fun money every month for each of us will be a good idea, too. That way I can pick up a few books at Half Price Books without feeling guilty.

I started decluttering in my closet this past weekend. Everything that I do not love went into the charity donation box. Things I haven't worn in months (or even years!) went into the box. I did keep a few things that don't currently fit me, but I'm going to limit how many I keep. I still need to drop the box off at Goodwill, but I already feel a little lighter for having let go of those clothes.

The front room which we use for a music room and Little Bit's playroom works so well right now. There isn't too much stuff for the room, and everything has a place. We have Little Bit play "pick up!" often, so it doesn't get out of control.

Updated: Monday, Monday

2009-03-23T12:57:00.005-05:00

Starting a few weeks ago, in the middle of the evening, for no reason that we could discern, Little Bit started stuttering his words. He gets moved around a lot during the day at daycare between different rooms. He's bored with the Twos, but not fully potty trained so he could be with the Threes all day. When the Twos teacher is late getting to work, he ends up in a third classroom. (Yes, DH is going to talk to the center director about all the switching classrooms during a day.) DH and I wonder that he's feeling stressed and unsure. I hope that other kids don't point out the stuttering. We don't. We just patiently wait for him to say his thought. Sometimes he stutters more than other times, and not every sentence is stuttered.

The pediatrician said that his child did the same thing at Little Bit's age and to just not make a big deal out of it, that he would grow out of the shyness that is probably behind it. He sounds so shy when he stutters out his sentences and questions. It breaks my heart; it's so sweet sounding.

My little boy is going to be three years old in just over two months. I can't believe it. Where did my little baby go?!

Updated: Yesterday, they officially moved Little Bit up to the Three's room. Little Bit was so happy. He told us very proudly, "I with the big kids now!" How cute - the three-year olds are the "big kids".

"I not in baby's room."

He didn't stutter last night, and he seemed more happy in general. We'll continue working on the potty training.

"Hello, Kitty!"

2009-03-11T14:17:00.001-05:00

(what Little Bit said to our cat as he looked at it upside down)

He's already trying to negotiate out of bedtime

2009-03-11T09:42:00.007-05:00

Yesterday evening was so nice outside that we sat on the back patio for awhile after eating. Little Bit was sitting on the ground playing with his cars, while DH and I sat on the outdoor loveseat. When it was time to think about going inside, DH said to Little Bit, "It's time to go inside, and you can watch some tv, have some nah-nah, and then go to bed." (Nah-nah is nursing.)

Little Bit said, "No! TV...nah-nah...play!"

DH explained again, emphasizing each word by touching a different spot on his leg. "Play. TV. Nah-nah. Bed." Then I joined in, smiling as we copied the whole Dora-the-Explorer-repeat-three-times-thing.

Little Bit smiled and repeated with us, except for the bed part. "No bed!" Then he wanted to say it all by himself. He copied his dad by touching a different spot on his leg with each word. "Play....What next? (TV) TV....What next? (Nah-nah) Nah-nah...What next? (Bed) No! No bed!"

Then, he switched legs to see if he could get a different answer from us by pointing at his other leg!

(Oh, yeah, you see that band-aid on his forehead above? He hit his head again at daycare, in the same spot on his forehead. This time he hit it while on the slide outside, instead of on a bookcase inside. *sigh* It's been about six weeks since the original wound happened, but you could still see a pink scar there, even before he cut it enough to bleed again the other day.)
----

Later, as we sat on the couch together inside, Little Bit made some observation. I don't remember what it was, but I commented proudly to DH, "He's so smart!"

Little Bit said, "I smart!" I nodded. Then, shaking his head, Little Bit said sadly, "Maryann not smart." D'oh! I laughed at the unexpected observation, even though I knew I shouldn't laugh. (Maryann is a made-up name for the real name of a girl in his daycare class.) We'll have to make sure to teach him to keep such observations to himself when he's not at home, or he could hurt somebody's feelings or get in a fight!

I know I've said it before (and I am his mom, so it may seem like bias), but he is *so* smart. He has a very big vocabulary for his age and picks up on words and concepts quickly. As it is, the daycare teachers have told us that he gets bored in the 2-year old class where he is, so he'll start hitting the other kids or throwing toys, etc. He has much more fun in the 3-year old class. They let him stay with the 3's part of the day, but they won't let him transfer over until he's completely potty trained. I guess our laid-back attitude to potty training needs to change so he can move up.

The cranky saga continues

2009-03-05T11:04:00.003-06:00

I told my manager yesterday that I had a medical diagnosis for what's been going on - PMDD. At first when I said "PMDD", he got the hint of a smile, like maybe he thought I was kidding. I continued on seriously, that the difficulty concentrating, the migraines, the debilitating symptoms every month were all symptoms. Looking back, it really pisses me off that maybe he at first thought I was joking. Like, ha-hah, I've got really bad PMS. No, it's not a fucking joke. Has your wife gone through menopause? Then you should effing know what hormone imbalances can do to someone.

The other thing that pisses me off is that yesterday he suggested we look into finding me another position to rotate into, since I'm on our lead's "list". What the hell?! We just finally got an intermediary on our side of things to help "translate" what the lead wants. This intermediary has been a huge, huge help the last few weeks. The intermediary told me that he thought any reassignment for me was on hold, pending how things work with him interfacing for us and translating. I'm pissed that it sounds like my manager is no longer in my corner. At least, the intermediary is in my corner. Maybe he can convince the lead to wait and see how things go. I don't know what will happen. I just need to continue to produce.

Yesterday afternoon, I was overwhelmed with a flood of despair. It all seemed to be too much, too big. I wanted to go home and curl up on my bed, in a dark room, and hug a stuffed animal, and try to sleep. To disappear. But I don't have the "luxury" of doing that right now. So, I concentrated on one thing at a time -- open the file I needed to work on, start copying and pasting info from another file. One thing at a time. It worked. I was able to get a decent amount of work done. And I felt a bit better this morning, having gotten some work done.

I hope it helps (I'm sure DH does, too)

2009-02-26T14:10:00.004-06:00

This last week I've been working like crazy to get a big deliverable done by yesterday afternoon. I was working on the weekend, 10+ hour days Monday and Tuesday, barely taking time for lunch, but I did it! I did it without flipping off my boss or yelling - that's a pretty good accomplishment right there - or anything. Which I really wanted to do once or twice when he kept going on and on about something I'd already said wasn't finished. Arrrrrghghghg!!

(Any guys reading this might want to wander away now because I'm going to talk about 'female stuff' now.)

Yep, I got my project done even while I was wanting to tell most everyone to eff off and leave me the eff alone for a minute, because the Prehistoric Monster Syndrome was rearing it's flaming, roaring head. You know when the sound of someone's breathing annoys you? Yeah, that's what I was dealing with. Just for kicks, the hormones would also randomly make the bottom drop out from under me. Literally, walking from the bedroom to our kitchen and suddenly I would just feel too depressed to breathe. Not that I do that anyway. [Score extra geek points if you know what I'm referring to! Or just follow the link...]

Sure, those feelings could just be from the stress of being under a microscope and wondering if I was going to get written up or fired for poor job performance, but, three things make me think this has been PMS a week "early" this month.
1.) Last month, it was a week early, so it could actually be time for it.
2.) I had the feeling this week of being in a brain fog and having to struggle with focus.
3.) Today, like a switch, I'm much clearer.

Anyway, I saw my Doc today. He said that he wouldn't think perimenopause, but he diagnosed PMDD. That's right. No pansy-ass regular Prehistoric Monster Syndrome for me. My hormones have decided to regularly firebomb the hell out of my inner balance. Making just about every encounter that particular week of the month a running internal dialogue of irritation about the stupidity of everything.

P.M.D.D. -- Psychotic Mood from Dealing with iDiots. Whadya think?

No matter what the label is -- The treatment goal is the same. Get those damned hormones under control!

The Doc gave me a sample of one of the brands of continuous birth control pills, the kind where you only get 4 periods a year. Yee-hah!

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

2009-02-20T08:23:00.008-06:00

Today's words are "Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)" and "perimenopause". Can you say "PMDD" and "suck it up, you're a hormonal mess"? I knew you could. I've complained on here before about my worsening PMS symptoms. The symptoms that have been severe enough to affect my work at my job. Last week and this week, I had two terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days at work. I was given two 'shape-up' talks by management -- about my number of sick days, about my lack of focus, etc, etc. I started crying in the meeting with my direct supervisor. Gads, I hate that. It's embarrassing and makes me angry. At least my supervisor said that the situation wasn't unsalvagable. I have a chance to turn it around.

After that rude wake-up call/slap in the face, I started thinking about my symptoms, google'ing, and looking at the calendar. "In PMDD, mood symptoms are more severe and often overshadow physical symptoms. The emotional disturbances are significant enough to cause problems with daily life." [emphasis mine] and "Emotional symptoms include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, irritability and sensitivity, anger, being overwhelmed, and the need to withdraw from others."

I had recently told a friend that the emotional symptoms are very marked right before my period, then they go away. It's like a switch -- I wake up one morning, after days and days of looking at things through a haze of irritation, and the haze is gone. I know that my period will start later that same day.

While reading about PMDD, I came across references to worsening PMS or PMDD being associated with perimenopause. 'What is that' you may ask? It's the 10-15 years before menopause. Based on my mom's history, I had figured out that I would likely start perimenopause in my late 30's. I'm soon to be 37. Let's take a look at the symptoms of perimenopase, shall we?

» Hot flashes - check, night sweats
» Sleep disorders such as insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently, or restless sleep, leading to fatigue - check
» Mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, or nervousness - check
» Decreased libido
» Menstrual cycle changes, including heavier periods, uterine fibroids, spotting between periods, or skipped cycles, as well as worsening PMS (premenstrual syndrome) or PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) - check
» Fuzzy thinking, decreased or impaired memory and attention - check
» Increased food cravings, stubborn weight gain, insulin resistance, and difficulty controlling blood sugar
» Digestive problems, such as irritable bowel, bloating, or » acid reflux
» Heart arrhythmia, chest pain, palpitations
» Joint and muscle symptoms, including inflammation, stiffness or pain
» Dizziness, decreased balance,
» headaches or menstrual migraines - check

Well, shiiii-at. I may not be crazy after all. Well, that is to say, the hormones may be what are making me crazy. One website mentioned that the symptoms of fuzzy thinking and inability to multitask can be significant. I've just found out recently that I've missed some important details in meetings due to my brain fog. Those meetings? Yeah, they were in prime PMS time. Dude, I'm smart; I have advanced degrees. But these hormone shifts are kicking my mental butt. I've joked with DH about my 'hot flashes', but I just figured that they were just from the hormones of still breastfeeding (like feeling hot during pregnancy). Maybe they really have been bona-fide hot flashes.

Now I just need to get with my Doc and figure out how to get my hormones on an even keel. Any lurkers who have some experience or advice?

