10 posts tagged “playdates”
We had the best baby playdate. I am so glad that I decided to split my playdates up into big kids for SkyWalker and babies for the Princess. It's working out really well. There are only a couple of other babies that come so it's a much calmer atmosphere than when there's a bunch of big kids running around. The Princess gets a little overwhelmed when that happens. She had the best time today. All three "babies" played with the water table and had the greatest time splashing each other and themselves. It didn't even matter that the Princess was the only girl... they all had a blast and so did we watching them! When SkyWalker wasn't whining about wanting to be pushed on the swing he enjoyed watching them play and I think he liked having the little jobber following him around. He looked like such a big boy and I got a little vision of what it would be like for him to have a little brother in addition to his sister. Although she's certainly no girlie-girl. SkyWalker whined a little bit and I always hate when that happens. I know that I just have to stand my ground and be firm and he'll be fine in a few minutes, but it's still just embarrassing when that happens when we have company.
Highlights from today's baby playdate:
It's so hard losing a relative or a loved one. It must be a thousand times harder when you see it plastered all over the news. Or hearing about it for the first time on the radio. My heart goes out to Shinesalot and the rest of her husband's family mourning Uncle Tim.
The hideous wallpaper in the kitchen (if you look closely you can see the blue counters):
Before & After:
Even without being painted the walls look so much better without that wallpaper!! I am nowhere near being done in the kitchen though. My goal is to finish that and then have someone else do the rest:
Who puts wallpaper in the shower? Who DOES that kind of thing??
I had to laugh at how many people suggested yellow for our kitchen... When Vader first laughed at light green he said "Well, it's not as bad as yellow." It's going to be fun in my house when we have to make a decision.
We had lunch at the park again. We're enjoying it so much. SkyWalker doesn't really talk to anyone, but he laughs at the other kids and he's not running away from them. He felt comfortable enough to pull his pants down and pee in front of everyone. Twice. The second time his little train buddy stood right next to him and was fascinated with his progress. They looked like they were standing at urinals... in the middle of the grassy park. Good times. We're getting used to going to the park every week. I don't know what we'll do in the winter... I guess go to the library. ;-)
Speaking of which... I try not to talk too much about work because that's not who I am anymore but this just is so overwhelmingly ridiculous... instead of hiring another children's librarian to help do programs and improve services to the town, the board has decided to pay a "guard" to deal with the teenagers who hang out here after school. I'm assuming that's what his responsibilities are but I'm not sure since there still has been NO memo notifying us of who this person is and why he's here. That's another post. Anyway, the town taxpayers are paying this man (a hall monitor from the school) to sit outside the building and sun himself for a few hours. Is that not a colossal waste of money?? A librarian would be working! I am so glad I am not a taxpayer in this town. This in addition to the unnecessary 9-5 hours on Saturdays in the summer... at a time when taxes are going up and up, gas is going up, everything is going up, to be wasting taxpayer money is just so wrong.
We have another playdate at our house tomorrow. I didn't even attempt to clean today since I know it will all be a mess again. I'll do the guest bathroom tonight or tomorrow morning and try to get the kitchen organized, but with two little tornadoes throwing toys around the living room there was no point in doing anything today!
The Princess has been testing my limits and my patience. It's not the fact that she throws food and her dishes on the floor (she broke her Dora bowl!), it's that she looks at me as she does it and she KNOWS she shouldn't. She's moved past the baby-dropping no coordination thing. This is intentional. I don't care so much about food, the dogs will get that, but it's annoying when she flings her dishes, especially her milk. I was asking SkyWalker what we should do... if we should put her in timeout (no, I wouldn't really, but I wanted to see what he would say). He said "No, [Princess] can't go in timeout. Not like me. I go in timeout when I'm in trouble. [Princess] can't go in timeout." So what should we do? "We need to TEACH her." So funny.
We went to the town park again for our picnic lunch. We've been doing it (or trying) every week. Last week it rained so we had our playdate at an apartment instead. SkyWalker and the Princess played with trainboy and did really well. We met him and others at the park today. It was a beautiful morning. SkyWalker ran around and was near other boys even if he didn't talk to them. There were 4 other moms there and it was great. We all talked about how hard it is being away from family (one is from Ireland and has left her family there while her husband's family is just 20 minutes away and is not helpful at all! She has the best Irish accent.). One's best friends have all just moved away and so she's starting from scratch building a new network of friends. It was so nice to just sit and talk to people in the same boat. And the Princess! She crawled away from me MULTIPLE times to climb up on the playset. It was hilarious. At one point she and trainboy were "playing" together. And then something happened and she was crying and he had to apologize and said "sorry baby" in his 2 year old voice. SkyWalker was too busy elsewhere to notice, but he did seem to really enjoy her trying to play too. It was just the perfect morning.
