One dollar can buy a lot of stuff

At the dollar store. Nyuk. In my continued quest to be the perfect mom, I have replaced all of Mizz's germy toothbrushes (he was the proud owner of two) with FOUR brand new germ free items. But at the thought of shelling out all that hard earned cash on said toothbrushes, I decided to take a walk to the local dollar store to see what they might have in the way of kiddie hygiene devices. We hit the jackpot and bought twenty of them. He does get sick a lot. OK, I bought six, with the idea that we would keep two in his bathroom and two in ours, with two spares. And with all of this effort, some cajoling, and many renditions of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star I have actually been able to get in there and brush the little dervishes choppers.

Oh and Mizz kept shouting "nine!" in the car and the more he said it the more excited he got. He can count to ten now except it goes one, two, nine, ten. He also likes five and six but hasn't found a place for them yet apparently.

Um, has someone stolen my family?

At least it's not just us. This story is so familiar...

I love the Dooce and all her sauciness.

What's Happening in Portland?

Not only is this title a shameless rip off of my hubby's recent posting, but it just so happens that I actually read the Willamette Week for the first time in oh 100 years or so. And I learned lots of neat things. Like we still kick the butt in protesting. Check it out. And apparently, we try to test our protesters ever once in a while by sending in a reporter dressed as an anti protester just to see what will happen. My guess is that people will get angry.

And apparently a Tri Met bus driver let a 13 year old girl (who appeared to look like an 8 year old according to one scared and pissed off passenger) drive his transit bus for 1.5 miles! She actually made 3 bus stops. As a former bus driver I am impressed and give mad props to the girl. As for the driver he should be in jail and is at least being charged with reckless endangerment.

We are a bunch of Swede loving hypocrites. Yes, we will fight off McDonald's and Wal Mart with blood, sweat, and tears, but dangle some cheap, ready to assemble, cute furniture and we are yours. Yes IKEA is coming to Portland and while as a business they have a fairly decent track record, they are still a BIG business, threatening local sellers and promoting easy, fun consumerism. The city is wringing its collective hands and once again moaning about tax subsidies going to the corporate world.

Other good stuff, includes getting really close to actually passing laws that mandate that health care plans cover birth control and a bill that will mandate businesses of over 25 people to provide women with the necessary breaks to pump breast milk.

All in all, an exciting week here in Stumptown.

Mizzbits and a little bit of psychobabble

It cracks me up in a wry sort of way that Mizz can't stand pieces of carpet lint on the stairs or stray pieces of food on himself, but can casually chuck handfuls of food onto the floor.


Mizz is now officially a Pacific NW driver, he shows no indication of having read the drivers' manual and has just dumped his first Starbucks onto the driver's seat. Fortunately, given the vehicle, the aroma is actually an improvement. OK so technically he has not yet put the pedal to the metal, but he does like steering and touching all the driver accessories. If I can figure out how to get a pic off the phone I will post one. I think I am married to someone who has such capabilities. It's been so long, I'm not sure...

I love this article so graciously forwarded to me by Alma because it challenges people to examine their choices and why and how they make them. I have been spending a lot of time thinking about child rearing practices recently (duh) and specifically about how our generation and current culture is shaping it today. Just as it is silly to think that there is one way to do it, it is also ridiculous to think that our practices and cherished beliefs occur in a vacuum. This approach though, as you might surmise, is slightly crazy making for me, because it leads me to question everything which is sort of an antithesis to truly being present or "in the moment" as New Age types like to say. In all of my work (hey I am three whole years post masters!), I am pretty certain that it is this ability that ultimately leads to happiness/contentment/fulfillment.

Mizz and his Food

Gimmme some more blackberries!





I know my "cooking" leaves something to be desired but falling asleep in the middle of a meal, cmon!

Curses! Part Deux!

I considered titling this "Greetings from the land of Mizz", which I think is a rather nice play on the land of Oz. But "Curses" really says it all. It seems that I have most succumbed to the pneumonia bug as well. While I am no doctor, the thermometer and the tightness in my chest seem like pretty good indicators. On the bright side, I know now why the Mizzster has been so grumpy (I feel pretty miserable) and I also found out that there were many other pneumonia cases at daycare so I can't necessarily blame my slovenliness.

