The Time of My Life

This week's issue of Time rocks! I am savoring it and really impressed with what I have read so far.

Preggers abounds

Not me. Although today I caught myself daydreaming about how I would tell people if I was. But yesterday we hung out with not one but THREE pregnant women, one of whom is pregnant with twins! Once again a new crop of pregnant women has sprung up in my life. In fact I feel like I might be the only woman I know who isn't. There has been a great posting and comments recently on urbanmamas about the whens and whys concerning baby number two. It has been really helpful to me as I consider the possibility. In any case, Mizz had a great time with all that feminine attention. First we set sail to the Cadillac Cafe for breakfast. Unfortunately, due to timing issues we had to grab the brunch to go and speed back to the house to meet my knitting friends for some serious gabbing and some knitting. Mizz played the perfect host and entertained everyone by distributing stickers to everyone and then trying to throw several only to have them stick to his hand (think a cat with tape on its paw); it was really funny. He is so silly and adorably, a little shy at first. It blows me away that he is already different around different people. He's growing up so much, but not so much that I am ready to start all over again yet.

Winter's Cruel, Cruel Joke

It has been so beautiful as of late. I saw Mount Hood, Helens, and Ranier today with crystal-like clarity or whatever. They were spectacular and it made me want to go hiking really badly. But with the clear skies, have come big winds. And Mizz isn't into it. I can't bring myself to subject him to too much of it, when his little eyes are tearing up. But we have had lots of indoor fun. We have been going to the indoor play park weekly--I've got to remember to bring the camcorder. Also, Mizz is developing more balance and we have been horseying around the house (need video of that too). We have stacked just about everything we can stack that's not breakable or too messy. We play ring around the rosy (even though it is a sad sad song that is about the plague and it makes my heart hurt everytime we sing it. I do know that I need to get a grip). Stickers are a staple. Mizz is more interesting in throwing and stacking his markers than actually coloring but he does like watching me draw. Today he got really surprised when he bit the crayon and broke a piece off. Serves him right. In other earth shattering news, Mizz is also seriously impressed with his ability to wield and use a fork. He chuckles everytime he loads a piece onto the fork. It is hilarious to watch and pretty darn exciting since it generally less messy procedure than hands to mouth to head to food to mouth to floor. Today he also learned the sign for help and has been using and responding to it. I hope it starts to replace some of the wah-wah-wahhing. We'll see.

Let the rumpus begin

Mizz visited a new classroom today and will be transitioning to it full time next week. It blows my mind, because it looks like a real classroom, with cubbies (that the kids can access!?!) and real, live potties and sinks. We might just make a civilized being out of him yet. They also don't use sippy cups, which explains why he came home in a different outfit than he started in. I can't believe it. There are trashcans for him to topple and blinds for him to yank and tons of toys, crafts, and other exciting things that I don't have to clean up! YES! He apparently had a great day and took a long nap. He must have been tired after playing all morning with the big kids. He is definitely ready for the change, now I just have to get my head around it.

I'm mortified

I'm mortified that I have used the word "geez" not once, but twice in recent postings. How gross.

Miss you much

Sigh. I miss Dave. Geez it's only been two, three days but it feels like an eternity. I think it's because he is going to be gone for two weeks so beginning a countdown at this point is ridiculous/really depressing. Mizz misses him too, in the mornings and the evenings especially (duh, that is when he usually sees him). I am hoping that his recent antics are simply just a sublimation of his pent up sadness for Dave, and not signs of his impending twoness. I can dream right? We did have a spectacular time at the zoo today, and I even let the beast out to do some canoodling with the other beasts. Granted Mizz was more interested in imitating the spinning ceiling fan than hobnobbing with the elephants, but what can you expect--his dad is a mechanical engineer after all. We saw the tigers and leopards amazingly up close while they chomped and licked huge snow balls. Very adorable and they really are beatiful animals. Like lots of people, my frequent zoo trips are dialectical in nature (Gina and Nicole are you reading?). While obviously it is sad for creatures like chimpanzees and cougars to get a pen the size of my house lot, I feel so lucky that I get a chance to see them and learn about them. Dave, in his ever optimistic way, hypothesizes that seeing them in person makes people care about them and therefore more likely to make efforts to protect the little habitat they have left. I hope so. Apparently it was a wildlife kind of day. Dave called this morning to report that he and Rick got to watch whales playing as they ate their breakfast. Eh? So what? I got to tote around the loudest toddlerus primatius all day long.

