M’ijo « Artificially Sweetened

NOT My Day

February 27, 2008 at 10:23 pm | In I really couldn't come up with a category for this, M'ijo | 8 Comments

Part I:

I sneezed at work this morning. With a mouthful of coffee. Which came out my nose (ow). All over my (personal) laptop.

First the keyboard stopped working, then the whole thing started making an ominous beeping noise.

It’s at the computer doctor now. I told him about the coffee, but not about the nose part.

Part II:

Memo to self: Your almost 16-month old son does not have the manual dexterity to feed himself spaghetti in red sauce. He will get very frustrated, resulting in spaghetti and sauce all over you and all over the kitchen. It’s three hours later and I still haven’t mustered the energy to clean up the kitchen, which looks like the set of a slasher movie.

I am a Winner!

February 21, 2008 at 1:11 am | In Linky Love, M'ijo | 10 Comments
Tags: prizey giveaways toddlers exhaustion

That’s not just a winter-sucks-chin-up-girl-positive-self-talk thing to say, although such a pep-talk is never unwarranted.

But quite literally. I have won some very cool prizes on the internets ~~lately~~ over the last couple of months. Mostly thanks to the wonder that is Prizey. And my guilty conscience forces me to interrupt my unplanned blogatus to say thanks. I won… Putamayo Kids Music, a tres cool funky ring (& barrette, which has been in my hair constantly since I got it), a beautiful book, which I am looking forward to reading with P’ito. I know he’ll love the cover: in his vocabulary all animals with fur are currently “CA! CA! KIKA! (kittycat).” Finally, I won a toy garage.

P’ito likes playing with the cars, and he keeps trying to use the keys to open other locked items: file cabinets, doors, etc. He hasn’t used them to open the garage yet though!

Prizey has become a little bit of an obsession for me since my part-time single mamahood began, in part because toddlerhood is kicking my ass, and once P’ito goes to bed, I have very little emotional energy left to give to anything.

Don’t get me wrong - P’ito is absolutely, ferociously wonderful. In the past couple of months, he has developed a fantastic sly mischevious sense of humor: hiding behind corners and then popping out at me with a huge grin, rolling over and playing bare-tushed sleepy on the changing table, turning all possible objects into hats or telephones - always with that little aren’t I cute? smile.

But when he’s awake I am constantly either playing with him or on alert: why is it so quiet? what does he want? He’s not super-verbal yet, so we stand in front of the fridge with him pointing and going “meh! meh! meh!” and I try to figure out - does he want the picture of Pili? The cat-butt magnet? The list of phone numbers? Of course, he wants the small choking-hazard magnet! He’s really into testing limits right now: looking at me with his arm raised and the nice-ecologically-sound-extremely-HARD-wooden-~~projectile~~-toy in his hand & smiling: “Watcha gonna do, Mama?” Throwing food is big right now. Taking a big slurp on his sippy cup, looking at me with that oh-so-innocent smile - and spitting milk down his shirt (insert maniac toddler giggles here). And OH, the tantrums, the YOU MADE ME PUT MY SHIRT ON! YOU MADE ME TAKE MY SHIRT OFF! boneless on the floor tantrums.

End result: hundreds of posts bookmarked on my bloglines to go back and comment on, and some excellent free stuff.

Daycare Dilemma (updated)

January 22, 2008 at 10:37 pm | In AdoptThis!, M'ijo | 18 Comments

After I left P’ito at daycare this morning, I went downstairs to the director’s office to ask her a quick question about his tuition.

- Oh, I’m so glad you’re here - do you have a minute?

- Um, sure. (not what I was expecting)

She wanted to talk to me about early intervention.

I’m quite familiar with EI - it’s what my mom does for a living. And if I had any concerns about P’ito, I wouldn’t hesitate to call them and get him evaluated. So why do I feel so whiplashed that she brought it up? Her concern is not about physical or cognitive development - she feels he’s doing great in those regards. But as she put it, after spending some time in his classroom and talking to his lead teacher, they feel he’s a little serious/ withdrawn/ subdued (since before Pili’s commuting, btw). And, she explained, they’ve had lots of positive experiences with EI giving them suggestions to help internationally adopted kids adapt to the daycare setting.

I know the mood that they are talking about, but I also know my silly goofy boy who is anything but subdued. To wit: After his bath tonight, I was trying to ready the sixteen layers of cloth diaper that keep him from soaking through his pjs, and he was trying to unready them. Finally, I gave up and set his naked little self down on the floor. He WHOOPED, ran over to his zebra and climbed on it. Buck naked. Then he shot me the most mischevious grin ever.

I have a lot of trust and confidence in his daycare. They are NAEYC accredited, his teachers adore him & snuggle him lots, and I’ve certainly seen him be happy there. So I find myself wondering: if he weren’t adopted, would she be suggesting this?

