Mama Likes to Jitterbug

25 Random Things

These lists have been making their way around Facebook like crazy.  I decided to finally bite the bullet and write my own: 

1. I can pick up clothes and small objects with my toes.  It creeps Steve out, but came in really handy when I was pregnant.
2. I’m an Irish twin.  My kids missed being one by just a couple weeks.
3. I think Sunday afternoon naps and cheese are two of the best things in the whole world.
4. I care way too much what other people think.
5. I can’t remember names, or much of anything else since having kids.
6. I’ve secretly always wanted to work for the FBI or CIA, but think I would also make a great teacher or corporate event planner.
7. When it comes to conversations, I love gossiping and talking about my kids.  I hate discussing politics and religion.
8. People who know me from dance, are surprised to learn I’m a tax accountant.  People who know me as a tax accountant, are surprised to learn I dance.
9. My small world story:  I was born in Indiana, but grew up in Texas.  Nearly 18 years and 1200 miles from where I was born, one of the babies that laid next to me in the hospital nursery (in Indiana), sat next to me in 12^th grade English class (in Texas).  What are the odds?
10. I don’t like being told I *have* to do something.  And will almost always do the opposite just out of spite.  Funny since I was such a goody two-shoes growing up. 
11. I have a lot of friends who are in the medical and teaching fields.  Almost none are lawyers.
12. I have a really good sense of direction.
13. I don’t particularly like chick flicks or war movies.  My favorites are crime-drama and suspense.
14. I’m very athletic, but also really clumsy.  How is that possible?
15. People always tell me I look like someone they know.  Twice I’ve met people who actually did.  One from Los Angeles.  One from Australia.
16. I love wearing velour.  Even though it's totally granny and everyone makes fun of me when I do. 
17. When I was younger, I used to walk on my toes.  My mom took me to several doctors to find out what was wrong.  One suggested that they cut the tendons in the back of my ankles.  Thankfully my mom didn’t listen.
18. My Myers Briggs personality is ESTJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging).  It's eerily accurate.
19. Frogs and kneecaps give me the willies. 
20. I can’t stand snobs.  People who think they’re more arty, smarty, or tarty than everyone else.  Usually they aren’t.  Just more insecure.
21. My husband and I make a great team.  It’s pretty impressive what we can accomplish when we put our minds together.
22. I received both my bachelor and master degrees in 4 years.  College wasn’t really my thing, so I worked extra hard to get out fast.
23. I loved 5^th grade.  My friends and I started the “Banana Split Gang” and I was elected President of my Elementary School.  My mom made these awesome campaign posters and t-shirts that said “Becky for Pres!” 
24. I still can’t believe that I moved from Houston to Boston just because it sounded fun.  And that 13 years later, I’m still here. 
25. I love being a mom.  Way more than I thought I would.  Watching Gracie and Sean grow, learn, and experience life is one of my greatest joys.  And I love getting to see the world through their eyes.

Baby Steps (Lessons in Letting Go of Control)

I'm a control freak.  Which sort of goes hand-in-hand with also being a perfectionist and a neat freak.  When things around me are tidy, I feel in control.  When they're not, my world feels out of sorts.  Most people would be surprised to know that I have this weird ability to walk into a room or space and tell what's been moved.  It's an actual physical feeling - like the hairs on my arms standing up, or a tingling in my spine.  I think there was a Friends episode about Monica being able to do the same thing.  I'm soooooooo Monica.  Except that I don't cook.  Too messy.  But I did have a wedding book like hers.

For a control freak, having children is definitely the best sort of therapy (or early entry to the grave - depending how you decide to deal with it) when learning to let go of control issues.  Two years ago, I never would have allowed Grace walk out of the house wearing this outfit.  In fact, the closest I ever came to an actual breakdown and needing a straight-jacket was the night I picked her up from Isabelle's and saw her dressed in clothes that didn't match.  I sat in the car sobbing, frozen, unable to even get myself and the kids out of the car and into the house.  I'm sure it sounds crazy, but it happened.  And it was the turning point for me in realizing that things don't always have to be perfect.  With kids, they're not going to be.  And that's ok.  Truth be told, if Steve had been the one to put this ensemble together for Grace this morning, I probably still would have lost it, but Gracie dressed herself.  And while it took every ounce of restraint I could muster not to make her change, I actually felt ok with letting her wear it out the door.  I might have reacted differently if it was a school day, but who was I to shatter her image of being a famous dancer headed off to perform in her very first, critically acclaimed, Broadway show?

     

Recently, I've also been learning a lot about letting go of control through Gracie's cheer gym.  I've posted about my frustrations before - like the time the gym owner told us she didn't want parents videotaping practices.  (They've since changed their minds and are letting us tape again.) But I've sort of come to think of EE as a family - albeit a dysfunctional one. And Gracie loves it there.  I don't know how we could ever leave, short of Gracie deciding she didn't want to do cheerleading anymore.