So barring a miraculous recovery I guess I will haul us to the doctor tomorrow (a check up for him and some pink stuff, or more likely, tablets for me). Hmmm...maybe the family doc will take us early and I can kill two birdies with one stone. So it is off to bed right now. My first day at the daycare was exhausting but I am guessing my disease might have affected my stamina some.

Curses! A fiendish start to the day

I woke up last night to an alarming sound--literally (I know, I know, it is genetic). Our house alarm went off at 2:35 in the morning and I bolted out of bed thinking "if that wakes Mizz I'm gonna be pissed" not "Oh my god there is an axe murderer in the house". So without any rational thought whatsoever, I bounded downstairs where I looked around for signs of weirdness and then remembered that my supposedly smart system panel would tell me what the problem was. After checking, it informed me that it was the smoke detector that was in fact going off. So I went looking for smoke, fire, or danger but was unable to find anything. As visions of smoldering wires dance through my head, the ADT man calls and politely informs me that the sensors are very sensitive and that sometimes dust or humidity can make them go off. Fantastic. The only thing I can think of is that Mizz's room was very rainforest like due to his humidifier...or some type of house troll. In any case, I somehow managed to get the alarm off and even reset without Mizz stirring. Go figure, the first time Mizz sleeps through the night in a week and I am awoken by dust or some water vapor. Needless to say it was sort of an adrenaline producing experience and the rest of my night was way too short.

Mizz made it up to me though by taking a two hour and forty minute nap. I spent the time reading Self magazine (again READING about exercise, hah!) and doing absolutely nothing. It was nice. And since we were both so refreshed and it was beautiful out, I took pneumonia boy to the zoo. He is actually doing much, much better and had a great time the highlights still being the ducks, fish, and elephants.

To date

Mind you this may be boring to some and is mainly for my non-remembering brain. At twenty months Mizz says: cat, star, dog, duck, moo, meow, woof, a weird sheep noise, ney for no, mama, da, red, blue, a good half of the alphabet, six, up, down, upstairs, outside, to the tub, again, saw (as in a implement to cut with), rock, rake, hat, head, knee, cheese, mushroom, juice, and tree. Strangely, his clearest word by far is saw, which he learned from his favorite book of all time the Little People On the Farm Search and Find or Look and Point creation. Man, have we spent some time looking and pointing and identifying. I swear he is going to know how to count by next week. Speaking of counting, we are using the old 1-2-3, as in you have 3 seconds to get over here or mama is coming to get you. At this point Mizz enjoys it and milks every three second like it's worth it. At some point I'll up the ante to where it will be in his best interest to get to me in three seconds. I can't decide if I should use a terror tactic or some type of reward system. Stay tuned.

Toddler Product of the Year

Um, do I have to get this? A toddler urinal, c'mon! Before I rush right out to purchase it, I'm going to rid the house of any lingering vestiges of adult dignity and style. It's bad enough to have everything bolted down and locked away to say nothing of the constant scattering of toys and everything else he can get his hands on. So sure I run out and buy this cool idea and guarantee that he hits the wall all the time.

Just for the record, I came across this remarkable device while looking over the options of potty chairs. I just purchased this chair but am still trying to decide how much I want to link toys and pottying together. My luck, Mizz will decide to pee in his dollhouse or the barn. But I do like the double duty step stool action because how much more plastic do our bathrooms really need?

Where to draw the line

As a parent I feel obligated to tell Mizz to take the fork out of his eye. I think my exact words in perfect mommy speak were "We put forks in our mouths not in our eyes". Mizz hears that as a challenge to then see how many times he can stick the fork in his eye. He is thorough and tries it with both his eyes open and closed. Mind you the fork is more like a plastic spork, but still. He of course freaks out when I take the forks away. To keep himself in the game, he humors me by eating a bite every few minutes. And since he has eaten air, milk, and juice for the last two days I, stupidly, keep him in the chair. I know it's naive of me, but I continue to be amazed at how much he knows what is WRONG to do (moving the baker's rack, plucking fur out of the cat ever so gently, throwing cat food, purposely spilling food and water and saying Uh-ohhh!) and how much he enjoys doing it. I on the other hand am bored with it and would much rather spend the time playing with Legos, Aquadoodle, and ball. I still don't know where to draw the line and don't want to crush his rebellious, playful spirit. On the other hand, I don't want a five year that tears around the grocery store menacing innocent bystanders. I am hoping that like the sleep training, I will know what to do and when to do by following my instincts.

