Category Archives: Frazzled Working Mom’s Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

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

Moving Up from Pre- Pre-K

Leave a comment


Yep. It’s not enough to do pre-k graduations, now you have to move up from pre- pre-K. This is Sophie dressed for her “Footloose” performance. In a Flashdance-style off-the-shoulder shirt and leg warmers.

The great suspense for this evening was whether or not Sophie would perform with the rest of the class. Would she remain essentially immobile the whole time? Or would she shake her booty like we know she can do?
Sophie did us proud. She wasn’t necessarily as coordinated as some of the other kids (and for the record, she was probably the youngest one there), but she was shaking. Her arms, her legs, her butt, you name it. Kevin Bacon, eat your heart out. And afterwards, when the entire school sang “Corner of the Sky” from “Pippin” (the theme of the night was Broadway musicals), she was singing. We were dubious, but she was definitely moving her mouth to the words.
At the very least, this evening’s festivities gave us a taste of what graduation from pre-k will be like for her next year. I wonder how much of the tears I saw tonight were due to the warm, tender and loving feelings the parents have for their kids, or to the end of tuition payments, at least until college. I have to admit that next year, when Sophie is wearing her cap and gown for her official pre-k graduation, my tears will likely represent a mix of both, with emphasis on the latter.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

565 Books

Leave a comment

The results are in. Chloe read the equivalent of 565 books in 2nd grade. At the beginning of the year, her teacher told the class that 30 pages read would equal one book. Chloe read 16,950 pages. Yes, 16,950 pages.

Pretty incredible, if you ask me. I am fairly certain that she holds the school record for the 2008-2009 school year. I just hope she keeps it up next year!
Sophie is still on her Adam Lambert kick. She just exclaimed, out of the blue, “I like Adam. He’s so cute.” I told her he was on vacation so that I could avoid watching Adam Lambert American Idol videos for the 565th time. But I’m fighting a losing battle. So off we go, to watch him yet again.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Oh Shit!

Leave a comment

My little Sophie bear – the child who rarely gets into trouble, who is a quiet, generally easygoing, well-behaved child, became frustrated at our babysitter’s house the other day.
“Oh shit,” she said. Our lovely babysitter thought she misheard at first. That is, until Sophie said it again, with gusto. Our babysitter took Sophie aside and asked her if she knew whether what she was saying was bad. Sophie, at three years old, doesn’t really know how to lie and responded that yes, indeed, she knew it was bad. Her babysitter asked that she not say it again.
But by then Sophie was on a roll. And she let it rip one more time for good measure. That landed her in a time out, of course.
Needless to say, the truth is out. My husband and I have potty mouths. We try to refrain from displaying this side of our personalities in front of our kids, but let’s face it, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. And kids are super perceptive. Boy, was I embarrassed. Our babysitter took it in stride – it was the first (and will hopefully be the last) time she gave Sophie a time out.
The good news is that Sophie hasn’t seen fit to use the word since. We’ll see how long that lasts. In the meantime, I’m trying desperately to watch my mouth. And my husband would be wise to do the same.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Up and Away

Leave a comment

We just got back from the movies – we took the girls to see “Up.”  I don’t remember being so moved by a film in a very long time.  I think I cried through half of it.
Granted, I had a bit of an emotional day today – Chloe was tough this morning and I was unable to banish my ensuing bad mood for most of the afternoon.  So perhaps I was predisposed to a crying jag.  But all the same, the movie touched me profoundly.  
The early sequence of Carl and Ellie living their lives together from childhood until her death, postponing their shared dream of visiting South America until it was too late, was beautiful.  And when old Carl, thumbing through Ellie’s scrapbook towards the end of the film, realized that his wife had lived a happy and fulfilled life despite their shared hurdles and disappointments, and that for her the true adventure was simply sharing her life with him – that was lovely.  
We should all grow old and have the good fortune to reflect on our lives and realize that we lived and loved well.  And I suppose the real message is that you should live your life to the fullest – so that when you look back, you have no regrets.  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Field Trip to the Museum

Leave a comment

What a day.  I chaperoned Chloe’s class trip to the museum – and I now have a much greater appreciation for teachers of young children – the crap they must deal with on a daily basis is astounding.  This is mostly because kids do stupid things.  

