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Rocking Rhymes

DAILY SNACK

“There ain’t no flies on me!

There ain’t no flies on me!

There may be flies on some of you guys,

But there ain’t no flies on me!”

With special thanks to Grandma Donna.

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Easter Means …

Easter means,

Winter’s last snow, more times than not, and coughs and colds and sniffles.

New running shoes and spring jackets and rolling up my sleeves for a good spring clean.
Fish and chips on Good Friday.
Lots and lots of chocolate.

Bunnies. Spring chicks and ducklings, too, but mostly bunnies.

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Seasons

DAILY SNACK

As winter spits out its last icy remnants,

And the deck is coated with a fine dusting of barely there snow,

A boy presses his nose against the screen door.

Can we make snow angels, Mom?

How about snow men?

Look Ma, No Hands

I have got to be the only woman for whom clean floors and happy children are mutually exclusive propositions. Driven to the brink of insanity today by the sheer volume of toys and toy bits on the living room floor, and by the crunching of various food stuffs underfoot, I got out the vacuum and hoped for the best. Luckily, Young C was still under the weather and taking a good afternoon nap at the same time as his baby sister. That’s how I managed to pick up 75% of the debris before said sister awoke. I knew my time was closing in then, so I plunked her in the playpen and made a mad sweep of the rest of the floor. She played happily until I started the vacuum, aka baby psyche torture device, at which time the crying began. I kept going, determined to at least finish a cursory course around the room, until the crying became so loud and heart-wrenching that no amount of ground-in Cheerio could keep me away. Now, rattled baby and messy floors and furniture pushed all akimbo, I needed a solution.

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Wall Hangings

DAILY SNACK

Gone are the days when I alone held the interior decor reigns.

Say good-bye to the rotating showings of today’s best paintings.

There were cries of protests and eyes brimful of tears when I taped up a new painting in place of an old.

So down came the new and back up went the old.

And we shall forever be stuck at two and three quarters.

 

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Sick Leave

Okay, I’ll admit it. I kind of like it when my kids are sick. Well, when the three-year-old is sick, anyway. (Nobody likes a sick baby.) I’m not talking about anything serious or drawn out and I’m certainly not talking about anything that involves the loss of bodily fluids. But a low-grade fever? And maybe a scratchy throat? C’mon, it’s not so bad.

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Amnesia

DAILY SNACK

I can’t remember.

Is this the second time I’ve found the bouncy chair on top of the baby?

Or was it her brother the other time?

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Hey Rebecca: Back to Sleep Basics

Hey Rebecca!

My 2 month old will only stay asleep for 10 minutes on his back before he is awoken by gas or a shake of his own arm. Recently I discovered that he will sleep on his tummy (he falls asleep on my chest this way) for up to three hours. All of the baby books forbid tummy sleeping at all for the first year, but a friend told me her pediatrician said it is ok if the baby can lift his head 45 degrees… how can I resolve my conflicting mommy guilt while getting some much needed shut eye??

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Don’t Quit Your Day Job

This is a post on how frustrating (impossible?) it is to work from home while caring for your children. The fates must be smiling on me because they so aptly illustrated that point by having my children pull me away from the post I was composing. I left my computer with such haste that I failed to save my work. My browser then crashed and all is lost.

This goes part way toward explaining why I have recently counseled two friends to scratch the work-from-home schemes they have been hatching.

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Impulse Control, Take I

DAILY SNACK

“I really wish I had my rain boots on.”

“Yes, there are a lot of puddles out here, aren’t there?”

“If I had my rain boots on, it would be so much fun to splash in the puddles.”

“I guess it would be.” I look away to open the car door.

SPLASH!

“Oh no! Mommy! My new running shoes and my feet are soaking wet!”