Back to reality

We're back home again and it's not often that I am not ready to come home at the end of a vacation but this was one of those vacations that could have gone on for another week, easily. I miss waking up to the smell of bacon in the morning, the ocean a block away, a pool in our backyard and babysitters galore! I think Maggie was starting to think we all moved in together and was really getting used to it.

In fact we have all gotten used to waking up whenever we want and having no agenda. Maggie has become quite attached to me over the past 10 days and I can't say I'm complaining. She now calls me "MA"...I never really got the cute mama that most toddlers call their moms. I'm just MA! and it's not a sweet sound like most of her words, it sounds more like Gloria from All in the Family. I have to admit it really makes me laugh...for now. It has the potential to get old, but for now I'm just happy she calls me something other than da da.

On the flip side, she now says her first 2 syllable word - Hello - and it couldn't be any sweeter. It's more like LELLO with very pronounced L's as she sticks her tongue way out. She is even polite enough to remove the binky each time she says it.

But if there is one thing that was solidly confirmed on this vacation, it was that Maggie is deathly afraid of water. Not only does she not want to get near it, but she doesn't want anyone else to either. Whenever she heard someone splash in the water she would stop whatever she was doing to make sure no one was in distress. And if there was any kind of screaming that went along with the splashing she would cry, real tears. So we did our best to inch her closer and closer to the water just to get her used to it. We lured her with soccer balls, volley balls, ping pong balls and it was working...so well that she was letting Erik pick her up while in the pool and put her toes in. Until IT happened. We'll just call it "the dunk". Yes, he dunked her. He fell in the pool while holding her above her head and I swear that 3 seconds lasted an eternity. She was face down in the pool, I grabbed her out while she screamed and choked hysterically all the while yelling at Erik. "YA YA YA YA" in her meanest voice. I have never seen her SO mad at him! Let's just hope we can get her back to being ok with baths. That's sort of a necessity - the pool can wait.

So we all go back to work and school tomorrow...sigh...and have to get back to reality again. It's been a great summer, bring on fall!

Long time...

Where do I begin? Besides reiterating the fact that my JOB is taking precedence over my BLOGGING these days which is a travesty, Maggie is growing by leaps and bounds every day. She is officially in the kid category, having left baby in the dust as a distant memory to all of us.

It's sad and exciting at the same time as the older she gets the more fun we have together and, let's face it, the cuter the clothes :) Yes, in a world of reduce, reuse, recycle, the best part for me about me having a little girl is being able to buy her clothes. Sorry Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jason. Does it count that Gramma and Pap just bought a Prius?

We are headed to the beach tomorrow and look forward to a week of family fun, making sand castles on the beach, laying by the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. But let's face it, traveling in the car for 5 hours with a toddler will go more like this -

- more? more? more? more? more? more? more? more? more? more? more?
- no, maggie, you can't have your 427th graham cracker
- more?
- ok, one more
- more?
- no, maggie, you can't have your 428th graham cracker
- more?
- ok, one more

And so it goes...

And then the picturesque scene of walking into the surf with her while we hold hands and sit down to play in the sand will probably end up more like her clinging to my sand-covered legs, which sticks to her whole SPF covered body, getting in her eyes while she rubs them crying "MAMA" and we spend more time getting ready to go to the beach then we actually spend at the beach. Then we will go back to our house to the glistening pool which she will not get near because, God forbid, she might get wet.

We were going through a stage where she hated baths and would only stand up while we basically hosed her down. Then she briefly liked them realizing that it is kind of cool to splash in the water, stick your hand under and - aha! - it's wet! But then she fell in love with wearing socks and taking them off has become a traumatic experience. I was getting her ready for a bath last week, which she was very excited about, looking at her toys like WHEN CAN I GET IN AND PLAY WITH YOU? Until I took off her socks. Never take off the socks. So we're back to hosing her down while she screams hysterically for her socks. Last night I let her bring the socks into the tub which seemed to have calmed her down a little. I really have to draw the line at letting her wear socks in the bath though, right?

Next week there should be a very interesting post-vacation wrap up. Will we all survive? Will "more" be permanently burned into our brains like a bad song that you can't get rid of? Will I hear the song "Go Daddy-O" more than 500 times? Will I take another vacation?

Stay tuned...

Weekly Wrap Up

Since my busy job has been getting in the way of my blogging I figured I'd just do a weekly wrap up:

Saturday: I finally saw "Sex and the City" and I swear I cried at least 4 times and, trust me, this movie is not a tear jerker. What is it about motherhood that has made me such a sap? One time was only because a 3 year old in the movie laughed. So of course my mind went to Maggie's laugh which, of course, made me cry. Then Charlotte had a baby and named her Rose and Maggie's middle name is Rose so I, of course...cried.

Sunday: We watched the last interview with Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor/amazing speaker who recently died of pancreatic cancer. Now THIS was a tear jerker and I have vowed to never take anyone in my life for granted anymore. With his wife and 3 young kids he never wallowed in self pity, he just enjoyed every minute of every day he had. I am taking a lesson from him…and enjoy more than anything just sitting back and watching Erik and Maggie play together. There is something about their relationship that I will never have with her. And that is fine with me; I cherish that about them.

Monday: Maggie has her first adult throw up experience. I was able to test my theory on whether I would throw up if I ever had to clean up someone else's. Apparently when it is my child I can be showered in it and it doesn’t matter. And, in case you were wondering, yes, I was. Apparently she wasn’t done when I picked her up.

So we do the hurry up and change the sheets, clean the floor, clean ME routine, put her back down where she immediately falls fast asleep and seems fine. 15 minutes later…2nd verse same as the first.
I put her in the guest bed while we do the same routine all over again and something about her little listless body in that big bed with her eyes wide open just looking like she had no idea what was going on was both heartbreaking and adorable at the same time. I wonder what she was thing…probably the same thing we all do when we are sick. Throwing up SUCKS.

So I decide I will sleep with her the rest of the night…or not. This kid tosses and turns more than a Mexican jumping bean. She finally kicked me off the bed and I was out…Maggie, back in your crib, Mommy, back in bed.

She slept fine the rest of the night and has been fine all week.

Tuesday: Aunt Jen and Uncle Bruce bought a house! And this is Maggie’s dream house. Swing set in the back, kids everywhere, everything our neighborhood does not have. I expect her first full sentence to be “can I live with Aunt Jen?”

Wednesday: Maggie knows the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! When it came on tonight she sang the line after “how I wonder what you are”…in her softest sweetest voice she looked at me and sang “up above” then stopped as if she was embarrassed. I can’t describe it, but hearing her use something she learned in the proper context was groundbreaking for me. She’s a genius! In my opinion of course.

That’s it for now…it’s been a rather exciting week in the Crawford house. By my standards at least.