The visit itself was a little strange – the museum suffers from a bit of an identity crisis.  Part art gallery, part science museum, we spent the first part of the morning in a room filled with ancient Greek artifacts while the docent talked to the kids about the differences between mammals, birds and reptiles.  This part of the tour culminated in the kids making turtles out of clay.  What ancient Greek artifacts and turtles have to do with one another is beyond me.  Why the docent couldn’t talk to the kids about the cool Greek stuff was also beyond me.
The second part of the visit was a whirlwind tour through “Asia,”  which for the most part involved talking about Tibet, yaks and the symbolism of Buddha hand gestures.  One child made it very clear that he wasn’t going to pray to Buddha.  You know what’s next. Kid goes home, having misinterpreted the situation, and tells his parents that the museum guide was proselytizing the children about religion.  Lawsuit ensues.  
By the time the docent showed the class the 1400-year old sandstone wheel of law from I forget which country, the kids were antsy.  They wanted to eat.  The cafeteria was claustrophobic and NOISY!  The acoustics were torture.  My head is starting to pound just at the memory of that place. 
After lunch we had over an hour (!!!) to discover the museum in our small groups – I was responsible for 5 kids.  This is where the visit started to head south.  I must say, the day started out all warm and fuzzy – with Chloe proudly hugging me and holding my hand for the first half of the excursion.  She was possessive – in a way that warmed the cockles of my heart.  That affection, however, didn’t last.  When she found out that I had allowed another group to join us in our exploration, she had a hissy fit.  She wasn’t willing to share me any more than she had to – should I have been flattered?  Chloe tried to be discreet about her disappointment, but she is not good at discreet.  And after a couple of hours of thinking that the bottle-of-aspirin headache was worth the mother-daughter bonding, I was wondering why I had bothered to come in the first place.  Oh well – I tried.  And I might even try again some day – in the surely naive hope that once she gets older, her fits will be reserved for things that really matter.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

“I Don’t Want to Be a Messy Girl!”

Leave a comment

Sophie was making a bit of a mess at dinner tonight – pasta and cheese on her chair, pasta and cheese on the table, pasta and cheese on the floor.  As the food was flying in different directions, she exclaimed, with no encouragement from the audience, “I don’t want to be a messy girl!”  Her words were accompanied by a classic Sophie pout (see photo).  
But being messy at the dining room table does not translate to a reluctance to get dirty.  Nope.  Not five minutes later she was asking to be excused from the table in order to go outside and collect dirt.  Yes, that’s right.  Our “I don’t want to be a messy girl” likes playing in mud and digging for rocks.  Like a pig in its sty.  But if she should drop an elbow pasta on the floor – there’s no coming back from that.
Never a dull moment.  That said, after a somewhat stressful day at work, coming home to that really helped to calm my nerves.  Messy girls rule!
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

When Can I Get a Cell Phone?

Leave a comment


The minutes before bedtime this evening started with a seemingly innocuous question from Chloe.  “When I am getting a cell phone?” she inquired.  We asked her why and she gave her typical non-response.  “I just want to know.”

When her Papa jokingly replied that she could get one when she turned 18, she was not happy.  “You mean I’ll have to wait until after I can drive before I get a cell phone?”  To which he told her that, in all seriousness, she’d have to wait until she was at least 14.
Needless to say, she didn’t like that answer either.  I think she fully expected us to tell her we’d go to the Verizon store tomorrow.  When I asked her if any of her classmates had phones, she said no (not that it would have mattered anyway).  A conversation that should have been amusing turned Chloe into a very indignant 8-year old.  I’m not sure how it was resolved, since she stormed off while I was outside with Sophie, except that when we returned, she and my husband were upstairs in her bed and she was noticeably calmer.  And she was no longer talking about cell phones.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Little Cousin Elias

Leave a comment

Today we met our Californian cousin, baby Elias, for the first time.  He’s two months old, and he’s a cutie.  All of 9 pounds and change, he’s “so little!” as Chloe exclaimed when she saw him.  He’s the first boy in the kids’ generation of extended cousins.  So he’s a big deal, a novelty.

Sophie was obsessed with holding him – and she finally got her chance when both parents stepped out of the room and my mom, who never begrudges her grandchild what she wants, stealthily passed the little guy to my little girl, who was sitting on the couch with her arms wide open.  She held Elias for all of two seconds.  Until he realized that the person cradling him was only a year or so out of diapers herself.  That’s when he started to cry.  Sophie didn’t mind, however.  She was simply happy to hold the little baby.  And very proud, too.
You may be wondering if seeing him made me yearn for a new baby of our own.  Well – not a bit (no offense to my adorable, extremely well-behaved new cousin).   Been there done that.  Twice.  All the gear!  The BMW of breast pumps!  The projectile vomiting!  Hell, we’re going on a just-the-two-of-us vacation – for a week –  for the first time in almost nine (9) years.  The baby days are over for us.  And that’s just fine.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Little Miss Piggy

Leave a comment

Sophie eats ALL the time.  I think I’ve mentioned this before, but she must have tapeworm or something.  I’m convinced that one day she’ll wake up and look like a huge waddling orb.  

Granted, she’s in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight.  We were at a 4-year old birthday party the other day and she was taller than all the 4-year olds.  But seriously, she eats ALL the time.  
Now – if we could get her to ingest more fruits and vegetables – I wouldn’t care that she eats ALL the time.  She’s into “pommes” (apples), but that’s about it these days.  Strawberries sometimes – but only if she can dip them in Cool Whip (thanks for setting the example, Papa).  I bet if we told her she could dip her fruit into ketchup she’d eat more of it.   She loves ketchup. Hmm.  Not a bad idea.  I may just have to put it to the test.