Galloping Cats

This is not a drop-off nursery school July 31, 2008

Filed under: Gatito — gallopingcats @ 1:24 pm

The nursery school told us that from the beginning, but I’m only just starting to understand what they meant.

They meant that they really want to involve parents and I think that’s great. Really, I do. But in addition to the initial info session, A and I have missed work for a play group in the spring and there are three more coming up, to which we’ll have to send Gatito with Tata. Then there’s a parent info session on the first day of school (mine) and another one a month in (A’s). Then there are the monthly parent association meetings (which we will be forced to give a miss). Lest you worry about parents with younger children, they offer babysitting during these times.

I’m glad they’re doing these things and there’s nothing I want more than to participate in every last one of them. But I can’t. Part of me wonders why they told me they have lots of working moms and assured me that Gatito would not be the only one dropped off and picked up by a nanny when what they really want is actively involved parents, but I get the idea this is just kind of what it’s like to have a kid in school- maybe any school, at any age.

I am beginning to see that it is the earlier years that are, in some ways, the easiest for working parents. You just set up the nanny or daycare and get on with it. (Assuming you have child care with which you are happy, as we have had for the last year and a half.) The school years are going to present a different kind of challenge.

 

I’m going to have a lot more time on my hands July 29, 2008

Filed under: Me Me Me — gallopingcats @ 9:04 pm

R.I.P., Scrabulous.

 

Bribery July 28, 2008

Filed under: Gatito — gallopingcats @ 8:28 pm

It is an accepted fact around here that the jelly beans were a serious potty motivator. Sure, five months later he is still asking for them at least half the time he goes, but a few jelly bellies a day is a small price to pay for a diaper free life, in my opinion. Plus I figure at some point the jelly bean reward will be his college roommate’s problem, not mine, right.

Bribery worked so well for the potty, I had no problem at all applying it to our next issue, which is that Gatito has been joining us in bed with increasing frequency. The truth is that I quite like having him in our bed, and I like being piled in with him and A and the cats. But I don’t think it’s great for a marriage, and what started out as every once in a while gradually increased in frequency until we got to three nights in a row and I figured it was time to do something about it.

Something turned out to be a chart, with a picture of a car, divided into seven segments. Each night that Gatito stays in his own bed till morning, he gets to color in a segment, and after a week, he gets a car. This is the seventh night, so if all goes well, tomorrow is Car Day. I just don’t know what happens after that. Will he only sleep in his bed with the promise of a car? Do we extend the next challenge from a week to a month? Is it a non-issue, now that he’s gotten used to sleeping alone again?

If you have ever offered rewards your kids for certain behavior, how did you transition away from the rewards without messing up the behavior?

 

Ok, so my priorities could use some work July 27, 2008

Filed under: Me Me Me — gallopingcats @ 3:33 pm

Skipped toddler music class yesterday to spend 2.5 hours in line for an iphone. Hey, at least we were all together and Gatito got to ride up and down the escalator 20 times so he was happy and now I am, too. :)

 

And again July 24, 2008

Filed under: Going for #2 — gallopingcats @ 6:07 am

I got my period while peeing on a stick this morning. Again.

It’s not the disappointment of this particular month that bothers me.

It’s not the clicking forward of another month in the potential due date calendar in my mind. (We are now at late April, earliest.)

It’s not the increasing age difference between Gatito and a potential sibling. (Now at 3 years, 5 months, minimum. I actaully like the idea of getting more alone time with Gatito while he’s little and a more independent Gatito giving me a chance to really enjoy a second babyhood. Not to mention not having to pay two college tuitions at the same time.)

It’s the creeping little worry that maybe something is wrong (along with the incessant creeping towards that magical age of 35). All three times I’ve been pregnant before, excepting the six wasted months when we were cluelessly using the spermicide called Astroglide, it’s happened in the first two months. And I once read somewhere that in two fertile people, with the right timing, the chance of conceiving is one in three. So, I know it seems silly to those of you that have waited years, but the passing of this mark seems somehow significant.

There is nothing to do but carry on and focus on how great everything else in life is. And so I will. If nothing happens in another three months, I will consider conferring with the doctor. I don’t know whether I’d ever even want to do anything if there is a problem, but I guess you never do know that until you’re faced with the situation.