End of the day thoughts

I have to say that I am somewhat offended by the Coke commercial featuring a man and a woman at a dinner and him proposing to her with what looks like at first a Coke cap but then turns into a ticket to Hawaii. That part is okay. What bugs me, as a Jew and as a woman, is her remark to him she should have married Harry (?) Finkelstein (who is very much the curly haired dweeb). Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it seems to be piggybacking on many ugly stereotypes of money grubbing women, particularly Jewish ones. I am really sensitive around the subject because it seems that the idea of Jews and money have fueled a lot of Anti Semitism over the years. I don't get the target audience because I thought all Jews drank Coke anyway. I gotta take a stand somewhere and my blog will have to suffice at this point.

I spent the whole day worrying about whether to go to my class tonight. I wasn't sure how Mizz would be feeling (he can be pretty upset/touchy/demanding when he is sick and didn't want my friend to feel obligated to tend to a germ monster. However, as usual my worrying paid off, I mean was a BIG waste of time. Mizz apparently survived the evening with his sitter just fine. She said that he was a blast and called him a Baby Genius (he wowed her with his extensive color knowledge and letter recognition). He also made clear his fascination with all things light, blue, and that spin. She also smartly pointed out to me that I should make a cheat sheet of Mizz signs for sitters so that they know what the heck he is gesturing about.

Knock on wood, Mizz has gotten on fabulously with all of his sitters so far. I am very lucky to have so many friends willing to help out and to have gotten to know some fantastic sitters through his daycare. Now that we have amassed these wonderful people, we should actually use them more than every other month and get in some much appreciated adult time (that is, actually go to a restaurant that doesn't have crayons or take a walk without having to narrate the scenery and acknowledge every lamp post we pass).

Where there's a will there's a way

Suffice it to say, I have developed quite a few tricks and added to my skill set since Dave is out of town. The only disaster so far has been coffee grounds that ended up everywhere but where they were intended. I am now fully capable of operating that machine. Of course I have yet to taste the coffee so we shall see what my labors have yielded. Must go, my sick child is singing my name (AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! Hahhh, Hahh! Eh, ehhhh!)

Ding Dong!

Mizz says Ding Dong! In a pathetic backlash against the toy maker-battery conglomerate I have refused to put batteries into the dollhouse that I bought for Mizz. So I have been forced to act the part of a doorbell. All my work has paid off and now Mizz chimes himself when he presses the button. It is hilarious. He also chants "up-stahars" as he walks various characters up the stairs. He also watched really closely as I washed hands, bathed, and pottied the baby. And Dave mocked me for the purchase. It is pastel ugly but seems to be worth every penny in teaching ops. He also continues to love his kitchen and regularly cooks me up treats. I taught him to sign cracker and hurt today and he learned them in a minute! He is a sponge right now, it's so awesome to be part of it.

Change of State

Mizz and I actually left the state for a playgroup today. Mind you we are just talking across the river to Vancouver, but this is a rarity because I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have gone to the Couv. Before today, I didn't think they had anything that Portland didn't have except sprawl. That was before Cafe Sip N Play. This coffeehouse/kid mecca/deli has a got a good thing going on. They have a GATED play area full of tons of cool toys, equipment, and little nooks and crannies for toddlers to explore. There are nice seats for moms to observe it all and supposedly there is a child area attendant although I did not see her. My sandwich was delish although by the time I ordered it, Mizz was exhausted and actually laying down on the floor, which meant I wolfed half of it and the other half is sitting in the car (hopefully not to be forgotten). Overall, it was a great place and really not THAT far despite having to cross the state line to get there. In fact my only dish about the place is that they charge a $3.75 fee for each child to use the play area AND they do not allow outside food and drinks. I'm sorta fine with one or the other but to charge a usage fee and demand that I spend $3.00 bucks on some food he may or may not like seems like extortion. Yo baby is too overpriced as it, I am definitely not going to pay one buck for its sweet organic preciousness. I swear I'm not a cheapskate but I don't like to be milked for my money either (I joked to my fellow moms that there was a $2.00 breastfeeding surcharge as well). There wasn't but I wouldn't be surprised... OK enough complaining, it was a cool place that we will definitely be returning to at some point.

