what we did this week

1. Noah wore real shoes. Out of the house. For the first time ever. Milestone! No one cared but me.
2. I ordered (and received) another book I'll probably never get to read. And by "never" I just mean not for another 18 years.
3. Lily and I worked on an idea for her Halloween costume. She wants to be so many things.. if only Halloween was an entire week.
4. For awhile now, it seems like every time I get in my car, there is some kind of crazy looking bug on it. What in the world is this one? I looked just like a piece of a green pine cone. Same size too.
5. Saturday was National Coffee Day. How did you celebrate?
6. The next generation of gamer- Noah's practicing already. (Or teething. Maybe both.)

Weird neighbors

Lily, Noah, and I went for a walk on Monday. And as usual, Lily and I chatted- while Noah slept. We talked about school and the things we saw as we walked. It was lovely. Then she spotted our neighborhood little-old-man starting down his driveway. "HI!" she screamed at him. "Hello there!" he called back to her. I smiled and we kept going. "That's a crazy looking.." she started to say.. and then paused.

My eyes got wide and I held my breath. We were still 100% in hearing range of the man and even if his hearing wasn't as good as it used to be, Lily was being her usual loud self and I'm sure he could still hear her. And ohmagod she's gonna scream that he's a crazy looking old man! Ohmagodohmagod! All I could think was just spit it out already and let's get it over with. Just get it over with! So I can die of embarrassment right in the middle of the street.. and then move on.

".. roof," she finished. What? I looked down at her. She was looking at the other side of the street. At a roof with two large sky lights. Exhale. "Yes!" I said loudly. "That is a REALLY crazy ROOF isn't it? With all those WINDOWS on it!"

And the little old man was probably thinking, why is that crazy woman yelling about that person's roof?

They say the darnedest things

When I dropped Lily off at school this morning, her teacher asked how my weekend was. "It was alright," I said. "It was okay." Did she really want to hear how boring and miserable my weekends usually are? Did she want to hear about how this weekend had the added bonus of my hard drive exploding? (Figuratively.) Probably not.

Then she asked if she had seen me at the gym. When people say things like that to me, most of the time my inner smartass just reacts. Without consulting with my inner grown-up counselor. "HahaNO!" I retorted. I think the other mother standing next to me chuckled, a knowing kind of chuckle.

Other thoughts that immediately followed (and were quickly told to shut the F up by my inner grown-up counselor) were..

.. does it look like I go to the gym?

.. does it look like I have time to go to the gym?

.. you HAVE met my child, right?

what we did last week

1. The origins of a Tweet- apparently it's the sound birds make. Cool..
2. Found a spotted feather when I brought the recycling out to the curb on Monday morning. Wish I knew what kind of bird that came from.
3. Lily and I drew a picture about her upcoming birthday. And talked about how many days. Way too many as far as she's concerned. Way too little as far as I'm concerned. A FOUR year old! Sigh.
4. Playing Candy Land with Lily is not nearly as frustrating as it used to be. She actually plays a whole game now before playing a second time with rules that change by the second.
5. Half the reason I watch the news on the channel I do, is for the typo hunt. BIG difference between Cloriform (Chloroform?) and Colriform in your water. I'd still rather not have either of them in my water though.
6. AND then there was the dark, dark day that was yesterday. Without warning my hard drive was no longer driving hard. Thank the Lord, my husband retrieved most of what was on it before replacing it with an extra one we had. The only thing I lost (I think), while being the most easily replaceable (it's just software), is also the most expensive. Photoshop.

Things (these) parents talk about

(Doc McStuffins happened to come on tv last night while we were eating. Which reminded me..)

I had to look up Doc McStuffins on wikipedia.. for her first name.

What do you mean?

Well, her mother didn't name her Doc.

Oh. What is it?

Dottie.

Isn't that the hippo?

No.. I think that's Hallie.

what we did this week

1: Lily can draw better than I can. Almost. Well.. basically, I guess she can.
2: Try to take a picture of a flower and little hands just can't stay out of it.
3: The changing of the clothes took place this week. It's always so sad, to me, to have to take the tinier things out to make room for more seasonally appropriate clothes. Tiny little monster socks, small stripey infant pants.. packed away for who knows what.
4 + 5: Fall is slowly starting to creep it's way into my life. Lily had a Halloween cupcake. I tried Starbucks Pumpkin VIA. (It's good. It is. It's just not quite as much of a coffee drink as I thought it would be.)
6: This guy was on my windshield and refused to hop off when encouraged with sticks and leaves. I finally got him on a piece of mulch and paraded him around the car to show Lily and Noah. I was surprised it stayed on as long as it did.. I think he just wanted his picture taken.

Lies I tell my children..

..so that I don't have to share my candy.

(As I walked into the living room unwrapping a piece of chocolate, Lily spotted me.)

Candy? I want candy!

It's not candy.

What is it?

Vegetables.

Vegetables? What kind of vegetables?

Lettuce.

