I’m still here. I’m feeling a lot better – we even participated in Jenny’s soup swap today. The rest of the weekend was spent being mostly lazy, with a rehearsal and a trip to the bike store for a toddler-sized helmet thrown in for some variety.
I haven’t really felt much like knitting lately for some reason, but I did finish a couple of things last week. Pictures tomorrow if I can overcome the urge to do nothing all day. I really need to get back into a routine at some point soon…
I don’t remember where I ran across this idea, but I read somewhere that kids Carrie’s age have this belief that words are magic – as in, if they say something, then it becomes true. So what adults perceive as lying in small children is really just the child trying to alter reality to make it the way they think the adult wants it to be.
Carrie obviously believes in the power of her words. Since I’ve been sick, she says “I give you two kisses Mommy, to make you feel better”, kisses me twice, and then says (while wagging her finger at me) “You are not old, and you are not sick. You are just fine!”
Don’t ask me where she got the old part from. No idea. Especially because if you ask her how old I am she says “three!”
I wish she were right, and the words worked like magic. I’d like to not be sick anymore. Being stuck in the house for most of a week with a toddler while not feeling 100% is really not the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.
But I suppose the “magic words” concept explains why I can tell her a half a dozen times that we don’t have any bagels in the house to eat for breakfast, and yet she’ll insist that we do. I guess to her I’m making the bagels go away after she’s already willed them into existence…
1. Having a 102 degree fever for a day sucks. Still being sick several days later sucks more.
2. It’s really, really, really hard to parent a two year old when you can’t speak louder than a whisper.
3. It’s a good thing to have an abnormally well-behaved two year old.
4. On the other hand, having a two year old who has for several days in a row decided 6:30 AM is a better wake-up time than 8:00 AM? That’s not so good.
5. School cancellations are even thrilling as an adult, provided the listings contain the school you’re supposed to be rehearsing at later.
6. Having the school cancellations online is brilliant! Especially when the school you’re looking for starts with “V”. Waiting through the list being read on the radio was pure torture in high school.
7. Ordering a tricycle online in the middle of a blizzard is a rather odd thing to do, even if it was a great deal with free shipping.
8. Knitting a sock, on the other hand, is a wonderful way to pass the time during a blizzard.
9. Practicing “Cool” for an hour straight and still not playing it up to tempo is not fun.
10. A husband who make yummy soup, handles all the toddler dinnertime needs, and attends to bath and bedtime without complaint is worth his weight in gold. He deserves some serious cookies when this cold is gone…
Quite a few funny toddler moments these past few days:
We watched Sammy on Tuesday afternoon, and the kids were playing follow-the-leader around the house. When I asked Carrie what they were playing, she said “We playing fun!” And then they proceeded to “play sleepy!” where they laid down on the couch, covered themselves up with a blanket, and pretended to snore.
When Denis walked in from work yesterday, we were playing with play-doh. Carrie announced, “Daddy, look! I playing play-doh with my friend Mommy!”
When I was getting ready for band last night, Carrie said “I go to band with you Mommy, PLEEEEASE?” I said she could when she’s bigger, and asked her what she wanted to play. Her reply? “Drums! And a cucumber.”
And then this morning I was trying to get Carrie downstairs so I could have a cup of the brown elixir of life (aka coffee) and she ran back into her room. She was shouting, “Mommy, there’s a monster under my bed!” I started to panic, thinking she was already starting the nighttime fears thing – despite the fact that it was already morning – and then I realized she’d dug out “baby monster”, the one-eyed plush critter I bought for her at Starbuck’s around Halloween. Maybe when she’s older, “baby monster” can live under her bed full-time to chase away the other monsters?
Because West Side Story isn’t enough of a challenge (you know I’m kidding, right?) I agreed to play in the orchestra for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for another school. I had never seen or heard this show before last week, so I got the soundtrack from the library and netflixed the movie. I adore it. How did I get to be 31 years old without ever having seen it?!?
But, two shows = twice as many rehearsals. Today is only the second day back from winter break for both shows, and I’m already wondering what I’ve gotten myself into. And did I mention there’s a band concert coming up at the end of next month…? At least I’m not the rehearsal accompanist for Joseph, I’m just playing the second keyboard part.
And now, I really need to go practice. West Side Story, that is. Have I mentioned how insanely, evilly difficult this music is? I just got back from the most humiliating orchestra rehearsal of my life – I couldn’t even pick out one line to plunk out just to keep time for half of those songs, and in a few short days the kids are going off CD and I have to play for all the dance rehearsals. Do you think if I put my ipod on repeat for that album and keep my headphones on all night I’ll wake up knowing how to play everything…?
We took Carrie to Build-A-Bear on Saturday. Her great-grandparents had all given her some cash for Valentine’s Day, so we decided to splurge on something we wouldn’t normally spend money on for her. She loved it! She had a really hard time deciding which animal to make, but wound up choosing…wait, you should really try to guess, because it’s so unlike her…
A dog! (Of course. The bunnies, bears, kitties and lambs didn’t stand a chance.)
The little magnetic puppy that Maggie can carry around in her (equally magnetic) mouth? She named that one Garlic.
Don’t ask me.
We bought a new bedroom floor yesterday. It’s sitting in 10 very heavy boxes in our guest bedroom at the moment, and will be for a few more weeks, but it was on sale this month so we decided to get it early. It’s bamboo. It’s gorgeous. I cannot wait to install it!
That new floor is the reason we’ve been hauling all the stuff out of our room. I’ve cleaned out all my drawers and the closet, donated several bags of clothes and shoes, and I’m working on clearing off all the flat surfaces. Before we install the flooring we’re also going to paint – a pretty, medium shade of green, on the bluish end of the green spectrum. I’m so excited. We stripped the truly awful wallpaper and painted our bedroom white before we moved in, but we’ve pretty much ignored it since, 25-year-old carpeting and everything. Since we spend, what, at least a quarter of our lives in our room sleeping, it may as well be a nice place to spend time in, right?
Dear Carolyn,
Another month, another bunch of new things you’ve been doing. You’re considering whether or not you really need to nap – which means I’m considering whether or not to go back to work. Just kidding! It’s just that days when you declare “I awake and ready to start my day!” and don’t nap? Those are really long days, full of meltdowns (yours and mine) and long whiny afternoons (again, you can’t be blamed for all of the whining…) It didn’t help that this past week was winter break and all of our activities were on hiatus.
Love, Mommy
Yep, my floors are in desperate need of refinishing.
Want to see my two latest finished objects?
On the left, a Klein bottle hat which I knit for my brother for his birthday. (Which was last month, but as he’s been away at school this was the first time I’ve seen him since Christmas break.) On the right, a cute bunny blanket buddy which I knit for Carrie. This pattern is going into my last minute baby gifts file, since it’s even appealing to a two-year-old who’s going on twenty.
The hat, being of the mostly gray and blue persuasion, also works for Project Spectrum. Bonus!
In other knitting news, I finally finished swatching for the future hoodies. Is it bad that US 6’s and US 7’s gave me exactly the same gauge? I guess I’ll go with the 7’s. It will make me feel like it’s going faster since it’s on bigger needles… But before I cast on, I’m back to working on my never-ending mittens. My hands have been cold these past few weeks, and I have no one to blame for it but my own lazy knitting self! It even seems like the knitting gods are trying to nudge me into finishing them, since the needles I’m using to knit my Pomatomus socks – my favorite sock knitting needles! – broke and I have to order new ones.