Kids say the darndest things

You know, I read somewhere that a small child’s voice is loud enough to be heard over hundreds of adults. It’s absolutely true. After work one day last week I needed to pop in to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription and, naturally, I had to take the child in with me because it was too hot to leave him in the car. (I’m kidding. I would never leave a three year-old alone in the car even though I have been tempted to on numerous occasions.) We were standing in a rather lengthy, slow-moving line and he clearly didn’t want to be there. I didn’t blame him – I didn’t want to be there either. He was standing there whining, wiggling around, then running over and climbing on the chairs and refusing to listen to anything that came out of my mouth. He was annoying enough that several people in line began to throw irritated looks my way. Not that I really cared (He’s THREE for God’s sake. This is normal behavior. Get over it, people.) but it was stressing me out just a wee bit. As he attempted to run circles around me I grabbed his little arm, pulled him toward me, and said, “Stop it! Please just stand here and hold my hand.”

He started crying and yelled as loudly as he could, “DON’T.....HIT.....ME!”

Shit. He did NOT just say that in front of all these people. Yes, he did. Great...and they’re all really staring at us now. I’m sure someone is already dialing the number for DHS or the police to report this. I hope you’re happy, you little snot. You can imagine the dialogue that was running through my mind. Should I say something back or should I ignore what he said?

I took a breath and said as calmly as I could, “I didn’t hit you. I want to hit you. But I didn’t.”

Another mom in line (with a calm child in tow) gave me a sympathetic smile. A few days later I was talking to the stylist who cuts my hair and he told me about taking his son with him to the grocery store when he was about three. The store was packed and there were a lot of people standing there waiting to check out. They were in line behind a rather large, scary looking man in bikerish apparel, carrying a 12-pack of beer under each arm and a carton of cigarettes. In earshot of the crowd of people, he told his dad, "Daddy, that guy - him right there - he's going to hell."

Out of the mouths of babes...

PMS lives

I woke up feeling angry and more impatient than normal this morning and, of all freaking mornings, my son picked today to throw a series of screaming, kicking tantrums. At one point he realized that I was tuning him out and he started screeching even louder. A few hours later I found out exactly why I was feeling so bitchy when my monthly visitor arrived. I once had a doctor (a male doctor and a complete quack, go figure) tell me there was no such thing as PMS. I’m here to tell the world that he was wrong and wrong in a big way. Today I am living proof of PMS. Or I guess that would technically now be MS. Or whatever… But I am happy to report that Mother Nature was sympathetic and chose today to grace us with cooler temperatures. In fact, dare I say it was even a little chilly when I left my house this morning. Chilly in July…gotta love that.

There has been no knitting progress at my house for the past week and a half. It’s just been too hot. Or there have been a ton of house-related or family-related things that took precedence over the knitting. Alas, my poor knitting suffers. And we won’t even mention the fact that 2 babies have arrived and have yet to receive knitted gift items from me. Add to that the fact that I also have 2 cousins expecting in the near future and you will see how I am setting myself up for failure. Of course, I could always just give the babies something else, something purchased perhaps. But somehow my PMS-laden, irrational mind won’t even consider that. So please, for the love of God, do not tell me if any more of my friends or relatives become pregnant. At least not until I have a better plan in place, ok?

Recollections of the past, or maybe not so much

This past weekend I was talking to my husband about the CBS show Rockstar:INXS. I was telling him how much I love the show and how hard it’s going to be for people to vote because all of the singers are so talented. And also, I applaud them for continuing to go on after the death of Michael Hutchence – I’m sure it hasn’t been easy and he can never be replaced, but hopefully this show will net them a wonderful new singer and a whole new INXS will be born. I look forward to that. But I digress. Hubby and I have always loved their music and he said, “Remember when we went to see them at the Zoo Amphitheater?” What? No. We did? I do have a memory of going to a concert with him at the Zoo Amphitheater when we first started dating, but I have no recollection whatsoever of who the artist was. None. Nada. Not even the opening band. I remember other people we were there with and I remember being freaked out because they were friends of friends of his, and they were the really popular kids from my high school and I felt a little out of my league. And when I start thinking about when it could have been, judging from the fact that he worked with one of the guys at the time, it had to be the summer of 86 (Lord, I’m getting old). It wasn’t easy, but I eventually found a website that has tour dates listed for INXS and it shows they were in Oklahoma in August of 1986, so it’s entirely possible they were here at the Zoo and I saw them. But the website didn’t give the venue so there’s no way to verify that. Anyone else out there remember going to that concert? I’m sure if it really was INXS, they totally rocked…

Then he asks me, “Remember the 2nd time we went to see Bon Jovi and that big guy was shoving people out of the way and he told us to follow him and we got to go on the floor of the Myriad?” WHAT? We saw Bon Jovi TWICE???????

