I am an idiot at this friend-making thing

We're on vacation (can't you tell, it's been raining and chilly and just lovely, argh) and I noticed the neighbor's garage door open. The neighbor from the previous post that I wanted to befriend. So I made some corn muffins, strapped SkyWalker into his stroller and started the long trek down the street. I learned 2 things, 1) my road needs sidewalks and 2) I am not a good judge of distance. Holy crap it was much farther than I thought. (It's farther right? Not further? My grammar went out the window about 2 years and 9 months ago). Anyway, we walk there, ring the bell. I introduce us. The lovely couple have 2 children, the oldest of which just turned 2! Which means, that yes, indeed, they will go to Kindergarten together. And he's a boy! They were very friendly and it was very nice. Except. When asked where we lived, I said where the house was, but never thought to give the number. At no time did I give them my phone number or even my last name. I didn't get that information from them either. I said I was available if they ever wanted to do anything, blah blah blah, but now that pretty much means them having to walk up my driveway. Or leave a note in my mailbox. Which is what I should have done in the first damn place.

Oh well, they know which house is mine, if they wanted to, they could stop by or leave a note. Right? Sure it would have been better for me to leave my damn phone number, but the end result would be the same right? It would still be up to them.

I suck at this friend thing. This is why all of my friends are online.

PS. Right now at this very moment my son is trying really hard to make noise come out of a kazoo, but since he is not quite 2 yet, he has no idea what he's doing. This amuses me greatly. Because it's funny to watch him struggle to do something, but mostly because his plan to invade my quiet with his little noisemaker has failed.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Parenting is a pissing contest

I overslept today. That's not exactly true. I was awake, I just didn't get out of bed until I hit the "Oh crap I have no time" mark. Friday mornings are especially hard because I work Thursday nights. Anyway, I had to ask the husband (Vader) for help this morning. I was in the bathroom getting myself ready and I could hear him going up the stairs. Through the monitor I heard my son (SkyWalker) start saying "Mama!!" because he heard footsteps on the stairs. Then I heard the gate swing open, and he said "Mama!" again and Vader said "Nope, it's Daddy." And I'm pretty sure SkyWalker responded with "Mama?".

And this all amused me. For many months the answer to any question was "Daddy!". When Daddy comes home SkyWalker runs screaming "Hi Daddy!". Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. But now it's Mama!! I won the pissing contest this morning.

I don't answer those QOTD things, but interestingly enough I was going to talk about neighbors anyway. Three houses down from us there is a kid. I know I saw someone sitting on the front porch with a baby-like person. There is now one of those wooden playsets in the backyard that I've been coveting. And when I passed by last night there was a box out with the trash that was for one of those big plastic car things I've been wanting to get SkyWalker, so I'm wondering if the kid is close to his age. To put this in more perspective, all of the lots around my house (including mine) are on 6 acres. So I can't get a real good view of how old the kid is or what these people look like. I've been wanting to stop by because how cool would that be to have a kid close to SkyWalker's age that he could be friends with? That he would go to school with? Maybe even be in the same grade. And it would be nice for me too, since I am lacking in the friends department and if/when my best friend moves away I will be alone again.

But going over there and introducing myself and SkyWalker would take A) initiative B) more walking than I'm used to and C) friendliness. I have no idea who these people are. I can't call ahead. And as a mom, I really don't want to just stop by. What if it's nap time? What if the kid is younger than I thought and it's nursing time or bottle time? What if they're mean? What if they don't like us? What if they're too friendly and we don't like them? And despite my no-holds barred public persona that you all know, I'm somewhat quiet and shy and not the friendliest with people I don't know. Do I bite the bullet and be nice for my kid's sake? Because I don't want him to have a hard time making friends. Do I leave a note in the mailbox introducing myself and saying I didn't want to interrupt a nap time by just showing up uninvited and then leave it in their hands? Do I get insulted if they don't respond?

It's hard enough making friends as an adult, but making friends as a parent is even harder. But boy would I like to play on that wooden playset.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I swear it just's a coincidence

that my first three entries are about poop. I was going to have another pooping story. Really. Well, this isn't so much about the poop as it is about my husband's refusal to believe that I am right all the time.

A few months ago we discovered that sundried tomato dressing gave SkyWalker horrible diaper rash. Horrible. To the point of bleeding. I say we discovered it, but it was really my husband giving it to him every week and me noticing the reaction. So we stopped giving it to him (again with the "we") and it went away. All good.

I call my husband at work yesterday to say "I forget to take chicken out before i left but there's some nuggets still in the fridge if you want to give [SkyWalker] those." He tells me he took chicken out before he left and that he thinks he'll just give him some of what he makes--with the dressing on it. I say "No!" We have a friendly little argument on the phone, but I don't really think he's that stupid.

Sigh.

Sure enough he gave him a little bit of the dressing. Can't hurt right? When I picked SkyWalker up from daycare today and took him to the in-laws for our weekly dinner, he was very clingy and not happy. He ate a little and then started saying "A poopoo" and really struggling. He was crying and we decided we needed to take him home early. We got home and it was much of the same. I tried to give him prunes. I tried to give him peaches. No go. We put him to bed and he off and on cried out and then I heard him really pushing. He managed to get it out and i guess it was pretty solid. I say I guess because the man responsible had to go up there to take care of it.

It's no coincidence that he had problems in the past with this stuff and the day after he has it again he has a horrible pooping experience. Nothing else in his diet changed.

So today's moral is: next time Mama says no damn sundried tomato dressing, don't give him sundried tomato dressing!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Oh the irony

Ironically enough as I was typing my last entry, the boy was pooping. We headed upstairs for a diaper change. After much squirming and crying I finally pulled myself together and got his diaper off. Ew. It was a nice one. Anyway, he starts moving all around and while I'm wrapping the old diaper up he sits up. So I snap him up, get his shorts on and put him on the floor.

And then I see it.

Usually I see something scary before the diaper change, not after.

I see the new diaper I had laid out. I look at the boy and say "If that diaper is there, then what are YOU wearing?" and in horror I realized the answer. 

I quickly scooped him up, yanked his shorts, unbuttoned his shirt, and what did I see? A free standing dangling wee-wee. Yup, I forgot the diaper. Luckily I realized it so quickly because I probably would not have changed his diaper again before daycare. 

I think I should get naptime too. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Potty training

It turns out potty training is not as direct as I thought it would be. Simply saying "here's the potty, now poop" doesn't work. We're an open-poop household-- there have been many times when all 5 of us have been in the bathroom together while someone is pooping (husband, me, kid, and 2 dogs), so you would think the kid would naturally want to join in. I didn't really think it would be easy, and we haven't even really started, but I can already see it's going to be a pain in my butt. He knows when he has to poop, he says "A poopoo" not only after he's gone but also when he just has the urge to go. That's all good. He sits on the potty fully clothed and rides it like a motorcycle. I guess that's good. But when it comes to sitting on it for it's intended purpose, no way. He squirms and whines when he needs his diaper changed, but just won't listen to logic. Who knew 22 month olds aren't so good in the logic department? Okay, everyone.

Oh no, what's that smell?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Hmmm....

Do I need another internet addiction? I kind of do like the way this is set up... I have to play around and see if it has the same level of protection that LJ does as far as friends-only posts and whatnot...

Cuz we all know I don't like sharing secrets.

;-)

Read and post comments