Well, it must be Halloween, because there is a pair of big, rubber b*obs in my kitchen trash can.
Haunting, indeed.
Lively Parent
parenting for the rest of us
20 Oct 2008 Uncategorized
Normally, I don’t use my blog space to complain and vent. Normally, I take the high road, find the humor in my crazy life as a working mom of two young girls. Normally, I look for a common theme that links me back, grounds me, keeps things in perspective.
Normally.
But normally doesn’t apply right now. There is nothing normal about the way that my four-year-old is acting right now. At least not normal for a four-year-old. Normal, maybe, for a pre-menses 12 year old–histrionics, dramatic mood swings, unnecessary anxiety. For a four-year-old? Seriously?
If this is what I have to look forward to…well…there isn’t enough wine in Napa to get me through the high school years.
Oh. My. God.
She has been over the top awful. Lots of upheaval in her life these days for sure–a new part time preschool program slotted around her regular full-day day care program, transitions that have led to her being separated from her school and gymnastics buddies, a mom who has been traveling a lot, etc, etc. My normally outgoing kid is so dang articulate, she can actually talk about the whole range of emotions she is going through right now ("nervous", "lonely", "frustrated"). Paul and I have worked so hard to help her name her emotions, but at the end of the day, she is still just a four-year-old who doesn’t know what to do with all of those normal emotions.
Well, kid, welcome to the club.
I, too, have reached my emotional limit. I took Friday off so that I could talk with her new preschool teacher and spend some uninterrupted one-on-one time with her. Normally, this would have done the trick. She would have been recalibrated. Today, I left work early AGAIN after only three hours in the office. And, I’m looking at working only a half day on Wednesday so that I can try–once again–to observe her in her classroom environment and talk with her teachers.
Well…I am over it. And by "it", I mean the stress, anxiety, guilt, and frustration that has completely engulfed me. Oh, sure, I could write on and on about the myriad of experiences that have transpired over the past month.
But…what’s the point? In the end, I’m sure I would just get a bunch of unsolicited-though-well-meaning advice about how normal these incidences are in the grand scheme of of a smart four-year-old. I’d probably even hear warnings like "oh, you think you have problems now…wait until she is 15."
Bleh.
Instead, I just want to wallow in self pity, frustration, and exhaustion and wait for things to get back to, well, normal.
17 Oct 2008 Uncategorized
Like many parents of young children, I often find myself harkening back to the simpler time of my own childhood. Back to the days of four TV channels, Laura Ingalls Wilder, roller skates with a stopper, trips to the library, and the Muppets.
My girls have at least ten children’s channels to choose from, plus an unlimited amount of options on DVD and TiVo. I won’t even go into the vast amount of books, clothes, toys, and activities at their disposal. It’s enough to make their Generation X mother’s head spin. I mean, I want my kids to have choices and opportunities to find their bliss (blah…blah…blah), but I feel like all of the “stuff” they have access to it a little over the top. No, actually…I know it is over the top.
But, I have discovered The Great Equalizer.
YouTube.
In a manner of seconds, I can transport the girls to the childhood of my past…the Muppets, the Electric Company, and countless others. In addition to all of that, the girls and I have rifled around the vast number of YouTube clips and found some new favorites. Well, favorites for them anyway. I find most of it mind numbing. A dancing cat, a purple hippo singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, a Sims version of “Barbie Girl”. You get the picture.
Here are some links to the current popular favorites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpA2tMrQ4RU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUMwu_gXK7Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhODBFQ2-bQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coi65CT1G4&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC9FtLQJoGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSiLGAVcmU0
So, I suffer through the 2 minutes and 49 seconds of video clip as the girls giggle, clap, and point to the screen. Two minutes and 49 seconds may not seem like that long, but because YouTube provides suggestions for additional clips as the first clip is ending, this process can go on forever, and ever, and ever, and ever…
