This is not a drop-off nursery school July 31, 2008

The nursery school told us that from the beginning, but I’m only just starting to understand what they meant.

They meant that they really want to involve parents and I think that’s great. Really, I do. But in addition to the initial info session, A and I have missed work for a play group in the spring and there are three more coming up, to which we’ll have to send Gatito with Tata. Then there’s a parent info session on the first day of school (mine) and another one a month in (A’s). Then there are the monthly parent association meetings (which we will be forced to give a miss). Lest you worry about parents with younger children, they offer babysitting during these times.

I’m glad they’re doing these things and there’s nothing I want more than to participate in every last one of them. But I can’t. Part of me wonders why they told me they have lots of working moms and assured me that Gatito would not be the only one dropped off and picked up by a nanny when what they really want is actively involved parents, but I get the idea this is just kind of what it’s like to have a kid in school- maybe any school, at any age.

I am beginning to see that it is the earlier years that are, in some ways, the easiest for working parents. You just set up the nanny or daycare and get on with it. (Assuming you have child care with which you are happy, as we have had for the last year and a half.) The school years are going to present a different kind of challenge.

I’m going to have a lot more time on my hands July 29, 2008

R.I.P., Scrabulous.

Bribery July 28, 2008

It is an accepted fact around here that the jelly beans were a serious potty motivator. Sure, five months later he is still asking for them at least half the time he goes, but a few jelly bellies a day is a small price to pay for a diaper free life, in my opinion. Plus I figure at some point the jelly bean reward will be his college roommate’s problem, not mine, right.

Bribery worked so well for the potty, I had no problem at all applying it to our next issue, which is that Gatito has been joining us in bed with increasing frequency. The truth is that I quite like having him in our bed, and I like being piled in with him and A and the cats. But I don’t think it’s great for a marriage, and what started out as every once in a while gradually increased in frequency until we got to three nights in a row and I figured it was time to do something about it.

Something turned out to be a chart, with a picture of a car, divided into seven segments. Each night that Gatito stays in his own bed till morning, he gets to color in a segment, and after a week, he gets a car. This is the seventh night, so if all goes well, tomorrow is Car Day. I just don’t know what happens after that. Will he only sleep in his bed with the promise of a car? Do we extend the next challenge from a week to a month? Is it a non-issue, now that he’s gotten used to sleeping alone again?

If you have ever offered rewards your kids for certain behavior, how did you transition away from the rewards without messing up the behavior?

Ok, so my priorities could use some work July 27, 2008

Skipped toddler music class yesterday to spend 2.5 hours in line for an iphone. Hey, at least we were all together and Gatito got to ride up and down the escalator 20 times so he was happy and now I am, too.

And again July 24, 2008

I got my period while peeing on a stick this morning. Again.

It’s not the disappointment of this particular month that bothers me.

It’s not the clicking forward of another month in the potential due date calendar in my mind. (We are now at late April, earliest.)

It’s not the increasing age difference between Gatito and a potential sibling. (Now at 3 years, 5 months, minimum. I actaully like the idea of getting more alone time with Gatito while he’s little and a more independent Gatito giving me a chance to really enjoy a second babyhood. Not to mention not having to pay two college tuitions at the same time.)

It’s the creeping little worry that maybe something is wrong (along with the incessant creeping towards that magical age of 35). All three times I’ve been pregnant before, excepting the six wasted months when we were cluelessly using the spermicide called Astroglide, it’s happened in the first two months. And I once read somewhere that in two fertile people, with the right timing, the chance of conceiving is one in three. So, I know it seems silly to those of you that have waited years, but the passing of this mark seems somehow significant.

There is nothing to do but carry on and focus on how great everything else in life is. And so I will. If nothing happens in another three months, I will consider conferring with the doctor. I don’t know whether I’d ever even want to do anything if there is a problem, but I guess you never do know that until you’re faced with the situation.

I was just kidding about the iPhone thing getting me down July 20, 2008

I mean, I’m still obsessing about it, but I am well aware that 1) I will get one eventually and 2) it’s just a toy.

But on to way more important things:

Day is like, my original blogging friend. We go way back to late 2004, and she’s been an amazingly supportive friend. We even had the good fortune to meet in person once– something I very much hope to repeat at some point. Anyway, she needs our help. So go read her story, and if you can, consider a donation to help her get to her goal. It could save her life. And it’s a far more worthy cause than an iPhone. Ahem.

A leetle bit gloomy July 19, 2008

Possibly it’s because I still haven’t managed to get my hot little hands on an iPhone, my obsession with this toy is growing, and it looks like it’s weeks or months from being fulfilled.

Possibly it’s just that part of the cycle. Based on past experience, my breasts should be bigger by now if I am pregnant. They are not. It’s only the third month of trying since the ectopic so I feel like I have no right to feel this way, but I do.

Cheeses! July 17, 2008

Peering into the refrigerator this morning, Gatito shouted, “Jesus!”

It’s not like we are above taking the Lord’s name in vain in the GC household, but it was still surprising to hear it come out of his mouth.

“What?” A and I said.

“Cheeses!” he declared happily.

It’s always nice to start your day out with a laugh. Cheeses, indeed.

For a minute there… July 15, 2008

Earlier this evening, I was totally convinced that this was going to be my month. And then the confidence faded. Now I’m just tired.

My mom asked me last weekend if I am pregnant and I said, “No, just fat.”

So can I blame Prometrium for the fat, or no? I switched this month from the Crinone suppositories for no reason in particular other than that they are what I had and I was too lazy to call for another prescription, and now I haven’t lost the 2-3 pounds I usually gain around ovulation. I’m sure it has nothing to do with having baked (and eaten) these cookies. Amazing recipe, but just for the record, I figured out that they have 8 WW points each, and that’s assuming you make smaller cookies (24 instead of the 18 they recommend). Yikes.
Meanwhile, I obsessively want an iPhone. I’m totally going to treat myself but it seems like it’s a whole process and you have to get to the store early in the morning? So maybe this weekend. But, just so you know I have my priorities straight, I already ordered the case.

(Testing next Thursday. Unless this is the month I finally have the patience to just wait it out the full 14 days? That would be Saturday.)

I just re-read this and it sounds like I am high. I should delete since I’ve basically said nothing, but I’m hungry for a little interaction so say hi in the comments if you feel like it.

I’m very fine! July 12, 2008

Last Sunday, Gatito started limping, telling us his foot hurt. It went on all afternoon and evening, and he never forgot about it, walking on the outside of his foot.

The next morning, I waited to see what would happen when he got out of bed. He was still walking on the outside of the same foot, but when I asked, he said it did not hurt. Then he limped down the hallway and I decided it was time to take Gimpy to the ped.

As soon as the nurse took us back to an exam room, he announced loudly, “Nothing hurts me!” When the doctor came in, Gatito told him, “Nothing hurts me! I’m very fine!”

The doctor poked and prodded and pushed and pulled all parts of both of Gatito’s legs and feet and told me, “He’s right! Nothing hurts him!” He did witness the limping so he knew I wasn’t insane, but he had no explanation and sent us on our way, telling me to come back if it wasn’t better in a few days. By afternoon, the kid was walking totally normally. The whole thing was so much like this experience with the cat, it’s not even funny.

We’d been at my mom’s the day before when he was limping around, and she asked me to call her and let her know what the doctor had said. She was relieved to hear everything was fine.

“When something like that happens, you always think of J,” she said.
(J is my sister’s husband, who lost a foot to bone cancer at the age of five.)
“Uh, no I didn’t,” I told her. “I thought he might have a splinter.”
Pause.
“Oh. Well, you will now,” she laughed nervously.

Good grief.