Category: Tales from the Crib

What Type of Mom are You?

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Stephanie just wrote a great post on Many Hats of a Mom about what kind of mom she is. The post has a link to an Oprah quiz where it asks a series of questions to see what kind of mom you are; The Funseeking Mom,  The Alpha Mom, The Helicopter Mom or the Free Range Mom.

After taking the quiz, I’m overwhelmingly The Helicopter Mom. Which, to be honest, sounds way worse than the explanation:

The Helicopter Mom: Helicopter Mom is hovering just out sight, keeping an eye on her kids and yours. She is fully supplied with a first aid kit, a GPS and a complete computer printout of the week’s homework for all her kids. She could teach a master class in calendar-keeping, managing the family schedule like an orchestra conductor. Don’t forget to refuel, Helicopter Mom!

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. A few months ago I was concerned Baylor was in the wrong group for swim lessons because she wasn’t being challenged enough…and then some sane part of my brain reminded me that SHE’S TWO YEARS OLD and I calmed down. Now she’s in a great class so that’s helpful too.

Also, I think it’s important to note that it’s Sunday night while I’m writing this. Dinner is done and the kitchen is clean. Lunches are made and the coffee is ready to hit “go”. Baylor’s registration for the 2012 school year is complete with checks paper clipped to them and is in the bag with the class snack for tomorrow.

Yeah, that test is way off base….really, I would just like a nicer title. Like “really organized mom”. Or “calendar conductor” or something else cool. Help me out!

Probably

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There are a few words whose meaning is a little lost on Bay. One of these words is probably. Much like Joey on Friends could never figure out how to use air quotes, Bay uses probably all the time, but rarely the right way. It makes for some pretty funny conversations.

As I walked into B’s room one morning long before the sun was up, this is the chat we had:

“Morning munchkin – you’re up a little early”

“Hi Mommy. I probably awake.”

“Yeah, I got that one kiddo.”

“I probably can’t sleep any more.”

“Ok ok, I give, let’s get some breakfast.”

“I probably want some eggs, please.”

Such a crack up – even at such an ugly hour!

Little Foodie

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For some freak reason, the munchkin is totally into some fun, new foods. I really don’t care what the reason is, but I like it!

Baked beans? Not such a far stretch – she loves beans and they are sweet so this makes sense. But I just think it’s so fun.

Cantaloupe – again, not a big deal, but I love that we have a new fruit.

Chili, even with a little kick – she started with eating the beans out of my bowl and now she’s asking for a bowl of her own.

Quiche – she loves eggs so I don’t know why I didn’t think of making her quiche…but we enjoyed family breakfast together this weekend and we all ate the same thing. This is actually a bigger deal than it sounds.

 

Minnie’s Day Out

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Every morning after breakfast, I turn Bay loose to run amok and watch cartoons. Tuesday morning she was particularly busy – she was playing with her new toys and bouncing from room to room.

As PW was ready to head out, she grabbed her new Minnie Mouse rolling backpack and helped Peter carry his stuff to the car. When she got there, she told him that Minnie Mouse was in the bag and that she was going to work with him. She kissed him and Minnie and headed back into the house.

When he got home, he wheeled Minnie inside and Bay greeted them both with kisses. She began to unpack the bag – it was then I realized that not only had she packed Minnie in the bag, she had packed a tupperware full of play food, a dish towel and a blanket. She explained that Minnie needed a lunch, a place mat and her blankie for nap time.

I sat down and marveled at how thoughtful and sweet she had been. And when I hugged and kissed her for the 19th time, she looked at me as if I had lost my marbles – which only made it better that her thoughtfulness was second nature.

Baylorisms – Part 3 – The Christmas version

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Christmas has brought a lot of new words to Bay’s vocabulary and not all of them are easy to understand. The Grinch, for example. I asked her to repeat herself 16 times before I sent her to PW for interpretation.

Silly Lu Lu – Cindy Loo Hoo.

Zinsh – The Grinch. This one is hard to write because it’s really more of a sound than a word and leads me to ask “show me what you’re talking about”.

There’s me! – her greeting when she walks into a room.

Sarah – Dora the Explorer. She doesn’t watch Dora but for some reason thinks her name is Sarah. Her swim diapers have Dora on them and when I put them on she says “Hey Sarah!!”.

The Teddy Bear – Winnie the Pooh. We’re going to see the Winnie the Pooh Christmas play today so I’m guessing she’ll know his name after that.

Krishness – Christmas!

 

Preschool Play

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Baylor had her first Christmas play last week and to say it was adorable is an understatement. I have been hearing bits and pieces of Christmas songs like Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Angel  and Are You Sleeping? for weeks so I was excited to actually hear the songs in their entirety.

Room 1 was lead in by their fearless (I think that’s actually part of her job description) leader, Teacher Jackie. They sang three songs with no tears and only a few wiggles. If there was a picture of Peter, me, my mom and his mom, we would have all looked like giggling idiots – my face hurt from smiling.

Ready to belt it out

Finally spotted Mom, Dad, Grandma and Noni

Hand motions for the “like an angel in the sky” part

Proud of their performance

I love this – they hold hands when they walk somewhere – B and her buddy Morgan know the drill

Kid Friendly Nativity

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Growing up, we had the most beautiful nativity scene. It was all carved wood and was incredibly detailed and had so many people – it was like a religious Barbie house to me. I loved playing with it. I like staging all the figurines, hiding baby Jesus and enjoying every minute of it.

