A Genuine Genius?

It continues to amaze me how much LP picks up from the world around her. We can say a word once and she might repeat it back right away. Or she might hold on to it and use it again - appropriately - when the time is right. Some examples:

• If she sees that the bird feeder is empty, she will say "seeds", put on her coat and pick up the 10 pound bag of seed and attempt to walk out the door with it.
  
• Last weekend we took her temperature (rectally) a few times since she seemed to have a cold. Later in the day she pulled a chair up to the counter, got the thermometer down and attempted to take Baby's and Moo's temperatures (again rectally)...after feeling their keppes (heads) and telling us they felt hot.
• Pulling the blanket over her head and calling out "Nooooo" when the Hoos tries to get her up in the morning. And when he says "Do you want to stay in bed?" and she responds "N...Yessssssss."
  

And then there are some times that I am just not sure what she is thinking...

In case you couldn't tell from my post yesterday, I wasn't feeling great. I was tired, cranky, and have a cold. To say my butt was dragging by the time I got home at the end of the day would have been an understatement - more like, I needed a forklift to drag my butt around.

As I tried to get LP to eat some dinner, she was either challenging me at the wrong time (acting her age) or trying to lift my spirits (acting wise beyond her year). Maybe to her taking a mouthful of water from her sippy cup and slowly spitting it out all over herself is some hysterical new comedy routine? And perhaps asking for more tortellini and when I return to the room with a new plateful, spitting out a chewed one and them mooshing it up in her hands and sprinkling it all over the floor is performance art?

Another day of mommyhood. And yet I am still loving every minute of it.

I Need This

Today I have a couple of things to get off my chest.

To the people who just noticed that I look pregnant. No, it does not feel good for you to say to me "My gosh, you have really popped!" or "You look so much bigger than the last time I saw you!" I AM ALMOST SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT. I LOOK LIKE A PREGNANT PERSON IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK.

To be fair, the Hoos "forgets" that I am pregnant. When I say I am tired or it takes me a few extra seconds to straighten my back out after getting up from playing on the floor with LP, he asks if I am okay. I AM FINE. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT. (I know this sounds harsh, but I AM PREGNANT.)

Oh, and to my brain: Dude, it is okay to stop running at times. Because despite the fact that I "went to bed" at 9:30 last night, I did not sleep. It wasn't that you, Brain, were thinking about anything important or any of the items that are making me anxious (like fitting a zillion different plans into one weekend and preparing Bun's room and getting new furniture for LP's room) and coming up with brilliant solutions, rather you just ran in circles about nothing. Thanks for that.

I am still tired and cranky, but now I feel a little better for venting. It also helps that my bunny munchkin loves to give group hugs now and I keep envisioning us having a four-person group hug once little Bun arrives. That will feel good.

Drats! Foiled Again

Last night I was checking my email (I am a bit obsessive compulsive about it) and I had an email from a friend with a job opening at her company. Being eternally curious, I figured I might as well check it out.

Of course, it sounds like the perfect job for me. I kid you not, it combines my past experience, my current work and a whole bunch of my interests and it is about five miles from my house. Can you say frustrating?! Frustrating because I am quite pregnant (28 weeks and counting!) and intending on taking the summer off for maternity leave. Not exactly an employer's dream prospect.

If this job had come around a year ago, or even maybe 5 months ago when I wasn't so obviously pregnant, I would have been all over it like LP on sprinkles. Karma, fate, the winds, I am not so sure they are blowing my way. Or maybe they are...I went to the doctor yesterday and little Bun sounds strong and healthy and I survived the gestational diabetes glucose test without gagging or getting the shakes. I would definitely rather have all of the good energy on my side when it comes to my pregnancy and my kids than my professional development.

As an aside, why is it that little kids love sprinkles? They take more effort to eat than they are worth, they stick to your teeth and they don't even really taste. It must be the pretty colors. This comes up because yesterday LP helped me to decorate a batch of sugar cookies. If you mention "baking" to her, she immediately runs to the drawers in our kitchen, digs out her apron, throws mine at me, and drags a chair over to the counter so she can get to work. It makes me feel really good that she loves to cook as much as I do. Even though this means I am baking about twice a week when I used to do it only twice a year.

A Little Toughie

In lieu of a picture of me and my big old belly, would pictures of a cute little kid that kind of looks like me do?

Note how fabulous she looks in my flip-flops. Not that she can possibly walk in them.

All About Me: Day Two

Since yesterday was all about me, let's make today all about me too. Today, the topic is size.

For those of you that have never actually encountered me in person, and for those of you that have, let me remind you that I stand almost exactly at five feet tall. 60 inches is not a lot. And, keep in mind, I am not one of those tiny, tiny short girls. I am petite, but my hips have proven to be good for breeding, my bosom is ample, and my waist is about the same size as my inseam.

