life with WE

Watching the show through her eyes

I find myself watching her face rather than the performance on stage in front of me.

I love seeing it through her eyes.  The awe.  The respect.  The fascination. 

She loves it.

I love it too.  But more importantly, I love watching her love it.

Anytime I've taken Elaine to see a live production, I've never been disappointed.  Disney on Ice, Dora Live, Annie, Mary Poppins, Go Dog Go, a high school production of Frog and Toad - no matter what the show, she's loved them all.  She's sad when they are over.  She wants more, wants to see it again.

Her body, which is generally in constant motion, instead sits reverently still.  Her eyes focus on the scenes unfolding in front of her, turning only occasionally to comment something to me.  "Are those stars real?"  "How is he doing that?"  "Oh, now I see the wire."  And even though she sees the tricks of the trade, it does nothing to reduce the magic.  The magic is still there for her.  In her eyes I watch as she empathizes with the characters in front of her.  She is not just watching the show, she's a part of it.  It is so much better than TV, and she knows it.

And the whining and driving and ticket prices are suddenly justifiable.  Absolutely worth it.  I'm helping develop her love of theater.  Helping her appreciate actors and actresses, scripts, props and backgrounds. 

She applauds at the end of each song with the enthusiasm of one who has heard music for the first time.  Each actor is equally talented in her eyes and each deserves her zealous hand clapping.  She adores the high school junior playing the role of Frog as much as the woman playing Mary Poppins at The Fox.

While Warren enjoys  it, likes it, agrees to go... with Elaine it's different.  It's like it's IN her or part of her. 

I should probably do something about fostering that.

Bring the rain!

I had something to write about - I can't remember what.  But then Warren interrupted my train of thought with a complaint and tears.

Clearly it is my fault that it rained last night, making the ground wet, which made me say that he could not play outside this morning before the bus stop.

I know - I am such a bitch!  I wish I wouldn't do stuff like that.

He's pouting and crying and angry as we speak.  (And by speak I mean type.)  Any guess for how much patience I have for this in the morning? 

Yeah.  Zero.

Item #135 that causes me unecessary worry

People who exercise in the late evenings (dark).

Not all of the night exercisers cause me worry.  Just the ones who refuse to wear light colored clothing, opting instead for gray and black.  Oh and they are running with their black dogs on the street rather than the sidewalk.

About gave me a freaking heart attack.

Wizardry

Yesterday as Elaine and I were headed out the door to run an errand...

E:  Mom, don't you wish our whole family was wizards?

Me:  (pause pause pause) Sure, why not?  That would be cool, wouldn't it?

E:  Yeah!  If I was a wizard I would open the door to the garage with my magic right now!

What does that sign mean anyway?

And then this one time, I was running late to a bridal shower due to mapquest's bad directions.  I was driving Mike's car.  I grabbed the invitation to call the place the shower was at and figure out how to get there.  So I'm driving about 35 miles per hour, dialing a number on my cell when I realize I have to swerve left to stay on the road - BECAUSE IT HAS NO SHOULDER and BECAUSE I AM NOT PAYING ATTENTION AND I AM DANGEROUS!

BAM!

Yep, knocked Mike's sideview mirror completely off as I hit a sign on the side of the road.  You know, one of those yellow rectangles with diagonal black stripes?  I have no idea what that sign means other than "you dumb beotch there's no shoulder over here so pay attention would you?"

Did I turn around and pick up the mirror?  No. 

I was late, who has time to pick up knocked off mirrors?

Lesson #2456 - When driving on a road with NO shoulder, DO NOT try to dial numbers on your cell phone.  PULL OVER in the next parking area for the love of Pete!

Conversations I had yesterday...

E: I had a sad day at school today.

Me: Why?

E:  I raised my hand like you are supposed to when you want to talk, but teacher didn't say my name.

Me:  Maybe she ran out of time and couldn't call on you?

E:  Yeah.  It made me sad.  But she said my name later and it was good!

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Me:  I was thinking about growing my hair out.

New stylist lady:  Um no.  I think that'll look stupid.

Me:  I like you!

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W:  Noah is not in my class anymore.

Me:  Where did he go?  Is he still at school?

W:  I think to another class - he got transported.  Because that's what happens when you switch teachers - you get transported.

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E:  Mommy, if you kiss  my hand then I can put it on my cheek when I need to and feel your love.  And I can kiss your hand and you can feel my love and then we won't have to miss each other!

A spot of tea dearie?

This morning I'm drinking tea.  TEA!

Are you asking yourself, "why in the hell is she drinking tea she's the poster child for coffee?"

Well I'll tell you why and thankyoueversomuch for asking!

My daughter knocked my coffee pot off the counter yesterday.  And of course when it fell and hit the ceramic tile it shattered into a gazillion pieces and flew everywhere as did my heart.  Oddly enough heartbreak sounds just like a coffee carafe hitting tile at about 5 miles per hour.  It's awful.  Take my word for it.