(Not surprisingly, she didn't pursue the matter.)

First day of school. Ever.

So- today was Lily's first first day of school. And she actually woke up, for the most part, quickly and willingly this morning. Even though she'd gone to bed later than I would have liked. And she actually sat at the table to eat "breakfast." What she ate was half of a mini-donut, a vitamin, and had one sip of juice. Which, honestly, is more than I thought she'd eat.

Things were moving along well, getting ready. Then, in the bathroom, she looked at Jason and I.. and said "I'm gonna miss you guys."

!

I was shocked. It was a bit un-Lily like.. and just blurted out of nowhere. But she just said it matter-of-factly, not like she was sad about it. So, that was fine. I guess.

We got ready. We got all our things together and headed out the door. Got down the steps. "Don't step in that puddle," I told her. SPLASH. Mud and water everywhere. Of course. So we waited outside while Jason threw out a bag with a change of clothes. When we got into the car, I realized it was just her pants that were muddy and wet. Thank God. Because, I don't know, I wouldn't have wanted to send her to school (especially the first day) with what Jason had thrown out to us. The pants were fine (the ones I told him to grab). The socks were fine (that didn't matter). But.. sandals. Sandals, Jason? Really? Cold, rainy, day.. and socks and sandals. Well, whatever. It was all fine.

At school, the second we got inside.. she was 100% cyalatermommy. She didn't even want to stand with me for 10 seconds while they found her a name tag. She was off and running. When I went over to say goodbye to her.. she was like yayawhatever. Toys! Well, break my heart why don't you, kid.

Noah was sleeping half an hour after I got home. And.. I'll be honest.. I was little like "uuuhh. now what am I supposed to do??" Jason's gone. Lily's at school. Noah's sleeping. I could like... do. whatever. I. want. What? Um. Hmm. Um. Like what?

I watched non-child tv while I ate my breakfast. As in.. I sat. And ate. Food. With no interruptions. Disconcerting to say the least.

Then I did dishes, 2 loads of laundry, swept the bathroom, boiled water for Noah's bottles, prepared a cabinet full of baby bottles, washed the bathroom floor, and drank coffee. And, no one interrupted me. No one needed to be fed. Or changed. Or needed help using the bathroom. Or needed to be yelled at to leave their brother alone. No one needed to have their binky retrieved. 900 times. No one threw toys everywhere. Or did headstands on the couch. Or ripped their brother's binky out of his mouth. Or refused to put their underpants back on. Or screamed at the top of their lungs. Or wanted to be entertained, entertained, entertained.

It was terrible.

(No, it really wasn't.)

(But, if it was like this all day, everyday? Then, yes, it would be terrible.)

(Yes, it really would.)

Because I wasn't anxious enough already..

When I went out this morning, I had so many sudden (and horrible) thoughts. About Lily. And school. And ohmagod.. what else am I supposed to teach her about before she's there. Without me.

She knows the whole bathroom process. I think. I hope. About not running, waiting til you get to the toilet to pull your pants down, not taking your pants off all the way, how much toilet paper to use. About flushing, washing hands, how to rinse the soap off, and how to use a towel to dry her hands.

I'm not too worried about it. She'll get the hang of it- of anything I forgot and anything that's a little different than at home. I think. I hope.

She knows her first name, how to spell it, and writes it very well. She knows her last name, can pronounce it perfectly now, and today we started working on how to spell it. We've talked about the city we live in and I try to get her to remember the street we live on.. but that stuff isn't as interesting as video games and Legos. So it's harder.

Alphabet isn't a problem. Numbers aren't a problem. Colors, shapes- all fine. She's not shy. She opens a juice box with no problems. We've got scissors and glue sticks down pat. And she shares surprisingly well for a 3 year old.

I'm a little concerned that she will look for (and find) mischief. (Because she does at home. But I'm used to it. And can stop it before it starts.) But.. I try to tell myself that her school and the teachers there weren't born yesterday.. they've probably seen it all before. I think. I hope.

Really what I started worrying about today is all the other stuff. You know the stuff I mean. The stuff that you think ohmygod, do I need to worry about that with a 3-year old?! Stuff that she cannot even comprehend yet? Stuff that I don't even know how to put into 3-year old words. Stuff.

That no one is supposed to touch you. In certain ways. In certain places. Ever. That you don't keep secrets from mommy and daddy. No matter what anyone says to you- and especially if they tell you not to tell. Drugs? Knives? Guns?! The list is miles long. And I feel horribly sick thinking about it all.

A million times over, I would rather her be prepared and have nothing ever happen to her.. over the ohmygod unthinkable that I never said anything to her, and..

.. and..

.. excuse me while I search Google for bubble suits for almost 4-year olds.

what we did this week

 from Robot and Monster / 10 days until preschool / just hanging out / tomatoes / reddening a pepper / 6 days until preschool / squish squash / yellow tomato / Angry Birds playground?!

Hopefully I'll be back to blogging next week..