Category: Kids

Missin’ you

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Damn, I miss my boy. I miss his “MOM” squeal when I walk through the door. I miss him barreling at me with full speed only to place a most gentle kiss on my cheek. I miss him performing his way too sexy for a four year old dance moves all over the family room. I miss him asking me how my day was at work. I miss his magnificent smile when he draws a “F” for me. I miss carrying him upstairs with his arms wrapped tightly around my neck and his cheek against mine. I miss him begging for me to read just one more book to him. I miss evening kisses.

And all of this missing after just one night away from him. And after that same night wherein I told Jon it will be nice to have just one kid to deal with for a couple of days.

And then, within 24 hours. I can feel this longing to have him back home with me. Now, that is not to say that I want to give up my night of relaxation and freedom to not have to wrestle every 15 minutes. I just can’t get over how I miss him so quickly. It must be love….

We are lucky to have Jon’s parents so close and so willing and able to take Mario (and Maria) for a few days. As much as I miss him (and Ri when she’s gone) I know it’s a much-needed break on my end to be able to recharge and get my mind and body rested. Mothers and fathers need that respite. I have always felt that the best gift to a mom or dad is time away from their children…it is only through that distance that your appreciation and fondness for your kids grows deeper. And after three days away from Mario, I appreciate his insanity and rough housing and welcome it back into our way-too-quiet home.

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It’s 90 degrees – why not head to the zoo?

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Reminder to self: avoid zoo when it’s 90 degrees, humid and packed.

I had originally planned on the Katy Perry movie with Maria and her friend but that was yesterday when it looked like rain all day. There is something in me that just will not allow me to go to a movie theatre unless it’s pouring rain or unbearably hot. It didn’t seem unbearably hot when we biked over to pick up Janira so I asked if they’d rather hit the zoo. When they said yes, I ran with it. But after two hours of zoo walking and hardly any animal sights, I was kicking myself. Air conditioning, popcorn, Goober’s, and a movie sounded much better.

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The train was a nice break and we spotted a mama moose and her baby. Nothing like the thrill that Sarah and Jorge felt when they looked outside of their tent in Yellowstone and spotted moose in their natural habitat a couple of days ago but hey, we will take what we can get in Columbus. The girls
mostly loved all of the stone statutes throughout the zoo. Janira begged me to take their picture each time they climbed on one.

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We searched and searched after seeing the elephants in Asia Quest for the Dippin’ Dots stand – we were all craving that “ice cream”. It is a strange little food but the chunks of Oreos perked me up enough to walk back to the exit and out of the zoo. The girls found a photo booth on the way out and begged to get their photos. God, technology bums me out sometimes. I remember sitting in a photo booth with a girlfriend, inserting 50 cents, and having to create two or three poses immediately without knowing if both of your heads were in the picture or you looked ridiculous. When I swiped my Visa, it charged me $5 and then you got to adjust your faces perfectly and get your pose ready before the camera clicked. The girls knew no better and thought it was awesome but I waxed nostalgic about it as they waited for the pictures.

By the time three hours had passed, we were ready to hit the road. Unfortunately, so we’re the rest of the visitors who had been at the water park (thunder had closed the park). Perfect timing. Nothing like jamming your body next to other sweaty, unknown bodies. Between that and the heat, I’m lucky I didn’t go off once. The girls were really good, though, which helped keep my nerves calm!

Jon, meanwhile, took Mario to Grandma Ionno’s house for a few nights of sleepover. He’s only been asking about going for six days now. When he woke this morning, he beamed when he realized this was the day! He loves him some grandma and grandpa time!

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Maria hearts horses!

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Maria loved horse camp last week. Actually, I need a stronger word than love – she adored horse camp. My little anti-competitive girl finally showed some competitive spirit when she came in second in Showmanship rather than first. She told Jon “she should have come in first and gotten the trophy.” It took riding to bring out that spirit.

We went to watch her ride on Friday afternoon. The farm seems really nice and clean and they have a lot of riders from OSU there. Maria strutted out of the barn on a huge horse named Wes. He was taller than me. My first experience with a horse was when I was older than Ri, probably 10, and I was scared too death. My dad had to sit with me on it because I cried and shook when I got on it by myself. Contrast that with Maria, age 7. Here she was riding past me poised and smiling and completely comfortable. What a woman!

She rode around the ring with three other students. She trotted. She performed obstacles. It was pretty amazing to watch. Jon has been around horses and has a love for them. He knows the names of different riding styles and different breeds. Me, I know little to nothing besides what Meg has imparted. It is going to take some time for me to appreciate the sport like I do baseball or soccer but I will get there if Maria loves it. When we went into the stables and saw all of the horses, you couldn’t help but fall in love with them. Beautiful, elegant, smart creatures and Maria knew everyone of their names. You could sense she felt right at home.

