Your Kid's A Savant? Mazel Tov.

I know that my post on Friday probably ruffled a few feathers. It's not that I'm trying to tick people off, but that's just how I feel. And again, I'm not against talking about the kids, it just bothers me when it seems like there isn't anything else there. The more I've thought about it, I've realized why it bothers me so much. It's been my experience so far that most of the time when another mom can't do anything but talk brag about her kid, that it's because she's one of those competitive moms. You know, the one that believes that her kid is hands-down smarter, better behaved, and better looking than every other kid on the planet. Her kid is better.....and therefore so is she.

I'm a competitive person. You know that episode of "Friends" where Monica throws a plate over a game of Pictionary? It's amazing that I haven't ever done something like that. My own husband doesn't like watching sports with me because I get so worked up. We've had a couple of very intense games of Uno between us. I play to win.

The one place in my life where I try REALLY hard not to be competitive with is my child. Sure, we all compare our kids to their peers, it's only natural. It's when that turns into putting pressure on your toddler to perform and then letting everyone else know how inferior their child is that it becomes obnoxious.

Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago at Eva's sports class another one of the moms (who has a son a few days younger than my daughter) struck up this conversation with me:

Her: Does she always run around like this?

Me: Every waking moment.

Her: See, this is the only place I can get him to run around. When we're at home all he wants to do is sit at the table and practice writing the alphabet. I know this makes a lot of other mothers jealous, but that's just what he does.

Sure, lady. It was all I could do not to respond with, "Oh, really? Even when you turn off the electrical device that keeps him there?!" She then went on to express her displeasure with the policies that all places have stating that you can't bring your kids there when they're sick. Yes, you read that correctly. I stood there wondering if that conversation had really just happened. Eva recognizes all the letters of the alphabet and can write a few of them, but she certainly doesn't obsess with writing them all- thank goodness! I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that no other kid under the age of 3 does either.

My other current favorite competitive event right now is potty training. Don't get me wrong, once it's over and done with, you should get to brag a little. You've earned it. I know I'll want to shout it from the roof tops when we're done. (OMG, when will that be?!?) I just get annoyed when people are smug because they have the youngest child in the room no longer wearing a diaper. Last I knew, the exact age at completion of potty training is not a question on college applications. Sure, maybe for the Ivy League schools, but I'm pretty confident that as long as it happens before the start of preschool in the fall, it'll be all right. She'll just have to settle for a state school. With a little extra hard work, she may even be able to find success later in life.

Just like every other mother out there, I truly believe that my child is a genius. She does things everyday that amaze me. She's bright, sweet, well-behaved, and is creative on a level that I still aspire to. But please, if it ever sounds like I'm using my child's accomplishments to make others feel bad, PLEASE stop me before I make that turn. Also, I'd like to not put performance anxiety on my toddler. There's plenty of time for that to develop later.

I may be done ranting and raving.....for now. Or maybe I'll continue this series and name it, "How To Be Perfect, Just Like Me. Then Maybe We Can Be Friends." We'll see where the week takes us. And if you'd like to read more about ridiculous parental competition (that includes an Excel spreadsheet!), go on over to The Diaper Monologues. You won't be disappointed.

And I Shall Call Her "Stella"

I got a new toy today! In college, all of my computers were hand-me-downs from my husband (fiance at the time). We've shared computers for all of our married life up until now. Since I started this blog it's been somewhat of an issue because I'm on the laptop for most of evening, which means he never gets to use it. And because of the computer geek that he is, he's constantly making changes that I think are unnecessary and drive me nuts.

This evening, all of that changed. I now have a laptop of my very own. I love her.

Can We Change The Subject, Please?

Last week I had lunch with a friend of mine- with The Diva in tow, of course. I covet my lunch dates with friends. Conversation! With a grown-up! Woohoo! Granted, I get a little of that at the gym too, but when I go out to lunch I also get to change out of my mommy or gym uniform and look presentable while carrying on a conversation over a meal that I did not have to cook.

