Fail

Do you ever want a Mommy Do-over? Today I sure do. I blew an opportunity for some much needed Mommy/Biggest-Baby-Girl Bonding time this weekend. Last week Hayley came home with a notice about the big 100th day project. Anyone with a first or second grader probably did a similar project this week, you have to create a project using 100 somethings. We chose hearts. And the point is to spend some quiet, fun, educational quality time with your child, working together to create this masterpiece. At least that's how I read the instructions. We started the project Saturday, but it turns out Hayley can't cut out a heart yet and since we needed 100 of the suckers, Andy and I decided we would do that part for her and then work on the design and the construction together. So Saturday we cut out 100 hearts. Good start. Sunday we talked about what to do but for some reason, Hayley was in La la land and was suggesting ideas like "Lets make the hearts into the shape of a nickel". She was somewhat confused by the instructions so Andy and kind of took over that too and then decided she was maybe a little overtired and we could work on it while she was in bed. So today, Andy was at work so it was up to me and Hayley to finish the project and I got frustrated and pushy and grumpy and I don't think anyone enjoyed the project much at all. Hayley got frustrated too and Ace started hitting the poster with his sword and I ended up putting it up and finishing it after she was in bed. So much for bonding time. I sneaked in to wake her up to see if she wanted to come help and she mumbled something about cheese and went back to sleep. I feel like I deserve a big old F in parenting today.

Hayley loved the Nutcracker on Friday. She was a little nervous about riding the bus and being away from school but our neighbor was a chaperone and she was familiar with 2 of the other moms going so when she knew they would be there she was more comfortable. The rest of the day was so full and exciting that she had a monster of a meltdown in the evening when she was getting ready for movie night at her school. I was so mad at the time but looking back it was kind of ridiculously funny. This is how the fight went.

"Hayley, we have to leave, RIGHT NOW. If you are not ready in 2 seconds, you will not go."
"Fine! Well, I hope you don't like kisses because you are NEVER getting one from me AGAIN!"
"That makes me sad"
"GOOD! IT SHOULD!"

This went on for quite some time and I had an no idea how to handle it. The responsible part of me was saying I needed to be a consistent mother and follow through on consequences and have her stay home. But the inner 6 year old part of me was saying that sometimes even though you try really hard not to lose control, it happens and you say things you don't mean and feel really bad. And movie night at school is important when you are 6 and all your friends are going. So, I caved and let her go. I prefaced it by saying that what she did was NOT okay but I was proud that she tries her best to always be good and helpful and we all make mistakes once in a while so it's good to give second chances. She responded that she didn't "get that" but, okay. I learned my lesson that too much fun in one day CAN be a bad thing.

The worst part of the fight is that I was so preoccupied with Hayley's behavior that I wasn't paying attention to much else as we walked into school for movie night. Once the situation was calmer and I had her settled in her spot for the movie, I assessed the other kids and realized that:
1.Julia had no shoes on (it was about 40 degrees outside)
2. Ace did have shoes on, they were size 10 purple Dora boots.
3. I had really bad garlic breath from dinner
4. My hair was up in a side ponytail with 3 or 4 Christmas barrettes holding up my bangs, thanks to my hairstyling session with Julia.
5. My outfit was cotton pajama pants with snowmen and candy canes, a half zip fleece with a milk stain on my right boob, and high heeled black boots.

Seriously, it was bad. One mom stopped me in the doorway and gave me a hug. I hope she didn't notice the garlic breath but sadly, I'm sure she did.

Some other tidbits from our weekend:

*We had another visit with Julia's least favorite person of the month, Santa. We were having a fun visit to the fire station enjoying some yummy treats and climbing on the trucks when he had to show up and ruin it. Julia immediately started packing her cookies and punch cup away and putting her coat on. She really isn't scared of him so much as she doesn't appreciate the fact that he keeps showing up and invading her "comfort bubble" as Andy calls it. It doesn't make sense to her that all of a sudden this strange looking man keeps coming around and we try and convince her to take candy from him and sit on his lap. Frankly I'm surprised the other kids have never had a similar reaction.

*Julia's favorite "person" of the month is most definitely Elmo (which makes me even more confident that the Elmo Live was a worthwhile investment for Christmas). She answers every question with "Elmo"

Julia, what do you want to do?
Elmo.

Julia, who is your best friend?
Elmo

Julia, whats your favorite show?
Elmo

Julia, what is the best part of the day?
Elmo.

Julia, what do you want for dinner?
Pasta.....