When not pregnant the distance between my breasts and pubic bone is about 7 or eight inches. Therefore, when pregnant there are not really a lot of directions for a baby to grow in. Up and the kid hits my ribs (and this baby hits my ribs and lungs, believe me); down, and well, that's not really supposed to happen until the end of the 40 week gestation period. Bun is growing out. I just measured from under my chest to the bottom of my belly and it is about 13 inches. Good thing my skin was already stretched from LP (ah, stretch marks, how I love thee). Yes, I look like there is a ball in my belly. And yes, there is only one baby and yes, I still have about 12 weeks to go, thanks for asking.

I believe I have mentioned before that seven kids in LP's day care class have become or will become older siblings in 2008. That means there are lots of pregnant moms. The other day the Hoos encountered one, "Aim, is Chloe's mom pregnant?" I confirmed his suspicion. "Um, how far along is she?" When I told him that she was due a few days after I was I could see him trying to hide his shock so I said,"She's tall." He began nodding emphatically, "Yes, she really is tall."

Going Gray

Over the past year or so I have noticed an exponential increase in the number of gray hairs proliferating on my head. It used to be I had one or two that I could pluck out and forget about. More recently I have discovered that there is just not enough time in the day to dislodge every new silver follicle popping up. My hair is naturally brown, with some natural reddish highlights (she says hopefully).

It appears that in addition to the evolving color of my hair, I have the challenge of evolving texture. Being pregnant my hair isn't really falling out. However, my hair never really grew in properly after the fabulous post-partum hair loss I experienced after giving birth to LP. I continue to have short hair in my bang area that like to unattractively swoop and bushy hair on the back of my head that sort of curls/waves up in layers. I can see everyone squinting, trying to imagine just what the heck I am talking about; trust me, it ain't pretty. To the right is a relatively recent picture that still doesn't do the fuzziness justice.

Most of the gray appears to be underneath the top layer - which causes the dilemma of 'do I pony tail and show off the gray? or do I leave it down and show off the fabulous, half-ass curls that arrived along with LP?'

Yes, I have tried to cut it into shape, but I really want to be able to put my hair in a ponytail when Bun arrives. And I tried shorter not too long ago and it doesn't really work with the curly/puffiness that my new hair offers (see this photo). Probably the most likely fix would be to actually put some hair care products into my hair and blow dry it in the morning. And we all know, that ain't gonna happen. What probably will happen are some fabulous new highlights once I pop Bun out. I won't be covering my gray per say, I will just be offering it the opportunity to "be a better you."

Jibber Jabber

LP has become a little chatterbox. I would say that about 75% of the time I know what she is saying. She thinks she is saying something understandable 100% of the time. Last night she stood at the back door and repeated the same sentence at least 5 times, each time more insistently and I could not understand even a single word. All I could figure out was that she didn't want to show me something specific since she didn't push me toward anything.

Some highlights:

1. "AMY!" When "Mommy" doesn't work she yells out my name. I don't think she knows it is my name, I think she believes it means "LISTEN TO ME!"
2. "Lunch" Any time she wants to eat. She can wake up in the morning, look at me and say it; or she can finish eating and want more and shout it. Also, if you mention that it is time for lunch, she will run over to the dining room, climb up into a chair and being lightly pounding the table and calling for it.
3. "I sowy" I blogged about this last week, but she definitely thinks it means excuse me. When she dumped Cheerios all over my car and I told her to say she was sorry she started to cry. When the Hoos' feet are in her way she tells them "I sowy."
   
4. Food terms are also very popular with her. She has "water," "juice," "berries" and "corn" down, in addition to "Cheeries" for Cheerios and "Cakes" and a host of other edible items. I think "cuppy" for cup also falls into this category.
   
5. Body parts. LP can say just about every body part and identify all of them on her own or someone else's body. Daddy doesn't like her pointing to his "Boobies" or "Butt" much, although she does typically say "tush" for her rear and I swear she knows that "keppe" is Yiddish for head.
6. Speaking of other languages, prefers to count in Spanish. And yesterday during "Spanish class" she had everyone cracking up as she very loudly exclaimed "HOLA! ESTA!" for como esta.
7. "Nappies" are blankets and "Baby" and "Moo" are her baby doll and cow. If you ask what Baby's name is she says "Niy" or something that sounds like it. Actually, if you ask her the name of anything she will tell you "Niy". I don't know if that is how she says name or if she just likes it.
8. Her friends. LP talks about all of her school friends at home. And she has already given them nicknames! "Buvy" and "Kate" are abbreviations of the names of two of her little buddies.
   

The list could go on and on. But, really, the best part is actually hearing her say these things. She really is a little muffin.

My Mouth, My Foot: Fast Friends

I have blogged before about how I am a dweller, mentally beating myself up for things that I could have done or said differently. The same post discusses how I am overly empathetic, feeling such empathy or embarrassment for characters in works of fiction that I have to turn away. Yet, despite these acknowledgements, I continue to suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.

