Children & Chocolate and Other Paths to God

The 4-year-old woke up the other morning at 5am and crawled into bed with me because she had a bad dream. Hubby and I were too tired to protest the invasion, and despite my fears that she might be very obnoxious at this early hour (as she sometimes can be when we’re sleepy and she’s not), she actually curled up next to me and fell asleep.

Later that morning, when I asked her what she dreamed about, first she said “fire.” Yes, since our small house fire (almost a year ago now), she has probably heard me talk about fire a fair amount, so maybe that’s where it came from. But then I gathered from her there were monsters and other scary characters involved too, so I blame some of this on Walt Disney.

When it came time for bed last night, we did the usual routine - bath, books, bed. She was fine until I turned out the lights and tucked her in.

Her: I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m afraid I’m going to have more scary dreams.
Me: No you won’t sweetie. You’ll be fine.
Her: Yes, I will.
Me: Nope. Here’s your puppy and your elephant. They’ll keep the monsters away. Just close your eyes and relax. We have lots of fun things to do tomorrow and you need to sleep.

Pause. She closed her eyes for a minute, and quickly opened them again.

Her: Mommy! Da monsters are back!
Me: It’s okay, sweetie. Just close your eyes and think about puppies. Cute little white ones with spots.
Her: But I’m scared! What if da monsters are there when I close my eyes?
Me: You just have to picture something else. Trust me. Close your eyes and picture those puppies playing.

Reluctantly, she closed her eyes again, but only for a few seconds.

Her: The monsters are still there!
Me: Okay, maybe we need something bigger… how about we get Clifford to keep them away? Close your eyes and picture Clifford. Picture a great big Clifford standing guard and 101 dalmations forming a big circle around you. As soon as those monsters creep up, Clifford is going to bark and scare them away. You’re surrounded by all of those doggies who love you and will protect you while you sleep. See? You’re safe now…

And by now she snoring, hugging her puppy. (a beagle, of course…)

There are so many questions I would love to ask my baby…

Do you think the beagle is another sibling, just a little fuzzier? Or is he just an animated stuffed toy?

Why do you continually try to sit in the dog’s water bowl?

What is so exciting about a cardboard box?

Why do you need to put your bowl on your head while there is still food in it?

What’s the point of throwing every single thing out of your crib after a nap?

And, what I just don’t get, is why do you insist on pulling off your socks and chewing on them when you nap? Do dirty baby socks really taste that good?

These are the great questions of the universe, for which we will never have answers…

I took the baby to the pediatric allergist this morning. Dr. Schuberth did a scratch test on her arm. The good news is, that while she is indeed allergic to egg, the “new” treatment is to expose the children to egg, instead of eliminating it entirely from their diet (like I had to do with the 4-year-old). Essentially, she just can’t have plain eggs (like the scrambled eggs I gave her that gave her the reaction last week), or raw eggs (as in cookie dough), but she can resume eating pancakes and cookies and baked goods. And I don’t have to freak out about every little thing that she puts in her mouth when we’re at friend’s houses or at restuarants (nobody likes to be “that” mom…), and she’ll most likely outgrow it the way my other child did.

The bad news is that she tested even higher for peanuts, which I didn’t see coming. So she can’t have nuts of any kind until we get a negative test back, which may never come. From what I understand, and I still need to research this, it’s not as common to outgrow a peanut allergy. Fortunately her levels aren’t high enough to worry about a kid eating a peanut butter sandwich at the next table, so for the moment, it’s not a huge impact on our life.

Yes, it’s a little bit of a drag to worry about your child getting sick from food, but there are certainly much worse things a kid could have. So, I’ll take this small physical challenge and be grateful that it’s something we can easily handle!

Sorry been gone so long - it’s been a busy few weeks! Here’s a sample…

Yesterday morning, my hubby and I got up at 6am for our second 5K up in Hampstead, Maryland, at River Valley Ranch. We got lucky with the weather - August has the potential to be humid and hot here, but it was absolutely beautiful. The course was shaded and ran past fields of buffalo and horses and through a mock western town and covered bridge -  a nice change from my typical suburban workout.

There was a large group of us from the neighborhood, which always makes it fun, and were all decked out in our B> shirts and hats in support of our pal Kelly. (see the whole line of Be Greater Than products at www.bgreaterthan.com) 

Hubby finished in 31 minutes - and I came in at 40 minutes. A blistering 13 minute mile! Hey, at least I finished! We have another race scheduled for Sept. 20th (the Villa Maria run at Towson University), and another on October 19th (Race for the Cure in Hunt Valley). My goal is to actually be running the entire 5K by October.

Here’s a post race shot of me and hubby at 10am:

And here’s us several hours later…

Our neighborhood babysitting co-op had a party Saturday night - Gilligan’s Island theme! So hubby and I went as Thurston and Lovey Howell. Quite a look! My husband is afraid that this is a glimpse into our future - of how we may look once we retire to that condo in Miami…

Such a fun, fun, day - but a little on the strange spectrum when I reviewed the photos on the digital camera this morning!

Tubby (my daughter’s I.F.) gave birth this afternoon…to a puppy…and it’s a boy!

Yes, Tubby is a boy. (no, my daughter didn’t get hold of the People magazine with article about the transvestite man who just gave birth…and no, I’m not proud to admit that I actually read it…)

I had to explain to my daughter that only grown-up girls can have babies, not boys. Apparantly the rules are different for I.F.s. I shouldn’t be surprised.

She’s been watching a lot of “101 Dalmations”, so she’s been known to fill her t-shirt with a few stuffed puppies herself and “give birth” to a litter.