No worries though.  I ordered a replacement last night and upgraded the shipping to 2nd day air.  I should be good to go by the weekend.  And if not, well then you'll find me shaking in the corner with severe headache or at the gas station buying gas station coffee and claiming it is miraculous!

A dent in my day yesterday

*** pictures at bottom now!

Today is the first day of school.  Elaine's first day of kindergarten and Warren's first day of second grade.

Let's pause for a moment of WOO HOO!

I think yesterday may have been the worst day of our entire summer.  Elaine couldn't listen to a thing I said, and was just wild and uncontrollable.  I spent most of the day yelling at her or putting her in timeout and then losing patience with Warren who was just being Warren. 

As an added bonus, I think my dog has fleas which I think are on my chair in my family room so I spent the day running around buying flea killer for the yard, the furniture and the dog.  And then spraying and vacuuming and washing and vacuuming.  While purchasing some of the flea killer, someone took it upon themselves to hit my new car leaving a decent dent, some paint and yet NO NOTE. 

Dear whoever hit me, karma is a bitch and she's coming for you!  Love ya, Jenny.

So today, today HAS GOT to be better.  Has to.  Of course Elaine or Warren could lose it at the bus stop.  Or I could lose it.  But most likely, let's think positively.  It's all going to be great!  I'll take the kids to the bus, they'll smile and wave, I'll go for a walk, take a shower, pick up Elaine, we'll have lunch, we'll pick up Warren, it'll be fabulous! 

Who believes me?

Oh, and at some point I need to find a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend.  Can I just say UGH to that?  I hate shopping for myself.  Mainly because of body issues, money issues, and just bah - I don't enjoy it.

Also?  Back in the day I would be so excited/nervous about the first day of school I could barely sleep.  And yet my kids - act like it's such a nonevent.  Warren cannot wait to go back because it's boring around here, and Elaine doesn't know what day it is, so I'm not sure she really knows she's going to school today.  Regardless, they went to bed like usual - no hype, no worry.  That's probably a good thing, right?

***UPDATED WITH PICTURES!

 

The big kindergarten kid and the big second grader!

 

I'm a little too tall so it makes me stand knock kneed sometimes!  (Goofball!)

 

I spilled my chocolate milk on myself moments before walking out the door!  Don't worry, my mom put my giant kdg sticker over it!

Our two brown eyed kindergarten cul-de-sac girls!  Neither of these two could be bothered to look back at their mothers as they boarded the bus.  Peace out ladies!

Happy First Day!

For a talker, I'd really like some silence

I'm a talker.  I'll admit it.  If you've ever met me, you'll know that I chat it up.  I'll talk to a stranger.

My kids - they are both talkers.  And um, to be quite honest, it's getting on my nerves.

Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE THEM.  And I love their little voices, and I love their stories, and I love that they want to learn... but do they have to know everything about everything?  And the details they remember.  OY VEY.  "Mom, do you remember how much that one star wars lego kit was?  I remember it was at Target and I can't remember the name but you know it was a lot like Anakin's blah bitty blah only with different droids, not the ones with the yellow guns but the ones with the silver blah bitty blahs.  Don't you remember the name and how much it cost?  WHY DON'T YOU?"

And that's just one minute of conversation that happens during the day here.  Elaine's questions aren't nearly as detailed, but are the same question repeated over and over and over.  "Mommy, will you put a ponytail in my hair, and a ribbon, and a clip?"  "Yes, when we go upstairs." "Mommy, will you put a ponytail in my hair and that other stuff?"  "Mommy, will you put a ponytail in my hair now with a ribbon and a clip?"

While we're driving, Elaine demands the radio gets turned louder while Warren wants to talk to me about stores he's seen and whether we've been there before and were they around when I was a kid?  Never in my life have I wanted silence.  I'm usually begging people to talk to me.  But does it have to be constant and all the time and so detailed?  HELP!

Hopefully the school time break will help us all.  Because I can't keep this pace of talking up for much longer!

An interesting headline...

I'm sitting here drinking coffee wondering what to write about today.  I check the headlines - Jon and Kate - don't care, Squirrel in a picture - pretty funny, health care reform - not touching that with a ten foot pole.  Then I find this headline in the right column of STLToday:

Experts say urinating in the shower is not so bad from a health and safety standpoint.

I have to say, I almost peed my pants which is clearly not so good from a clean couch standpoint!

The link to the article is here.  But basically, an ad campaign has started in Brazil, asking people to urinate in the shower, saving over 1,157 gallons of water annually by eliminating one flush a day.  Save the rainforest, pee in the shower!  I love it.  It makes me think of that episode of Seinfeld where George pees in the shower at the gym.  "I was there!  I saw the drain!"

Ahh good stuff.  I miss Seinfeld, don't you?  I'm not even going to address the peeing in the shower info - you just do with that as you want, and don't tell me about it, m'kay?