The Wind Storm

We got hit with a heck of a storm last night. Lost power from 11:00 PM until 6:50 AM. Tree branches down, junk blowing all over the neighborhood, junk in my pool, etc. And, the cherry on top of the fun was that the smoke detector in my room went bad last night- as in something was making it just randomly go off, scaring the piss out of two of my three kids (Anaya slept through the whole thing, how, I have no idea. Note to self, if there is ever a fire, someone will need to wake Anaya and get her out of the house). We had to disconnect the stupid thing. Not a big deal, but a pain in the ass WHEN THERE ARE NO LIGHTS. Avery's heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest, she was so scared. Avery wound up spending the rest of the night with Frank & I, and was still asleep when we left.

This morning, trying to get the kids dressed was obnoxious as well. They were afraid of the dark, and unlike most mornings I couldn't wake them and send them
downstairs on their own, because it was too dark. I did, however, get a shower, because miracles of miracles, the hot water heater stored a decent amount of hot water at a pretty good temperature.

The lights came on just as I was getting out, 20 minutes later than usual. Then the normal kid drop-offs, exacerbated by Adeline missing her bus. And finally I made it to work about 30 minutes late. Have fun with this storm when it gets to you.

Picture Time!

I took Anaya to get her pictures taken this weekend. She hasn’t had her picture taken professionally since she was 2. Since then, whenever we stepped into a studio, she’s had a complete melt-down. I think it was the pressure of being told what to do and where to sit and how to smile and all that. She’s very obstinate. This time, she made it through the shoot, and her picture actually came out really cute. I hate to be biased, but Anaya is probably the prettiest of my kids. When you catch her in the right mood, she can be really photogenic.

Drama Mama

My oldest is a complete drama mama. Everything she does is a production; either it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her or the absolute worst. This morning there was a huge amount of drama over her school clothes. Now, she’s in 1st grade in a public school. But, luckily (or so I thought) it’s a uniform dress-code school, so getting dressed should be pretty easy. We even take the guess work out of it by keeping her “school clothes” separate from her other clothes. Also, this is the same school she went to last year, and she’s been in school now for almost two months this year. Today though, she wanted to wear some non-uniform clothes to school. She cried and whined and basically dragged her feet for 15 minutes while getting a shirt on. All of her uniform shirts (i.e. collared polo-type shirts in light blue, white or navy) were suddenly “too big” or “too itchy.” So I told her to put on an undershirt, and that was deemed “too hot.” It didn’t help much that her sister, Anaya, who goes to pre-school daily, was flaunting the fact that she got to wear her new shirt to school today. A fabulous costume type t-shirt that made it look like she was a cowgirl. All the getting dressed drama made her miss the bus, and pretty much put a icky spin on my day.

In other thoughts, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Obama proposal to lengthen the school year and school day. Personally, I think it’s a fantastic plan, but this is a whole ‘nother blog all on it’s own, soon to come.

Competitive Preschools or They Must Be Different in the Big City

I had the chance to watch Nursery University this weekend, onDemand (thank goodness for that handy little invention, I’d never get to watch movies otherwise. Seriously, OnDemand and Tivo have changed my life). Its about the insane process of getting your child into “the right” preschool in New York City. How “the right” preschool can feed your child into “the right kindergarten” and then forward all the way to the Ivy Leagues. My husband was actually home before midnight, so we watched it together, completely astonished by the antics of these parents. Hiring advisors to tweak their submissions packages. Stalking the admissions officers. Name dropping so much that you could build a castle with all the blocks of bullshit they were dropping. One of the Dads, who I shall call “Tool in the Tie” because he wore a tie all movie, was so tightly wound about the whole issue, I thought he was going to have an aneurysm. His kid (very cute kid, btw), managed to get into all 8 schools that she applied to. Tool in the Tie almost cried, he was so happy. The Token Black Family, from Harlem, took a more laid-back approach, applied to one school and got in. These are preschool programs for kids who are 2 and 3 years old. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Competitive Parenting at it’s finest.

I work full time, so my kids go to a sitter. I had the luxury of having a nanny last year, while my youngest was between the ages of three months to one year. This year, the oldest is in kindergarten, and goes to a school summer day camp. The younger two go to an in-home private daycare. Next year, because Child #2 misses the cut-off, she’ll go to preschool instead of kindergarten. Even though she knows her letters (upper case and lower and knows the sounds they make) and numbers. She’s socially very young, so a year of preschool will do her good. And, I get to send her for the fabulous price of $175 a week. At this point, I pay more in daycare than I do in mortgage payments (we have a really low 30 year fixed mortgage). If we didn’t have kids, my mortgage would be paid off in ten years or less. The Oldest didn’t go to preschool. It didn’t really effect her in school. She’s one of those kids who got on the bus the first day and never looked back. No separation anxiety. By the second week of school, she was the mayor of that place. Everyone knew who she was. Child #3 is still a bit of a puzzle. Right now, she’s staying put in the in-home, mostly because she’s aggressive. She bites, and pushes. At home, she’s just holding her own so that her sisters don’t take her stuff. At daycare, she still doesn’t let other kids push her around. She’s the boy I don’t have.

A Day In The Life Of A Quasi-Single Mom

Quasi-Single Mom- A Mom who pretty much single parents even though I have a husband. He's just never home. It's OK sometimes, because the house runs like I want it to run, with very few interuptions, but it gets lonely.

Today was a normal day. The older two were up by 7:00 AM. They don't even bother us in the mornings now. They just get up, go downstairs and watch Disney. Adeline, the oldest of the three, usually gets the drinks (she's quite skilled at pouring and correctly assembling sippy cups). I did yell this morning, because the TV was too loud, but other than that, it was good. Avery didn't start hollering until 8:00, so I actually got to sleep in (pathetic what passes for sleeping in when there are kids in the house). She hasn't started walking yet, or attempting to climb out of the crib, but it's only a matter of time. If the pattern holds true, I'll have her in a bed by the time shes a year and a half.

At some point around 9:30, Frank got up and went to work.

Around 10:30, Avery was ready for a nap. This meant the older two could go swimming. The swim was cut short though when they decided to throw rocks into my pool. They were promptly pulled from the pool and told to stay outside until they were dried off. Apparently, my sprinkler system is screwed up, because they came inside 45 minutes later and covered with grass and dirt from the sprinklers. Where was I this whole time? Hiding in my room, attempting to nap. Hey, we have fences, they're fine out back alone.

At 2:00, we made the weekly run to Walmart. I have to say, Walmart is evil. I really don't like it, but it's too cheap to bypass. Avery is still on formula, even though she's over a year, because of skin issues. This means that I'm still running to the store every two weeks or so to stockpile soy formula.

When we got home, Avery turned into evil child, and attacked her sisters over and over again. Anaya was the main target, since Adeline usually has the piece of mind to get up and out of reach. Avery likes to pull hair. Today was lots of hair pulling and head smacking, all the while yelling "Stop!" as she pulled. I used to think that Anaya was the devil incarnate, but Avery may be taking that title.

The final reprieve came at 8:00, when they finally went to bed. I settled on the couch to watch TV, capping off a pretty normal day in my life. It's after 11:00, and my husband still isn't home. I single parented all day.