So it ends
We had a really nice weekend. It was such a surprise to have a weekend with no drama, no yelling, no tantrums–from me or Erik!
Let’s not talk about Elsa’s tantrums. She’s 17 months. Her tantrums are hilarious. She’s trying out the full blow “lay on the floor and flail” thing. Then she looks surprised when she hits her head.
Erik was relieved it was the weekend and is already complaining that weekends are too short. Poor, poor boy. And so it begins, right? Unless he wins the lottery or invents something super fantastic that people want to pay oodles of money for, he has the rest of his life to lament the shortness of the weekends.
Do I know how to do depressing thoughts, or what?
The weather has cooled down significantly, meaning it is very pleasant to be outside. We accidentally ended up cleaning out the whole van, right down to a complete vacuuming. You should have seen the string of power surge cords we had running from the porch to the parking lot.
My old stroller was a piece of crap and every time I pulled it out and man handled it until it popped opened, I would get angry and upset. When Mike was gone for a week I was not the happiest person on earth so when I saw a stroller come up on of those deal a day sites I ordered it. Shopping and chocolate were the order of the day during his absence. I don’t think he approved, but I didn’t approve of a week of single parenting.
Back to the stroller. I should have done more research, but anything has to be better than the broken down piece of crap I was using. This new one is a Guzzi and Gugu or something like that. It doesn’t have a parent cup holder or a kid snack tray, but other than that it seems cool. And it’s pink! And it has a much better sun shade. The old stroller’s sun shade was so narrow that it was pointless. This one actually covers the baby.
It arrived this weekend, so I wanted to make sure there was a good place for it in the van. Part of the problem with the old stroller was that things would get piled on top of it when I was feeling lazy and they finally bent the frame of the shade. That wasn’t the only issue, of course, but it was enough of an issue to make me re-think the whole layout of the van. We can’t pile things on top of my shiny new stroller!
Erik has been sitting in the back row because he thought it was cool, Elsa likes to pinch him and I can’t stand having a five year old tell me how to drive. When he’s in the back I can turn up the radio really loud and ignore his yells of “GO GO GO FASTER FASTER!!!! Don’t stop! That’s not a red light! It’s only yellow! Why aren’t you turning! You can turn on right, you know!” A backseat driver is bad enough, but a backseat driver who wants you to turn directly into the path of an oncoming car wears me out.
Now I have him in the middle, but I moved the seats around so he’s not right next to Elsa so maybe she won’t pinch him. We put the back seats down and have a lot more room for the stroller and groceries and everything. If I can just keep Erik from driving me nuts with his constant commentary it should work out nicely.
Again, I have to note the differences between Elsa and Erik. He is a funny guy, but he doesn’t mean to be funny. He’ll have every one in the room laughing, but not know why. He’s very serious. He doesn’t smile as often as I would like. He has very important things to tell you and you damn well better listen or he’ll get sullen.
Elsa, on the other hand, is so happy. She smiles all the time. She can’t talk much, but she seems to have a strong desire to make you laugh on purpose. She laughs and giggles and rolls around on the floor for no apparent reason other than the sheer joy of feeling life from another direction. It’s so nice to have a happy baby. I didn’t know you could have a child that you weren’t always trying to entertain and keep from screaming bloody murder. It’s just so different. How many times will I say that on this blog? My parenting philosophy doesn’t have to be “whatever makes the baby stop screaming.”
Not to say she never causes trouble.
It was a beautiful day out so I opened the windows to get a breeze going. Elsa was working very industriously on a project, but I didn’t really pay attention to what she was doing. She’s quite independent and doesn’t have to be glued to my leg 24/7.
At one point I looked over and saw she was trying to shove a new pack of toilet paper out the window. I rescued the toilet paper and looked down into the rhododendrons.
Apparently I had been completely spaced out for quite a while or she was very sneaky. She’d manage to toss a pair of shoes, a stuffed dog, her favorite book, her water bottle and a big plastic bag out the window. So much for fresh air.
Speaking of fresh air, thank you for all the cleaning suggestions for my moldy diaper bag. I put the bag out again today and it is smelling much better. I will try rubbing alcohol tomorrow. I was looking up the bag to see if I could find care instructions, but there wasn’t anything online. I wonder why they didn’t think to have a zip-out liner since it is clearly not a bag that can be put in the wash. The outside is made of laminated fabric, so it is really like plastic. The handles, the bottom and the pocket flaps are made out of “green” leather, so I guess it is not real leather but it doesn’t look like it should be run through the wash. I have great hopes that rubbing alcohol might do the trick.
Ok, guess I better head to bed and leave you with a totally disjointed post. We are entering the fourth week of school. I am hoping Erik is starting to adjust, but his comment about the weekend sort of scares me. I want to continue on the path to familial harmony, not spend all week fighting and huffing and puffing and having everyone feel bad.
Also, how bad do you think my oral surgery will hurt? I also want to get a couple of moles removed while my mom is here, but I suppose it is a bad idea to do too much cutting at once. I have two on my face that Elsa keeps trying to rip off with her bare hands. It would be nice to have them shaved off so she won’t keep making my face bleed.