Curly Straight

Too much to do and too little time!

In text talk, that would be 2 much 2 do n 2 ltl time.

11:48 a.m. and I just put night cream on my face...

So chicken nuggets.

Dry nonfat milk? Whhaaat?

So to make it not count, I eat one of the brownies sitting on the counter. Does that make sense at all?

feel of a baby hands in yours

a spicy bloody mary

the smell of autumn

Sometimes I recycle TJ's artwork.

Some I cannot bear to do that, case in point...

A green rectangle of card stock with "I love my name" insert heart here...

Thomas.

Sabotaged by the White Castle cheeseburgers and the brownies sitting on the counter, calling my name last night.

Blaming it on the cosmos.

New friend to TJ: How old are you?

TJ: I'm 4 years old.

New friend: When did you turn 4?

TJ: on my birthday.

TJ: Stupid.

Mama: TJ, we don't say that word in this family. Do you know what it means? It means not smart.

TJ: OK.

Later on he's eating his pasta.

TJ: Stupid pasta is too hot.

Mama, with a mean look: TJ.

TJ: Not smart pasta.

Julia just yells out "no!" when she sees the dogs. I'm sure that what she mostly hears me say to them.

TJ, tells me after watching the Fox and the Hound. "I think all the boys are brave and all the girls are afraid."

We had a talk about how that is NOT true in life. It is amazing how the media can be so influential at any age.

Mama: TJ, you have to start using full sentences and speak clearly when you talk.

TJ: A full sentence?

Mama gives some examples.

TJ, loud and clear, quickly comes out with the following: I love Julia.

I like to color.

I eat my lunch at school.

I like your hair, Mama.

So Julia loves seeing the crossing guard as we drop TJ off at school.

HI! She'll yell to her from really far away.

BYE! When we are leaving.

Unless there's a dog or a baby nearby. To Julia, a dog and a baby are much more interesting than a crossing guard.

TJ sees striped lines where we parked. "That's a little crossing guard," he tells me.

"No, I tell him, that's not a crossing guard, it's a crosswalk.The crossing guard wears yellow and helps us cross the street. I don't know what her name is."

"Maybe her name is Yellow," TJ decides.

Mama: I love the sound of the rain.

TJ: I want the rain to go away.

Mama: You know what else is my favorite sound?*

TJ: Ker-plop?

*TJ and Julia laughing

Why don't they have daycare at salons?

I really need to invent a place with daycare and beauty mixed together.

I would totally support that and I'm sure lots of other mamas would too.

Julia figured out running today.

She's really good at it.

<3

So, apparently Julia has decided it's time to potty train herself.

When TJ and I were at swimming lessons tonight, John and Julia were at home. She is already in her pjs, ready for bed and she starts crying and wants her pjs off. When he takes off her pjs, she walks into the bathroom, points at the potty and says "pee."

John puts her on the potty ring and she pees on the potty! He celebrated and praised her immensely. See where it goes from here.

Got my hair cut today.

I miss my old hair.

Change is good though.

Had such a nice morning with TJ.

Went to a road race, he ran the little kids race. No problem at all - straight across the field and up into my arms. He picked a whistle for his prize.

He loved playing on the playground after that - and racing - he says "on your mark, get set, go!" then blows the whistle and we race to a predetermined point. He always wins.

Stopped at the beach after, which was a great idea. We raced around, saw some dogs, he made a sand angel, then had me lay down and traced my body in the sand before we raced back to the car. It was a cute, loving, happy day.

TJ runs up to me tonight after he and John lit the jack o' lantern.

TJ: I found a dead mouse!

Mama: You did?

TJ: Yes, I picked it up and it was soft and then I saw it was a mouse and I threw it down.

Mama: Oh, wow.

TJ: It was squishy.

Mama: Euw.

John and he actually had a little burial for it.

John: Do you want to say a prayer for the mouse?

TJ: Dear Lord, thank you for the mouse.

Julia definitely knows what's going on.

One of my favorite things that she does is answer questions.

Mama: Julia, do you want to eat crackers?
Julia: No.
Mama: banana?
Julia: No
Mama: pretzels?
Julia: no
Mama: toast

Julia then gives these slow, thoughtful nods of her head, that go way up and end up way down with her chin way down by her chest. Really gets the point across.

TJ: Mama, Julia is only this tall.

Mama: I know, she's a wee little thing.

TJ: She's not a baby crumb.

I often say "listen to this." when I am about to start a story or I have some very important news to announce.

TJ says "hear this."

So, John had a smart phone years ago. Before anyone else. He called it a pocket pc. He would drive me crazy looking at it all the time. It had an internet connection so he would constantly be looking down at it, checking the news and surfing the net. No one else had one then so I wasn't used to that. Now it's me addicted to my blackberry, constantly texting, checking facebook, updating my blog, emailing, etc.

A year or two ago, he bought a tiny little laptop. All the rage now.

When he had his pocket pc, he used to make electronic music on it. Years ago. Today, an article on CNN about people using their smartphones to make music.

