Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Letter to Chance


So you’re backpacking and while I am extremely jealous….no kids, wine and your best friend I AM in a nice warm dry house which is more than I can say for you, especially the dry part.  Our evening started off fairly mundane, an early dinner and a bath.  Max tried to pull himself up on the faucet. I was a little obsessed about picking my face tonight but once I pushed the tub far enough away from the faucet he was in no danger. (This a joke….kinda). I thought that I had it made. Max’s third nap was fairly short and I knew he was tired so I tried bed time at 6:30.  He couldn’t stop rubbing his eyes and yawning.  I could see it, a nice glass of wine, the chocolate I bought for your trip but somehow ended up here and some House Hunters.  Oh what a night.  (I am still in denial that I have to put sheets on the bed before I crawl in there.  I was so hoping to hang the sheets on the line that I let them stay in the washing machine so long and now I’m actually waiting for them to dry so I can go to bed.)

Much to my displeasure Max did not fall asleep immediately as was my evil plan.  I got him up and he had a party in our living room.  Crawling around, chatting, playing the piano, and being his overall adorable charming self.  How could I make that baby cry even if it is for his own good?  I do believe that he has a slight fever so I wrestled the pink cherry flavor Tylenol down his throat.  And of course I could not find the 3 ml syringe, only the 1 ml syringe so that I had to give him THREE doses.  Needless to the say “handsome like dad” onesie will be forever stained a nice pink hue….so it is quite appropriate actually.  It’s now 7:45 and I put him back to bed and try the Chance pat only to be out smarted by a 9 month old.  I sit in the rocking chair shushing him.  Max becomes interested in his books and I drop to my hands and knees and try to crawl out of the room unnoticed.  This is the exact point Max pulls himself up and peers down at me on all fours.  I have suddenly lost all dignity.  (I think I actually lost all dignity when I turned on the Jersey Shore in between bouts of trying to get Max to sleep.  And yes I realize my IQ just dropped 40 points.) I start to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situation and Max gives a deep belly laugh.  This round has been won by Max.  It’s about this time that Matt sends me a one word text “drink?”  I of course run over there with baby and Lola in tow.  After a Matt marg and a little bit of Caitlin and Partner time we head back home and Max goes right to sleep.

The best part is that I run into Clare and Steve and I tell them that I’m headed to Matt and Debbie’s after a rough night.  I think they felt sorry for me and invited me over for drinks tomorrow night.  I’m going to play the poor harried mother card and milk this weekend for all it’s worth.  Next year though, I’m coming too.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Bubbles and legos


My beautiful little girl is suddenly not so little any more.  I’m still trying to figure out how this even happened.  It seemed like just the other day she was riding her scooter naked around the back yard with her baby fat dimples displayed for all.  I can’t dwell on it too much, it will destroy me to think of another 8 years passing in the blink of an eye. 

Karen and Jim gave Maggie her very own bubble bath set for Christmas. This is a gift that never crossed my radar because in my mind Maggie is still wearing Hanna Andersson play dresses (with the contrasting leggings of course) and playing with Littlest Pet Shop.  Her very own bubble bath (and not the baby type) was so very appealing.  And in fact, Boulder conservationist be dammed, she filled the tub up TWICE to ensure a good 30 minutes of bubbles.  Lest you think she’s all girly she did read her Lego Club magazine in the bathtub complete with a green ninja Lego figure on the front.  I couldn’t help but stand just out of her sight line and marvel at this child of mine, the ultimate study in contrasts.

When she was finished she insisted on applying the matching scented body lotion.  I long gave up on the moisturizer after chasing this child around for YEARS with body lotion in hand.  All it took was Cherry Blossom body lotion?  Don’t get me wrong she still doesn’t brush her hair or her teeth but that little girl-ism is being replaced by something else and frankly I’m not sure I am ready.