Some of them will be coming to the house tomorrow for our playdate. I have gotten the bathroom cleaned but I'm not going to go cooky-crazy. A large part of our conversation today was how hard it is balancing things and how it's better to have happy kids and a messy house. I hope they meant it!
I just did the best thing. Ever. One of my former teens is back in town on break from college. She's EMT certified and has loads of babysitting experience. She's going to come over once a week, for 2 1/2 hours, and play with the kids while I clean the house and strip wallpaper and do things that I don't want to do with them hanging on me. It'll cost me $20 and lunch but it will be SO WORTH IT. I'm hoping that the kids will get used to her and then by the end of the summer maybe, just maybe, Vader and I can leave the house without them. MAYBE.
I hope my DVR doesn't screw up LOST tonight.
Are weird.
We went to the mall to a tiny play area that I would never let my kid play in on a regular day and sat there while he said "I want to play with YOU Mommy." Yeah, um, we're here so you can STOP playing with me and maybe I won't wind up with a broken back from the millionth time you jump on me from behind. Anyway, SkyWalker played with no one else, BUT he walked away from me a couple of times and he did climb on some things that other kids were on. He did not run screaming away or want to just go home. And he was very well behaved, as usual. The Princess was her normally charming self, smiling at everybody, thrilled to be near other people despite the fact that it was interrupting her nap AND a feeding (which actually saddened me a little--can't she at least pretend she still wants my boobs and not a damn waffle??). And SkyWalker was his normal loving big brother self and a couple of the moms commented on how gentle he was with her. I managed to talk to people and even did the "walk" to the toy store across the way that followed the play area meet up and I got a laugh out of them as we were leaving and you know I'm happy if someone laughs at me. In a good way. And get this--I was reading the message board component of this particular meetup and guess what they want to do? They want to start doing crafts and stuff centered around a LETTER OF THE WEEK. That's right Daddy-O. I am so ahead of them. Now that I have met a few (some on my side of the river even) I will be more inclined to say yes to a house meetup knowing that they are not in fact serial killers.
I am eating fries (ala the kindness of Bee) and they are wonderful. As is she. For many reasons.
This writer's strike really sucks. I have not watched new TV in a wicked long time and I need me some diversion damnit.
I got my invitation to a friend's wedding and I think I am looking forward to this almost as much as Christmas with the kids this year. I will get to see many of my closest friends there. And the children are invited! I don't have to worry about babysitters! How lovely is that??? But don't worry( slytherinlibrarian ), we all know my high standards for my children's behavior--so there shall be no crying or whining or annoying children. ;-) We do have to worry about dogsitters but it's so close (Massachusetts) that Vader and the kids can come for just the night of the wedding and go home the next morning. I think I may go out by myself the day before the wedding to engage in the pre-wedding hijinks. Of course this is all provided my FIL doesn't choose that week to leave us.
The tap has stopped flowing. Back to the grind that is my job.
We had such a great day yesterday, long, but great. We went to a friend's house for FOUR HOURS. Vader went to school with the Dad, he was best man at our wedding, and we've always been "couple friends". They have an older (6) daughter and a son just 6 weeks older than SkyWalker. So they'll be in the same kindergarten class. We went there in November and SkyWalker had a good time but was a little shy. Yesterday on the way there he told me that he was "not going to be a little bit shy with [hmmm... need a nickname here...]" I said "Oh really?" He said "Yup, my just happy!" And he was. They ran around the house together. They went up to S's room together, all by themselves, and did whoknowswhat. We ate dinner and dessert there. It was so nice seeing him interacting with another kid. And the Princess napped in her carseat since it was so late. We'll be doing weekly playdates there and I hope it gets even better. They are pretty much the only people we have now who would be able to take care of the kids in an emergency (or for my FIL's funeral) so the more comfortable my kids are with them the better.
Tomorrow we have our first mommy meet-up at the local mall. I figured the mall was a safe place so I said yes. If it's lame we can do a little shopping. I'm a little nervous but I've been practicing my "I'm a normal happy person" fake persona so I think it'll be okay. I think it's hilarious that I have not heard anything from the group in my own area. Whatever...
This weather is so messed up it's giving me an allergy attack. I took a benedryl last night and I'm still a bit tired. I couldn't take another one since I'm working now and will be again tomorrow night. Joy.
How am I going to post when I stop pumping at work? I'll have to pretend to still be pumping... oh crap, my boss reads this doesn't she?
