first day of school

To get into the real excitement of that title for this post you have to say it like Nemo does in the beginning of Finding Nemo, at least that how I kept hearing it in my head. I was as excited as the kids. Freedom! Does this make me a bad mother that I was so elated to pass my children off? But they're happy. Owen kept saying how his first grade teacher was the best and the music teacher was the best, there were a lot of people that were the best to Owen today. How great is that? Oh if we could only bottle that sweet enthusiasm of youth, it could change the world. Well I'll cut this short I want to listen to Obama, who I pray gets elected, so we can start making some positive, much needed changes in America.

ye sunday well spent

I will probably have to cut down my blog writing to once a week as I'm already overwhelmed with work for my classes but, for now, I'm going to procrastinate on the terribly dry reading in my pharmacology book and post pictures of our trip to the renaissance fair yesterday. It was Oona's and my first time and wow, what a lot of creative anachronism going on. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm, probably too warm for all the people in costumes. Definitely too warm for the poor guys dressed in armor jousting, I had sympathy hot flashes justing looking at them, from my perch in the shade, under a wide brimmed straw hat. We all had a great time though. I loved watching how Owen and Oona reacted to the people dressed up in costumes speaking olde english - speaking that way all day might be harder than wearing the armor. The vendors and people who worked there were so nice, especially to the kids. One woman gave Oona a big blue gem and a bottle of fairy dust to make wishes with. Others would give them gold coins and mermaid tears (pale blue glass beads). At one point a guy shouted at us to watch for the pirates behind us, because Oona and Owen had received pirate hats from a lady, but Oona panicked and clung to my leg thinking there was some monster on our path.

We started the day off with some face painting, on the arm. This lady was very friendly. When we asked where she was staying she had a camper that she slept in off the grounds. From what she was saying it sounds like these creative reenactment people can get pretty crazy with the partying once evening comes. What could be worse than being hungover in the blazing sun than to be hungover and wearing a bunch of velour and metal in the blazing sun.

When Toby was talking about the fair before we left, trying to rouse up enthusiasm in Oona she talked about seeing knights and horses and unicorns. Toby said he wasn't sure if they'd have a unicorn but, lo and behold, Oona met Periwinkle the official unicorn of the fair. That picture is followed by a touching father son portrait. Put it in a frame and it will be the perfect Christmas gift for the in-laws;)

You've heard of the headless horseman but you might not heard of the less famous yet still terrifying headless horse that Sir Owen is bravely riding. Think the fair might want to shell out a few bucks and spring for a horse that isn't decapitated. This one of Oona looking like Joan of Arc cracks me up. She'd be a perfect Joan of Arc, aside from not being catholic and I prefer she not be executed.

When Owen looks at this picture he says 'kill the queen! kill the queen!' Thank God that school starts for him on Thursday. The way the two of them have been picking at each other the last couple of weeks I'm ready to throw them both in a dungeon for a day or two. Oh, the whining the screaming, you know it's bad when I suggest we put the Little People: Best Animal Songs in the CD player while driving for a little peace. Believe me, you've got to be desperate to resort to that CD for a break.

first day of school

Today was Oona's first day of preschool and she was so excited. She wants to do everything her brother does and she was really looking forward to being a big girl and going to her very own school and her first official day didn't disappoint. I have her attending a preschool at CCAC (the community college where I'm taking two classes) and she'll start another LEAP program offered through the public schools in a couple weeks. My son did a similiar program through DART a couple years ago. They have a certain ratio of special needs children and typical children in the class together, along with a teacher, occupational therapist and speech therapist. I loved the DART program, Owen had so much fun there. And Toby and I really wanted Oona to have a similar experience so I was so excited to find out they'd have this LEAP preschool meeting at a location right near Owen's school and starting 15 minutes after Owen's school starts - perfect, and it's free! I just started my first week of classes so I'm still a bit discombobulated, wondering if I'll be able to pull all this off. I've got to make sure Owen and Oona eat well and take their vitamins, if they get sick while I'm supposed to be in class it could all fall apart. But so far so good. Oona had an accident at school today, she told the teacher that she really liked the cute little potties but that she couldn't go without her mommy. Hopefully she'll adjust to peeing without me within a week or two.

