Parent and child

DD1 and I were goofing around this afternoon before picking up DD2 from preschool. She is so much fun to hang out with. We were taking goofy pictures with my cell phone.

The funny thing is, when my daughters are together they bicker and I get so frustrated. But, apart, they are way fun and cute and a blast to be with. Why do they have to argue and annoy each other so much? When I try to spend time with them individually the other gets jealous - even though I go out of my way to keep things fair.

I hope this doesn't last forever - I'd love for them to be great friends when they grow up. Who else will they be able to call when I'm old, sort of senile, and rather unkind? ("Oh God, guess what Mom said to me the other day....") I have three sisters, and it's a good thing because my mom isn't really getting any "nicer" as she gets older, if you know what I mean! (We love her dearly, but she is such a cranky old woman lately! If I didn't have them and my two brothers to laugh with I don't know what I'd do.)

Parents. I love mine, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are both 80 years old, certainly showing their age, and we are truly lucky to have had them in our lives for this long. I really do count them in my blessings, and try to take their "remarks" lightheartedly. But, I'm not sure I could laugh so openly about them with others who weren't their children also. Because seriously, when we're laughing about the things they do or say, we aren't really being critical and mean - we're processing it so we don't need to pay for therapy our entire adult lives.

How does an only child cope?

Love Love Love my Husband!

(I actually wrote this post on Feb. 15... but haven't gotten around to publishing until today. Forgive... yes?)

I have never ever taken a shower in the master bathroom of our home. Not once. Because, you see, it was in ruin when we moved in, and after we had lived her about a year my husband and father in law redid the base and the tile. (DH was in charge of the tile, which still drives me nuts because it is crooked and doesn’t line up…. But this is history, I’ve mostly gotten past it.) There things stood until just recently. See, while I was in "the ATL" (so urban, right?) meeting family member #25, HE GLASSED IN THE SHOWER. Total surprise – I really had no idea that it was going to happen, figuring that it was rather low on the list of home improvements that needed done. Oh, it might not sound like a big deal to you, but please realize we have lived in our house for 7 ½ years… and today will be my first shower in our master bathroom.

It is a big deal.

Huge.

I'm off to buy new bath rugs now. Yea!

An update to Daughter's first crush...

OK, the big Valentine's Day party was yesterday at school. I went to help out, and hung out with DD1 while she opened her valentines. Guess whose valentine was missing? M. She noticed right away (as I supppose she had scoped out what his valentines looked like so she could read his FIRST). Oh My God, she was crushed. I told her that he probably got confused when putting them in to the bags, and probably someone else had two of his valentines by mistake. Her teacher noticed her tears, and I told her what was up. (Teacher knows the situation) She looked at me and smiled, "Of all the ones to be missing!" Then she went over to M to see if he had any extras. He brought one over to DD1, and she lit up like sunshine.

Oh, the drama.

Oh, how I do love her.

Her first crush, and the memory of mine

How cute is a first crush? How disturbing that my seven year old is having one! DD1 has a HUGE crush on “M”. He’s a nice enough little boy, but I was surprised that he is the one that has captured her heart.

We were driving to pick up DD2 from preschool one afternoon (after I had picked up DD1 from her school) and out of nowhere:
“Mom, I think I might love M.”
“Really, or do you think you might have a crush on him instead?”
“I think I love him, but I might have a crush. How do I know?”
“Sweetheart, your heart and your head don’t know the difference between a crush and real love yet. It takes a long time for them to figure out the difference. The feel a LOT alike, and it isn’t until you’ve had a few more crushes and maybe really fallen in love before you can tell the difference. I think you have a crush, but your body doesn’t know the difference yet.”
“I just can’t stop thinking about him!” (This was delivered in an almost squeal of a voice. Awwwwwww!)

Trust me, she has it bad. He speaks up in class and she turns and stares at him like all the wisdom of the universe might just spill out of his first grade mouth. She cannot tear her gaze from him when he’s done talking - - just looks at him with that wonderous look on her face. He walks by her, same reaction. She thinks about him a lot, even on the weekends. I can FEEL how much she “loves” him… because she is so much like me.

The first time I saw “S” I was in kindergarten. I was an afternoon kindergartener, he went in the morning. A few times during that year both classes met at the same time; Halloween being the first time. He walked by and I knew I loved him. I knew I would always love him, and that no boy would ever be that great. I was overwhelmed. I learned his name, and from then on I tried to find which art projects on the wall were his. I don’t remember exactly when our classes met again, but you can be sure I was all aflutter about seeing him again. Guess what? “S” was even cuter the second time I saw him. Sigh. We were in the same class in first grade, I think he also had a crush on me at that point (we flirted a ton and spent lots of playtime together), and then we went to school together until we graduated high school. We ended up in vastly different crowds, but said hello to each other in the halls if we saw each other. (He ended up with the popular crowd – I did not.) My crush on him was so great that even up until 6th grade I would get a little twinge of jealousy when I saw him with another girl, or heard that he kissed this one girls at a 6th grade “party” that I wasn’t cool enough to be invited to. (He gave her a hickey. Which I thought made her the 6th grade slut.) I didn’t even crush on him anymore, but the twinge was still there.

DD1 has this kind of a crush, and I fear he will break her heart. He didn’t come to her birthday party (although his home life, I suspect, is a little bit to blame for this), he is one of those boys that SO isn’t into girls at this point. His inattention to her makes her heart ache – and I know that feeling so well. Sigh. She is such a sweetie, I hope this doesn’t change her… but I already know better.

I will never tease her about having a crush on a boy.
Because I know how she feels.

I KNOW.

“S” is only one of two people in my life that I actually remember the first time I laid eyes on him. The other? My husband… although I didn’t exactly have a crush on him when I first met him! Or, did I?

Two posts in one day?

Trying to make up for lost blogging time? It's just that I can never decide what to blog about! Here are my possibilities:

I'm sick.... again.

All I see is snow. Still.

DD2 is SO stubborn and spoiled lately. (Nature or Nurture? Wait, do I really want that answer?)

DD2's physical state, or "My daughter is a little bit broken."

DD1's low self esteem.

DD1's first real crush, and the memory of mine.

I do love my husband very much, but could we have any less in common?

My husband is the most thoughtful man in the world.

How cute are my dogs? SO CUTE!

Texas. Or, "Oops, she did it again."

Do people write out their blogs in WORD before transferring it over here? Do they just pour out their thoughts on this little text box?
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See? I have too many things running around my head to stop and think of any one thing for the length of time it would take to blog about it thoroughly. A.D.D. much? I could just ramble about one or two topics at a time, some of them seem like they could go together.

I'll have to get back to you.

And our family gets bigger....

I’m a great aunt again!

How cute are they? GNJ is four years old, GNC is about a week old now. I’m going out to meet her this weekend!