rub-a-dub-dub 2 happy kids in a tub

so i finally did it. i scrubbed the living hell out of the tub and "made it mine." thank you to my cohorts in NH and VA for setting me straight. thank you from bridget and andrew as well. you would have thought it was a swimming pool.

for those of you out there who have no idea what i am talking about - everyone but 3 - i have/make that HAD a problem with used tubs. i did not want my kids or myself in a tub that had someone else's germs. so for the past 2+ years, bridget has taken a bath in a huge plastic tub inside our tub. when we lived in boston, this wasn't a big deal because there was no tub there so the big tub sat in the shower and we had no choice. but now. now that we are here in our house, i had a choice. the normal choice would have been to clean the tub and put them in it. i just couldn't do it.

but i've done it. i did it. they've bathed. and lived. tomorrow i will check for welts in their bottoms.

the best laid plans...

any time i am missing-in-action, you can be reasonably sure that there is some sort of sh!te going down in the homestead. this little absence can be attributed to the good old stomach flu. our first. the sad thing is that it was going to be such a productive day. i woke up, showered (this makes today more productive than any in the past 60+ days - most showers don't occur until the afternoon nap, if at all) and was planning on heading over to the local montessori to get some info. not so.

before i even showered, bridget woke up and threw up a bit. there has been so much phlegm flowing here over the past week that i just assumed that she had swallowed too much and it upset her stomach. then i get out of the shower to hear some mild hysteria downstairs. miss b has a bloody nose, i am told. now i don't know what constitutes a bloody nose, but i envision blood pouring out of a nose and not just some blood mixed in with snot - which is what we have. no problem, we are still on for the day's events. until.

until miss b gets this look in her eye and seems to start gagging. then out it comes. whoa! no montessori today. the first outfit change of the day happens.

so we head downstairs to play. she seems to be alright and is drinking lots of fluids. i am sitting on the ground playing and she comes over to me and i manage to miss that same look in her eye until its too late. and she pukes. mostly on me. better than the new-ish rug. its the same m.o. - 3 heaves in the set. now that she's started, and i'm covered, we are stuck. so i decide that the best route is just to take it and i hold her so that she pukes on me instead of the rug. it was surprisingly no big deal - until she lifted her head, looked me in the eye and coughed. gee thanks. double outfit change.

what a laugh that i already showered.

after this incident, we became semi-professionals with the bucket. no major misses - 4 more outfit changes though due to some dripping. the kid's a champ though. she could have cared less. she'd finish, shout "tissue!", and start running around as though nothing happened. awesome!

101 posts

i know, its hard to believe i made it to 101 posts. i'm as impressed as anyone given my long hiatus after birthing the big A. it could have gone either way really. but here i am. i couldn't let this important anniversary pass without any sort of celebration so in honor of this event, i am taking a driving tour down the east coast and personally thanking each and every one of my 3 readers.

posterity and i spent monday in nyc with agpie's mom and miss agpie herself. we had loads of fun and capped the evening off with a yo baby and first one-handed walk out of the kitchen. who knew the kitchen was off-limits? not me!

then, the tour continued down to virginia, where we invaded the very lovely home of peekay along with the OC boys for a week long soiree. 4 days to go! i'll let you know how it goes.

go PATS!!!! i'm in redskin country for sunday's game, wish me luck!

shock and awe

i have dubbed friday night "pizza night" mostly because i love love love pizza but also because i like the thought of not having to worry about what's for dinner one night of the week. or more specifically not feel bad about the fact that i am not making dinner for michael - and myself - one night of the week because its a given that we are having pizza.

anyway, tonight we went to one of our 2 favorite places for pizza out here - enrico's. we get there at 5 because there's no line and we can get in and get out quickly. practically no one is there when we show up but it gradually fills up and a younger couple shows up and michael points out "oh look, another baby." so i turn and look. cute. then they are forgotten. so, off we go to the "potty" when miss B tells me - tinkle coming.

despite it being a false alarm, the first public potty experience wasn't too terrible. it was clean in there and just a big room with a toilet. i bought a DORA the EXPLORA - i'm sorry but i have to say this with a boston accent, much like my brother-in-law says "meet the fuckers", its just the way it should be - little seat to put on other seats when we are not at home so bridget is all jazzed up to use the dora seat. the only reason that i am getting into this detail is for you first-timers out there like me who don't completely think things like this through and forget that after you use the little dora seat and protect your little babies heiney from the filthy toilet seat germs out there, you have to put this cute little potty seat back in your diaper bag where all the filthy little germs on the underside of it will infest all of your toys, bottles, etc. the visit took an extra 5 minutes while i scrubbed it clean, wiped it dry and did my best to keep bridget's head out of the toilet and trash can.