I'm really excited about my classes (Anatomy & Physiology 2 and Pharmacology) for a former english major science is like a whole new world, which I love. Could I be more of a dork? The last class I took, Anatomy & Physiology 1, was 3 years ago, when I was pregnant and puking with Oona. Hopefully I won't have any similar challenges with these two classes. If all goes well I'll apply to Duquesne's accelerated nursing program in January and if I get accepted I'll start next August. I still have two more classes to take next term (Microbiology and Statistics anyone?) but I'm really looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life. I'd like to get involved with psychiatric nursing, possibly specializing with children or geriatric patients within psychiatric nursing. I'll need a masters but I've learned that there are psychiatric nurse practitioners who can meet with patients and prescribe medicine much in the way psychiatrists do. It's so cool! Once I learned about that I can't stop thinking about how much I would love that job since I want to help people, understand the stigma attached to mental illness and medication for mental illness, and I love reading about the science connected to mental health and the mind. The only concern I have with that particular field is that I might have to botox between my eyebrows because I constantly furrow my brow and people frequently misinterpret this as a negative (one clerk at Blockbuster told me I looked disgusted when I was merely thinking wow, he's having a real tough time getting his key back on his key ring) when it's really just that hamster in my head, spinning in his wheel. Wish me luck:)

setting limits with your strong-willed child

I've read two books only worthy of two and a half plums back to back. Ugh, it's like the cerebral equivalent of eating a rice cake. Yes, this book has very practical, sound advice on how to deal with strong-willed children and repeatedly tells parents of strong-willed children that they need to be prepared for their children learning the 'hard way'. Yes, Owen is a horrible whiner, but aside from that, he's really pretty compliant and didn't prepare me for the force of nature that is Oona. This book is big into time outs which I agree can be an effective method of discipline. But the book doesn't tell you what to do when your daughter protests the time out in her room by peeing all over her rug, or her bed sheets, or her stuffed animals. This book talks about enforcing time outs when kids act up while driving, by pulling the car off the road and sitting there in silence with your children for five minutes. Not real practical if you're driving somewhere that you need to be by a specific time. And the author mentions enforcing a time out while out shopping by asking a store clerk (in this book they pop up right when you need them) to watch your cart while you take your child outside to the car for a time out. I can see that going over very well when you're in a long line at the grocery store. But the book is helpful in pointing out the dance parents can get in with children over discipline and that it's best to cut right to the chase and say in an unemotional voice 'I told you not to do (fill in the blank), you can go to your room for five minutes'. I think trying your hardest not to get emotionally caught up in the dance of words with your child is great advice. That and to apologize when you mess up, which I do, a lot. Be direct, firm yet respectful and realize your 'strong-willed' child needs to learn the hard way. Heaven help me!

the grey dress

Yes, I am vain enough to crop out my legs because they just aren't looking up to snuff in this photo. I was wearing this dress on Wednesday when I went to visit my Grandma. I came bearing nine boxes of 3 ply kleenex because my Grandma needs a kleenex with weight to it and she goes through them the way my kids go through gummies. Now I usually look very casual when I see her, baggy jeans and a shapeless shirt - you get the idea. Well, I came in this $22 dress I just got from Target (I love empire waist dresses and shirts, they make boobs looks so perky, even ones that have been worn out from nursing) and my Grandma kept going on and on about how lovely I looked in it and what a nice figure I have. Normally I'm like teflon when it comes to compliments, I find it very hard to take in, but when you're dealing with someone with dementia giving you a compliment, well they keep repeating it again and again until it finally sinks in. God bless that woman, she is the kindest soul. It breaks my heart to see her cognitive decline but when she smiles when I come in or I bring Oona, she's so darn appreciative of the littlest things. As hard as it is to see her failing bit by bit I am so thankful that she moved out to Pittsburgh and that I've been able to reestablish a close relationship with her again.