I love being a mom. I really, really do. There are many days when I miss working, but overall I do love staying at home with Eva. Whenever I'm not sure exactly what to do about one of the gazillion issues that come with raising a toddler, I research it. And then I try something, fail at it, do more research, and try it again. Not only do I live it, but I blog about it too. This means that when I get to have an actual conversation with another adult, I would love to talk about almost anything besides those issues. My friend is a parent as well, so there's always some talk about the kids, but the really great thing was that it wasn't ALL about the kids. It was mostly about other things, and it was wonderful.

It seems like so much of the time when I'm talking to other moms, the kiddie subjects dominate the conversation. Have you started potty training? How's it going? How are you going about it? Have you registered your kid for preschool yet? Which one? Why? What's the teacher to student ratio? Are they ready for preschool? Can they count? Can they read? Have they started their doctoral dissertation yet? Oy.

There's still a person in there, right? Who were you before you had children? Does that person still exist? Read any good books lately? (Granted, this one isn't likely to be answered as "yes" for a few more years, but who knows?) What about TV shows- the ones YOU watch, not your children (unless you want to hear why I, as a biologist, think that Dora is the dumbest show ever). Interests? Hobbies? Current events? Sports? In-laws? Crazy families? Pop culture? (I mean, seriously! How the hell could Jesse James do that to Sandra Bullock?!) Anything. Throw me a bone here, people.

Like I said, I love being a mom. It's obviously a huge part of who I am, but that's not the ONLY thing that makes me who I am. It's not the only thing that makes you who you are either. We can still talk about the mommy stuff in moderation. Just please, after that, there's got to be something more that we can find common ground on. Thank you. I'll step down from my soap box now.

I Hosted My First Playdate and Lived to Blog About It

I know, I know. My daughter's almost 3 and I just got around to hosting a playdate for the first time. The thing is, our townhouse is small. It's not one of the new ones that are bigger than the house I grew up in and have 2 car garages. It's....petite. It can handle one, maybe two more kids. Much more than that and it's mass chaos in a cramped space. Eva's been in a playgroup since she was an infant, but there are so many kids that there's no way half of them, let alone all of them and their mothers could cram into our living room. In other words, social anxiety + claustrophobia does not look good on me. I avoid it when possible.

No worries about that today, though. It went off without a hitch, and I'm pretty sure that both of the kids had a great time. I know Eva did. I hope her friend did, too. He's a very sweet, very bright little boy. They seem to enjoy playing together. Her blocks, her train, and her kitchen toys continue to be crowd favorites. (Hmmm......does that mean I can get rid of the rest of the stuff?)

The other great thing about it was that I got to talk to another grown-up for a while, and not just about issues pertaining to our children! It was so nice. There's always a little bit of the kid talk mixed in, but sometimes it's just nice to talk about other stuff. I mean, comparing relatives to characters on sitcoms is much more important! I have more to say about all that, but that's another post for another day. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see.

I know that hosting these things is something I need to do more often. It does concern me that maybe she's not being socialized enough. She's an only child, and with the exception of one little girl at the gym that she absolutely loves, she mostly plays on her own when we're there. Besides the time we spend there and at the various classes I've taken her to, she spends all of the rest of her time at home with me- and I know I'm not that much fun.

I survived one, which means I can do this again no problem. Also, I should start saving now for Eva's future therapy bills. With a mother this neurotic, she's bound to need it one day.

See that? It's clean! My house is clean! Cause yeah, it totally looks like this ALL the time. It never, ever looks like a toy store exploded in our living room. Thank goodness I had to have it straightened up for this morning, because this evening the guys next door stopped by to offer us a granite remnant for our bathroom vanity. There was measuring and discussion involved. I can't tell you how relieved I am that they picked today as the day to stop by. I would have been mortified if they had seen what it actually looks like on any given day!

Locked Out

The other day The Diva figured out how to lock the doors around here. It doesn't worry me too much because they're super easy to open from the outside. A coin and a flick of the wrist and it's open. Tonight when it was time to go to bed, she scurried up the stairs, ran into her room, and locked the door. Her father then commanded her to open the door. "Ok, Daddy. Just a minute!" Immediately we heard her fiddling with the lock. "Ok! Come on in!", she said with a big smile on her face while opening the door. Oh boy.....

