Today I am thankful for...my child's sense of humor.
Peanut's favorite phrase lately has gone from "No" to "I don't...". It started out as "I don't like..." or "I don't want..." but quickly was abbreviated to "I don't" to fit any situation or activity that he does not want to participate in.
Time to wash your hands. - "I don't."
Time to take a bath. - "I don't."
Let's go to the park. - "I don't."
The list is endless and it appears to be his first response regardless of whether he truly agrees or disagrees with any given request.
Luckily, for every 10 "I don'ts" he comes out with one statement or action that reduces me to a fit of giggles. It's like his own built in mommy-pressure-release-valve. A few silly moments:
* Recently during a visit to NC, High Heeled Sis was helping with the bath and bedtime routine. While na*ked baby was running around the upstairs, HHS jokingly told him he had a bottom like his mama (this is a long-running sisterly tease). He stopped and told her, "Mommy has a booty!" Then took off down the hall while HHS and I were rolling on the floor in tears.
* During lunch, peanut looks into his milk and tells me, "There are people in there."
Me: "There are people in your milk?"
Peanut: "Yeah."
Me: "Well, if you drink the milk, you must be drinking the people, too."
Peanut looks into his milk, takes a big sip and: "Mmmm. Yummy people!"
* After draping all the resistance bands around his neck during our stroller workout, peanut announces to all the mommies, "I am so cute!"
* While trying to prep dinner one night, I did a rough outline of a turkey on peanut's easel and asked peanut to paint in the feathers. After a few minutes he started asking "Where's the turkey? Where da turkey go?" I took a look and he had painted so many layers over the top of my outline that you'd never know it had been there. Funny enough on its own, but later he walked by the drying masterpiece, leaned in close and said "Turkey come back."
Typical kid behavior, I know. But these are the moments during these tumultuous toddler times that I cherish and look forward to daily. It would be so easy to get wrapped up in the negativity, the reprimanding, the repeated (and repeated and repeated) requests. Instead, I'm choosing to be thankful that peanut and I can take a step back to enjoy each other and share a giggle.
Laughter, after all, is the best medicine.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 24
Today I am thankful for...online shipment tracking.
A week and a half ago I ordered some sassy new boots online. I was so excited about them. I'd been looking and looking for some flat riding boots that I could incorporate into the winter wardrobe without breaking the winter budget and I had finally found the perfect pair.
(I know, I know...Flats? I have some fantastic heeled boots, but they aren't practical for Music Class the playground or the grocery store!)
So, I got an email notice last week that they had shipped and I should expect them 4 to 8 days from the original purchase date. When they had not arrived by this weekend, I took a look at the tracking. Here's a quick summary:
They left the facility of origin in Ohio on 11/17.
Arrived in Doraville, GA on the 18th.
Then Salt Lake City on the 19th.
Colorado on the 20th.
The 21st was a busy day - two town in Kansas to Little Rock ending up in Memphis.
No activity over the weekend, but today, they have arrived back in Doraville, GA.
Let's take a closer look at this - I live in Atlanta, a mere 22 miles south of Doraville. I could have driven to their facility, picked up my boots and been home in less than an hour. Instead, they've been on a week long, cross-country tour for who knows what reason. I only hope they are actually on their way to my house and not back to Salt Lake City!
Today, I'd like to be thankful for my new boots, instead, I'll have to settle for the chuckle I got at their road trip adventure.
The least they could have done was send a postcard.
A week and a half ago I ordered some sassy new boots online. I was so excited about them. I'd been looking and looking for some flat riding boots that I could incorporate into the winter wardrobe without breaking the winter budget and I had finally found the perfect pair.
(I know, I know...Flats? I have some fantastic heeled boots, but they aren't practical for Music Class the playground or the grocery store!)
So, I got an email notice last week that they had shipped and I should expect them 4 to 8 days from the original purchase date. When they had not arrived by this weekend, I took a look at the tracking. Here's a quick summary:
They left the facility of origin in Ohio on 11/17.
Arrived in Doraville, GA on the 18th.
Then Salt Lake City on the 19th.
Colorado on the 20th.
The 21st was a busy day - two town in Kansas to Little Rock ending up in Memphis.
No activity over the weekend, but today, they have arrived back in Doraville, GA.
Let's take a closer look at this - I live in Atlanta, a mere 22 miles south of Doraville. I could have driven to their facility, picked up my boots and been home in less than an hour. Instead, they've been on a week long, cross-country tour for who knows what reason. I only hope they are actually on their way to my house and not back to Salt Lake City!
