Stalker in the House

Today was Jazz Fest at W’s school. They had bands and Plum Street snowballs and crafts and musical instruments for all the kids to play. They seemed to have a grand time. I had fun too but I got to meet this little girl. If this is any indication of the kind that W will be dating…I’m up a creek.

She’s an older woman. She’s in the 3 year class. All I can say is that I am glad she’ll be graduating next year. My mom said the same thing about the older woman my brother dated when he was a sophomore. She was a senior and my mom called her a slut, I’m not kidding, and sprayed the hose on her car (he couldn’t drive yet) while they were in it making out. Anyway, the teachers mentioned this girl in the conference. They kind of glossed over it and said that the ‘older girls loved W and treated him as their baby on the playground.’ They always say how cute he is as they pull him around during recess. I thought it was cute, too. Until today. We were sitting on the steps listening to the band and his teacher walked up and introduced this little girl to me who was sitting next to W as the girl who loved him. I did not notice her until then but when I glanced down she was staring so intently at him. If she had a booger sticking out of her nose it would have been on W’s face. That’s how close she was to him. He wasn’t paying her any mind. Really, it was as if she didn’t exist. I guess that’s the best way to deal with it but she freaked me out and had it been me I would have slapped her upside the head for getting in my space. I hate to say this about another child but she was freaky looking. Maybe it was the way she was looking at him, I don’t know but I wanted to take my baby and run. This territorial feeling that I have never experienced washed over me. I now understand the craziness that surfaced in my mom towards all of Uncle RaRa’s girlfriends. For the rest of the morning every where she went she this little freak would suddenly appear next to W. She never uttered a word and he never gave her the time of day. It’s not like E who loves him and takes care of him. I mean, he talks about E all of the time and smiles when he sees her. This girl, he looked right through. Thank goodness. Hopefully, if he attracts stalkers of this type throughout his life he’ll have the good sense to ignore them like he does this girl. If they were older I would be worried. But luckily they are only toddlers and if she snaps I am not sure she has the hand eye coordination to really hurt him.

Babies bedtime

Putting W to bed always made me anxious-from the very beginning. I think it was because he was my first and my ocd really hit its stride after I had him. And now there is so much to do to get him ready for bed that it all just makes me aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh… I don’t know why.

I feel kind of guilty now because while J is putting W to bed, I put Master P to bed. And I actually enjoy it. It, of course, entails a lot less but I do enjoy it. I wash his face and hands, change his diaper, rub lotion on his legs and put on his pjs. Then I turn out the light and get his pop pop (pacifier) and we rock and sing. In keeping with my obsessive tendencies we of course sing the same song first. The Gambler. It relaxed W when he was a baby and P seems to like it too. Now, as much as I hate to admit it, I can’t sing. But I LOVE to sing. LOVE LOVE LOVE to sing. And there are certain songs that harmonize in my head better. The Gambler is one of them. Some others are Whitney Houston’s I will always love you and any of Air Supply’s songs to name a few.

Side note. When we were kids my dad would put in the Kenny Rogers and Helen Reddy 8 track on our way up to Vicksburg to visit his family. We (my dad, uncle Ra Ra and I—no matter what my mom says she rarely came up with us) would all sing loud and clear. I am not sure that The Gambler was on the soundtrack but Lucille was and The Coward of the County (you gotta love that one) but I don’t think those make for such good bedtime crooning.

Anyway, I am trying to mix it up a bit with the songs. I will always sing The Gambler first but I am hoping by mixing up the other songs every night my OCD won’t creep into Master P’s bedtime routine too badly. That’s when my anxiety gets out of whack and then I we would all be up a creek.

Cradle Cap

Master P has cradle cap. W had it too but for some reason I wasn't worried about it. I have ridded Master P of it and I feel very satisfied. Cradle cap is really nothing to worry about. It eventually clears up on its own but if you want to get rid of it try this...

Wet baby's hair and rub with baby oil. Rub with a wet washcloth trying to get the flakes off the scalp. Then wash with Head and Shoulders. Afterwards, use a brush and brush away the flakes. hHe next time you wash your baby's hair with Head and Shoulders let it sit and it should really help with the cradle cap.

Not Suitable for those without a sense of potty humor

I am BM obsessed. I always have been. It runs in the family. My brother and dad are similar in their enjoyment of BM's. Not Mom, though. She thinks it's inappropriate to talk about going to the bathroom and J is very uncomfortable about the whole subject so I'll leave him out of it. Anyway, Master P is constipated. It's awful. I discovered it a few days ago. I had just gotten out of the shower and my hair was wrapped up in a towel. I looked at him and he had this awful look on his face and then he erupted into this horrific scream. I thought that it was because he didn't recognize me with the towel around my head. Wasn't the case. He's constipated and uncomfortable. I tried to get him to drink water but he just spit it out. I need to get some Karo syrup and prune juice before I go ahead with the glycerin suppository. Anyway, all of this constipation talk got me reminiscing.

When we finally ended up in Baton Rouge after Katrina we had to share a house with another couple. S was pregnant and the LB was 1 month old by the time we all moved in together. I found a kindred spirit. She too likes to talk BM's. Can you imagine the conversations between a pregnant lady and one with a new baby who like to talk about BM's? There was never a shortage of conversation. It was fabulous. Now that we both have 2 children we spend countless hours on the phone discussing and analyzing their habits. It's great.

