belated wednesday

My excuse? Day eight without a partner in parental backup, but Toby gets home tomorrow - hurray! Now to kick Oona of the recently developed nasty habit turning the changing of a poopy diaper into a wrestling match of fierce skills and fumes.

Toby left on wednesday for a business trip in Vegas. He doesn't get back until next friday. Nine days of solo parenting, oh my! How in the world do single parent families manage? Owen stayed home from school today because he's had a cold with a sore throat and last night he had a low grade fever and was acting miserable, didn't sleep well, which means I didn't sleep well because he sleeps in our bed when Toby's away. Of course Owen, once again, miraculously recovered to his normal chipper self on entering the doctor's office. Can a place have a placebo effect? Owen asked me a few times if he was going to get a shot, but when he was reassured that that wouldn't happen he was cured. Honestly though, he looks a little rough around the eyes, from missing a good night's sleep and he is still sniffling but he tested negative for strep so that's a relief. He gets very excited when I let him have a 'cough drop' (an orange sucker containing corn syrup and vitamin C) my attempt at a placebo to help my dramatically hypochondriac child through his cold. By the end of the day I was taking a child break, looking at gofugyourself which cracks me up, while they were watching a movie on tv. But I didn't respond to Oona's 'I pooped' fast enough (I should clarify at this point that I was all of 7 feet away from her since the computer is on top of our dining table). She yanked off her tights and diaper and got poop all over her Elmo couch and our rug (pale blue, the most impractical color for a house with kids) before I got in the living room. Keep your fingers crossed that they sleep in until 8:00 for me this weekend.

the namesake

Jhumpa Lahiri has found a way to write about disconnection and bring it to an art form. She is such a good writer, so attentive to detail, social interaction and the powerful pull of family. I loved reading about the Ganguli family. Lahiri writes about the conflicts between immigrant parents and their first generation offspring in a very loving, emotionally nuanced way. Now I have to go rent the movie, especially since Kal Penn is in it and he's very cute. But then I feel like a sleazy old man since he's something like 9 years younger than me. But, then again, my husband is 4 1/2 years younger than me, although my kids insist he's the older one, probably because I can be very childish at times. Staying at home with two under 5 is a great way to hone my childishness.

brrr

Damn, it's been freezing here the past couple of days. Our Kitchen is fifteen degrees colder than the rest of the house, the laundry detergent has become sludge due to the cold temps in the basement. Toby and I went out to dinner last night, nice pan-asian restaurant but the waitress was a bit weird. We were put right near two glass doors to a patio and they weren't weather proofed so I'm sitting in my coat, clutching a hot tea in my hands,freezing as an icy draft is numbing the left side of my body and she seemed annoyed when Toby asked, very politely, if we could be moved away from the door. After dinner we stopped at a local bar where the crowd was going insane about the football game (Packers vs. Giants, I believe). Thank God I'm not a sports widow with Toby, I find the whole thing sort of odd and he does too, which is wonderful, so we can be nerds and talk about books. Seriously though, this one guy was getting so wound up about the game he's screaming at the tv screen and he was pretty drunk, so at times it was hard to understand what he was all riled up about or who he even wanted to win. With the wind chill out in Green Bay it was -23 and people are shouting that the kicker sucked for not making a 36 yard field goal. Man, I'd be lucky to cross a street without collapsing in that weather. I mean it was cold cold cold last night in Pittsburgh, something like 5 degrees, but all I had to do was run to the car, not throw and catch a football, which would be impossible in that weather. I drove us home, since all I drank last night was many and various caffeinated products. I thought the cop behind us would pull me over suspecting drunk driving but I was so cold in the car I was shivering uncontrollably, which adversely affects my driving. We came home and both Frodo & Sam look so pitiful, their fur all matted with static electricity making their tails look like rats. The kids hair has been the same way the past few days, plastered to their heads with errant strands sticking straight up. I'm like storm from X-men dispensing electrical shocks wherever I go, I keep slathering lotion on but it doesn't seem to curb my charge. I can't believe I come from Norwegian blood (a lot of other Scandinavian countries and England and Scotland too, I'm a mutt, but Norwegian is the biggest piece of the pie). My toes turn blue when the temperature drops below 60 degrees, I can't handle the cold to save my life. From now until May I'll walk around with my shoulders hunched up to my ears, my hands bony little ice cubes.