A few weeks ago a mom I know that recently miscarried late in her pregnancy approached me with a container of formula, asking me if I wanted it. She caught me off guard, I was in the middle of a conversation, and I must have given her an odd look as I shook my head and said, "No, thanks," thinking to myself that I intend to nurse Bun and really had no need for it at this point. A few seconds after she hurriedly left the room it occurred to me how much more compassionate I could have been. She was just trying to get the free samples that randomly show up in the mail out of her house. I should have just taken the freaking container and chucked it if I didn't want it. Doh! What a crappy person I am. To be honest, I was so thrown off that I didn't even connect all of the dots when she initially asked.

Later in the evening I gave her a call to apologize. I really felt just awful. She was embarrassed, thinking I thought she was offering me the formula for LP, who has obviously outgrown the stuff. I mean, really, how was she supposed to know that I try to exclusively breastfeed. I felt better after talking with her, but I still can't get the episode out of my mind.

I have also blogged about my complete awe of stay-at-home moms. Seriously, these women amaze me. There are dozens of reasons that I couldn't/wouldn't be a full-time stay at home mom and I hold women that take on this charge in the highest regard. Unfortunately, when I encounter one, like this past weekend when we ran into a colleague of the Hoos' and his family, I tend to say something stupid. Instead of saying, "I commend you, I know it is really hard work." I said something like, "I don't know how you do it, I would go crazy." I really don't intend for this to sound derogatory or condescending. In the moment, in my cluttered, sleep-deprived head, they sound identical, but of course, they aren't.

I know that in general it would be smarter to be more thoughtful and contemplative when caught off guard. I should take the time to think about a situation and collect my thoughts before responding. Maybe that will be my "new month resolution".

We Have Babies!

Relax, relax, I have not gone into premature labor. Nor have they determined that there is a twin hidden in my uterus (although some days I imagine I must look like I am carrying twins). Rather, one of our fish gave birth last night.

Over the weekend the Hoos bought some Black Mollies to add to our fish tank. Has was very excited as one of the three he purchased was pregnant and Mollies give live birth, as opposed to most fish which lay eggs. He had them when he was growing up and remembers being thrilled to have baby fish.

Last night while I was in class, he and LP were looking in the aquarium when they noticed that the pregnant female had slimmed down considerably. The Hoos was disappointed that he had missed the actual labor and delivery but even more upset that no babies were apparent in the tank. Apparently the other fish view the baby Mollies as food. All of a sudden LP starts yelling out "Baby! Baby!" and pointing at a rock on the bottom of the tank. Sure enough, after some searching, five little guppies have survived and were hiding out. The Hoos and LP are very excited. Hopefully this bodes well for LP's response to a new human baby in the house.

Cha-Cha-Cha

After a totally disappointing Friday of being stuck in the house as my car was in the shop, the weekend was quite a pleasure. My parents came up on Saturday and spent the afternoon with LP and me. We lunched, she snuggled, we partied like rockstars. That evening my brother-in-law and his family came over for dinner. LP inserted herself into the play of her three exuberant older cousins.

For some reason she follows her older male cousin, O, around like a puppy. When his little brother was playing with a book that LP wanted and she started to cry, instead of running to Mommy or Daddy she ran to O, held her arms up, and said "Uppy!" He obliged and then looked around at the grown-ups, "Now what?"

Sunday the sun was shining, even if the temperatures were not exactly warm and cozy. Looking for an activity that would help LP expend energy, get all three of us out of the house and hopefully help us enjoy the pleasant brightness, we went to the Stamford Museum and Nature Center. We have never been before, and they were having their annual Maple Sugar Festival. It turns out that the Center is a working farm with horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, alpacas and a whole host of other animals - including a very entertaining river otter. They also had lots of events and activities - both inside and out. LP especially enjoyed the free popcorn. If you are a local, I highly recommend checking the Center out.

Today was an event I have been anticipating for weeks - our cleaning lady is back! Woo-hoo! She was visiting her family for a month in Slovakia and just returned. She even showed up EARLY at 8:40 instead of 9. Yippeee!!! After greeting her, LP and I packed up and left the house, both to get out of her way and to take advantage of having the car back and run some errands.

Of course, the biggest errand was an unplanned one. WE GOT LP'S HAIR CUT!!! I happened to pass one of the places that specializes in "Kid Cuts" and decided to run in and see if they had any openings. They were able to squeeze us in at 11:45, so after LP and I spent some time running around Barnes and Noble, we went back and sat her cute little butt into a pink Barbie Jeep chair.

She was a very good girl and it only took about 5 minutes for them to complete her cut and take my $25. I know, a total rip-off. If I had known how little they would end up cutting I wouldn't have wasted the money. But, I guess it was worth it since she liked sitting in the car, they put a butterfly clip in her hair that she kept in until we got to the car, her bangs no longer fall into her eyes, she got her picture taken and they gave us a little baggy with her locks. Now I know better and next time we go to our regular haircutter or we do it ourselves. I would take a picture, but you probably won't be able to tell the difference.