My Birthday Girl

Abbey turned 5 on Sunday. 5! I can't believe it. It really does feel like it was only yesterday that I checked into the hospital on that dark Sunday night in November, only to be told that although I was sure I was ready to deliver any moment that I was only 2 centimeters dilated and that I should walk around the hospital to get things moving. So that is what Dennis and I did, we walked around the deserted and quiet Medical Center, while I periodically clutched at my stomach and leaned against walls. Eventually of course she was born, at 9:23 am the next day. I spent the night laboring and watching old reruns of Wings on Nick At Nite. Remember that show? I still remember laboring all night with Jack watching C.H.I.P.S. To this day I can't hear that theme song or see Ponch or John without feeling uncomfortable and remembering pain. I also remembered very well that I wasn't able to get an epidural with Jack (too fast, no time) so I made sure I had time with Abbey. Every new nurse that came in I would say "Hi, nice to meet you. I am having an epidural." And then someone else would come in and I would say "Hi, I'm Kirsten, I'm having an epidural." I would even ask if they had it written down on the chart, just be sure.

But that is all far in the past now, and she is 5. She had a fun gymnastics party on Saturday to celebrate, with 12 kids. Then we went out to dinner with my sister & brother in law and their kids. Abbey and her cousin Shannon are only 7 days apart (Shannon being 7 days older which already she doesn't let Abbey forget) and they are best friends. I must say that its nice to have a 7 and a 5 year old. I feel like those ages are completely manageable. Well, most days. Some days. She is so five already though, so grown up. She always had been. Jack asked if that meant she would start kindergarten on Monday. Oh, I wish!

We gave her the Dora Links doll for her birthday, the new "teenage" Dora version for the 5 and older set. She is great, she hooks up to the computer and Abbey can navigate this whole online Dora world and solve mysteries, play games. And she can change her doll Dora too, along with the one on the screen. Make her eyes change color, change the color of her jewelry. And the doll talks. Its a little unnerving because you don't know exactly when she is going to talk. She's just a lifeless doll and then all of a sudden, "Hola!" she says to you. She scared the crap out of me Sunday night while I was spending HOURS downloading the content onto the computer. This is my only complaint about the Dora Links doll. It took FOREVER for the stuff to load onto the computer. I tried Sunday morning and it was taking so long that I thought it was malfunctioning, so I un-installed the program and started again. Then we had to leave to go to my parents for dinner so I stopped it again. Sunday night after the kids went to bed I told Dennis "I'm loading this bitch tonight if its the last thing I do!" and it took over 2 hours to get all installed. 2 hours!! Parents need to know this for Christmas. If they want their darling daughters to wake up Christmas morning, open Dora and start playing right away they need to install her well in advance.

There she is, my little pip. Happy with Dora. Not really sure what "pip" means but I think it's British and I am quite confident that it fits Abigail to a tee.

So I have a 7 and a 5 year old. How cool it that?

Ahhh, Routine

I love the Fall. I mean I love love love the Fall. The air starts to get crisp and smell great and sweaters are on the way and you can wear more layers without sweating your you know what off. Best of all, with the Fall comes routine, and if there is something I love almost as much as Fall, it is routine. Getting the kids to bed at the same time, getting up at the same time, going to school, to work, to soccer, to taekwondo. Not to mention that all the good shows will be coming back soon, which for me is awesome because I really don't like reality t.v. Sure, we are going to be busy. Today alone we had back to back activities, but it was followed up with some pizza from the pizza place and a Bud Light with Lime. Ahhh, lovely.

In other Fall news, Jack started the second grade on Tuesday. Second grade! I can't believe it. Only one more year and we go into the dreaded . . . gulp . . . MCAS testing years. And he's like an honest to goodness boy now. Not like before he was Pinocchio or anything, but today he's zipping around on his bike and fooling around with his friends at the park, barely acknowledging my existence. Abbey had her very first soccer practice and she was so excited. In her pink shinguard's with her little ponytail swinging, she was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. It was so great to watch her practice while Jack was biking around with his friends. Unlike when he practices and she pulls on my arms and jumps on my back like a monkey and begs to be taken to the playground. Oh well, I'm sure that soon enough neither of them will want to be anywhere near me when we go to the fields, so for now I should probably appreciate their attention.