Heart shaped Goodness

The people at Reese's (ok Hershey's) love us so much that they have created heart shaped wonders full of peanut butter goodness. They are even better than the cups and I can't figure out if it is just the shape that is tricking me or if the texture is actually different. Or maybe they are just so fresh because of the seasonality of them. Or maybe it is the love. In any case, I command all of you to eat one. Yum.

Dear Dad

I am sorry for all I put you through when I was a kid. I now have a new level of appreciation for you and understanding of what it feels like to be stunned (and furious) by your child's misbehavior. While I understand it is totally normal (ie developmentally appropriate), in the moment, it is pretty darn infuriating to deal with your toddler's repeated disobeying. After all I do for him and how much I love him? How's that for Jewish mama guilt. Lukily Mizz has no concept of shame or guilt yet, although I suppose I wouldn't mind him developing some guilt...But no, right now, he still mischieviously gleams at me as he yanks blinds down and tosses his dinner on the floor only to so sweetly ask for more. And now, when I sit him down to talk to me, he only wants to hug and kiss me. Not so fast mister, I'm on to you! And once again, Dad, sorry and thanks for not killing me.

My favorite new products

You'll notice a new link on the right hand side of the page. I just found the blog in a quest for a picture of my beloved Converse that I bought recently. The shoes are the Product Red and are so groovy with their red detailing. But even more groovy is all that went into the concepting and manufacturing and then giving back that goes into one single purchase. You can get a better idea what I mean if you check out the blog; it's really pretty interesting stuff. In any case, I had been thinking of buying Chucks for a long time and when I saw this product, the decision was easy. And that's the point. We all buy things (some more than others) all the time. But we have choices with each purchase including the materials, the place of purchase, and as with Product Red, whether or not the company gives back to the community (whether locally or globally). Even before that though hopefully all of us consider, whether or not we should try to borrow it rather than buy it or buy it used? My original idea for this posting was to simply list some of the things that have made me happy recently (the Chucks, my Nikon, Tom's of Maine deorderant (no icky antipersperant and remarkably effective and great feeling--it is the best!). I feel good when I buy thoughtful purchases and I know many others that do as well. It's even a neat marketing trick, because people are often willing to pay more for such items (I highly recommend Aveda's $16.00 Be Curly). While I have become more conscious of dollars than I ever have before since becoming a mom, I have become even more conscious of the impact all of us have on today's children and their future. Oh geez, it's so hard to write thoughts like that down without sounding like a cheeseball. I think you get the point though.

It just occurred to me...

I'm in a select (special?) group of people that can truly say that work is psychotic and mean it both literally and clinically. I am working from home today and I gotta say, making calls on the futon is the way to go. My "work" clothes look suspiciously similar to my sleep/watch tv clothes. Hmm...the only problem with this set up is that I am dangerously close to the kitchen and procrastination often ends up with me eating. Also, I am probably not going to invite any clients over any time soon, um ever.

Oops he did it again..

