Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Toddler Tricks and Money Mayhem

Susie (my 2-year-old) has been on the phone a lot lately. She walks around cradling a plastic banana between her shoulder and her face and saying, "Is your mommy home?" and "Uh-huh. Hmmm. Uh-huh." I've asked her who she's talking to, but she doesn't seem to hear me. Probably because she has a banana in her ear.

Ba-da-bum.

Maybe she was talking to a toilet-training hotline, because yesterday - miracle of miracles - she walked up to me and said those 3 words every mother wants to hear: "Wanna go potty." So I sat her on the toilet, not expecting her to actually use the darn thing, when what to my wondering ear did appear but a tinkling like bells on the harness of 8 tiny reindeer.

Sorry, 'tis the season...I'll try not to let that happen again.

Yes, she actually peed in the potty. I happened to be on the banana, I mean phone, with Larry at the time, so I was shrieking into the receiver, "She did it! Did you hear her tinkling? She did it!" Have I mentioned that he works in a very centrally located cubicle? So now his colleagues think (if they didn't already) that 6 kids may be a little too much for any one woman to take.

Larry and I are trying to pick out a paint color for the living room. I'm thinking we may need to hire a mediator. What with our divergent tastes in home decor and the fact that there are approximately 14 billion different shades of gray available at our local paint store, we'll probably get this place painted, oh, maybe 9 years from now. Or perhaps we won't bother. I mean, we've got lots of different shades of gray smeared all over the living room walls at this point anyway. We could leave it and go for the variegated look. Like multi-colored yarn. I bet I'd be the first knitter to paint her walls to look like her favorite skein. Take that, all you knitting bloggers!

We gave up today and agreed to pay a friendly service technician lots of money to explain to us how our gas fireplaces work. It's galling. Add to that that we brought the second car in for an oil change today and ended up paying the garage almost 500 dollars (that's on top of the 1000 dollars from yesterday), and Christmas is looking less and less merry. I mean, for us. There's a bunch of mechanics who are gonna have a pretty good time, though.

Anna is speaking to me again. I have no idea why.

Larry came home for dinner and then went back to work. Good. I didn't want to see him anyway. Now I can waste the entire evening on the computer and he won't even know. I do still have about 1500 photos to edit. And a photo calendar to put together. I don't know what the heck I did with my time before we went digital. Sleep, maybe?

Sleeping is a good idea. Maybe I'll just go to bed early. (And you know you're middle-aged when that seems like the best way to spend a free evening.) G'night, all!

19 comments:

  1. I love that even after FIVE landmark first pee-in-the-pot days, you are still excited enough to call Larry. Because it really is that big of a deal. This could very well end your career in diapers.

    Tonight I'm drinking a gin & tonic just for you...make that a double.

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  2. For Christmas this year, we get to buy a new refrigerator (started to leak this weekend), new stove (oven broke this summer), and fix our truck (chugs in the morning). My kids wonder why I am worried about Christmas this year??!? I thought about putting a bow on the new refrigerator and stove we are going to buy and calling it a day.

    But then my husband says, since we are getting new appliances, lets replace the flooring, sink and countertops, too. What?!! Just for FUN? Maybe he is reading your blog behind my back and has discovered what Larry has done to your kitchen?

    Oh the Joy of it all...

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  3. The last few nights I've thought - GO TO BED EARLY, you have no work to do, just go. And I CANNOT do it. Can't make myself. When my husband is out of town I'm like a fifteen year old when the parents are out of town.

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  4. It took us seven years to agree on a living room set. I understand.

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  5. My bedtime is usually 10 pm. Last night, I barely made it to 9:30. Sigh. Yes, it's a sign of middle-age.

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  6. Hey, I just found your blog and I loved it! You sound a lot like me. I'll be reading you more often.

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  7. My husband and I have been arguing about wall colors for a little more than a year now. I think I am about to give up and just leave the walls boring and white.

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  8. Aw man, are you saying that I have become middle aged at 31.5? Sleep is all I want to do, LOL. Although each night I say I am going to bed early tonight, and it is still 1AM or later when I get to sleep, only to be awakened at 2:30 because the boy wants to eat, LOL.

    As far as the paint color, be glad he didn't just pick a color and paint it. As my husband has done to my house. I have no clue as to what my house looks like, nor what color the walls are (and he is in love with the color of wine - so who knows the whole house may be wine colored), i dont know if he bought matching appliances, since he got them all on sale (and they were all in a fire - only smoke damage, so the fridge he spray painted) and he bought a sofa as well. I cant wait to see what it looks like (can you hear the sarcasm dripping off the computer screen? - i am going to have to put aside some money just in case everything looks like crap so that I can replace everything in the house, LOL)
    ~Jennifer

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  9. Have your two year old call my three year old . . . a banana phone and an old remote control phone should get great reception!

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  10. LOL! I don't even want to think about how many pictures I have saved up, waiting to edited. and sleep? people still do that? YIKES! I get my best work done between the hours of 10pm and 1am... LOL

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  11. Sleep is such a waste of time! ^^

    And gratz at the potty training!

    Karen

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  12. Hilarious, just hilarious! I laughed my way through the whole post!

    One of the happiest days of my life...the day I could leave home without a diaper bag. Ten solid years of carting it around. FREEDOM!

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  13. You are so funny!! "Probably because she has a banana in her ear." - so cute! See ya.

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  14. I am stopping by to let you know that after the teen years, they love you again. My twenty year old gives me hope in knowing that my other three teenage daughters will someday become fully human again! Hormones...

    Debbie

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  15. A lady calls the auto mechanic and describes the noise her car is making. She asks "What does that sound like to you?" Mechanic replies "That sounds like two weeks in Maui!"

    Wish my 2-year-old (tail-end of six) was ready for potty training. We are still working on communication skills so we can move on to potty training.

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  16. Debra W - I sure hope so. But how will I know if I've run away from home by then?

    Thanks, mrs. g - definitely make it a double.

    onthegomom - yeah, merry Christmas! So much for getting something fun.

    sue - I ended up going to be at 1 AM. Don't ask.

    mary alice - can you believe there are women who just get to pick one? whose husbands don't care what they get as long as it's comfortable? Those women don't know how lucky they are.

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  17. Excellent news on the potty training front! Kudos to you AND your daughter.

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  18. I always thought that when my teenage girls began to talk to me again, they must want something. (New sneakers, dress for prom...) I was usually right but enjoyed the conversation while it lasted.

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  19. We have a hard time with wall colors and now we are trying to build a whole house together. Let's hope we don't go crazy.

    Congrats on the potty success. Life w/o diapers is the best!!

    Christina

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