Sophie woke up yesterday morning claiming that she had trouble falling asleep the night before. I looked at her and said, “Really?” Then I pulled out this picture and showed it to her. As it turns out, Papa snapped this photo of Sophie the night before passed out on the bed. He hadn’t yet finished reading to her.
Category Archives: Frazzled Working Mom’s Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)
Sophie Bouncing
Remember these? For the first day of daylight savings time, we enjoyed a beautiful springlike afternoon. To celebrate the glorious weather, Papa inflated a bouncy ball that Sophie proceeded to steer all around the yard. And we arrived home from dinner, she got in a few extra minutes of exercise by bouncing around the kitchen.
I love this age. Six years old – still so innocent, but old enough to be somewhat independent. Still silly, but so endearingly earnest. And most of all, still completely into mom and dad. The day Sophie stops wanting to smother me in kisses and hugs will be the day I age five additional years.
Sophie and Chloe, the Social Butterflies
It was a whirlwind day for the girls. Chloe and two of her friends walked to the nearby town center – by themselves – for lunch at the local pizza joint. One of her friends has a phone and sent me periodic text messages to confirm all was going well.
Sophie Channels the Black-Eyed Peas
OK, so the song isn’t really meant for six-year olds. Is that “Kama Sutra” I hear? But Sophie has no idea what that is, so we’ll just pretend there’s no mention of that ancient text. She has the beat and the ‘tude down, that’s for sure.
Exercise!
We bought a stationary exercise bike for my husband’s birthday and it was delivered yesterday. At 8:30 AM this morning, I changed into my long-neglected exercise clothes and set the bike for a 45 minute random mode workout. I did my best not to think about the pain and passed the time by watching a movie on the iPad Before I knew it, I was in cool down mode.
It wasn’t easy. A couple of hundred calories burned (which disappointed me because I thought it’d be more) and 7.6 miles later, I got off the bike and started walking downstairs. My knees, however, did not know that I was no longer on the bike. They buckled, I almost lost my footing and, but for the grace of the exercise gods, I would have tumbled down the stairs and ended up in a cast.
Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me. If I manage to make it downstairs after tomorrow’s workout without losing my footing, I will have made progress.
Just Like When We Were Kids
When it comes to the hand clapping games in the “Miss Mary Mack” vein, not so much has changed since we were kids. I remember this one. The Liberace part, at least. Pretty funny that so much has changed since I was six 37 (aaahhh!) years ago, and yet this kind of simple fun hasn’t changed much at all.
Chloe is a Good Babysitter
Chloe was tasked with helping Sophie tonight because my husband and I got home late. Helping Sophie translated into making sure Sophie finished her homework and reading to her at bedtime. Chloe accomplished both tasks. And according to Sophie, they didn’t even fight.
That’s nothing less than incredible. No fighting. I don’t recall a day or an evening where the two didn’t at least have a brief yelling match. The girls read “The Lorax,” one of Sophie’s all-time favorite books. When I arrived home, I caught Chloe tucking her little sister into bed and giving her a hug.
For a second or two, I thought I had stepped into the wrong house. Or into an alternate universe. It was lovely. Until Chloe broke a toy (entirely her fault, by the way) she bought on a class trip to the Liberty Science Center today. And now she’s making horrible, animalistic growling sounds. I guess I stepped into the right house after all.
It’s Not Yet Summer, But…
…with the mild winter we’ve been having, it feels like summer is just around the corner. While Sophie and I were in Texas, Chloe convinced her Papa to buy a Zoku ice pop maker. Their first attempt at making a pop was with chocolate. No surprise there. What was surprising was that they didn’t like that concoction so much. Tonight, they experimented with kiwi and cherries. It was certainly a much prettier-looking pop, although they weren’t huge fans of the resulting taste combination.
Chloe now wants us to buy all sorts of fruit this weekend so that she can make more ice pops using the accompanying recipe book, which calls for ingredients like agave nectar, as a guide. Hey, if this thing gets the girls to eat more fruit, I’m all for it.
Chloe is Amazing
According to Chloe, I should write about how amazing she is because that “never gets old.” And no, she hasn’t paid me to write this blog entry.
So here I am, respecting her wishes. She’s amazing even though she thinks she knows everything, talks way too much, especially during TV shows, is a bit too judgmental for her age, doesn’t make her bed, only wears jeans…
I could continue to summarize the areas in need of development, but that would take a few more hours.
Instead, I will concede the fact that Chloe is pretty amazing, despite the flaws. Let’s face it – it’s hard to resist an 11-year old who has such a high opinion of herself.
The Texan Conversion is Complete
Sophie is now a Texas cowgirl fashionista. Look closely at the photo and you will see why. And yes, those boots go against everything I stand for in my blog. But it’s hard to resist an adorable six-year old who behaves amazingly well for five days on a trip far away from home. And the only other kids’ boots were an ugly brown.
So I caved. Sophie is very proud of her boots and has every intention of wearing them to school. As we all know, she has a pretty wild fashion sense. And she doesn’t give a hoot about what others think. Who am I to stifle that independence and creativity? Besides, when in Texas, do as the Texans do. And the Texans buy cowboy boots.
Yee-haw.