Short takes

2009-02-17T21:23:00.006-06:00

His told his first 'Knock, Knock' joke last week --

Little Bit: Knock, knock!
DH and me: Who's there?
Little Bit: Me!! *laugh*

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On the car ride home from dinner, after a discussion between DH and I of the fact that there weren't any napkins in his car to wipe the chocolate off Little Bit's fingers...

Little Bit: I need go store!
Me: What do you need at the store?
Little Bit: Na'kins!

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Little Bit had a throw-down tantrum after we got home because he didn't get to close the door all by himself. (Ah, the fun of living with a toddler.) He was mad at his Daddy for not letting him. Little Bit insisted that I take his shoes off, not Daddy. He insisted that I turn on the tv for him, not Daddy.

He snuggled up to me and said, "Mommy my friend. You no my friend, Daddy."

Later, I gave Little Bit some "stars"/cereal puffs. He ate them all while I was in the other room.

"More stars, Daddy."

"Well, if I'm not your friend, I don't know if I should give you more stars..."

Little Bit said, "I wuv my friends. You my friend, Daddy."

DH gave him more stars. As Little Bit ate, DH said, "I love you, son. You're my friend."

Little Bit said, "You no my friend. I wuv Mommy!"

What a clever little stinker!

I Feel Pretty, Oh, So Pretty

2009-02-12T15:30:00.003-06:00

Like the new look? It's purrdy. The new colors make me smile. That's a good thing. So is PMSBuddy. (You're welcome, DH.) I was actually thinking of setting up an MS Outlook reminder in my calendar to email DH every month. If I can't even remember it, he shouldn't be expected to either. I'll be grumping around and feeling like I want to tell everyone to just leave me the F- alone. I feel like a three year old -- I don' wanna go work. I don' wanna do chores. {stomps feet} I'll look at the calendar, count back the weeks, and the light dawns. Hormone-Roller-Coaster-R-Us. Welcome to the funhouse.

It's usually a good thing if Little Bit is not riding in the car with me while the Prehistoric Monster rages.

"Goddammit! That motherfucker cut me off. Bitch! MuhTHER FucKER!!!" Etc. etc. His daycare teachers might raise their eyebrows about the new vocabulary he was using.

Seriously? I would like to dispute whatever assrabbit signed me back up for this. It's just been getting worse and worse since my monthly cycle started back almost a year ago, after several years of blissful pregnancy- and lactational-induced reprieve.

PMS sucks. I need better hormones or drugs or something.
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I picked Little Bit up from daycare yesterday. At a stoplight, I read the notes on his daily report.

"So, you hit and pushed your friends today at school?" I asked him.

He said, "Yeah. I hit Becky. I wanted blocks...green block."

Well, he did tell the truth. He's about three months away from being 3 years old, and it still amazes me how you can have a conversation with Little Bit now. Sure, we're not discussing meta-narratives in his Elmo books. We should start with "Go, Dog. Go!" I think.

Even with his tempermental streak, apparently Little Bit is rocking the 2's room. One of the other moms reported that all her little girl talks about outside of school is Little Bit. The mom thinks it's cute. The dad does not; it brings out his 'threatening the 17-year old date of your sweet, innocent 16-year old daughter' side.

A Morning in the Life

2009-02-04T14:50:00.005-06:00

Every night before bed I think, "Tomorrow I will get up early. It'll be great! I won't have to rush to get ready, and I'll get to work early." The reality is that I'm just not a morning person. I love my sleep. Alarm clocks are not my friend. So, I wake up late, realizing that I forgot to turn on the evil alarm clock. I set Little Bit up in front of tv watching his favorite cartoons. I hurry through a shower, then find some khakis and one of my go-to tops to throw on. On the days when DH can take Little Bit to daycare, I don't end up quite so late to work, but I'm still late. The flextime excuse can only take you so far. When I have drop off Little Bit, there's an extra 30-45 minutes tacked onto my morning routine. First, I have to bargain with Little Bit to change his diaper. "If you want to keep watching cartoons, then we need to change your diaper." Next, I suggest a shirt for the day. If he insists on wearing his pajama shirt to daycare, oh, well. He's only two and a half. Try to find some clean pants for him. Are they in the dryer? Darn, forgot to run that load last night. OK, yesterday's jeans aren't too bad. Dust them off and wrestle them onto the boy. If Little Bit protests turning off the tv in order to leave, I offer him a job to do. He's still in that 'wants to help' stage, so I ~~milk it for all it's worth~~ encourage him. Would you like to feed the kitty cats? Or, would you like to carry my coffee cup? (Don't worry...it's empty. I tank up with coffee at the bagel shop on my way to work.) I drop Little Bit off at daycare. All the little girls (and the few boys) in his class crowd around him when we come into the room. He's already very popular (lord, help me when he's a teenager). They want to see what he's brought with him (sometimes he insists on bringing a stuffed animal). The classroom teacher asks if he's had any breakfast yet. The answer is usually no. I can feel the stink-eye she is giving me, while she's thinking, "You're bringing that boy in here this late and he *still* hasn't had breakfast?" Mommy FAIL. They now know to either save back a breakfast for him or plan to get him some cereal when he arrives. Oh, yeah, sometimes his hair doesn't even get combed before he gets dropped off. He *hates* to have his hair combed; it's not always a battle I want to fight. So, the cowlick sticking up in the back just adds to the overall pajama top, slightly dirty jeans look. He's going for a grunge vibe. Yeah, that's it. After a stop for bagel and coffee to go, I slink into work, hoping that it hasn't been noticed that I'm late. It is noticed on the mornings I slink into our weekly staff meeting after it's started. The topic -- how it's now expected for us to be in at 8am. No more lenient flextime. Awesome.

On being tired, happy diapers, and no pants

2009-01-30T13:47:00.003-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much the last few weeks, ya'll. I've just been alternatively feeling depressed, hormonal, bitchy, tired, sick, sleepy, grumpy and doc. (Don't tell DH about me feeling Sleepy, Grumpy, and Doc; he doesn't know.) There have been many cute things Little Bit has said or done that I think, I should put that on the blog, but then I just don't get around to it. I'm still trying to shake off the effects of the latest Virus de Daycare.

Sometimes, Little Bit does not want us to change his dirty diaper. He'll retreat to the other side of the coffee table, playing keep away, and say, "No! This one [meaning the diaper] happy!"

They are still trying to get Little Bit to use the potty at school. He's gone in it less than a handful of times. Yet the other day when they ran out of pull-ups for him, they actually put him in just underwear and pants. So, of course he ended up peeing on himself. He came home wearing a shirt, a diaper, no pants, and shoes and socks wet with pee. Nice. Great job putting a kid who's nowhere near potty-trained in underwear.

Though I will say that the teachers and the daycare director do care about Little Bit and the other kids a lot. On Tuesday, his first day back after his trip to the ER for his cut forehead, the teachers were very concerned and said they'd give him lots of attention and love. The center director saw me as I was leaving. After we chatted about what the ER doc had said, she said, "Let me go see my baby", meaning Little Bit, and hurried off to see him. That was sweet.

We went to the ER today; how was your Monday?

2009-01-26T16:23:00.005-06:00

I had dropped Little Bit off at daycare this morning, then came home to crawl back into bed. DH and I have the flu/bug that Little Bit had last week, and we feel awful. Not even half an hour had passed when daycare called. Little Bit had had an accident. He was running across the room and fell into the edge of a low bookcase cabinet. The daycare director said she thought he might need stitches. Eeeep!

Our brave little guy was subdued when we got there to pick him up. He had only cried briefly when the center director called me (probably because he knew she was talking to me). The gash on his forehead was quite deep.

We drove him to the ER. I sat in the backseat next to him for comfort. On the way there, he threw up all over himself. Note to self - next time bring both a clean shirt and clean pants in case of emergency.

No stitches this time. The doc cleaned the gash (traumatic for both Little Bit and me because he cried during it), then used dermabond to seal the edges. They did a CAT scan to double check there wasn't anything else to be concerned about.

Little Bit and I had a nap together this afternoon. He's now running up and down the hallway, giving me gray hairs as I worry about him falling and opening up the wound again. How do you get an active toddler to stop running without duct taping him to a chair?

Obama busts a move (Updated with lunar rover at the parade)

2009-01-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

How cool is our new prez?

**********
Also, because I'm a NASA geek....

Obamania!

2009-01-20T09:32:00.004-06:00

Counting down to the inauguration...

Did you see this?

Ikea is "sending a presidential-style limousine around town with Ikea furniture and boxes strapped to the roof in a cross between “Hail to the Chief” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

That's awesome and funny.

On a different note, what a sweet little peek at the Obamas in 1996, before kids and politics.

He may have a future in stand-up

2009-01-13T19:14:00.012-06:00

For today's story, first a little background -- We had pizza last night; it's one of Little Bit's favorites. DH cut Little Bit's pizza into bites for him after he asked DH to do it. As Little Bit was trying to stuff a large piece into his mouth, DH said, "That's a big bite. Here, let me cut that smaller for you." As he ate, Little Bit commented on the size of the bites, "Little bite!" or "Big Bite!"

Now, on to the story -- This morning, Little Bit asked for "nah-nah". He said, "A little nah-nah, please." I got situated with him on my lap. Then, with a big smile, he said, "Big bite!" and opened his mouth wide and lunged in like a dinosaur to latch on.

Thankfully, he was only playing and no nah-nahs were hurt in the making of this story. He knows that any biting for real is right out.

He's got a funny sense of humor though. A few times, when we are situated for nah-nah, he will raise his arms, ask, "Ready?" like he's about to throw a ball, then go garumph in to latch on. I made the mistake of laughing the first time he tried it.

**************

DH and I got Little Bit's playroom (which also doubles as the music room) cleaned up and organized. I took pictures because who knows when it will look this way again.

Because I also finally downloaded the pics on my phone, here's some more pictures. I was trying to take a pic of the pack n play to put up on ebay. Our little hambone saw that I was taking pics, so he raced over and asked, "Pictures me? pictures me? Cheeeeeeeeeese!"

PfM's Anatomy

2009-01-05T11:21:00.002-06:00

And now for the medical update from Chez PfM...Little Bit has finally gotten some relief from his awful diaper rash. My HR got our insurance to pay for an early refill on the prescription diaper rash cream. Our homemade remedy was keeping the rash from getting much worse, but it wasn't going away. With the cream and with the diarrhea finally going away, he can sit on his bottom again! Poor little guy -- he had been standing all the time. He told us that his bottom is happy now!

As for me, I got something for Christmas that I really did not want. A sinus infection. Another sinus infection. Arrrrggggghhhhh!!! My parents wanted to know why the sinus surgery hadn't worked and had I complained to the doc? I told them that all the forms you sign for surgery say clearly that the surgery does not guarantee the sinus infection won't come back again. The doc never promised that.

