Jackass!

this evening, my hubby and I went on a jog/walk (mostly walk) with our toddler in tow, safely strapped into the baby jogger.

we were walking back and as we were crossing the street (in the crosswalk and while we had the "WALK" luminated), this Dodge-Caravan-driving jackass couldn't wait 10 seconds for us to make it all the way to the other side. he clearly saw us, because first of all - you can't miss the baby jogger...it's pretty big and it has reflective stuff on it. and second of all, he actually sped up to make his left turn immediately when the light turned green. problem is, he turned right in front of us!

I was soooo pissed! so as he crossed in front of us, I yelled out, "JACKASS!!" I couldn't help myself.

but here's my uh-oh situation: my toddler immediately mimicked me and started saying "jackass!" over and over... and then she would start giggling after she said it. I tried to divert her attention by singing "Happy Birthday" (it's her favorite song at the moment), but to no avail -- she would not stop saying "jackass!" then, I tried to switch it up to try to get her hooked on saying something else. So I exclaimed, "TA-DA!" (you know, like when the magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat....'ta-da!'). but she wasn't into that. "jackass!" "jackass!" "jackass!" is all I got from her.

thankfully, the way she said it, it didn't really sound like "jackass"...at least that's what I keep telling myself :-/

Toddlerville

my little princess has officially ushered us into the world of toddlerville. one moment she's yummylicious, and the next, she's throwing a tantrum.

the tantrums, at first, were kind of amusing. easy to say that when they lasted only 15 seconds. now...not so cute, the tantrums, that is. it's definitely a test of patience, sprinkled with a dose of humility.

toddlerville is also an interesting phase cuz she's talking more and more. trouble is, is that we can't understand what she's saying half the time. she gets frustrated, we are baffled, and it's like trying to play charades to guess what she's trying to say.

and the thing is, she's clearly trying to say something when she's uttering the same sound repeatedly. recently, she kept saying what sounded like, "abby tutu". she has a cousin named Abi, and she has a tutu, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what Abi had to do with her tutu.

then, as luck would have it, a few days later we were watching an episode of Blues Clues and it happened to be Blue's birthday. and then wa-laa...when they were saying "happy birthday" to Blue, my toddler princess chimed in with her "abby -tutu". all that time, she was trying to say "happy birthday"! mystery solved!

my love/hate relationship with The Hills

this season of The Hills feels more contrived than ever! first of all, it's no fun watching the dramz between heidi & spencer and wondering if they're gonna stay "on relationship vacation" or get back together when you see pics of them at random e-list festivities together in the weekly tabloids (which I only browse through to pass the time while waiting in line at albertsons...really!)

then there's the new threesome: lauren-audrina-lo. lo's just a meany. and she's the worst kind. she's the passive-agressive meany. and she seems very possessive of lauren. okay, we get it...you two have been BFFs since you were young tykes. get over it already. lo's been ostracizing audrina, and for no good reason.

it's just a lame season. I think The Hills has reached a turning point of no return. it's kind of like when cousin oliver came to stay with the brady's on the brady bunch. after which, it was all downhill.

just bring back "newport harbor"....chrissy & clay forever!

American I-dull

now that it's down to the final 4, you'd think we'd be watching the Tuesday night performances with lots of excitement and anticipation, wondering out loud, "who's gonna be the next Idol?!?!?"

at this point in the show, usually I've committed to 1 (okay, maybe 2) contestants who I diligently vote for....at least 10 times each...to do my part towards ensuring their passage to the next week's competition.

instead, I can count on 1 hand, how many times this season I voted for anyone once, much less 10 times, in a single Tuesday night.

it's just a snoozer of a season. and that's not to say there isn't any talent, cuz there is. for instance, not only does david archuleta have an amazing and pure voice, he somehow manages to make his eyes sparkle into the camera. (how does he do that?!?!)

then there's the other david - david cook - who dared to take on old school 80's hits like "billie jean" and "hello" and completely, irreverently, rockified those songs. and I liked it, surprisingly. yet I didn't feel compelled to vote for him in those weeks.

maybe after this season, A.I. needs to go buh-bye for awhile.

