Wordless Wednesday #25

She’s my second child part 2

If you missed part one of this two part post, then go here and read it now or at your leisure, you decide… I don’t feel like being a tyrant today.

There is already a noticeable difference in their personalities, partly inherent, partly as a result of my mothering them differently.  Honey bunny got me all to herself for whole days.  We played games together, we went to Gymboree together, we colored together, we made cookies together, went on shopping trips together, and so on.  I hovered over her constantly no matter what she was doing.  Climbing on the play set -hovering, coloring with markers -hovering, playing with stuffed animals -hovering.  Maybe it was protectiveness, maybe it was boredom or loneliness.  She was my only companion during the day!

Pumpkin never has me all to herself.  We almost never play games just the two of us, we never went to Gymboree together, we don’t color together just the two of us, we rarely make cookies together, and we almost never go on shopping trips unless its to the grocery store or the dry cleaners, and so on.  Does this make me a bad mother?  Does this mean she will be screwed-up later in life?  Or does this mean she will be more able to cope with being alone?  Work independently?  Function without constant assistance?  She plays by herself without complaint. 

Example: If we go outside to play, she’ll grab the chalk & start drawing.  Honey bunny will grab the Frisbee and say, “mommy come play with me!” 

I do have to say that Pumpkin is highly opinionated, which probably comes from being able to make so many decisions for & by herself.  This is not to say that I don’t hover over her when she is climbing all over the play set, I’m still over protective on this front.  But there is a marked difference in how I act with her than big sister.

I guess we’ll see what they have to say about all this later with their therapists!  (Or not since therapists can’t tell you what was said by their client.)  But you know what, it just doesn’t matter what we do or how well we try to do it… it will never be good enough.  There will always be some part that we did or didn’t do right that they’ll complain about later.  I should know; I’ve done it with my Mom.  She was a single working mother, she did the best she could with what she had.  We never lacked for anything but I still complained about not being driven to school everyday or how she never attended any of the cheerleading events I participated in or football games or whatever.  Selfish much?  I think this is part of the reason I try to be involved with Honey bunny’s karate and eventually whatever activity in which Pumpkin decides to participate.  But as I said above, it still won’t be enough.  There will be some thing that I didn’t do that the gremlins wanted or thought I should do and - I’d bet my life on it - that is what they will remember as adults.

Well, got slightly off topic there at the end but it had to be said. 

Thanks for listening (or reading, if you must be technical),

Ciao  

Wordless Wednesday #24 - Hong Kong

She’s my second child

Would that explain a few things?  Like the fact that she always looks like a raga-muffin child.  Yes, on occasion, I let her pick out the clothes she wants to wear; I’m tired of arguing with her.  I think I might have finally learned how to pick my battles…. 

Please see the following:

Example A:
Me- You mean, you want to wear the tan pants with the purple turtleneck with the red socks and the pink & orange rain boots today? 
Pumpkin- Yeah, yeah, Mommy. 
Me- Sure no problem. 
(inner monologue: If this will keep you from having another tantrum this morning, then be my guest!  Who cares that there isn’t a rain cloud in the sky and none of that stuff matches.) 

Example B:
Me - you don’t want me to brush your hair today? 
Pumpkin- Nooooo!  
Me- Are you sure you don’t want Mommy to make it look pretty?  I could put a nice bow in to keep your hair out of your face. 
Pumpkin- No, no, no! 
Me- Fine.  Let’s go! 
(inner monologue: Guess the teachers at school will have to do it again today! She always loves when Ms. Amy does her hair in braids anyway.) 

This never, never, never, ever, ever in a million, trillion years would have happened with Honey bunny - my now 8 yr old daughter.  As the first born child, my first born child, Honey bunny was my show piece (if you will).  I had so much to prove.  Why?  I can’t recall now.  Probably just my insecurity.  I had to show everyone that I was a good mommy, “see, my daughter- isn’t she the cutest thing?”  All dressed in an adorable outfit with matching tights & fancy shoes and her hair done in perfect ponytails held in place by coordinating ribbon.  Everyday.  Of course, I didn’t work at a job that I had to go to 5 days a week for 8+ hrs per day plus a two hour commute.  That being said, I clearly had scads more time.  Now it’s a whole other ball game, the husband & I have two businesses that require me to be in the office almost every day, all day.  Luckily it’s not a two hour commute to work & back.  It’s more like 7 minutes from home to work.  Plus, we are STILL trying to sell our house… meaning lots more cleaning on a daily basis.  Therefore, my little Pumpkin has much more freedom & a lot less restrictions than her big sister. 

P o s t  g e t t i n g  t o o  l o n g… m u s t   c o n t i n u e   l a t e r.

