Categories
Kids

THAT kid. You know the one.

You remember the kid in elementary school, the one nobody wanted to be friends with?  Maybe it was booger eating, possibly a malodorous waft in his or her general vicinity.  If you don’t remember THAT kid, maybe it was you.

The kid I remember was named Jacob.  Thinking back, there wasn’t a whole lot wrong with him.  Mainly it was the booger eating, but also the way his clothes were always too small, so that his belly hung out, and that he wore thick glasses with the sports band around his head to hold them on.  As a Mom, I can now completely understand , but as a 5th grader?  Not so much.  He wasn’t really teased, but nobody wanted to be his friend.  The poor little fella. 

So when I look at my beautiful, smart, funny, polite, non-nose-picking daughter, who is getting ready to start Kindergarten, I get this tight feeling in my stomach every time she makes a weird face.  Because, people?  She is making them more and more often, without even realizing it.  She scrunches up her nose, furrows her brow, rolls her eyes.  We’ve started pointing it out to her whenever she does it, just in a light, nonchalant way.  Like, “Hey, do you need a tissue?  Looks like your nose itches.” 

But what the hell do I do?  She’s shy to begin with, and now I’m worried that with all those crazy facial expressions she’s going to be laughed at.  Just last night, on our way to Vacation Bible School (her BFF at preschool invited her, and she jumped at the chance to go) she said, “But what if the other kids laugh at me ’cause I’m new?”  Kids can be so cruel, and I’m not going to be around to smack the backs of their heads. 

And also, do you think the parents of THAT KID realize it?

Categories
Food Life in general

Free Chocolate! Contest Results

Can I get a drum roll please?




Alison decorated the basket with pretty pink yarn, just for your viewing pleasure.


The winners of the See’s Candies FREE CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY are…

Natalie and…




LiteralDan!  Which is hilarious because I found LiteralDan’s blog from his comments at Natalie’s blog.  What’s that they say about degrees of separation?

Thanks Sheasy, Black Hockey Jesus, Jenny, BOSSY, Les~, Jennifer,  Anna, Meg, Jennifer of Playgroups are No Place for Children, VDog, Beth, MadWomanMeg, and Shannon for helping me celebrate my 100th blog post!  All your desserts sounded SO yummy, and as soon as I’m done with the crazy allergy diet, I’m gonna go get me some of each.  Probably all at the same time.

In my gift card drawer I also found some loverly Christmas themed Starbucks cards, a buttload more See’s Candies cards and some babysitting cards from my sister.  I’ll be keeping those last ones for myself!  But the rest of them will be put up for the rest of you periodically, as long as Jeremy doesn’t discover them first.  So stay tuned!  Or stay… whatever it is people stay these days.

Categories
Kids Life in general Motherhood and Pregnancy

Summer School: Things I learned this weekend

                               

Brutally Honest Monday: The I’m Not Too Old To Learn Stuff Edition

1.  Do not ask people to tell you their favorite desserts while you are on a very restricted diet. 

2.  Egg/corn-free oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies are delicious at any time of day.  Especially with a glass of milk.

3.  Eating two dozen cookies in 24 hours will cause a noticeable belly pooch.  It probably won’t go away on its own.

4.  The herbal supplement fenugreek really does work.  My breast milk supply doubled within a day after just one capsule.  An odd but not unpleasant side effect?  It makes my armpits smell like maple syrup.  At least it’s not onions!

5.  Given a good amount of positive attention, my four year old will turn into a compliant ball of putty in my hands.  Good for cleaning up, bathtime, bedtime, and throwing out poopy diapers.

6.  Tootsie Farklepants really knows her stuff.  Or so my husband says.

7.  Not working on the weekend will change the attitude of everyone in my house for the better.  Wine helps too.

8.  The probability skills I learned in college tell me that when A+B=C, then C-A=B.  So when 3 of the 13 people who have entered my contest are named Jenny/Jennifer, A+B= people named Jenny/Jennifer like free chocolate.

8.  A contest scheduled to end on Sunday night can be extended until Monday night on my whim.  So go -here- to enter NOW!  Time’s a-wastin’!

Categories
Kids Life in general Parenting

A sleep over, of sorts

Yesterday, Alison invited her cousin to sleep over.  I never know whether they are going to get along or fight like cats and dogs.  Unfortunately, cats and dogs it was.  The bickering and whining I can handle – time outs work great for that.  But another child hitting my girl, repeatedly, even after punishments, is unacceptable.  In fact, I think five years of age is a little old for random hitting.  So I packed up the car and took Alison’s cousin home

Alison was devastated, of course.  Even if she’s getting beat up on, she still loves her cousin and wanted a sleep over.  I explained to her that since her cousin hasn’t learned elsewhere that hitting isn’t OK, it was our job to teach her.  My girl was heartbroken, so I made a compromise with her.  We could have a sleep over, instead.

After Blythe went to bed we did all kinds of sleep over things.  We watched a movie and ate cashews in our jammies.  I said, “Hey, keep your feet out of Daddy’s nuts,” something I never thought I’d hear myself say.  We made a bed on her bedroom floor and snuggled up together. 


We got up with the baby who cried at 12, 3 and 6 am for unknown reasons.  Well, actually, that part was just me.  At 3 am I moved to my own bed because Alison was lying crossways over the makeshift bed we had made.  And also?  The floor is hard.

At 5 am, Alison woke and discovered I was breaking the cardinal sleep over rule – to sleep over.  She climbed into bed with me, and peace was restored.  She was still sleeping when I put Blythe down for her nap at 8:30, so I got back in bed with her. 


I fit in there somewhere, don’t worry.  In true sleep over fashion, we slept until 10 am and had pancakes for breakfast.  Then we painted pictures and watched cartoons. 

I don’t think she missed her cousin one bit!  And bonus?  I never hit her, even once.

*Don’t forget!  You can win some FREE CHOCOLATE by entering the contest  -here-  by tonight!*

Categories
Life in general Motherhood and Pregnancy

A Tale of Two Va-jay-jays

I was all set to rant about the gyno appointment I had on Thursday, joy of all joys.  It’s not that it was time for one.  No, that wouldn’t be SO bad.  My insurance company, or shall I say the company I am trying to be insured by, added one more thing to a long list of requirements.  It seems that they are concerned about the fact that I hemorrhaged after giving birth last year.  

Months of reviewing my records and my declining maternity coverage, and Jeremy submitting his vasectomy records were just not enough.  No, they wanted me to have a gyno appointment so that a medical professional could attest to the fact that I am no longer bleeding.  A year later.  Seems to me that if I had been hemorrhaging for a whole year, I might be more concerned with life insurance than health insurance.

So, yes, invisible friends, you were gonna hear it from me.  But then my friend Kimberly went and had her baby.  It’s hard to complain about a five minute date with a speculum after watching your friend labor for almost eleven hours, and then pass a six and a half pound baby girl. 


Even though her end result is way cuter than the tissue I was handed.

*Don’t forget!  You can win some FREE CHOCOLATE by entering the contest  -here-  by Sunday night!*