Oh blissful day!

over the weekend, my almost 18 month old uttered her first sentence: "I LOVE YOU" actually, it sounded more like one giant word, "eylaahhyoo" but my hubby and I both knew what she meant.

okay, so she didn't say it on her own. and she's currently going through this parrot-like phase where she tries to mimic what you say. oh, alright, and yes, I said it first and she boomeranged it right back to me as best she could say it. but there it was. her first sentence. and what a sweet, lovely first sentence it was!

projectile vomit

the other night, my toddler daughter barfed....3 times: 9pm-ish, 10pm-ish, and 11:30pm-ish. and it wasn't just a yack-and-barf. it was full-on, projectile vomit. I saw pieces of macaroni from the mac & cheese that I packed for her lunch that day. and I saw recognizable bits of strawberries that she snacked on that evening. it was totally gross and for the time being, mama's having a moratorium on mac & cheese and strawberries. I'm not barring the baby from it, just me. I personally have lossed my appetite for m&c and strawberries... 2 of my favorite things. but hopefully it's just temporary.

I don't have OCD, but when there barf involved, it calls for immediate laundering. yup, I did 3 "loads" of laundry that night. 3 environmentally-unfriendly "loads" of laundry. and I say "loads" in quotes because I don't think that a 2-piece toddler pajama outfit, (1) pair of adult sweats, and (1) adult t-shirt makes for an environmentally-responsible load of laundry. they say to be kind to the environment and to conserve water and energy, you're suppose to only do full Loads of laundry. whoever came up with that green rule of thumb has got to be kidding me. there are exceptions to that rule, right?

the thing with barfing toddlers is that after the first projectile vomit, you convince yourself that it's done. that there can't possibly be another episode when so much stuff came out in the first place. clearly I was wrong in my judgement, 3 barfs later. but at the same time, even if you anticipate that there will be another barf incident, are you suppose to just let the soiled clothing from the earlier barf incident just sit around and possibly stain?

if you spray and wash or shout it out then let the garments sit around, does the stain remover lose its stain-fighting power?

Daylight Savings time...the good, the bad, the ugly

is it me, or does it seem easier to adjust to a 3+ hour time difference, like when you're traveling, than it is to adjust to the 1 hour "spring forward" that comes with the arrival of Daylight Savings Time?!?!

you really feel it the hardest on the first monday morning after the time adjustment. thankfully, those geniuses who've institutionalized the D.S.T. must have recognized that to adjust the clocks on a night before a weekday would essentially cause a severe, single-day downturn in the Gross Domestic Product of this country.

and I've always been baffled by Hawaii and Arizona and have wondered how they've managed to opt-out of D.S.T.? who do you have to know to make this happen for your state?!?!

as with all things that are imposed upon you, like D.S.T., there's the good, the bad and the ugly:

the good

after working a full day at work, it's great to come home and have time to play outside with my toddler while the sun is still up.

the bad

having a toddler and trying to get her to adjust to the new time is ridiculous. as many parenting books will tell you, it's very good for the child to have a schedule...the structure to their day actually is comforting to them since they come to know what to expect. spring forward the time by an hour and try getting your toddler up, fed, and dressed in time to get out the door to daycare, then to work without being an hour or so late. it's nothing short of impossible, particularly during the first week, post D.S.T. it's downright stressful!

the ugly

I was tickled when my toddler woke up near her usual time. she was even agreeable when it came to eating her breakfast, even though it was about an hour earlier than when she usually has breakfast. it was almost magical....we actually made it out the door at a reasonable time. and during the drive to daycare, she was in a happy mood, babbling with me ("mamaaa" "daddeeee" "hi") and telling me that a cow says "moooo" when I ask....it's the usual banter we have while driving in the car.

then it all took a turn. suddenly she was crying! this is very unusual, but then I thought, "she must be tired from the time adjustment." when we reached a red light, I turned and caught a glimpse of her tiny little hand, wet with regurgitated cream of wheat cereal! it was gross, but then I figured she just must have coughed up a little bit of her breakfast.

when we arrived at daycare and I walked around to get her out of the car I was horrified! it wasn't just a little spit up...she completely barfed her entire belly full of cream of wheat with mashed banana bits! it was everywhere! on her jacket. on her shirt. in the little fat fold under her neck. on the child seat. on the buckles of the child seat. EVERYWHERE! and the grosses part was that the barfed up cream of wheat looked exactly as it looked when it was in her little cereal bowl before she ate it. how am I gonna feed this to my child again without having flash backs to the barf situation?!?!

bottom line: I blame the barf situation on the D.S.T. I'm convinced that her stomach was a bit unsettled from eating an entire meal while still a bit sleepy. damn D.S.T.!

I think parents with little children should have the option of pulling a Hawaii/Arizona and opt out of it. Everyone else can work their 8a-5p jobs during D.S.T. but I'd just roll in at my usual time which would be equivolent to 9a-6p D.S.T. no one would even notice. if anything, the line at the coffee machine would be a bit shorter.

that's it! I guess I'll have to make the sacrifice and move to Hawaii!