the good girl

The Babe is a very good girl. She generally does what she is told, she is generally helpful, obedient, clean, understanding, and eats her dinner most of the time. Normal sibling squabbles aside, she is pretty nice to The Boy, too (well, she did hit him in the face, LOL).

It is unfortunate, however, that her birthday is in mid-fall. Let me explain....

Other kids get cool things for their birthday: a new bike, sidewalk chalk, razor scooters, etc. It's almost mean to give The Babe a cool new outdoor toy on November 1. "Here honey, look! It's a new bike! 6 months from now it might be nice enough outside for you to ride it!" It's a dillema for us as parents. We want The Babe to have cool new stuff, but since there is no "occassion" in the warm months, it seems we would be buying her a cool thing (and lets face it, quite possibly a pricey thing) for no real "reason".

I'm a firm believer in teaching your kids they can't have everything they want the moment they want it. They should learn to anticipate the big things, be patient, perhaps even earn them. I am not saying I am good at this all the time, but it's the general philosophy to which I try to adhere.

So, The Babe has a pair of Barbie roller skates that she got as a gift for her 2nd birthday (we used them a lot inside that year). They are the kind that you put on over her shoe, they adjust length-wise, you can lock some of the wheels so they don't spin. They are intended as a starting tool for teaching your child to skate, and they are very cool. The thing is that The Babe has outgrown them. Not literally, they still fit on her feet at their largest setting, but she is ready for the next step, so to speak. She is interested in skating, she puts her skates on a lot. Her friends all have cool "real" skates, and I know The Babe would like a pair, too.

I think skates make an ideal birthday present, but making her wait all summer with no skates just to get them in the fall seems cruel. Still, I have been struggling with the idea of buying her new skates "just because". It seems to me there needs to be a reason, she needs to think she's getting them because of something, know what I mean?

So, I set her up with a goal. If she is good all week and helps when she is asked, picks up her toys and keeps her room clean, Daddy will take her for new skates. It's an easy goal for her, one that I know she will accomplish, because she really is a good girl. And, dammit, she deserves new skates!

look at the time

Seriously. I want you to look at the time that I am currently posting this. Do you see that?

It is about 4:30 a.m., and I have *just* gotten home from work. Of course, I'm dead tired, but I'm on my second, third, no - make that 800th wind right now, and I can't sleep. I'm tired/wired.

worst. workday. EVER.

I usually work from home, but this week I have been in the office (downtown - 1 hour away) training a new co-worker. My other co-worker had the day off tonight, so I was downtown training a new co-worker, completing all my account assignments, completing the vacationing co-workers assignments, completing the trainee's assignments (she can't be on her own yet), and dealing with one CRAZY client that doesn't understand that my day is supposed to end at 1:00 p.m. their time, which is midnight here. At 2:00 a.m., client actually told me to "get an early night and go home" as if he were doing me a favor. Little did he know, I still had more clients to finish up.

*sigh*

At least I am home now.... please, let me be sleepy soon.

being mean

Gosh, I hope the innocent honesty phase never ends, although I know for certain it will. And soon, I'll bet.

The other morning as I was in the kitchen with my mom, The Babe and The Boy had a scuffle. They were in the family room, which is right next to the kitchen. There was some talk of "Noooooo!!!" and "Mine!" and a lot of back and forth squabbling.

And then The Boy was crying, holding his head and walking towards me.

I am, of course, a bit irritated, and I can feel myself rolling my eyes. Whatever, you two, you are going to need to learn how to work these things out. That's what I'm thinking. Gosh, if you come to me over every "It's mine" argument, I might go insane.

So, I pick up The Boy, and I ask him why he's crying. The Babe answers:

The Babe: I hit him in the face.

Me: (shocked) You hit him in the face??!!

The Babe: (again) I hit him in the face.

Me: (still shocked) Why? Why would you do that?

The Babe: Well, that sometimes happens when you're being mean.

Just like that. So matter of fact. Well, Mommy, if you're going to be mean, sometimes you have to hit someone in the face. I guess that's true.

The honesty phase is a lot of fun, LMAO.

freeze frame!

Ahhhh.... remember the J. Geils Band? I have fond memories of many Sundays spent listenting to Casey Casum do the top 40 for the week. I don't think anyone loved Freeze Frame more than my mom. I still turn it up loud whenever I happen across it on the radio. Do they still do the top 40 countdown? What counts as top 40 music these days?

At any rate, on to the topic of this post. It's not really freeze frame, but freeze dancing. Freeze frame just conjured up too many warm fuzzy feelings about the 80's....

So, today was nice outside, thank goodness. We had The Babe and The Boy out with the neighbor kids for a big chunk of the day. We bought 3 $5 pizzas from Little Caesar's (pizza! pizza! - where did that ad campaign go?) for lunch and had a picnic outside on the lawn. Kids love picnics. We played with a remote controlled motorcycle guy for what seemed like forever... The kids chased that thing all around, and I swear that DH did not give one of them a turn, LOL. Somebody needs to learn to share the super cool remote controlled motorcycle thingy. It's not even ours, DH commandeered it from our neighbor, Michael, who is 2, just like The Boy. The kids didn't care, though. They had too much fun chasing it up and down the street (I love living on the cul-de-sac).

