Yesterday was my father's birthday. Even though he had a meeting in the evening, and we weren't going to get together to see him, I had Emily call him and leave a voice mail for him, wishing him a happy birthday. So, I dialed his cell number and handed EMily the phone. She starts singing right away, finishes and hands me back the phone. It was still ringing! She didn't wait for it to pick up! So, I hand her the phone after the voice mail picks up and she sings again. We hang up and go to make dinner. Dad calls back to let us know he got the message. He was thrilled to hear his little one singing Happy Birthday to him.
Emily sings all the time. Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Queen, the Beatles, Princess Songs, etc. Her favorite, though is Stone Soup. At the end of the regular school year her class put on a preformance of Stone Soup. I, unfortunatly didn't get to go. But she sings the songs, alot. I have no idea what they are, or what they are about, but there is this one line she sings over and over again, until it gets stuck in your head. "Stirring, Cooking, Stirring Cooking..." on and on and on again. It's really annoying.
Could be worse... Brian and i have both found ourselves driving along, childless singing along to Hannah Montana or Jonas Brothers.....
At least we've moved on from the Wiggles.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
7 or 17?!
It's almost 8 pm here and Emily just fell asleep. It's been a rough hour and a rough couple of days. I'm sorry I haven't been posting, but the time I get home and get dinner ready, Emily contented, read a bit, I'm wiped and the last thing I want to do is type away. So I'll hit the highlights.
Last Thursday, my Aunt Peg came up from Jeresy to spend a few days. It was great to see her and Emily loves her very much. We went on a river cruise that was a fund raiser for the mayor of our small city. It was fun and Brian and I were almost as popular as Dad and Granfather, the ex judge. My aunt and our friends I think were impressed. I got some great shots of Emily. I'm going to try and add them to the blog.
We finally got to shoot off our fireworks the other night at our friends house. It was cool.
But, Emily has decided that mud is fun. She'll take water out of the pool, make mud and coat herself in it. She was so bad the other night we had to turn the hose on her before we let her into the house to get in the shower. She was covered, head to toe in clay mud!
But the best thing is that she has taken to slamming doors and screaching at the top of her lungs like a teenager. Poor Grandfather got a earful of it the other night when he called and she was in the middle of one of her rants about me being the worset, meanest and horriblist mothers, because I told her it was bed time. I had to hang up and deal with the slamming of the doors and yelling.
Tonight, Emily was in her room watching a movie. She couldn't be outside and it was raining. Emily doesn't do well when she can't swing on her swing. So, she was in her room with a frozen fruit and syrup thingie that she loves. When it was time to get her settled down in her room for the night, I found her dvd player covered in the sticky syrup. Not only outside but the inside too. I yelled, I spanked, she freaked and went to see what Daddy was going to do. Nothing. It took her an hour to calm down, speak where we could understand her ( everything prior was sobs and incomprehensible) and fall asleep cuddled up to my side. For the first time since 7, she was the sweet little girl I love very much.
But, my mother, oh, my mother, who always wished I would have a child just like me is grinning ear to ear. I know she wanted me to have a child like me, because she reminded me of it for a long time and still does now and again. Well, Emily is just like me. Slamming doors. Yelling. Going to Daddy when Mommy is mean.
But the slamming of doors and all the other stuff, I figured I had 7 or more years! Not now. I just want my cute little girl back.
Last Thursday, my Aunt Peg came up from Jeresy to spend a few days. It was great to see her and Emily loves her very much. We went on a river cruise that was a fund raiser for the mayor of our small city. It was fun and Brian and I were almost as popular as Dad and Granfather, the ex judge. My aunt and our friends I think were impressed. I got some great shots of Emily. I'm going to try and add them to the blog.
We finally got to shoot off our fireworks the other night at our friends house. It was cool.
But, Emily has decided that mud is fun. She'll take water out of the pool, make mud and coat herself in it. She was so bad the other night we had to turn the hose on her before we let her into the house to get in the shower. She was covered, head to toe in clay mud!
But the best thing is that she has taken to slamming doors and screaching at the top of her lungs like a teenager. Poor Grandfather got a earful of it the other night when he called and she was in the middle of one of her rants about me being the worset, meanest and horriblist mothers, because I told her it was bed time. I had to hang up and deal with the slamming of the doors and yelling.
Tonight, Emily was in her room watching a movie. She couldn't be outside and it was raining. Emily doesn't do well when she can't swing on her swing. So, she was in her room with a frozen fruit and syrup thingie that she loves. When it was time to get her settled down in her room for the night, I found her dvd player covered in the sticky syrup. Not only outside but the inside too. I yelled, I spanked, she freaked and went to see what Daddy was going to do. Nothing. It took her an hour to calm down, speak where we could understand her ( everything prior was sobs and incomprehensible) and fall asleep cuddled up to my side. For the first time since 7, she was the sweet little girl I love very much.