I saw the sinus doc last week. He just shook his head and said that it was the worst of the worst day -- his worst ear case was there, too, for an appointment, and I was his worst sinus case. Great. I'd rather be singled out for something a little more positive, thanks. He suggested that I need to go back on the nebulized antibiotics, maybe indefinitely, but at least for a few months. I had guessed as much, since the slightest thing seems to cause my sinuses to get infected (I had some sniffles a few weeks ago).

I was so tired of using the nebulizer, but at least I got a little break. If it keeps me from having sinus migraines everyday and from having no energy due to the infections, then it's worth it, I suppose.

*****

Oh, yeah, I discovered that our Cable on Demand has several of Little Bit's favorite Noggin and Nickelodeon shows for viewing anytime. Plus, you can watch some episodes online. Woo-hoo! I don't have to gouge out my eyes from seeing the same few episodes over and over again on our broken/non-recording DVR. If, in a few days, I haven't yet watched the few things recorded on our broken DVR that I really, really want to see, I need to just exchange the darn thing anyway.

Hello, 2009 - If I can't have a personal jetpack, can I join the financial bailout train?

2009-01-02T10:51:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year y'all!

It's still hard to believe that it's 2009. I certainly don't feel *mumble*mumble* years old. The last three years have been so busy and hectic with pregnancy, then newborn, and now a toddler. I have to always stop and do the math to figure out my age. I want to automatically say that I'm the age I was just before getting pregnant.

We don't yet have personal jetpacks for everyone or some of the other Jetson-like futuristic gadgets, but soon, we could have personal nuclear power plants. They are the size of a garden shed and would be able to power 20,000 homes. The design is based on a 50-year old design, like that used for nuclear subs. The reactor would be completely encased in concrete, with no moving parts, buried underground, and would not use weapon-grade uranium. That is just amazing to me. The article points out that at a cost of $25m each, a community of 10,000 households would only need to pay $2500 per home to have their own personal nuclear reactor.

Little Bit is certainly going to be growing up in a different time and context than I did or his dad did. Micro-laptops and text messaging and cell phones. When I was growing up, I remember that my dad used punch cards to program the mainframe computers at his work! Now we've got video watches and micro-computers that can fit in your pocket

One of the greatest inventions might be the DVR. Little Bit just assumes that he can watch any show that he requests, at any time. If you don't have any recordings of that show, you better get ready for the tantrum. (BTW, the Viacom and Time Warner dispute news scared the crap out of me -- No Noggin? No Nickelodeon? No CSI on Spike? Yesterday morning, Noggin was still on our cable. Thank god - Little Bit can still watch "Max and Ruby" and "Dora" and etc, etc. The online news says that Time Warner and Viacom reached a deal to avoid the blackout. However, I'm still nervous, because for some reason, Noggin was a black, dead channel this morning. That's so not good, people. We have about two episodes each of Little Bit's favorite shows on DVR. We've already watched each about 5+ times because our DVR refuses to record anything new. We haven't gotten around to taking it in to exchange it for a new one. We need new shows. I can only watch Steve figure out the mouse ran up the clock 10 times before I may have to gouge out my eyes.)

In other news, Little Bit is very aware now and talking about happy and sad emotions. He stubbed his toe recently and told us that the foot was "not happy", but the other foot was happy. While it's very cool that Little Bit can now tell us he is happy, he can also break my heart when he says that he is not happy.

Recently, we were on our way to dinner in the car. Little Bit was being his usual talkative self and kept asking the same question over and over, even when we had already answered. My blood sugar was crashing (head opens and out comes snarling, raging dragon). I told him sharply that we had heard him and to please be quiet.

A few minutes later, his small voice piped up from the back seat. "I not happy."

I said, "Oh, honey...why aren't you happy?" He didn't answer, but DH pointed out that his feelings had probably been hurt by my sharp tone. Cue shattering heart. I apologized to Little Bit for my sharp tone and made sure to hug him when we got to the restaurant.

Last week, I was sleeping in with a headache. DH later told me of a conversation he had with Little Bit.

Little Bit said, "I happy...Daddy happy...Mommy no happy."

DH said, "No, Mommy sick."

Little Bit repeated, "Mommy no happy."

I had been feeling a little blue for several days, and he had picked up on it.

Bears and trains and laptops, oh my!

2008-12-29T10:53:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a merry holiday celebration (or at least enjoyed some time off work). We had a good Christmas. Little Bit was so excited to see his presents under the tree Christmas morning. Unlike last year, he wasn't afraid of the large stuffed animal in the living room. He ran towards Winnie the Pooh, saying, "My bear! My bear!" and gave it a big hug. It's almost bigger than he is and very soft. When Little Bit has outgrown it, it's mine! It will make a great pillow for watching tv.

After opening some presents, we told Little Bit that he should check the front room for anything Santa might have left him. On Christmas Eve, DH and I had stayed up after Little Bit was in bed and put together his new train set. It briefly looked like this.

Within, oh, 10 minutes or less, Little Bit had begun picking up sections of track and throwing them onto the floor. DH and I expected that. We didn't expect that Little Bit would want to immediately start building up the tracks again. He wanted to do it himself, putting the pieces together like a big puzzle. Sometimes he'd ask us for help. He's only two and a half, but he already saw the fun in re-arranging the tracks. The tracks got put together and taken apart several times over the long weekend.

Little Bit also likes his baby doll from Santa. He's not too clear on all the intricacies of baby care ("No, son, don't beat the baby against the side of the couch. That's not nice"), but he did lay the baby down for several naps and told us, "Shhhhhh...baby sleeping."

DH and I got new laptops for Christmas. We actually bought them before Christmas when they were on sale, but got each other some accessories to unwrap on Christmas. I love the advance of technology. My new laptop cost about 1/4 the cost of my six year old laptop, and of course it has way more memory, speed, etc than the old one. Plus, it weighs almost half what the old one weighs. I love it.

More potty talk

2008-12-24T10:58:00.003-06:00

Poor Little Bit is still suffering from that awful diaper rash. His rash seemed to be getting better over the weekend. Then, he went to daycare on Monday. I left the cream, asked them to apply it after every diaper change. On Monday night, his rash was worse again. We were back to his begging us not to change his diaper.

On Tuesday, I told his daycare teacher that the rash had gotten worse and to please be sure to apply the cream after every diaper change. When we picked him up Tuesday night and picked up the prescription cream to take home, we saw that they had gone through almost the entire tube. Let me spell it out -- according to my health insurance, this 50g tube of cream was supposed to last for 30 days. Daycare used most of the tube in one day. I don't even know how they could go through that much cream unless they were using it on every kid in class, too!

We tried to get a refill of the cream last night, but the pharmacist told us the insurance company would not pay for it. So, how much is the tube without insurance? $250! Two-hundred-fifty dollars!! That daycare blew through. $@#@#$@!!!

So, DH and I went home, trying to figure out how to handle this. Little Bit is in crying pain, begging us not to change his diaper with this diaper rash/infection, and we're almost out of cream. We looked at the ingredients on the prescription cream -- (0.25% miconazole nitrate, 15% zinc oxide and 81.35% white petrolatum). So, it's Monistat and diaper rash cream (the zinc oxide). For $20 we can mix up our own cream using OTC vaginal yeast infection cream and diaper rash cream.

Several people are going to hear about this -- first my HR person who can say something to our health insurance folks (maybe they need to see a video of our boy screaming and begging us to not touch his bright red bottom). Sure, daycare used way more than they should have, but the health insurance is crazy if they think that tube is enough to last 30 days. Then, our daycare folks will be in for it for wasting a 250-fuckin'-dollar tube of cream in one day. And then, our doctor for prescribing $250 cream without mentioning to us that we could just make our own over the counter for $15-20! Arrghhhhh!!!

Chri-mas Lights Inside!

2008-12-22T13:13:00.006-06:00

Holidays this year are especially fun since Little Bit is old enough to understand something about Christmas. Over the weekend, Santa Claus came through our neighborhood riding a fire truck with the horns and lights and sirens blazing. Little Bit was slightly disconcerted by the noise, but he was excited to see Santa Claus.

Last night we finally put up a Christmas tree (yes, we are lame). We usually get a real tree, but with all of us alternating being sick and with DH's work schedule, the last few weeks have just disappeared. After we put up our new fake tree (pre-lit, too! how convenient!), Little Bit toddled over to the entertainment speakers where a few presents were gathered, picked them up, and put them under the tree. He just knew that was where they went. Too cute.

Then, he asked, hopefully, "Open now? Open now?" We laughed and explained again that he could open the presents on Christmas Day. He seemed to accept that he would have to wait a few more days.

We left the lights on the tree lit for the evening. Every now and then, Little Bit would point to the tree and exclaim, "Chri-mas lights on! Chri-mas lights inside!" Because up till then, he'd just seen the lights outside in neighbors' yards.

I'm so looking forward to Christmas morning - to seeing his face when he sees his new toys. He just loves trains so much. I know the train set and train table are going to be a big hit. He will play "train" with his toy cars, saying, "Choo-choo!! All a-boar-d!"

--------

This morning, when I was sitting next to him on the couch, Little Bit put his arms around me and said, "I love my Mommy!"

*cue melting heart*

We Might Need to Start Bare-Butt Time

2008-12-19T15:17:00.003-06:00

Poor Little Bit has the worst diaper rash of his life. It's gotten worse and worse the last few days since he also has an intestinal bug. He tries to bargain his way out of diaper changes, mostly just telling me to put the diapers, wipes, and cream over there and to leave it alone and nooooooo! He cries and cries because it hurts so much to wipe his bottom and to apply the cream.

I'm home with him today. He woke from his afternoon nap earlier saying, "My bottom hurt! My bottom hurt!" He began crying and screaming. We went to change his diaper. No poo this time, so his urine must have really, really burned. I talked to the pediatrician on the phone earlier, and she advised to use the prescription cream we have for yeast infection rashes. I applied that liberally. Within a few minutes, Little Bit finally stopped crying.

He said, happily, "I feel better! I feel better!"

Oh, thank goodness. It kills me when he's in so much pain and I can't help him. My nerves feel scraped raw.

In happier news, I won something way cool over on We Covet - the Ultimate Planetarium from the Discovery Store.

This computer-aided, motorized indoor planetarium allows kids and adults to view the night sky as it would appear anywhere in the world. Projecting 88 constellations, 12 celestial objects and more, it transforms an ordinary room into a stellar display. The planetarium also contains a searchable database with over 600 star facts and interactive talking computer with backlit navigational screen.

How awesome is that? Since I majored in astrophysics/astronomy for my undergraduate degree and worked in astronomical research for several years, this is the perfect geeky gadget to entertain the family.

All I Want For Christmas

2008-12-16T11:27:00.005-06:00

We already have the big Christmas gifts for Little Bit -- a new KidKraft wooden train set (he adores trains) and a used KidKraft train table (gotta love ebay for saving me $100). I also got him a Playdoh set (Playdoh is another favorite in our house), the cutest Max and Ruby beanie babies, and a few Max and Ruby books. I was idly surfing on Amazon for stocking stuffer ideas. I clicked on the "Under $10" link, then the link for "Boys".