sweet tooth

So I was checking online about the imminent teachers strike (which was averted, thank God, both sides came to an agreement after 20 hours of negotiating into the wee hours of Tuesday morning) but I found this link that indicates that the average American eats 3 pounds worth of sugar a week. That figure is frighteningly high, and I fear my sugar consumption might be double that figure with my addiction to all things chocolate. The daily guideline for sugar intake is between 30 to 70 grams, and I think I have that much sugar just in my coffee and I only put half a spoonful of sugar in my coffee but milk has 12 grams per eight ounce serving and I drink a lot of coffee. The other day I sucked down a Naked blue machine juice while on the elliptical and that has no added sugars, it's only fruit derived sugars, but two servings gave me over 70 grams of sugar, well over the daily limit. Do I really want to spend a day seeing just how much sugar I actually consume or should I bury my head in the sand on this one?

as if

As if things aren't chaotic enough around here now that Oona no longer naps. My apologies for not being in touch with any friends lately, I've been carving out a pathetically small amount of 'me time' by driving a couple blocks until Oona falls asleep and then sitting in the car with her for an hour. Such is my sad existence. I can't take her out of the car because she'll wake up. I can't talk or move or listen to the radio because she'll wake up, so I sit and read in the cold until it becomes unbearable and then run the car to heat things up enough that Oona and I won't get hypothermia sitting in the car. The upside of global warming is that the past week has been relatively mild for January in PIttsburgh. It's so sad. I'm loathe to admit that I do this but Oona needs her sleep and it's the only way she will catch 45 minutes to an hour nap. what's a Mom to do? But this sucky napping arrangement is nothing compared to huge imminent nightmare that the teachers in Pittsburgh's public schools will probably go on strike within the next few days. Ughhh! I fully support the teachers but the idea of entertaining both kids in these cold winter months when they can't cut loose in a park outside? Total nightmare. And the time spent striking will be tacked on to the end of the school year since the children by law have to be in school a certain number of days, and that is hard for them being in school when it's hot (there's no AC) and sunny and they'd probably rather be doing anything but learning in an old stuffy building. But I am very fortunate that I'm not a working parent who depends on their children being in school, what are they going to do for daycare? And a lot of the parents at Owen's school are poor so it's not like they've got disposable income to cover an extra week of daycare. Let's cross our fingers that both sides can come to an agreement and avert this strike.

belated tuesday

My camera trouble miraculously resolved itself. But me, I'm still adjusting to Toby being back in school and picking him up from school Monday and Tuesday nights, just what I need, more time in the car with my kids! As long as I have our Night Time CD, the rattlin bog song is a favorite, I can head off potential squabbles in the back seat and Oona's subsequent screams, which could send me right into oncoming traffic. So long story short I didn't get a chance to put up a picture yesterday, here it is one day late.

can owen outrun an ostrich?

Probably not, ostriches clock in at close to 40 miles per hour, very impressive for a bird that can't fly. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I start this daily picture endeavor for the blog my camera breaks. I'll have to see if it's worth repairing, the camera is a two year old, five mega pixel point and shoot, so something tells me it might be cheaper to buy a new one. We'll see. In the interim I'll leave you with a shot from our trip to the zoo yesterday. I was very bold taking Oona to the zoo in her leopard print coat, I heard some passerby making a disparaging remark about the coat choice as we were leaving. Really! like would that be seen as inciting the animals? All this stuff about how the guys at the San Francisco Zoo provoked the tiger to attack sounds pretty ridiculous to me, it's the lamest attempt at blaming the victim. Articles mention their roaring at the tiger as a way of provoking the attack. In that case no children should ever go on zoo field trips since I'm pretty sure most boys under ten roar at the big cats. The whole tiger mauling is a tragic event but reading about zoos trying to tame bad PR is icky to me. I know they have to handle their press and this is a crisis situation but these days it seems like everything you read has a spin on it. These days everything is a sound bite and it tastes saccharine and stale. In the immortal words of Dr. Phil, I want presidential candidates, zoos and major corporations to 'get real'.