My new second grader (check out his spikey hair)

The Queen of Soccer

Floating Around In A Giant Swan

Yesterday some friends and I took our kids into Boston to go to the Common. In all of my years of life I had never been to the Boston Common, so it was really fun. Although they predicted sweltering heat and afternoon thunderstorms the weather turned out to be fine. Hot, yes. But no storms. We almost cancelled, but decided that since we live in New England that weather reports really don't matter that much and we should go anyway. So glad we did. We rode the Swan Boats which were great. And cheap! Only $2.75 for adults and $1.50 for kids. Granted it is only a 15 minute ride, but still. The kids loved it. After that we walked over to the other side of the common where they had a playground and places for us to have our picnic lunch. I'm not sure why eating on the ground has such appeal for kids, but mine love it. After that the kids were begging to go in this:

I had no idea that the Common had this Frog Pond spray area. It is a giant shallow wading pool that was filled with kids. No one had brought any bathing suits or towels, but with the intense heat beating down on them there was no stopping the kids. They just threw off their shoes and shirts (well, the girls left their shirts on) and ran in with their clothes on. Even though they have spent countless hours this summer swimming in lakes and jumping into backyard pools, jumping around in this particular body of water fully clothed seemed to give them more thrills than if they were swimming with dolphins in a clear blue Caribbean Sea. Of course, all we mothers could see were parasites and germs floating around in what basically was a giant tub filled with children. Although they put chlorine in it every day and drain it and re-fill it every 10 days (pray we were on day 1!) it still gave us the heebie jeebies. But the kids loved it, and that's all that is important. If they get a sty in their eye, well, don't come crying to me. I told them not to put their heads under the water!

TV Time Out

On Sunday we went to a pool party to celebrate Jack's baseball teams, ummm, winning season. When it was time to leave the kids refused to get out of the pool. You know when your kids are swimming around in a pool, and you know you can't reach them, and they know you can't reach them, it creates an impossible situation. It was made even more impossible by the fact that there were about 50 people from town all around, most of which I barely know, so I didn't want to start screaming like a mad woman and threatening to beat them senseless. I knew we were in trouble though when Dennis handed me his cell phone. "I'm going in" he said, and in his eyes I saw a furious gleam that would surely end badly. My one last attempt, including the words "your father is coming in the pool to get you and then you're really going to get it!" finally did the trick, and they came out. Because of their, shall we say NOT listening yet again, they lost t.v., video games and computer play for the rest of that day. After the initial moaning, pouting, crying and wailing (mostly from Jack) they settled down to play outside. Ride their bikes, shoot the basketball, draw with chalk. Inside we played Candyland, and before an early bed had time to read 2 full books. Today while at the trailer supply store with me and their grandfather they did the same thing. When it was time to leave they started darting around the small store, thinking it was a great game that I couldn't catch them. I threatened the "no t.v., video games and computer" time out again, and they still didn't listen. Eventually of course they did leave the store, but too late. Television gone. Again there was moaning, crying and wailing (again, mostly from Jack) but this time it only lasted about half the amount of time as before. Since we've been home we have played outside, playing a great round of H.O.R.S.E. basketball (which I won). They played nicely while I made dinner, helped me set the table, and as I type this Jack is doing his maze book while Abbey paints watercolors in her Disney Princess book. They are sitting together at the little Cabbage Patch table, as content as can be. Neither of them have even mentioned watching television. It is so nice, it almost makes me want them to get into trouble at least 3 or 4 times a week. Naw, I think we will just be turning OFF the t.v. a hell of a lot more in this house. Apparently they needed an electronic break!

Of course there is one little downfall with this time out system, and that is that I have to spend a lot more time entertaining them. So far I haven't minded, although I am already wondering what the heck I am going to do in an hour when it's time to jump on my treadmill for 30 minutes. Wish me luck.

Alien Invasion

Today has been our second afternoon in a row that we didn't have an activity. No baseball game, no taekwondo, nothing. It has also been rainy, overcast and gray, which makes for nice indoor activities. Yesterday the kids wanted to fill the house with "bad guys" to fight. Since we didn't have any bad guys lying around, they decided to make them. When Jack discovered that no, we did not have oh, 10 or 15 giant pieces of heavy cardboard that he could make bad guy cut outs out of, they settled on the long easel paper. Abbey laid down and Jack traced her, but when he was done they decided that it looked more like an alien than a bad guy. They then proceeded to spend over half an hour coloring it in and cutting it out. They decided to hang it in the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room, so that, in their words, they could "scare the heck out of daddy." I'm happy to report that it worked, he was scared. Actually, I kept forgetting it was hanging there and the rest of the night, after the kids were asleep, as I wandered around the house, grabbing myself an apple for a snack (OK, chips, whatever) I kept catching it out of the corner of my eye. Hanging there, in the dark. It was pretty creepy. This morning I moved it onto the cellar door. Abbey then made another one, to scare the pants off of Jack when he came home from school. He was slightly scared, or at least he pretended he was scared, bless his heart. He even let out a little squeal.