So much for the blogging moratorium as with many of my "diets" it crashed and burned pretty fast.

Let me count the ways

Of how I lack willpower. Funnily enough, I simply logged on to say that I was going to take a blogging break, because for someone that is constantly feeling the pain of not enough time, I somehow manage to spend a lot of time blogging (mostly reading em and thinking about them and drafting posts in my head when I should be thinking of other things). So I was going to extend my knitting hiatus to include a blog hiatus. If I was really interested in self deprivation I could include dark chocolate on the list. I suppose I could practice moderation, but some things are harder to moderate than others. I have not knitted in over a week and a half and I swear I am having withdrawal symptoms. I may have sabotaged myself and my poor wrists because I just borrowed the Joy of Knitting from the library. Talk about a Seemingly Innocuous Decision (wink, wink Gina and Nicole:))

But since I am here....I may as well catch up on a few things. Mizz and I spent the day missing Dave (the first part of his trips are always the worst) and doing the basics: the laundry, never ending dishes, toy organization, letters, drawing, singing. Mizz can identify all the letters of the alphabet and is saying more letters almost every day! He is also scarily more and more reminding me of myself and unfortunately mirroring the traits that I don't want to have to deal with (what's fun to dish, isn't always fun to receive). Hmm, maybe this whole parent thing will make me a better person? Plus he is a boy, which according to one of the magazines of fear, means that he is one skillion times more likely to fall and crack his head open. I can't even type that without my blood pressure rising. He is definitely faster and more eager to DO, than he is capable right now. The poor dude wipes out pretty regularly with more head thuds than I would like. I just have to have faith, that our bodies were meant to withstand toddlerhood.

I have actually broke down and done something I have never done before; I am reading a manual on how to use Photoshop Elements. I am the idiot that fought with a statistics program throughout grad school after paying $30 for a manual and never once cracking it open. I plow into knitting patterns without reading them, which often requires some serious backtracking. But I am interested and so I will give reading directions a chance.

Spring into Here

Swim!

Mizz went swimming today! I know what you're thinking wow Franny finally got up the nerve and energy to take Mizz to the pool. But it's not what you think. Mizz was at daycare today and apparently decided to play in the toilet after watching a few of his playmates attempt to use. And so when I picked him up today, I was informed that my boy wonder had gone swimming...in the toilet. Frankly, I am shocked it took him this long. He has had access to two whole unlocked potties for weeks now. Apparently he also tried to eat a lot of very nasty things at the park. That's my boy. These incidents closely follows him trying to put peas in his nose and playdough toys in his ears (not so fast mister, those eardrums are expensive!). So I've got my work cut out for me these days. As my Dad would probably like to mention, there was the infamous tic tac episode where I freaked him out so I am now fully getting my due. But really for the most part, I just want to crack up when I am watching him. He diligently tries to put back together crackers when they break. He can now say blue and green. He frequently runs around cackling with delight.

A Day in the Life of Mizz

Get the paper, drink the coffee, make cookies, do squats with Daddy, rub spaghetti sauce in the eyes.

OK he doesn't drink coffee yet but he does have quite the routine which actually does involve helping Daddy grind the beans in the morning. Doesn't he look adorable in Dave's old robe and slippers? Mizz likes playing horsey and is actually learning how to hold on finally. He is very into throwing things and having us spin them. He was upset when we couldn't spin the macaroni box yesterday and wasn't buying any of that physics crap. Me neither kid.

Sweet, sweet relief

Mizz is napping right now and he went down gratefully too. I'm keeping my fingers that we are over the rough patch. And for future guidance during rough patches I will turn to this website which offers practical advice in a really supportive, non judgmental way. In other words, it rocks.

So does Mizz, in case you didn't know that. He is such a fun, beautiful, silly, smart kid. But enough of my mom gushing. I meant that he rocks in the literal sense as in he seems to be over only being interested in kid tunes and will stop in his tracks now wherever he is to dance or if he is restrained bounce his head to the music. It is so cute.

