Mon petite bebe cherie, je vous macque ainsi

5-24-2008

We are off to the kids first Gymnastics class...yay. Having it loved it so much myself growing up, I hope they do too. Spring concerts were yesterday as well as dentist apts. and the St. A's tour...hopefully now we can just kick back and enjoy the weekend. Lu is putting together 2-3 words sometimes now! ex: Me got night-night, no mama!(her fav) Hi Daddy, Hi Ra-ra...awwww

pms!

And the bitch of the year is...that's right, me. I could chew nails today, and am having a hard time being nice. Anybody looking for an exasperated husband and three unfairly treated children I might know some looking for a new Mom.

Rants

dear parent with a behavior challenged child,


when you come to me asking why your child is so badly behaved, it is so hard for me to hold my tongue, to not tell you exactly why. The limitations of my job restrict me from doing so.





Your child is tired. He is here for twelve hours a day. You are often late to pick him up. he notices. He know he is the last one here every night. What does that tell him? When you arrive you are always on your phone. You don't hang up to talk to him and find out about his day. He is hungry. Snack was hours ago, it is past dinner time. All he talks about is spider man, he watches this attentively at home over and over. This is not a movie for a three year old boy, he can not distinguish between violence on TV and acting it out himself yet. Those images are in his head all the time. That is why he hit the other kids, pulls hair, pushes, has no control of his body.

He is often sleepy and not washed when you bring him back at 6:30 in the morning. He spends more time here than at his home. You go to the gym, on exotic vacations (alone) and have nice clothing. Why doesn't he? He is so sweet, he still loves you with no recriminations, no resentments...but how long will he? Time passes so quickly, none of us are perfect parents, maybe the difference is that many of us wake up each day trying to be. Many of us cry about the time missed from our babies lives, forgo the gym for the park, etc... I am trying to so hard not to judge you, to advocate for your children, and hopefully help you in the process, but you make it hard! Please wake up, they need you...

I am no longer a Teacher, I am now the manager of a large Pre-school, I oversee the teachers, and about 160 kiddos. I guess maybe I am burnt out, I am so frustrated with the bad parents, the parents that forget to pick up their child, that don't pay their bill, that say horrible things to and about their kiddos. However, most of the parents ARE loving, concerned and trying really hard. The bad ones are the ones that break your heart though, and make you wish there were some sort of screening process to procreate...

thoughts

This week has been crazzzzy.... lot's of issues with my staff, everyone is quite needy, maybe the hot weather makes them all a bit daft?
g and I had a great time at the beach, as always it was strange for us not to have the kids. We talked about them A LOT. It is actually nice to have a chance to talk to him, and just well...be. Most of our normal interactions are task oriented...Did you change the baby, please pick up soy milk tonight, did you sign, buy, call, arrange, talk to, etc... I think sometimes we forget that we are actually people not just parents (cliche, I know, but true nonetheless.)
The kids were fine without us (of course) my wonderful and sometimes immature sister allowed (taught) them to make prank phone calls...and let them eat all the pizza they could hold, what could be more fun than that?

bereft

Lu was up ALL night. I just don't get it. She went to sleep easily, and an hour later was up screaming, and kept it up the whole night. I felt myself becoming psycho-sleep deprived mama, begging her, threatening her, etc...luckily g is much more patient than I. Today we are all zombies, I have no idea what we will do tonight if she keeps it up. Benadryl? Whiskey? Orphanage? just kidding, kind of...

wtf?

Okay, why is it so hot? The sunshine is great, but this is Oregon...it is not supposed to be this hot in May. Thank god for A/C. My little sunburnt hikers kicked back with lemonade and sandwiches last night, we had some friends over who have a non-cooled house, it was 90 IN their house-Yikes. g and I are heading off to Cannon Beach, the kiddos are going to grandmas, this is g's belated B-day gift it should be nice, but I really don't like leaving the kids.

Sleep deprivation

We have been very lucky with Lu-Lu, she has been a great sleeper pretty much from the beginning. part of that was due to the hell we went through getting her sister to sleep in her own bed. We were very open to letting Sassy sleep with us, but the charming snugly baby quickly became a stubborn large child who took up a lot of room and everyone was getting less than quality rest. When it came time to move her into her own bed (about five years of age) G and I were unprepared for the tirade that was unleashed on us. She would kick, scream, sob, and continue to run out of her room. She tried begging, guilt trips, and usually would eventually wear us down. We did finally work through it though, so needless to say we were a lot firmer with #3 about putting her in her crib to sleep. This went well until recently, she has had a few rough nights, mostly since she had ear tubes put in. We for the most part subscribe to the theory of Attachment Parenting. We both feel that nighttime parenting, bonding, etc...are important, and yet...we are sooooo tired. bottom line, with a baby in the bed we do not sleep well. G is quite concerned about squashing her(although I think his real concern might be that he will never have sex with his wife again, but he is too smart to admit that), and I just simply cannot fully relax with her there. however, if she is really having separation anxiety, and needs her mum and daddy neither of us is able or willing to let her cry for more than just a few minutes. So, in the end I guess we are just taking it one day at a time...

Ra-Ra started his sex-ed classes in school this week. They actually call it "human-developement" but the emphasis is on how babies are made. This has been the topic of conversation in our house this week, and I hate to admit it, but it is hard for me. I have always fancied myself to be a 'cool' mom, young, hip not easily offended, and yet my initial gut reaction in my head was EWWWWWW! This is my precious baby whose little penis I lovingly put gauze and vaseline on after his circumsision when he was born. How could he be old enough to need to know these things, and worse, want to know them? Luckily, I do have enough self awareness (barely) to squelch that reaction and respond with an attempt at nonchalance and encouragement.