Ear infection number seven and counting. Last night brought me mind numblingly back to the early weeks of babyhood and inconsolable crying (sorry pregnant women reading this). It was heart poundingly difficult as I first ruled out any major medical problems (I forgot to mention that I got a medical degree online last year) and then realized, that no he is not suffering from an aneurysm, he is simply so hopelessly worked up that it took A LOT of comforting and distraction techniques before he got it all worked out of his system. He would calm down and then rear up again. It was really difficult and didn't exactly bring out the best in Dave or myself (because we were tired and freaked out). Ironically I had just bragged the other day about what a great sleeper he is and he is, except when he is sick. And boy he is sick, he has ear infection in the right ear AND RSV. So today he got a shot of an antibiotic and has to go back to the doctors office for two more shots. It's somehat comical when the doc wondrously announces that your child has something other than an ear infection. Needless to say, we are scheduled for ear tube surgery at the end of March because enough is enough. The poor guy is sick once again, and while I know lots of kids get colds all the time, getting a cold and then an ear infection and all the pain and fever associated with it just plain sucks. And while his speech, may or not be delayed due to his ears, this way we can just take that whole variable right out of the equation.

Great, then why am I so stressed? Oh yeah, exhaustion, concern about the Mizz, Dave leaving for two weeks, and work being incredibly complicated right now. I will just have to breathe, hug Max, and knit a lot.

BLIZZARD 2007

Weather Alert! Storm Team 12! Sheets of Ice! Weather that can change in an instant! Ahhh! As the local TV station put it, sledding injuries are "piling up" in the hospitals. It's been a funny day listening to the radio and tv reports. Portland Public Schools are getting reamed for closing too late. Last week they were in trouble for being too conservative. The local interviews with the public are highly illuminating and most likely will generate a comprehensive solution to the problem in no time. As for driving in inclement weather, the experts are recommending to clear the snow from your windshield first, hold the coffee cup in your left hand so you can talk on your phone with your right hand, and drive at a speed that seems reasonable to you. Enjoy the snow (BLACK ICE!) and be safe.

Have I got a cure for you...

Reading this NY Times article simply reinforces my tendency to be suspicious of all cures be they prescription or natural. I wonder how many "adverse reactions" have gone unreported from supplements. I know how much money people spend on them and I also know how desperate people are in our society for an easy fix (preferable in the form of an easy to swallow once a day tablet).

Snow!

It's unbelievably beautiful outside right now. Where is all this snow coming from? I bet the folks in Klamath Falls are grumbling about global warming right now, as in "yea right". I am pretty psyched about the snow, if only for its teaching purposes. I'm guessing Mizz would have a hard time getting the concept of it from a book. I'm guessing around 2:00 or so I am going to have to bundle us up and escape the house. I'm already feeling claustrophobic and it is only 9:30. Mizz just went down for an early nap, which once again means I could be in for a long afternoon. Wah. Enough for now, I am going go drink some coffee on the porch and watch the skidding.

You learn something everyday...

I just learned that if you click on the pictures in the blog they get bigger. Super cool. The family and I chickened out of family portraits yesterday (Dave and I outvoted the Mizz) due to the expense, effort, and almost guaranteed cheesiness of such an undertaking. I am really pleased with my pics today and figure I can rig up some sort of tripod for ole bessie (my Nikon) and capture a moment of family bliss.

I broke down and bought the Mizz a leash, er harness, today. It's all Alma's fault. She had to go blog about it and after two minutes of consideration I decided that I had to go out and buy one immediately. I bought the doggie backpack harness system. I would have bought the monkey one if it had been in stock, but the dog is pretty cute and offers a handy retort when some smart ass makes a comment about me leashing my kid. At this point, I figure it's fine to do as long as Mizz isn't talking. Just kidding. He makes his feelings and suggestions known quite clearly without having to utter a single word. Of course many dogs do too...But anyway, my thinking is that Mizz doesn't always want to be contained, I like to walk, and this way we both get what we want with Mizz's safety in mind. We'll test drive it tomorrow.

In keeping with the learning theme, I am reading the Bookseller of Kabul and it is tale after tale of sadness taking place in a very sad country. It was written in 2002 and its currentness is jarring. What a mess. I recommend it to anyone looking for a first hand account of what it is like to live in Afganistan even though it is written by a Western journalist.