What immediately struck me was how the boys' toys were all violent toys - soldier figurines from Halo or Transformer battle robots or Nerf "blaster" guns or "Battle Brawler Deluxe Monsters". Besides the fact that all these toys were for older kids, was this seriously the only thing Amazon's listmakers could come up with?

(As an aside, there is a link for "Preschool" that has a mix of things like puzzles, trucks, Mr. Potato Head, and dolls, etc., but I'm sad that the older boys' toys are all violent.)

One of the things I love about our little guy is his warm, affectionate nature. He snuggles up against me or his dad while watching tv. He just wants to be touching one of us. He will just run over to give us hugs, saying, "My mommy!" or "My daddy!" I don't want him to lose that as he grows up. Sure, I find myself falling into the stereotyping of young boys sometimes...when he wants to run and jump and falls, but picks himself up and says, "I fine," I think or say, "He's such a boy!" Really though, that just seems to be active, outgoing toddler behavior.

So, one of the other things he's getting for Christmas this year is a baby doll. This Corolle doll. He has stuffed animals that he carries around, but now he will also have a baby doll to love and nurture.

OK, It Was Closer to 2 feet

2008-12-12T10:12:00.001-06:00

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

2008-12-11T12:21:00.004-06:00

SNOW!!! In Houston! It snowed here yesterday and last night, ya'll. The last time it snowed here was Christmas Eve in 2004 (when DH proposed to me BTW).

This was Little Bit's first snow, and it was miraculous. We bundled up Little Bit to take him out and show him the snow falling before his bedtime. I loved watching the white flakes come swirling out of the darkness. The snow frosted the tree limbs and bushes, the cars and houses. It sprinkled powdery fine on the grass, melting on the warmer street. It swirled around the Christmas lights.

The sound of our neighbor's kids laughter rang out in the darkness. They scrounged snow from all over their yard and built a snowman. DH took a pic of Little Bit standing next to the snowman this morning. I'll have to post it later. I think Little Bit was about the same size as the snowman.

I actually had to scrape icy snow off my car's windshield this morning. I don't know where my ice scraper is (bought when I lived up north and packed away somewhere), so I used the edge of a magazine to loosen it.

Kyla at The Journey has some great pics of them playing in the snow. Our local paper has an article with pics too.

It was warm and in the 70s here on Tuesday, then snow last night, and we're going to get back up to the 70s by Sunday. Gotta love that crazy Houston weather. At least we had a little wintry weather to really get us in the mood for the holidays.

Insert some title here

2008-12-08T11:01:00.003-06:00

Poor Little Bit was feeling under the weather this past weekend. He lay back on a pillow on the couch, watching cartoons most of the weekend, and didn't even want to lift his arms to hold a cup to drink. I gave him ibuprofen for the fever, but even with the fever held at bay, he was listless. There's something very pitiful about a little feller saying, "I feel bad."

I made him as comfortable as I could and gave him lots of mommy love. I held the cup with a bendy straw to his lips when he wanted a drink. I got him his stuffed monkey or his Mickey Mouse to snuggle. DH would come and give him Daddy tickles that would bring out a brief smile.

Little Bit felt started to feel better last night. When he ran back and forth carrying armloads of stuffed animals from his bed to the couch (just because), it was a clue. (Blue's Clues!) He felt well enough to go to daycare today. DH dropped him off, telling them that he had been sick, so to call us if he got feverish again. The daycare manager asked Little Bit if he felt better.

He said, "I feel better...Daddy feel better...Mommy no feel better."

I had to laugh at that. I was in bed when they left, because DH let me go back to bed and snooze in a bit.
------
A random cute conversation with Little Bit --
Last week, when driving Little Bit home from daycare at the end of the day, I heard him say, "Moon!! Far away! Very high!"

The crescent moon, Jupiter, and Venus were putting on a great show. I said, "Yes. It is very far away. You need a rocket ship to get there. Mommy's working on that."

He agreed, "Need a rocket ship!"

A few days later, when he noticed the moon shining again outside the car windows on our evening drive, he said, "Moon! It far away! Need a rocket ship!"

Did I mention he's only two and a half? He's so smart. *proud mama grin*

My 100th post!

2008-12-02T10:42:00.004-06:00

Woo-hoo! 100 posts!

DH has been working unusual hours, including some evenings and weekends. While I enjoy the time with Little Bit as special mommy-son time, I know Little Bit misses his dad being around (like I do). He will ask many times, "Where Da-da?" When his dad comes home, Little Bit jumps up with the biggest grin and peeks over the couch to the back door, crying with glee, "Da-da!"

This last weekend, DH worked Saturday morning, then had the afternoon off. We all went shopping at Target. Little Bit sat in the basket of the cart, DH pushed him, and I got things from my shopping list. DH sped him around the store and around in circles while Little Bit said, "Whoahhh!! Whoahhhh!!" They both had the biggest smiles. I laughed to see Little Bit having so much fun.

At the end of shopping, we stopped in the Starbucks inside the store. We gathered around a little table and shared a fresh baked blueberry muffin. DH and I got Eggnog Lattes. Nummmmmm.

I was enjoying the moment when Little Bit made it ten times better. He looked up and said, "I happy!"

What's a Nice Date Without Barf on Your Clothes?

2008-11-24T11:28:00.005-06:00

On Saturday night, DH and I were going out for a real, grown-up, dress-up, cocktail attire, date. We got to my friend's house to drop off Little Bit. He had fallen asleep in the car and was draped over my shoulder, as I rang the doorbell. My mommy senses were tingling though, when I heard his breathing sound a little funny. Just as my friend opened the door, Little Bit barfed. I was quick to turn him around, but he still nailed the shoulder of my velvet outfit...and my friend's patio.

*grin* Hi, here's a barfy toddler for you, bye! No, actually, Little Bit was fine after that; he had just gotten carsick. So, we changed his shirt, wiped my shirt off, and left for our date. And a fun time was had by all.

Last night, DH and I finally got the answer to the burning question that has been haunting us for months....how did Joe take over from Steve on Blue's Clues? Yes, sad isn't it? There is a whole Blue's Clues Debate about Steve vs. Joe, but Little Bit doesn't seem to have a preference. He just says, "I li'ke Blue's Clues!!" When the special hour and a half Blue's Clues started yesterday, I called DH to tell him it was the Steve to Joe transition episode, the one we'd been waiting for! Yeah, I told you it was sad.

Steve shaved his head and has a rock band and a myspace page. Who knew Steve was kinda cool? I always thought early Joe was cuter than Steve, but Steve is kinda cute with a shaved head.

With all the kid's tv that we watch, there are many burning questions that keep us up at night. Do you ever wonder where Max and Ruby's parents are? Where were Steve and Joe's parents? Why was Steve living alone? Why was Joe living somewhere else? Is Little Bear the same bear that is on Franklin? What is up with that wacky family on Miss Spider? DH keeps commenting on the fact that Miss Spider should be eating most of her adopted kids. And seriously, earwigs?!? *shudder*

Obviously I Need a Lexus

2008-11-21T13:42:00.005-06:00

Apparently when I switched from driving my old SUV to my new Accord, all the local streets and parking lots moved higher in response.

Those rat bastards.

I could post a close-up of the gouged, scratched, and peeled-up metal of the lower side of my new car, but it's too depressing. Who decided to put large concrete curbs around those posts at daycare, anyway?!?

And seriously, why do you need curbs around a useless piece of dead grass in a parking lot?!? That one got the *other* side of my car today!

I won't even talk about all the concrete curbs in parking spaces that have defiled my front bumper. I need electronic sensors around my car.

So, either they're out to get me or...nah, as my DH knows, it's never my fault. I blame the Romans.

Updated - Or Would It Be My Mommy CV?

2008-11-17T13:24:00.010-06:00

Her Bad Mother wrote this post regarding the Motrin ad campaign that insulted baby wearers specifically, and moms in general, as trying to be Stepford Mom conformists.

[I have such a bloggy crush on HBM. She writes so well and so honestly. I think if I met her, I might get all fangirl geeky. Read her stuff; it's awesome.]

Anyway, she coins the term "mommy bona fides" in the above post for those outward signs that say, yes, I am a mommy. Things like a Frankenvulva (if you haven't read this post, you must do it now! I'll wait....ok, are you back?), a stained wardrobe, a muffin top, a short temper, etc.

That got me thinking about a list of mommy bona fides for me. Of course these are just mine, I'm sure all 2 of my readers have some other good ones, too.

My Mommy Credentials...
I've caught throw-up in my hand and been peed on (not in any sort of kinky way, yuck).

I know all the words to the "Little Einsteins" theme song.

I actually find watching episodes of "Max and Ruby" relaxing.

I have sniffed near another person's butt. (What? I'm talking about the diaper sniff, people.)

I can play what amounts to Charades with a 2 year old, trying to translate what he said. One word, sounds like...pi'doh...could be pillow. Pillow? No. Playdough! Of course.

I talk about poo and potties and tantrums with strangers.

My abdomen looks like I tried to come up with the next big trend after piercing or tats or branding -- pale squiggly lines rising from my lady parts like flames to cover my stomach. Yeah, those would be stretch marks.

So, what are your mommy bona fides?

P.S. Is it just Little Bit or does your toddler insist on falling asleep holding random things. A tupperware lid and a squishy foam cylinder from a toy, really? Last night it was hand-me-down toddler reindeer slippers he found in his stuff right before bedtime. Don't suggest he give those up unless you want a tantrum of epic proportions.

Updated to add:

I may not wear the ubiquitous mommy ponytail, but I almost always have my hair up in a bun with a butterfly clip (is that worse than a scrunchy? I don't know).

I sometimes have the dreaded muffin top. *sigh* At least I hide it by wearing long shirts untucked.

While I didn't get near the scars that HBM got, I also got to experience the joy and physicality of vaginal delivery. Ice packs are your friend. So were pillows to sit on for weeks and weeks and weeks...

Most of my pants now have elastic in the waistband. This may just be a me thing and not a 'mom' thing, but I loved the stretchiness of maternity pants' waistbands.

I keep books or magazines in the car so I can read at stoplights (who remembers free time to read before becoming a mother?)

Too bad I can't blame my being late for things and being too rushed to put on makeup on being a harried mom. I'm just lazy. Heh.

So tired

2008-11-13T11:55:00.004-06:00

i'm doing well -- hardly any pain recovering from the sinus surgery. I felt a little guilty about taking sick days (just a little - there's something to be said for freedom to watch whatever I want on tv and being fully excused from many things...no lifting toddlers, no bending over, etc), but then yesterday I actually got dressed. I needed a nap after I finished dressing. Yeah. Me tired.

What kind of service would you expect for that kind of money?

2008-11-07T16:24:00.005-06:00

I had the pre-surgery appointment with my sinus doctor yesterday. In just 3 days I will be woozy from the lingering effects of anesthesia and will have various bloody fluids coming outta my nose. As I remember from my last sinus surgery, the sling that goes over your ears and around your nose to hold the gauze in place is pretty comical. Oh, yeah, and I'll have a partially numb face. Good times.