My mom doesn’t see any need for evaluation; on the other hand, she is such a fabulously over the moon grandma that I think she may really believe his shit smells sweet. She thinks that he is quiet at daycare because he’s trying to hold onto his memories of Pili & me & we need to find a lovie for him (so far, he has no particular attachment to any soft objects other than his mommies) & send him to school with lots of pictures of us (he has a big poster with pictures of us right at his eye level).

I don’t know. I feel - glad that they are looking out for him - annoyed that I don’t think she’d make the same suggestion to the parents of the quiet, non-adopted kids in his class - sad that he is not happier at school and not sure what to do about it.

And then I went in to pick him up today, and he was absolutely positively giggly. And his afternoon teacher looked at me like she thought I was certifiable when I said that the director & teacher #1 thought he was subdued. Perhaps it’s just that he got a nice long nap in today?

UPDATE: We started sending P’ito to daycare with Blankie, which I guess I can no longer describe as “the closest thing to a lovie that he’s got” as it seems to have been upgraded to FULL ON LOVIE status. And that seems to have helped - he’s been much happier and his normal goofy self at daycare ever since. I checked back in with the director the other day and she immediately said “y’know I’m glad you brought that up again - I think you were right that he was just working through some separation anxiety and I’m not concerned anymore.” Whew.

A Slow Low Whiny Day

January 15, 2008 at 12:26 am | In Linky Love, M'ijo, The Other D (Better Living Through Chemistry), The Sweet Life | 23 Comments

I am very ready for winter to be over.

I’ve been feeling down lately - not down down, but just kind of muted. I’ve gotten past the “WOW! This place isn’t my old job!” excitement stage at work and I’m having a hard time keeping my enthusiasm up through the grey of winter.

I’m nervous about my upcoming Adventures in Single Motherhood. After a nice long research leave, Pili is headed back to work. Work is two hours away, which means that Monday-Wednesday nights, it will be me and the boy. Any tips on getting out of the house in the morning singlehanded will be much appreciated.

I had an appointment with New Endo this morning: no insta-A1C machine, so I will find out tomorrow exactly how sucky my A1C is. Last one was 6.9: I am thinking somewhere around 8.3 New Endo was perfectly nice, but not nearly as thorough as Good Endo back in Less Urban City, and he wants me to log. Good Endo just downloaded my meter and pump. I am tempted to just keep seeing him, but in the end I’m not sure I am committed enough to my diabetes management to drive five hours roundtrip to see a doctor.

I hate seeing new doctors: I recite my medical history and they hmm and haw and bite their cheeks and say “you’re awfully young to have that” (3 basal cell carcinomas, little bastards) and I just feel like a big old freak of nature. This is compounded by the fact that I am back to my highest ever weight, and feel icky and fat - I’m muffin-topping out of all my jeans. I need to start doing the weight-watchers thing again, but when? (see above re: Single Motherhood) The online version doesn’t work for me - I need to be accountable to someone other than myself. I know that once Pili gets home, I’m going to want to see her, not spend all my time racing off to the gym and doing all the errands I couldn’t do when she was away. Oh, and I am having a major flare up of my l1chen p.lanus and my exczema, so I’ve got red itchy blotches all over my hands, stomach, underarms, and underboobs. And the dermatologist’s first appt is not until March. C’mon let’s hear it folks - am I not The Sexiest Woman Ever? (ahem). Let’s hear it for the medical trainwreck. Actually, the reason I made L.P. ungoogleable is that apparently there are people who think it is sexy and put up p@rn sites devoted to it. So hey, some icky wicky sleazeball out there on the internets thinks I’m sexy!

While I may be lacking in the Sexy of Late, P’ito remains quite possibly the Cutest Boy Ever (excepting the children/nephews/ friendskids of my kind readers, of course).

p.s. Congrats to Cheri, Gary & Eliana, who are OUT OF PGN! and Ezra & Jenny who welcomed Elsie Jane and two mommies, who have a damn cute boy of their own.

Notes from the Road

January 3, 2008 at 9:18 pm | In M'ijo | 6 Comments

Whoever designed the diaper changing stations at O’Hare Airport has obviously never changed a wiggly toddler.

(Yes, I’m admitting it. He’s a toddler. Where did my baby go?)

I’m sure embedding the garbage chute and sink (with automatic on/off sensor) in the changing table seemed like an ergonomically sensible design. However, I wish upon the designer of said ergonomically designed changing station a squirmy toddler with a massively poopy diaper, who thinks that sticking his hands down the garbage chute to see what’s down there and kicking his feet in the sink to turn the water on, is a far far better thing than allowing his tush to be wiped.

We’re home. Thank g-d.

To the fine people on flight 554, I apologize sincerely

December 31, 2007 at 1:45 pm | In M'ijo | 21 Comments

I am sure you will all be relieved to know that my son was asleep the SECOND he was strapped into his carseat. And not a moment earlier.

