Something Other Than Just an Ordinary Day

By the looks of this house right now, you'd think it had been ransacked either by burglars or a group of unsupervised toddlers. It's hard to believe that Eva could leave this kind of mess behind after only a few hours at home today- and by herself. Actually, if you've ever seen her in action, it's not hard to believe, but still. Wow.

We went on a little adventure today to a children's discovery museum about an hour away from us. We needed to get out of the house and go do something, but I was a little worried that Eva wouldn't be quite old enough to have fun and enjoy much of anything that the museum had to offer. We were very pleasantly surprised. She had a blast. She ran around, happy as could be, playing with the various displays. There was a ton of smiling, laughing, and even a few squeals of delight as she got something to work all by herself. And when she needed a little extra boost, her daddy was right there to help her out. Someone might not have been so thrilled about having to leave, but she understood that we needed to get some lunch.

And go get some lunch, we did. Except that only 2 of us actually ate our lunch. One of us might have only had fruit. Then it was home, a short nap, waking up all kinds of out of sorts, and watching Hawaii not be destroyed (YAY!). After that it was dinner out, where she ate only a few tortilla chips. I really don't know how this child keeps going when she hardly eats anything at all. I must discover her secret.....

Happy girl!

Fun with physics!

Getting a boost from Daddy.

Can I get a do-over?

Things that made me feel like a crappy mom today:

1. We were out of the house for 4 hours this morning. I spent approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes of that with my child. About an hour and 30 minutes of that was in the car. The rest of the time The Diva was either in the Kids Club at the gym or in a supervised play area at a local cafe.

2. My child screaming like a Howler monkey when it was time to leave and go home.

3. The look I got from another mother at said cafe because my daughter reached the door about 5 seconds ahead of me (and stood and waited). I'm sure the fact that I didn't change clothes between the gym and the cafe was a factor. It was just pilates. Not like I was gross afterwards or anything. Bitch, please.

4. Despite things I mentioned in yesterday's post, doing both the gym and a play date in the same day. This of course resulted in an overwhelmed child by the end of the day. Seriously, skipping 1 of my 3 pilates classes for the week wouldn't have been a big deal.

4. Realizing we had made it to Friday without any discernable effort or progress in the realm of potty training for the week. (Someone just wasn't interested.)

What made it all a little bit better:

Eva climbing up into my lap after her nap, saying "I love you, Mommy.", resting her head on my shoulder, and cuddling. Hopefully that means that I still did marginally ok by her standards.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to console myself with some decaf coffee and maybe some Say Yes to the Dress and/or The Golden Girls. Here's hoping I do better tomorrow.

Because sometimes you feel like you need a life jacket just to get through the day.

It's Not Easy Being Green.....or Type A.....

You know those people with Type A personalities that just drive you nuts? Um, hi! I'm one of those. I have a routine. A schedule. A plan. I make lists (and then lose them and make more lists). Even if I know something is coming up several months from now, you can bet that I've planned out everything and that I started about 30 seconds after I learned about the event. Even my blood is Type A.

I think it all stems from the fact that I'm the walking, talking, living, breathing version of Murphy's Law, or at least it seems that way sometimes. I realize that life rarely goes according to plan and I am not a fan of surprises, therefore I plan as much as possible so that I can have as much go smoothly as possible. I know it's a losing battle, but that's just how it goes here.

Eva is also a girl who likes a schedule. Hopefully this isn't only because I've already made her as neurotic as I am. Very much like her mother, she eats her meals at the same time every day. When she gets hungry, it happens suddenly and not without consequence. I have NO idea where she gets that from- can't ALSO be from me. Ahem. Naptime is also not to be messed with. Doing so usually throws her (and by extension us all) off for a few days. While she wakes up and is quite chipper in the morning, she's usually not quite so happy when she gets up from her nap. Things here are usually pretty rocky between that point in our afternoon and dinner time. I've learned to tread lightly. Dinner's at 5:30, or else. Bedtime is at 8:00.....otherwise she's up before 6:00 the next morning and no one wants that.

