Category Archives: Treasures from the Archives

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

Another Monday

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I’m starting to really dislike Mondays.  Between the roller coaster rides in the stock market and the typical “Oh, it’s Monday” doldrums, I’m ready for a break.
Chloe is taking a break with my mom later in the week to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Texas.  She can’t wait.  She’s very eager to go to a rock concert, because the last time we visited them it was during a music festival and she couldn’t get enough of all the really, really loud music.  Apparently, they’ll be going to a gospel concert of some sort this time around .  Gospel’s great, but let’s face it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t quite live up to her expectations.
In the meantime, Chloe’s been diligently taking care of her newly pierced ears.  We’ll see if she can keep it up for the eight weeks mandated by the pharmacy.  She also continues to torture Sophie, by touching her too much.  Which really is kind of dumb, because even if Chloe doesn’t hurt Sophie, Sophie will use drama and tears to bring attention to her “plight”and her sister’s misdeeds.
Sophie is a smart cookie.  Her pediatrician thinks she should be in school this year so that she has an opportunity to accumulate experiences independently – without our involvement.  But she’s just fine.   Sophie isn’t suffering from not being in a classroom – she is very much her own person.  That said, we’ll enroll her next year – for better or for worse, we’re going to have to get her prepped for kindergarten eventually…
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

My Sick Little Sophie

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It’s been about a week since Sophie came down with her debilitating cold.  Nice way to spend her first seven days as a three-year old!
Although she was noticeably improved today, she’s still not herself.  No singing, no dancing, very few smiles.  And very little eating (shocker!).  Lots of lying down and napping.  And crankiness.
I’m looking forward to healthy Sophie returning soon.  We miss her a lot.  Our refrigerator isn’t emptying as quickly without her customary ravenous appetite.  She had her three-year check-up yesterday, and she’s doing great.  The good news is that she can now drink skim milk also. No more need to buy two different kinds of milk – yet another milestone.   Go, Sophie, go.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Let the Piercings Begin

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As promised, we allowed Chloe to get her ears pierced today.  We went to a local pharmacy known for tag teaming so that the ears go under the gun simultaneously.
When we got there, however, we learned that one of the women was home sick.  I asked Chloe if she’d be willing to have one ear pierced at a time, and she gamely accepted.  Like mother, like daughter.  There was no way in hell she’d postpone this momentous occasion.
The selection of the earrings went surprisingly fast, given that there were approximately 100 pairs from which to choose.  Then came the hard part.  
The woman prepped the ears, and the first earring went in.  Chloe was clearly not expecting it to hurt as much as it did.  She went from eager anticipation to excruciating pain in a millisecond.  The tears welled up, but they soon overflowed and started streaming down her cheeks.  She was suffering in silence, and she grabbed my hand for the second round.  In it went.  And more tears fell.  
The nice woman gave her a lollypop and the tears slowly subsided, especially once she grabbed hold of the mirror and saw the earrings, happily lodged in her lobes.
Once we arrived home, she went straight up to her room to her own mirror, admired herself for a few minutes and put on some lip gloss.  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Parallel Universe

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The economy is tanking, the idea of Sarah Palin becoming Vice President of the United States is terrifying and we’re still mired in a war we never should have been fighting in the first place.

It’s a crazy world we live in these days, and my girls are blissfully ignorant of the turmoil. Chloe is aware of the upcoming election and knows I’m happily voting for Obama, and thinks John McCain is old. She also heard that Obama was going to raise taxes (probably from some misleading McCain commercial). Chloe doesn’t yet understand what taxes are.

With everything that’s going on, every day is like a rollercoaster. The news is filled with bad stuff. Recently, I’ve been waking up every morning, probably like lots of people, wondering what the day’s news cycle is going to bring. But Chloe and Sophie are my constants. They’re adorable and smiling, most of the time anyway, and make me laugh when I feel like hiding under the covers.

Sophie’s been down and out with a bad cold this week, but even that has an upside. She’s not particularly cuddly in good times, but when she’s under the weather we get to hug her and smooch her all we want. And get all her germs, too.

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

Game Time!

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Chloe had a playdate today with one of her best friends.  Apparently, it was very productive, because they created a game.  
OK – it’s a Monopoly knock-off, with kid movies as the theme – but they created the game board, the money and the cards.  And the two girls even thought to include some new twists, including shortcuts.
It must have taken them a good amount of time to put this together – and Chloe was extremely excited to share it with us when we came home from work.  What industriousness!  It’s nice to know that the girls find ways to amuse themselves without the aid of TV or video games or cell phones (not that they’re at all ready for cell phones, but you get my gist).  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

She Doesn’t Shut Up!