With Elmo.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...everywhere but here.

To reassure anyone who may be worried about him (ahem, I'm looking at you, Aunt Katherine), Ace is feeling much better. Wednesday he had his playgroup at the library and a low key day after that and I didn't notice him relying on any of his comfort items (his family photos, his bicycle helmet, my lap) nearly as much as Tuesday and Thursday he was back to his chipper self. His teacher noticed the change as well so he had a great day at school.
So no, our decorations are not up yet, with the exception of the fabulously popular singing snowman that we got for the kids at The Christmas Tree Shop this year. It could be that Thanksgiving was busy and I'm tired, it could be the unseasonably warm temperatures have dampened my holiday spirit, or is could quite possibly be that in order to decorate properly I should clean first and cleaning is the last thing I plan on doing (I married an obsessive compulsive clean freak for a reason, people.) Tonight is the tree lighting on base and the breakfast with Santa party is Saturday so I assume that will jumpstart my holiday spirit enough to get the boxes of decorations out of the basement.
Shopping is a whole nother story. I'm just not that into it this year, ya know? Lucy is too young to need much of anything besides my boobs (and trust me, if I could buy another set of those for Christmas, I would), Julia isn't really into specific toys, she just plays with whatever she finds laying around (right now, for example, she is playing with the bulb I use to suck snot out of Lucy's nose, thank God I just washed it this afternoon) She loves her baby dolls but has reached maximum capacity with those, I can count 4 just from where I'm sitting right now. And Ace and Hayley just have too much of everything. Even with Andy's help I could only find one toy for each of the kids that I think they would be really excited over and I think that is plenty. We plan to get the kids some things they are needing anyway, like Hayley's new Brownie uniform and underwear and such and wrapping them up from Santa.
With all this present-talk, don't worry that my kids don't get the real meaning of Christmas. A few days ago I had this conversation with Ace and Hayley:

Hayley: "Why is Christmas always the last holiday in the year?"
Mommy: "Because that is the day we celebrate Jesus being born.
Hayley: "I know, that is God's special gift to the world" (a direct quote from Hermie's Chrismas special) "But, why is it the last holiday of the year?"
Mommy: "Hmmm, well, umm, hey, look, a reindeer!"
Hayley: "Did you hear me, Mommy? I'm asking you a question."
Mommy:"Umm, yeah, well, that is Jesus's birthday so that is when we celebrate, just like we celebrate you on your Birthdays."
Hayley:"Who said that His birthday is that day, it says that in the Bible?"
Mommy: "Sort of, I think, maybe, well, kind of, not the specific date but kind of... hey, doesn't anyone want to look at that reindeer?"
Hayley: "Mommy, maybe you could give Jesus a special gift and learn about His birthday"

Touche, Hayley, Touche.

Veteran's Day,2008

Picture Day

One of the few memories I have from kindergarten is Picture Day. I don't remember much about it except the mini combs they handed out while we stood in line to do touch ups on our hair (the combination of home-hair cuts and naturally frizzy hair meant my hairdo was beyond help) and my Best Buddies pin. We had some kind of special assembly the day before and afterwards they handed out pins with a picture of 2 blue stick figures holding hands that said "Best Buddies". That pin quickly became my prized possession and I was determined to wear it forever. The morning of picture day my mom picked out a very cute, very 80's, plaid black and red dress and gave me strict instructions NOT to wear my favorite pin. But I loved the pin and felt incomplete without it so as soon as my dad pulled out of the school parking lot, that pin was on my collar. Because they would never know, right? It's not like they would, you know, see the school picture. To this day I think I lost my status as favorite child the day we came home with our picture proofs.
I never understood why the stupid pin mattered until today, when my beautiful 6 year old woke up on picture day with the worst chapped lip EVER. Seriously, her nose is all swollen and red from the cold and her upper lip is so red and flaky. And she threw a temper tantrum about the purple sparkly shirt I had picked out so I agreed to let her wear the red dress she preferred. Then realized that said red dress is at least a size too big and she needed a tee shirt underneath. Not exactly the cute outfit I had imagined. So I tried to convince her that we really didn't need to order pictures (they make you preorder) but she thought that was punishment for refusing to wear the purple shirt and burst into tears. So I dropped her off at school with a chapped lip, a mismatched outfit, and tears streaming down her face. The whole ordeal cost me 7 dollars because I circled the "Class picture only" package (which technically wasn't a choice but I refused to fork over 30 dollars for the cheapest package) to try and calm her down. Not the best picture day ever.