Practicing her "down, set, hike" sequence on the last day of her sports class today. I can't tell you how disappointed I am that none of the pictures of her tackling a gymnastics mat turned out, because 2 and 3 year olds tackling something? Is so freaking cute (and hilarious).

One Hot Mess Of A Day

Someone here had a case of the Mondays, and it might have been me. I didn't make it to the gym this morning because I didn't have any clean workout pants. (Not a good sign.) I'm usually a little behind on the laundry, but it's usually not THAT bad. I was kind of OK with it because along with the laundry, I was also really behind on the housework. The weather was nice last weekend and the last thing I was about to do was stay inside and clean. So I began to dig out the living and dining rooms and then remembered about that laundry. Except that we were out of fabric softener. Seriously, WTH have I been doing lately? Sheesh.

We got ourselves together to make a quick run to the store and made it out onto the front porch- just in time for the sky to open up and start raining. Hard. Got to the store- it was still raining. Came out of the store- still raining, and harder this time. What is it about a torrential downpour that makes a kid who normally runs everywhere slow down to a snails pace? We were both soaked by the time we made it back to the car. Approximately 2 minutes after we got home it stopped raining. (Of course it did.)

I was all kinds of excited this afternoon about our first thunderstorm of the year.....right up until the dog freaked out and peed everywhere. Didn't even try to tell me he needed to go out, and of course he couldn't stay in one place. I then had to take him outside to let him finish in the midst of a decent amount of lightning and hail. And because we're talking about my luck here, we hadn't gotten all of Eva's toys put away yet. The evening in our house involved lots of clorox spray and our carpet cleaner. (This is where I must give credit to my husband, who took care of most of the aftermath so that I could hit the gym and make up for missing this morning.)

The saving grace to this day was that Eva just went along with whatever was going on. We might have even made it through the day without any fits. Thank goodness for that!

Practicing her Shakespeare, perhaps?

Cue the Elevator Music

You know how in suspenseful movies, usually involving aircraft of some sort, they talk about signals being jammed? That's exactly how my head feels right now. There's something right there, but the signals got stuck somewhere and can't make their way completely through my brain. Conversations with my mother frequently have this effect on me. It tends to take a few days for me to process exactly what happened and figure out how best to proceed. (The answer is usually "back away slowly while shaking my head.") Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have it all sorted out and start making sense again.

Until then, here are some pics to tide you over.

She's starting to look like such a big kid.

As soon as she starts understanding these guys, she'll have a much better understanding of her mother.

A little help from Daddy.

Practicing Patience

From the start Eva's been a spirited child. Couple that with some perfectionistic tendencies, and you have a recipe for some frustration-induced tirades. She likes things to be done a certain way. Even if it's a new task that she's working on, she knows how she wants it to be done. And if for some reason it doesn't work out the way she wants it (usually because the laws of physics are not working in her favor), she throws a fit. Her voice is raised, sometimes there are tears, and occasionally something gets launched across the room (fortunately, this lovely little behavior has been decreasing). I have no idea where she gets it from. Ahem. I may not throw things or scream or cry, but I guess the fact that my husband vacates the premises whenever I try to do something other than just type on the computer could be a sign that I become easily frustrated as well.

The one good thing about it is that it forces me to deal with the same tendencies in myself and try to help her through her moment of frustration. I get to be the calm one, speaking in soothing tones. I gently try to teach her that it's ok if she doesn't do something perfectly on her first try. Some things take a lot of practice, and perfection is largely overrated if not unattainable. It's ok. Just try to be calm and keep trying. As she gets older she'll get the "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses./No one excels at everything." talk, but we're not quite there yet.

For the longest time it seemed like we weren't making any progress. Then this morning, I heard my daughter say something amazing. She was building with her blocks and accidentally knocked a few over. What would have normally been met by groans, whining, and an "I can't DO IT!", was answered with, "It's ok! I just build it again!". Huh, what? Did I really just hear that?

I was so happy for her that she had finally made that connection and adopted a more optimistic attitude. I can't tell you how glad I am that she's learning that imperfection does not equal the end of the world. Yes, you should always try your best and even push yourself just a little bit beyond what you think you can do. You might be surprised what you're capable of. I just don't want her to be so obsessed with perfection that she drives herself up a wall trying to obtain it. There's a line. Hopefully this was a step towards realizing where that line is.