So three years ago in this househould.

He should get a job spotting technological trends. He's good at it.

*compliment

Julia started calling me Mommy today, rather than Mama.

Although I bet the MaaaaaaMaaaaa will definitely still be in play for a while.

Julia is walking around with a calculator which she thinks is a phone.

She's holding it up to her ear and saying "Hi!"

She also held it up to both Amadeus and Georgia's ears and said "Hi!" just like I do when I want her to speak on the phone to someone.

I am cold right down to the inside of my bones.

Julia was 0, then she had a birthday and now she is one.

TJ: Mama, a little girl at my school says "zissors" instead of scissors. We try to help her to say it right.

In the category of things I never thought I would say.

Please, stop smushing the peas.

So, laid off husband equals pinching pennies so we don't have to dip into savings.

This means pedicures and other extra luxuries are done for now. Luxuries that aren't even luxuries but just nice to have. Oh, wait, is that what a luxury is?

Today I had to clean my own bathroom, sweep the kitchen by myself and take off my own toenail polish. Oh the horror.

Squee is still the cutest little thing around.

She's a total giggle monster. She laughs at almost everything.

She absolutely loves telling you what things are and making the sound effect. "Dog. Woof woof woof."

Something falls, she says "boom!" and then gives a big tinkling laugh.

She stumbles all around, now, really fast.

She knows what you're talking about. If you ask her where her shoes are, she will walk into her room and get them out of her basket of shoes and put them on. She wears TJ's new fuzzy, size large slippers, which look like boats on her little feet.

She made up her own sign language for her Dora shoes. "Doe-doe" she says and points out her pointer finger.

She calls Elmo - Ai-ya.

Julia's sleep habits are perfect. She goes to bed by 7 pm and wakes up around 6:30 am. or a little later. Sometimes she pretends she's hungry, by making the Eat sign when it's time for bed, but she gets over it fast, cuddles up in her blankie and goes to sleep. She likes to brush her teeth and all you have to do to make her open her mouth is stick out your tongue. Curl it, and she is yours forever.

Reading is a big part of her life. She will bring you a book and have you read it to her, while she points out different things and says "da da da" (that means "what is that?") until you tell her, then she'll move onto the next thing.

If she is looking at a book and I don't answer her questions right away, she gets louder and louder until I answer her. "Mama. Mama. MAMA. MAMA. MAAAAAMMMMMAAAAA. MMMMMAAAAMMMMMMMAAAAA. MOOOOOMMMMMMMY." she yells it! Until I answer her, then she's fine. It's pretty comical. Sometimes I ignore her on purpose to see how loud she gets.

Really pretty loud, I gotta say.

She has the eating thing down, she still loves to eat lots. Not saying "mo" as much anymore. Miss that.

Getting a little temper. Will make herself flat on the floor and cry when things aren't going her way. We learned to ignore it and she usually gets over it. If she's like that, chances are she's tired.

TJ:

Eeeny meeny mynee mo

Catch a tiger by the toe

If he's hollow, let him go

Eeeny meeny mynee mo

My new favorite perfume is called Alien by Thierry Mugler. It's not a pretty name. Not like my other favorite, Princess by Vera Wang, which is so feminine it's embarrassing. Or my standby, Chanel No 5, which conjures up visions of elegance. Alien? Not so much elegance. But it smells divine.

Mama: TJ, can I give you a kiss?

TJ: Mm hmm.

Mama gives a kiss on cheek.

TJ: I wiped it off. I'm sick of kisses.

TJ is eating vanilla ice cream. Actually, he's drinking it through a straw.

Julia is sticking her hand into the rainbow sherbet and sucking it off.

I'm enjoying watching both of them eat their ice cream treat.

The other day, TJ walks by the hamper and announces "I love the hamper."

"You do?" I ask him.

"Yes. God made it," he informs me.

___

I am sick today, coughing, stuffy, chills. I ask, rhetorically, "what am I going to do, I don't feel good."

TJ tells me "God will take care of you."

As we were driving today on 295, there are sections of bedrock on each side of the road.

TJ tells me "we are in a cliff!" which matches up when we are driving through a road with lots of leaves around and he tells me "we are in the jungle" or when there are many trees and he tells me "we are in the woods."

Open your heart. Squeeze your butt.

I overheard this conversation tonight in a restaurant, and my ears perked up, because I have my Master's of Public Administration too.

Girl to guy: How's your girl?

Guy: She's good, she went to Roger Williams University and Rhode Island College to check out their MPA programs.

Girl: I have my MPA too.

My thoughts: Me too, I have mine too. I wonder what they do with theirs.

Girl: I am still not sure what I'm going to do with my degree.

Guy: Yeah, I know.

Girl: But that's not really the point, is it.

My thoughts: Really, it's not?

Girl: What does she want to do with hers, work for the state government or local government?

Guy: She would like to be an Executive Director of a non-profit.

My thoughts: That's exactly what I thought I would do with mine!

Hmmmmmm....

I wish I could do it part time for now. Maybe I should create my own non-profit.