The New Job

I'm going to be a stay at home mom!  My husband and I both wanted one of us to be home with our children, we just thought it would be after we had 2 of them.  The timeline moved up drastically when the B's babysitter told us she had to leave to take care of her sister.  At first I was in shock when she told us she leaving.

This is what I was thinking in my head.

Instead of expressing my first reaction, I told her that I completely understood the decision she was making.  The next day, I took a tour of a local preschool that is really highly rated.  The place was a kid factory complete with bored and exhausted "teachers".  To make matters worse, the wait list was months long.  That night we crunched our numbers and figured out that we could afford (barely) to live on one income.  I gave my job my 2 week notice after that.  I'm sure you're wondering what the B's reaction to having mom stay home with her. 

Uh oh.  Hide me!

At work there has been mixed reactions.  Most people had been really supportive, telling me that it's the most important job in the world etc.  Another group is freaking out about who will support them when I leave.  There is also a small group of people that I'll call the stick-your-foot-back-in-you-mouthers.

I have had comments like, "Can you afford to not work?!?"  To which I reply, "Yes."  But I am really wishing I could say, "No, I just think living in debt and on welfare is a good idea." 

Another gem was, "I can't understand why you would quit.  Girls that go to college don't usually give up that easily."  I'll let you guess what my internal response to that one was. 

Say Wha?!

As for me, I'm terrified at the idea of having only one income.  Especially with things as uncertain as they are.  On the other hand, I am very excited to be able to spend my day looking at this face.

This is going to be so much FUN!  (at least until the next time out)

The Injustice!

We are finally moving out of the pushing phase.  After many time-outs, saying sorry, and hugs to friends, B finally understands that pushing is not nice.  "Push no nice.  Hug nice," as she now says.  With that new found understanding, she expects apologies and hugs from pushers and gets really mad when that doesn't happen. 

At the MyGym on Monday, she was pushed in the back off a platform by another little girl.  Luckily I was standing right there or she would have fallen 3 feet onto her face because she really wasn't ready for it.  The father of the pusher half-heartily said, "don't push."  I stood there holding my shaking child who was glaring at the little girl expectantly.  Since I also don't believe it's acceptable to push others without an apology, I stood there waiting as well.  As the dad picked up his girl and started to walk away, I told him that B was expecting an apology because we make her say sorry when she pushes.  B glared at the girl and I glared at the father as he said, "oh, say sorry."  The little girl looked at him with an expression that said, "what's sorry?  Never heard it before."  She didn't say it, he didn't press and he walked away.  Shortly afterwards, B insisted on going home.  I think she was still pissed.



The Nerve!  I'm so offended.

In those situations, I sometimes wonder how much of a fuss I should have made.  I think if I didn't catch the B, I probably have yelled at the dad.  He was standing right there and he didn't stop her!  B looked like she was ready to do some pushing of her own.

You're not worth a time-out. 

When the B is not busy being a tough girl, she's getting ready for dance class!  Her first ballet class is on Saturday and I'm really excited.  I think she's pretty excited too.  The class is only half an hour, but I think that is as long as her attention span is anyway.

What do you mean?  I could do this all day.

It's amazing how quickly she's growing up.  Her favorite activity at the park is the big kid swing.  I'm terrified she'll let go, so I don't push her too high.   



Higher Mama, Higher!



What do you do if your child gets pushed?

AllState 1/2 Marathon Recap

After much deliberation and ignoring sage advice from people who know better, I decided to run the race in spite of the following factors:

1. Lack of training (only ran 10 times since my last HM in October, longest distance of 8 miles)
2. Recovering from a flu
3. Jason dropping out of the race because of his cough

Running turned out to be a great decision.  Although I did not race it, I didn't get a Personal Worst.  My chip time was 2:15 and change.  I'm calling it a win.

The race course was ideal, mostly flat with mostly beautiful ocean views.  I say mostly because we ran by a sewage treatment plant and I found myself holding my breath.  Let me tell you, holding your breath while trying to run is not a clever idea.  Also an ocean view is great except that it's super cold by the beach in the morning.  It took me 5 miles to feel my elbows again.  I don't think I ever did get feeling in my face.

At mile 2 I found someone who was running a pace that I liked and tagged along.  After about a mile, he seemed to notice I was following him.  By that, I mean he started turning back and looking at me every quarter mile.  I figured the time was right to introduce myself.  Have you ever tried shaking hands while running?  I'm surprised I didn't trip. 

Jeremy turned out to be a really nice guy and motivated me after mile 10 to keep going.  We chatted the whole time about our jobs, our families, and our life goals.  Funny all the things that you can cover with a stranger in 2 hours.  Around mile 11, I was beyond needing to pee.  Jeremy volunteered to wait for me at the next portojohn station and I up to the next available grouping.  All the doors were locked (I guess they were full, ewwwww).  In the distance I could see a truck was coming with new ones.  I didn't want to wait, so I kept running and for the first time ever, I peed my pants while running.  Let's all say it together, "ewwwwwwww!"  Fortunately it wasn't a lot, and it was dried by the time we got to the finish.  Or at least mingled with the sweat.  I'm just glad it wasn't poop.

I really wished I trained better because it was the perfect race to get a PR.  It wasn't too crowded, the cold numbed any pain, and the course was really familiar to me.

After we got home, we took our now tradition photo with the B wearing my finisher's medal.  I'll get it from Jason and post it later.

In B news, I'm proud to say that we are 99% potty trained.  She has an accident now and then but it's becoming more rare.  The key was to get her to think it was her idea.  I think that may be the key to her behavior in general.  Here is a snippet of our once daily conversation.

B: Bonnie push (gesturing a pushing motion with her hands)
Me: Who did you push?
B: Bonnie push Cameron
Me: Bonnie, that's not nice.  We don't push our friends.  Did you say you were sorry?
B: Bonnie push Cameron.  Lucy says, sorry Cameron, time out
Me: Did you say sorry?
B: Bonnie time out, Bonnie sorry.  Bonnie hug.
Me: You know that pushing is not nice.  Please don't push anymore.
B:  Push no nice.  HUGs nice.  (hugs mom)

Trying to keep a stern face during this conversation is always hard.  Especially since she is so excited to tell on herself when I get home.  Also, how can I frown when I'm getting a hug.

Do you ever find it hard to maintain a stern face while parenting?

P.S.  I'm quite aware that you're probably laughing at me because I think that 41 degrees is freezing.  Here's a funny clip from Kimmel on LA weather.  Kimmel on weather