Building her flower garden, complete with duckies of course.

My Little Good Luck Charm

I'm not a touchy-feely person. I don't come from a touchy-feely family. It's awkward and slightly uncomfortable to hug my mother. I only recently became comfortable with hugging my friends. I'm working on being more cuddly with my husband. It's just something that doesn't come naturally to me at all- with one exception. For whatever reason it's completely automatic to hug on Eva and cuddle with her. My favorite time of day is just after she wakes up in the morning or from her nap and wants to snuggle up to me. And that's exactly what happened today. While she finally took a nap this week, I decided to take a little rest myself. It's been a busy week and I haven't slept much (such is the life of every mother). Once she got up, she came into my room with her snuggle puppy, crawled into bed with me, and just wanted to cuddle. It was a good day, and for me that was the best part.

This stuff also happened:

She stuck the landing!

Helping Mommy with cookies.

Mmm.......cookies!

Time To Get Moving!

Sooo......I have a few events coming up in the next couple of months. First up is a 4.5 mile walk for The March of Dimes. It's an easy event to get involved with. I mean really, how can you say 'no' to that one? I am incredibly lucky to have a healthy little girl, especially after the pregnancy that I had. I will be forever grateful for that. I will be walking to support all those who are not so lucky.

In May I will be participating in the Yoga Unites for Living Beyond Breast Cancer event where we will be doing yoga on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I'm really excited about this. It's been entirely too long since I've made it to a yoga class and I love the idea of so many people practicing yoga together in such a well-known place. My sister and I will be going to this with her roommate, whose mother was recently diagnosed with cancer for the FOURTH time in SIX years. It all started with breast cancer. On a humorous note, she came up with the best team name ever for this. Are you ready? It's the "Hakuna Ma TA TA's." Love it.

In June I will be running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C. Now that I finally have my asthma under control, I'm getting really excited about this one too. I got involved as a registered advocate for the Komen Foundation a couple of years ago. While I was in college, a friend of my mother's moved in with my family. Her son had moved away and she had arthritis so badly that she couldn't take care of herself well enough to live alone. From what I remember of the situation, she had the tumors for quite some time before the doctors decided it was time to act on anything. She was on medicare disability. Do you see where this is going yet? After a double mastectomy and some treatment she was declared to be in remission. Not long after, I discovered a small tumor of my own that was hastily removed. Fortunately mine was benign. Fast forward 6 months- our family friend went completely blind in the course of about a week. I will never forget the evening I spent on the phone, weeping with my sister as she called to tell me the news. Marti's cancer was back (if it ever had been truly gone), and this time it was in her brain. She passed away 2 months later- 2 hours before my second semester physics final to be exact. My husband had an aunt who suffered a similar fate except that hers metastasized to her bones, it was a longer process, and therefore I'm sure there was even more pain and suffering. Breast cancer is a vicious, merciless disease. Participating in events like this are the one way that I feel I can contribute to finding a cure.

So, the awkward part. If you'd like to sponsor me in any of these events, I would be supremely grateful. Just click on the gadget of your choice to the left. I'm not asking for big bucks. I know most people don't have it to give right now. Believe me, I understand. $5 would be great. $10 would be awesome. Every little bit helps. Please and thank you very much!!!! And if you don't want to donate and would like to cheer me on through my blog, Twitter, and/or Facebook, that would be very much appreciated too!

It Was a Marathon Kind of a Day. Trouble is, I'm a Sprinter.

It was the kind of day where you feel like you were shot out of a cannon, moved at warp speed constantly, and then suddenly it was 8 PM (aka bedtime for munchkins). At least I didn't spend half the day willing bedtime to arrive, so there's that. It was the usual routine with a trip to the pediatrician and lots of laundry and errands mixed in.

Maybe it was the go-go-go pace of the day. Maybe, despite hushed tones, she did overhear the story of what happened to me and my sister during our stop at Journeys in the mall yesterday (Although we're still not entirely sure what happened. One thing is certain- every time I think about it I feel the need to be held.....and have a martini.). Maybe it was just that she likes to group her letter magnets by color and then arrange them it patterns. My money (and desperate hope) is on the last one, but this is what was recently found on our refrigerator:

A Letter to my Daughter

Dear Eva,

There are days when I'm glad that you're still little and too young to understand some of the more difficult things that come with life. They're the kind of days when I wouldn't be at all opposed to keeping you at this age forever.