couldn't leave well enough alone

I'm a secular flagellant. At least that's what I believe my unhealthy obsession with stripping furniture is like. I don't even know why I keep doing stuff like this. My masochistic streak runs deep I guess. This dresser used to be in Owen's bedroom then got moved down to the kitchen when my mom gave us her old dresser for Owen (I changed the hardware on that one and it's amazing what a difference that can make). So this dresser is fine, utilitarian, helps control the sprawling mess in our ill-designed, I don't know if you could even say it was actually designed, kitchen. But the chipping paint from where the coffemaker sits has been driving me batty. And I've been questioning why I had Toby change the hardware from pulls to knobs, I'll blame it pregnancy - Owen was gestating during a long hot summer.

I've gotten the paint off of two drawers so far and removed the faux wood grain but instead of wood on the recatangular face of the drawer there's a thing melamine type of layer underneath and then wood under that (the edges are wood and sanded down now. So do I try and strip off the melamine or quit now put sandable primer on it and paint it a nice dove gray type of color?

Oh and just so you know, I'm already contemplating buying another dresser (solid wood) painted a horrible purple color for $29.99. If I strip it it will be a really nice piece and it has great legs, much better than this dresser. And I keep wanting to strip the doors on our second and third floor as well, they've got a faux wood grain painted on them but are probably pine underneath.

what do you think?
1. you've got Peel Away oozing out of your pores. your were made to strip every piece of wood that's painted/stained poorly. take it all on
2. buy the purple dresser but do not strip 8 doors, you'd be crazy to take that on.
3. you remind me of that guy in The DaVinci Code, the one with the metal cilice on his thigh except your cilice must be made of steel wool and stripper

08.08.08

Yesterday was Owen's 6th birthday. About a month ago I was racking my braing to think up clever birthday party ideas because he's born on 8/8 and it being 2008, and the opening day of the olympics I thought I should come up with something magnificent. I thought it might be neat to rent space in a park, invite a bunch of his friends and hold our own sort of mini-olympics. You know get a cake with the olympic rings on it, maybe have cupcakes with different countries flags on them and the kids could compete in fun races representing different countries and I could give out medals to everyone. But Owen isn't terribly atheletic, so it might not bode well if everyone but the birthday boy is winning gold. And Toby has been so busy with school and negotiations with US Steel I just decided to opt for the path of least stress and trouble. So Owen picked a friend, Thalia, a very sweet neighbor from across the street that Owen took swim lessons with, to come along for dinner and a movie with us.

Owen was so excited about his birthday date night. It's all he talked about for most of the week, well that and how many days it was until his birthday. He wanted to dress up in black pants, a black jacket with a rose and a top hat. When I suggested that he might be a bit hot in an outfit like that we were able to agree that being dressed in a nice clean outfit would be perfect. Being a newly minted 6 year old he didn't want to change clothes after a day at camp and went in his dirty shorts and star wars shirt. Those kids really put away the food at Max & Erma's, home of the sundae bar, complete with bright blue whipped cream - I just can't embrace foods in the wrong colors. I mean a naturally blue potato is one thing but the garishness of bright blue whipped cream or when Heinz was making green and purple ketchup, yuck!

After dinner we went to see Wall e, which I loved. The kids really seemed to like it too, this was Thalia's second viewing. It was Oona's first trip to the movies. She was beyond excited. That girl is such a force, I've never seen someone so animated when experiencing joy. She kept bouncing up and down in her seat laughing and smiling at all the previews, one about chihuahuas in Beverly Hills really made her ecstatic. She wasn't the most well behaved during the movie (unlike Owen, who's better than some adults) but there were only 6 other people in the theater and we were all spread out so it wasn't disruptive. That might have been a hard first movie for her too since the first half has barely any dialogue. Although that was my favorite part of the movie, the animation was much prettier when it was just the two robots and the cockroach on earth. I think the thing to do is take her to movies after they've been in the theater for a while so there aren't a lot of people to worry about disturbing. Although sometimes I wonder why I'm so polite, on the rare occasions I get to see a movie people are always talking on their cell phone or texting or making stupid comments about the film very loudly. Why is it the dummies at the zoo, museum, or movies are always the most vocal ones? I want to be like Woody Allen in Annie Hall and bring in an authority to silence the imbeciles.