Then there's another thing. Eva fits into the category of a "spirited introvert." Again, no idea where she gets that from..... She is very spirited. When she feels something, it's with intensity. She's determined and energetic. If she has her choice she rarely walks anywhere, she runs. But at the same time, she is also very much the introvert. She loves going to the gym and playing with the kids- for an hour. She loves going grocery shopping- but we have to go to a store that's more dimly lit and not crowded (that might also not be JUST for her). And unless I'm really lucky, only one of those can happen in the same day. Gym or shopping or a play date or a lunch out. She needs her downtime, and quite frankly, so do I. Much more social interaction than that and she becomes completely overwhelmed aaaaand cue meltdown *now*!

Sometimes this makes it difficult to add anything else into our typical day, but sticking to the schedule is totally and completely worth it for us. Why make life with a toddler any more challenging than it has to be? It seems like I'm in the minority with sticking to my guns so adamantly. And I know that this is in large part because not everyone needs a schedule or routine like we do. They can change things up all the time and everything is just peachy. I wonder what that's like- getting to go out and do things spontaneously rather than protecting a schedule like the Hope diamond. I'm sure that as The Diva gets older, our lives will allow for more flexibility. Until then, we're rather comfortable living in our little Type A world.

*I would also like to state for the record that I CAN be fun.....as long as that fun as been scheduled ahead of time for a specific time and place and I have had time to prepare.

She arranged her stuffed animals on the step and then wanted her picture taken with them.

Early Morning Survival Strategy

I like sleep. I tend to stay up a little later than I should at night and at times find it elusive, so once I finally get to sleep, I like to stay there. Waking up in the morning always happens too early for me, and even once I'm initially awake I need some time to adjust. It's usually a good 10 minutes before I am able to get out of bed and (hopefully) not growl at anyone. And if you are cheerful in the morning and you are not my daughter? Good luck to you. It's the one time where I do not hold myself responsible for what may happen to you if you are too happy around me before a decent hour.

Our resident happy little morning person usually rises between 6:00 and 6:30 and is immediately hungry. How does my resourceful, compassionate daughter deal with such a situation when she knows she's going to hear, "Honey, I'll be right there. Just gimme a minute....." when she implores Mommy to get up? This morning (as we heard over her monitor), she got up, went downstairs and turned the lights on, got one of her cereal bars out of the pantry, walked upstairs, came into our room, asked her father to open said cereal bar packaging, said "Thank you!", left the room while closing the door behind her, and went back downstairs to the living room to play until Mommy peeled herself out of bed. Now I just have to teach her how to make coffee and I'm set.

Perspective

This past weekend went by pretty quickly, except for that part where my husband discovered a leak coming through our dining room ceiling- things like that make time stand still. Aside from the big hole that's now in our ceiling and my husband's time spent on a ladder doing plumbing repairs, it was a fairly routine couple of days.

Catch you later. I'm out.

Saturday evening we went out to visit our niece/ Eva's cousin. The 3rd sister in the Hite trifecta was babysitting and things were a little tense. A certain someone was less than thrilled about taking her bottle and the lack of alternatives. I could hear the desperation in my sister's voice. Upon arrival I took the baby, Eva spent some time with her aunt, and my husband went and got us all dinner. It may have been the first time that my family has ever happened upon a place and actually restored order. Seriously, I'm still in shock that such a thing was even possible. My niece settled down, probably mostly because I was a calm newcomer to the situation. I think she was so tired by the time I got there that she just caved. Cuddle, bottle, diaper change, jammies, and she was out.

By the time we left, I think my sister had calmed down. I felt so bad for her. I told her this already, and now she'll get to read it again- seeing and hearing her desperation when she couldn't get our niece to calm down was not only heart breaking, it looked exactly like me every day for Eva's first 8 months of life. An angry infant with acid reflux plus a SAHM with PPD.....it wasn't a pretty picture. I wish my sister had had a better experience, but I suppose it was a gentle reminder for me that anyone taking care of an infant feels that way from time to time. It wasn't just that I didn't know how to work my kid! (And it wasn't that our niece hates her aunt either, as she feared.)

