Toast 2 Mom

A Thoughtful Interview

OK I'm no Barbara Walters, but I have been wanting to interview my three year old recently and see what are her favorites and interests. This would be WAY more interesting to have this conversation video-taped. However, Mama needs a new camcorder to make that happen. Because the thoughts of a three year old go by very, very quickly, the following is not verbatim - not a chance I could capture it all. However, here's a glimpse at the interests of my Sweet Syd...today anyway.

What is your favorite thing to eat? Ice cream - strawberry, chocolate chip and chocolate with sprinkles and marshmallows.

What's your favorite color? Pink marshmallow.

What is your favorite show? Ariel.

Who is your favorite princess? Ariel the mermaid (Duh, I know, dumb question, Mommy).

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mermaid....no, a fairy.

What is your favorite animal? A cat.

What do you like to do for fun? Work on the computer and do lots of fun stuff with Mommy like sing and work on my letters and play ball and go to the park.

What is your favorite number? Counting to 10 with my Daddy.

What is the best thing about having a sister? Loving her and watching shows with her.

What is your favorite thing to do? Swim in the pool.

What is your favorite thing to drink? Juice.

Do you like dresses or skirts? Dresses.

Do you like headbands or clippies? Clippies with hearts on them.

Do you like pizza or hot dogs? Hot dogs.

Do you like swinging or sliding? Swinging.

And then the interview abruptly ended because she was done. :)

Shoes to Fill

Cheekers has had a fascination lately with putting on her big sister's shoes. She focuses very hard on putting them on by herself, then claps in delight when I step in to assist and speed up the process so she can clop, clop, clop around the house. Here is her latest go in the ever so popular sparkle shoes (we're on our third pair of these shoes because they are THAT popular).

Ladies Night

Mommy had a date last night...with three beautiful girls - no, none of them my girls, but some new friends!

One of the things I was excited and nervous about moving to a new city was to meet new people. In Omaha I worked full time outside of the home. It was very challenging for me to make connections with people that had a similar work/home life scenario that I had. I often wished that I had opportunities to make new friends but meeting new people and making new friends after college is probably harder than dating.

After we moved here to our new home, I took some time to research some options for involvement. I knew one of the things I wanted to enroll Sydney in was dance. She was eager to put on those dance shoes. She began classes in January.

The dance studio is very small. It has two couches in the lobby and a bench. This is where is all began. Six moms, in a dance studio, all with a child or two in the class, some with kids in the lobby. We have one hour together a week to discuss it ALL - sleeping, eating, nursing, organic, injuries, pregnancy, illness, education, travel, backgrounds, husbands, interests, you name it. After several weeks of cramming ourselves into the studio, we decided the Moms need to hit the town sans kids.

Four of us joined up last night at a fantastic sushi restaurant. We all got gussied up - lipstick, earrings, and no ponytails! It was a lot of fun to hang out, drink wine, enjoy some great food with some great, funny, interesting women. I have not had a girl's night in quite some time. I can't wait for the next outings!

(And thanks Daddio for the night off! :)

Mommy's Knees, Not the Bees Knees

It's a toss up in this household who has the worst looking legs - Daddio (who climbs rocks on a regular basis), Sydney (the three year old who continually throws herself to the ground, falls on concrete and runs into walls) or Mommy. My legs seem to have just as many bruises and red marks without playing Geronimo off the stairs. Granted I bruise like a banana, but what in the world am I doing all day to result in these beat up stems? I'll tell you... I spend most of my day crawling around on the ground!

It begins in the morning when I crawl around the bathroom floor picking up the lotion bottles, Q-tips, tampons and hairbrushes that my baby Cheekers has flung from the bathroom cabinets to entertain herself while I get dressed. Then I spend my late morning, lunch time and afternoon crawling around the tiled kitchen floor wiping up sticky noodles, animal cookie crumbs and smooshed cooked carrots leftover from meals and snacks. Then around bedtime, I crawl around the carpeted floor in the playroom to pick up books, puzzle pieces, animal figurines and flashcards.

Why, you ask, must I be down on the ground creating these calluses on my poor knees? Why not just bend over and pick up these messes? Because my back has been shot for far longer than my knees due to the birthing of these two bundles of clutter joy. :)

Do they have a treatment at the spa for removing calluses on your knees?! Mama needs a knee makeover!

