The Cat Bite

Don't let your kids be bitten by a neighbor's cat. Especially if the neighbor hasn't had the cat vaccinated since he was a bitty kitty.

Kitty is now at the humane society under quarantine and being watched for rabies. Kid is taking antibiotics and had to have a tetanus shot.

Here's the thing. We are delaying vaccines for kid. The other day I looked up the vaccine schedule from when I was born and compared it to the current schedule. Our kids have over twice as many vaccines as we did when we were kids. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccines were combined sometime between the mid-70s and now into the MMR.

The Hep B vaccine is now required for newborns. Here's the deal, I was tested for Hep B when I was pregnant and it is a blood or other fluid transmitted disease. Why would I give this to my newborn? Why not wait until she was older and her body was mature enough to handle it?

A lot of people I know don't vaccinate their kids at all for various reasons. Some due to serious or fatal vaccine complications, severe allergies, religious or philosophical reasons. I, myself love science. I think it is great that my child won't have to go through certain things, like measles. I just don't think that scientists are infallible.

We were on a delayed schedule when we moved. Our excellent pediatrician was very thoughtful about which vaccines were important right away and which ones could be put off. We only wanted to give one vaccine at a time and none when kid was sick so her system wasn't overloaded. Then we moved and had to find a new pedi. We went through a few and TBH, I don't really like any of them.

I've probably done a little more research than the average parent and I recognize lies right away. As soon as I hear a lie, I will never trust the pedi again.

Well, today I heard a few mistruths and now I need yet another pediatrician.

Still Unemployed - Kind Of

Well, I am still unemployed and officially looking for work. The huge company I worked for doesn't appear to be hiring in this wonderful economic climate. The only bright spots are:

• Less stress - I am enjoying the time off.
• Contracting gigs - I found a company that hired me to perform contracting PHP development. It isn't the field I was in or want to be in but it pays. The jobs are self-assigning too.
  
• Losing weight - I am eating less and no take-out. Both the husband and I are shedding pounds.
• Personal projects - The mania of being jobless took over and I am cranking out those projects one by one.
  

Finally!

I've been in this city for 3 years now and I finally found someone who can cut my hair. The first 1.5 years I flew home to get my haircut but that was 2000 miles and kinda pricey. Then I hopped from one stylist who made me look like I should be coming out of my trailer in the 1980's to another who berated me for not flat ironing my hair. The second stylist charged me $100 for the privilege too. My hair began to look like an overgrown bush so I met a friend at her stylist and she did a great job.

Break out the tissues

S: Daddy, I don't want to go to school anymore.
Daddy: Why not? You liked it on Monday.
S: Because I miss you and Mommy when I'm at school.
Daddy: We miss you too but you get to see us right when school is over.
S: I love you and Mommy too much to go to school. I love you very much.

*wah* I wish I didn't have to send her but gotta pay the bills somehow.

Did I mention I got laid off?

Today Sucked

And there isn't much I can say about it until tomorrow at the earliest. I just need to put it out there that this sucks.

A New Era is Upon Us

S has started requesting (and eating!) her own concoctions. This morning she asked the husband for a turkey, cheese, peanut butter and honey sandwich. W didn't want to make it for her because he was sure she wouldn't eat it. We decided not to force her to only eat what we deem to be acceptable meals so he made the sandwich. She ate the whole thing!

Truth be told, I used to eat the craziest things, including peanut butter on hot dogs, so I can't blame her that much. It is surely genetics. :D

Everything and nothing

A lot has been going on lately but I haven't really wanted to talk about it.

So. I have a hole in my foot. A small one but in a very sensitive spot. It is nearly impossible to walk or stand for more than 30 minutes at a time. The husband claims he is going to pitch in more to help. Still waiting for it. Helping is not his strong suit. Maybe I'll come up with a list of what I want done. lol

The goofball is getting older. This week she slept in her own bed two nights in a row. That makes it nights #2 and #3 that she has slept without me. She also is doing the potty thing all by herself. She's been PT for a while but she decided she doesn't need help with anything *ahem wiping*. She can also get food out of the fridge. Gotta get going on that college fund.

S is taking a ballet/tap class this fall at the rec center. You should have seen the look in her eyes when she saw the tap shoes I bought her. *love* I wasn't able to take her to her last class but husband did. So sad I missed it.

The girl is at school right now and I should be working. My dad called the minute I got home and I didn't want to deal with him so I let it go. Minutes later I get an email from him guilting me for not answering the phone. Pretty sure if I did I would have let loose a string of profanities at him. I don't know why he bothers me so much. That is a lie, I do. What I really don't know is what to do about it. If I told him, it would bite me in the ass but ignoring him doesn't seem to work either.

