Loving my kindergartner

This evening was a classic good time at our house.

After our usual routine of Anthony not eating the food I made, we decided to play the classic Five Crowns card game.

It all devolved pretty quickly with two of my three children in tears within the first couple rounds and Alexandra quitting and refusing to play within the first five minutes.

The highlight of the evening occurred when Anthony told me a secret -- that he sleeps best when Alexandra lets him sleep on her bed with her. Alexandra heard what he said and I unthinkingly confirmed that yes, that's what Anthony just told me. Oops. I violated the secret.

After some howls of anger and betrayal he stomped over to the dining room table and started writing something. He stomped back with the paper.

It said: "Faker. Mene. Not like." And so he issued me my faker-meanie ticket.

I asked him if I was going to get faker-meanie tickets from now on, and he confirmed that that was so.

Lots to look forward to then. At least he greatly enjoyed the Junie B. Jones book I read him before bed.

It's Been A While

Well, a lot has happened in the almost 3 years I haven't blogged on Madwoman. Namely, the appearance of Anthony Kline McBride, born 3-7-12. I adore him, even if he is needy.

He's 20 months and just starting to talk. He was screaming out "muck!" this evening when Mike pulled out the milk. He's got down "dog", "no", "nana" (for banana), "nuts", "yes", all sorts of animal sounds, some facial features (he likes to stick his finger in my eye and scream "eyes!"), "mammy" (for grammy), "Anra" (for Alexandra), and of course "mama" and "dada".

He's a physical kid -- he likes to wind up and hit people/things when he's unhappy. He's also a climber. I find him standing on the dining room table often, and his new trick is to straddle the arm of the sofa, then stand on it, then launch himself on to the sofa while gleefully shrieking. Not good.

He is great about going to bed though. I'm so relieved that I only have to rock him for a minute or two, and then he'll peacefully go down. If only he would consistently sleep all through the night...

Life as I Know It

A is 20 months old now and speaking in sentences (of sorts). My favorite A words at the moment? "Fruck" for truck. "Frackers" for crackers. "Frink" for drink. And of course her heart-meltingly sweet "OK" whenever she's been viciously fighting her diaper change, and I finally convince/bribe/beg her to lie still. She's starting to manifest jealousy when I talk to other people. Like today when I was at the park and was talking briefly to another woman, she started yelling at me, "Talk me! Talk me!" Too cute. I made some exceedingly ugly chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Misshapen, lumpy, specks of batter randomly dotting the cookie sheet in between the cookies. Mike commented on how ugly they were, particularly in comparison to the neat cookies of his childhood, but how good they tasted. Maybe this is a subconscious metaphor for me as his spouse? Unorganized, chaotic, kind of a mess in various ways, but interesting and tasty? I can only hope...

The Mundane Details of my Life

Ok people, stop subscribing to this blog. After a year long hiatus, I'm back and newly determined to post once in a while. But it will probably just be the mundane, the everyday, the boring. I'm just warning you. Have very low expectations.

The highlights of my last two weeks:

- baby is consistently calling me 'daddy'

- E has peed in his bed two nights in a row

- Mike and I both have had the stomach flu. At first I attributed my vomiting to our church's chili cookoff, but now I'm thinking that was an unfair assumption, given Mike's later problems.

- Evan on his way to a Pump it Up b-day party announced, "I've had a vision! It's a miracle, Mommy! I've seen Pump it Up, and it's blue!" (he was right - the place was blue)

-reading Widtsoe and Roberts. I'm sorry, but I can't take a man seriously if he was opposed to suffrage. I mean seriously. Opposed to suffrage? In the early 20th century? Come on! Even the vast majority of his religious cohorts thought suffrage was a good idea. Outrageous.

-baby has another ear infection -- this has to be number 7 or 8. Found this out after spending 2 1/2 unpleasant hours at an urgent care center on Sunday morning.

-living in fear about the upcoming papers I have due. How I will find the time to write these, I have no idea. Many, many babysitters, I'm thinking.

E tales

E is doing better with A than I expected. He whines a bit when I nurse her and sometimes claims, "I have to nurse myself!" - meaning he wants me to get up from the glider and let him sit there. But no physical violence yet.

His most common refrain regarding the baby is "I don't like the way she's looking at me." Strange since the baby's eyes are usually closed when he says that.

Mike and I have been dividing and conquering when it comes to child care. I usually have the baby, and Mike often takes Evan. One new development in E's play routine is pushing his cars along this road mat that we bought. On it there's a fast food joint, at which E often orders 'snaucy barrages.' Apparently they are made from shampoo and cost 30 cents each.

Mike is also trying to start a routine where he does a page of a preschool workbook a day. A few days ago Mike was trying to get E to color the apples with the letter d in them - a difficult task with E constantly getting off his chair and running away. When Mike finally got him to finish, his commentary to me was, "I know he's young, but a scholar he AIN'T." So true. His preschool teacher agrees. She told me he was 'resistant to learning.'

baby's almost here

I'm dilated to a 4.5 (at least) and the doctor said on Thursday that she doesn't know how the baby is still in there. Although my due date isn't until the 27th, I think I'll go into labor soon, but maybe that's just wishful thinking - after all, E was a week overdue.

Mike is convinced the baby's coming any hour now. He was reluctant to take E to L.A. today to play with his cousins. I, however, was encouraging him to go.

Me: Mike, I feel great. Never better. I'm sure I'll be fine. You go take E to L.A.

Mike: You're already a 4.5. You could go really fast. I might miss the birth if you go into labor and I'm in L.A.

Me: I am willing to risk you missing the birth of our child for a free 6 hours. Please, please take him away.

Turns out the cousins got into an accident on the way to L.A., so Mike didn't end up going. But I still got my free afternoon and evening- Mike took E over so I could get stuff done. I'm in an organizing craze right now. Nesting, Mike calls it.

Obnoxious Political Forwards on Church Lists

Tonight I received a political forward on a ward playgroup list. It was about contacting our senators to complain about Obama's health care reform package since it would cover reproductive health, including abortions.

Needless to say, I was irritated. After the hell we all went through with Prop 8, do we really need more politics infesting our Church lives and email lists? Did Prop 8 throw open the door so that people feel free to politick in Church forums? And above all, where is the sensitivity to the possibility that there are thoughtful, responsible people on the list who come down on different sides of the issue?

So what is a compassionate but firm response to this situation?

-A reply to the whole list asking that political forwards not be sent? Tempting, because it might discourage others who are inspired by this new use of the playgroup list to send out their own political forwards. But I don't want to be cruel and publicly embarrass the sender.

- A private email explaining that the recipients of emails like this are bound to feel differently about the issue, and that it's not a proper use of the list?

-An email to our RS president asking that she crack down on improper uses of interest group email lists?

I decided to go with the second option. Below is what I replied. (I actually was trying to be nice, while clearly stating my concerns. Perhaps the only place I went overboard are with the value laden words 'invasive' and 'upsetting' - but, well, I did find it invasive and upsetting.)

Any suggestions about kind but firm ways to respond the next time this happens?

Dear XXXXX,

I understand that you are probably assuming that all the people on this list are sympathetic to your political beliefs. Please do be aware, however, that there are a number of us who have great hopes for health care reform in this country, as well as a healthy respect for the agency of others in choices that involve their health and their bodies.

Please, please do not send any more political emails. I find it invasive and upsetting when a list that should be about moms getting together is turned into site for politicking.

Respectfully,

Caroline

_______________________

(*note* - I don't even know if the sender is a member of our congregation, seeing as I don't recognize the name.)