Being at home is hardest when...

she's bored and i'm low on ideas
there's no other adult to talk to
i need to work but she wants my attention
she won't nap
she plays with the toys i've just cleaned up
i don't understand what she wants
she can't talk
she whines a lot
daddy has to work late

i work harder and longer now
than i did for my paid job
that i left willingly

the hard days challenge me
but i'm endlessly amazed
at just how happy i am
to be home
with her

Oh, the places you'll go!

Lizzy's new discovery: using a stool to climb onto things.

I just had to share this series of photos I took today because it is just so darn funny. The whole series was taken in a matter of seconds.

She must have seen me using this stool in the last couple of days. Today she found it and once she figured out how to assemble it (I'm not kidding!) she carried it to all kinds of places! Here she is at her highchair. Oh, and contrary to what this looks like, I *do* feed her. real food, in fact!

and then she was stuck and needed help from "mah-mah!"

I'm having visions of her climbing onto countertops, refrigerators, you name it---getting into absolutely everything I wouldn't expect nor want her to get into.

A whole new level of parenting, literally.

O, my smart little problem solver!

Re: Toddlers, Expect the Unexpected

It's a funny thing--the more time I spend with my dear Lizzy, the more I realize that the following skills are not only useful, but required to stay sane:

a) Keep wipes with you at all times.

b) Keep diapers with you at all times.

c) Ditto for the extra outfit (even with those wipes and diapers, you can forget it when DD's digestive tract has other plans.

d) Don't leave sippy cup on roof of car while driving.

e) If you do, keep extra sippy cup/s with you at all times.

f) Remember: your purse is not a toy.

g) If purse is (or somehow becomes) a toy, for the love of all that is holy, do not store wallet in said purse!

h) If wallet is in purse, and purse placates DD (i.e., becomes a toy), then keep all monies (paper, plastic, or metals) and important checks out of said wallet/purse ensemble.

i) If money, wallet, and purse fall into child's hands, face it: you're screwed.

j) Don't buy DD new shoes with fancy step-lights if you are immediately going to take her to the beach and let her run around near the water.

k) If this happens, better keep extra shoes with you at all times.

l) And a toy that will cheer her up when she discovers that her shoes no longer flash and look pretty.

m) If you take DD to a restaurant, don't linger over the menu's juicy adjectives and become indecisive over which daily special to try--your toddler only has a short window, people. Have you seen those high chairs? a little padding might help. and god forbid that those actually get cleaned...(restauranteurs take note) Who can blame the little tykes...I mean, would you want to sit in those things for any period of time? I didn't think so.

n) When dining with DD in public, don't fret about using your (washed) fingers if you need to assist your child (who is, let's face it, messy and only beginning to learn how to feed herself). Nevermind the obvious sideways glances from that nearby childless table. They clearly need better conversation skills. or a more entertaining date.

o) Bring stroller with you everywhere.

p) Otherwise you will be forced to carry (or chase) DD everywhere you go.

q) If DD gets sick of being strapped in stroller, allow her to run around in a safe area for a little while to burn off some energy.

r) By "run around in a safe area," I do not mean the mall, the grocery store, any restaurant, or any beach.

s) Be real: you need to strategically plan your errands around the location of the following: preschool parks, any local relatives and/or friends' houses, and several fast-food joints with play areas.

t) If visiting any of these locations, see a-c above and bring twice what you think you need.

u) If you don't have time to stop anywhere to let child run around and take a play break, avoid these places like the plague! One chance glance of the MickeyD's Play Place may send your restless, confined child into a fit!

v) If perchance, while out and about, you encounter other young toddlers, don't allow these sweet (but unknown to you) children kiss or otherwise slobber on your child's face.

w) When it's the overzealous parents of unknown children who are demanding kisses and such (between the kids, not you two!), get in there and do what you need to do to protect your Precious little one. Lie if you have to. ("I'm sorry, but my DD has a cold...") Don't let the "aw, but it's so cute when they do that" or the "argh!...but I don't want to hurt their feelings or offend anyone" in-your-head discussions take over your brain.

x) When going out shopping, always remeber how much room the stroller occupies in your vehicle and buy only that which can fit in addition to the stroller. (see o and p above).

y) Accept that sometimes following these items and more will still not be enough.

z) Most importantly,know that this (item y) is normal, okay, and completely part of the process. You'll get through it. And heck, you may even laugh at it all. someday. maybe.


If nothing else, remember that the only thing you can expect of your young toddler is, quite frankly, the unexpected.


I'll leave you with a quote:

"Being a parent is unlike any previous job--the results of any one action are not clearly visible for a long time, if at all."

-Anonymous mother

Technorati tags: toddlers, parenting

Dizzy Miss Lizzy

I'm still alive---just took a mini "vacation" from the blogosphere. DH was out of the country on business for 10 days. Felt more like 20. We had a massive heat wave, an ant invasion, joined a mom's group, bought a car, and ... and ... and... Well, here's the haps in brief:


1. We went to our first playgroup & joined a local mother's club--more on this in a separate post--suffice to say that the ladies are friendly and they have a lot of fun activities planned. I'm looking forward to meeting all of them--there's about 40 moms. Mom's Night Out should be one big Par-tay!

2. I finally got my laptop fixed and back from MyCorp. Turns out that Lizzy's coffee cup jamboree shorted out the motherboard (boo hoo!) but didn't harm the precious hard drive (woo hoo!). New motherboad, and all's good. Plus, I never did tell them the sad, sad story of how it all happened. Of course, someone, somewhere in computer fix-it-land knows. My computer reeked of coffee, and the brown, sticky evidence was all over my poor computer's innards.

3. Treadmill's working out great! Still trying to work up to being able to run again. It's going to take time. My (first) goal is to be able to run for 30 min. (see, I told you I was WAY out of shape).

4. Outdoor kitty is doing much better. I finally got her in the house for a couple of days. To get her to eat & drink, I added some warm water to canned tuna, and that seemed to do the trick. She's finally eating normally and isn't so sluggish. Kitties may have come from the desert, but that doesn't mean they can take 110-114 degree heat for several days. At least not my 10-year-old one. poor lil' aged feline.

5. Not really an event, more a random rambling: Ever heard the old Beatles (cover) song, Dizzy Miss Lizzy? ("You make me dizzy miss Lizzy, the way you rock and roll..."). It's not about a child--well, maybe it is, but that's another post (any Alton Brown fans out there? I love his stuff, but I digress...). The song is more about a boy going cuckoo over some girl. hey, it's an early beatles cover tune; they all kind of touch on this subject. Anyway, the title line makes me smile and think of how cuckoo Lizzy sometimes makes ME feel! :) She's so "go-go-go!" all the time. Which is so cute and so...tiring! I love how active she is and that her mind and body are so curious, energetic, and fearless. It's challenging, but so very satifying. That's more than I could say for the paid job that I just left. (I warned you that this was random & rambling!)

6. I'm currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Never read it before. (ahem.) Yes, I know that I have a graduate degree in English....but I just never read it before. I don't know how that happened. but now that I'm almost finished with said book, I begin to wonder the same thing: Why didn't any of my professors assign this wonderful book??? It's a disgrace. And here's the real kicker: I've never seen the movie either.

7. There's more, but I want to get this posted. I started writing this entry a couple of days ago, but blogger shut down while I was composing, so I had to try and recapture my original execptional wittiness. didn't work. stupid blogger.

:)