We were driving my niece home late at night. I had been desperate for a babysitter, and so had called my brother's girls, who I love and would have sit for me all the time but they live about 40 minutes away. So it's a trek to get out and back to get them. Thing 1 and 2 were in the back of the car in their pajamas
Thing 1 asked “Is this Illegal?”
“What? Taking you out so late at night?”
“No, riding in our pajamas.”
(hee hee)… “No, honey. It’s perfectly legal.”
A while back I told Thing 2 that when you’re from Scotland, a lot of things have “Mc” in front of their names, like the kindergarten teacher we like so well, Mrs. McDonald. So she started McTalking like a McScotsman. We Mcsaid McEverything with a Mc in Mcfront of it.
We were trying to Mctalk like McThis, having Mctrouble with our McSentences, but working in the Mcwords everywhere we McCould, and then I think I said something kind of Mcfunny. I can’t remember what. Thing 2 completely caught me off guard when she said “McLaugh! McLaugh! McLaugh!”
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Milk baby
Thing 2 was upset about a fight with Thing 1. I was cuddling her on the couch and talking her down. I started telling her what an amazing cute darling baby she was. We chatted for a while. She kept asking me to tell her more. I exhausted nearly every story I could think of off hand. Finally she asked me what she ate. I told her “Milk for about 6 months. Then you ate a kind of rice cereal stuff."
She said, “Burger?”
I’m thinking to myself you're five years old, you're capable of putting in the other little words in this sentence, the “Did I eat a” … part! But I said, “No, honey, babies don’t eat hamburgers.”
She said something about she saw on TV that if you have a baby, you need Burger.
“!! Oh… you mean Gerber!”
Just the sort of thing I would have mixed up myself. I laughed pretty hard.
She said, “Burger?”
I’m thinking to myself you're five years old, you're capable of putting in the other little words in this sentence, the “Did I eat a” … part! But I said, “No, honey, babies don’t eat hamburgers.”
She said something about she saw on TV that if you have a baby, you need Burger.
“!! Oh… you mean Gerber!”
Just the sort of thing I would have mixed up myself. I laughed pretty hard.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tea, anyone?
Maybe it was last Christmas? Thing 2 received a little ceramic teapot, which lasted about 20 minutes before she broke it trying to wash it out.
Today I took her with me to buy a new teapot for myself, as I broke my latest one last week. They had several sizes, and Thing 2 fell in love with the little two cup pot. For $12, I figured it would suffice her needs, and bought it for her.
She came in wanting a tea party. The tea pot has a little infuser inside. I tried to talk her into taking it out, but she wanted it in. So I told her I’d find some tea. I have a little loose herbal tea that I put in the infuser, and poured some cold water in. It was almost indiscernible from tap water. She wanted to try it with hot water.
Of course all this time I am thinking I should be starting laundry, cleaning the floor, folding clothes, etc. etc. But how can I turn down a tea party with my darling girl?
So I heat up the water, hot enough but not too hot. I get some sugar in a little cup. I assemble the tea party. I make a big show of pouring. We add sugar. We stir until it’s gone. I take a sip. It’s lukewarm herbal tea in a shot glass sized cup, not too bad actually. Thing 2 takes one sip and gags, sticks out her tongue, and says “Pppwwwaaaah! Ppwaaaah!”
I say Honey. You don’t have to like the tea, but please don’t make faces and freak out about and scrub your tongue on your sleeve. She is indignant and angry at me for suggesting she should exercise some politeness when the tea was so obviously horrible. We have a nasty tendency to escalate each other. I say “I spent five minutes making it, you could at least say you Don’t Care For It. You don’t have to Pwhaaah and Gag.” She glared at me, and stormed out the door over to Wytie’s.
I had no idea that warm flavored water could be so offensive. I’m still not doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. I’m angrily writing up the account of the disastrous tea party.
Today I took her with me to buy a new teapot for myself, as I broke my latest one last week. They had several sizes, and Thing 2 fell in love with the little two cup pot. For $12, I figured it would suffice her needs, and bought it for her.
She came in wanting a tea party. The tea pot has a little infuser inside. I tried to talk her into taking it out, but she wanted it in. So I told her I’d find some tea. I have a little loose herbal tea that I put in the infuser, and poured some cold water in. It was almost indiscernible from tap water. She wanted to try it with hot water.
Of course all this time I am thinking I should be starting laundry, cleaning the floor, folding clothes, etc. etc. But how can I turn down a tea party with my darling girl?
So I heat up the water, hot enough but not too hot. I get some sugar in a little cup. I assemble the tea party. I make a big show of pouring. We add sugar. We stir until it’s gone. I take a sip. It’s lukewarm herbal tea in a shot glass sized cup, not too bad actually. Thing 2 takes one sip and gags, sticks out her tongue, and says “Pppwwwaaaah! Ppwaaaah!”