Today, I'd like to be thankful for my new boots, instead, I'll have to settle for the chuckle I got at their road trip adventure.
The least they could have done was send a postcard.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 23
Today I am thankful for...productive weekends.
We painted our kitchen. Two coats of crisp, clean white on the ceiling. Two coats of beautiful, calming "rejuvenate" green on the walls. Everything from the cabinets to peanut's refrigerator magnets have received a thorough scrubbing. Open shelves have been reorganized. A new mail system has been put into place to reduce the weekly paper clutter.
It feels fantastic. It looks even better. I hate that it took me four years to decide on a color, but it was worth the wait. And worth all the sanding, spackling, edging and rearranging that was necessary.
The hubby and I are both exhausted from handling such a big project - not to mention the satellite dish install the hubby tackled in tandem. I'm overwhelmed with the normal weekend tasks that aren't quite finished - the laundry's only half done, we didn't make it to the grocery for our weekly run, I still have no idea what I'm making on Thursday - but I'm typing this in my sweats with a glass of wine knowing that I accomplished something this weekend. A project started and finished in 36 hours is something to be proud of.
The fact that we accomplished it without ignoring our two-year-old...priceless.
Here's to hoping your weekend was just as productive!
We painted our kitchen. Two coats of crisp, clean white on the ceiling. Two coats of beautiful, calming "rejuvenate" green on the walls. Everything from the cabinets to peanut's refrigerator magnets have received a thorough scrubbing. Open shelves have been reorganized. A new mail system has been put into place to reduce the weekly paper clutter.
It feels fantastic. It looks even better. I hate that it took me four years to decide on a color, but it was worth the wait. And worth all the sanding, spackling, edging and rearranging that was necessary.
The hubby and I are both exhausted from handling such a big project - not to mention the satellite dish install the hubby tackled in tandem. I'm overwhelmed with the normal weekend tasks that aren't quite finished - the laundry's only half done, we didn't make it to the grocery for our weekly run, I still have no idea what I'm making on Thursday - but I'm typing this in my sweats with a glass of wine knowing that I accomplished something this weekend. A project started and finished in 36 hours is something to be proud of.
The fact that we accomplished it without ignoring our two-year-old...priceless.
Here's to hoping your weekend was just as productive!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 22
Today I am thankful for...Garth Brooks.
The hubby is Apple addicted. We've got iPods, Nanos, iPhones, iTunes. Yikes! Call me a Luddite, but I enjoy popping a CD in and cranking up the volume. Figuring out which setting the stereo needs to be on to wirelessly beam the music from the computer to the speakers, not to mention remembering the hubby's cryptic password? Eh. Too many steps. So it was only recently, after harassing the hubby for months, that we pulled some of my CDs out of the attic.
The peanut and I have been enjoying a new rotation of music throughout our day as a result. Surprise favorite? The peanut loves the Beatles "1" album. I'm not sure if it's because he saw the number one on the cover and thinks that's cool or because he likes to dance to the songs, because he does. Either way, it's a win-win on a cloudy, cold afternoon.
This morning, the hubby and the peanut headed to that oasis of maleness, Home Depot. I was left at home and immediately started prepping to paint the ceilings in the kitchen while I was free of a toddler underfoot. I recently painted our "keeping" room and decided that I loved the color so much, it needed to be extended into the kitchen and pronto. I put on the ratty jeans that are worn so thin they feel like cotton (and I would wear every day if they were suitable for public eyes), pulled the hair back and scanned the new-to-me-again CDs for some motivational tunes.
My go-to cleaning music is the soundtrack from "The Commitments" (run, do not walk, to your nearest Netflix account to rent this movie if you haven't seen it already). I needed something stronger than "Mustang Sally" to get me through this project. And there it was. The Garth Brooks Live double CD set. Perfect. (Yes, I like Garth Brooks. I also love Motown, Prince, Coldplay, 'NSync...really, I have random, some (the hubby) may say questionable, taste in music).
I can't even remember the last time I danced around like such a fool, singing at the top of my lungs. It made a horrible task bearable. And my paint brush got a serious workout as a microphone. Nothing like singing into objects, shaking your booty to make you feel 13 again!
And my ceiling already has two coats of paint on them. So thank you Garth and your silly "Friends in Low Places." I couldn't have done it without you. Well, maybe I could have, but it certainly wouldn't have been as much fun.
Oh, that reminds me of "The Dance"...
