Overheard in the WWOI

We were in a restaurant just recently (gee, go figure) and Isabelle had to go potty. She and I are walking across the restaurant and she is grabbing and pulling at her crotch. So I leaned over and whispered, “Hey, stop grabbing yourself, it's not lady like in public.”

To which, Isabelle replied, at a normal voice level, “Mommy, I’m not grabbing my bagina because I have to go potty. I'm  just grabbing it because I'm sweaty and my underpants are STICKING to my bagina!”

Ohhhhh, well in that case, carry on girlfriend!

Amen, sister!

Izzi asked Mom Mom SuSu today...

"Why do prayers always end with Amen? Why don't they ever end with Agirl?"

Isabelle and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Poor Isabelle started a summer camp today at the YMCA. It looked like a super fun aquatic camp called Fins and Snorkels.

The day started on a sour note when we realized as we pulled into the parking lot  that mommy forgot to pack her a towel. Thankfully mom-mom lives right across the street from the Y so she came to the rescue with a towel. 

As we walked across the parking lot, Iz excitedly skipped and sang and SPLAT fell down on all fours and skidded to a stop. Bloodied knees and hands galore.

Then once we got her cleaned up and bandaged, she was just ruined after that. She got weepy, clung onto me, and tugged my heartstrings with a vice grip.

I promised to stay with her until they got into the pool. Because of the chaos of the first day, the kids didn't get into the pool until 10am. She seemed to be OK by then and even blew me a kiss goodbye. 

I guess she wasn't OK though because when I picked her up the counselor told me she cried all day. I wasn't too keen on the chaos of the morning and the very young age of the counselors. I don't like my kid in a pool if I'm not there to supervise. Yes, I'm over protective so shoot me. And because of that, Izzi is a summer camp dropout. 

The Graduate

Thursday June 6th was the Kids R Kids Pre-K Graduation ceremony. Yes, I said ceremony. A two hour ceremony! To say it was "over the top" is a bit of an understatement. 

It was very cute but with four pre-k classes, things took a while. There were 8 songs sung by the kids, a slide show while they got dressed in their caps and gowns, and they called each kid up by name. Izzi had a blast and she surprised us with the job of flag holder for the pledge of allegiance at the start of the event. 

Me being the spaz that I am forgot my camera...ugh! I am hoping some friends pull through with some and will post later if they do.

We are proud parents of our little purple polyblend potato sack. Congrats, baby girl. This is just one of many big accomplishments you will have in this crazy thing called life. 

Adios, Amigos!

All of our friends in Doraland have left the building. Dora, Diego, Boots, Isa, Benny, even Swiper will kind of be missed around here. Isabelle told us this weekend that we could stop recording a few of her cartoons, because they were for babies, and she's a big girl now. Shows now on the cutting room floor include:

• Dora the Explorer
• Backyardigans
• Max and Ruby (good riddance!)
• Little Mermaid (this one surprised me)

I have been silently sabotaging the Max and Ruby recordings for a few weeks now. I am not afraid to say out loud that I absolutely, positively abhor Ruby. She is the most nagging, annoying big sister any poor boy on this planet could ever be cursed with. The sabotage came back to bite me though, because Iz just re-watched the same 3 episodes ad-nauseum. So, needless to say, I was very happy when she announced that this troubled twosome was off her radar for good.

The Little Mermaid I was actually surprised about. She hasn't quite left the Princess stage just yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be long gone by the time Kindergarten starts. Any girl classmate with an older sibling will surely have kicked the Princesses out of her life by the time the first day of school rolls around.

I was a little nostalgic about letting Dora and Backyardigans go. Dora can certainly be grating at times but she has been in our lives for so long now, I do think I'll kind of miss her. And as for those musically-gifted critters on Backyardigans, I really actually LIKE that show. It's one I could sit down for 22 minutes and tolerate watching with Iz. They went on great adventures, they learned about places far and wide, they sang pretty snazzy tunes (some of which we have downloaded on our iPod), and they had relatively healthy snacks. I saw first hand how that show fostered creativity in Isabelle long after the boob tube was turned off. She would go on her own adventures and sing quietly about her experiences.

Isabelle graduates from Pre-K on Thursday. I can't believe we start the big K in just a few short summery weeks. She's so excited, and I am too, if not a bit sad for this rite of passage that both of us are about to share.

So, Dora, Diego, Boots, Isa, Benny, Swiper, Pablo, Uniqua, Tasha, Tyrone, and Austin. Adios, Amigos.

Max and Ruby? Don't let the door hit you on the.....

How Much Is That Dolly in the Window?

Isabelle spent the night with Mom-Mom SuSu last Saturday night so us crazy kids could go enjoy a nice restaurant and night at the beach. We had a yard sale earlier that day and made some mad cash so we decided to use it for fun money.

Iz had sold some of her toys (quite reluctantly). On Sunday, Mom-Mom planned on taking Iz to church and then to a huge flea market afterwards. So after the yard sale, we let Izzi have the $11 she made selling her toys and told her she could buy ANYTHING she wanted at the flea market on Sunday as long as it didn't breathe or make noise.

So at the flea market, they were walking around and Iz spotted a baby doll from across the room and their eyes locked and it was instant lifelong love. She had found exactly what she was going to spend those $11 hard-earned bucks on.