I say Honey. You don’t have to like the tea, but please don’t make faces and freak out about and scrub your tongue on your sleeve. She is indignant and angry at me for suggesting she should exercise some politeness when the tea was so obviously horrible. We have a nasty tendency to escalate each other. I say “I spent five minutes making it, you could at least say you Don’t Care For It. You don’t have to Pwhaaah and Gag.” She glared at me, and stormed out the door over to Wytie’s.
I had no idea that warm flavored water could be so offensive. I’m still not doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. I’m angrily writing up the account of the disastrous tea party.
Monday, April 13, 2009
I love MY kids
All I have to do to become completely enamored of my children is to spend time with someone else’s.
First, I volunteered to babysit a neighbor’s 2 year old, Veronica. We have watched her before, and last time she was quite a charming, extremely bright little girl.
This time she was an evil tyrant.
We watched her two different days. Both times, it’s not really me watching her, it’s really Thing 2. Thing 2 played very nicely with her, but Veronica absolutely does not get the sharing thing. Thing 2 would be playing with a toy, Veronica sees it, wants it. Thing 2 shares with her, but then if Thing 2 ever wants it back, the little girl gives it up as if she understood, then starts to dramatically cry, and sulks off like we stole her only precious toy from her. When I quietly told Thing 2, in my normal voice, she’s just two, there’s no way we’re going to teach her how to share in one day, Veronica came back and chastised me for “telling Thing 2 off” and said “She’s my Best Fwend!”
It got worse the 2nd day we watched her, which I hadn’t intended to agree to but apparently had accidentally and then felt uncomfortable getting out of it. Since I had pretty much exhausted Thing 2’s endurance the first day, I decided that we would take Veronica to the park. Turns out all we did was to change the focus of who she was tormenting.
Veronica insisted on taking these two plastic horses she had. They are nice, German plastic horses, one white with brown spots, one reverse. Shortly after we got to the park, Thing 2 gravitated toward another little girl who was there, about Thing 2’s age, very friendly, and they shortly found they have a lot in common. They became instant friends, chatting and talking and giggling.
Veronica hovered on the sidelines with a profound pout. At one point she put down her horses to glare. The girl whom Thing 2 was talking to had a little brother, who apparently loved horses, or so his mother told me. He was a little younger than Veronica, and toddled over to pick up one of her discarded horses. Veronica screamed, and lunged, and grabbed her horses back.
The rest of the time we spent at the park, Veronica tormented this little boy. She would make sure he saw she had the horses, then not let him have one. His mother and I watched at one point where she sat down a couple of feet away from him, and then put one horse in her lap and the other on the ground next to her. She proceeded to move it closer, then closer, to the little boy, taking her hand off of it each time, like you would offer something to someone you weren’t sure would take it. She finally was leaning over almost laying down to put this horse right next to him. The minute he went to reach for it, she would scream and lunge at it. At one point he did actually get it, and as he held it above his head out of her reach, she launched herself at him, knocked him over to get her horse. I was very embarrassed, and wondered what in the heck do you do with this kid? I took her to the school to pick up Thing 1, she did the same thing, lurking on the playground glaring at Thing 2 because Thing 2 went off and was playing with the other kids she knows. Yes, I should have pointed out to Thing 2 that she should play with Veronica, but it was such an interesting study watching Veronica. It turned out she left the horses on the playground, which is death to me because her mother has pretty strict ideas about what is right and what is wrong, and I expect losing her daughter's toys for her fall into the wrong category. The girls and I raced back later and found one. To my joy, the next day we went back and someone had put the other one at the top of a pole, we found it too, and we dropped them off at their house. I haven’t heard back from Veronica’s mother, maybe I have finally made it off her charmed list.
First, I volunteered to babysit a neighbor’s 2 year old, Veronica. We have watched her before, and last time she was quite a charming, extremely bright little girl.
This time she was an evil tyrant.
We watched her two different days. Both times, it’s not really me watching her, it’s really Thing 2. Thing 2 played very nicely with her, but Veronica absolutely does not get the sharing thing. Thing 2 would be playing with a toy, Veronica sees it, wants it. Thing 2 shares with her, but then if Thing 2 ever wants it back, the little girl gives it up as if she understood, then starts to dramatically cry, and sulks off like we stole her only precious toy from her. When I quietly told Thing 2, in my normal voice, she’s just two, there’s no way we’re going to teach her how to share in one day, Veronica came back and chastised me for “telling Thing 2 off” and said “She’s my Best Fwend!”
It got worse the 2nd day we watched her, which I hadn’t intended to agree to but apparently had accidentally and then felt uncomfortable getting out of it. Since I had pretty much exhausted Thing 2’s endurance the first day, I decided that we would take Veronica to the park. Turns out all we did was to change the focus of who she was tormenting.
Veronica insisted on taking these two plastic horses she had. They are nice, German plastic horses, one white with brown spots, one reverse. Shortly after we got to the park, Thing 2 gravitated toward another little girl who was there, about Thing 2’s age, very friendly, and they shortly found they have a lot in common. They became instant friends, chatting and talking and giggling.