Last Saturday was one of those days. I can't tell you how glad I was that you were too young to have any idea what was going on around you. You have two great-grandmothers. One is 90 and the other is 93. We had a birthday party for the younger one, and it was one of the most heart-wrenching scenes I've ever witnessed. It wasn't just seeing Grammy in a nursing home for the first time (which was difficult at best), it was seeing that she's given up. I'll spare you the details, but it was a lot like being punched in the heart.

Part of what makes this so difficult is the stark contrast between her and your other great-grandmother. Me-maw is 93. She still cooks, gardens as she can, and will tell anyone who tells her to 'act her age' to go to hell. I've witnessed it. It was amazing. She can also still bend over and pick you up off the floor. She's a tough old bird, and not because she's led a life of privilege or had perfect health. She grew up and orphan and has experienced every major heartbreak that I can think of. She has some sort of problem with most of her organ systems. Her cardiologist told her a few years ago that he can't explain how she's still alive, but I can. She's an incredibly strong woman in every sense of the word. She's been determined to make the most of her life, even if she can't do so in the same capacity that she once did.

Me-maw has always been a role model in my life, and this case is certainly no exception. I want to know you and still be a significant part of your life when you're in your 60's. I want to know my grandchildren and great-grandchildren- not just meet them, but know them. And I want to still be with, love, and appreciate your father at that point so we can enjoy all of it together. Even if you have no choice but to put me in a nursing home one day, I still want all of that. And please, if you ever see me starting to slip from that, make me read this and remind me that my life is what I make of it.

With a little luck, I plan to be around to experience all of those things. And hopefully I will also have achieved my dream of becoming my own version of Sophia Petrillo. As I'm sure you'll have down pat in a few years after being exposed to many, many episodes of The Golden Girls, the key phrase to keep me in line will be, "Shady Pines, Ma!".

Love,

Mom

I hope to have as much fun with you, your children, and grandchildren as you did with Me-maw and this balloon.

Learning to Find Perfection in the Imperfect

Ugh. Just as I predicted, there was no rest for the weary last night. I remember times in my 20's when I could pop a few Excedrin Migraine pills and go right to sleep after the stabbing pain behind my left eye went away. Now I am old and those days are goooone. I was still awake when Eva started in on a coughing fit around 2:30. Apparently her allergies are starting up early this year. After some water and another dose of Benedryl she eventually went back to sleep. Somewhere around 5 AM I managed to drift off. I got in a whopping hour and a half of sleep before The Diva got up and was ready to start her day.

I guess she didn't want to wait around for her old, groggy mother to drag herself out of bed. Instead she used the opportunity to help herself to the contents of the pantry. (I knew I would rue the day that she figured out how to use a step stool to reach things.) When I finally came hobbling down the hall, I found her in the guest room feasting on a super-nutritious breakfast of Snackwells devil's food cookie cakes. (Yup, she's DEFINITELY mine.) I'm pretty sure she only ate one before I managed to wrestle them away from her. On a side note, can we all agree that it should be illegal to list a serving size of ONE cookie? Seriously.

The good thing about the weather today was that it was warm enough to go outside and play. We played in the front yard and drew on the sidewalk with chalk for a good hour and a half. Her favorite part though was digging in the dirt. The bad thing about all that? My daughter's idiot mother didn't think that being outside for a little while would affect her allergies that much. And she was wrong. Despite the copious amounts of Benedryl this poor kid is downing, she was not feeling good when she got up from her nap. I can't wait till allergy season is over so that she can play outside for as long as she wants and not pay later by way of sinus congestion.

Eventually she perked up and went about her favorite activity- building with blocks. When she was done there she channeled her inner artist and drew her first family portrait. I can't tell you how much I love watching her while she's in the middle of her creative process.

