You know a reader is sick when . . .

She can only read one chapter and then has to put the book down because she’s tired.

You know a knitter is sick when . . .

She stops midrow.

You know a mom is sick when . . .

Wait, moms aren’t allowed to be sick.

Darnit!

So I’m tucking Miriam into bed, and we recite the Shema, just like we do every night. We are finishing up the English part, and she stops me and asks “G-d be two on his birfday?” I managed to not fall over laughing, but I think I failed the explanation. I’m afraid she’s very confused.

My daughter goes to preschool through the park district.  Her class meets twice a week from 9:15-11:45 a.m.  There is another preschool program (for slightly older kids) that meets from nine to noon.  These programs run all school year, on the same days.  Easy to predict, right?

The park district also runs programs for Seniors during the day.  Not a problem.

Except today they scheduled the Seniors New Years Party (don’t even get me started on that silliness) to begin at noon.  It’s a free party.  Hooray!  So, over 250 seniors signed up.  They all drive themselves.  The party is scheduled to start at noon, so they all arrive early to get signed in.  Early as in they start arriving at 11 am and fill the entire parking lot, park illegally, fills all the side streets, etc.

Oh, and many of them (not all, but enough that my toddler and I almost got hit walking into the building) drive like IDIOTS!

I had to park 3 blocks away, in January in Chicago, to pick up my daughter from school.

The preschool director was so concerned about the safety of kids today, that she decided to shorten the preschool day and have the parents pick the kids up 15 minutes early.  But the only notice of this was a sign on the classroom door this morning.

Would it be too much to ask that they schedule the adult party to start AFTER preschool lets out?  It takes time to bundle these little kids up and get them out the door, buckled into the cars, and go.  They could have arranged for the Seniors party to start at 1. Which would have given a nice buffer.  But no.

Instead, it is scheduled to start at noon, which gives the 2 year old classroom 15 minutes to get out the door and parking lot before the party officially starts, and the 3-4 year olds no time at all.

Not that it mattered anyway because everyone arrived early for the party and was milling around in all of the hallways leaving no space to actually put the kids coats on, or look at their artwork that they made today, or any of the usual “pick up routine”.

Give me a break!  A little prior planning isn’t too much to ask for!

I can’t wait to talk to the scheduling person for the park district tomorrow.  She is of course busy today with the party.

Grrrr.

I have so much to be thankful for this year.  I have my amazing husband.  He works so hard to provide for us and take care of us, and yet he’s a child at heart, always ready to play, laugh, and be silly.  He makes me laugh more than I thought anyone ever could.

Of course, my children.  Even when the try my patience, the inspire awe.  The learn and grow and change so much every day.  It’s all I can do to keep up.

My mother.  She’s amazing.  She’s had a nearly impossible year, and yet she still pushes on and through.  She’s my rock these days.  Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed, or I need a shoulder to cry on, or a hand to hold, or even an ear for a funny story, she’s here.  I’m so grateful that I get to see her almost every day.  And for my children getting to grow up with her being such a strong part of their lives.

My father.  His year has been just as bad, but he doesn’t let it show.  Even in the hospital, he made sure he was keeping us all up to date and informed about everything.  I never have to worry about not knowing what is going on, because my dad, he knows!  And even when I disagree with him, he’s usually right.  Just don’t tell him I said that!

My in-laws.  They are great people.  I didn’t really grow up with the best model of “in-law behavior”.  I think I thought constant cold-war status was the norm.  Well, I was wrong.  My husband’s family took me in straight away and have always made me feel welcome.  For this, I am truly thankful.

My sister.  We fight.  We argue.  We don’t wrestle so much any more (sorry guys).  But, we are still each other’s biggest supporters and friends.  At least when we remember that we really do like each other. 

We have a roof over our heads, food in the fridge, and our bank account is in the black.

I have much to be thankful for.  Thank you!

Yeah, you read that right.  Want to go back and read the headline again?  Okay.  Now that we’re all together, have I got a topic for today!

Potty training is going well.  After no success yesterday, this morning the dude woke up dry, and went in the potty several times today.  I think we are over the worst of it.  We also (thanks Mom!) managed to procure some boy undies for the dude, so he isn’t running around in his sister’s panties.  I just wanted undies for him that looked like what he’ll be wearing once he starts going standing up, if you know what I mean.  I didn’t expect there to be so much difference though.  Hang on, you’ll see what I mean.

Here we have a pair of boy undies, and a pair of girl undies.  Both made by the same manufacturer, both sold in the same 7-pack for the same price, both the same size.  I even chose the same color family, so as not to prejudice the comparison.