The First Babysitter

The Hubby and I got our first official babysitter last night. That's not completely true. We have gone out before and left the kids at home. The rare times that this has happened though, we've used family to help us out to have a night off. A couple times we also used a teacher from the daycare. This was our first experience hiring a teenage girl, picking her up at her house, walking through all the babysitter details, providing numbers, showing where the snacks are and how the remote works and then walking out the door and hoping for the best. I am pleased to say the evening went very well...for everyone...and the girl even had some obstacles.

The plan was to leave after putting Cheekers to sleep. Nine times out of ten, when it's bedtime, she goes right to sleep. Nope, not this night. She was sitting up in her bed while we walked out the door. A part of me was ready to call the evening off; but we had not had a night out in a long, long time after a lot of busy, busy stuff going on.

We drove away from the house, and I wasn't sure how far we'd get down the road before having to turn back. We made it all the way downtown, around downtown, some shopping, to dinner, through dinner and no calls.

Despite the fact that I had my phone practically on my lap the entire time, it was a very enjoyable evening. I told Hubby it felt like we weren't out of practice of dining just the two of us at all. He agreed but said it did feel strange to not cut up chicken into pea-size pieces or tip extra big for the massive amounts of rice and Cheerios usually left under the table.

When we got home, there were no sounds of children running around or crying. I asked our sitter how it went. She said it went "great". Syd went to bed without any issues. Unfortunately Cheekers didn't drift off to sleep. In fact she cried and cried hard. It sounds like our sitter has the Midas touch, though. I told her to try a bottle or a pacifier. Those options did not work. (I bet she had some choice words for me when they didn't.) Our sitter decided to read her a book, over and over and over again. Natalie is very into books right now, and apparently our sitter must also be clairvoyant. After several rounds of a bedtime story, Miss Cheeks drifted off to zzz-land. Impressive.

I drove our gal home and thanked her for the great job! Except for the small detail that we blew through big wad of cash for the evening (because family is free!), we're excited for the next night out...

Oh, My Feet!

So I hit the town last night. Yep, Daddio got home from work. I said, "I'm outta here." I changed my shirt, brushed my hair, put on some lipstick and grabbed my keys. He said, "where are you going?" I said, "I'm going to buy myself some new tennis shoes." It might seem like a Saturday day event to most. But to me, it was a wild and crazy Wednesday night event.

My feet hurt so badly now that I am on them all day long. Up and down the stairs, in the kitchen, out of the kitchen, in the laundry room, playroom, playing, swinging, etc. My dogs are barking. I couldn't handle it anymore.

I drove to the local sporting goods store. I've been wearing the same running shoe for probably ten years. I know what I like. I know the brand, feel. I walked in, saw my shoe... But tonight, I'm on the town. So, why not try on five pairs of other shoes. Yeah, I'm nutty.

It might not have been a new pair of brown leather boots (ahh) or a sassy wedge, but today my feet felt so good. This is my new life.

Beauty Shop Payback

I am not a real girly girl. My preferred attire is jeans, a polo style shirt and some Sketchers. I also like loafers, a button up shirt, maybe a blazer. I do like jewelry, though and lipstick. I don't do fake nails or get regular manicures or wear a push up bra. I do enjoy the occasional party or event to get gussied up, I guess. But mainly my style is simple. My most simple feature is my hair. It's straight (except for that now post babies wave) and dull; but I don't have the desire to do anything different to it. I never cared much for having my hair messed with...and unfortunately my daughter is the same way!

Since becoming a mom I've had several "mom revelations" - as I call them. These mom revelations are situations that now happen to me as a mom that I realize ...ahhhh, this is what my mom went through. I imagine as the years go by I'm going to have lots and lots of these "mom revelations".

My current revelation - I remember how much my mom wanted to play with my hair when I was little...curlers, braids, ponytails, etc....and I never wanted her to.  Flash forward thirty years, "Sydney, can I put a bow in your hair today?" "No!"  "Syd, oh your hair would looked so pretty with a ribbon...can I put one in?" "No!" "Syd, I've got an idea...how about I put some ponies on your hair today?" "No! No! No!"  

"Hmmm. Hey Syd would you like a Tootsie Pop?" "Sure!!" "Great, sit down here and I'll give you a Tootsie Pop and you can watch a show too. Oh, and while you're here, I'll put your hair in some ponies, OK?" "OK Mommy!"

Worked on me...