But, back to the topic... I seem to keep losing my place. The highlight of the day, by far, came mid-afternoon. Our neighbor brought out his little Bose radio that has a remote control (much like the motorcycle guy, LOL), and the kids played freeze dance.

Oh.My.GOD.

Have you ever watched a group of 2-7 year olds play freeze dance? For those of you who may not be familiar, the kids all dance while the music is playing, and then when the music stops they have to freeze. A radio with a remote control is a key element here for the lazy parent. Kids dance like crazy in the first place, they freeze like crazy, too. Add to this scene of 5 giggling girls and 3 somewhat confused/amused small boys the fact that my sadistic neighbor, Jeff, is in charge of the remote control and hence, the freezing. He egged those kids on "dance! Dance faster!" and then cut them off in a flash. He'd wait until they were in a frenzy, doing a cartwheel, jumping, something they couldn't just stop, and he'd stop the music. He'd tell the rest of us parents in a low voice which child he was "going after" this round and he would stop the music at the most inopportune moment for that child. SO MUCH FUN.

See, the kids were having a blast, but I think the parents enjoyed it more. We're mean like that. Purposely setting them up in a game of freeze dance for our own amusement.... just shameful. But, heck, we never leave the house, we need to get our entertainment somewhere.

It's either this or start doing Jaegermeister shots mid-day, LOL. I'm guessing the kids would rather we play freeze dance.

"more fountain?"

I bathe the kids together. As previously mentioned on this blog, I work from home in the evenings, so anything I can do to save myself time is a must. Hence, The Babe and The Boy share a bath each night at 6:00. It's usually pretty uneventful, we're done by 6:30, and I can hunker down and get some work done before the bedtime routine starts at 7:15.

Not so uneventful last night.

It was near the end of the bath. The tub was draining, and The Babe was already out and wrapped in her towel. The Boy was sitting on his bottom "yoga style" in about 6 or 7 inches of water. I'll be blunt here... he was holding his penis (which he affectionately refers to as 'bobby'), and pointing it into the air. Well, he begins to tinkle, and it makes a big arc, curving really high into the air before it lands into the remaining bath water.

The Boy is laughing hysterically at this. The Babe is initially apalled, but sees the humor. As The Boy is laughing, he's saying "Fountain, Mommy! Look! Fountain!". And, really, it's one of the funniest moments we've had in a while. Now, as with all good things, it must come to an end; and eventually the tinkle stops.

The Boy was devastated. He looks at me with big tears in his eyes, the saddest face I've seen in a while "More fountain, Mommy? More fountain?". Oh, I laughed and cried for him at the same time.

I can't really help 'ya, buddy. Here, drink some water, LOL.

it's always more fun to join in

Lately I have been concerned about The Babe. There are many other little girls around The Babe's age that live on our block. It's one of the things I love about living here. Usually, these girls and The Babe play really well together. Games they play include:

• Carting a half-dead worm around in a doll stroller, calling it an ambulance. They even put a band-aid on the poor thing and named it Emily.
• Pretending the front porch is a boat, and when it docks they all have to run off screaming until someone yells "shark!" and they all have to run back on (screaming, of course).
• Riding on the small teeter-totter until they fall off into a puddle of giggles.

Recently, however, The Babe has been acting differently. She hangs off to the side and watches as all her friends play the fun games in which she used to be so involved. I've heard the other girls ask her to join in, but The Babe politely says "No, Thanks", and just sits in the grass watching, stands by the fence all alone, or just goes inside to play by herself. The Babe doesn't appear to be sulking about it, or upset in any way, really, but it's so heartbreaking for me to watch as this takes place. Sometimes she plays, but mostly she doesn't. *sniff* It's really sad.

My neighbor, Jeff, and I put in a big effort on this today. He spoke with his daughter to see if there is anything going on that perhaps we big people aren't aware of, and she told us what we already knew. The Babe is simply exluding herself. This morning, she was doing the same, and Jeff and I kept pushing her "Go play! They're having fun! Go join in!" She would reluctantly walk over and just watch from a closer distance. But, slowly, The Babe did start to play. She joined in, she laughed, she had fun. By the time we left for home, she had played her little heart out.

I spoke with The Babe this evening. I asked her if she had a good day. I said it was sunny today, it was 88 degrees, all your friends were out... did you have a good day? She agreed. Today was a good day! She listed off all the fun games she played. I asked her if it was more fun to play with her friends, or more fun to just watch them play... She answered "oh, it's always more fun to join in".

Gosh, I hope she remembers. It's a truth for us all to remember... it's always more fun to join in.