Never a dull moment

On January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 By JillIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I feel strange. Not myself – I have been wandering around my kitchen and living room for a while, ok, well it only has been five minutes, but in the “Moooomy- where are you?” world it seems downright long. The girls were playing together for five glorious minutes! Five minutes where the little one wasn’t clinging to my leg and Gia wasn’t asking for a snack or water. Seriously, that girl can put it away….

In a day filled with driving to activities, feeding the kids, and breaking up mini girl fights- What is up with that lately? I thought it was boys that were supposed to be rough…what happened to my dream of two little girls, bent over a book, giggling about their mommy (aka Cinderella) scrubbing the floors…

Gia truly believes I am pretty as that golden haired princess, in fact, she actually thinks I am Cinderella. This makes carrying that 8 + pounder around, delivering past my due date, and suffering through 24 hours of labor, among other technical scares all worth it…I will ride this Cinderella train as long as I can…pretty sure I will be the Wicked Witch of the West soon enough.

I may be Cinderella, but my fairy godmother isn’t helping me in the sibling rivalry department! They are constantly fighting with each other and Arianna can get awfully vicious for a two year old. Two days ago she bit Gia really hard and just today, she did some serious damage with her scratchy fingernails – and I just cut them! Do you moms feel like their fingernails always need to be cut? I pick Gia up from school, notice overgrown nails, and that along with her ratty hair (she equates hair brushing with getting shots at the doctor, you should see the fear and tears in her eyes when I bring out the brush) must raise eyebrows at the school.

So back to those five minutes- I find myself just staring at the floor, staring at piles of clothes (well, actually lumps of clothes) that need to be put away, and gazing out the window. I am like a sulky kitten when I am not needed – aimless with no direction. Upon thinking of this, I realized that the girls must feel this way when they are either finished with a snack, a show, or a project/activity.

They simply don’t know what to do with themselves and that’s when these little angels start to drive me bonkers, and I get frustrated saying, “Come on girls- go play- find something to do.” But they just can’t, well, not yet, not until they’ve reached the slamming of the door stage and not wanting to be bothered with their farty old mom. Oh my Goodness- I’m not ready for that! I better enjoy these moments. Look at these faces…

I think I will take their lost kitten moments and just play.

The cleaning and dishes can wait, mommy time can be postponed, who needs to eat anyway, – wine counts as a food anyway, doesn’t it?

I have to admit that while it is easy for me to stop, drop, and play with my children, I am creatively challenged when it comes to I’m bored, what should we do? And what activity works for a 4 and 2 year old combined?

I started to write down activities and things to do- easy ideas, nothing so messy that I have to lay a tarp out, simple activities that don’t require me to buy out the entire arts and crafts section at Michaels, or spend all my allowance on!

That’s right- my husband gives me a weekly allowance based on my dinners. Gourmet equals jackpot, while soup and sandwich, which he deems as a trucker’s dinner, wins me only the change from his pockets 😦

So, when I’m not scouring the internet for a meal that makes me the big bucks, or I’m not hiding in the closet eating cookies, I hope to surf the net and steal ideas from other brilliant moms – why reinvent the wheel?

Soon, my stack o’ fun will be filled, and when the rainy day, dull moments visit our house and the girls are hovering around me like dogs begging for scraps, I will whip out the cards, let Gia pick out three activity cards (choice is important for them!) and stomp the stale minutes away.

I would love to hear ideas or suggestions! Oh and before I forget to tell you, I was joking about the allowance/dinner situation.

But, he still does consider the soup/sandwich night a trucker’s delight. I tell him I’ve never seen an unhappy trucker before- they always smile at me and honk their horn as I pass them by…well that was when I was ten…when I was lifting my arm and fake honking- remember doing that? Anyway, the point is it’s a hot meal and he should not complain because you never know what’s lurking in my soup….Anyone who has seen Orange is the New Black knows what I’m talking about!

Running

On January 24, 2014 By JillIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This morning, I turned into the Target parking lot and saw a mom friend. I steered the car toward her, rolled down my window, and said, “Hey, what’s up? I’m just here picking up a few things.” I was actually there to purchase a set of plastic drinking cups in all the same color. Getting tired of the repeated argument about which color cup one of the girls or their friends get to use.

My mom friend says to me, “Use your time wisely.” I said, “yes,” and laughed. “See you tomorrow at dance class.”

All day long this phrase danced in my head. Use your time wisely, hmm, where have I heard this before – oh right- in school, from a teacher’s mouth, after she doled out her lengthy exam complete with multiple blue books for the essay part.

Exams, schools, teachers, grades…those were stressful times, full of pressure and angst, competing for the A or the right school to get into….