This morning we went our usual coffee shop for our playgroup and found that they had completely revamped the kid area and made it so much better and mom friendly. More toys and a more contained area both of which meant that I got to actually hang out with my friends. And then our entire playgroup went to visit our friend that had just had a baby at the hospital. Seeing four toddlers parade through a hospital was adorable and attracted a lot of attention. Someone asked us if we were here for a Lamaze class. Um, if we were it would be a little late (although who knows, a breathing class might be good for me). Little baby Murphy (who was 9 lbs even) was beautiful and SLEEPING of course made me want another one immediately. I won't be fooled though, I know that although they sleep a lot they do it on their own terms and I am not ready for that yet. Although, really who is ever ready to be sleep deprived for a year?

Check your expectations and comparisons at the door

It just occurred to me that Mizz says again, cat, up, down, duck, star, upstairs, tub, tree, mama, dada, no, a, e, o, m, x, one, and six. He can sign milk, more, help, water, diaper change and point to anything else he may need (which he does all the time). In other words, he is seriously communicating and learning. While he is not quoting Shakespeare or even talking to me or his friends much he is clearly able to do so and I suppose will do so on his own time. I guess I just assumed that because Dave and I like to talk so much, our child would too and would do it early. It also is becoming clearer that the ear tubes are definitely facilitating this process and so no regrets about them as of yet. Plus he has a regular, standard cold and doesn't have an infection (knock on wood). Yea!

In a related note, I continue to consider my options and expectation and of course comparisons about job prospects. When it rains it pours. I just talked to a contact from an agency I had interviewed in the past and she is really interested in having me work for them. That is fantastically confidence boosting and is a really great opportunity to further my career interests. The bummer of it all is that it is in Hillsboro and would actually offer less take home pay then the daycare job unless I changed childcare altogether. But it would be at the minimum 11.5 hour days (two of them) and would certainly be more intellectually and emotionally challenging than working at Joyful Noise (which while challenging in itself is a fairly contained and straightforward position). And then there are the two other clinical positions I had been pursuing and of course continue to wonder how they could work in this equation. I am so torn between going the simple route (which would mean letting go of my career expectation ambitions and comparison to my peers) and trying to smush it all in there somehow.

As I type this now, Mizz is fussing in his crib. Go to sleep little man. Enough introspection, I have to go tend to the reluctant napper.

Give me a cookie!

Yesterday after arriving home from daycare, I decided what the hey and gave Mizz his first Trader Joe O's ever! I must be the best mom ever (or I suppose the worst depending on who you ask)! Lest you think that my child is not eating properly, he followed it up with a Veggie Burger, peas, and large helping of frozen berries. And most of it even stayed on the tray.

On a related note those diabolical girl scouts got me again. It seems that those sweet little girls are being used by the man in a plot to make me fat. I am fighting back though and refuse to open the cookies until at least tomorrow.

Shiny Happy People

I just picked Mizz up from daycare. This morning when I dropped him off there were five little boys running around without their shirts on (and I might add, trying to throw everything they could lift). This afternoon I picked him up and he was wearing shiny beads a la Mardi Gras and had green paint left on his face. I don't know what type of establishment they are running there but I want in.

Actually I know exactly what type of place they are running and like it so much, I am still seriously considering working there for many, many reasons. I told them I'd let them know Monday so we'll see how I am feeling over the weekend.

Have I got an opinion for you

You wouldn't know it from talking to me but I have a few opinions. And some research company just paid me $100 to sit and chat with me for an hour about them. Sweet! I have found my new calling. Is there such a job as professional pontificator? Is that speechwriting? Anyway, I am going to call them back and let them know that I had a great time and would be more than willing to come back and share more of my thoughts with them...for a small fee.

Me and hubby just went out to lunch to talk about the fact that we really need to watch our spending. How's that for ironic. On an even scarier note, I had my second BLT of the week, although both were halves so technically I have now had one full sandwich in two installments. And I had homemade macaroon dipped in belgium chocolate and pistachios. Delish.

I am having serious knitting withdrawal--just like finishing a book, I hate finishing projects, until I start a new one.

So I am either going to find a job or knit a horse.

I want credit (and a new car for that matter)

I hear that if you put things out to the universe, they just might happen. So what the hell.

