Category Archives: Treasures from the Archives

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

All’s Well That Ends Well

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Chloe’s first big 3rd grade project is due next week. She has to create a poster advertising an adventure book, and decided to feature “Artemis Fowl,” her new favorite series.

Needless to say, the first efforts were painful. Chloe repeatedly abused the poster board with her eraser, getting increasingly more frustrated every time she tried to write the title of the book in a way that pleased her.
So after about 45 minutes of hemming and hawing, throwing pencils across the room, and abusing the poster board with her eraser, I told her to take a break from the project and turn back to it later on. She finally made her move this evening, and came up with a great idea. She sketched it out and should have no problem translating it onto the poster board. And she was proud of herself, too. As well she should be. Go, Chloe, go.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

T-Rex’s Last Name

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“Mom. I have a secret. But it has a bad word in it.” “What is it Sophie?”

“I know the t-rex’s last name,” asserts my funny 4-year old. “What’s the t-rex’s last name?” I ask.

“His name is T-rex Stupid. But shh. It’s a secret. And you can’t tell my teachers.” “Why is the dinosaur’s last name Stupid?” I ask.
“Because dinosaurs were stupid. And they ate people.” “Stupid isn’t a very nice word,” I respond. “But you’re right, Sophie. Dinosaurs were not known for their wicked intelligence. They’re brains were very, very small.”
“I know. That’s why his name is T-rex Stupid. But don’t tell my teachers.”
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Sophie’s New Friends

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Sophie made some new friends today. Not of the people-kind, however. Her new friends consist of Horsie and Doggie. They played Duck, Duck, Goose with her and enjoyed themselves very much. She made them comfortable for their naps and gave them lots of hugs.

She even got a little upset when Horsie apparently told her that they didn’t need her anymore. I quickly cleared that up. Horsie and Doggie both confirmed that they loved Sophie very much. They just didn’t need her to pay attention to them while they were napping. Sophie felt a lot better after hearing that. She’d been concerned that the friendship was going to be very short-lived.
Horsie and Doggie are still with her. Sophie feels a particular connection with Doggie who loves ballerina books, just like she does. I’m very happy she has such good friends.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Ikea You Not

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A few weeks ago, Chloe was hysterical because we told her she was too big to go to the kids’ play area at Ikea. I mean, really and truly hysterical. As if she had hurt herself badly. Or had a bad fight with a friend.

As it turns out, we recently realized that she is not too big to play at Ikea. And so today we all trekked to that crazy store, in part because we knew how excited Chloe would be to be able to jump in the ball pit and do whatever else kids do there.
We arrived and waited on line for about 20 minutes. During that time, Chloe insisted that the play area at this particular Ikea isn’t nearly is good as the play area at another one she’s been to. I think they’re all the same and tell her so, but no matter. She’s right and I’m wrong. The ball pit isn’t as good. They don’t have as many slides. It basically sucks. When I remarked that she might be underwhelmed by the attractions simply because she’s a lot older now than she was the last time she went, she refused to be persuaded.
She moped around for awhile, trying to place whatever blame she could possibly think of on us, to no avail. Not much we could do about the impressiveness (or lack thereof) of Ikea’s play area. In the end, she decided to pass on the opportunity to spend some time with Sophie, and instead followed us around the store.
For the first few minutes, she was fine. She ran about, took notes for us and didn’t really complain. But we knew that her contentedness would be short-lived. Sure enough, eventually she started to moan and groan. I’m bored. I’m hungry (the girls have been eating nonstop recently – it’s pretty incredible and gross). Can I get this? Can I get that? If I’m being honest, Ikea kind of makes me feel all those things, too. But I wasn’t going to admit that to her. No way.
Needless to say, I was extremely glad once we were able to make our escape. Not without buying a few things, of course. At least little Sophie had a good time in the ball pit.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

The Capital of Italy?

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At dinner tonight, we started discussing state capitals and country capitals.

As Papa ventured into the realm of his native continent, he first tested Chloe on the capital of France. That was easy. “Paris,” she confidently responded. What about England? “London” was her correct answer.
“What’s the capital of Italy?” asked Dad. “Pizza,” stated Chloe matter-of-factly. This is what being a kid in America does to you. With constant food on the brain, how could the capital of Italy not be pizza? She then went on to announce that the real capital of France is Cheese. She couldn’t think of a Mexican food, but she said that its capital was Sombrero.
I love my kids.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

iPhone Madness

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See how Chloe seems a little woozy in this picture? The disease is called iPhone madness. It’s what happens when Papa has a new iPhone and Chloe seizes it to play games. For the last hour, Chloe has been asking her dad to find game after game. She experiments for a minute or two, and then asks for more.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been more yelling. Yet. Especially when she starts hocking Papa to play games and Papa is trying to answer very important earth-shattering e-mails from work.
The positive development in all this is that Chloe is now going to lose interest in my new BlackBerry. Lucky me. Not-so-lucky Papa.
My Artists & Writers in Training

Chloe the Novelist, Part II

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Following are some of Chloe’s more ambitious follow-ups to the opening sentences she wrote a few weeks ago. She’s graduated to opening paragraphs, and they’re great.

*********
Jack was 11 and afraid of thunderstorms. He knew it was childish but he couldn’t help it. There was always the chance of getting struck by lightning. There was always the chance of a tree falling on his house. He knew the chances were slim, but he still go worried.
**********
Melissa and Marcy were twins completely identical. No one could tell them apart. But Melissa and Marcy were nothing alike. Not one connection. The only thing they had in common was looks. Like for instance Marcy was the carefree kind of person. Melissa was a very cautious person. Not a clean freak, just cautious. She said you can get hurt some way or another no matter what you do, it might not even hurt, but technically it is still considered getting hurt. But for Marcy, if she’s under a table and stands up, she won’t care if she bangs her head. She might give it a couple of rubs, but will show no sign of pain.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

My Little Monkey

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We have to get our act together and enroll Sophie in a gymnastics class. She can do flips on the uneven bars. She doesn’t fall off the balance beam. She has incredible upper-arm strength.

Between the muscles and the curly hair, I’m starting to wonder if they switched babies in the hospital. Either that, or she’s a family mutant. Haven’t quite figured it out yet. But while I’m trying to solve the mystery, we can’t let her talents languish.
I’m going to aim for January. She’s still adjusting to being in school full-time, and frankly, we’re not yet ready to tie up more of our weekend with another commitment. So we’re going to start mentally preparing ourselves for piano classes and gymnastics classes, and who knows what else…’cause it’s all about the kids!
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Chocolate Fever, Again!

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This time, it was Sophie enjoying a little prepackaged chocolate mousse snack. Instead of using a spoon, however, Sophie decided that the best way to savor the treat was to take two Hershey’s kisses and use them as spoons instead. The resulting chocolate extravaganza was not nearly as yummy as Papa’s authentic French chocolate mousse, but Sophie was happy nonetheless.
The hand in the movie was Chloe’s – we all know that she can’t let a video shoot go by without claiming some of the attention for herself.