When Mario walked up to one and made crazy sounds around it, she snapped at him explaining to him that he could spook the horse. She’s got it going on. She wants to take private lessons now that camp is over. She told Jon she wishes she were at the camp today. Yep, she’s got horse riding in her blood.

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Laughing with Conan

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I needed a good laugh today. I didn’t get a good workout in this morning because Mario begged me for the second day in a row to take him with me before I left for the gym. I tried so hard to quietly tip-toe down the steps at 6:45 am but somehow those ears of his picked me up and I heard the pitter-patter of feet coming down the steps towards me. He tapped my leg and softly said “can I come with you mom? Please.”

How do I say no to that request? Jon tells me it’s easy but it ain’t for me. No siree. So there I found myself picking him up and grabbing my iPad and heading out to the stroller. There goes another day of lifting weights at the gym but I guess he’s worth it….

Then I had to sit in hours of negotiations waiting to hear from the other side and yawning in mental fatigue. Luckily, I found Conan O’Brien’s commencement speech. It had me laughing within the first paragraph. Nothing like a good laugh to bring you back to life. Now, I am ready for a wrestling match with those little munchos after work.

Dad and horses

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Jon came through for Maria tonight.  Maria gets to participate in “crazy hat” day tomorrow at horse camp and she has been fretting about not having a crazy hat.  I had hoped to get to the store today to find something for her or come home from work and help her make something but neither happened since I got stuck in negotiations all day and night. Jon found a camouflage hat and thought maybe she would think it was “crazy” enough.  I knew better.  Sure enough, she dismissed it within seconds.  Jon and I went downstairs to try to find something else.  I gave up after two minutes but he stayed down there. 

About ten minutes later, he sauntered up the stairs.  He was holding the hat and a stuffed animal horse.  I didn’t put the two together. He walked over to Maria and told her he had an idea for a hat.  He put the horse on top of the hat and tied the string on top of the horse’s back to secure it.  He put the hat on her head.  It was perfect… and Maria loved it.  She gave Jon a huge hug and ran to look at it in the mirror.  She even avoided a fuss when I took her picture. 

Problem solving is one of Jon’s finer traits.  You have no clue that he is even contemplating the problem but then he comes up with a solution out of the blue when you have either resolved that it won’t be fixed or you are continuing to come up with a way to fix it.  There are times that we are sitting around after talking about some issue I had during the day and he mentions a way to solve the issue while I am on another completely different topic.  His brain constantly churns until he finds a way to help out the people he loves. And I love him dearly for that.  And Maria surely does, too.

Using our words

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My girl is loving horse camp this week. She had Hawaiian day today, and dressed herself so cute. She used those dollar store purchases well between the leis, flower barrettes, and grass skirt.

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Not only did she look adorable but she also remembered our word of the day from Monday when she said to me after my morning run “I admonish you to stop sweating so much!” I have been trying to teach them a different word each day and Monday was “admonish.” Mario used the word in a sentence stating to Jon “I admonish you to stop watching tv.” I sweat too much and Jon watches too much tv. Lovely.

Yesterday, we learned “beguile.” Mario and Maria told me they had to go to the basement to get a stuffed animal when I asked them to clean up. When they came back up, they had no stuffed animals. They looked at me and said “we beguiled you!” Real cute as I had already cleared away the dishes.

I think we will study the word “conniving” tonight.

Quindlen comes through

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I love Anna Quindlen. Her piece on motherhood calms me when I start to fret about whether I am doing everything right with M&M. Last night I felt like mom of the year when I cooked pancakes and eggs with the kids, read them three books and played Go Fish with them. This morning I felt like the worst mama ever when I yelled at Mario for taking too long to put on his shoes and chided Maria for not brushing her hair.
Quindlen reminds me to remember that no one can tell me how to be the best mom or raise the best kids – I just gotta go with my gut and know that I’m doing my best. Motherhood challenges me to raise my game a notch – its harder than any job I have ever worked… but undoubtedly the most fulfilling.

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Can’t sit still but I’ll be around longer!

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I have finally been vindicated with the MSNBC article out today.  My A-D-D and obsessive compulsiveness around never sitting still is going to allow me to live longer!  Maybe only by a year or two, but still.  That is two more years of enjoying UDF peanut butter-n-chip ice cream, biking on 70 degree days, and watching peach sunsets like the one we saw last night driving home from Cincy.  

I got Maria off the couch tonight and biking down to the park with me.  Mario ran around like a nutcase all day so he chose to ride with me on my bike.  I couldn’t resist him pleading to ride with me when I look at him in his little muscle shirt.  Those tiny little biceps and triceps hanging next to his side.  Eat him up.  And Maria’s little running shorts and t-shirt – she swears my attire off but little does she see how much she dresses like me. 