For a day where I was so sleep-deprived and she was feeling some serious allergy yuckiness, we've had a pretty good day together. Watching her play outside was the highlight of my morning- climbing in our out of control Japanese maple, digging in dirt.....that's my girl! Watching her build with blocks and draw was the highlight of my afternoon. And the highlight of my evening? That was most definitely when we were getting ready for her bath and she came over, gave me a big hug, and said, "I love you SO much, Mommy!". Oh, I love you so much too, kiddo.

Today was a day that gave me the perspective that I've been needing for a while. It wasn't a Martha Stewart kind of day. It's wasn't something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Neither of us felt particularly great, it looks like Toys R Us threw up in our living room, there's folded laundry STILL waiting to be put away, the dishwasher is still waiting to be unloaded, and I didn't cook dinner again tonight. I'm probably never going to be that mom who has it all together, cooks every night, keeps the house looking perfect, has all the ironing done, gets birthday cards out in the mail on time, or has presents wrapped and ready to go more than 10 minutes before we're supposed to walk out the door with them. And it certainly won't happen while wearing heels and pearls, ala Donna Reed. I'd like to think though, that as long as I manage to keep my focus on what Eva needs and keep finding magic in the everyday moments, that she'll turn out all right. Well, you know, as all right as one can get when you're family is a little crazy.

Mundane? Yes. But I Guess It Wasn't So Bad.

Today was one of those blah nondescript days where I felt guilty for not doing anything special with the kiddo. It started with our usual morning trip to the gym where I made my triumphant return to Body Combat, my favorite cardio class. Then it was hanging around the house, lunch, naptime, errands, blah, blah, blah. There was some quality time drawing and decorating with stickers. That counts for something, right?

There were a few other moments of note, though. For the second day in a row, Eva has been counting items correctly. She used to add on 1 extra to everything, and now she understands where to stop in her counting. She is growing up so fast and I am so proud of her.

The Diva has developed a bad habit of playing with my alarm clock. I don't mind if she plays with the radio, but she also tends to take the liberty of messing with the buttons. You know, the ones that control things like the hour and minutes? I was so exhausted today that I decided that her naptime was my naptime too. I heard her start rustling as she was waking up, rolled over, and looked at the clock. 5:00! Wow! Except that I definitely didn't feel like I had just taken a 4 hour nap.....because I hadn't. According to my phone it was actually 2:54, but hey, I know that it's much more than most moms ever get during the day.

After she got up from her nap we had errands to run. Woo! (But not really.) We needed to go to the bank....which meant waiting in line. As every parent knows, you're always taking your chances when waiting in line with a toddler- especially if that line is in a place where you're expected to be still and quiet. Today was my lucky day. She stood beside me, quietly holding my hand. She waited there with me and was perfectly behaved. It was amazing. Again, I'm so proud of her. This also means that we're due for a public meltdown now just to balance things out, doesn't it?

Now it's the end of the day and I'm buzzing (almost literally) on caffeine. Thanks to a migraine that decided to jump out and hit me this afternoon, I'm practically shaking from the 2 excedrin migraine pills and cup of coffee I used to wash them down. This means that I probably won't sleep at all tonight, but I'll take that over being up with a migraine any day. Guess it was a good thing I decided to take that nap!

And You Thought YOUR Family Was Nuts!

Originally I thought I wouldn't blog about last weekend. There were some good parts between the deeply depressing (seeing my grandmother in a nursing home for the first time) and the insane (we're talking mind-boggling here). Because I'm still trying to work through the depressing parts of the trip, I'm focusing on the crazy. It's easier, and hey, it's socially acceptable to make fun of it.

I know that everyone thinks their family is crazy. I think each family has their own special brand of crazy, but mine (read: my parents) have a knack for taking it to the next level. Seriously. Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy. Then I go home......

Let's start first with the sign on the side of the filing cabinet reminding my father to manage his mind, mouth, and moods. I find this hilarious, appropriate, and a little wrong- all at the same time. It's there in plain view where everyone and anyone can see it. It's only wrong because there isn't one directly beside it reminding my mother not to be crazy.

EDIT: My sister and husband have encouraged me to share the exact working of the sign. So, here you go: "Monitor you mind! Muzzle your mouth! Manage your moods!" Yup, still makes me laugh.