As an adult, I had a hard time finding an equally beautiful manger scene that was kid friendly. But then I came across a hand-made set at a silent auction for Circle the City charity (amazing amazing amazing. If you don’t know, find out). I was stalking a bid I had made on a bedding set for Baylor and noticed the adorable figures. They are all knitted and include the three wise men, shepherds and sheep, a donkey, camel and of course the holy family and an angel. The auction was closed for it, so I asked the lady collecting the cards if she could give me the information for the person who made them. The lady said she didn’t have it, but if I would give her my info, she would have the lady contact me.

Flash forward 3 months and I got a call from Sister Joan. I had no idea who sister Joan was, but when a nun calls you, you listen. She explained she was driving to Arizona from California and that she had my manger scene for me. Huh? I confirmed that it was for me and not someone else since I had only been interested in knowing how much one cost…and yet now I apparently owned one. Or at least I was going to own one, once I knew how much it cost. To keep it brief, I almost drove off the road when Sister Joan told me what the winning bid was for the nativity scene at the silent auction. But she then told me that the lady who make the scenes donates them to Circle the City so whatever amount I wanted to donate was perfectly fine. I decided on a number that didn’t make me want to choke and handed over the check and collected my goodies.

Bottom line? Worth every penny. The best part about the figurines  is that there is not much that could destroy them so Bay is free to play to her heart’s content. She had baby Jesus in her baby buggy and was pushing him around because “His mommy Mary said it was ok”. Just love it.

The whole gang..happy at home in the hutch.

The wise men

The shepherds and the camel

The Fam – I love the donkey hiding behind them!

It’s Happened, G*ddammit

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So it’s finally happened. It was bound to happen and I think most parents go through with this (well, maybe not the good parents). I’m talking about when your kiddo busts out a swear word. And even better, uses it correctly and in multiple forms.

Last week after swim lessons, we were home and getting dinner started, laundry done and catching up with our neighbor, Melissa. I was headed out the door to the grill when Baylor walked out of the office and said “Oh no. Daddy forgot his pens for work. Goddammit!”. Melissa and I both paused and asked her what she said to which she answered “Daddy forgot his goddamn pens!”.

I stopped and silently absorbed what she had just said to me. I can’t lie and say that it wasn’t funny that she used it so perfectly – but I bit my tongue and held back the giggle and explained how that was not a word we use. Ever. No matter where she heard it from (i.e. Me).

The next day we were at the grocery store. It was particularly windy and her hair was not in her now trademark pigtail “knots” on top of her head. Which meant her hair was everywhere. As I was putting her in the car she declared “my goddamn hair clip won’t stay in!!”.  This time I asked her to look me in the eye where I explained that she is never, ever, ever to use that word. It wasn’t funny or ok. She then proceeded to say it 3 more times. I mustered all my strength and said nothing. I didn’t look at her, tell her to stop, nothing. I simply put the groceries away and ignored all further comments until I heard a very soft “I sorry, Mommy” from the back seat.

That was Friday so I’m crossing my fingers that we’ve at least side-stepped this one. That is until the printer wouldn’t print in anything but variations of yellow and blue…PW is responsible for that one.

The Wands Need Sleep

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Between PW’s late work nights this week (he’s averaging at least two nights a week after mid night) and Bay’s early mornings, we’re all starting to look like the walking dead.

Here’s how it typically works:

730pm: Bay is in her crib but still chatting to her animals

930pm: I decided I really do need to get to bed.

1000pm: No really, I’ve got to get to sleep

1045pm: Sleep timer turns off the TV and I was a goner when my head hit the pillow.

1145pm: PW gets home and announces himself loudly so that I don’t have a heart attack thinking he’s an intruder (we learn from our past around here).

1215pm: PW still goofing around the house which wakes me up and confuses me.

100am: PW finally goes to bed and again, wakes me up.

400am: Bay starts whimpering in her sleep.

405am: More whimpering.

408am: I decided I better go figure out what she needs before PW’s alarm goes off at 5am because then there is a chance she won’t go back to sleep.

415: Clean diaper, socks and a blanket and Bay is back down. I am now awake.

440am: I finally doze off…

500am: Alarm goes off. I tap PW who promptly asks me to snooze the alarm.

510am: PW gets up on his own.

515am: Snoozed alarm goes off again.

545am: PW leaves for work.

600am: Whimpering…

615am: I get my lovely wake up call of “MOMMY!!! AWAKE!!!”

And this is why it takes three coats of various colors of concealer to cover up the deep, dark circles under my eyes…So looking forward to nap time on Saturday when I can catch 2 hours of guilt free sleep time.

Bop It

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PW and I had a very limited idea of what the hell we were doing when we registered for all our baby gear. I, the shopper with a black belt, was totally overwhelmed by the process and spent most of our first trip with my feet up in the floor model gliders. Thankfully, we did pretty well ending up with only  a few things we didn’t really need.

One of those items was a Boppy Pillow…or so I thought. This little “U” shaped, stuffed thing is supposed to help support your baby while you breast feed. I am apparently not the Boppy standard size as I would have needed 3 of them stacked up to help me out. But I did find it useful when Bay was learning to sit up. We would sit on the floor and try to get her to stay upright with the support of the soft pillow around her.

Normally, as soon as we are done with something, it gets washed and goes straight to a storage bin in the garage. But for some reason this damn pillow escaped my organized wrath and B spotted it at the top of the closet shelf. She asked if she could have it and then insisted she sleep with it. She didn’t have a pillow at all, is out of SIDS range and has enough stuffed animals to choke a horse in her crib any way, what could it hurt? It turns out that she loves it. She sleeps like a badger – flailing around and rolling all over the place. So the Boppy works great as it pretty much surrounds her. She looks so comfy, I’ve been tempted to snap a picture. But because I haven’t totally lost my mind, I don’t risk waking her up with the camera beep.