back to the table, by the cute little boy who now sees us coming. bridget is walking first and of course slows to examine another of her kind in the wild. the little boy has a fork in his hand and points it out towards her. i say "whoa" and kind of gently push her along, waiting for either parent to tell the kid to get the fork out of her face. the boy follows her face with the fork as we go by and the dad grabs the kid by the shoulders and says "good boy! good boy!" i think that it is very strange but chalk it up to some "girls are bad, that's right little buddy" humor. i'm pretty shocked by the whole transaction, mostly the absolute lack of a reaction from the kid's parents, and i tell michael the story when i sit down. and then they are forgotten again.

until we leave. michael and andrew leave first, then someone else cuts in between us and bridget is walking ahead of me. i can see the kid waving the fork at everyone as they pass and the dad is saying "good boy!" every time so i am ready. bridget is up and i put my hand out to block the fork that is heading towards her face and i say "oh, we know about you guys!" as we pass by. ha ha. you're weird. see you f'ing later freaks. and after we are by, the kid's father says - "well, you better watch out!"

what?! i am so pissed and PISSED that i want to tell everyone in line about the animal at the first table. i am so PISSED that i would have completely supported michael fighting this little piece of crap. mind you (there it is again), i hate it when michael gets mad and honks at people in the car because i am afraid that some sort of road rage fight will ensue. i am so PISSED that i want to fight this little piece of crap myself.

i still can't even believe that it happened it was so shocking to me. i don't know if i am overreacting but i'm pretty sure i'm not. i really don't care when i see people and their crazy kids running around. i mostly just watch them and thank god that they are not mine. it was so strange. i am mostly upset because this happened in our small town and i can't help but think that my kids will go to school with their kid and how can that kid grow up and be a nice kid with encouragement like that. i am worried about any nice kid who comes into contact with that kid. it was sad. how can that kid grow up and be normal? he doesn't stand much of a chance with a small little meanie like that for a father.

holy CRAP!

it all started so innocently. i went into b's room this morning when she woke up, pulled up the shades and said - hey bridgie, its a great day today. and she shouted "POTTY DAY!"

huh? i was over this but, whatever.

i ask her if she wants to use the potty and she says no. ok, that's what i thought. so we go downstairs, have breakfast and i change her diaper. i decided to just put sweatpants on her and i don't say a word about the potty. we go about our day and she "tinkles" four times before lunch. FOUR times. on her own.

so i start to wonder about poop. i'm not going to mention it because i am hip to her jive now, i'm just wondering.

lunch is over and i let her run around a bit instead of going straight in for her nap. and i see her. sitting there. either going or trying to. periodically peering between her legs to see if there's any action down there. she finishes, jumps up and turns around to invevstigate.

"MOMMY! POOP IN POTTY!

so we go crazy and scream and jump around about the poop in the potty. then she turns around and puts her hands on each side of the mini seat and practically puts her head in the bowl to examine the poop. i think she was as shocked as i was to see it there.

next she carries the potty to the toilet - which she has INSISTED on doing all day long. as part of her terms, she must be the one to dump her products into the real potty. and off it goes with a flick of the wrist and a bye bye!

at least we know who's the boss around here.

the deacon cometh

we have finally joined a church out here so that we can finally have andrew christened. it took us forever to pick one. i don't know why. i guess i do know why. i wasn't crazy about any of them. they were all weird to me.

in all of them, everyone holds hands during the "our father" - or "lord's prayer" if you prefer. all 3. i don't understand the line of demarcation where this happens. i grew up in western mass and we didn't do it and i also went to every catholic church in the north end - 3 to be exact - and no one there did it. there were some pretty hardcore old school italians in there mind you.

mind you, what a weird thing to say and weirder thing to write.

anyway, in 2 of the 3, when you get communion there is someone else up there with a glass of wine to drink from. and everyone does it, except michael and i and the underaged kids. we don't do the hand holding thing either. i am sure that they all think that we are mental not partaking but i really don't care.

the other thing is that everyone sings. in one of them, they have photocopies of songs at the ends of the pews. we didn't notice them when we scrambled in by some regulars, who were surely not giving up their seats to slide over for us, and when it came time to sing, they handed the sheet down to us. and we sang. or i did anyway. i was so freaked that they were going to call me on it if i didn't, that i sang away.