Fun weekend=Exhaustion

We sauntered down to our local cafe yesterday and enjoyed some good eats. While it wasn't particularly relaxing, Dave and I recognize that we have to socialize the beast. Just think what a restaurant experience would look like in a couple of years with a five year old that had never been to one. So despite the lack of highchairs, we even unleashed him from his stroller and let him have at it. OK, it wasn't total freedom. We were very lucky and basically scored the back wall of the restaurant. From our booth we made a blockade with the toy box they so generously provided and his stroller. I got to eat salmon frittata with truffle aioli sauce and Mizz got to play with new shiny things. Perfecto. Mizz apparently mistaked the stickers I had saved for the occasion for dessert and kept trying to eat them. He is developing a pretty big fondness for sticker activity books but is not very inspired by blank sheets of paper yet. My dreams of him becoming an artist aren't looking too good at this point, but who knows, he still has time to figure it all out I suppose.

Today we dragged ourselves to the mall for a book for baby sign language and new shoes for the Mizz. Mizz has been making a repeating signs like crazy recently. Who knew? Now I feel bad Dave and I didn't start earlier. He signs milk, more, please, and eat. I am going to teach him star, cat, and help this week. I also found the Mizz snack jackpot. Whole freeze dried raspberries. That boy can put away some berries. He ate a whole cup of frozen strawberries yesterday and today would have eaten the whole bag of raspberries if we let him. I take probably way too much pleasure in how well he eats.

Pics, Pics, Pics!

I couldn't resist adding these. And because I like to brag, take a good look at the second pic. I made that sweater and it involved following a lot of directions. Dave helped.

It has been freezing here for days (I mean that literally, not in my usual hyperbole style) so we have had snow and patches of ice to play with in our yard. Mizz is not entirely thrilled with snow and I can't blame him. It is freezing! Today after playing outside we came in and took off our shoes and peeled off our layers and made puddles on the floor and I suddenly thought I was seven years old again. I remember playing in the snow until I was sopping wet and burning from the cold. Man, those were the days where fun trumped comfort.

CDs are obsolete

The fam and I went to our local music store today with 100 CDS to hock. We made out with $70. Yikes. I got a little sick when I thought about how much money I spent on them mostly while working my butt off propelling a bus around Charlottesville. It was a weird experience because I definitely felt like a chapter of my life was turning. I am pretty sure I am not going to be spending hours in record store any time soon. At this point, I can barely make time to listen to music that doesn't rhyme let alone sift through acres of shelves looking for new albums. And then there's the fact, that with my ipod, I don't even want CDS anymore, they are space eaters and dust collectors. So, bye bye CD (wave to the CD, Mizz!)!

Jewish Mamas can talk!

I went to a Jewish moms (JMamas) gathering today and had a great time. It is always startling and really interesting to rediscover how easily at ease I am with other Jewish people. I always think back to a crazy social psych professor I had who applied wave theory to personality measures in order to determine whether or not people would resonate with each other. I can't quantify it (and don't really want to) but I am definitely aware of when the phenomenon strikes. Jewish people like to meet so they can talk and talk and talk. We sometimes talk over each other because we get excited. I have wanted to meet other Jews ever since moving to Portland and never quite got up the energy to do so. In true Jewish form, we have already made preliminary plans for a big feast, although it is months away (celebrating the last day of Passover with a potluck seder)! I can't wait to celebrate my favorite holidays with other families.

Other things I am grateful for: finishing Mizz sweater (it fits!!!), getting Adobe Photoshop Elements (can we say procrastination?), and the unbelievable fact that Mizz and me somehow escaped the stomach dirge that sent four puking kids home from his class. Thank you great spirit of the world.

And as always, my friends and family.

The Mizzle of Skaville

This is what every day with Mizz feels like to me.

Mad props to my video editor, Dave.

Here's another example of Mizz getting helpful.