The hubby is Apple addicted. We've got iPods, Nanos, iPhones, iTunes. Yikes! Call me a Luddite, but I enjoy popping a CD in and cranking up the volume. Figuring out which setting the stereo needs to be on to wirelessly beam the music from the computer to the speakers, not to mention remembering the hubby's cryptic password? Eh. Too many steps. So it was only recently, after harassing the hubby for months, that we pulled some of my CDs out of the attic.
The peanut and I have been enjoying a new rotation of music throughout our day as a result. Surprise favorite? The peanut loves the Beatles "1" album. I'm not sure if it's because he saw the number one on the cover and thinks that's cool or because he likes to dance to the songs, because he does. Either way, it's a win-win on a cloudy, cold afternoon.
This morning, the hubby and the peanut headed to that oasis of maleness, Home Depot. I was left at home and immediately started prepping to paint the ceilings in the kitchen while I was free of a toddler underfoot. I recently painted our "keeping" room and decided that I loved the color so much, it needed to be extended into the kitchen and pronto. I put on the ratty jeans that are worn so thin they feel like cotton (and I would wear every day if they were suitable for public eyes), pulled the hair back and scanned the new-to-me-again CDs for some motivational tunes.
My go-to cleaning music is the soundtrack from "The Commitments" (run, do not walk, to your nearest Netflix account to rent this movie if you haven't seen it already). I needed something stronger than "Mustang Sally" to get me through this project. And there it was. The Garth Brooks Live double CD set. Perfect. (Yes, I like Garth Brooks. I also love Motown, Prince, Coldplay, 'NSync...really, I have random, some (the hubby) may say questionable, taste in music).
I can't even remember the last time I danced around like such a fool, singing at the top of my lungs. It made a horrible task bearable. And my paint brush got a serious workout as a microphone. Nothing like singing into objects, shaking your booty to make you feel 13 again!
And my ceiling already has two coats of paint on them. So thank you Garth and your silly "Friends in Low Places." I couldn't have done it without you. Well, maybe I could have, but it certainly wouldn't have been as much fun.
Oh, that reminds me of "The Dance"...
Friday, November 21, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 21
Today I am thankful for...not having to travel this Thanksgiving.
If we were going to NC this holiday to see the family, I'd be a mess already - organizing meals for the few days we'd be home, making sure we don't have too much or too little food in the house to sustain us, doing laundry, planning what to pack in the suitcase and the car and the diaper bag, constantly coordinating with the hubby on which family obligations take place when, stressing about how to manipulate peanut's nap schedule around that many meals to ensure a happy toddler and debating which day to leave town to avoid the most traffic and use the fewest of hubby's precious vacation days.
But, I'm not. (Insert High Heeled Mama's happy dance here!)
Since we made the two recent trips home to see the family, we decided to skip Thanksgiving. It's a little odd, actually. Last year was the first Thanksgiving in our married life that we actually went home. We usually hosted this holiday and invited everyone to us. If you came, great. If you didn't, catch you at Christmas.
Last year, we wanted to spend Christmas Day at home and so we traded Thanksgiving. It ended up not being any easier since we were packing up the day after Christmas to drive up to NC and spend New Year's there anyway.
So after two trips home in the last month, we knew we couldn't swing both the Thanksgiving and Christmas trips. We had to make a decision. As much as we loved waking up in our home Christmas morning, going to our own church for services and spending the holiday quietly watching our peanut play with wrapping and boxes instead of the toys inside of them, we felt it was more important to be surrounded by our larger family at Christmas.
Our families have a lot going on this year with grad school, new houses, babies on the way, so we'll be spending turkey day as a three-some this year. I'm okay with that. I admit that I did take it a little personally at first -- it seemed extremely easy for folks to not come after just one year off -- but I know in my heart of hearts that it's not personal.
I am honestly excited to be home with my boys. It will make for some lovely memories to involve peanut in the cooking and the preparations. We can do a few little projects and maybe get our Christmas tree early (like all good Southerners should) and bring out all the Christmas decorations over the holiday weekend. We can snuggle in for a four-day weekend without the exhausting pressure of having to be somewhere. I can finish (well, that does imply I've started, which I haven't) painting my kitchen.
So today, this Friday before Thanksgiving, I am not stressed out about packing. I am not stressed out that I have no real idea what I'm going to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner yet. I am not overwhelmed with to-do lists of things to get done before Thursday. I am, instead, curled up with a blanket, looking forward to a dinner out with the hubby and peanut at a favorite (family-friendly) locale, and anticipating a weekend that is currently wide open to the possibilities.