But seriously, I should win some sort of award for self deprivation because I did not eat a single malt ball until 5:30. Just don't ask me what happened at 5:35...

It was a fast and furious day as usual for me. Meaning that I have so much pent up anxiety about job questions that I spent a good part of the day running around like a nut ball. I did manage to take a long walk this morning by the river which was fantastic. And I did get in a nice chat with Marketing Mommy. And I went through my closet again. I am slowly but surely weeding out the clothes that haven't graced my body in the last decade and are no longer the sentimental pulls that they used to be.

As for the Mizzster, he is doing well and is adjusting to some staff changes and restructuring of the classroom. He took off like a bandit after a few minutes of cuddles. Apparently he had a blast finger painting and rabble rousing with the other toddlers on the block.

On the home front, the hanging blinds continue to fare poorly in the battle against Mizz. In talking to both Janet and Alma, today they both reminded me that a certain someone (rhymes with Fizz's Fafa) used to like to test people limits or "push people's buttons". It seems that you get what you dish out... Mizz will now do his "badness" and then run to put himself in time out! All with a silly smile on his face. And he still refuses to say Mama. Even though he is perfectly capable of doing so. He is my sweet, sweet, sweet little prankster.

Things that make me go hmmm...

Sorry to those of you who now have that annoying song in your head. If I can't torment the people at work with the likes of Sister Christian, Burt Bacharach, and an ever burgeoning collection of silly kid songs, I can do it to my fellow bloggers.

But I digress... the object I had in mind with the title was Trader Joe's Chocolate Peanut Butter Malt Balls. They are sensational and I highly recommend that you buy them and share them with me. Yes, it is 1:00 in the afternoon and I am eating and blogging about these little wonders of peanut butter goodness and my child is at daycare and I am at home. I am not just consuming calories mind you, I just interviewed at Mizz's daycare and they have offered me a two day a week position. Yey! And I am going to make a few calls to feel out some leads that I dug out before jumping ship. So while there are many possibilities out there including some type of nannying/photographing/scuba instructor arrangement, I still need to try to get my head around what I want these next few years to look like (and of course what we can afford). Could I really stay at home full time with the Mizz? We have amazing fun on Mondays and Tuesday but could I really keep it up Weds-Friday? If I take time off now, what we it be like to get back into the job market five years from now? I have 1000 other questions and variables to consider and so I need to knock off the blogging for now. Cheerio!

First week of Freedom?

It has felt like a tumultuous week and a half, what with quitting my job and everything (including starting a new one and waking up at 4:30 in the morning too often). Mizz is doing much better in the sleep department but today was another early one for some unknown reason. What sucks about the 4:00 risings is that no one is in a good mood or awake including the sweet pea who is demanding our attention. So Mizz stumbles around the house yelling at everything and I crawl around behind him using whatever is available for a pillow. Even the play park wasn't enough to snap Mizz out of his bad mood. Of course this was the day I remembered to bring the video camera...So stay tuned, footage of a pissed off Mizz yelling at Tiny Tike cars may follow.

On the bright side, literally, it was 60 something degrees today and beau-ti-ful. We made use of the dramatic climate change and rode the new OHSU tram for the first time. We were wowed by the cool technology and stunning panoramic views. Even Mizz appreciated it and he is not much for scenery. We were up on the hill for Mizz's ear check up and follow up audio gram. His hearing is top notch once again; so he now has no excuse for not talking. I want verbiage. Although as impatient as I am , it is clear that he is definitely listening and communicating. In the car today, Dave caught him singing to Billy Idol's Rebel Yell signing AND singing"More, more, more". He even had the Billy Idol sneer down. It was pretty hilarious. He also is copying my "to the tub!" chant although it comes out in a sweet lilting "too dah taah"! He kills me.

And finally, the vertical venetian blind count: House 20, Mizz 4. As in Mizz has removed four blinds because they were not up to his standards, I mean they were in his way. I recently read something that stated that roughly 50 percent of kids take in what their parents say after one or two times and the other 50 percent are known as "testers". I leave it up to you to guess which camp the Mizz falls into. Let's just say that I now hate the sound of my own voice especially when it is saying anything along the lines of "gentle, that's not a toy, be nice, NO!, that's an owie, etc. ad nauseam.