Toddler City

Thank god for indoor play parks. Mizz and I rolled down the street today to check out the indoor park FIVE BLOCKS away. Yes! It is open everyday, costs one dollar, and we can walk there. It is close to this mama's idea of heaven--the only thing that would have made it better would have been margaritas. Juat kidding. It was so fun playing basketball with Mizz--which nicely encompasses his old love of putting things into something else, and his new love of balls. He shrieks with delight and will run like a maniac after them. It was hilarious to watch all the tots propel various types of kid vehicles around the gym. Mizz even got to practice fueling up a car and made himself wild by going up and down the slide so many times. Another cool bonus was that when we got there it was all boys. I got to see Mizz in his element, meaning six active boys running around reveling in their athleticism. Mizz was particularly enraptured by an older guy pedaling around on a trike. Mizz has only mastered pushing himself backward at this point, but he has a blast doing it.

The second half of the day was not nearly as fun as we waited nearly 45 mins for a resident to get to us to explain what we had already faxed over so that we could then wait some more for the doc to tell us what we already pretty much knew. Waiting in an unchildproofed medical exam room with a tired tot ain't as fun as you would imagine. It took all the energy and creativity Dave and I had to keep the wild beast away from the scopes, buttons, and stir ups present. So unless our ped tells us something wild tomorrow, Dave and I are pretty sure that we are going to do the ear tubes. Mizz appears to have chronic fluid in his ear that definitely contributes to his ear infections and is probably delaying his speech in both clarity and content. I am trying to not think about Mizz and surgery. I know it's simple and routine, but I wanted to cry just at the sight of the Children's Hospital today so I am not completely rational in this area.

More firsts

I introduced Mizz to two new joys today--Playdoh and M&Ms. I loved both as a kid and apparently still do. I was surprised to find out that Mizz was a little skeeved by the Playdoh and was reluctant to touch it. He did have a great time with the container and watching me play with it. My biggest concern proved nil; he somehow managed to get a smidgen of Play Doh in his mouth and promptly pulled it out with a little bit of disgust. Not unlike his reaction to the Salmon I made for dinner. We have shot some cute footage this weekend and may even post it tonight. I have been a slavedriver of sorts though and cajoled Dave into rearranging the entire bedroom last night. We'll see how the evening goes.

Random Bits

Mizz has grown four inches in the last six months. We just measured him on his growth chart for his 18 month birthday. Holy kabole! Four inches! Eighteen months! How is either of those facts possible?

He was cracking himself up so much today. I have no idea what he was laughing at some of the time. These are the times I am pretty sure about: He laughed at the new shoes I bought him that were way too big. He laughed as he hurled peas and ravioli onto the floor. He laughed when Dave flipped him over and over and over. He laughed when I tickled his toes in the tub. And he laughed when I made a chimpanzee noise in the car.

He apparently has been holding out on us and has been sneakily learning some signs at daycare. His teachers informed me today that he was using more and please today during snack. He did it today at dinner too! My son, the communicator and thrower of food.

We had a great weekend and New Year's with Grandpa and Tutu. Mizz enjoyed the extra love and attention. He also had a blast with the new toys they brought. He now has a whole city fleet and is prepared to transport school children, dump dirt, and rescue people from burning buildings, and then transport them all to Hawaii courtesy of Fisher Price Little People vehicles! Mizz has also been going wild with his new pint size kick balls that he throws and kicks with major glee. It is adorable and he is pratically panting by the time the game ends, because he gets so excited. I fully intend to post a video of his ball playing some time this century.

We took in the Zoo Lights at the zoo for a record third time this season. Mizz was outfitted in his head to toe snow suit which included mitten flaps. I hated to make him look like such a baby, but if is he going to act like one, he is going to dress like one. (The Mizz refuses to wear mittens or hats.) He cracks me up. Recently he has begun scolding me with a muh, muh, muh, muh, maaaaaaaaaaa! that means no, no, no, no, no!


And finally, just in case anyone is wondering, the Chia Pet is a sad, sad sight or as Dave put it "there is no saving grace for that ugly piece of shit" and "why do the Chia people have 15 of our dollars?". I will post a picture of it as well.

So there you have it; I have officially procrastinated with Newsweek and the internet for the last two hours and now I must do some paperwork.