There was a cake. My mother was supposed to pipe daisies on it. In spite of my telling her numerous times that she needed to practice ahead of time, she of course did not. Why listen to the person who's made numerous cakes on her own? Not like I have any experience with the stuff. They make it look easy on "Ace of Cakes." It's NOT. She realized that about an hour and a half before she was to walk out the door with said cake in hand. I somehow managed to time things perfectly so that I was waaaay to busy with hair and makeup to be of assistance. I stayed where I was and laughed at the crazy lady from a safe distance. It was one of her typical pre-event freak-outs. My sister stepped up with the daisies and saved the day.

In college I was a biology major with an option in microbiology/immunology, and I'm pretty sure that my parents' latest decisions regarding food means that they're trying to make me have a stroke. My mother still defrosts chicken on the counter. Don't get me started. Now they've chosen to up the ante by drinking UNpasteurized milk. I will never forget plating that stuff in my general micro lab. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that it activates my gag reflex just to think about it. They also want to get unpasteurized vinegar. No thanks. From now on I'll be asking EXACTLY what everything is and is cooked with before I eat it. Ick.

There was also this lovely bonafide Emily/Lorelai Gillmore moment with my mother regarding a tablecloth:

Her: Should I iron this?

Me: No, you already ironed it. Those are just the creases from where it was folded. It's fine.

Her: Well, look who I'm talking to.

Me: What's that supposed to mean?

Her: Well, you don't exactly spend much of your time ironing table cloths.

Me: I don't use tablecloths.

Her: Well, that would be a start now, wouldn't it?

I wanted to tell her that I find it far more important to spend time with my daughter coloring, painting, and playing with play-doh on our table to be at all concerned with tablecloths, but I kept it to myself because I'm a big chicken. One that does not need to defrost on the counter top.....because it's already 100 degrees in their house.

Eva, waiting to tear into some cupcakes. Daisies by Aunt Kees. And see? Told you the tablecloth was fine.

All of this reminds me of that scene from "Father of the Bride" after they have that big fight over the blender and her dad meets her fiance at the bar. "The good news, however, is that this overreacting... tends to get proportionately less by generation. So, your kids could be normal." Here's hoping that this holds true for my family. Maybe with a little luck the crazy gets diluted with each generation, and there's a glimmer of hope that my daughter might turn out to be normal.

"Sunny days....."

Last weekend we went on a little trip to my parents' house. I don't think I'm capable of writing a whole lot right now because I'm still trying to process the ridiculous amount of crazy that I just witnessed. No, seriously. There was a full-scale meltdown over daisies, talk of unpasteurized milk, and something about canola oil being part of a conspiracy that started in Canada. I couldn't make this up, folks.

So as we got back into our normal routine and began to decompress from the weekend that was, we saw this across the street from our house:

See that? Up at the top of the picture?! It's a clear, blue sky! Woo!

And see this?:

It's a (mostly) clear sidewalk! The combination of those two, with a decent temperature thrown in, meant that we got to go on a walk today! It's been so cold for so long that it seemed like such a thing was forever away.

Eva also did this:

Followed by this:

It was definitely a good day. Eva had a great time over the weekend with her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunt, and great-aunt, but she was definitely very happy to be back at home today.

8 Reasons Why Today Was A Good Day

First off, I'd like to thank all those of you who sent me wishes for a better day today. It worked! Hope everyone else had equally good days!

Because I am equal parts lazy and tired, it looks like this post is going to be another list. If it's possible, I think I might also be too sore from the gym to write much of anything. Apparently doing Pilates and Body Pump in the same day will do that to you. Tomorrow is definitely going to require Advil.

Things that made my day today infinitely better than the last 2:

1. I made it out the door on time this morning. I still think it's ridiculous that I have to leave 40 minutes early for a class at a gym that's 4 miles away from my house, but we made it there in time for me to get a decent parking space, get Eva checked in with the Kids Club, AND get a space in my class. Win!

2. Eva was in a great mood. It's impossible for me to be in a bad mood if she's in a good mood. She was happy, sweet, and even helped me red up the living room (sort of).