We are breaking up our eastward journey at The Worst Time to Travel by stopping in flat city and introducing Pepito to some of his fanclub members. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to blog or read blogs in a week!

A few things about which I’ve been meaning to blog/beg for advice on:

Food: How long is too long to eat baby food? Pepito (14 mos) will happily feed himself real food (and has eight teeth to chew it with) but prefers the jarred stuff. He is eating us out of house and home in Earth’s Best. I kind of feel like we should just go cold turkey and let him eat only solid solids. What winds up happening is: We offer him a smorgasboard of Real People Food. He eats some, but not enough to satisfy Pili (usually) or me (less usually). Pili pulls out the jar. I roll my eyes and mutter about serving Earth’s Best at his wedding. He gobbles down the EB. I mutter about how he’s never going to learn to fill up on Real People Food if he keeps eating this stuff. Am I right? Is Pili right?
Travel: O g-d where to start? Is it possible to travel light with a toddler while flying cross country for a two-week trip?
Mommy Preference: Despite all my best efforts, Pepito shows a clear preference for Pili. I will be honest - it stings. I worried about this when I thought one of us would be the biomom, but this kind of took me by surprise. I am trying my best to keep trying, and not just to always hand him over when he starts fussing, but damn is it hard.
P@k N Plays: Why are there so many different models of the damn things with so many different locking mechanisms, and why do they never want to lock when your child needs To Go To Sleep.
Raspberries: They were funny, once. Now he does them All the Freakin’ Time and can spit up to two feet away. The first time people think it’s cute and laugh and raspberry back at him, but then the spit starts hitting the fan. My son, the llama. What to do? We ignore it, but it’s really hard to get others to ignore it.

Oops, awake baby. More later.

Thanks & Etc.

December 14, 2007 at 7:15 pm | In Linky Love, M'ijo, Meows | 11 Comments

Thank you all so much for the virtual shoulders.

I went into a store today where they had a big fat b/w cat who let me scoop him up on my shoulder and love on him. (I am totally more likely to purchase things at stores with cats) And I felt a twinge, an ache, a memory of how much of a solid armful Louie used to be before he got sick, along with an awareness that the Louie I loved was gone long before the vet lifted the stethoscope off his chest and said “I am so very sorry.”

And then somehow I keep finding myself here.

On a totally different subject:

I posted some possibilities (and some pretty hilarious outtakes) for our first “look how cute our kid” is holiday card photo here. I am feeling pretty uninterested in putting in the effort to send out cards but at the same time for so long when I got all the cute cards with pictures of other people’s kids, I sustained myself by thinking about, next year, when we have our baby… so I’ll be damned if I don’t do it this year. Family photos are friends only, so please ask if you want to be be-friended. And please tell me which one you like best!

And on yet another different subject:

Go send Cali some love - she is having her retrieval tomorrow! Here’s wishing you more eggs than a matryoshka factory!

And welcome to the world little O’Flipper. If your mamas don’t post pictures soon, they may be responsible for my untimely demise - I mean, if I drive to Bklyn in a snowstorm because I’m jonesing to see this baby, and I freeze to death in a snowdrift somewhere, wouldn’t it be their fault?

(attn: postpartum hormones - that was a joke!)

I am once again reduced to bullet points

November 12, 2007 at 11:34 am | In Linky Love, M'ijo, The Sweet Life | 7 Comments

In order to get a post up more than once every two weeks. Oh, and if you know of any organizations that fund technology support for not-for-profits, please let me know? I’d love to liberate my workplace from Mac OS 9.2 ~~so that I can blog at work again without bringing in my personal laptop~~ so that I can actually get some work done without having my computer crash every five seconds.

Pepito birthday wishes - thank you, thank you, thank you!
Holy shit, child is walking. Who gave him permission to do that?
Diabetes management: what’s that? Or: I thought it was hard to make sure I left the house with all the supplies I needed before I had a child.
Need to find endo and primary care in MUCDTR, stat.
Symptoms of frozen shoulder? (see previous item) Am really hoping this is just a pinched nerve. Ouch.
Missed a birthday party for a good friend this weekend. I suck. Go wish gandksmom a happy birthday please, so I don’t feel like such a loser.
If you were tagged for a meme over six months ago, should you just let it go or should you go back and do it?
V. V. V. Happy for Cheri, Gary, and Eliana!

One year ago today

November 1, 2007 at 12:12 pm | In M'ijo | 33 Comments
Tags: cake, first birthday, presents

I couldn’t let the day pass uncommented on:

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, smilyest baby boy ever. I hope that your firstmom knows that her baby is safe is growing bigger and cuter by the day, and is loved to the moon and back again. We are so grateful and so humbled by the wonder that is you.