Another activity today while Jack was in school? Abbey dressed up as this, and declared herself "Indiana Alice" because you know, Indiana Jones meets Alice in Wonderland? Pretty clever, huh?

Mind Reader

Can you read minds? Well if you are a mom you are thoroughly expected to. Abbey especially thinks I am a superhero mind-reading psychic. Most of the time when we are in the car together she likes to sing songs. The problem is that she wants me to sing songs with her that she is making up on the spot. "Sing with me mommy" she yells as she warbles nonsensical words in a string to an ever changing tune. When I don't jump right in with the correct words she gets completely frustrated and upset with me. "No mommy, those aren't the right words, sing the right words." I tried to explain to her that I don't know the words and perhaps she could teach me the words first, and then we could sing together but that doesn't seem to work either. She doesn't understand why I don't just "know" the words already. Usually she doesn't know the words either and is just making them up, and that tends to make a sing-a-long a little difficult. Yesterday she was singing this little Christmas ditty she invented.

I wish it was Merry Christmas

I wish it was Merry Christmas

I wish it was Merry Christmas

All through the year

Once I got the words down we sang it together about 18 times. But just knowing the words was not enough. I had to know how loud to sing it. Or soft. She kept changing which lines were loud, which were soft. "No mommy, that's too loud. Sing it softer. Not that part, sing that part loud. No, you're doing it wrong."

Ummm, OK. Sorry honey.

Tired and Cranky

Do you ever just dislike your children? Or one child in particular? Today Jack has really been pushing my buttons and annoying me. As soon as he got off the bus it started. He didn't want to bring the trash barrel down the driveway (which is like his only damn chore and he does it every week), whine whine whine. He didn't want to stop playing with the Star Wars people strewn all over the den to get ready for taekwondo. Whine whine whine. Then we get to taekwondo and he is obnoxious there. Not listening. Picking his nose INCESSANTLY. Why? Why must you pick Jack? It's disgusting and embarrassing and downright gross. So stop it please. Of course, I am watching from the sidelines while he just picks away and am trying to will him with my mind power to make him stop, which never works. The only saving grace was that his teacher, an extremely tough guy who is referred to as "sir" was out today, having a colonoscopy. His daughter who is equally tough and I believe on her way to the Olympics for taekwondo or something was filling in and really didn't garnish the respect usually reserved for sir himself. When we got home the whining just continued. "I'm hungry, I want cheezits" and then I had to call him 4 times to come to the table for dinner which was also annoying because he was so damn starving 20 minutes earlier, and now he's not listening to me. After dinner it was homework time and that was a nightmare as well and like pulling teeth. But Abbey was a sweetheart today of course. I've noticed that when Jack is being especially obnoxious Abbey takes that opportunity to be extra sweet. Saying "please" and "thank you." "This is a very good supper mommy" "thank you for putting my Barbie's dress on" "I love you mommy." I'm sure tomorrow she will be a pain and Jack will be angelic. Well . . . maybe not tomorrow. . . since he hasn't exactly been angelic since he was at least 4. But maybe sometime soon. But now it's bedtime and I've had enough. I am just ready for them to go to sleep and then I am just going to bed. I'm cranky and tired and annoyed. Goodnight.