Now, setting aside the characters and implications (fairy princess vs. aquaman, although I’m really not sure which one would win in a fight), let’s just look at the actual garment.

You can’t tell from the picture except for how the fabric lays, but the boys undies are easily twice as thick as the girls.  The fabric is better quality, and more durable.  The stitching is tighter, and reinforced.  Now, look at the leg holes and waist band.  Do you see the width of those bands on the boys?  Nice, heavy fabric covering strong elastic.  The girls panties on the other hand have a tiny sprinkling of itchy lace surrounding the weak, flimsy, narrow elastic.

Now, the thing to really keep in mind here is that both of these undies are size 2T/3T, meaning they are for toddlers who are basically just beginning potty training.  These are preschoolers folks!  Why are the girls undies flimsy filmy things while the boys are durable and rugged?

This bothers me more than I can say.  My daughter is just as likely to be running, tumbling, and doing active things as my son.  Why isn’t her underwear designed to stand up to the same kind of wear?

Anyone?

In the continuing saga of Becca breaking every freaking thing she owns . . . DH was unloading the dishwasher and called me in to see something.  My measuring spoons had slipped out of place and melted against the bottom heating element of the dishwasher.  I hope they didn’t break the dishwasher as well, but at the very least, my measuring spoons are broken and need replacing.  (This makes item #47 in the last 20 days for those of you playing the at home game.)

Obviously, I was displeased.

I cried out “shit!” as I pulled the mishappen plastic out of the dishwasher.  To which Miriam responded likewise at the top of her lungs.

DH then started laughing hysterically at the 2 year old shouting “shit”, which only encouraged her more.

head*keyboard

So now my 2 year old is wandering around shouting “shit”, my 20 month old is crying, my spoons are melted, and my husband is laughing while washing dishes.

At least something good came out of this, right?

If you’ve ever wanted to see what a true mess looks like, follow these instructions:

1. Set up your 20 month old at the little table with a spoon, paper towel, and a small bowl of chocolate pudding

2. Dash off to deal with sick, crying, nearly 3 year old

3. Return 30 seconds later to see son, table, and most of the kitchen floor covered in chocolate pudding

4. Freeze in shock, allowing said 20 month old a chance to dash off into the living room and climb up onto the cream colored sofa

Yeah.  Not fun.  I wish I had gotten pictures, but I was so shocked I just cleaned it up first.  I’m sure your imagination can fill in the rest though.

I don’t do “horror”.  I don’t like scary movies.  I don’t enjoy suspense novels.  I can’t even handle haunted houses.  My husband however, loves the stuff.  His fondest memories from high school are of working the haunted house in town.  He thinks Steven King novels don’t qualify as “scary”.  Monster movies are totally his thing.  He’s been reading The Walking Dead comics since issue 1 came out way back when.  So, needless to say, he got very excited when he found out they were turning his favorite comic series into a t.v. show.

Yesterday, we watched episode one of The Walking Dead. I don’t know how he conned me into watching it, but he did.  All my facebook and twitter feeds are full of praise for this show, and honestly, I can see why.  It’s visually stunning, well plotted, and scary as all get out.

The problem is, it gave me horrible nightmares.  Plus, my 20 month old isn’t talking yet, and in the middle of the night, his grunts and whimpers in his sleep sound awfully zombie-like.

Add to that the time change, with kids being up and ready for the day at 6 a.m., and I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the day.  Every time I close my eyes, I see a half corpse-zombie crawling through the grass.  Or a horde of zombies attacking a tank.  (If you’ve seen episode 1, you know the scenes I’m talking about, if you haven’t, don’t worry, I’m not giving out spoilers.)

So, I think today may be a huge quantity of coffee day.

I understand episode 2 premiered last night.  Ugh.  Pray for me.

In other news, better news, happier news that may just distract me from the horrors my darling husband inflicted on me, I have winners!

I plugged the numbers into a random number generator.  Okay, really, since there were only 10 entries I grabbed 10 scraps of paper, wrote 1-10 on each of them and laid them on the coffee table this morning since we were up at 6 a.m. anyway.  Asher grabbed two of them and brought them to me.  Well, no, Asher grabbed two pieces of paper and shoved them in his mouth.  I fished them out and figured out who our winners are!

Drumroll please!

The winners  of a $50 gift card courtesy of Kodak Gallery are . . .

Entry number 4, Jessica Garcia and entry number 1, Dreamsweaver. Watch your email for a message from me.  I’ll need your address so I can have your prizes shipped to you.

Those of you who didn’t win, keep reading because we’ll have another give away soon!  Have a great, zombie free day!