We moved around all night long – trying out the monkey bars and running down the huge grassy hill.  We could finally breathe since it was only 84 degrees compared to the 100 degrees it had been for the last few days.  I love these types of nights – biking to the park and spending time outdoors – I will take that over a car and sitting inside any day.  So here is to more research on the benefits of moving around a lot – I will be your test bunny!

“Mom, like you are so totally embarrassing!”

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Everything I do embarrasses my daughter… Everything.

I picked Maria up at a friend’s house on Sunday morning. I ran over to her friend’s house pushing her bike alongside of me so she could bike home. She likes to do that sometimes and sometimes she just wants the car so I took a gamble. I lost.

First, when I walked in the door, she gave me an absolute repulsed look. I was sweaty. Her worst pet peeve. She hates sweat and she jettisons to the other side of the room when I walk in after a run. Second, she flipped out when I told her I brought her bike. Flipped out. She started pointing her finger and demanding I get the car. When I gave her “the eye”, she still continued her tirade. She even continued after I warned her that she’d be punished. I then flipped out and took her into the other room to give her a tongue lashing. She began crying hysterically as I pulled her outside. She stood next to me as I pushed her bike on to the sidewalk and let it all out.

“Mom, I am embarrassed to ride my bike in a dress. It’s so embarrassing. I don’t want to do it.”

My heart ached. I felt sick. My girl is so concerned about things I don’t think twice about. I explained to her that she needed to tell me that she was embarrassed and talk to me about her concerns instead of being sassy and confrontational. I hugged her and let her go inside while I went home and got the car. I chose to do that because I truly believed that she was seriously distraught at the thought of riding a bike in her dress. I could understand that a reasonable person would be distressed about riding in a dress even though I could care less about it. I wanted to respect her feelings but also have her respect her relationship with me.

As I ran home, I held back my tears. I grew sadder and sadder about the incident with Ri. It reminded me of my rough times with my mom when I was a teenager. But I was a teenager! She’s only 7. God help me. I also realized that I was PMS and very emotional so I tried to keep it all in perspective. Jon was a dear and picked Ri up for me. When she came home she ran upstairs and hugged me. We both apologized. I hope we can continue such easy forgiveness in the future.

We met my mom at Ikea early in the afternoon and I told her about my run-in with Maria. I sympathized with how much it must have hurt her to have me act so sassy and rude to her when I was younger (never fails that your behavior comes back to you). Maria heard me and commented “Mom, I was just helping you see how your mom felt.” She is a piece of work. I gave her a nuggie for that one.

This morning I packed her lunch for her first day of horse camp. I wrote “Maria loves horses” on her brown bag and showed it to her.

“Mom, really? That is so embarrassing!”

Yep, I might as well saddle up on the embarrassment front because it’s not going away anytime soon.

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Burning up

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We are now into the second week of above 90 degree temperatures, and I am seriously contemplating a move to Alaska. I am tired of walking outside and immediately dripping in sweat. And heaven help me if I need to walk a few blocks – I look like I just emerged from a swimming pool. I arrived at a meeting three blocks away from my office last week and blotted sweat from my face for a half hour before I found some relief. The worst part is that I start to get cold when I walk into air conditioning because of the cold air mixing with the massive amounts of water on my skin. So, I look even more attractive with sweat pouring off me and goosebumps covering me.

The kids are over it, too. Maria wants nothing to do with the outside unless it involves lots of shade or water. Mario can hang a little better than any of us but he’s even given up lately. So, when I took off a half day on Friday afternoon, the question was what to do in 100 degree heat?  We decided to pick up our cousin, Alana for an afternoon play date. We hit the store for a slip-n-slide first. But when we came home and set it up, it had a huge tear in it. Never fails. So we set off for the pool where I wrestled with all three of them for an hour (when will the day come when I can just chill with a book and they play by themselves?! But then I will miss them…). 

We hit Wendy’s for dinner – I sat by myself as directed by Maria.  She likes to sit with Alana by herself.  I made her take Mario, too, which she begrudgingly did but then tried to boss him around the entire time.  He just flirts with Alana the entire time asking her to give him a kiss and telling her he will marry her.  He is a little Casanova  even with his cousin.  After dinner, I needed an evening stroll to wake up after all the french fries we devoured.  We decided to walk to a few blocks to a shady park.  Maria rode her bike, I strolled Mario and Alana walked with me.  As much as I hate the heat, I hate even worse to be in a car. Our park trip got cut short because of an urgent text message from Alana’s dad that she needed to get home. The kids started to walk with me (we had to leave Maria’s bike because her legs hurt – my girl) but they all soon became tired and I ended up strollering Maria and Mario and putting Alana on my back. Nope, not kidding. I looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame pushing a double-wide stroller.

I know when winter rolls around I am going to wish it was warmer and forget all about these sweltering abysmal days. That’s how the mind works – it’s why I am able to think about having another baby without drugs. But for now, I will continue to wish for icicles and mittens and sled-rides.