All posts by Pink Me Not Mom

Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Happy Friday

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We’re only five weeks from the official start of spring.  The countdown starts now.  I have to look forward to something during these long ugly days of winter.  

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Silly holiday.  Chloe came home from school with all sorts of candy.  Sophie came home from her dear babysitter’s house with lollypops.  And lots of smiles.
I told my dear husband not to buy me anything for Valentine’s Day, which came as a relief to him because he hadn’t planned to buy anything.  I told him that if he was thinking of buying me flowers he could wait an extra week, save some money and give them to me on February 21.  

Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Third Grade Preview

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I visited the grade 3-5 elementary school Chloe will be attending in September.  It’s a huge building.  A little overwhelming.  But…
They have a classroom devoted to the student drum core.  A classroom devoted to science classes.  A dance studio and a gymnastics studio.  A music room (different from the drum room), with keyboards.  An art studio.  A library, of course.  A huge auditorium.  A computer lab.  And they offer so many electives, Chloe will go nuts!  
Hell, as I was roaming the colorful hallways, I was wishing that I was 8 years old again.  Sheltered from the shitty economy, from work, from everything but fun.  Oh well.  Since we don’t live in Neverland, I’m stuck being 40.  Which isn’t without its benefits, mind you…but still, drum room, art studio, science lab… in 3rd grade?  Jeez Louise.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Chloe Imitating “The Scream”

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OK, not really.  She was just being silly and isn’t even familiar with that painting.  Actually, she says she’s heard of the painting because it was featured in an episode of “Wizards of Waverly Place.”  I guess you can learn things from stupid kids’ TV shows.

In another funny moment tonight, Sophie came bounding down the stairs to let Papa know that the radio in the attic wasn’t working properly.  She was having trouble explaining the problem, but she was doing her best to convince her daddy that whatever was wrong required immediate attention.  Perhaps realizing that she wasn’t succeeding in conveying the enormity of the situation, she decided to appeal to his ego.  “Papa, you need to come now.  You’re Mr. Fixer!”  Needless to say, Papa couldn’t resist after that bit of flattery.  He followed Sophie upstairs and fulfilled his Mr. Fixer duties.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Sophie’s Wingspan

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Our growing baby is getting bigger by the day.  And she knows it and she’s proud of it.  
The extended wingspan also means that it’s easier for her to hit her big sister.  Which Chloe doesn’t appreciate in the least.  But Chloe still hasn’t figured it out – she still strikes back, even after we’ve repeatedly berated her for succumbing to Sophie’s taunts. Perhaps she’ll get it by the time she ships off to college, but it’s not looking particularly promising.  I’m fairly confident, however, that by the time she has children of her own, she’ll understand perfectly.  And look back on her days as an 8-year old with a newfound admiration for her parents’ child rearing skills.  OK, that may be a pipe dream on my part, but something has to keep us going everyday!
  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

The Beginning of the End?

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I knew that turning 40 would mean a lot of things – mostly symbolic.  And I knew that turning 40 would mean the beginning of the slow decline towards old age.  Ever-worsening eyesight, increased lower back pain, chin hairs, more frequent brain farts…

But what happened earlier today takes the cake.  After lunch, we all went to Barnes & Noble to get some books.  We spent a leisurely 1/2 hour or so perusing the kids’ section and paid for our purchases.  Chloe even bought a book for Sophie, out of her own gift card money.  As we’re leaving the store, I started to sift through my bag to find the car keys.  Nowhere to be found.  
Uh oh.  Realized I must have left them in the car.  Double uh oh.  Would the car lock automatically after a certain period of time?  Hell, would the car still be there?  If we thought having our camera stolen at the museum a week ago sucked big time, imagine having a car stolen because of your own forgetfulness.  So, I ran.  Ran to the car.  It was still there.  Opened the door, which, of course, was still open.  And immediately realized that I not only had left the keys in the car, but the ignition on as well!   If there is a better advertisement for “this car is yours for the taking,” I don’t know what it is.  Unbelievable that I did that; perhaps more unbelievable that we still have our car.  
I am now sufficiently freaked out by my mental lapse that I’m starting to wonder if I have something nefarious going on in my brain.  Forgetting keys in the car – that’s one thing.  Leaving the car running in a busy parking lot for a 1/2 hour, that belongs in another category altogether.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

For the Love of Gloup!

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You know that a pet is really part of a family when it is allowed to crawl all over the papa’s head.  Gross, if you ask me – but the girls LOVED it.
I suppose this act of selflessness is more a testament to my husband’s love for his kids.  Not many would subject their bald heads to scratchy Gloup paws and the risk of excretion just to provoke guffaws from their children.
Needless to say, Alubus and Gloup have adjusted well to their new home.  And we have adjusted a little too well to them.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Chloe the Wordsmith

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The other night, our neighbor introduced Chloe to Bananagrams, a game that’s a cross between Scrabble and a crossword puzzle.  Chloe was quite pleased with the word grid she created.  It seemed like a fun game (I was in the kitchen cooking an extremely complicated meal at the time – ok not complicated at all, but I’m not willing to totally concede the fact that the kitchen and I don’t quite mesh), so it’s now on her Amazon wishlist.

This weekend’s plans are still a bit fuzzy.  “Coraline” in 3D, perhaps.  Piano and art lessons for the girls tomorrow morning, as well as a hamster cage cleaning and a couple of hours of escape for me while I get my hair cut.
TGIF.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

In the Category, “What Was Chloe Thinking?”

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This photo, believe it or not, depicts Chloe’s spelling homework.  Out of sheer laziness, because her regular pencils needed to be sharpened, Chloe decided to use a yellow pencil instead.  I am old and over 40, but the words on that piece of paper were nothing less than illegible, even for a 28-year old 2nd grade teacher (I don’t know how old her teacher is, but that’s an educated guess.  She’s a lot younger than I am in any case).  

When we asked our dear daughter to demonstrate how the teacher would be able to decipher her prose, she had to hold the paper about 3 feet away from her face.  This is an eight-year old with perfect vision.

I told Chloe that she had a choice.  She certainly didn’t need to rewrite the homework, but if she didn’t and turned in the yellow blob, the teacher would likely have her redo it anyway.  That appeal to her common sense worked – to a certain degree.  Until she tearily confessed that she simply didn’t like recopying things.  Solution:  I squinted my eyes, held the paper up to the light at just the right angle (because if too much light fell on the paper, the yellow pencil disappeared entirely) and dictated her scribblings back to her.
I love my girls.  Why?  For all of the usual reasons, but also because on a night like this, when I’m tired, cranky and not particularly in the mood to write, one of them inevitably provides me with a laugh and an irresistible theme for a blog entry.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Another Milestone

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Sophie is visibly very proud of her first homework assignment, especially the fact that she received a “great job” sticker from the teacher.  This is the assignment I wrote about here.  

I hope that her happiness about the end result will make the next assignments a bit easier for her to swallow.  She’s ever the rebel, our little Sophie, wanting to do things her way, and her way only.
I love that about her – but it can certainly be exasperating when she refuses to take direction.  Chloe is the opposite in many respects, and much more like I was as a child.  Always following the rules, wanting to impress the teachers.  I’m not convinced Sophie will follow that path.  But that’s ok, because she’s as cute as can be.  And as smart as a whip, in her own Sophie way.