But I've certainly been tested standing in that parent room these past couple of weeks.  It's very hard for me not to walk out there during practice, take over, and run things the way I would do it.  Tonight one of the coaches was late, another didn't show, and there was a period of 10 minutes or so where no one was watching the girls.  We're now just a month away from competition, the music isn't edited, the routine isn't finished, and numerous practices have been canceled without make-up dates set.  All very frustrating when I spend a lot of money and time to make sure my child is there ON TIME for EVERY practice.

It's taking everything I have left to keep from emailing the coaches and gym owners (again) and letting them know how disappointed I am with the way Gracie's team is being run.  But then the new, almost-rehabilitated version of me thinks WHO CARES????  Graice's 4!!!  What does it matter if it's not the best Tiny Tot routine ever?  If they don't win?  She's making friends, getting to be a part of team, wear make-up, perform, learn how to take instruction, memorize, develop some pretty cool party tricks, and most importantly....she's having FUN!  So what if it's not exactly the way I would do it?  It's ok to be on the sidelines for once.  Be a parent.  Just enjoy my child, enjoying herself. 

Baby steps.

New Blinds

Sean still reminds me daily that he doesn't like his room.  He wants a "sports room".  Yep, got it Sean.  Part of me thinks it's just an excuse to delay bedtime.  But since we cut out his afternoon nap a few weeks ago, with the exception of one or two nights, he's been more than willing to go to bed.  No more staying up until midnight playing with toys and deconstructing furniture. 

One thing I have gotten around to changing in his room are the blinds.  He destroyed his old wooden ones by removing the little sticks one-by-one and tangling up the cords.  Sean amazes me with his interest in destroying taking things apart and trying to put them back together again.  Even as a baby, he would sit in his crib and disassemble his bottles by screwing off the caps and popping out the nipples.  And then put them back together to entertain himself.  It's impressive, but he doesn't get it from me, that's for sure.

ETA:  Steve tells me that Sean gets this trait from his dad (Papa) who was rumored to have had numerous bikes as a child that he liked to disassemble, but didn't necessarily always get put back together.    

Here are the old blinds arranged as neatly as I could possibly make them look.

And the much-cheaper new ones, which are plastic and hopefully last longer.

 

Speaking of sports, we signed Gracie up for T-Ball last night.  I'm still not so sure it was a good idea since Sean missed the age cut-off and isn't old enough to play.  But two of Gracie's friends from daycare will be on her team and she's reallllllly looking forward to it.  Or at least the wearing the cute uniform part of it.  Sean is going to be DEVASTATED if he has to sit on the sidelines and watch.  I was tempted to have Steve lie on the application and pass the two of them off as twins.  (It wouldn't be the first time we've lied about their ages to get them into an activity.)  But he decided not to do it. Especially since the coaches are friends and said "off the record" they would let Sean take a few swings and laps around the bases during games.  Besides, it wouldn't surprise me if halfway through the season, Gracie is the one sitting (or cartwheeling) on the sidelines, and Sean is the one playing.

Straight C Student

Gracie received her first report card today. Sent home by her preschool teacher in advance of our parent/teacher conference next week.  I was incredibly nervous opening the envelope, as I haven’t really received any feedback thus far regarding her progress.  So imagine the horrible feeling I felt in my stomach when the first thing I saw on her report card was straight C’s.  I immediately began thinking of the 10,000 ways I’d failed my 4 year old.  Was it because I secretly drank diet soda and ate sushi while I was pregnant?  Didn’t breastfeed or make my own baby food?  Went back to work too soon?  Didn’t read to her enough?  Let her watch TV?  I was a horrible mother in a matter of seconds. 

After closer examination, and much to my relief, I learned that C stands for "Consistent" and was the highest rating she could receive in all categories - which included Initiatives, Social and Emotional Growth, Self Help Skills, Language and Literacy, Gross/Fine Motor, Creative Representation, Mathematical Concepts. The only C-D she received was for "independently takes off/puts on outside clothing".  And that's not because she can't, it's just because she won't.   She also received two NE's (Not Expected At This Time) for not being able to recognize or print her last name.  Given the number of letters in our last name, I'll be impressed if she can do that by Junior High.

Because it's hard to read, here's the note that Gracie's teacher wrote on the back of her card.  I'm so proud!!!!

"Grace is a friendly and cooperative girl who enjoys participating in all school activities.  She listens well to her teachers and is very polite.  She is demonstrating strengths in the areas of color and shape knowledge, number concepts and letter identification.  She is a pleasure to work with and is a positive role model for her peers."

 

Maine Workshops

Steve and I taught swing dance workshops in Maine this past Saturday.  I'll be honest, I wasn't particularly looking forward to them.  Mostly because of the drive, being away from the kids, having a lot on our plate right now, etc.  Not to mention feeling out of the teaching/dancing loop since we don't do a lot of either these days.  But I ended up having a fabulous time.  Everyone was so nice, the workshops were well-attended, well-received, and it was nice to get away and do something dance-related with Steve.  And apparently the kids had a really great day with the sitter while we were gone.