I think I mentioned the Princess was being weaned from her swaddle last week. After a week of 30-45 min naps I said "Screw that, yo" and promptly swaddled her back up and enjoyed 1 1/2 hour naps. I think the 2 hour naps of the past are gone just because she's older. Today did not go as well because... well... I overslept this morning. I started her out late and put her down for a nap at the same time and she is so clearly a textbook baby--if she needs 2 1/2 hours of activity time before a nap and she only gets 2 hours she will not nap longer than 45 mins. So then she was a mess the rest of the day. She's also becoming more aware of the world around her and waking when SkyWalker yells "Yes that's the cup I want" at the top of the stairs. SkyWalker has also not napped the last 2 days, but he has stayed in his room and had "quiet-as quiet as he can be-time." The Princess is definitely getting older and sometimes I forget to stop and listen to her. She needs more awake time... but she also needs to be swaddled! She's moving SO much now that in the middle of her nap when she naturally stirs at the 45 min mark she wakes herself up and flips over and then she'll never fall back to sleep. She was in the pack n play before I left for work today and she was trying SO hard to get her little heiney in the air so she could crawl. She's been scooting backwards and sitting up (when I put her in that position) and playing with toys and just developing so much lately. I feel like I missed this stage with SkyWalker because I was at work. Sure I was home with him on the weekends, but weekends were full of laundry and chores and *stuff*. I love that I'm home now to witness all the firsts--to see her becoming this little person. And to see SkyWalker turning into a big talking boy who loves to be involved in anything even if it's cleaning the toilet.
Speaking of SkyWalker's talking... yesterday he was wearing just underwear and he pulls his pee-pee out of the side. He's ecstatic at the idea that he can have access without pulling down his underwear. Then he says that he's going to pee like that, like Daddy. Then he says "Daddy has a big pee-pee," shakes his head, "No, Daddy has a big penis." and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Which of course means that he will say it again, probably to his grandmother. Won't that be funny?
Bee and Boogie came for a playdate last week. She nicely ignored the fine layer of dust that covers everything in my house except for the children who move too much for it to settle on them... Boogie played SkyWalker's guitar and did really well and I had to laugh when his experience came from "Guitar Hero." He also recited his address and phone number. As paranoid as we are we have not taught SkyWalker this. He knows his town and state but that's it. We've been trying to rectify that this week. What have we taught him to say? "Bada bing bada boom" "Bababooey" "Prepare for the deluge" (I can't even explain that one).
It's a good thing I had a freezer full of milk... I am definitely pumping less than I used to. As I suspected when the Princess started cereal the stash has been reduced. I don't put anything new in anymore since it all goes to the cereal. So the freezer goes to her bottles when I'm at work. I think I'll be alright for another 6 months though. I think every breastfeeding mom just worries about supply.
Pumping break is over but I can't leave without the cat story... I looked out my back window today and saw something black in one of the trees. I thought it was a couple of birds or maybe a weird looking nest. I got out the binoculars and it was the pain in the ass cat who has been taunting my dogs! It was pretty high up. I kept watching it and waiting for nap time when I would do... I didn't know what. It was there for hours. It must have jumped from tree to tree and wound up on the other side of the yard, still in a tree. I brought the dogs out at naptime (so I can leave right when Vader gets home and not wait for him to take Isaac out like I used to) and the damn cat just walks right down the tree with no problem. I have no idea what it was doing up there for so long if it could get down or if it was just a coincidence that I brought the dogs out and it figured it out... It was the most exciting thing today. SkyWalker and I just watched it wondering what it would do. Good times.
This has been the longest Saturday ever. Probably not *ever*, but you know what I mean. If I were home right now I would be saying, "I can't believe it's after 3 already! I have so much more to do!" But alas, I am working and I am saying "I can't believe it's only 3!"
I just love parents who think the library is free daycare. And that I am a secretary who will go looking for a kid... if you're that concerned how about you come to the library with him? Instead of dumping him for HOURS?
Our playdate yesterday went well. We enjoyed ourselves and SkyWalker said he wanted to go back, so that's good. It's funny though, whenever I say "we're going to go play with [whoever it may be]" he says "okay. and littleman?". Sigh.
I've fixed the Princess's sleeping problem (eating at night... not eating during the day... then eating at night), but now she likes to wake up at 5:30, roll over to her tummy and SCREAM until Vader goes upstairs to roll her back over. Once she's rolled over she's usually okay to go back to sleep. I hope she remembers how to roll over to her back soon... she did that first but once she started rolling to her tummy there was no stopping her and she just forgot how to fix herself. Vader has to go up though because if she sees me she'll only want one thing. At least that's what I'm telling him...
We've gotten SkyWalker to say "Bada Bing Bada Boom." It is HILARIOUS.
We are leaving at 7 am on Wednesday morning. I think I might be crazy. But it works better for the kids to travel in the morning. We have 10:30 ferry reservations and hopefully we'll make them. SkyWalker did okay last time, not needing to stop and pee so it should be okay. If it's early enough he hasn't had a full day of drinking...
Pumping break is over... back to "work."