But, my mother, oh, my mother, who always wished I would have a child just like me is grinning ear to ear. I know she wanted me to have a child like me, because she reminded me of it for a long time and still does now and again. Well, Emily is just like me. Slamming doors. Yelling. Going to Daddy when Mommy is mean.
But the slamming of doors and all the other stuff, I figured I had 7 or more years! Not now. I just want my cute little girl back.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Glad it's finally over with.
There is an old saying. The squeeky wheel gets the grease. Well, that couldn't be more true. If you read my previous blog, you've seen my struggles with the bus company. Well, I finally got it all resolved. They conceded that they made the mistake in not alerting me before school started. So, for the summer, they had to get special permission from the state to hire another bus company for the summer to drive Emily in a mini van to and from school. This has been great. But I have to find a new sitter for the fall.
So, I went onto Craig's List and posted the need for a sitter. I got an email from a young woman and we e mail a bit and talk on the phone. She has a sone who is year younger then Emily and I have this feeling that the kids might know each other. She was telling me bits and pieces of her life and it sounds like the two of us have been through the same kind of experinces! I might have found a kindred mom in all of this! Plus the sitter we are using now, learned that when she advertises for school age children, they will not be picked up at her house. Live and learn!
But, Emily keeps growing up before my very eyes. Last night I was on the phone with my father and Emily wanted to talk to EPa. So, I gave her the phone, she talked then, very grown up and seriously said, "Please hold on a minute, Epa" and put the phone down. She got involved with some toy and ignored Epa. I asked her if she was going to talk again and she told me that she was busy and said "I asked him to hold on a minute!" I couldn't help but laugh.
And for her newest trick (Insert Drum Roll) she can open a soda can! She figured out if she goes into the silverware drawer, takes out a fork, puts the tines under the pop top she can pry it open! So, now insteadof asking for a drink, she goes into the kitchen, you hear the fridge open and close and a soda can open. Very sneaky!
That's her other new thing. Being sneaky. She loves to hide things that she knows she's not supposed to be doing. Like having the fifth cookie. Or the ice cream bar before dinner. Things like that. But for all this child eats, she's still about the size and shape of a tooth pick. Well, she is kinda tall, so maybe a bamboo skewer! My little monkey butt isn't so little any more!
So, I went onto Craig's List and posted the need for a sitter. I got an email from a young woman and we e mail a bit and talk on the phone. She has a sone who is year younger then Emily and I have this feeling that the kids might know each other. She was telling me bits and pieces of her life and it sounds like the two of us have been through the same kind of experinces! I might have found a kindred mom in all of this! Plus the sitter we are using now, learned that when she advertises for school age children, they will not be picked up at her house. Live and learn!
But, Emily keeps growing up before my very eyes. Last night I was on the phone with my father and Emily wanted to talk to EPa. So, I gave her the phone, she talked then, very grown up and seriously said, "Please hold on a minute, Epa" and put the phone down. She got involved with some toy and ignored Epa. I asked her if she was going to talk again and she told me that she was busy and said "I asked him to hold on a minute!" I couldn't help but laugh.
And for her newest trick (Insert Drum Roll) she can open a soda can! She figured out if she goes into the silverware drawer, takes out a fork, puts the tines under the pop top she can pry it open! So, now insteadof asking for a drink, she goes into the kitchen, you hear the fridge open and close and a soda can open. Very sneaky!
That's her other new thing. Being sneaky. She loves to hide things that she knows she's not supposed to be doing. Like having the fifth cookie. Or the ice cream bar before dinner. Things like that. But for all this child eats, she's still about the size and shape of a tooth pick. Well, she is kinda tall, so maybe a bamboo skewer! My little monkey butt isn't so little any more!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Now what?
It's been a very long week and it's only Wednesday. Let me tell you what's been going on, not in any logical order. (please forgive me. I'm emotionally tired)
1) We got a phone call from Brian's parents tonight. They have a couple they have been friends with for eons. They had three children, the youngest is one of Brian's younger sister's dearest friends and the oldest seriously dated Brian's older sister for year. The oldest was killed in a nasty motorcycle verus auto accident last night. He never made it to the hospital. A 17 year old kid cross the double yellow and killed him and his friend who were out enjoying a summer day on their bikes. Tragic. 41. I didn't know him and Brian hadn't seen him in years. But, Brian's parents, his two sisters, their spouses and children and Brian's brother in laws parents are all going away Saturday to Cape Cod for a week. If the wake and or funeral happens after Saturday night, Mom and Dad would like and I to go to represent the family. That's a no brainer. We'll be there anyway. I don't really care for the mother, and the father is a lovely man. It's just so sad.