The doc used an endoscope to look into my infected sinus yesterday. He said it's looking better, but, well, I won't give you the details about the pus he mentioned. Because that's just gross. I am *so* not the type of person who runs into friends I haven't seen for awhile, then starts blathering on about her upcoming sinus surgery and making references to roto-rooters being applied (there's a lovely image!), when those friends have just been enjoying bagels and coffee. Ahem.

The nebulized antibiotics have been fighting back the infection somewhat, just not enough. I am so sick of that nebulizer machine. I've been using it for months now, or possibly since the Clinton presidential years. I'm not sure. Things get a little blurry in my continued exhaustion. During the day last Saturday, thanks to DH entertaining the little guy, I slept for about 6 hours. Then, I went to bed about 9pm that night. I still had to come home early from work one day this week to sleep because I was feeling vertiginous. (Like how I worked that $25 word in there?)

The doc showed me the CAT/CT scan of my sinuses. It's much cooler now that they have the images on computer in digital form. Way back in the dark ages, 6 years ago, my last pre-sinus surgery scan used actual huge X-ray films. I know, barbaric. You only got X-ray prints of a limited number of slices through imaging of the head. With digital images, the doc could scroll the mouse wheel and take us through my skull and sinuses and back out from any direction. Kinda cool. Yep, the images confirmed how very effed up my left sinuses are.

As I was leaving the doc's office, I noticed the billing charges on my checkout slip. Of course those are never what the insurance actually ends up paying the doctors, but I guess if we had no insurance, it's what we'd have to pay. There was a $120 office visit charge *plus* a $350 charge for the endoscopic procedure. $350?!@! He looked in my nose like 15-20 seconds! Seriously. For that kind of money, well, let's just say, I'd prefer the cuter doc in the practice, and it should involve other kinds of procedures.

Look at those munchable cheeks!

2008-11-06T08:41:00.006-06:00

Halloween 2006 - 5 months old

Halloween 2008 - 29 months old

More quotes from our toddler

2008-11-05T13:32:00.003-06:00

DH comes into the room after overhearing me on the phone with my mom.
DH: Who's whining and not listening?
Little Bit (putting his hand on his chest): Me!!
---------
Last night, after I put Little Bit into his chair at the dinner table, he made his seating preferences clear...
Little Bit: I sit by Mama....Daddy far away!
---------
During dinner, Little Bit will sometimes encourage us to share. If I put parmesan cheese on my spaghetti, Little Bit asks for some on his food, then says, "Daddy some." I have to put some cheese on DH's food, too.

DH and I had finished reading bedtime stories, and Little Bit was climbing into my lap for his 'nah-nah' (nursing). Little Bit settled into my lap, said "Daddy nah-nah," and then started nursing. I tried not to crack up too much. He was willing to share his nah-nah with Daddy!

Yay!

2008-11-05T09:15:00.003-06:00

"Change has come to America." ~President-Elect Obama. Full text of his speech. Reaction from the world.

I'm feeling good this morning...and hopeful for the changes that my son will see in the next century.

Halloween: the laid-back version

2008-11-03T12:32:00.006-06:00

I will upload the cute pics of Little Bit in his Halloween costume soon. He picked out his costume at Toys R Us weeks and weeks ago - a fuzzy Tigger costume, with a tail and ears. Oh, the cuteness. Makes me want to nom-nom-nom his rounded little cheeks. The costume was a 4T, which, we thought, oh that's too big, but let's try it on him in the store anyway. It fit our "little" guy perfectly. Lesson learned -- trying on the costumes in person is the way to go. If I had ordered him one on the internetz, I would've ordered a 3T.

Unlike last year's Halloween, which consisted of taking him to *one* house next door before he melted down, this year, we took Little Bit to *three* houses. Yeah, we're pacing ourselves. You can see last year's Halloween costume on the side of the blog. Of course he was an astronaut! The fun thing this year was that he knew what was going on. After dinner, when we wondered aloud if he would be up to putting on a costume, he lobbied for, "Twick'r Tweet! Twick'r Tweet!"

He loved looking at the decorations and the pumpkins in the yards (real and fake). One house had a motion-sensor activated tombstone that cackled. Little Bit was not sure about that at all. He clung to his dad's pants leg and let Dad take the lead. We got lots of great video and picures, then retired to our house. We got Little Bit into his pjs, gave him some small pieces of candy, and he watched "Max and Ruby". I'd say we timed it about right. We went out a bit early, before dark, because we knew a late night would be a recipe for meltdown central. He had a great time, got some candy, and did not meltdown.

Getting him to bed was a bit of an adventure. As it got dark, our doorbell rang numerous times. Little Bit gleefully got down from his bed where we were reading and ran to the door. He wanted to see the other kids in their costumes. He also asked repeatedly for candy from the big bowl on the bookshelf by the door. Finally, DH sat outside on our porch with the bowl of candy, so I could get Little Bit to sleep without any more doorbells.

Home again

2008-10-31T14:04:00.010-05:00

While I was away, I called home every night at Little Bit's bedtime. He would say, happily, "Mommy...Mommy...Mommy!" I'd ask him if he had played ball that day and he'd say, "I play ball" or "I slide". When I said, "I love you", he said back, "I love you, Mommy." {Here's where my heart melted into a puddle of goo.}

It was so amazingly awesome to be able to 'talk' to him on the phone and to know that he understood that his mommy was coming back. Eight months ago, when I turned down a business trip, he was just too young, I thought, for him to understand I'd be back and too young for me to be able to leave for a week. But he's a big boy now, and this business trip was just for three nights. We could do it.

During the first two nights I was away, Little Bit did ok. He would ask where I was, but accept when DH told him that I was away on an airplane and would be back in so-many nights. Little Bit began to expect my call each night. If the phone rang near his bedtime, he got a big smile and became very excited. On the third night, my last night away, Little Bit had had enough. He kept asking for me and had trouble being settled down to sleep.

I flew back home yesterday. I was very excited to see Little Bit, figuring he would be ecstatic to see me. I was looking forward to that moment when the huge smile of joy lit up his face, and he came running to hug me. I was at home when DH returned from picking Little Bit up at daycare. Little Bit came inside the house saying, "Ride bike outside!!" Basically, he seemed to notice me, like - oh, hai - and kept running to get his tricycle. DH said the look on my face was priceless, like, whut? I certainly didn't expect that reaction.

We all went outside. Little Bit rode his tricycle, walking his feet along as he sat on the seat (he's still working the the whole pedaling thing), while DH and I walked behind him.

On the walk back home, DH reminded Little Bit how they had talked before bed the last few nights about mommy being away on the airplane, but that mommy would be back, and here I was. Maybe Little Bit had been playing cool, because he was annoyed I had left. If so, I was forgiven now. The distraction of his tricycle could last only so long.

For the rest of the evening, Little Bit wanted Mommy. He wanted me to carry him when he was through riding his tricycle. He wanted to sit on my lap while we ate dinner. He was glued to my side or in my lap as we watched cartoons before bedtime. That was a balm to my slightly injured feelings. He did miss me. I soaked in the warmth of his small body next to mine.

Not too long ago, I was settling Little Bit into my lap for storytime before bed. I exclaimed as I hefted him, "You're getting so big!" He said, "No big boy," and snuggled in closer to me. {Here's where my heart melted into a puddle of goo.} Right then, he didn't want to be a big boy. He wanted to be my little boy. I reassured him, "You'll always be my baby." I hugged him even closer.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-29T09:44:00.006-05:00

At the launch pad.

Missing my family, but on the bright side...

2008-10-28T11:00:00.003-05:00

Business travel and all day meetings - $1000.
Daquiri on the beach at sunset - Priceless.

Hot, hot, hot!

2008-10-24T10:19:00.005-05:00

Something fun to do tomorrow here in Houston --
The Houston Fire Fest will take place 10/25/08 from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the HFD Training Facility located by Hobby Airport (8030 Braniff). Admission is FREE!

Further information is available at the following Web site: http://www.houstonfiremuseum.org/firefest.html

One of my coworkers mentioned it today. Maybe there will be some hot firemen there, too. Heh. Little Bit will love the big fire trucks.

The other night, Little Bit sat on the toilet at home for the first time! They've been doing potty training at daycare -- having him sit on the potty and sometimes he goes. I haven't been too stressed about potty training. Sarah, over at life at 45 degrees, and I have the same potty training philosophy:

Part of me hopes that one day, as we near his 3rd birthday, he will grab a copy of the NY Times, announce that he needs some privacy and then abscond to the bathroom for 20 minutes, returning with freshly washed hands and saying, "I need real underwear. The ones with Thomas on them. Let's go to Target."

But the other night, as DH was getting Little Bit ready for bed, LB asked to go to the potty. I heard them go into the bathroom and DH put LB onto the toilet.
Little Bit said proudly, "I be big boy!"

I tip-toed to the edge of the door and peeked around to see our little guy perched on the big toilet. That's how unhurried we are about training - we don't even have a potty seat to put on top the toilet. He just had to balance so he wouldn't fall in. Little Bit saw me peeking around the corner and grinned, then ducked his head shyly.

It was so cute to see him perched on the edge of that big toilet, with his little bare legs dangling. I was tempted to take a pic of him, but I didn't want to distract him if he was actually going to use it. He didn't, but maybe next time he just needs some reading material.

Wordless Wedesday

2008-10-22T19:50:00.002-05:00

(Now if I could just figure out how to rotate the video on my phone or the computer...)

Update

2008-10-22T09:45:00.004-05:00

Next week I'll be going on a business trip. This will be the first time I'll be away from Little Bit for longer than 8-12 hours. Back in March, I declined a business trip. It just felt too soon to leave Little Bit that long. This time, while I am still a little apprehensive about leaving him, I'm also looking forward to having free evenings for a few days. I'll be staying at a hotel on the beach near KSC. I know I'm going to miss Little Bit and DH, but it's going to be nice to recharge my batteries by the ocean.

I talked in detail with my doctor about the results of my CT scan. The upper sinuses on the one side are just eff'ed up, and in a much worse state than before my previous surgery six years ago. We set my revision sinus surgery for just under three weeks from now.

Friday Funnies

2008-10-17T13:33:00.003-05:00

Now for the lighter side -- breaking out the robot at the debates:

More caption gems for the photo here. "Apparently he was trying to reach across party lines and his shock collar went off..."

Let's get political

2008-10-16T14:12:00.007-05:00

Kyla, over at The Journey, posted a fantastic letter to Joe the Plumber, pointing out the idiocy that is the McCain health plan. $5000 is not enough to cover health insurance for most people, let alone health insurance for people with "pre-existing conditions" or chronic health issues. As Kyla points out, McCain doesn't even bother to address/mention the uninsured.