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I don’t mean this in a particularly nasty way, although it’s true:  Chloe talks and talks and talks.  She talks when no one is listening.  She talks when others are talking.  On and on and on.  I love her to death, but one day I’m going to record her chattering so that she can appreciate what she puts us through.
This was never so apparent as it was tonight.  We had our little Rosh Hashana meal with my mom (thanks, mom!), and in addition to wanting to know every little detail about every little thing (including how much we pay our babysitter), she recited poetry by Shel Silverstein.  She did a great job – had the rythym, the intonation and the enunciation down pat – and her verbosity during the recitation was more than welcome.  
But after dinner, a short while before bed, Chloe was rifling through my jewelry box looking for earrings she’ll be able to borrow once her ears are pierced next week.  I had to ask her multiple times to close the box, because the last thing we needed was to have Sophie – who wants to do whatever Chloe’s doing – go on a treasure hunt inside the box as well.  But Chloe was too busy yammering to listen – asking about this pair of earrings, and that pair – basically talking to the air because her Papa was in the other room and I was suffocating myself with a pillow to drown out the sound.  
I don’t remember if I was always this insistent when I was kid.  Mom – if Chloe takes after me, I am so, so sorry!  That would have been hellish – please forgive me!  And now, I am off to inhale some aspirin.  
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

We Missed You, Chloe

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After a week of Sophie-centric blog entries, it’s finally time to turn our attention to Chloe, whose nose has been in the books almost non-stop for the last couple of weeks.  
Because she’s obsessed with reading the Nancy Drew books in order, even though there’s no need to, she’s currently stuck at number 10.  In order to continue her quest to read the whole series, she needs volume 11, which we don’t have.  But because she’s addicted to reading, she needed to find another tome to occupy her imagination.
She finally turned to Harry Potter about two weeks ago, and quicker than you can say “Voldemort,” she finished the first two books in the series.  She started the third volume the other day, but has temporarily set it aside to read “The Borrowers” instead.  
While it’s absolutely terrific that she’s reading so much, I wonder how much of these books she understands.  It’s not like she sits with a dictionary at her side while she’s turning the pages.  And during the week, we’re rarely around to assist her with vocabulary.
That said, I’m fairly confident she understands the larger themes.  For example, we were having a conversation at dinner the other night about prejudice.  There was an incident at school – a child in her class was using an extremely derogatory word to describe another child, and Chloe sensed that the word was bad, even though she had never heard it before.  She told the teacher that the word was spreading around the classroom.  Over dinner, I explained why the word was so pejorative and intolerant, and Chloe compared it to the way Draco in the Harry Potter books talks insultingly and hatefully about “mudbloods.”  Her analogy was right on point.  It’s always nice to know that the right books can teach kids the right lessons about life.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Happy Birthday, Sophie!

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It’s official.  Sophie is now three years old.  We celebrated in style today – with a bunch of little tykes who were all incredibly well-behaved, considering that they were confined in our house for two hours because of the rain – and a lovely clown who enthralled the kiddies with silly magic and balloon-making.  
We improvised the picnic we were supposed to have outside by setting out blankets and towels on the dining room floor.  Sophie was very generous sharing her toys (neither a scream was heard nor a tear shed), and the children seemed to have a great time.
Chloe, in training for her future as a babysitter in six years, lovingly ensured that all the little ones were happy – playing with them, making important announcements (“The clown is here! The clown is here!”  “Time for pizza!”  “Time for cake!”), distributing the yummy cake and the all-important giveaways.
Sophie had a grand time – and so did we.  The only negative – she didn’t like the Corolle doll I bought for her.  She liked it when she first saw it, but when she discovered that she couldn’t undo the ponytail in the doll’s hair, she cast her aside like yesterday’s garbage.  I’m hoping Sophie will soon realize the folly of her actions, and realize that her inability to change the doll’s hairstyle is not a fatal flaw.  Tolerance, Sophie, it’s all about tolerance.
Frazzled Working Mom's Fleeting Moments (2007-2013)

Sophie’s Last Day…

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…as a two-year old.  As of tomorrow, we’re off to the thrilling three’s. 

Sophie is very excited about her party – it’s her first party with little friends, not just boring family.
I hope she likes the clown who is coming for a visit.  I have visions of screaming, terrified 3-year olds.  But who doesn’t love balloons and magic?  And the “Hokey-Pokey?”
And because the weather won’t be cooperating, we’ve rearranged the furniture in our house to accommodate the chaos.  Instead of doing our pizza picnic outside, we’ll be having it on the floor of the dining room.  Because unlike many parents who are organized and methodical when they plan their dear kids’ parties, we didn’t think to rent a kids’ table and chairs. Oh well.  
We’re giving her a doll (most of her dolls are Chloe’s hand-me-downs) and a make-believe cooking set.  Chloe (with our monetary assistance) is giving her sister her very own wallet with a smiley frog on it.  
Birthday party round-up to follow tomorrow.