And for an extra dose of perspective on my motherhood experience, Supernanny happened to be on TV, or as I like to call it, "free birth control." Wow. It was a brilliant reminder that even on Eva's worst days, she doesn't hold a candle to the kids that were featured that night. She's a pretty neat little lady if I do say so myself. She's happy, she listens, and she just wants us to be involved with her creative process. And can I just say how adorable it is when she's interacting with her little cousin? Adorable! Such a good little helper.

Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in your day to day routine that you lose perspective on exactly what it is that you have right in front of you. Despite a bumpy start to our mother-daughter relationship, the occasional terrible 2's kind of day, a house that's almost always a wreck, and more disorganization than I care to admit to.....despite all that, we're doing all right around here.

New Hello Kitty rain/garden boots!

Standing Still

Another day, another milestone. Ok, maybe it was more like a stepping stone, but you get the idea. Eva's been in baby and toddler classes since she was 4 months old. It started at Little Gym, then there was a brief stint in Water Babies, some soccer, and now a MegaSports class at another place. Swimming lessons not included, class time has always been rather stressful for me (Swimming was stressful, but that's another story entirely.). Keeping The Diva on task has always been a challenge. She'd get bored and just take off and run laps, especially if it involved a long wait for her turn. And if it was a drill she had done before? Forget it. Lap time. She was running. I'd always have to be on top of her and pleading for her to pay attention and do as she was told.

Today was different. It was hockey day for her class, and for the first half of class I stood against the wall and watched. Let me repeat that: I stood against the wall and watched! I didn't have to sit in the circle. Didn't have to sit beside her or with her on my lap, queuing her to do as her coaches instructed. She sat there, more than arms-length away from me, paid attention, and did what her coaches asked her to do. It was a huge moment for us. And also weird. I'm so used to being RIGHT THERE- reigning her in, directing, helping. It felt very odd to be even just a few steps away from her, but I was so proud that she didn't need me there. And then they brought out the little hockey sticks. Even with all of the parents jumping in at that point, I'm not sure exactly how everyone came away from that unscathed.

The best part is that she had so much fun while gaining that little bit of new found independence. It's all she talked about the rest of the day and kept asking to go back. I can't wait to see how she does next week and which sport is up next!

P.S. Yes, as you might expect, the cuteness factor for 2 and 3 year-olds playing sports is off the charts.

Practicing her victory dance.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Eva just loves her baby cousin.......and looking at the pictures I took today I have to ask, "Where did my baby go?". She looks like such a big kid next to Cousin A! Time is flying by.

So Close.....

Sometimes I feel like I just can't win. Ok, a lot of the time I feel like I just can't win, but fortunately it's mostly because of stupid, petty stuff that doesn't really matter. This is one of those times. After being trapped in the house for the better part of a month, we wanted (needed!) to get out of the house today. Originally we were going to head up to Baltimore and take The Diva to the National Aquarium first thing this morning, but a) it's expensive, and b) if we're going to shell out the money to go there, we don't want to have to battle everyone else in the Baltimore/DC Metro area to do it. Kinda glad we nixed the original plans, because I've now been off my normal routine just long enough that my pancreas (and therefore blood sugar level) decided to rebel. Fun. Anywho, we decided to go out and about a little closer to home.

We had lunch out, which was nice. I even got to watch a few minutes of the Penn State v. Michigan State game. Then we thought a trip to the bookstore might be nice......and wow, were we wrong! We never made it out of the car. As soon as we entered the parking lot we realized our mistake. It was deadlocked. A half an hour later we were finally on our way home- nap time for Snooks.

As much as I wanted to get out, apparently everyone else around us wanted it more. I can't handle crowds. Can't do it. Especially when it's not absolutely necessary. It was worse out there today than it is the week before Christmas. No thanks. So aside from another short trip out for dinner (which involved a very tasty strawberry margarita- whoohoo!), we were mostly relegated to hanging around the house.

It wasn't all bad though,

Some of us still managed to have a good time.

Tomorrow: My triumphant return to the gym!

She makes her own rules.