A local radio show host said this morning that during the Presidential debate last night, McCain reminded him of the old man who yells at you to get off his lawn. McCain wants to keep the big tax breaks for the rich and the big corporations, while 95% of the rest of us get nothing. That's how you get a $10+ trillion national debt; you keep spending money you don't have over the last 8 years, but still continue to give tax breaks to big corporations and the very wealthy. Regarding the claims of tax increases and fines for small businesses that McCain has made about Obama's tax plan, the truth is that "fewer than 2% of business owners would be hit by Obama's proposed rate increase. For those who are affected, the increase would be levied only on a part of their earnings, not all of them." ~from CNN Money

Additionally, Obama will not "fine" small business if they can't afford to provide health insurance for their employees. Small business is exempt from the payroll tax.

DH and I were talking last night about how very tired we are of the Republican campaign strategy to continue repeating the same lies over and over, even when those lies have been refuted. Maybe they hope that more of America is computer illiterate and won't be able to check the facts.

Oh, yeah, and Palin didn't even have a passport until 2006?!?! No wonder the idea of her as possible VP, being a heartbeat away from the presidency, makes Europe cringe. She is definitely no Margaret Thatcher.

His vocabulary is expanding

2008-10-16T10:00:00.003-05:00

Last week, we were getting ready to go out to eat dinner. I started to buckle Little Bit into his carseat.

He said, "I poo-poo."

I said, "Oh, son," thinking about having to unbuckle him and change his diaper, "Did you really poo-poo?"

He answered, "No, I just farted."

Bwah-hahahaha! DH and I fell over laughing. I'm so proud; he's only 2.

---------

My parents just left yesterday from a long weekend visit. When they arrived late last Friday night, Little Bit woke up as usual about 11 pm. He smiled shyly at them and hid his face, then flirted with them from the protection of my arms. We could tell that he remembered them from the last time he saw them about 5.5 months ago. They were so tickled that he remembered them.

A nose by any other name

2008-10-08T15:54:00.005-05:00

I went for the follow-up with my sinus doc last week. After 2 months (!!) on the nebulized antibiotics, only half of my sinus infection is cleared up. The doc suggested sinus surgery to open up the passageways on that side of my nose. I go for the CT scan on Friday, then he'll call me with the results and schedule the surgery.

*big sigh* I just want to not have sinus headaches every day, to be able to breathe out of both sides of my nose, and to not be exhausted all the time. Is that too much to ask?

And just because you might be wondering who is lying or being misleading in his presidential campaign or who is being fairly truthful, go check cnn or factcheck.org

Fear and Loving in Houston

2008-10-03T17:55:00.005-05:00

In movies, they sometimes show it by slowing down the film speed. The heroine or hero suddenly moves in molasses as the unthinkable seems to be happening -- the car crashes, the rope breaks, the shot is fired. It wasn't anything as dramatic as that, but, nonetheless, as potentially devastating.

I had just walked out of the restaurant door to meet with DH and Little Bit. Little Bit saw me and grinned in delight. The next instant he was running towards me, across the grass, towards the pavement of the parking lot...then I saw the SUV driving from my right, heading towards what looked like a meeting with my precious boy. It didn't feel like time had slowed down; everything moved much too quickly.

I could see every detail around me. I saw DH trying to catch up with Little Bit, who had been just out of reach. I noticed the older couple who exited the doors after me, looking in suprise and alarm as I screamed, "Noooooooooo!!!!" with my hand stretched out as if I could physically push Little Bit away, to stop him, to hold him safe. In my hyper-awareness, I saw the driver of the SUV, a woman, hear my scream and realize quickly where the danger was. She hit the brakes. I saw the SUV roll to a stop just as Little Bit disappeared behind the front wheel of her car. I ran forward, not knowing.(please, no...please, no...)

Heart racing, I turned the corner of the front bumper to see Little Bit running behind the rear of the car, still intent on getting to me. Ohmigod, he was running, he wasn't hit! But I was desperate to catch him before another car pulled into the lot, desperate to make sure he hadn't been hurt at all. I caught up with him as DH got to us. I grabbed my little boy and held him close, saying, "Ohmigod, ohmigod... oh, don't do that to us, little one!" He was fine, smiling at me, wondering why the adults were so excited. The woman driving the SUV had gotten out and ran around to us in panic, too. When she saw that he was fine, she looked upwards in thankfulness.

DH and I held him close as we walked to our car. Our hearts were still hammering, the adrenaline rushing through our veins. It had been just another ordinary day, that almost wasn't.

This is what it's like to live with the most tender part of your heart outside your body, outside your control. Just a few seconds difference, a driver's inattention...I shudder. I try to protect my overly sensitive mother's heart when I can. I don't read certain news stories; I can't. I can't read the details of little children who died by accident or malice. I don't click through to the news stories, but sometimes the local paper betrays me. Their website contains too much information in the headlines. Information that I did not want to know. Information that haunts me when I see the pictures of those children with bright, inquisitive eyes.

So, I try to protect my little one the best I can, knowing that it's not all under my control. Hoping that we continue to be among the lucky.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-01T14:39:00.003-05:00

Don't tell that to Superman

2008-09-24T13:19:00.003-05:00

This morning DH was carrying Little Bit, laying stretched out in DH's arms, down the hallway.

DH said to him, "Look! You're flying!"

Little Bit answered, "No...Birdie fly. Airplane fly. My no fly."

Pictures of the aftermath

2008-09-23T13:20:00.005-05:00

As we drove home from daycare yesterday, Little Bit began his sad, yet funny litany noting all the trees felled by Hurricane Ike.

"Nuder wun fah down...nuder wun fah down...nuder wun fah down..."
Another one fall down.

A moment

2008-09-18T17:11:00.003-05:00

Last night as Little Bit slept between DH and I, I listened to the snuffles and little sounds he made. He sighed and nestled against me like a little puppy, happy and content. I marveled at his sweetly curved arms, still plump with baby fat. It's when he's asleep that I can glimpse again the little baby that he was. When his face relaxes and his eyelashes kiss his round cheeks, my heart fills again. He may be growing by leaps and bounds, but he'll always be my baby.

The aftermath of Ike

2008-09-16T22:34:00.004-05:00

We went to bed last Friday night to try to get some sleep. Our power had flickered off and on several times, but went off finally at about 11pm. I woke up about 2am, when Ike was supposed to be hitting land. DH was already up and walking the house, checking the floor in front of windows for water. The sound of the wind and rain outside was impressive. We looked out at our back patio to see some blue styrofoam that had come from someone's house when the siding and other insulation was ripped away. We hoped it wasn't ours. As we watched, a sudden gust of wind sucked the the styrofoam straight up and gone in an instant. We were definitely seeing the 90+ mph steady wind with the 100+ gusts at our place.

Our front door was leaking water; the seal between the stained glass inset wasn't quite waterproof. With each gust of wind, water was forced through the seal and ran down the door. The pressure of the wind gusts made the door protest and howl. DH pointed out that it sounded like a kazoo. DH stayed up longer to keep an eye on the windows, etc, but I went back to bed.

Little Bit slept through the storm. Saturday morning, we were still going through the eyewall. We were probably in the eyewall for some 12 hours. Wind and rain for hours. Hoping that the builders of our 5 year old house had built it properly to the hurricane codes.

On Saturday afternoon, we could get outside to look for any damage. We were very lucky. Besides power being out, like 20% of Texas, we had some window screens pulled off and twisted. I'll have to post the pics from my camera phone later. One of our neighbors wasn't so lucky. They were the one whose wall insulation littered our backyard.

I felt so cut off from the world without power. No internet or tv. My cell phone charge was getting low as well, so I rationed calls. We don't have a battery powered radio (yes, we need to remedy that). We got some news from neighbors who had a generator. We heard that NASA/JSC would be closed at least this whole week, and thought about taking refuge somewhere with power. After a few days of no power in the Houston heat, with a bored 2 year old (no, I'm sorry, we can't watch tyee-vee), we decided to take the opportunity to visit some of DH's family.

The drive northward through the path of Ike was interesting. We drove here on Monday. Very few stores were open. The Target was open during the day, selling non-perishable items only. No gas stations had any gas. At first I was pointing out the downed trees in the aftermath, but then Little Bit picked up on it.

As we drove, we heard, "Un moh fah down..." (One more fall down...) over and over.

It was some 250 miles inland from the Texas coast before we saw "civilization" again -- meaning gas stations with gas (only two had gas, both with mile long lines before then), power, and open restaraunts.

Updated to add: on the drive north on I-59 we saw easily 200+ "cherry pickers" and other power/utility trucks caravaning southward in fives and tens. DH and I were both heartened to see so many heeding the call to help restore power to the Houston area.

Rock me like a hurricane...

2008-09-12T14:27:00.003-05:00

I'm watching the 17 ft waves on the news topping the seawall on Galveston just south of us. We are hunkered down in our one story house. It's 12 hours before the eye of the hurricane comes ashore. There is still the ~12+ ft storm surge and then the maybe 10+ inches of rain. The question now seems to be how much JSC will flood, not whether. Our house will be above the flooding, but we are probably going to see hurricane force winds here starting at 9 or 10 pm tonight.

More later.

Bueller?...Bueller?... Anyone?

2008-09-08T14:36:00.003-05:00

Am I dreaming the impossible dream? I just want to find some nice pants for work, preferably ones that shed wrinkles (and won't end up looking like you pulled them from the bottom of the clothes pile, did a sniff test, and threw them on, even though they were fresh, clean, and unwrinkled 2 seconds before). OK, that part sounds do-able. Plenty of 'dress' pants are wrinkle-resistant.

Here's the kicker - the pants have to not make me literally sweat my ass off in the heat and humidity of Houston. Most 'dress' pants seem to be made with some sort of polyester/rayon/spandex mix. Last time I tried to wear one of my dress pants to work this summer, I had to turn around after stopping for my ususal caffeine/coffee fix and return home to change pants. I was going to lose several pounds of water if I didn't.

I need some cotton or natural blend fabric that's been treated to shed wrinkles. At the very least, a manufactured fabric with some breathability. Am I reaching too high? Am I dreaming too big? Anyone have some suggestions for brands of dress pants?

A Par-tay

2008-09-08T13:52:00.004-05:00

Blogtations is having a party! They are marching towards the 500th blogtation quote! As part of the party, I'm posting two of my favorite quotes from Blogtations.

Middle Twerp has some type of oral fixation. The child was born with a quarter, three army men, and a Bic pen top in his mouth. Seriously. I just held out my hand as I laid in the stirrups and told him in a firm voice, Spit those out. The doctors were a little perplexed, but I knew it was just the beginning of what was to come. ~ Dreams of a Country Girl

Do you know what's awesome? You can lie around in bed all day with your plaid adult version of a child's security blanket, consuming Doritos and crunchy coffee from a three-day-old mug, and your cats will have no idea that you are completely pathetic and probably undermedicated. ~ Schmutzie

If you haven't read Blogtations before, go check 'em out! If you want to join the par-tay, and possibly win a $50 Amazon gift certificate, check out the rules.

