Do you see what I see?

Those are big fat paw prints on my kitchen table!

Lucy is going to Mayo

Lucy is 3 and will be 4 this summer.  She will be old enough to start Pre-K in August.  Her sister Emma Jane goes to a Science and Technology magnet school called Mayo (named after the Mayo doctors, founders of the Mayo clinic).  The school uses a lottery system to get in.  And up until this year there has been no sibling preference.  The drawing for the fall class was to be last Thursday night.  I got a call an hour before the drawing that said that they decided to do sibling preference at the last minute.  So Lucy gets to go to her sister's school.

She is so excited!  I am sure that she thinks she gets to spend the whole day with her sister.  But she will find out that is not the case.  Regardless, she will have a friend and defender on school property.  She will run and give her a hug when she sees her at recess.  She will wave at her from across the school when she is walking to the water fountain.  She will give her the "I love you" sign with her hand in the gym.  And she will hold her hand walking into school across the busy drop off lane before school.

We are so happy...

February has not been good to us

It seems that the month of February is filled with illness, temper tantrums, puppy mishaps and daily struggles.  I have not had much to say that is positive so I haven't been blogging.  But since this is more of a journal for myself I will write down what we have been going through.

Lucy is defiant.  She wants to argue about everything.  She will argue that it is daytime at 5:00 in the morning when it is pitch black outside.  She lives in her own reality and will argue you to death.  She will stand her ground no matter what the argument.  When faced with consequences of losing a precious stuffed animal or blanket, she will continue until you take it away.  And these are simple requests we are making of her.  We are not asking her to do calculus or wash the car.  We are asking her to pick up a shoe, or a toy.  "I need help" she whines.  "I can't" she says while starting to spiral out of control.  And the downward spiral starts that simply.  With a simple request...go wash your hands...pick up your shoes that are in the middle of the walkway...turn off the TV and come to dinner...  We are not asking a lot.  And the time it would take her to comply, 2 minutes, would be much shorter than the hour and a half meltdown that ensues when we insist that she come to dinner, or pick up a shoe, or wash her hands.  And every time it is gut wrenching.  Mike and I are simply dumb founded that she would choose this dissonance over harmony.  Choose to be punished or spanked over spending time playing or reading.

Speaking of reading.  We read every night.  We will agree on a number before we start.  Tonight we are going to read 2 books, you pick which ones.  Tonight we are going to read 3 book, you choose 2 Lucy, Emma chooses one.  Tonight we are going to read 1 long book, my choice.  And every time after we finish she wants one more book.  One more book she whines, then starts to say it over and over and over again.  It is time for bed, I say.  But it always turns into a fight.

We argue about clothes as well.  She wants to wear a spaghetti strap sundress outside in the snow.  I say that it is too cold to wear that outside.  But I want to, she says.  I understand that you want to but I think you should consider wearing sleeves into the snow.  What do I do?  Do I let her go into the snow with a sundress?  Do I say she can't go outside?  Do I man handle her into a sweater?  And when she bursts into tears because it is too cold outside, she has no recollection of me trying to get her to wear warmer clothes.  None.

I am asking all my friends and family who read this, to please give me advice.  I do not know how to handle this child.  She behaves perfectly at school.  She picks up her toys, she puts away her books, she doesn't have meltdowns over simple requests at school.  They ask and she does it.  She doesn't throw things at the teacher or try to manipulate them. 

This has been our life for the last year.  I thought she would out grow it, but that is not happening.  It is escalating.  I need help here...

Just getting by

What a week it has been.  Illness has run through our family.  First Emma Jane came down with an ear infection and was in a lot of pain.  When we got to the doctor she had a fever of 103.5.  Then Lucy got the flu.  Her teacher at preschool came down with the flu.She followed a few days later.  Her fever reached 105.6.  I was one scared mama.  But she is on the mend now.
And I am sick.  It has been a long 7 days.

If you haven't gotten the flu shot, I wish you would.

A Facebook Exchange in Limericks

Me:     A challenge from a dear old friend
           Write a limerick about me and send
           To facebook I’ll post
           And hope for the most
           Comments right after the end

Tosca:  Did you just call Eddie Old?

Me:      yes

Eddie:   It's true that four decades have passed
             Maturity's upon us at last
             Dare I muster the nerve?
             Does memory serve?
             Tosca, weren't you the elder of the class?

Tosca:   Dagger! 

Eddie:   She feels somewhat slighted, I see
             My friend who is older than me
             Didn't mean to displease 'er
             To cite Julias Caesar
             Is she asking, "Et tu, Ed G?"

Me:       Four decades? I don't understand
             Denial, the name of the land
             "Young" mother of two
             My age I'll eschew
             I'll just keep my head in the sand

Eddie:    Four decades, I'm 'fraid that it's true
             Where it went, I haven't a clue
             No need to be down
             With your head in the ground
             You still look like Miss NSU!

Me:      Your comment comes quite as a shock
             I was hoping that most had forgot
             The days of the crown
             I still wear around
             The house when I vacuum and mop

Eddie:    LOL" doesn't properly toast
              The hilarity of the last post
              Miss NSU,
              Miss Limerickin', too
              Must admit, that's far better than most!

I have this friend Eddie

I have a friend who I went to kindergarten through 10th grade with named Eddie.  I probably haven't seen him in 20 years ago but last year he issued a challenge on Facebook.  Not a frequenter of The Facebook it took me a few days to see the challenge.
He started a limerick rant that went on for days.  I will try to find a few excerpts from that last exchange.  But here is what I posted...

A challenge from a dear old friend

Write a limerick about me and send

To Facebook I’ll post

And hope for the most

Comments right after the end

She’s obsessed with the periodic table

From memory, the chart she can label

With glee she’ll recite

Which elements ignite

And which ones are really unstable

She is also smitten with fonts

The choices, so many, it haunts

From gothic to glyphs

Through thousands she sifts

For just the right one that she wants

But her favorite thing is to sail

In the sun with a bottle of ale

For summer she wishes

While she does the dishes

In winter which moves like a snail

For now I think I should cease

For my brain is starting to crease

From left brain to right

The transition is tight

With time running out on my lease

And today it started again.  So I will post later about the exchange we are having currently.  What fun!