In other news. Toby took the kids for the weekend to his parents and I have no furniture to refinish so I'm planning on going to see the X-files tonight. I can't imagine that anyone under 35 will be there. I had bought a bunch of jumble cookies from Whole Foods (they're my favorite, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in) to eat at the movies but I already ate them (sugar heavy dinner) so I might have to break down and get some twizzlers for $4.

please walk with erasers

This is a picture of Oona that I took yesterday. In all her hot sweaty glory after filling the cats bowl of food until it resembled a mountain of Purina Care Urinary Tract Health because they're boys and apparently need to watch out with their urinary tract health. I agree with all the schmaltzy cliches you'll read about children being such a joy and that everything changes once you have children. I love Oona and Owen dearly and don't know what my life would be like without them. But I might die before they reach adulthood from a stress induced heart attack. I panic if I see any child doing something that looks dangerous to me and, yes, my idea of what constitutes danger probably encompasses a lot more than the average Mom. But yesterday Oona took years off my life.

It all started out innocently enough, I brought Owen to swimming lessons, where Oona and I wind up having to stand around for the forty-five minutes until he's done. So Oona was running around the mushroom that usually spouts water, but they refuse to turn it on until the pool officially opens at 1:00. So all the poor siblings under 6 (Owen's a week shy of 6 but I figured it was close enough) have to stand around in the sun and watch their big brothers and sisters enjoy the water. I was talking to a friend watching Oona climb onto a wooden bench and start attempting to climb onto the back. I told her no and she looked at me and complied. I was back to talking about trying to find a sitter while I take Microbiology this fall when I saw Oona fall backwards off end of the seat part of the bench. The whole thing seemed to occur in slow motion. She dropped about a foot and a half landed squarely on the top of her head and then I saw her neck bend at a horrible angle trying to bear the weight of the rest of her body before she flopped onto the ground. I'm standing fifteen feet away, watching the whole scene, powerless to stop it and I'm thinking she's going to be dead or paralyzed from that fall. I ran over to her and she was crying (not dead) but I was scared for a few seconds to pick her up after watching how she fell. My friend ran over as well, saying 'she landed right on top of her head on that cement, it's covered in foam, but she hit her head right on top of it. And I'm thinking 'stop! I saw what happened and hearing what you're saying isn't helping me right now.' It made me so angry, I just felt so helpless at that moment. But Oona needed to be comforted and I hugged her carefully, checking to make sure she could move her arms and legs without trouble. I asked her if she wanted a treat and she perked up right away, which told me that any huge crisis had probably been averted. I bought her some fruit candies and called my pediatrician's office just to make sure about what I should keep an eye out for with her fall. I couldn't stop shaking I felt so nervous after seeing what happened. I was worried that maybe she was favoring the left side of her body, that she was walking awkwardly, like I couldn't look at my daughter objectively then. Even today I worried when she took a nap at the gym (unheard of) and woke up so cranky. Sure she's been flexing her terrible two muscles but could this be a sign of traumatic brain injury?

