Three Great Things About Snowpants
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Lauren

1. "They are fun to hop in."

2. "They make a nice swishing sound."

3. "They make me look big and fat just like a snowman!"

Ta Da!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Family and Friends

After a little bit of melting, we have our snow family!

 

Parental Pride
Mood:  happy
Topic: Lauren
During the lunch hour I like to tell stories of things Lauren has said and done - what parent doesn't?! A while back I told about this comment after which my boss kept having me repeat it to anyone in the office who had not heard about it. He just couldn't believe that Lauren, at the age of 4, had taken words from Charlotte's Web and used them correctly and appropriately in a real life situation.  So I couldn't help but relate that Lauren had made another such connection. On President's Day, she was telling me what she had learned about Abraham Lincoln. I happened to mention the Emancipation Proclamation and was explaining it to her when she brought up the similarity with what Martin Luther King Jr. had talked about. My boss was suitably impressed, although not with the connection as I had thought he would be. He was impressed that the connection was regarding such an abstract idea as people being equal.  Today, he and another co-worker paid Lauren a great compliment. My boss said Lauren was smart to which my co-worker agreed but added "scary smart". It's always nice to hear great things about your kids :-)

Snow, Snow, And More Snow
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Family and Friends

When they said there would be more snow, they really meant it! Once all was said and done, we were left with approximately 25" of the stuff.  And still not one bit of good old fashioned snowman making snow!! Take a look...

 

In Like A Lion, But Where's The Snowman?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Family and Friends

What does one do after having been "blessed" with a foot of snow? Yes, one goes sledding, makes snow angels, and gets buried in snow. What about snowmen you ask? Well, we would certainly love to be making snowmen these days, since it is winter, but the snow just has not cooperated. You see, in all of that 12 inches, none of it has been the nice, heavy, wet stuff. We simply cannot make a snowman without packy snow. There is hope though. We are currently in the throes of a second storm, not even a week after the first - March is definitely coming in like a lion! This time though, it started with freezing rain so there's a much higher chance of getting the good stuff. So far we have an additional 10 inches and the weathermen say we'll be getting another 8 - 11. It's not quite snowman material but it's getting closer. I suspect that by tomorrow we will have a snow family in our front yard. Yay!

Sometimes The End Does Justify The Means

I've been seeing and reading other's opinions about c-sections lately, all of them very much against it. I agree that there are too many performed out of "convenience", but there are also many that are legitimate and very much needed.  In my case, I had polyhydramnios (an excess of amniotic fluid) which prevented Lauren from dropping and starting labor. My blood pressure was becoming elevated and I was measuring 44 weeks. Pretty much preeclampsia. When I went in to be induced at 42 weeks Lauren was floating horizontally and would pop right back to that position when the CNM would remove her hands. My choice was to be strapped with weights for up to three days in order to move Lauren into position, then be induced from being not a bit dilated or effaced, and hope to God the cord wasn't around her neck or in front of her head when the water broke and she dropped into position. The chance of having to have a c-section anyway was extremely high and in my mind it was definitely better to have the c-section without having gone through labor first. 

 I understand being disappointed about not experiencing the birth of one's child in the natural way, but at the same time, I can't help repeating exactly what I said to my CNM when she asked if I was disappointed in not having a vaginal birth with my daughter. "No, in the end I have her...how she got here doesn't matter."  I was of "advanced maternal age" and after suffering two miscarriages before carrying Lauren to term, I was just glad that I was able to have her. To me it didn't matter how she got here. It didn't matter to me then and it still doesn't. I was able to experience the wonder of growing Lauren inside me and I don't feel the least bit cheated.

Just a comment from the other side of the fence.

Elmo Makes Music
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Cool

If Sesame Street Live - Elmo Make Music comes to your neck of the woods, by all means go! The kids were literally dancing in the aisles!

Considering it's a children's program, the adults may be a little bored, but the kids will enjoy every single minute of it. There is a lot of singing and a lot of dancing, with quite a bit of audience participation thrown in.  "What's the number of the day?", "What's the letter of the day?" ,"Sing it with me!", etc. At our show, the adults received their entertainment from the cotton candy seller yelling, "Ok folks, here we go...SUGAR!" and "Cotton Candy...get those kids hopped up on sugar!"

