Windows... Another place to draw

Odessa has graced us with her artistic abilty by covering many surfaces with her artwork. Why should the windows be left out?

Lost: One immune system ran away to have better times (reward if found)

I can't believe that I am sick again. My immune system truly must be MIA. I wonder if at-least part of the reasons is Odessa's entrance into "school" although she seems to be the healthiest of us all.


Odessa and I fell asleep at around 9 p.m. ish. Around midnight I woke up coughing and couldn't stop. So I came out to the kitchen and took cough meds and went back to bed. An hour later, I am coughing compulsively which, in turn wakes Odessa up. I tried to do the whole sitting up sleeping thing but it wasn't really helpful. It is time to take out the big guns. At that point I decided that I had no choice but to take the cough med w/ narcotic that I reserve for emergencies. I can't sleep. I am waking Odessa up. And she will likely be up for the day in, like, three hours.


So here is the warning -- I am blogging on narcotics again. I am just trying to give them some time to kick in so that I can crawl back into bed. Which sounds SO NICE. So hopefully I don't say anything stupid or regrettable in my narcotic haze.


My thought at the moment, is that maybe Grandma will be interested in a few qualiy hours with O in the morning so that I can get a few extra hours of shut-eye. Larry is in Canada for the weekend, otherwise it would be all on him. And to add the cherry on top, maybe Grandpa could pick up some donuts or starbucks or something. I think that I am going to need it!

Typing out her first novel

Update on Playschool

Odessa started at daycare/playschool just over a month ago and I think after yesterday's experience it is time for an update. I can't believe it has only been that short of a time -- I guess we are all adjusting very well when I think of it that way!

Yesterday we walked into the classroom coatroom and I proceeded to remove Odessa's sweater and hat. One arm was still in the sweater as she was attempting to enter the classroom by herself, she seemed so excited to be there! Odessa walked right up to the other kids and joined in on the play. She looked up at me and smiled and that was it. No tears, no clinging, no scowl.

This made me so happy -- to know that she is happy there and that I don't need to worry (or at least worry less). I am so happy to see that you are such a confident kid.

And one more toddler eating habit

I don't think any description is neccessary for this one...

Lazy Parenting

Today I was a lazy mom. And one is supposed to "pick their battles" right? And, "no" is becoming my least favorite word ever.

Today Odessa:

• ate cookies for breakfast
• drank almost all of the rootbeer
• ate lunch on the living room floor
• used markers to draw on herself and her clothes (and likely some other places that I haven't yet discovered)
• went outside without shoes
• "painted" with yogurt

And, it isn't even bedtime yet.

Good article (Wondertime magazine): http://wondertime.go.com/parent-to-parent/article/in-praise-of-lazy-parenting.html

Baby Bunny Odessa

And yet another toddler eating habit...

When eating lunch, you insist that your teddy bear sits beside you so that you can "feed" him. Ridiculously adorable.

Wrestling with my inner confusion

So, Odessa missed Wednesday at Daycare due to The Cold. I think that the majority of parents would have sent their kids in O's condition anyway but I just couldn't in good conscience -- I knew she wasn't feeling up to par and she had a quite, drippy nose.

So that means that she hadn't been at school in a week. And the week that it was just me and O together we had a lot of fun. The weather was great so we picked up "num-nums" at Trader Joes (including a hard cider for me), had a little picnic and played in the yard.

Additionally, I feel that I am beginning to understand how to incorporate some of the things that I feel she really benefits from inter our lives. I am getting the idea of setting up a few stations in the living room each day. One day it will be blocks, another a ton of books, etc. And also how to incorporate all the art projects that she loves without my anxiety peaking due to the paint on the carpet and the markers on the wall. Once a day or so, we still gate off the kitchen, bring out our art supplies and create away.

Plus I am getting better about getting out there in situations that I am not familiar with -- playgrounds, mama/baby networking groups, library story time, etc.

Now I feel conflicted (again) about working and having baby O in childcare. I don't think it is harming her -- I am not [too] worried about that. Now I am just starting to feel like I might be getting this whole parenting thing down (I know, only two years into it! [sarcasm]) and that I want to be with my babe during these tender, first years. I am always in a rush, but she will have plenty of years of playschool/preschool later.

The other side of the coin is this: I really like working. And I am worried that if I make this decision, then I will regret it and not be able to go back.

Through all this internal struggle, I also wonder if maybe I just need to take a vacation? I have the time from work but feel bad for using it as I know we have some projects that we are really trying to power through.

2 more thoughts just occurred to me: 1) I feel like having less going on in my life may help me clarify other internal struggles that continue to resurface. And 2) maybe one should avoid all inner conflict conversations with self at 2:30 in the morning.

Addendum: Another problem with posting blogs at 2:30 a.m. -- I totally don't remember writing this stuff! I thought I was dreaming. That makes me wonder if I should be worried about Alzheimer's. But maybe that is mommy-hood?

Another Toddler Eating Habit

After eating yogurt*, turns bowl upside-down, places on head and says "hat".

*strawberry Greek-style, mmmm....

Zoes Cabin March 2008

This past weekend my family spent two days in Zigzag, Oregon. Larry chose not to come for two reasons: 1) We were using this weekend to clean the carpets when O wouldn't be there to ingest the chemicals and 2) My family spent two days in Zigzag, Oregon. Enough said.

We had fun despite going through about 9 boxes of tissues, 2 bottles of cough medicine, and 1 bag of marshmallows.