There was a man and woman manning this particular kiosk. Izzi picked up the doll, with stars in her eyes and told the man, "I want HER!". And she opened her purse and proudly handed over all $11. The guy apologized and explained that the doll came with 10 outfits and they were asking $40 for everything. So Mom-Mom jumped in and tried to haggle a little, can we get the doll only without the clothes for $11? No, sorry, the guy said his wife would kill him if he let it go for that little. So now Iz was pissed, and turned on the charm for Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop, thinking for sure they would dig into their pockets and make up the difference. And Mom-Mom SURE did want to, but we had already chatted ahead of time and she knew that there was a teachable moment here. Izzi had $11 to spend, and you don't just ask for more money when you want something, you have to live within your means. Mom-Mom explained that maybe if she was a good girl, that she might get this doll for a special occasion like her upcoming Pre-K Graduation, or her big first day of Kindergarten, or birthday or something. Izzi was very sad but she didn't argue. She accepted her fate like a big girl and put the doll back on the shelf.

The woman was finishing up with another customer and came over to see what was going on with this little girl and her family. As soon as the woman asked what was going on, Isabelle lost her marbles and cried that she really wanted that doll but she only had $11 and HE wouldn't let her HAVE IT and she doesn't have any more money than that. Well, the waterworks did the trick, and the lady let Isabelle have the doll and 10 outfits for only $11.

So you think that would be the end of the story but it gets better because when they got home, Mom-Mom wanted to clean the gently-used doll up a bit and clean the clothes. She looked for a tag and found one. She got online to Google it to find out if there were special instructions or something. As it turns out, Isabelle just wrangled herself a new-to-her gently-used American Girl doll (which retail for over $100 without the outfits and accessories) for 11 bucks. Needless to say, I'm taking her with me every time I go to the flea market now.

Cindy

Izzi's new-to-her American Girl doll "Callie" hanging
out with 40-year-old armless wonder "Cindy"

And then there was Cindy, circa 1973. She has little hair left b/c I dragged her around by her hair wherever I went, as soon as I started to move. By the time enough hair fell out and I couldn't grasp on any longer, I proceeded to drag her around by her arm...which eventually fell off.

Isabelle has asked me repeated questions about her every detail. Why does she have no hair? What happened to her arm? Why didn't you sew it back on? Why is she so dirty? Where are her clothes? What is this hard round thing ripping through the fabric on her back? (It's the old sound box that made her crying noises).

Cindy doesn't cry anymore. But I still cry at night when I have nightmares that she's going to come into my room and murder me in my sleep. Cindy takes bookings for horror movie roles, please send me a private message.

Wicked Awesome

Today, we wake up (yet again) in a world that doesn't make sense. A world where some cowardly insane person (or group) decided to hurt many innocent individuals by detonating two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Bombs that killed eight-year-old Richard, twenty-nine year old Krystle, and a graduate student from Boston University whose name is yet to be released. Hundreds of people were treated in local hospitals with many still in critical condition.

Since I went to Boston College, and lived in the city for a year after graduation, I can assure you that Patriot Day/Marathon Monday is one of the best celebrations in the USA. Patriots Day is officially April 19th and it's a holiday only honored in Boston. It's officially celebrated on the third Monday in April. The Boston Marathon has been ceremoniously held on that day since 1969. And the Boston Red Sox have a home game at Fenway on Patriots Day.

To say it's a fun day to be in Beantown is an understatement. Businesses are closed. Schools are closed. Almost every place that doesn't serve food and drink is closed in honor of a day where visitors and locals come together to celebrate the human spirit.

The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon. Considering our nubile country is just a mere 237 years old, that's a pretty amazing statistic. 

Boston College is located at miles 20-21 of the 26.2 mile course. It's lovingly and brutally referred to as "Heartbreak Hill" due to its slow steady incline and that it’s located at one of the hardest segments of any marathon when runners tend to hit that proverbial wall. This may be why I have such fond memories of going out to “Comm Ave” to cheer on the tens of thousands of runners as they crippled by. B.C. students felt some semblance of responsibility to instill in these inspirational runners the need to keep going, to fight through the pain, to make it to that finish line.

I remember the runners who would put their name on their shirt. Genius! We would scream their name as loud as we could. Go Ben! You can do it, Ben! Let's go, Kathy! You're DOING it, Kathy! Keep it up! Congratulations, Sarah! Look at YOU GO! You're awesome, Jack!

Then there were those who ran with a group, or with a school, or put their favorite sports team on their shirt. Let's go, Diamondbacks! Yea, Boston College Eagles! Oh, too bad you are a Steelers fan but you're still doing a good job! It didn’t matter where you were from, what your name was, or which team you rooted for. The masses were united on Marathon Monday.

Marathon Monday is such a fun, beautiful celebration that made me proud to be a Bostonian, even if it was only for a few short years. I left my heart there in 1996 when I had to move home for many reasons beyond the scope of this blog post. I always planned to move back, but alas, life took me in a very different direction which is par for the course.

I'll never be able to root for the Red Sox or the Patriots (what is WITH those teams anyway?!?!?) as they continue to plague my beloved Orioles and Ravens. But my heart bleeds for Boston today. I'm heartbroken to know that Marathon Monday and Patriots Day is forever tainted in history. We'll never be able to find beautiful pictures of Marathon Monday online again because of the thousands of photos and videos of this particular day. The 117th Annual Boston Marathon is forever stamped in our minds as one of those lifetime events that everyone will remember where they were when they heard the horrific news.

My memories will serve as peace as I remember crisp Spring afternoons with blue skies, good friends, food and frosty beverages, and tens of thousands inspirational people from across the globe who were running for their lives...in a good way.

Boston, you are wicked awesome. God bless you. And God please help the many families directly affected by this senseless act.