For a while now Eva's been able to recite the numbers from one to ten (after that it's a little dicey to fifteen). I knew she couldn't actually count things up that high, but she memorized the order of the words. One of her favorite books is a Strawberry Shortcake book that involves counting strawberries backwards from five to one. For whatever reason, and I'm sure it's very common when kids are learning to count, she almost always adds one more on than what's actually there. She's good with one and two, but then there's always an extra after that. I'm not worried because well, she's 2 1/2. She'll get there. When she gets the number right she's rewarded with a high-five. Tonight as we were reading the book at bedtime she decided that she wanted that reward, and by golly, she was taking it.

Eva: One.....two.....three.....four!

Me: No honey, there's only three. See? One, two, three!

Eva: Smacks the back of my hand.......repeatedly.

Me: *I ignore her, turn the page*

Eva: Maybe turn over. *Turns my hand over, smacks it for a high-five*

That's the point at which my husband and I burst out laughing, even though we probably shouldn't have. Oy. What am I going to do with this child?

After a grueling morning of building towers, it was time to cook some breakfast.

snOMG!

I'm sorry, did I just talk about things being back to normal? My apologies, because it seems that I have jinxed us all. I'm from western PA. I like snow. Love snow, actually. I'd just love it a little more if it were with me while I was in western PA where they know how to deal with the stuff. Every year it snows here (granted, not THIS much), and every year people act like they've never seen the stuff before. It gets very "The sky is falling! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!". I went grocery shopping last week and it was fine. Got everything I needed, no problem. We hit up the store again this evening. Ho-ly hell. We snagged one of the last cartons of milk. There was no chicken to be found. Thankfully we managed to get the LAST green and red bell peppers in the store so that I can at least make a vegetarian chili- there was no ground beef or turkey left. I was shocked that we didn't have to wait in line long at all- the parking lot was insane.

Our little adventure was my first trip away from the house since last Thursday. I've found that being a SAHM, my tolerance for being stuck in the house for days on end has diminished. I have mixed feelings about Eva's class at Jumping Jacks being cancelled tomorrow. The roads still aren't great, but I think we both needed her to go and run around somewhere for a while- preferably on an inflatable obstacle course rather than an icy sidewalk. The gym is a no-go too. Classes are cancelled and the Kids Club has been closed. We won't even talk about how much my increasingly bleh body needs get back to that gym.

So while I sit here and lament the fact that the gym and any venturing back out of the neighborhood may have to wait until the end of the week, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the 30+ inches of snow we got the other day. Enjoy!

The view from our front door on Saturday morning.

There is a Japanese maple under there somewhere.....right?

The back yard.

I'm the queen of the world!

Maneuvering was kinda difficult.

Going down the slide that the next door neighbor's kids made in their front yard.

Up in the tree!

A Return to Life as Usual

For the second morning in a row, this is the outfit my daughter had on when she came in to wake me up:

If you haven't already figured it out, she likes snow. A lot.

She's not alone. My husband doesn't mind it, except when shoveling the stuff of course. He's just happy that it's cold. I love the stuff. I get just as giddy about it as I did when I was growing up. It's just beautiful out when everything is covered in fresh, white snow. Seeing how happy it makes Eva makes it all that much better for me. That's why this little excursion yesterday morning was so much fun:

Anywho, since there wasn't much snow to play with today, I guess she decided to "build towers" and pretend that she was outside:

Yes, she did change up the hat/glove combo for this pic.

Just you hold on, Little Diva, there will be plenty of snow to play with this weekend!

Overall, I have to say that it's been a pretty good week. Now that Eva and I are both feeling better, I think that returning to life as usual was key for us both. She's been a most pleasant little companion as we've run errands and gotten little things done around the house. We even made it to her class at Jumping Jacks on Tuesday. Who knew she'd be such a pro at volleyball? Ok, so she had a tough time with the setting, but the girl can bump and spike like nobody's business. Like she means it. That evening she sat at the dining room table, coloring and playing with stickers while I made dinner. After we all finished eating I noticed a notebook still sitting on the table that Eva had been drawing in earlier.

"Honey, did you help her with this?"

"What? I didn't help her with anything over there."

*Holds up notebook* "This!"

Yup, that's the second letter that she can write by herself. In my humble and completely unbiased opinion, I believe that qualifies her as a genius. Now on to actually writing her name....