Recently overheard conversation

My niece and my son (who are both 3) were running through my house leaving a trail of destruction behind them, when my niece stopped to look at a picture of my son.

Niece: (pointing to picture) Hey Braden, that's you in that picture.
Son: (clearly not yet understanding personal pronouns) You?
Niece: No, you.
Son: You?
Niece: No! You!
Son: You???
Niece: (quite exasperated) NO!!! YOU!!!!!

If this exchange continued any longer, I did not hear it because I was laughing too loudly as I walked away.

Guilt

For reasons that I won't get into now, I am in hormone hell and my mind is a jumbled mess of thoughts so I apologize if this post gets a little random. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately - way too much thinking - about motherhood, and I've been reading books and just trying to find my way through the maze of information to figure out what fits me and my family. I'm trying to control my temper better so that my kid doesn't have to go broke paying for therapy when he gets older because his mom yelled and screamed all the time. And most days I think I'm doing better. Or at least I was until the hormone hell started. But anyway, I think I have my problems with motherhood narrowed down to one word: guilt. As a mother I am constantly overanalyzing and questioning my every action and decision. If I say or do “x” will it screw him up? Will he still be able to maintain a relatively normal life or will he take a gun to school and shoot people? Obviously, we want to avoid the gun scenario. So therein the cycle starts and keeps going and going and going until I realize just how freaking insane I am becoming. And why don’t dads share in any of the guilt and second-guessing? Maybe there are some dads out there that do, but my husband isn’t one of them. However, in our situation that’s probably good because he can bring me back to the rational world and help me actually make a decision about things. For example, we’re thinking of moving the kiddo to a different daycare. I have weighed the pros and cons of each center, but it all boils down to the fact that I’m scared – scared to make a decision. Scared that it will be the wrong decision and it will screw him up. So we will sit down this week and discuss what to do. And you know, the fact that I’m even writing this is absurd and I completely understand that it is – and that makes it even MORE absurd. And maybe that’s one of the reasons I started this blog, because when I read this tomorrow I’m going to be saying to myself, “Well that was a little melodramatic over nothing, don’tcha think?” and I will realize how silly and insignificant my own problems are compared to so many other things that are going on in the world. ‘Nuff said.

Knitting Updates

I’m going to set aside this weekend to finish up uncompleted projects that just need ends woven in or something sewn together. So I will finally complete the baby cardigan and post pictures. In the meantime I’ll continue to work on the Mountain Colors sock (I’m about an inch past the heel) or the Koigu sock, and the new Dale of Norway baby sweater I just cast on for last night. Yes, you read that correctly. I have cast on for a new baby sweater before I have even finished the last one. And let me give you my first impression of this pattern. The people at Dale are cruel, cruel people. They entice you with their beautifully photographed babies in their freaking adorable knitwear. So you give in and order their Baby Ull yarn and size 0 and 2 circs and cast on 249 stitches. And that’s when it hits you exactly how long it’s going to take you to knit a freaking baby sweater on size 0 and 2 needles using fingering weight yarn. These patterns are for people who have 10 hours a day to do nothing but knit and knit really freaking fast. Folks, that’s not me. But yet, it’s still on my needles…

So very sad

There's really not much to say that hasn't already been said so eloquently by others, but yet I feel I should address the London Bombings of yesterday. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this senseless act. From the coverage on the various internet news outlets, it looks as if the British are being very courageous and strong, and determined to go on as if everything is normal in defiance of these terrorists. Good for you, Britain! Jay Leno said something really great last night during his monologue (and I apologize because I can't find a transcript to actually quote him). He said something about how England has always been our biggest ally and stood behind us, and now we need to stand by them during this difficult time. So anyway, go hug someone and tell them you love them today. And please send good thoughts and prayers to England.

Image from www.evolvefish.com

July 4th weekend wrap-up

It's official. The boy is no longer afraid of the water. In fact, whenever he sees someone in a bathing suit getting ready to go outside, he gets all excited and wants to go swimming too. Here's some proof (click picture to enlarge).

He started jumping off the steps:

Then he graduated to jumping off the side:

And then he let his daddy take him underwater for half a second (which really freaked me out):


And here are some other fun pictures:




But all in all it was a pretty good weekend filled with family and fun, and working on the house, and going to see fireworks. And now that it's over I'm ready for some peace and quiet. And sadly, there was no time for knitting so I will have to try to make up for that this week.

Happy 4th, all!