Jello With A Side Of Boogers

Last night after dinner Abbey walked by Jack holding a container of jello. Her dessert. He promptly picked his nose (he claims he only "pretended") and wiped it onto her jello. Much crying and screaming ensued, ending with a brand new jello and the contaminated one in the trash. I wanted to get mad at him, I mean jello doesn't grow on trees, but it was just such a brotherly thing to do. I mean, how much more stereotypical brother antagonizing his sister behavior can there be than booger wiping? I must admit that there is the usual amount of "he hit me" "she grabbed me" "he bumped into me on purpose" and just as much "it wasn't me!" "no I didn't" and "she's lying" going on in our house, but there is also a wonderful bond that I see growing between them. They are each other's most constant companion, playmate and Saturday morning cartoon watching partner. I love that with a 2 1/2 year age difference that there is fighting, but that they are also able to play together, especially now that Abbey is older. They can play real games now, and I appreciate the burden it takes off of me to be the constant entertainer. True, it's a trade off, as I have turned into the constant referee instead, but it's worth it. They may fight, but in the end I know that they have each other's backs. Even last night after the booger wiping incident, while laying in bed reading a "Jack and Annie" book ("Jack and Abbey" in our house) there was a picture of Annie in a prairie dress. "What a pretty dress" Abbey exclaimed. Jack answered her "it is pretty, but your dresses are prettier and you look really pretty in them." Now isn't that nice?

About Mommy

This is a cute idea I got from a Facebook post that I figured I would do, since we are home today enjoying our 548th snow day of the year. The idea is to ask your child questions about YOU and see what is going on inside those adorable little heads of theirs. I decided to ask Jack (age almost 7), since Abbey is currently in the tub. First I had to convince him to pause his gameboy long enough to give me his answers. This was of course no easy task.

1. What is something mom always says to you? No

2. What makes mom happy? Us not bothering you

3. What makes mom sad? When our house got destroyed (that was quite sad)

4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tickling me

5. What was your mom like as a child? Not as lucky as I am

6. How old is your mom? 57 (OMG!!!!)

7. How tall is your mom? About 6

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Watch General Hospital (which I hardly EVER get a chance to watch by the way!)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Go to work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Living in Chicago

11. What is your mom really good at? Helping us

12. What is your mom not very good at? Flying a plane

13. What does your mom do for her job? Sit in an office

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Chicken

15. What makes you proud of your mom? When you do something cool

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Yogi Bear

17. What do you and your mom do together? Play

18. How are you and your mom the same? We both love each other

19. How are you and your mom different? You like to go on the computer and I like to watch t.v.

20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because before I go to bed you kiss me

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Swanzey Lake

Well, there you go. Now that Abbey (age 4) is out of the tub I will ask her and see what she says. Hopefully she doesn't think I am in my fifties!

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you

2. What makes mom happy? Going on your treadmill

3. What makes mom sad? When I take away your blankets

4. How does your mom make you laugh? You tickle me

5. What was your mom like as a child? You liked to play with your mommy

6. How old is your mom? 14 (that's my girl)

7. How tall is your mom? 12

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play Barbies with me

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Wash the dishes

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? You would know all the questions I told you

11. What is your mom really good at? Drawing

12. What is your mom not very good at? Playing stuff

13. What does your mom do for her job? Draw stuff on paper and put it in a book

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Green pointy beans (I think she's talking about snap peas)

15. What makes you proud of your mom? I'm proud that you're really good at drawing

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? A mama bear

17. What do you and your mom do together? Snuggle in bed

18. How are you and your mom the same? Our eyes are the same color

19. How are you and your mom different? Your ears are bigger than mine

20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because you just love me (very true)

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Disneyworld

Well, I have to tell you, Abbey was way more thoughtful with her answers, and they were much more accurate, except about that whole drawing thing. I am a little worried that Jack answered "No" to question number 1, while Abbey answered "I love you." Hmmmm, are they living in the same house?

Missing

I don't want to alarm anyone, but my usually calm mannered angel daughter is missing. In her place is a new little girl, one who likes to YELL, kick, hit her brother and make sarcastic remarks to me. For example: "Abbey, this room is a mess. What are we going to do about it?" Her answer: "Build a new room and not let you in it." What? Totally sarcastic and fresh. Yesterday at Stop & Shop she threw the biggest tantrum of her entire life, splitting the eardrums of everyone in the entire front end of the store with her incessant screaming. This scene was due to the following reasons which I'll admit may have been partly (mostly) my fault. (1) She fell asleep as we entered the grocery store parking lot, forcing me to wake her right up to go in. (2) We shopped at 12:00 and I smartly decided we would eat lunch after . . . yeah I know, not such a swift move. (3) The following words out of my mouth "no, we aren't going to get a balloon today" were filtered through the air and entered her ears sounding like this "yes, you sure can get a balloon. Why don't you scamper over to the florist section all by yourself and pick one out." This resulted in the aforementioned tantrum that garnered us not 1, not 2 but 3 people bagging our groceries in order to get us the hell out of there. An older woman actually drove her car over to me in the parking lot to tell me that I was doing a good job and to congratulate me on not giving in and letting her have a balloon. Yup, we were definitely the spectacle of the day.