I am thinking about taking Zoloft again. Usually I can control my seemingly endless mild depression with exercise and diet. My diet is for shit right now and I haven't been able to exercise in 2 months because of injuries, illness and lack of childcare.

So there you have it. I've got nothing done and S threw a fit when I dropped her off this morning and I told her teacher I could pick her up at 11:30 if she needed me to. I would have to leave in 22 minutes. Guess I get 22 minutes of work in today and I really want to cry.

My Daughter Likes Worksheets

LMAO. While I was making dinner, goofball demanded I give her worksheet after worksheet for her to do. For the worksheet that asked her to circle the meats, she asked me what meat was. I told her - anything that is part of a dead animal. What is a fruit or vegetable? That was a little harder. Something that grew in a tree, on a bush or in the ground that mommy didn't have to make in the oven. (I had to uninclude cakes.)

Does this mean goofball is a born bureaucrat?

For dinner, husband and I had Eggplant Bharta from La Dolce Vegan and goofball had a hot dog. She took one look at the eggplant and wanted nothing to do with it.

Cat/cat/dog fight - or - the reason I woke at 4:30

Our next door neighbors have a cat that they never allow inside the house. Speedy is a sweet cat and good friend to my 3 year old. There is a bully cat roaming the neighborhood that terrorizes Speedy and at 4:30 this morning, I heard the bully, a random dog and Speedy brawling under my window. Poor kitty cat, I hope he's alright.

So, Obama's pick is Senator Biden. I'll have to look back through his record to remember what I think of him. Truthfully, I am so glad he didn't pick Lieberman or a Repub that I don't care. I am a little sad he didn't pick a woman but hey, we are represented by our menfolk so it doesn't matter.

Nothing Exciting Here

Yawn. New laptop. Wireless is working. Arguing on the interwebz. Lolcats. Stupid dog next door woke kid from nap. Returned library book on time.

I like doughnuts and Clifford

Says the girl. We are almost to the end of the two week period where Daddy is out of town. Yay! My tv-free, sugar-free girl is watching Clifford the Big Red Dog in the other room after eating a doughnut. As a friend said yesterday, while Daddy is gone we will have a bunch of 'yes' days. If she asks for McDonalds for dinner, I will have to say no.

Foot Licking Daughter

AG made friends with the neighbor cat and this morning she spent quite a few minutes copying his behavior. She stopped when I caught her licking her foot, the same as the cat.

Daddy is Gone!

We dropped Daddy at the airport this afternoon for 2 whole weeks in Chicago. Lucky Daddy. The girl told me all afternoon that she misses Daddy and he misses her but not me. lol Funny girl. She also said that when it was nighttime she wanted Daddy to come home and sleep in the other bed.

The husband has been sleeping on the sofa bed for the last couple of weeks since I hurt my back. It turns out 3 people, including one toddler who rotates at night, is too much for a queen size bed. We will be getting a bigger bed but we needed life to calm down a little first. Now that there are only 2 people in the little bed, my back is all better. Think it has something to do with the postage-stamp size allotment of bed that had my name on it.

Don't even suggest moving the girl to her own bed. She has one but the one time she slept apart from me, she woke up screaming bloody murder. My heart can't take it.

The State of Affairs

Tomorrow the spouse is leaving for 2 weeks. Yikes! It will just be me and the girl for 2 weeks. Her school will be out for most of those 2 weeks too so I won't have enough childcare for work. Things will be getting done during nap time and after bed time I guess.

My back and various wounds are slowly healing. The one on my foot is the worst because it makes it hard to walk and impossible to exercise. No plank position for me.

I am a little nervous about it being just me and S. I still have to work and all that. Maybe I should consider using the tv. lol Just maybe. ;)

Apparently I Am Dead Inside

This cake made me laugh and laugh until tears were rolling down my face. W needed to have it explained to him and this made me laugh even more.

The Day With the Birthday Party

Today is Annika's birthday party at a bounce house. I am of two minds on these types of birthday parties. They are all the same and to some degree run together. But they are also easy on mom - not to be discounted. We had S's 2nd birthday party at a bounce house place and to be honest, I hated it. Her last birthday party was in the backyard and was 500x better. It was a lot more work for me though and 16 kids plus parents in the backyard was a little stressful. But there was a racecar cake. I am all about the cake.

It is 100 degrees outside and my kid wants to wear pants to the birthday party. Did I mention she hates having her legs exposed? She wears jeans under dresses (actually looks cute) and won't wear her school uniform culottes. She thinks capris are hideous pranks.

Today and my girl

This morning my girl woke up, looked at me and told me she was too tired to go to school today. So we played hooky. We met up with fun kids at the mall for a playdate and drama ensued. Mostly it revolved around whether S wanted to use the potty or not. That girl is loud!

