I'm not sure I like the territory we're entering

Last Saturday, Xander and Jessica's daycare/camp had a summer outing at a lake where the older kids go every day for camp. There were PONY RIDES, so of course we had to go. I, predictably, got off to a late start. The kids were at a playdate and I was reluctant to pull them away early. Then we got into the car and our extremely unreliable GPS wouldn't pick up a signal. I floundered my way through downtown Worcester before finally getting onto Route 9, and we were good.

However, the result was that we didn't get there till past 1:00, and the outing was from 11 to 3. I immediately put Jessica on a pony, because I wasn't sure how long the pony rides were going to last. We got some lunch (pasta salad, hot dogs, chips, the usual barbeque fare). Then we went to go swimming. As I was reaching into our bag, I had a very clear memory of telling myself to throw in Jessica's bathing suit. I had an equally clear memory of not having done it.

Fortunately, I knew there was a Walmart nearby. And just a few days earlier, I had mentioned to Hari that I needed to buy some size 6 bathings suits now, because Jessica would need them for winter swim lessons and I had a terrible time trying to find size 5 bathing suits in the middle of winter this past year. So I thought this was actually a good thing, because I'd buy her a size 6 bathing suit now, and she'd have it.

Now for the troublesome part. They were rather limited on size 6/6X bathing suits. Since I refused to buy a Sponge Bob bathing suit, that left us exactly one choice. So I bought it. First, it's a little big, which led to exposure issues, but even if it weren't big, it's extremely provactively cut. Why does a 6 year old need a provacative bathing suit? Argh!!!!!

Please, shoot me now

before Jessica becomes a teenager. I can't imagine this is as bad as it gets, but she's already driving me crazy.

For example, 3 days a week for 10 months, she told me that she didn't want to go to preschool because she hated rest time. It was as though, if she didn't have to rest, she would be perfectly happy and willing to go to school. But the law says she had to rest, and so I endured the complaint Every Single Day she went to school.

Okay.

Today she started church camp. I read over their literature and didn't see anything about rest time, so I figured we were in the clear. Not only that, I used it as a selling point this morning, when Jessica was nervous (understandably) about going to a new camp where she didn't know anyone.

"You won't have to rest," I told her.

"Well," she said, and I knew then that I was in trouble. "Well, I think I kind of like rest time, after all."

I repeat, please, just shoot me now.

My status is improving

Jessica likes to be a food critic. Usually I get one or two thumbs down. Sometimes I get lucky and get thumbs up. Well, this week I've been getting rave reviews, predictably in the dessert department.

First, I made this dessert pie off a recipe from the coupon flier. It had sweetened condensed milk, cool whip and frozen berries in a graham cracker crust. Really, how can you go wrong with that? I got TEN FINGERS up.

Then there was the monkey bread. I had never heard of monkey bread till a couple of months ago. I decided to try it while I was visiting Lisa, so I wouldn't be tempted to eat all of it myself. Ingredients: refrigerated biscuits, sugar (brown and white), cinnamon, butter and pecans. Again, how can you go wrong. I got 10 more fingers up.

Go Mommy.

Now if I could only get her to give me a few fingers up for something without sugar in it.

Quote of the day

"Mom, if you don't hear me say anything, let me know, because sometimes I don't listen to myself."

Okaaaaay.......

Maybe it's worth it.

I bought 2 dresses for Jessica yesterday. Yes, I have a serious problem but that's not what this post is about. This post is about what I discovered when I was taking the tags off one of the dresses today so she could wear it. This is what the tag says:

I have a problem with both the hand wash and the extremely complex drying instructions. Normally if it can't go into the washing machine and dryer, I won't buy it. But look at how cute she looks in the first of the dresses:


Maybe it's worth it.

"You take care of me."

The other day, I received a postcard in the mail from Jessica. It kind of baffled me. But there was no doubt it was from her. It had her trademark signature on it. I actually got it from the mailbox on my way to pick her up from preschool. When I saw her, I asked her about it. She said they had mailed them from school. I thanked her for it.

Then she said, "Well, I wanted to send it to someone who I love a lot. You take care of me. You do everything for me, Mommy."

It was actually really nice to know my 5 year old appreciates me!

Apparently bribery works

In the ongoing battle to get Jessica out of my bed (or, to be more precise, to get me out of her bed), I've had to use bribery. At first, I offered something abstract--a sleepover! She really wants to have one but I can't let a friend come over and then have Jessica yelling for me to come down to her room with her friend there.

That didn't work. She was excited about the idea, but when I reminded her of the reward in the middle of the night, it wasn't enough to get her back into her bed alone.

What worked? (so far): Barbie! The mermaidia fairytopia barbie to be exact. We had bought a Mermaidia movie months ago and it came with advertising for all the toys that related to the movie. Well, the movie came out over 2 years ago and the toys are no longer available, especially the one she really really wanted. I finally found it on ebay (where else?) and bought it to offer as a bribe.

So, in the last week or so, she's slept 4 nights in her bed. Now, on at least 2 of those nights, I spent some time in the bottom bunk with Xander, who still wakes a couple of times a night if he's not in bed with me (working on that too, believe me). But she thought I was in my room, so I think that counts.