working for the weekend

Took Frodo & Sam to the vet today. Last time they were there they weighed 4 pounds, now they're both well over 12 pounds. Sam, the former runt of the litter, now fat and delightfully fluffy, has minor gingivitis. The vet said I could try brushing the cats teeth daily if he allows me to. Don't realistically see this fitting into my schedule given that their are days when I don't get around to brushing my own teeth in the morning, hopefully that's not such a huge shocker to other stay at home moms. Oona tells me she 'just farted' which is one of her favorite phrases, but the smell lingering tells me otherwise so I must cut this post short. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Couldn't resist the Loverboy title for this post, with parenting it's not like you stop working once it's Saturday. Oh those were the days, when you're all excited for happy hour on Friday. But I definitely prefer french toast saturday mornings with the kids and Toby.

saturday

Read Ian McEwan's Saturday over the holiday and loved it. He's become one of my favorite writers; he and Michael Chabon can vie for my literary affections. McEwan is really a wonderful writer, so meticulous, which sounds sort of negative but I don't mean it that way. His attention to detail is amazing and he's really great at striking an emotional chord throughout his novels that's incredibly powerful. I have to read his latest On Chesil Beach soon.

my bad

The phrase is so sadly funny; from the street to soccer mom's mouths, it's amazing how slang becomes ubiquitous so quickly. Apologies for being remiss in posts over the holiday. I had so many ambitions, starting another blog of daily pictures a la 3191 but without companion pics, the bedroom I posted about redoing, the list goes on. But that just isn't happening with Oona who's given up the nap but taken to being a tiny demanding tyrant, albeit a very cute one who does say please and thank you before screaming and trying to punch me in the face. But here are some pics from the past week and truly I will try, Oona willing, to get a daily snap up, but on weekends I'm resting. Cheers to a wonderful 2008 for all. We'll be spackelling the wall in Owen's room because his curtain rod got ripped out during our New Year's Eve party. Silly me, I thought removing his pop up books and more delicate toys would be enough, I didn't think to remove the curtains. Honestly, I'm like Ricky Gervais in Night at the Museum where he's claps his hands and says 'Control your young.' I have a very hard time making friends with other Mom's because I don't seem to mesh with anyone in terms of similiar parenting styles and if you meet someone who's really nice but lets their kid run around like a hellion it can make for difficult playdates. But I know I'm on the stricter side in terms of not letting kids do certain things from the start rather than letting them jump on the couch and then needing to curb it at a certain age. Like Ricky Gervais in the movie, except it's my life. Well, here are the pics.

Our tree; tall, skinny and perfect for the nook in the dining room. And Oona's first crush Buzz Lightyear. Note Oona's fuzzy hair, she didn't exactly win the genetic lottery when it comes to hair but she still is incredibly cute. Here's hoping that chicken fluff thickens up before kindergarten.

Activity table and stool for Oona. Will never buy from Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel again. We got this table through Land of Nod (kid part of Crate & Barrel). It came with a scrape on top which we didn't find out about until assembling on Christmas eve. Everything that is made today is crap or else you have to pay a fortune for it. Very discouraging.

Owen breaks into his first present. Santa brought He and Dad and X box 360 which got a lot of play over the holiday. It's pretty funny to watch them play Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga together. Owen finds Princess Leia, as a lego, in a bikini very funny. I think Oona looks forward to playing that game with them in a couple years. Oona's the only two year old girl I know obsessed with Star Wars, she hums the music, she's gonna be every geeks dream when she's older.

Owen and I went to build-a-bear workshop to make his $50 bear, what a racket. Oona in her butterfly towel, very cute but when it comes down to it I think a standard towel is a lot easier to use with the kids. This thing is like too much towel, but she likes it so it makes transitioning Oona out of the tub easier, she doesn't like to leave her bubble baths.

Oona, the pirate, Toby and I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History where they ran into this bear. I think this might have been the same day I heard about the guy that got killed by the Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, talk about awful. I always thought that the wild beasts have basically had that killing instinct taken out of them living at the Zoo but I stand corrected.