2) Emily started with a new sitter last week. Everything there has been going well. She lives on this narrow street, on toop of a hill. Yesterday the Tranportation department of the school district called and told me that they will not be picking Em up at the house. Someone needs to have her at the bottom of the hill. The sitter can't do this, as she watches 3 other children, two of which are infants. Brian and I are both at work by then. It's all because the bus driver says the hill is too steep and he can't turn the bus around. So, I'm fighting them. I've called everyone I know at the District, trying to cash in favors, I've called the fire department to find out if it's a problem (they told me that they use that street to train the fighters on the hook and ladder truck) and I called Department of Public Works who get a garbage truck up there weekly and a plow in the winter. If they don't pick up Em at the door, she misses out on her summer education and it becomes an issue with the state for failure to comply with her education plan. The School District screwed up and they won't admit it. I've emailed every one on the school board for help and I've even tried using some pull that Dad has with the mayor to lean on them. It's just stressful to try and do this from work, since the school district closes up at 3 for the summer and I work until 3:30. I'm waiting to see what happens tomorrow. Oh! I still have to pay the sitter, even though Em is not going there right now while we figure this out. Plus Brian or I have to take time off of work to get this settled. The school district went as far as telling me to find a new sitter! I explained that I found this one after 8 weeks of looking. No one wants to take a child with a seizure precaution.
3) My bosses have been having some staffing problems. So instead of getting rid of the problems, they have been moving people around. Now they want me to stagger one day a week. They tell me this in a note this morning. For tomorrow. I was livid. I have dinner plans with Brian's parents tomorrow night, because they are supposed to leave Saturday. We want to see them before they leave. ANd I need more than one days notice with the sitter. Brian will have to pick her up and it's going to cost me. Because Em is only there for 2 hours a day, we pay by the hour. Now, I will have to pay her more once a week to accomidate one whiney staff member. Plus, since they have switched around schedules, I am running around every morning, getting 15 people up, showered, dressed, feed, medicated and everything else with only the help of the two owners. They are not certified to work on the patients, aren't really that confident or skilled with the medications and well... they can pour a mean cup of coffee.
4) Emily had been seeing a neurologist in Albany. I am still waiting for a return call from a fax I had sent over 4 weeks ago. I had to find out from a friend who works for our GP that some labs we had been waiting for that were drawn when she went into the hospital the last time were back and normal. Thank God she faxed them to me for my filing cabinet of information on Emily.
5) The upside is Emily has the same teacher this summer as she did last summer. And most of her class from this last year are with her again. And she FINALLY got her one to one aide. I've been fighting for this for a long time and we are finally on track with this.
Now, if I could ask any one who reads this blog, would you please send Em an email to my aol account. She has become obsessed with the computer and being online. I want to show her that there is more than looking up Sprout PBS Kids online and watching the same Tinkerbell and Princess trailers over and over and over and over again. We will type a respose together.
Thanks!
1) We got a phone call from Brian's parents tonight. They have a couple they have been friends with for eons. They had three children, the youngest is one of Brian's younger sister's dearest friends and the oldest seriously dated Brian's older sister for year. The oldest was killed in a nasty motorcycle verus auto accident last night. He never made it to the hospital. A 17 year old kid cross the double yellow and killed him and his friend who were out enjoying a summer day on their bikes. Tragic. 41. I didn't know him and Brian hadn't seen him in years. But, Brian's parents, his two sisters, their spouses and children and Brian's brother in laws parents are all going away Saturday to Cape Cod for a week. If the wake and or funeral happens after Saturday night, Mom and Dad would like and I to go to represent the family. That's a no brainer. We'll be there anyway. I don't really care for the mother, and the father is a lovely man. It's just so sad.
2) Emily started with a new sitter last week. Everything there has been going well. She lives on this narrow street, on toop of a hill. Yesterday the Tranportation department of the school district called and told me that they will not be picking Em up at the house. Someone needs to have her at the bottom of the hill. The sitter can't do this, as she watches 3 other children, two of which are infants. Brian and I are both at work by then. It's all because the bus driver says the hill is too steep and he can't turn the bus around. So, I'm fighting them. I've called everyone I know at the District, trying to cash in favors, I've called the fire department to find out if it's a problem (they told me that they use that street to train the fighters on the hook and ladder truck) and I called Department of Public Works who get a garbage truck up there weekly and a plow in the winter. If they don't pick up Em at the door, she misses out on her summer education and it becomes an issue with the state for failure to comply with her education plan. The School District screwed up and they won't admit it. I've emailed every one on the school board for help and I've even tried using some pull that Dad has with the mayor to lean on them. It's just stressful to try and do this from work, since the school district closes up at 3 for the summer and I work until 3:30. I'm waiting to see what happens tomorrow. Oh! I still have to pay the sitter, even though Em is not going there right now while we figure this out. Plus Brian or I have to take time off of work to get this settled. The school district went as far as telling me to find a new sitter! I explained that I found this one after 8 weeks of looking. No one wants to take a child with a seizure precaution.