So what else is new with the precious 4 1/2 year old Abigail? Well, I think her new name should possibly be toot. When Jack was little I started calling "farts" "toots" and the name stuck. Abbey is by far the gassiest, tootiest child in a 100 mile radius. She blows her brother away in the gas department, literally. She has mastered the art so well and takes such pride in her gas that she will call me into the bathroom while she's in the tub to show me the bubbles she can make in the water. And these aren't spontaneous toots either. She'll yell from the tub "Mommy, come here." I'll answer "yup, in a sec." 4 minutes will go by. "Mommy, come here now." "OK, just one more second." 3 more minutes. "Mommmmmmy, I need you." And I'll saunter in, only to have her say "watch this" and fart in the tub, creating lots of bubbles. Are you kidding me? She held that in for 7 minutes until I came in. What kind of skill does this entail? I'm telling ya, I'm frightened. But this is just a phase, right? I'll get my kind, good natured, well behaving little girl back, right? Right? I will, right?

Still My Baby

Phew, such a busy weekend that it has taken me 2 days to post this. Why so busy? Well, my baby, my baby turned 4. At 9:23 am Saturday morning it was official. Not a baby anymore, in reality barely ever a baby. Abbey seemed to be born, be a newborn for about a week, and then an infant for about a month. By the time she turned 1 and was walking around she was already a "girl." I should maybe even feel a little jipped, being that it seemed the baby-ness of my "last" baby was so fleeting. But I don't. I have just always been in awe of her, of her confidence. Her humor. Her intelligence. Her deep well of love and compassion. Her patience. Her immense stubborn streak. Her resilience. Her resourcefulness. So far she has been the easier of my 2. Aside from a month of colickness early on, she just seems to go with the flow. Maybe it is being a girl, or being second born. Her brother's needs always seem to be so URGENT, as much at 6 as they were at 1. Whereas she seems content to wait her turn, wait it out. More often than not if she wants something done or needs something she just does it herself. She always has. She's like me in that way, no point waiting around for someone else to do something that they will probably do wrong anyway.

So Saturday we had a big family party for her, with 40 relatives arriving to shower the princess with gifts and birthday wishes. She wore a special new princess dress from Grammy (Sleeping Beauty, NOT Cinderella which you might think but don't you dare). She had a special pin, "Birthday Princess" and pink streamers and princess balloons everywhere. My mother brought her a gorgeous cake shaped like a carriage with a polly pocket princess and prince in attendance. It was her kind of day. For me the day was super busy, lots of running around but I still managed to eat practically an entire lasagna by myself and a million cookies. Ughghg, think I'll be skipping Un-frump Wednesday this week. Even all the running around I did won't make up for that, and I think I even snapped at my mother (sorry mom, but besides my husband there is no one else I can snap at, and I can only snap at him so much). And all the presents she received, it's almost ridiculous. Dresses and tights, Barbie's and Polly Pockets, a REAL tea set, Play-doh up the wazoo. One of the Barbie's even came with a dog that you can feed and then it poops out the little brown pellets that Barbie can pick up with a pooper scooper, they look like brown Good N' Plenty's! Such a riot. And we can't forget Baby Alive. She was thrilled of course, but this baby really pees (water, not actual urine although there probably is a play baby out there that does that!) She came with little disposable diapers that have to be purchased, although I am trying to dry one out now because she is already on the last one (she only came with 3, which took us 1 day to use up with all the water she has been fed). I found myself holding Baby Alive, christened today as Baby Ella and absentmindedly bouncing her, without even realizing it. Old habits die hard I suppose. But I think I am content to just be a grandma to baby Ella now, even though Jack declared "babies are fun, I wish we had a real baby in the house." Bite your tongue little boy! I am quite enjoying my life with a 6 year old and a 4 year old and have no desire to start over. As we speak Baby Alive is sound asleep in the cradle in Abbey's room, needing absolutely nothing from me! Glorious.

So now she is 4, and she seems more grown up already. Today she got the milk out of the fridge by herself, and twice in the last two days she has answered when asked a question "that's for me to know and you to find out." Where does she get these things? But like her brother she will always be my baby, mine to hug and kiss and tickle, mine to love. And that's just the way I like it.