Veronica hovered on the sidelines with a profound pout. At one point she put down her horses to glare. The girl whom Thing 2 was talking to had a little brother, who apparently loved horses, or so his mother told me. He was a little younger than Veronica, and toddled over to pick up one of her discarded horses. Veronica screamed, and lunged, and grabbed her horses back.
The rest of the time we spent at the park, Veronica tormented this little boy. She would make sure he saw she had the horses, then not let him have one. His mother and I watched at one point where she sat down a couple of feet away from him, and then put one horse in her lap and the other on the ground next to her. She proceeded to move it closer, then closer, to the little boy, taking her hand off of it each time, like you would offer something to someone you weren’t sure would take it. She finally was leaning over almost laying down to put this horse right next to him. The minute he went to reach for it, she would scream and lunge at it. At one point he did actually get it, and as he held it above his head out of her reach, she launched herself at him, knocked him over to get her horse. I was very embarrassed, and wondered what in the heck do you do with this kid? I took her to the school to pick up Thing 1, she did the same thing, lurking on the playground glaring at Thing 2 because Thing 2 went off and was playing with the other kids she knows. Yes, I should have pointed out to Thing 2 that she should play with Veronica, but it was such an interesting study watching Veronica. It turned out she left the horses on the playground, which is death to me because her mother has pretty strict ideas about what is right and what is wrong, and I expect losing her daughter's toys for her fall into the wrong category. The girls and I raced back later and found one. To my joy, the next day we went back and someone had put the other one at the top of a pole, we found it too, and we dropped them off at their house. I haven’t heard back from Veronica’s mother, maybe I have finally made it off her charmed list.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Grinding
Thing 1 went to the neighbor's to play right after lunch. Thing 2 moped around the house lonely and looking for someone (mommy) to play with. Mommy moped around the house exhausted from staying up all night the night before, and frustrated from cleaning up the messes I've been making. All I really wanted was a nap. I did get up enough motivation, though, to use up some old bananas and make banana bread. Thing 2 helped a lot - she mashed the bananas, and ground a cup or so of wheat... it entertained her for half an hour or so, and it was delightful having the help. She got tired of helping and ducked out before the bread went in the oven.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Koffeeklatch
I had my girlfriends over this morning. This is a group of wonderful women who all had morning kindergarteners in the same class as my daughter. The kids would get out of school and then be forced to play with each other for an hour while the moms sat outside the school talking. Our kids have moved on to first grade, but since it's been... oh, my first years of college since I had a group of friends like this, we're trying to get together once a month for the hot beverage of choice.
This was the first time I've hosted, the first time a couple of the women in the group had seen my house, so the whole place had to be presentable enough for a tour. The end result, my house is cleaner, my conversational requirement has been relieved a little, and I single handedly ate 1/4th of a pan of coffee cake. I did not clean hubby's office, which is reaching disaster area status, or the girl's playroom, which has their latest playmobil world scattered around, we just stood in the doorways and peered into those rooms. Everything else is quite a bit tidier than normal. My lovely friends don't need to know that, though.
This was the first time I've hosted, the first time a couple of the women in the group had seen my house, so the whole place had to be presentable enough for a tour. The end result, my house is cleaner, my conversational requirement has been relieved a little, and I single handedly ate 1/4th of a pan of coffee cake. I did not clean hubby's office, which is reaching disaster area status, or the girl's playroom, which has their latest playmobil world scattered around, we just stood in the doorways and peered into those rooms. Everything else is quite a bit tidier than normal. My lovely friends don't need to know that, though.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sleep walking
Thing 2 is still having nightmares. For the past couple nights now she’s had me up several times a night, usually from 3:00 or 4:00 am on, about every half hour or so. Which means I’m getting three or four hours of sleep, then dozing for fifteen minutes five or six more times before I have to get up.
This does not work for my body.
The first several times she wakes me up I am sympathetic and snuggling… but after the fourth or fifth or sixth time in a night, my tolerance plummets. I don’t think I’ve snapped at her too bad, but I do get more growly and less huggy. And right now I’m positively sleep walking.
So.
I can’t remember the circumstances but despite mostly marvelous behavior over the week in California, sometime over the past week Thing 2 was kind of acting up over something and bothering Thing 1. I had just made a comment to Hubby about how good the girls had been, when Thing 2 did something like poke at Thing 1… and I said to Hubby “Someone seems to be a little crabby, though…” Thing 2 looks up and says cheerfully, “That’d be me.”
This does not work for my body.
The first several times she wakes me up I am sympathetic and snuggling… but after the fourth or fifth or sixth time in a night, my tolerance plummets. I don’t think I’ve snapped at her too bad, but I do get more growly and less huggy. And right now I’m positively sleep walking.
So.
I can’t remember the circumstances but despite mostly marvelous behavior over the week in California, sometime over the past week Thing 2 was kind of acting up over something and bothering Thing 1. I had just made a comment to Hubby about how good the girls had been, when Thing 2 did something like poke at Thing 1… and I said to Hubby “Someone seems to be a little crabby, though…” Thing 2 looks up and says cheerfully, “That’d be me.”
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