3) My bosses have been having some staffing problems. So instead of getting rid of the problems, they have been moving people around. Now they want me to stagger one day a week. They tell me this in a note this morning. For tomorrow. I was livid. I have dinner plans with Brian's parents tomorrow night, because they are supposed to leave Saturday. We want to see them before they leave. ANd I need more than one days notice with the sitter. Brian will have to pick her up and it's going to cost me. Because Em is only there for 2 hours a day, we pay by the hour. Now, I will have to pay her more once a week to accomidate one whiney staff member. Plus, since they have switched around schedules, I am running around every morning, getting 15 people up, showered, dressed, feed, medicated and everything else with only the help of the two owners. They are not certified to work on the patients, aren't really that confident or skilled with the medications and well... they can pour a mean cup of coffee.
4) Emily had been seeing a neurologist in Albany. I am still waiting for a return call from a fax I had sent over 4 weeks ago. I had to find out from a friend who works for our GP that some labs we had been waiting for that were drawn when she went into the hospital the last time were back and normal. Thank God she faxed them to me for my filing cabinet of information on Emily.
5) The upside is Emily has the same teacher this summer as she did last summer. And most of her class from this last year are with her again. And she FINALLY got her one to one aide. I've been fighting for this for a long time and we are finally on track with this.
Now, if I could ask any one who reads this blog, would you please send Em an email to my aol account. She has become obsessed with the computer and being online. I want to show her that there is more than looking up Sprout PBS Kids online and watching the same Tinkerbell and Princess trailers over and over and over and over again. We will type a respose together.
Thanks!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Cyber hugs and kisses
I know the tone of my last blog was bad. I'm sorry for that. I was feeling really sorry for myself and was having abad couple of days. But I'm slightly better now. Thanks for all the support.
The 4th of July is looming only days away and we are going camping for lack of anything better to do. When we had gone on vacation, we had bought tons of fireworks. Pennsylvania is one of those states you can buy fireworks in. So we did. Now we aren't going to get to set them off. Oh, well.
Emily starts school again on Monday. There is a part of me that can't wait. We want to get her back into a good routine again. Time on her hands is not good for the princess.
But today had me laughing as I was trying to assess the damage.
Emily LOVES to swing. I mean she is content to swing on her swing for hours and hours. I am not kidding about this. Hours and hours. Today, she was on her swing and I was in the house reading. I had just checked on her and sat back down on the couch. Then I thought I heard her say something. I figured if it was really bad she would have screamed. Then I heard her come up onto the back porch. I looked up to the door window and she was crying. So, I ran to the door and she was sobbing. She had fallen. I looked out into the back yard and noticed her favorite swing was on the ground. She was okay and I was a little worried about what happened. She told me her swing broke. When Brian came home he looked at the swing set and came in to show me that the princess had swung on her swing enough to wear out the metal hook that held it up to the swing set. Brian was able to replace it and she was good to go again. It cracked me up however.
No bumps, no bruses. She's fine.
The swing set it ready. For now......
The 4th of July is looming only days away and we are going camping for lack of anything better to do. When we had gone on vacation, we had bought tons of fireworks. Pennsylvania is one of those states you can buy fireworks in. So we did. Now we aren't going to get to set them off. Oh, well.
Emily starts school again on Monday. There is a part of me that can't wait. We want to get her back into a good routine again. Time on her hands is not good for the princess.
But today had me laughing as I was trying to assess the damage.
Emily LOVES to swing. I mean she is content to swing on her swing for hours and hours. I am not kidding about this. Hours and hours. Today, she was on her swing and I was in the house reading. I had just checked on her and sat back down on the couch. Then I thought I heard her say something. I figured if it was really bad she would have screamed. Then I heard her come up onto the back porch. I looked up to the door window and she was crying. So, I ran to the door and she was sobbing. She had fallen. I looked out into the back yard and noticed her favorite swing was on the ground. She was okay and I was a little worried about what happened. She told me her swing broke. When Brian came home he looked at the swing set and came in to show me that the princess had swung on her swing enough to wear out the metal hook that held it up to the swing set. Brian was able to replace it and she was good to go again. It cracked me up however.
No bumps, no bruses. She's fine.
The swing set it ready. For now......
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