Thanks for listening (or reading, if you must be technical),

Ciao 

And don’t forget the dishes…

This issue & the unwashed dishes in the sink are probably the two biggest annoyances of workers around the world.  Well, those two and about a 1,000 others, e.g. disgusting toilet messes, people eating food that belongs to others, and so on.

Well, enjoy this little gem from the folks at Passive Aggressive notes.  It’s a bit lengthy but funny!

Ciao

Just you wait…

 

I love this!  Definitely made me laugh.  Again from Icanhazcheezburger…. can you see him plotting revenge?!  For more funny stuff check out Absolutely Bananas.

 

see more crazy cat pics

Oh, it’s already been broughten

This picture is from -none other than- icanhazcheezburger and it made me laugh right out loud!  Not entirely certain what the people are doing in the background but that kind of adds to the humor.

see more crazy cat pics

A little scared but excited all the same

I’ve done it!  I’ve signed up for the Breast Cancer 3-day walk.  This is a big deal.  It’s a walk, sure, not like a triathlon or the NYC Marathon or something but it’s for 3 DAYS!  60 MILES!  Walking for 3 DAYS!  So, it is kinda serious.  For those of you who haven’t heard the radio commercials or seen any t.v. adverts, then go here to check it out.  Or better yet, go here to my page and help support me in this amazing journey toward the cure!

Even Huney bunny & Pumpkin are excited for me to do this.  After attending the informational meeting, Honey bunny immediately asked me if I was going to do the walk… it went something like this,
Honey bunny jumping up & down: ”Mommy, mommy, are you going to do it?  Are you?  Are you?  I think you should!!” 
Me: “Yes, honey, I’m gonna do it!”

I want to do this walk for my daughters & their future daughters and for my mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmothers!

And so, I may be a little scarce around here in the next few months.  The event is in September and I have to start training cause obviously you can’t just decide to walk 20 miles a day for three straight days without just a tinsy bit of training.  But I think this is so worth it!!

Wish me luck!

Thanks for listening (or reading, if you must be technical),

Ciao

Wordless Wednesday #23 - Yummy

I’m so impressed

by my little Pumpkin!  OMG people, she got up on the toilet all by herself!!  More than once even!!  The husband & I were in our home office when we heard a little voice calling, “mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy”.  The two of us raced into the kitchen and called out to Pumkin, “where are you?” and she said, “I’m in the bathroom”.  So we go to the bathroom off the kitchen and there is our little Pumpkin sitting on the toilet!  Not her little potty training toilet, no, the real toilet.  I asked her how she got up there and she said “I did it myself”, I said, “did Sissy help you up there?” and she replied, “no, I did it myself!”  And of course we had to do the praising thing… “wow! you are such big girl! you got up there all by yourself! wow! good job!”

Here’s a little bit of backstory… she has been wearing pull-ups for about 8 months or so (I know, 8 months, please don’t start ragging on me about how long I’ve pushed this off) and the teachers at her day care have been after me for the last few months to have her wear real undies.  In fact, it was first brought up to me about 6 months ago.  I stalled because we are STILLLL trying to sell our house & I didn’t want to have issues with potty accidents all over the white carpet that we have in our house, not to mention the fact that we didn’t even have undies for her to wear.  So, the teachers brought the idea up to me again about four weeks ago.  “She stays dry all day, even at nap time and uses the potty regularly”, they told me.  OK!!  I get it.  I’ve just been really lazy.  We’ll go to the store, get her some undies, and give this potty training the old college try.  The next day we went to the store to pick out some big girl undies.  Pumpkin picked them out herself.  We made this was a big deal because we want her invested in staying dry, right? 

Well, I’m extremely happy to report that she’s got it down!  She has only had three potty accidents occurring right at the beginning of the transition.  Since then, not a single one (knock on wood).  I’m not sure why this has been so easy.  Is it because she is the second child therefore less pressure from us?  Is it because she has a big sister to copy?  Is it just because she is ready?  I don’t know why I’m questioning it.  I guess I should just be thankful that it has been so painless!  We do still have the nighttime pull-up action.  Most likely it will be that way for awhile yet since I refuse to move her into a regular bed.  She’s not even 3 yrs old yet, she hasn’t made any attempt to escape the crib, and she seems perfectly content to continue to sleep in the crib.  Why fix something that isn’t broken.  Plus, if she’s in a regular bed, then I have to start dealing with a small child wandering the hallways during the middle of the night.  Of course her sleeping in a crib will lengthen the time she remains in nighttime pull-up but I’ve got to weigh the matter and it seems best to leave it all as is for the time being.

Thanks for listening (or reading, if you must be technical),

Ciao