*sigh*
If we were going to NC this holiday to see the family, I'd be a mess already - organizing meals for the few days we'd be home, making sure we don't have too much or too little food in the house to sustain us, doing laundry, planning what to pack in the suitcase and the car and the diaper bag, constantly coordinating with the hubby on which family obligations take place when, stressing about how to manipulate peanut's nap schedule around that many meals to ensure a happy toddler and debating which day to leave town to avoid the most traffic and use the fewest of hubby's precious vacation days.
But, I'm not. (Insert High Heeled Mama's happy dance here!)
Since we made the two recent trips home to see the family, we decided to skip Thanksgiving. It's a little odd, actually. Last year was the first Thanksgiving in our married life that we actually went home. We usually hosted this holiday and invited everyone to us. If you came, great. If you didn't, catch you at Christmas.
Last year, we wanted to spend Christmas Day at home and so we traded Thanksgiving. It ended up not being any easier since we were packing up the day after Christmas to drive up to NC and spend New Year's there anyway.
So after two trips home in the last month, we knew we couldn't swing both the Thanksgiving and Christmas trips. We had to make a decision. As much as we loved waking up in our home Christmas morning, going to our own church for services and spending the holiday quietly watching our peanut play with wrapping and boxes instead of the toys inside of them, we felt it was more important to be surrounded by our larger family at Christmas.
Our families have a lot going on this year with grad school, new houses, babies on the way, so we'll be spending turkey day as a three-some this year. I'm okay with that. I admit that I did take it a little personally at first -- it seemed extremely easy for folks to not come after just one year off -- but I know in my heart of hearts that it's not personal.
I am honestly excited to be home with my boys. It will make for some lovely memories to involve peanut in the cooking and the preparations. We can do a few little projects and maybe get our Christmas tree early (like all good Southerners should) and bring out all the Christmas decorations over the holiday weekend. We can snuggle in for a four-day weekend without the exhausting pressure of having to be somewhere. I can finish (well, that does imply I've started, which I haven't) painting my kitchen.
So today, this Friday before Thanksgiving, I am not stressed out about packing. I am not stressed out that I have no real idea what I'm going to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner yet. I am not overwhelmed with to-do lists of things to get done before Thursday. I am, instead, curled up with a blanket, looking forward to a dinner out with the hubby and peanut at a favorite (family-friendly) locale, and anticipating a weekend that is currently wide open to the possibilities.
*sigh*
Thursday, November 20, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 20
Today I am thankful for...nap time.
As a working gal, we used to always threaten to use the sick room for a quick nap. Our theory being that a 15 minute cat nap would certainly make us more productive than slogging through media lists, press releases and running back and forth to the break room for coffee and Diet Cokes while trying to keep our eyes propped open with paper clips after a late night strategy session or early morning call time.
Of course the sick room didn't have a lock on it (don't get me started on how ridiculous it was that this was the same room they recommended nursing moms pump in...um, yeah, not going to happen when creepy IT guy could have just barged in at any moment), so we never tested the nap time theory.
When we moved to Atlanta and I was working from home, it was oh-so-tempting to take advantage of the fact that no one really knew what I was up to. But I was entirely too honest for my own good and always reported to the computer on time, worked through lunch most days and often worked much longer into the evening than I would have in an office just because my files were always there. Always begging to be finished. Always whispering to me when I walked past on weekends.
Then I got pregnant and that horrible first trimester had me nauseous and gagging and exhausted. I still got my work done, but I have to admit to snagging a quick nap around 3pm on a few days. And boy, did it make all the difference. I don't know how I would have worked in an actual office feeling like that. My hats off to all the women who do it every day. Those occasional, secret naps really got me threw those first 15 icky weeks.
Of course then baby arrives and you sleep whenever you can, whether that's at 10 at night, 10 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. Whenever. And it was so easy. I might not even have felt tired, but if peanut was sleeping, so was I. It was like a switch.
Then he got on a schedule. An honest-to-goodness predictable schedule. Now, he takes a lovely 2 to 3 hour nap after lunch every day. This is my quiet time. I quickly take care of a few necessary tasks, but then the rest of the time is mine. Mine to read. Mine to blog. Mine to fool around on Facebook. Mine.
Today? Today, I nap (or will try to, anyway). Why? Because I was supposed to have jury duty today. Because I woke up at 4am terrified I'd sleep through the alarm which was set a good hour earlier than I normally get up and then proceeded to stare at the ceiling until 6:30. Because I managed to get down town, sweet talk my way out of jury duty (ah, the primary care giver exemption), and get back to the house by 9:30. Because I've been chasing my "I don't" two-year-old around since then and am now so beat I can barely type in a straight line.