Today was Tubby’s turn. He was upstairs in her bedroom and I was instructed to be quiet as she shut the door. A few moments later, she opened it and shouted “It’s a BOY!”.

Then we took the new puppy to the mall with us, and I had to make room in the back seat for Tubby to join us. Because, you know, the puppy is still too small to be out without his mommy.

Candy cigars for everyone!

Okay, it’s taken me four years to really come up with a baby product that I thought I couldn’t live without. This is it:

It’s the Safety 1st Tubside Bath Seat. It enables me to bathe the baby and the preschooler at the same time, without worrying about the 16-month sliding around or falling over. I’ve never seen it in stores, but it’s available at BabyAge.com for $29.99 and would be worth every cent. (I, of course, am borrowing mine for free from a friend…)

There’s a lot of products I bought/received that I later determined were unnecessary (the Diaper Genie, the seven diaper bags I own, Baby Einstein videos, etc…), this, however, really makes life easier. No big baby bath tub. No slippery kid trying to climb out of the tub.

Just thought I’d share!

I realize this is probably very old news for some people, but since I only became hip to Blue’s Clues two years ago, I’m a little behind.

Anyway, we all know Steve Burns left Blue’s Clues and “went to college.” His character was replaced by his “brother Joe.” Though there were countless rumors swirling around (likely started by teenage girls) about why he left, it was obvious enough to me that Burns just moved on to better things.

But to what? I wondered…

So I found a few websites, among them http://www.steveburnsrocks.us/. 

He apparantly wanted to leave Blue’s Clues before he went totally bald (can’t blame him for that). Of course, the guy is probably living pretty comfortably just on the residuals from the show, so he can’t complain.

The nerdy-looking children’s show star is now an handsome indie rock star, working with such artist as the Flaming Lips (my husband is a fan of theirs, though I don’t know if I’d recognize their songs). He’s touring around the country doing small shows. Might be fun to go see him if he’s in town.

The question would be, do we wear green striped shirts to the show or not?

There are days I’m convinced my four year old is trying to kill me.

Sometimes it’s blatant.

Sunday was an especially gorgeous morning. My husband suggested taking the family out to a local reservoir trail.

Me: Do you want to ride bikes this morning?
Her: Yes!
Me: Then you have to go upstairs, pee, and get dressed.
Her: No.
Me: Then we can’t go out. Please go up and get dressed.
Her: No. I don’t WANT to get dressed.
Me: Do you want help? You can’t ride bikes in your jammies.
Her: No!

Fine. It’s 8am and I’m already banging my head against a wall. And it went downhill from there.

Today was a much better day, but that only means that she’s more subtle.

We were driving around running some errands this morning. The amount of questions this child asks borders on the insane. What’s more insane is the answers I’m coming up with.

Her: Mommy, who made dis road?
Me: Construction workers. You know, the guys we see with the trucks.
Her: Why?
Me: Because it was getting old and needed to be repaired.
Her: Who lives here?
Me: (looking around) Uh, nobody lives here. There’s nothing but stores…
Her: Why?
Me: Because the people live in their houses.
Her: Where?
Me: In their neighborhoods. Like we do.
Her: Looks like a wain cloud. Is it going to wain?
Me: I don’t think so.
Her: Why?
Me: Because there’s a lot of blue in the sky. And the weatherman said so.
Her: Why?
Me: Because that’s his job to know those things.
Her: Why he know dose things?
Me: Because that’s what he studied in college.
Her: Why?
Me: I don’t know.
Her: Why?
Me: Why what?
Her: Why you don’t know?
Me: What? Huh? …I don’t know…

Really, I’m barely five minutes into my drive.

Yes, I know what I should be thinking. I should be thanking God that she’s normal and smart and right on schedule developmentally. I should be praying for more patience. Instead I find myself instituting “quiet time” several times throughout the day and praying to God “why does she do this to me? why? why? why?”….

Well, Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore, but we may as well be.

As many local residents are aware, a funnel cloud was spotted over Stillway Court during the brief but violent storm on Wednesday, July 30th. With the many downed limbs and a few twisted and destroyed trees, power outages lasted over 24 hours for some residents. There were many reports of deck furniture being tossed about, but miraculously, no significant home or vehicle damage, and no personal injuries.

We had no warning whatsoever. The weather station mentioned possible thunderstorms, but they say that every afternoon. So it got a little dark, then it thundered for a minute, then it rained hard. Very hard. I stood looking out my living room window, with my daughter next to me, as it rained sideways and got so white that I couldn’t see across the street.

It never even occurred to me that it was a tornado. (and that standing near the window was perhaps a bit stupid…)

It wasn’t until I got a phone call from a friend a few blocks away that I heard about the funnel cloud, and how many trees were pulled up by their roots. It really is a miracle that nobody’s home was damaged.

According to City-Data.com, Cockeysville-area historical tornado activity is slightly above Maryland state average. It is 42% greater than the overall U.S. average. Apparantly the topography is just right here for “rotation”, which is what I’ve heard a few times since I moved here three years ago. The last tornado to touch down in Cockeysville was in 2001.

A lot of people here said they wouldn’t even know what to do if they were in a tornado. (am I the only one who has seen the movie Twister?) I heard that the guy who saw the funnel was so mesmerized that he stood in his doorway drinking his coffee after sending his kids to the basement.

If there is a tornado warning, or if you suspect a tornado, get to your basement, or an interior room or closet in the lowest level of your home. For more information, visit
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/to_during.shtm.