I know rationally that she's fine but my anxiety about my children can just torture me. I keep seeing her fall but can't be sure if her head landed on the foam covered concrete or the grassy lawn, I just see the horrible bend of her neck. When Owen was just a week or two old I was sitting with him after nursing him one night in the wee hours of the morning. I was sort of sleepy, not asleep just very relaxed, when he sharply darted with his body in a way that made me feel like he was about to jump out of my arms. I hadn't been around newborns until he was born. I was unaware of those sudden lurches when they move in an exaggerated manner because they can't really control themselves at that age. He didn't fall, but my restful mother and child pose turned into me clutching my son and mourning what could have happened in a heartbeat. The horrible thing is I still think of that incident (obviously). What if I had dropped him? How could I have lived with myself? The nagging fears for my children that pick at my heart, weakening me. I want to be a mom with joie de vivre but I seem to be the mom who finds the choking hazard at the playdate.

oona's ode to ron mueck

We took the kids to Ron Mueck's exhibit at the Warhol museum back in March. His work is unbelievably good, so realistic and the way he plays with scale, it's mind bending. Also if you watch all that he does to make just one sculpture it's incredibly intricate and way toxic (I thought refinish furniture was a toxic activity). It was interesting to see his work next to Warhol's piss paintings. Mueck's artistry blows Warhol's away. Can you tell that I'm not a huge fan of Warhol. He seemed like a vapid, troubled soul sucker.

Oona's also bending my mind, in different ways. She's pretty much potty trained by now, occasionally will have an accident but doing very well for a month into the potty training. The thing is if she doesn't want to nap or go to bed at night she will take off her diaper (I do still put her in one for sleeping although it usually stays dry) and pee on the rug in her room. Or, as was the case a half hour before these pictures were taken, she peed all over her sheets and stuffed animals. Oh yes, she looks angelic but she's really quite cunning.

the bonehunters

We went to the Carnegie Museum on Sunday because the kids were itching to do the dino dig. It's great that we've got a membership because we can go to the history museum, the art museum, and the science center - that's a lot of culture for our two young kids. My husband always laments that he never got to go anywhere as a child when Owen whines about something. Honestly, spoiled kids aren't the most appreciative and between Owen's whining and Oona's temper tantrums I feel like Michael Scott managing the most dysfunctional office imaginable, my home! Oh I need a new job. Oona and Owen both act wonderful for everyone else but me and my husband. And I have to say I've got the short end of the stick here because I'm with them all the time. When I came home this morning (Toby and I had to attend a school meeting for Owen because he qualifies for gifted services, thank God it's probably the only way he'll get a decent education through Pittsburgh's Public Schools) Oona starts hitting me in front of the sitter, calling me stupid and telling me she's going to throw me in the garbage. Yep, nothing like that outburst to make me feel like mother of the year. Anyone with book recommendations for handling strong-willed children please let me know. Oh, in my darkest mom moments I'm like, could I be raising a sociopath? My darling devil child. Maybe she could star in an Omen sequel. Hopefully everyone that's reading this knows that I'm kidding but you know how you can feel pushed to the edge by your children's behavior sometimes when you're a stay at home mom. At least she isn't like this with everyone, thank God for that. Now if I can only figure out what I'm doing wrong that's made Oona the dominant female in this mother/daughter relationship.

memory keeper's daughter

What can I say about Kim Edwards's Memory Keeper's Daughter? Hm, I saw a poster in a nearby mall that this book was turned into a made for TV movie on Lifetime, which seems fitting. I don't know, it was somewhat interesting in that one of the characters moves to Pittsburgh so I liked reading about the city I live in. Let's see, what else can I say? I noticed at least a dozen typos in the story, who was the copywriter for this book? My Mom and I constantly notice typos; in books, newspapers, and I've even seen them on the local news, once for a story plug they misspelled Pittsburgh!! We should probably become a mother/daughter copywriting superteam, might be a good way to put our perfectionistic tendencies to work. I had to rework my plum rating graphic to make a rank of 2 1/2 plums. I previously said I'd never read anything under 3 plums. In conclusion, I'm glad I took this book out from the library, rather than spent money on it.