I mananged to get some cheap tickets ($10) which were actually good seats in our venue. They weren't on the main floor, but you wouldn't want the main floor anyway because main floor seating is flat. It was much better in the stadium seating section because we could see over everyone.  Your venue may be different of course, but the show itself would have been worth the $18 price had we gone on a different night. 

The only disappointing thing was to hear the woman behind us, whose daughter's ball and cup kept bouncing over the seat onto our stuff, tell a friend of hers a few rows back that they were in the throes of a rotovirus. Gee, thank you so much for bringing it with you so we can have the chance at catching it. 

The show though? Definitely catch it if you can. Two thumbs up! 

Roald Dahl
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Books
I was in desparate need of a new chapter book to read to Lauren. I had had my fill of Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and the Trumpet of the Swan. Not that they aren't great books but after three or four readings, I was definitely ready for something different. Even the Elmer and The Dragon Series by Ruth Stiles Gannett, very quick reads by the way, wears on you when you read it too many times. So while walking through the library I spied James and the Giant Peach on the shelf, grabbed it, and asked the librarian (who to our delight was a 2006 recipient of the New York Times Librarian Award) if she thought Lauren could handle it. She thought it might be a bit above Lauren until I mentioned that Lauren likes Edward Gorey and Timothy Burton. Then she said it would be fine. Well, this was right up Lauren's alley. She so enjoyed James and the Giant Peach that I promptly picked up various other works by Roald Dahl. The BFG, The Magic Finger, and The Enormous Crocodile. Lauren didn't really care for the speaking style of the giant in the BFG so we returned that one unfinished. The Magic Finger and the Enormous Crocodile were hits though. I think our next reads will be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. 

Give Me Something To Work With Kid
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Lauren

Unfortunately I think this is Lauren's year to be disappointed in childhood characters. First it was the tooth fairy, now it'll be Santa.

Remember the days when, as a child, you would gather up the toy catalogs that had come in the mail and go through each and every page marking the toys you wanted? All our parents had to do was to pick up one of those catalogs and there would be a huge list for them to work off of. Well, that good old fashioned Christmas greed just doesn't exist in my child and while I am happy about that, I'm also a little disappointed about it. Last year Lauren asked Santa for two things...a kitty and checkers. This year she asked him for a white stuffed elephant named Ellie. That's it. One elephant. Nothing else. Now kitty and checkers are pretty generic and I could at least work with those, but a stuffed white elephant named Ellie? Way too specific.  When I tried to get more information all she could tell me was that she had seen him on tv. So, not only do I not know what it is, but I don't know where to get it either. It was certainly looking as if Lauren would be disappointed in a second character in one year because this Santa didn't know a thing about a stuffed white elephant named Ellie. I hate to admit it but I proceeded to do what any parent who can't bear to see the disappointment on his or her child's face come Christmas morning would do. I tried to salvage the ruined morning to come by pressing Lauren to have a little more of that Christmas greed. Ask for more stuff kid or you'll be sorry! Ask for a hopscotch pad or tickets to Sesame Street Live (things Santa is already bringing to her). Nope... she would have none of that. All she wanted was that elephant.

What the heck is Santa suppose to do now?

Morning Ritual
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Lauren

Rituals are big in our house. Most of them are of Lauren's making, but they're cute so Tony and I go along with them.

Ritual #1

Every morning Lauren gets up with me, even though she's clearly tired and needs more sleep. She gets up with me, has breakfast with me, and then waits by the door to watch me drive off to work. And before I leave she says "Call me at lunchtime. Wave to me. Even if you can't see me, wave to me when you leave." After I've left, she climbs into bed with Tony and talks about how she misses mommy already and wishes she were there.

Ritual #2 

Later in the day, Lauren and I have a little phone ritual of which she reminded me in the morning - the lunchtime call. We talk for maybe two minutes and then we say goodbye. Our goodbyes go something like this:

Lauren: See you when you get home.

Me: OK

Lauren: Bye Bye

Me: Bye Bye

Lauren: Love you!

Me: Love you too!

Lauren: See ya

Me: See ya

and then Lauren waits for me to hang up first. If I don't we have to start all over. Want to know a little secret? Sometimes I don't hang up right away because I want to hear it all again.