the decision came down to wine and aesthetics - just in case my kids want to get married there. yes, i am that crazy. i scoped out the aisle, i could see the little gathering out in front after the ceremony. i was not the girl who had dreamed of her wedding day her entire life, i am apparently the girl who will dream up her kids' weddings. OY, let's hope not. most importantly, this is the one of the 3 that had no blood drinking option

so so so, onto the deacon. after joining and being connected to the head honcho priest to chit-chat - who, thankfully, did not quiz me - they informed me that in order to schedule a christening, the deacon comes to your house - yes, TO YOUR HOUSE - for a meeting. the meeting is tomorrow at 7. i might puke. michael went to catholic school so he will be in charge of fielding all quiz-type questions. i will be in charge of praying that bridget doesn't bust out too many "oh my god's" during the meeting since this happens to be her favorite phrase du jour.

one more thing - we went to church on sunday and we were officially welcomed in the church bulletin. they didn't include andrew's name with the rest of us. i am assuming its because he isn't baptized yet so they don't recognize him as a church member but i think that sucks. i may have picked the wrong church.

pressure vs. motivation

after a good first day of p training, day 2 was a bust. she refused to sit on the potty today. completely. refused. so i said, great, take your time, its your potty. HA! actually, i begged her to sit on the potty, attempted to bribe her with m&ms and pretty much used every mental warfare weapon in my arsenal. as usual, i lost.

when it was finally clear that it wasn't going to happen, i decide to check out the book o's mom gave me last night. toilet training the brazelton way. according to the good doctor B, miss b isn't ready. in fact, she displayed 5 of the 7 signs your child is not ready. and one sign that wasn't a part of the 7, but ought to be. she didn't poop at all yesterday and she didn't until late this afternoon, that must be some sort of sign, right? the strange thing is that she is the one who always wants to sit on the potty.

i'm not sure what to do - so feel free to comment. i am most definitely not going at it full time but i can't decide if i should dabble in it. at this point, i told her that it was her potty and she could use it whenever she wanted - see? i wasn't lying in paragraph 1. we'll see. i'm pretty sure my very stubborn girl will inform me when its going to happen.

potty time

somehow it is 64 degrees outside today. it is beautiful and has me excited about spring way too early in the year. obviously. but, i can't help it. that's how warm it is.

the other, much more important, news of the day is that today was day one of our first attempt at potty training miss b. she has gone on the potty a few times already but they were very flukey so, now that everyone appears to be on the mend for the string of colds and i actually can put andrew down without tears coming, we are giving it a go.

so far we are 3 for 5. not bad. we would have been 4 for 5 except that i missed the hour mark because i was busy getting potty training tips from o's mom on the phone. no, i didn't miss the irony there. what a dope i am. it won't happen again though, i felt terrible - although she didn't really care. we'll see how the rest of today goes...

back into the woods

ok, just as i state that our tummy troubles are over, i give my little A some diced up sweet potatoes for dinner. they are very soft and cooked completely and are most definitely on the approved list of things to give your aspiring self-feeder. and, oh yes, he LOVES them. gobbles them right up, proud as a peacock.

then midnight rolls around.

screaming like we haven't heard in a while, inconsolable screaming crying, writhing around. and we're back, like we never left.

"what did he eat today?"
"oatmeal and pears with a little bit of banana, mixed grains cereal with carrots, and mixed grain with peas and some prunes for dinner. i don't understand."
"that's weird."
"yes. oh yeah, i gave him some of the sweet potato that B wouldn't eat."
"um yeah, a little too much fiber in those."

oh shite. so since i caused this and feel pretty much horrible about it, i take him downstairs to watch permanent midnight. it was awful awful. he was so tired that his eyes were shut but his little body would/could not stop moving around. after 2+ hours, he finally fell asleep and stopped crying.

no sweet potatoes.

btw - if i thought ben stiller was nasty after dodgeball, permanent midnight sealed the deal.

two thousand seven

happy new year! we spent new year's eve at m's sister's house and had a great time eating and drinking. margarita's and i have an agreement. since i don't drink them often, i can drink a ridiculous amount of them without getting out of control and have virtually no ill effects the next day. its very strange. very strange considering 2 glasses of wine will give me a horrible headache the next morning.

although it could be that i ate as much as i drank and the food intake was so large that it soaked up all of the tequila. either way, who cares, as long as it keeps happening, yes?

as for 2007, i'm sure it won't be as eventful as 2006. who can compete with buying a MAJOR fixer-upper, not buying a major fixer-upper, moving to chicago, not moving to chicago, having a son, finally buying a house, then stripping, sanding, caulking, priming and painting 6 areas/rooms of it, all the while investigating poop and worrying about general GI problems with our new son. maybe eventful is the wrong word, stressful is more accurate.

yes, during my lengthy absence from this here blog, our lives were filled with complete stress about andrew's apparent allergy to my milk. i really don't have the energy to relive it for history's sake just like i really didn't have the energy to explain it as it was happening. suffice to say, it was very sad and frustrating and yes, stressful.

but its over now, as is 2006. here's to 2007!