And now here I am feeling this way at 9 A.M. in the morning headed into Target. Actually, I felt relatively calm at this point- until she uttered those words to me. This mom was right! I do feel like these days are races against the clock. Racing to get everyone ready, racing to sweep up crumbs before the next round of food remnants lands on the floor, wiping yogurt off of faces before someone runs into the living room to smear it on the couch, hurrying to pick up toys before the next succession of plastic fruits or sweet shop items line up on the fireplace, jolting upstairs before the little one throws tampons and razors into the toilet bowl ( this actually happened and we had to get a plumber to unclog our toilet – thanks Rocco – also did I mention that I don’t have anything childproofed in my house!) My dear mother said children need to learn the word no.

Apparently, I am not fast enough to be flying all over the house squashing situations with a firm no.

To be perfectly honest, my Mom has seen some of the antics of little one and has since rescinded her “no need to childproof” stance. But I still never lock a single cabinet- I’m such a glutton for punishment. Perhaps I thrive on the daily mysteries of what she will get herself into…We have already seen so so much destruction but that’s for another post!

Back to the marathon… I am often found racing up stairs before the little one knows and screams for me, racing to get the milk in the sippy as fast as I can to stop the whining, hurling myself into the bathroom and onto the toilet before someone tries to wipe me themselves – yup- they sure love to help me with everything, even making sure my hoo ha is clean – rushing to clean the bathroom before a play date, hightailing it to music, dance, and gymnastics class, and much to the chagrin of my husband, sprinting to bedroom so I can just lie in my bed- I don’t even need to go to sleep, just feeling a firm mattress beneath my back is pure joy.

My mind is constantly whirling and worrying – am I doing enough for these girls? Am I teaching them enough, am I providing a stimulating environment? Do they feel loved and nurtured? Are they happy and having enough fun? Are they in the right preschool with the right amount of days? Are they eating enough protein, brushing their teeth enough- gosh, I forgot to give them their vitamins again! Are they going to suffer with some nutritional deficiency?

Being a Mom is truly a scary role when you think about it. We are almost solely responsible for their …everything!

Phew, I seriously feel muscles in my neck tightening up just writing this post. Perhaps I should just go with the advice a friend once told me, “As I see it,” she said with a shrug, “Everyone’s going to need therapy, especially my kids, so don’t sweat it.”

Maybe she’s right… but for now I’m going to try my best, and knowing me, probably keep up this frenetic pace, and do my best to keep them off the therapists couch.

The boss

On January 23, 2014January 23, 2014 By JillIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Yup, it’s true. 37 years old, and Mom still is the boss, well sort of, she doesn’t technically give me a paycheck but she does meet with me quarterly and give me performance reviews…”Yes, Jill, this quarter you need improvement in the housecleaning department- have you seen those cobwebs?”

JUST KIDDING- Don’t send the hate mail to her just yet!

We were talking on the phone this morning and I was mentioning to her that it does seem like we eat an awful lot of junk here, I make it seem like my children’s daily food pyramid is split between blueberry muffin, glazed donut, and chocolate frosted munchkins…mmm that does sound good doesn’t it… as I sit here and eat a greek yogurt…

Perhaps, I paint a picture of me and the girls sitting at the familiar orange and brown chairs almost every day. Gee, now that I think about it Arianna has recently been asking for everything orange lately. I thought she was just drawn to the cheery color but I think it’s Dunkin Donuts on her brain! It may appear that we are at the donut store all of the time! She agreed- Oh no! That’s all I needed to have me running to the computer to change the picture and the title! Grandma rules!

Upon reflecting on this I did sort of get a little carried away with the donut stories. It’s not like my goal is to create sugar crazed, attention deficit children who are fueled by grease and sprinkles…mmm, sprinkles- they have this new donut called birthday cake and it looked so….SNAP OUT OF IT! Focus – clearly I’m the one with the attention problem.

The thing is going to the donut store is actually a break for me…I get a coffee (another problem I need to work on).

And the kids have someplace warm to go, they are happy, I don’t have a mess to clean up, and they are contained to the confines of the store. Gia bought her first item there, she gave the man two dollars, and the clerk put the change she was owed in the big tip cup. Can you believe that? Taking advantage of children right in front of me…

You see, we have even learned about life at the donut shop. That morning was educational in two ways, counting and making sure you get what you deserve!

But I do think it’s time to give it a rest. Surely, I can come up with other outings for us…

Riiing, Riiing. “Hi Grandma- were heeeere!” Ahh, my Mom’s house where a kid can be a kid- oh wait – that’s Chuck E. Cheese

It’s more like Grandma’s house- where a mommy can stop being a mommy and get a hug and be 13 again. And maybe raid the fridge, steal some leftovers, and wham- dinner is served!