Kabuki

From here on out, I'm going to refer to my daughter as "Kabuki" or "K". Don't ask. I have about 6 billion nicknames for her so I picked the least embarrassing one.

I can't believe that K will be two and a half in a month. Time really does fly. Since I'm too lazy to write in her journal right now, I thought I'd type some updates on her.

She's officially in a toddler bed and loving it. For the first few days she would sing and talk to herself until we came and got her. Then she would call out for us to come get her. Then she would get out of bed and open her door and stand in the hall just outside her door and call out to us. Now, she wakes up quietly, gets out of bed and walks either down the hall to our room if it's in the morning or stands at the gate at the top of the stairs and calls down to me after her nap. I think she really loves that tiny bit of newfound independence.

Food-wise she seems to love pungent and/or salty foods. She must be in a growth spurt at the moment because she is suddenly eating a ton. Everyday she eats no less than 6 mandarin oranges.

Talking: Oh my. She is hilarious. Loves to play with maracas. She grabs a stuffed animal and one of her maracas, strips down naked then runs circles around our kitchen island and says "c'mon mama, let's dance!" Her favorite toys right now are the maracas, certain stuffed animals, a toy stroller and some magnetic letters and LEGO farmer figurines. She likes to stuff the farmers in her purse, put the purse over her shoulder then grab the stroller and go "shopping" for the following: oranges, onions and chocolate. I have no idea how she came up with that yummy trio.

Classes: Still doing a weekly gymnastics class. I love the teacher, the gym, the physical activity and the socialization she gets. I'm getting a bit bored of it though. We've been going for a year now. We just started her 3rd Music Together session on Wednesday. Ironically, this session is called "Maracas". I think it's a great program albeit expensive. Her gym class and music class are back to back which could cause some meltdowns so I may switch K to the Thursday music class. I figure I'm only going to be doing these classes with her until mid-June. This leads us to.......

PRESCHOOL!!! OMG. 3 days a week. Starting in early July. I'm freaked out. I was going to let her nap there but I think I've decided to pick her up before the nap. It will give me less time, but I can just go to an earlier yoga class. The school has a camera system at the school that allows parents to watch their children. I will need to practice restraint with this one.

Okay, still on the topic of kids but not my child.......

I watched a re-cap of "Idol Gives Back" last night. UGH. I purposely didn't watch it this year b/c last year it just tore me up to see what some of those kids endure daily. 3 little kids sleeping on some dirty foam pad that looked to be about 3'x 4'. Their "home" was a one room shack with clothes and pots on the floor. And they are said to "have it good". How can I complain about ANYTHING in my life after seeing that?

Even before I had K, I have always had such an emotional reaction to such stories. Like crying for several days about it when I'd think of it. I get most of my news from CNN.com and I am absolutely HORRIFIED by some of the crimes against children I see or read. The last one I read was about how this women's boyfriend beat her 2 year old daughter TO DEATH with a remote control. When asked why, the boyfriend "didn't know". The worst part is that the mother was home and didn't do anything. I'd have killed him. KILLED him. Parents put kids in the clothes dryer, in the microwave, lock them out in the snow when they won't behave, put them in a car wash and a slew of other disgusting things. I think to myself how can it ever get so bad that you would do that to a child? Your own child! HOW? WHY? It just makes me so sick and upset.

Manic Monday

AAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Had a nice morning at the beach with daughter followed by a nice lunch on the beach with a few moms from our mom's group. Then.......she wouldn't nap! I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT function well when she does not nap. I literally flip out. So after 2 hours of her just chatting in her bed, I went and got her and then we went to Target - because I had no idea what else to do.

Our dishwasher - yeah, that great new one we bought - is not draining properly. There is water at the bottom of it that won't drain. I took it apart to see if it was clogged and it does not appear to be. WTF?

Now for the icing on the cake today. Our friends from New York were supposed to be here on Wednesday and stay through the weekend. Well they FLAKED! I was really looking forward to their visit and now with 2 days left, they decide they don't wanna come. They were coming to job/home search b/c they were going to move here for a year to see how they liked it. Apparently they got freaked out about the reality of it and now are not coming. I hate flakes. I really do. I think it is so selfish and inconsiderate to flake. I know it happens on occasion, those are forgivable but so many people flake on a regular basis that it makes it hard to plan things.

I've been hearing a lot of mom's talk about how much they LOVE being a stay at home mom lately. I can't say the same for me. Just when it gets really bad for me though, my daughter does something that just melts my heart and slaps me upside the head to make me thankful for her and to be able to stay home. I definitely can not say though, that I was meant for this. I'm just not. I just bought the Eckhart Tolle book A New Earth. I'm hoping this gives me yet another slap in the face.

Update

I really need to start blogging more often. It seems like when I finally do get around to doing it I have so much to say but feel that it sounds so disjointed that I just don't end up publishing the post. I'm doing it this time. Yay me.

A couple big things in the life of SambaMama........

1. We are now the owners of a plane. Yup. Some people drive to work. Some walk or ride a bike. My husband flies himself to work. The plane is out of state so in the next two weeks he'll be flying out there to pick it up and fly it back home. Oh great - just what I wanted! Another week alone with my daughter.

2. Daughter is now officially in a toddler bed! We had made the transition a couple weeks ago then regressed back to the crib after the hub didn't want her to not take her nap (she kept getting out). On Friday night, we converted her crib to a toddler bed again. No falling out, no crawling out. Saturday's nap was different. She came out of her room about 10 times or so before staying there and napping. Today's nap she stayed there from the beginning. Amazing. Everyone said it wasn't going to be a big deal and the novelty would wear off soon. I don't know why I ever even bother to fret about such things with her. Oh yeah - no crib rail either. I found this brilliant idea online. We got the pink one of course. I love it!! It looks cute, you can deflate it an travel with it, there is no putting together and it's a snap to put on and take off. Highly recommend!

Yesterday we did a bunch of household stuff like installing a peephole, fixing our banged up ghetto-ass screen door (we need a new one, but who has the time?), finding a new tax person (yeah, I know we are a little late), re-installing our baby gate at the top of the stairs (it fell off the wall on day 3!) and changing a few light bulbs. Today I made some fried rice for breakfast then we took daughter to the park and then to our local theme park for a couple hours, had lunch then put her down for a nap. As soon as I finish this I'm going to take a shower and then we're off to my aunts for a BBQ.

I'm reading this book off and on right now called Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Understanding the Crucial Link Between Mothers, Daughters and Health by Dr. Christiane Northrup. I've always been a huge fan of hers. She is just the right blend of Eastern and Western medicine for me. I came across a quote that I thought was perfect for me in this daily struggle of mine as a stay at home mom:

Remember that your daughter's soul picked you for her vehicle to get here. She knew what she was getting into. So just do the best you can and trust your (and your daughter's) Higher Power with the rest.

I think I'll end here. Oh wait - I had a dream last night that I was breastfeeding a newborn. Yeah, I loved it but I'm not sure the child was even mine. WEIRD!