I love Beck. I've loved him ever since Mellow Gold came out, his choice of scientology as a religion notwithstanding. But... is it just me or does it not look like Beck is considering gender reassignment in this photo to the left? When I first saw this on apple's home page I was like, eek and started thinking about the guy that played the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs, who plays a cop on Monk and seems like a good actor but with that distinctive voice and memorable role in the movie, he'll take that to the grave. Back to Beck, obviously he has lovely thick blonde hair that I'm totally jealous of (seriously, my hair envy runs oh so deep) but he looks ten thousand times cuter with the short shaggy hair do during his mutations days, wouldn't you agree?

beechwood farms

We went to Beechwood Farms this weekend, after a prolonged temper tantrum on Owen's part, he wanted to go see Wall e with his Dad but Saturday was such a wonderful day we thought it would be better for them to go on Sunday, when we were supposed to have thunderstorms. Well you know how it is getting a five year old to switch to a different plan. There was a lot of foot stomping, slammed doors, random shouts and tears. Once we finally got out to Beechwood Farms Owen did in fact enjoy himself, good thing too because he was so naughty for the rest of the day he lost his movie date with his Dad on Sunday. He's at an age where he's really trying to push boundaries, I'm sure he's also a bit stir crazy being home for the summer. Still, it doesn't excuse his being nasty to everyone in the house, especially poor Oona whose world revolves around her brother.

This Beechwood Farms is amazing. Six miles away, a ten minute drive, but a whole other world compared to city living. Lately I'm starting to get more and more depressed about city living. If Owen gets together with the neighbors kids to play they wind up running up and down the sidewalk, and I worry if they go too far down the sidewalk because I don't want him running out between a couple parked cars and getting hit by some oblivious teen cruising with bass blasting music. I mean it just seems so sad to me that they are relegated to the sidewalk, my postage stamp of a backyard or the neighboring park, which is frequented by skanky teens indulging in illegal drugs. Ugh!

The pond at Beechwood Farms was literally covered in frogs and pollywogs. I've never seen so many. It was so nice to hear them croaking away and the kids were excited, all you had to do was look in one area for a second or so and you'd see a bunch of frogs. We took a nice hike and brought Oona along in the jogging stroller, she looked like a princess being pushed about. Poor Toby had his work cut out for him because parts of the path were root filled and twisty turny going in to marshland with two narrow planks to cross on. Not the easiest for negotiation a stroller.

Owen in his Star Wars Lego t-shirt, something he wears every chance he gets, it's a good thing he has two but I really should probably buy him five more so we have all the days of the week covered and I'm not doing laundry every day. I think Owen's most used phrase right now is 'Guess what' everything starts that way. He wants to be informed and wants to make sure I'm informed as well. I love that he's so curious but when I him say that a dozen times within a minute in the car and Oona's screaming and I'm vainly trying to listen to the news off NPR I do get tempted to drive right off of Highland Park bridge. I think the hardest thing about being a stay at home parent is being pulled so many different ways. The day to day boredom that can creep in combined with the sheer exhaustion of the huge responsibility of taking caring of your children and add to that the negotiating skills needed when your children start fighting, no wonder I have trouble even talking coherently sometimes.

This bunch of Echinacea was a real butterfly magnet. Bees too, I guess it's a good flower to pollinate. It's just so lovely to wander in the grass and see the green everywhere, such a nice little escape from the cement, asphalt, and grafitti of my neighborhood. My Mom is going to give Owen another week of camp there for his birthday which he'll definitely enjoy. I can keep my eyes peeled for For Sale signs dropping him off and picking him up. Oh, if only my dream house would go one the market. Over an acre of land, my kids wouldn't know what to do with themselves, not being confined to a strip of sidewalk.

who am i?

Does anybody know what this thing is? It's come to suck nectar from the phlox in our front yard two days in a row now. We've had a hummingbird come visit before. We planted catmint in the front yard (which is the poor man's lavender, I should have just splurged on lavender instead of catmint, it's not nearly as pretty) and basically every bumblebee in the city, a few butterflies and the occasional hummingbird come to visit. But I have no clue what this thing is, some bizarre type of butterfly? It's got the Very noticeable proboscis and antennae but it's wings move as fast as a hummingbirds and that body seems very full for a butterfly. If anyone can determine what this thing is please let me know. Have a lovely weekend.