It almost reminded me of college. When I first transferred to U of Alabama my roommates drank a lot of purple Koolaid. One of the first things they told me. It makes your poo green. But you probably already knew that.

And then I started thinking about Uncle RaRa and his potty humor. It was actually Jazz Fest about 10 years ago when he taught me the phrase "dropping the kids off at the pool". The memory couldn't have come at a better time. I used to be as obsessed about Jazz Fest as I am about BM's. I went every day from beginning to end. and never failed, someone always had to drop the kids off at the pool. I know, disgusting. The port-o-lets are hot and steamy and not an ideal place for doing that but when nature calls... Thank goodness Jazz Fest is not my thing anymore. Because although the thought of schlepping around in the hot sun with sweaty people getting my feet dirty (I hate getting my feet dirty. That was the one thing I always dreaded about JF) sounds awful, the thought of having to drop the kids off at the pool at the Fairgrounds during JF is worse.

But don't get me wrong. There is a little piece of me who is dying inside to go to Jazz Fest despite the hot, sweatiness of it all and the despite the $50 ticket. (I remember when it was $12. I think I was in high school. That was a lot for a highschooler who got something like $40 a month in allowance) I would love to bring W just for a morning. He loves music and I know he would dance until the day is done but it's not going to happen. So for all of you Jazz Festers eat a falafel sandwich, a crawfish strudel and crawfish bread for me. Sit in the Gospel tent and sing out loud and don't forget to bring lots of toilet paper.

All Natural-yeah right

The Little Buddy came with my mom and me to Sam's Club today. I have to say, he enjoyed it. Who wouldn't? I was looking for tortilla chips. I never found them but did come across All Natural Cheetos Cheddar Puffs. It sounded good and healthy so I picked up a bag and promptly handed them over to W. He was set for the rest of our Sam's trip. I am not sure who ate more, Mimi or W. Mimi kept saying how disgusting and bad for you they were but that didn't stop her from eating them. Never does. I think between the two of them they went through 3/4 of the bag. and she scolded me several times for letting him have them. But you know what? The LB may be a carb loader but on a daily basis the worst thing he eats are mini blueberry muffins. Otherwise he is eating flax seed and onion whole grain pita chips or veggie chips (on which I'm still not totally sold) from Whole Foods. He deserves a little indulgence every now and then of all natural goodness.

Picture perfect

The perfect photo. With 2 kids. Does it exist? With W it is always so easy to snap the perfect one because he is such a ham for the camera. Always hammin' it up, I tell ya. But to get one of both of them looking at the camera and smiling is hard. First of all, I think we need a new camera. The delay is so freaking long that I have to snap the actual photo before they even smile and I don't even know if they are going to smile. A friend of mine got the best one of her two kids for her Christmas card. It was adorable. Her secret....put them both on the bed and stand above them. So I tried it and it worked...kind of. It's hard to get Master P to smile if he doesn't have anything at which to smile but at least his expression was pleasant.

Sunday we walked to the park to eat breakfast at the golf house and we stopped at the playground on the way back. By this point W was way tired. You know how they get, all hyper and giddy. I knew when I was taking this picture that this face was one of pure joy, the joy you get right before they can't take it any longer and have a total meltdown. I was right. He threw a tantrum when we were leaving because he didn't want to go and then the whole way home (about 20 minutes) he screamed "I NIGH NIGH!" over and over and over again.

Bowing down to the babysitter

We went out on Saturday and when we got home Master P was in his crib and had been since 7:45. I have been wanting to drop the 9 o'clock feeding forever. I pretty much knew we were waaaay past the time to do that but I have been very hesitant as you can imagine. With W it was a no brainer and with one it's much easier to let them cry it out since there is not another one to wake up in the process. It took our incredible babysitter to finally do it for us. I asked her if she could move in. I was so excited. Whew! The relief I feel is inexplicable. We put him down again last night around that time and he slept through again. I hate to say that it's for good but at least it is looking promising.

A few new blogs

I just came across this new blog Suburban Bliss and loved this post.
1. I couldn't have said it better myself about the friend thing
2. I am sorry to admit that those parents who try to figure out which kid got my kid sick...that's me. I have seen myself in a blog post and I now that I am aware that it is totally neurotic and assholish I will do my best to stop.

I also came across Smitten Kitchen from Kate F. and am so happy to find another foodie blog. It's great if you too love cooking and feel like checking it out. I love the photos in all of the food blogs I read. I wish I could figure out how to take such fabulous photos of my food. But then again, maybe it's not the photography. Maybe it's my food!

Murphy's Law?

So J was out of town for a few days and all hell broke loose. Master P wouldn't sleep and turns out he has his 2nd ear infection in 3 weeks and projectile vomited this morning in the car. Poor thing. He was so hungry but could barely finish eating without falling asleep.

The Little Buddy was the perfect child the first night. Last night I think he was so bored because I had to hold Master P upright since it hurt him to lie down so we didn't do anything after his nap. Finally at 6:45 he asked to go to bed. I guess he figured that things were not going to get much more exciting. We took a bath and then read some books and went to bed. He realized he wasn't tired so we read some more books and he stayed up until 8:30. This morning he cried when I dropped him off at school. His whole routine is out of whack and I think he is ready for it to get back to normal. So am I.

Thank goodness J is coming back tonight. It really got kind of lonely. I am not sure if he knows how much I appreciate him. Not only what he does for the boys and supporting me but also for being my best friend. I miss him and I am very happy that he's coming home.