Tonight I was listening to the girl in the hall talking:

Diet Coke, some beer, chips, cookies, a little popcorn...

We eat pretty healthy for the most part (and rarely drink soda!) but she proceeded to list all the unhealthy things we ever eat. Goofball. She said she was taking a little bit of food off the wall and eating it. Husband joked that we should let her watch tv because then she would have less boring imaginative play.

Tired, tired and more tired

So I hurt my back. I haven't been online a lot for more than work because I couldn't sit for a few days. The first time I hurt my back it wasn't my fault.

It was just something that happened.

The second time it was all my fault. I was mostly recovered on a Monday a couple of weeks ago. Mondays are cardio days at the gym. I didn't want to go and I thought I should take it easy because I am still recovering. Then the stubborn side of me told myself I was just being a wimp and I should stand up and go to class. So I did.

And I had to leave half way through because I was in so much pain I could barely move. Instead of 3 days recovery I am working on 2 weeks and still counting. Did you know the lower back muscles are used for everything?

Win A Buncha Baby Carriers

When I was looking around for the Ergo link, I found a contest to win a bunch of baby carriers. The winner receives:

Beco Butterfly
Hotsling baby pouch
BabyHawk Mei Tai
Zolowear Ring Sling
Gypsy Mama Wrap

I entered. I want another little one and I only have 6 baby carriers (2 Ergos, 2 ring slings, 1 wrap and 1 mei tai) so I obviously need more. I think I will give the one Ergo to my friend who is borrowing it because I prefer the older generation and she is borrowing the newer generation.

3 is the Golden Age in Parenting

lol

AG has always been a bad sleeper. One night W was out of town for a conference and I spent 2.5 hours walking her around in the Ergo. She had just fallen asleep when someone shouted hi to me from across the street and woke her. It was 11 o'clock and I had a baby in a backpack, I don't know what he was thinking.

I just told AG that she had to take a nap to have energy to make pizza dough with me this afternoon. She went and hopped in bed. *shock* I hear her annoying daddy (who is also trying to sleep) but we are making progress.

The Ergo was a lifesaver BTW and it saved in gas money. :)

Poor Pluto

S came home from school a week ago with a paper and yarn solar system. The first thing that I noticed was Pluto dangling on the end. As you may remember, scientists declared Pluto is not a planet. S was terribly unhappy to find out Pluto is not a planet. She even cried a little. I'm so mean to dash her dreams of having Pluto on her solar system.

Daddy just sent me a link to this t-shirt.

Uh-oh. Now she is upset that Pluto's feelings are hurt. I don't understand this parenting thing at all.

My timid child

So we went to a 4th of July parade this morning. The parades here don't have big floats and aren't as fun as the Solstice parade in Seattle but the kids like them. One reason is the businesses all throw candy into the crowds. The kids all bring bags to the parade and collect Halloween-level amounts of candy.

Not my child. She picked up about 6 pieces of candy and handed it to me to put in my purse. There was candy under her feet but she was more interested in waving the little flag someone gave her at the beginning of the parade.

About 6 months ago, S went to her friend's birthday party and they had a pinata. When the time came, the pinata broke open and candy fell everywhere. S walked into the fray and carefully selected one (1) piece of candy which she brought to me to open. I told her that she could have more than one piece so she went back into the mess of kids and picked out one more piece. That's it. Two pieces of candy.

I feel like she is missing out on the little kid experience by not participating in the candy grab. Oh well. I guess she will have her own unique experience.

I'm a Failure

As a 1930's housewife. I can live with that.

6 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

I am really amazed that I fail so completely.

S and Addition

Little miss smarty-pants discovered some window clings that had numbers (both numerals and object count), addition signs and equals signs. So we've been working on addition. She understands pretty well the order things go in - reading from left to right, how to count up the total number of objects to get the object count on the other side of the equals sign, etc. She had me ask at school for her teacher to give her the addition works. I was a little embarrassed to ask because I didn't want the school to think I was pushing her but she asked me repeatedly to tell Ms. Lisa that she wanted addition works, so I did.

S turned 3 in April.

The Continent Song - Goofball Style

AG came home from school singing the continent song. I'll leave it to you to find the error. :)


The Continent Song
Do you know your continents?
Do you know your continents?
Yes, I do.
Asia, Africa
North and South America
Europe Australia
Antarctica Tattoo!

Woo hoo! Shaved 1 min off my running time!

I am so excited. I just got back from my 2.76 mile run and I shaved a whole minute off my running time. If the wind wasn't blowing in my face the second half of the run, I would probably have done even better. I am now down to a 10.65 min/mile.

Never mind on the bike

Took Agent Goofball to look at used bikes at the bike store. She didn't want a bike but she did want a basket with flowers that would usually go on the front. *rolls eyes* It was Made in China and flimsy plastic so I will look online for another basket.