3. She ate all of her lunch without begging or pleading of any kind. Win!

4. I had a stress test today and everything checked out great. My doctor is officially blaming my problems on my asthma. Unfortunately this gives no concrete solution to my problems with cardio, but the good news is that my heart is just fine. WIN!

5. Eva woke up from her nap in a good mood. I told her we could either "build towers" with her blocks or we could go shopping for her great-grandmother's birthday present. Whichever we didn't do this afternoon we could do tomorrow. She was all kinds of excited to go shopping for Grammy. She was such a very good little helper at the store. Double win!

6. Dinner was also not a struggle. Win!

7. My cousin's wife gave birth to their first child this afternoon. We can't wait to meet Cousin S! Eva now has 2 little cousins to grow up with! Win!

8. My husband came home this evening with chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. I may have imposed a healthy diet on myself, but sometimes a girl just needs some chocolate. My husband is a wise man.

After the frustrations of the past 2 days, I can't tell you how relieved I was all day to have things go smoothly. This is a trend that I can get behind.

Oy.

What a day. What a set of days. Yesterday was frustrating.....and then today continued on that theme. First I woke up with a headache, so my Eva's daddy got up with her and let me recover. Only problem with that meant that he didn't get to leave right away and get to the gym, meaning that he had to get ready for work at home. This in turn delayed my getting ready to take Eva to her class.

Thankfully we did make it there in time, although just barely. Her class was the bright spot in our day. She listened to her coaches and followed their every instruction. It gives me so much pride to watch her mature through the weeks and need less and less guidance from me during the class. It's still a very new feeling to get to sit down and watch, her glancing back at me every few minutes to see if I'm paying attention, and having to hover much less than I ever have. Her focus and intent on the class today may have been helped along by the sport of the week- track and field. Lord knows this kid loves to run, and she did great with the hurdles. Also, a group of 2 year-olds attempting the long jump and the high jump? Quite amusing. I have to admit that the attempts at the shot put and the javelin concerned me a bit. Asking my daughter to throw something like she means it definitely has the potential for injury, most likely to someone else. Everyone got out unscathed though, so all was well.

On a side note, I'm still trying to wrap my head around a conversation I had with another one of the moms while we were there. I'm still asking myself if the conversation really happened or if I might be on drugs. There was a lot of nodding and smiling on my part, all while wondering if she was serious. She was.

Then we came home. She refused to eat her normally coveted Chick-fil-A chicken. Then there was a refusal to nap. That one was really my fault because I had gone and made an appointment for her to get her 2nd dose of the swine flu shot in the afternoon. But hey, she can get the nasal mist version, so maybe it won't be that much of a disaster, right? HA! She started screaming and flailing as soon as they called her name. Then the nurse told us that they were out of the mist and that she'd have to get the shot. Oh boy. More screaming and crying. LOTS of screaming and crying. It took a good 45 minutes to get her completely calmed down. I felt so bad for her. Had I known she was going to get the shot I could have given her Tylenol ahead of time (instead of sprinting for it the second we got in the door).

After some snuggle time with Mommy, some snuggle time with Daddy, some dinner, and a bath, we had a happier little girl. Here's hoping I can manage to keep her happy tomorrow and have a better day. It's going to be a marathon kind of a day, and I've even thrown in a stress test for a little added fun. Don't get me wrong, I haven't lost all perspective on the day. It could be worse. Infinitely worse. But.....could it please get better?

I'll just be right here for a while.

My Sweet Little Snuggle Puppy

Today was filled with many irritating moments, although fortunately very few of them had to do with The Diva. After she went down for her nap, I decided to lay down on the couch for a minute (please don't hate me). I must have fallen into an uncharacteristically deep sleep, because when I woke up there was Eva, sitting across the room from me. We've been working lately on being quiet when others are sleeping- apparently it's getting through. She was just sitting there ever so quietly, holding her snuggle puppy, still in her bunny jammies (she insists on wearing pajamas at nap time). I'm the lightest sleeper in the world and I didn't hear her open her door or come down the steps! Once I woke up, she came over to the couch and snuggled with me. It was by far the best part of my day. I have no idea how long she had been sitting there, but I wonder how much longer she would have waited so patiently! Wouldn't it be great if us moms could sleep so soundly ALL the time?!