Me-me me-me

2008-09-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm going to grab a meme that I just read over at musings' place. The meme is a good 'getting to know you' list of questions.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
Ten years ago I was going to grad school. I was one of two "older" students in the program and one of the 5 women out of about 25. My aerospace engineering graduate department actually had a higher percentage of women than most others -- a whopping 20%. I was used to that; my undergrad physics and astro classes were 10% or so women. However, I also had some math and physics classes that were 90% women and 10% men. (That was one of the advantages of going to an all women's college with an opportunity to take classes at the local co-ed college, too.)

Ten years ago, I was wondering what I'd gotten myself into. I'd always done much better in my liberal arts classes than in my science and math classes, but the applied part of engineering was what interested me. So, I stubborned my way through, and my GPA was helped by the A's I got in a few liberal arts type grad classes like Engineering Psychology.

2. What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
Put away my clean laundry. Stop by Tarjay for a few items. Read some more of Twilight.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Chocolate (of course). Popcorn. Potato chips and ranch dip.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Of course pay off all my debt. Contribute to a number of humanitarian and fine/performing arts causes. Buy a bigger house here in Houston. Give a bunch of money to my extended family, and get my mom and dad a house here. Travel all over the world. Buy a house in Hawaii. Set up my son's financial future so he wouldn't have to worry about anything. Buy a trip to the Space Station from the Russians and/or fund my own private space program. *grin*

5. Places I have lived:
Counting places that I have lived at least a few months (including summer internships) - Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas.

6. Jobs I have had:
Fast food worker, data analyst, astronomy intern, human factors intern, grad school Teacher's Assisstant, rocket scientist, space systems engineer.

Thursday's Tale of Torture

2008-09-04T09:41:00.001-05:00

Today's post is brought to you by the letters T, M, and I.

Yesterday morning the fun began with my appointment at the dentist. The dental hygienist I'm sure is a lovely lady, and any other time I would have happily chatted with her about our toddlers who are so near in age. However, the torture of my gums with an instrument called a water pik (ha, how about water laser?) did not lighten my mood. Yeah, yeah, that's what I get for waiting too long between appointments. Just shut up, lady, I'm trying not to punch you in the stomach.

The fun continued in the afternoon's appointment with my ENT (aka, the sinus doc). First there was the long metal scope he stuck in my nostrils to look into my sinuses. Then, he needed to clean out one side so that the nebulized antibiotics could finish getting rid of any sinus infection. My brother used to offer to use a Roto-rooter on my sinuses when I had a bad infection. Well, that's what the doc did. He kept turning up the suction, because apparently my sinuses have discovered a great recipe for cement. No one's inner sinuses should have to feel that. When the suction thingy of doom didn't get it all, the doc *scraped* at the inside of my sinuses. shudder

So, I left there with both my gums and sinuses scraped and raw and achy. Obviously I should have scheduled a pap smear and a colonoscopy yesterday just to complete the fun. I totally stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home.

It's good to be the Mom

2008-09-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

What have I been up to in the last week? Being the best parent ev-ah! For one thing, we let Little Bit eat dinner on the couch while watching Dorya. And it was pizza, ya'll! We also had hot dogs for lunch one day, too. I must confess that Little Bit has been getting to watch some tv just about every morning and evening. If we tell him it's time to turn off the tv, his little face gets red, tears spring to his eyes, and he puts his little hand out in a stop motion, like warding off Swiper*, and cries, "No!! More tye-vee!"

Being awesome, we give in and say, "One more story. One more."

The theme songs of all these toddler shows are stuck in my head. I've suggested a drinking game to DH where you have to drink everytime one of the characters on these shows break the fourth wall. You'd be very drunk watching Dora, what with all the "Say map! Say map!" and "Say backpack!" It's one way to get through the horror.

At one point this weekend, Little Bit was doing something that we'd told him not to do (banging a toy on the table, I think). I got *that* tone and said, warningly, "Sonnnn..." Then, being self-aware, I said, "If you don't stop that, I'm going to say, 'Sonnnn...' again."

DH laughed. Sometimes it's just too much trouble to follow-through, ya know? Then, we somehow got Little Bit distracted.

However, my favorite parenting moment this last week was when we were driving home. Little Bit started asking to sit in my lap. I said that he couldn't right now; he had to stay in his seat while we're in the car.

DH then said to Little Bit, "OK, as soon as we get home, one of us will hold you." Then he said to me, "It helps if you can say yes to him in some way."

I said, "Yeah, I know. But I'm a mean mom and sometimes I just like saying 'no'."

* As an aside, check out that link above for Swiper. I googled "Dora Swiper" and came across an interesting post by a history/religion professor about Swiper as an archetypal "diabolical fox-spirit" found in many religions. DH and I were just recently talking about how it was interesting that you have to say "Swiper, no swiping!" the ritually important three times in order to keep him from swiping.

I got an award!

2008-09-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

Cool! I got an award from TxGambit.

I'm supposed to answer the following questions with one word each and then tag 7 people with the honor.

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Home
3. Your hair color? Reddish
4. Your mother? Homemaker
5. Your father? Shy
6. Your favorite thing? Chocolate
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your dream/goal? Adjusted
9. The room you're in? Cubicle
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Hawaii
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Excercising
15. One of your wish-list items? Laptop
16. Where you grew up? Virginia
17. The last thing you did? Coffee
18. What are you wearing? Blue
19. Your TV? HD
20. Your pet? Cats
21. Your computer? Old
22. Your mood? Good
23. Missing someone? Yes
24. Your car? New
25. Something you're not wearing? Makeup
26. Favorite store?
27. Your summer? Hot
28. Love someone? Yes
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Recently

I'll have to think about who I might want to give the award to. I'm so happy that TxGambit gave me an award.

The one where I feel old

2008-08-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

I realized recently that the high school class of 2008, the incoming frosh at college this fall, were born the year I graduated high school. That certainly made me feel a little old(er). Although it is fun to poke fun at what was considered fashion in the early 80's. How about some awful examples of male (really, mostly gay-male-with-no-taste) fashion from 1986. Check out this post here. There's Adrian Paul modeling long before Highlander. This year's high school graduates probably don't even know who Adrian Paul is.

Oooo, lookit the jeans with pressed creases! And slouchy socks worn outside the pants legs. The best has to be the purple flight suit. For those boyz with a Top Gun fetish.

BTW, when did Top Gun come out? (pause while I search the interweb) Ah-hah, it came out in 1986. No wonder they have a flightsuit in the IM 1986 fashion catalog. The comments to the post above are funny. Then, I read the comment from the woman who said that 1986 was her birth year. Oh, lord.

Hai, I can feelz old now?

How to have a fun afternoon (by Little Bit)

2008-08-19T15:02:00.000-05:00

1. First, beg for more tyee-vee, more tyee-vee. Make sure to do it when Mom wants to get some chores done so she'll turn the tv back on.

2. Next, when a commercial for Dora the Explorer comes on, cry, "Dorya! Dorya!" because Mom hasn't DVR'ed any Dora episodes, so you'll be stuck with whatever is on Noggin or the DVR'ed Mickey Mouse clubhouse you've seen 5 zillion times.

3. Make sure to cry real tears and snuffle loudly because Mom can't produce Dorya.

4. When Mom is playing cars with you later on the floor, and she makes the mistake of lying down, do a full on WWF drop onto her stomach. She'll make a great sound. That shit is funny!

5. Go from having a wonderful, happy time to hysterical crying for no logical reason (like when they try to put socks on you). You gotta keep the parents on their toes.

6. Charm Mom and Dad by setting out your toy cars one by one and showing off your mad counting skills. "One...two...free..." Parents love that. (You have to throw them a bone sometime.)

7. If Mom and Dad take you to the pool, show that you have no fear of the water anymore, unlike the first few times. You can do this by waiting until Mom is standing on one side of the pool, while Dad is walking with you on the other side. Throw your toy into the pool, so Dad will jump in after it. Then, toddle to the side of the pool as Mom is shouting in panic, and jump into the deep end of the pool as Dad comes up and catches you. This will give Mom some new grey hairs. You know that Dad won't let anything happen to you.

8. Fart while you're in the pool. Then, laugh like hell.

9. Be observant. If Mom and Dad try to sneak a cookie for themselves by sleight of hand and subterfuge, catch them and demand a cookie, too.

10. Make sure to load up your diaper with number 2 when Dad is holding you so he has to change it. (No, really, Little Bit wrote that one. Not me, his Mom.)

Oh, say can you see...

2008-08-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

Watching the Olympics has certainly been interesting this year. I suppose I should feel bad about sitting on the couch eating chocolate while all these fine young athletes work so hard. I tell myself that once my chronic sinus infection gets better, I'll have more energy to get back to dancing. Meanwhile, the men's swimming and diving competitions are a nice diversion.

I have to say though that the outfits for beach volleyball are unfair. The women (like May and Walsh) wear bikinis, while the mean wear loose tank tops and long board shorts. That is so unfair! I want either equal oggling time or the women should get to wear baggy stuff, too!

I love living in Texas sometimes.

Everyone has to follow the same rules!

2008-08-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Scene: We were heading home from picking up Little Bit at daycare with DH driving and me in the passenger seat. DH was talking and not quite paying enough attention to the stopped traffic ahead of us. As DH slammed on the brakes, I sucked in my breath and tried to keep from screeching. We stopped just before hitting the car in front of us.

DH said, "You can hit me."
I reached over and hit his arm for scaring me like that.

Little Bit piped up from the back seat, "No hitting!"

Updated to add: DH wants it known that he thinks I was exaggerating about slamming on the brakes and such. He says we came to a quick, but controlled stop. Yeah, ok.

This post brought to you by the letter 'L'

2008-08-12T10:28:00.000-05:00

and the Lazy Bloggers' Post Generator:

Holy crap! I just returned from my daily swim on the beautiful Fijian beach and realised I have not updated this since I had to start working to pay the ridiculous food and petrol prices to feed my kids... You would not believe the amount of people that are totally stalking me. Stupid Global Warming!.

I am hopped up on caffeine with discovering time doesn't stand still, being distracted by the shiny, just generally being a worry to my psychologist, my day is passing in a blur from now to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am so tired of my kids wanting me to give them attention and stuff. can't they see I am blogging.

I promise I will make more of an effort to blog more often until the nice men in the white coats come back. No, really! I mean it!.

Monday meanderings

2008-08-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

Random meanderings for Monday morning --

We took Little Bit to the neighborhood pool yesterday and had an awesome time. Unlike the first few times, he needed no coaxing to get in. He loved standing under the mushroom waterfall and "swimming"/flying through the water in our arms. Even when his head went all the way underwater, he wasn't afraid. We'll turn him into a water baby yet.

I found out why none of the antibiotics I've tried the last six months (six months!) have cleared out my chronic sinus infection. The culture that the doc took showed that I have a particular strain of antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria in my sinuses. The only things that work against it are certain nebulized or IV antibiotics. So, nebulized antibiotics and a follow-up for me in three weeks. Maybe I'll finally have energy again!