So today I give into the sweet temptation of a nap. Today I cherish the loveliness of a nap. Today I am thankful that I have the opportunity to take advantage of such a delicious act as a nap.
Hmmmmm...sweet dreams!
As a working gal, we used to always threaten to use the sick room for a quick nap. Our theory being that a 15 minute cat nap would certainly make us more productive than slogging through media lists, press releases and running back and forth to the break room for coffee and Diet Cokes while trying to keep our eyes propped open with paper clips after a late night strategy session or early morning call time.
Of course the sick room didn't have a lock on it (don't get me started on how ridiculous it was that this was the same room they recommended nursing moms pump in...um, yeah, not going to happen when creepy IT guy could have just barged in at any moment), so we never tested the nap time theory.
When we moved to Atlanta and I was working from home, it was oh-so-tempting to take advantage of the fact that no one really knew what I was up to. But I was entirely too honest for my own good and always reported to the computer on time, worked through lunch most days and often worked much longer into the evening than I would have in an office just because my files were always there. Always begging to be finished. Always whispering to me when I walked past on weekends.
Then I got pregnant and that horrible first trimester had me nauseous and gagging and exhausted. I still got my work done, but I have to admit to snagging a quick nap around 3pm on a few days. And boy, did it make all the difference. I don't know how I would have worked in an actual office feeling like that. My hats off to all the women who do it every day. Those occasional, secret naps really got me threw those first 15 icky weeks.
Of course then baby arrives and you sleep whenever you can, whether that's at 10 at night, 10 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. Whenever. And it was so easy. I might not even have felt tired, but if peanut was sleeping, so was I. It was like a switch.
Then he got on a schedule. An honest-to-goodness predictable schedule. Now, he takes a lovely 2 to 3 hour nap after lunch every day. This is my quiet time. I quickly take care of a few necessary tasks, but then the rest of the time is mine. Mine to read. Mine to blog. Mine to fool around on Facebook. Mine.
Today? Today, I nap (or will try to, anyway). Why? Because I was supposed to have jury duty today. Because I woke up at 4am terrified I'd sleep through the alarm which was set a good hour earlier than I normally get up and then proceeded to stare at the ceiling until 6:30. Because I managed to get down town, sweet talk my way out of jury duty (ah, the primary care giver exemption), and get back to the house by 9:30. Because I've been chasing my "I don't" two-year-old around since then and am now so beat I can barely type in a straight line.
So today I give into the sweet temptation of a nap. Today I cherish the loveliness of a nap. Today I am thankful that I have the opportunity to take advantage of such a delicious act as a nap.
Hmmmmm...sweet dreams!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
30 Days of Thanks: Day 19
Today I am thankful for...cocoa.
Sometimes it's the simple things, isn't it? Today was cold, cold, COLD for our outdoor work out and playground time. While we were moving, we were okay. Then, we were doing the mommy playground guard watch as the kids ran wild and the chill quickly came back as we redonned all the layers shed during our work out.
The tomato soup and grilled cheese peanut and I shared for lunch and the pre-nap snuggle under a pile of blankets while we read stories helped warm us both up. But I've got some water on and some cocoa ready for slowly sipping while snuggled on the couch catching up on some trashy TV on my DVR (hello season finale of "Desperate Housewives of Atlanta").
Sure, I should be taping off and painting my kitchen ceiling or working on that Christmas gift project, but I'm thankful for cocoa and all the deliciousness it has to offer me for an hour.
Nothing like a couple of guilty pleasures to while away an afternoon.
Sometimes it's the simple things, isn't it? Today was cold, cold, COLD for our outdoor work out and playground time. While we were moving, we were okay. Then, we were doing the mommy playground guard watch as the kids ran wild and the chill quickly came back as we redonned all the layers shed during our work out.
The tomato soup and grilled cheese peanut and I shared for lunch and the pre-nap snuggle under a pile of blankets while we read stories helped warm us both up. But I've got some water on and some cocoa ready for slowly sipping while snuggled on the couch catching up on some trashy TV on my DVR (hello season finale of "Desperate Housewives of Atlanta").
Sure, I should be taping off and painting my kitchen ceiling or working on that Christmas gift project, but I'm thankful for cocoa and all the deliciousness it has to offer me for an hour.
Nothing like a couple of guilty pleasures to while away an afternoon.
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