 

It might be wishful thinking, but I think the left one is bigger July 21, 2008

Filed under: Going for #2 — gallopingcats @ 6:36 pm

Not that I am wishing for the unevenness part. Also, my bras are leaving marks, but maybe this happens normally and I just never noticed? Or maybe it is the fat, since I’ve gained back 5 of the 8 pounds I lost. The past two months I had psychosomatic dizziness and nausea, vomiting included, so this could easily be psychosomatic, too.

A is upstairs giving Gatito his bath. I hear fake puking from A and gales of laughter from Gatito, and I do really remember to feel grateful for what I have.

 

I was just kidding about the iPhone thing getting me down July 20, 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized — gallopingcats @ 8:41 pm

I mean, I’m still obsessing about it, but I am well aware that 1) I will get one eventually and 2) it’s just a toy.

I’m still on Breast Watch: July 2008. You’d think A would be enjoying my constant flashing (“Do you think they look bigger now? How about now?”), but not so much. (I think maybe they are?)

But on to way more important things:

Day is like, my original blogging friend. We go way back to late 2004, and she’s been an amazingly supportive friend. We even had the good fortune to meet in person once– something I very much hope to repeat at some point. Anyway, she needs our help. So go read her story, and if you can, consider a donation to help her get to her goal. It could save her life. And it’s a far more worthy cause than an iPhone. Ahem.

 

A leetle bit gloomy July 19, 2008

Filed under: Going for #2 — gallopingcats @ 1:02 pm

Possibly it’s because I still haven’t managed to get my hot little hands on an iPhone, my obsession with this toy is growing, and it looks like it’s weeks or months from being fulfilled.

Possibly it’s just that part of the cycle. Based on past experience, my breasts should be bigger by now if I am pregnant. They are not. It’s only the third month of trying since the ectopic so I feel like I have no right to feel this way, but I do.

 

Cheeses! July 17, 2008

Filed under: Gatito — gallopingcats @ 1:58 pm

Peering into the refrigerator this morning, Gatito shouted, “Jesus!”

It’s not like we are above taking the Lord’s name in vain in the GC household, but it was still surprising to hear it come out of his mouth.

“What?” A and I said.

“Cheeses!” he declared happily.

It’s always nice to start your day out with a laugh. Cheeses, indeed.

 

Friend date July 16, 2008

Filed under: Me Me Me — gallopingcats @ 7:58 pm

About two years ago, new neighbors moved in. They had a little girl a few months older than Gatito, and I stopped by to introduce myself. Having learned my lesson about the importance, many times, of playing a little hard-to-get in making new friends, I left my phone number and email instead of taking theirs. I had made the first move by stopping by and I figured if they were interested in making friends, they would call.

They didn’t. Walking by a few months later, I met one of the grandfathers out with the daughter and he mentioned she was expecting twins. Many more months later, I met the nanny strolling the twins. Last New Year’s Eve, we ran into the whole family at a local First Night celebration. We greeted each other and they said this was the first time they’d been out in over a year. Finally, in March, I ran into the family on the street and we discovered that the daughter and Gatito would be in the same nursery school class. We agreed it would be nice to get the kids together so they’d be familiar with each other before then.

I mentioned this before, but they explained that they never called because right after I stopped by, she got pregnant and was terribly ill, then she found out she was pregnant with twins and had TTTS, had in utero surgery, and was on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy, and then she had preemie twins less than two years apart from her daughter. (It wasn’t about me!)

In May, I stopped by once again to let the neighbor know that someone else from the preschool class was arranging playdates and I left her my email address. She emailed! And invited us over for a family playdate! We went, and it was nice. Then they came for dinner at our house and it was chaos, but fun, and we clicked with the husband as well. Then she and I went to preschool orientation together (more on *that* later) and out for a drink after. And now, after all the casual get-togethers, we’re going on our first date: grown-ups only, Saturday night dinner. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but I am excited about the possibilities.

All I can say is that it takes a lot of time and patience to make friends, and you have to sow a lot of seeds, because you never know where and when a friendship is going to grow.