I have to say ptpthpthth!!! to hormones. I really got spoiled the last few years thanks to lactational amenorrhea. In essence, I got to go about two and a half years without a period, through pregnancy and beyond, except for the normal post-partum stuff. I'd forgotten what a pain it is having a period every month. And of course poor DH has to deal with Prehistoric Monster Syndrome every month now.

Updated to add: DH was stunned recently when I snapped at him out of the blue for "smirking" at me. He wisely returned from grocery shopping with offerings of chocolate and mini powdered doughnuts. As Undomestic Diva said, I mean, what do we get to throw in your face every 28 [@#$] days? Except, of course, that YOU'RE AN IDIOT?

And I wish my boss would actually tell me the due dates for things so I don't get emails from someone else a few days before a big report is due asking if my item will be ready. This was the second time she didn't tell me a due date, and I got caught out on the short end of the stick both times. Grrrrr...

Support

2008-08-07T11:34:00.001-05:00

It's actually the last day of World Breastfeeding Week, but I wanted to post something about it anyway. This year's theme calls for supporting the mother in giving her child the best nutrition. I've heard breastmilk called 'liquid gold' before, and it is.

Two of the big supports I have had in being able to continue breastfeeding my son were the St. Luke's Hospital Milk Bank while he was in the NICU and the policies of my work. When Little Bit had to stay in the NICU for two weeks, I was able to use the hospital grade breast pumps at the Milk Bank, just down the hallway from the NICU. I also rented a hospital grade pump from them to have at home. Encouragement and information helped me to continue pumping every 3 hours, even when I got out so little milk. I was tired and worried, but providing Little Bit with what only I could give him was important to me. The walls of the pump room had pictures of success stories -- pictures of little ones in that NICU and then months later as happy, healthy toddlers. The antibodies and nutrition of breastmilk are so important, especially when a baby needs the extra care of the NICU. I was able to keep my supply going, and Little Bit was fed my milk along with supplementation when he was able to eat again.

Once I returned to work, I had the use of a dedicated breastfeeding mother's room. There is a mother's room at all locations of my company. This program came about due to the hard work of other women before me, including a coworker who had to pump in the restroom a few years before. She (and other women) protested having to basically prepare her baby's lunch in the restroom. Yuck. Once when I was at a meeting at another site, I had to pump in the ladies' room. I had to balance on the toilet with a pump and supplies, trying desperately not to let any of it touch the walls around me...if that was my only way to pump, I just don't know if I could have kept up with it. A clean, quiet room with a lockable door, a table, a chair, and an outlet is a much better option.

How much to ship from France to Texas?

2008-08-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

I want one of these:

At least our power wasn't out, so we could wash laundry

2008-08-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

We survived the great storm of 'aught-eight. Our highly trained outdoor weather cats reported damp fur and wet paws. But, hey, I got a whole day and a half off work.

Little Bit was home with us yesterday. Poor little bugger didn't want to eat very much, and later we found out why. He snuggled onto my lap, then began that cough which makes me go, uh-oh, and barfed all over himself and me. Ewwwwww. I managed to keep the barf from the couch and our rug, though. After a bath for both of us, I wrapped him in a towel and held him. He threw up several times more as the evening progressed, until there was nothing but stomach spasms. I felt so bad for him, because I know how it sucks to feel like that. Finally, after 2am this morning, he was able to keep down some water. He seems much better today.

In other news, DH and I arranged for a date night this past Saturday. My friend came over to babysit. DH and I rushed off to catch the next showing of Batman. We got home later to hear about my friend's little adventure. She had gone out on the back patio to pet our cats, while Little Bit watched some cartoons.

She got locked out of the house! Little Bit came to the window in the back door and smiled and waved at her, but he wandered off when he couldn't open the door. Of course, she didn't have her cell phone on her and couldn't remember my cell phone number. She went to our neighbor's house, but we hadn't given anyone an extra key. They ended up calling the police, who were able to get in. By the time they got inside where she could get her ID to show the police that she was who she said she was, she was almost in tears. All told, Little Bit had run of the house by himself for 30 minutes.

Definitely time to get some extra keys made and give them to the neighbors.

So, we're gonna get a little rain

2008-08-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

Tropical Storm Edouard is headed our way and predicted to ramp up to hurricane strength. Work is closing today at noon.

Coming out from Quarantine

2008-08-01T09:49:00.001-05:00

Little Bit has been sick this week. It started with a cough and runny nose on Sunday. By Tuesday, daycare called us to come get him -- he had a fever of 101. Late Wednesday night, he was really burning up with fever, 103.3 under the arm, so more like 104.3. I got into a lukewarm bath with him, holding him in my lap and snuggling him. I poured the water over his feverish body. I waited and worried, like so many other parents in the middle of the night with a very sick little one. The bath and the Motrin helped. His fever lessened so he was able to sleep. During the last few days, he was either snuggled in my lap or next to me on the couch, feeling bad, or he was running around playing when the Motrin had brought down his fever. No fever since yesterday afternoon, thankfully. He was his usual energetic and bright eyed self this morning.

I've been sick, too, with the zombie sinus infection. I've been on antibiotics about half of the last four months. I finish a course of antibiotics, then two weeks later, I have another acute sinus infection. I saw the partner of my regular sinus doctor/ENT the other day for the first time. He used an endoscope to look into my sinuses. His reaction? "Hell's bells!! That's quite an infection you've got in there!!" I hope the new class of antibiotics and the steroids to reduce inflammation work. Next stop may be nebulized medicine, which is one step away from IV antibiotics in the hospital. The doc actually (ahem) suctioned out some of the gunk in my sinuses. Ouch. Not pleasant. I so hope that Little Bit cheats genetics and doesn't end up with awful sinuses like his dad and I have.

Cruising

2008-07-28T10:50:00.000-05:00

Nothing much new to write. I love driving my new car - the inside materials look and feel more high-end to me than the price I paid for the car. I have volume and channel controls for the audio system on the steering wheel - great for a button pusher like me. I also like that I can plug my I-pod into the audio system. All features that I didn't have with my 8 year old car. The 30 mpg also helps.

Though I could write about the adventure to find the title for my old car so I could collect my insurance check. DH and I searched for one whole weekend. Having just moved (that is, just moved 10 months ago), there are lots of boxes not unpacked. The car title was not in the neatly filed manila folders of important documents. We started going through every piece of paper in the file folders just in case. No luck. However, I did find a $200 reimbursement check from last year that was still good. Score!

So, the only thing to do was to drive to the NW side of Houston, about 50-60 miles away, to the only local office to get a certified copy of my title. I drove all the way up there, waited in line, got to the window, and found out that their computer showed my bank still had a lien on the title. @$#!! I had mentioned to DH that I thought I should get an official paper from my bank that the loan/lien was gone, but he said, nah, if the bank mailed you the title (that we couldn't find), then they should have let the state people know. Nope.

I drove back home, stopped at my bank for the official paper, then a few days later, drove all the way back up there. This time, I was driving my new car. Let me tell you, driving my shiny new car, while still having some recent car crash paranoia, through the second worst traffic bottleneck in the country, is not very relaxing. But, I waited in line again, got my certified title, and was able to get my insurance check.

Check out my new ride

2008-07-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

The bad news: My insurance declared my old car a total loss. The good news: I bought a new car, a 2008 Honda Accord in this color. Sweeeet!

That darn mouse

2008-07-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

We may have really created a monster. Little Bit has not been himself the last few weeks. Even daycare has commented on it; any change can throw him for a loop and into a crying tantrum. The only big change we can think of has been letting him watch more tv lately. Now he wakes early, saying, "Mickey!! TV!" He cries when I tell him it's too early (hello, 5 am), but will go back to sleep for awhile. Later we let him watch cartoons while we get ready for the day. Some evenings, not every one, we let him watch a recorded episode of Mickey Mouse. But, oh, boy, the tantrums, when it's time to turn off the tv to put on shoes and go to daycare or to brush teeth and go to bed. I've not seen him have such tantrums as these so regularly. I want my sweet baby boy back who gleefully runs into the bathroom when I say, "It's time to brush your teeth! Lets go get your step-stool!"

He cries in despair when we want to take off his Thomas the Train nightshirt to put on a t-shirt for the day. He kicks and cries when we try to put on his shoes. He refuses to choose a bedtime story. He screams in anger. We warn him a few minutes before it's time to turn off the tv. We even try to give him choices (which of these shirts or which shoes do you want), but it doesn't help.

So, internets, any wisdom about two year olds (he'll be 26 months old soon) and tv? DH suggested that we go cold turkey on letting him watch any tv for awhile to get it out of his system. Is the tv the problem or is it just his age?

Postcards from Motherhood

Playground Politics

A small update

Long time no talk

Fabulous Friday

Politically Incorrect

Fabulous Friday

Three things

Big Boy

A first visit to the boardwalk

Blah, blah, blah

Sleep, perchance to dream

Ach-chooo!!

Awesome...we're only at a heat index of 106, instead of the forecast 117

You know you live in Texas when...

Short takes

Big Boy Bed

Only the first time of many that we'll hear these phrases

Happy Birthday, Little Bit!

A short post

Welcome home

Medical bills could give me night terrors

He's just a little feller

These are not the droids you're looking for

Purple -- One day all babies will be born healthy

He's such a sweetheart

Pissed off

Wordless Wednesday: Is it ironic to buy 3 (used) books about clutter clearing?

Simplifying

Updated: Monday, Monday

"Hello, Kitty!"

He's already trying to negotiate out of bedtime

The cranky saga continues

I hope it helps (I'm sure DH does, too)

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Short takes

I Feel Pretty, Oh, So Pretty

A Morning in the Life

On being tired, happy diapers, and no pants

We went to the ER today; how was your Monday?

Obama busts a move (Updated with lunar rover at the parade)

Obamania!

He may have a future in stand-up

PfM's Anatomy

Hello, 2009 - If I can't have a personal jetpack, can I join the financial bailout train?

Bears and trains and laptops, oh my!

More potty talk

Chri-mas Lights Inside!

We Might Need to Start Bare-Butt Time

All I Want For Christmas

OK, It Was Closer to 2 feet

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Insert some title here

My 100th post!

What's a Nice Date Without Barf on Your Clothes?

Obviously I Need a Lexus

Updated - Or Would It Be My Mommy CV?

So tired

What kind of service would *you* expect for that kind of money?

Look at those munchable cheeks!

More quotes from our toddler

Yay!

Halloween: the laid-back version

Home again

Wordless Wednesday

Missing my family, but on the bright side...

Hot, hot, hot!

Wordless Wedesday

Update

Friday Funnies

Let's get political

His vocabulary is expanding

A nose by any other name

Fear and Loving in Houston

Wordless Wednesday

Don't tell that to Superman

Pictures of the aftermath

A moment

The aftermath of Ike

Rock me like a hurricane...

What kind of service would you expect for that kind of money?