 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It is coooooooold!  Definitely one of the coldest winters I can remember.  I actually saw -1 on my car's thermometer last week.  Even for Boston, that's COLD!  We've also had a crazy amount of snow this year.  (I don't even want to think about what our heat and plow bill is going to look like in the spring.)  Here's a picture that was taken of me at a birthday party we attended last weekend.  You can see I'm not kidding about the snow.  And you can also see me enjoying what is quite possibly one of the best kiddie birthday parties I've ever attended.  Imagine my excitement when I learned that one of the other parents was a real-life architectural photographer here in the Boston area. And, God bless him, was more than happy to answer all of my camera questions without laughing hysterically.  Although he does sort of look like he's smirking in this photo, don't you think? 

Besides getting lots of advice about how to better use my external flash, and how to change some of the settings on my camera so that I'm not always ending up with (unintended) partially-focused pictures, I learned about shooting in RAW.  It was way easier than I expected, and definitely makes parts of the editing process faster.  Here's a picture I took in RAW, while practicing some of the things I learned from Photography Dad.  Those are actually icicles running down the front-side of our house.  Looks cool, but I'm SO over winter this year!

 

Mommy Blog Contest

Scholastic is holding a mommy blog contest.  Not sure who nominated mine, but I thought their reason for doing so was really sweet.  Thank you!

Day of Glitter & Sparkles

Fortunately this weekend was filled with more than puking monsters.  There was also lots of sparkles and glitter.  On Sunday, Gracie and I dug ourselves out of the snow and drove to a cheerleading competition where several of her friends were competing for the first time this season.  Gracie was in heaven walking around admiring all of the uniforms and make-up.  HEAVEN.  A few things I want to remember about that day:

• Getting dressed and Gracie informing me that the star-covered leg warmers I bought for her would look much cooler on her arms.  How on earth she knew that's how the girls are wearing them now is beyond me.  But she was right, they were ADORABLE!!!
• Gracie's coach taking her up to the stage for a front-row, coaches-only view of her friend Teagan's performance.  That was really, really sweet and meant a lot to Gracie.
• Gracie making me go up to random girls and tell them how much she liked their make-up.  Watching Teagan's mom graciously paint Gracie's face.  And how patient and focused Gracie was while having it done.
• Gracie picking out her first "real" necklace from one of the event vendors - a sparkly green and red cherry pendant.  She loved it so much that she insisted on wearing it to school today to show her friends.
• Pulling out of the parking garage and Gracie BEGGING me to come back next weekend.  And then telling me that she would be good all week if I would let her.  (What a difference a year makes. It wasn't that long ago that I was the one bribing her.) 
• Gracie turning off all of the lights in the living room, giving us a flashlight to shine on her, and then proceeding to do her team's entire competition routine.  Actually a mixture of her real routine and some new moves she picked up that day.  Funny stuff!

LOVE these girls!!!!

"There's a Monster in My Belly!"

Sean has been sick since Saturday night.  If you ask, he'll tell you that he "has a monster in his belly".  I'd have to say that's a pretty accurate description.  We met the monster, twice.  It's been awhile since Steve and I have had to deal with projectile vomiting and sleepless nights.  It's definitely made us, or at least me, realize that we could never go back to the newborn phase.  I know you do what you have to do, but these past couple of days with him have been hard.  We're all exhausted.  We don't do sick well.  Especially Gracie who has been less than thrilled about Sean getting all of the attention.  Needless to say, she's not used to playing a supporting role in The Drzewiczewski Show.  LOL! 

This morning Sean was up at 5am, pacing the upstairs hallway, rolling on the floor, and moaning that his tummy hurt.  It started to make me a little nervous since there really weren't any symptoms, other than the vomit.  A trip to the doctor confirmed that it's likely just a virus that's going around.  Whew!  (Except that means I'm probably going to get it too.)  Today Sean's been eating cereal out of the box, chugging Pedialyte, and watching back-to-back episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants while lying on my lap.  Hopefully, we're on the road to recovery and back to our regular routine tomorrow.  I'll miss the snuggling, and will probably have to pry him off of me when I leave for work in the morning, but I definitely won't miss SpongeBob.  I know I can't be the only one that thinks that show is TERRIBLE! 

  

Demo Night at the Cheer Gym

Last night I took Gracie to the gym to watch the older teams demo their competition routines.  A very, very fun night!  And thanks to a whole lotta candy, Gracie made it all the way through the demos to 9pm!  Besides being completely in awe of the talent these young girls possess - Cheerleading has come a loooooong way since I retired my pom poms - I was amazed at how many random people knew Gracie and called her by name.  It's not like we're at the gym that often, and there are A LOT of girls that cheer there, but I definitely felt like the mom of a mini-celebrity.  Maybe it's because she's the tiniest of the Tinys (actually the 2nd tiniest now), or because she walks around like she owns the place (LOL!), but it surprised me nonetheless.  Of course I also found it interesting to watch Gracie interact with some of the other cheerleaders.  She wanted nothing to do with the pre-teen girls, or the girls closer to her own age.  She only wanted to hang out with older girls.  And not just any older girls - the captains of the gym's top-level team.