Tomorrow we have a playdate with AG's best friend from school. It is supposed to be at the splashpark but right now there is thunder, lightening and rain so big, outdoor, metal playarea might be a bad idea.

I was supposed to go running tonight but the thunder, lightening and rain derailed those plans.

Today I got the books I ordered from B&N. An Indian cookbook and La Dolce Vegan. There aren't enough vegetarian recipes in the Indian cookbook so I might return it. I really want to make Mushroom Mattar so I looked online for a recipe and found about 5 million. Who needs a cookbook?

Finding a Used Bike

I think S is ready for her first two wheeler, with training wheels of course, so I've been scouring freecycle and Craigslist looking for a used one. Why used? Well there is the environmental impact and the outgrowing issue. There is also the Dora, Barbie and Princess issue. See, we don't do tv or characters (except one Cars shirt I got in a moment of weakness). If you go around to the stores, it is difficult to find a bike without a Disney princess or Spiderman. As someone else put it, she is a kid, not a billboard. Since I don't want to spend $200 on a Trek bike for my 3 year old, I am reduced to buying a used bike.

So I call the local used sporting goods stores. There are a lot of those around here. Finally I call the bike shop where the spouse bought the bike he never rides and they have 2 Trek bikes in the right size. The guy on the phone also said they have some boy bikes and that I shouldn't assume S wants a pink or purple one. As if! I am impressed he suggested a "boy bike" (read: red or blue).

Oh, and the reason W never rides his bike? It is plain old too dangerous around here. In the first week of June, 7 people were hit (2 killed) in 7 days by cars. W would have to cross a busy road to get to school. He did ride a few times but stopped when I suggested that we review his life insurance if he was planning on continuing. This might seem like an overreaction but I have seen too many dead bodies on the roads here. People drive 50 mph on the main surface streets, run red lights and basically drive like maniacs. Now I sound like my mother. Great.

3 am

That is when I heard 'mommy, I want some water.'

The Bedtime Scam

Some of you might know of my 6 month bedtime problem with S. It is important to mention that she is one of the most stubborn people to ever live. At some point she decided to only wear undies to bed which is fine and dandy except she wasn't fully potty trained (being 2 and all). I tried it all. Insisting she wore a pullup at night. Sneaking one on in the middle of the night. Restricting her water at bedtime. All I got for my trouble was a dehydrated 2 year old who pulled off her pullup in the middle of the night. Until we went to the cloth diaper store.

The woman who runs the cloth diaper store is brilliant. She showed us Fuzzi Bunz in S's size and called them nighttime undies. Now we have 5 pair of large Fuzzi Bunz diapers er, I mean night time undies. S loves them! They are in bright colors and are really soft. I think I found the aversion to the pullups too... Those things are scratchy. The cloth diapers are easy to wash and it is less laundry than washing sheets all the time.

Love me some Fuzzi Bunz. Since S fell asleep so early, she wasn't wearing her nighttime undies so I have to go sneak them on her. *sigh* Such a glam life.

kid Falls Asleep at 7 - Now What?

After my cardio class at the gym tonight I called home to see what the herd wanted me to pick up for dinner. W tells me that S fell asleep while he was reading Chicken Little and what should he do because she won't wake up. We generally have a policy that should S fall asleep before 8, we wake her so that her sleep schedule isn't thrown off too much. Every time W tried to wake her, she pushed him away and said, "go away Daddy".

So we are letting her sleep. I know I am going to regret this at 4:30 in the morning. Did I mention I am just not a morning person?

Note to Self

Turn on the kitchen lights and put on glasses before holding hand over hot pan to see if it is ready yet. The morning pancakes and fake Boca sausage was made exciting with a nice burn on my hand. Fortunately S's My Little Pony came with a pen to put in the freezer. Those make perfect palm-burn ice instruments.

Funny Tattooed Girl

The other day we stopped at for burritos at our local chain. I think it is the only place in the area where the employees all have body piercings, tattoos and hair color that is not found in nature. In other words, I love it! So the spouse sits down with Agent Goofball (AG) at a table next to two large tattooed men.

AG looks at the tattooed men and says, "Daddy, look. They have tattoos just like me!" She was sporting a temporary Spiderman tattoo.

The guys seemed to think it was incredibly cute and I thought it was incredibly funny. At least until I wondered how old she would be before she got her first tattoo. All I ask is no tattoos on the neck.

Bloggy-goodness

I created this blog long ago but never wrote in it because I think personal blogs are stupid. Now I found that I wanna chat in the middle of the night so I will do it here instead.

Just got back from a 2.76 mile run and I am dripping sweat. It is hot, even in the middle of the night. Think I will sleep the rest of the summer away.