Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday Five: the long-winded story version

1. SonB (who had a birthday on Monday and will now only let me refer to him as "Big Four-Year-Old" and not his name) is quite the... independent little boy. A bit precocious, one might say. (Or A LOT.) He used to be a really good eater, but for the last year and a half, almost every meal is a struggle with him. My husband decided to start telling him that with every bite he took, he was getting taller, to give him incentive to eat. So, now SonB has decided that he'll take a bite, then he gets down on the ground and tells his older brother "Tell Mommy that I'm coming to surprise her!" I have to wait for SonA to tell me, and then say, "Oh, no, where did SonB go?" and then he pops up and points to his head. I must then say, "Wow! Look you got taller, you must have had a bite of food!" To which he nods and tells me what he ate. And then it starts all over. EVERY. MEAL. EVERY. BITE. And if any of these steps gets messed up (if I jump the gun and say, "Where is SonB?" before SonA tells me he's coming for example), hoo-boy. Tantrum City. Well, now Baby Girl (who is officially 18 months old now) has decided that she needs to start patting the top of her head when she eats, too. Except she still uses a combination of a spoon/fork and her hands to eat, so this usually means that part of her meal ends up on top of her head. And I have to tell her, "Wow, you're getting taller, too!" and then she nods emphatically and grins at me, then eats some more. (She's still a good eater--in fact, she usually out eats my boys.) Living with these kids is never dull, that's for sure!

2. So for Mother's Day last year, SHH gave me a gift certificate for a massage. I save things like that for a "special occasion" which usually means I save it and save it until it's about to expire and then have to rush to get in time. Worried that it would expire, he told me to book it for last night, since he had the night off. I left to meet him and switch cars (and hand off the kids) in a total blizzard. I barely made it out of our neighborhood. I called him to say I wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he said the roads were barely even wet where he was, and it was probably just bad on the benches. So we made the switch, and off I went. The roads were fine, the weather was ominous, but not bad, until I was about half-way there. (The place was downtown.) Suddenly, from one second to the next, I was driving in a near white-out, on a freeway that had suddenly turned into an ice-rink with half a foot of snow on the ground. Surrounded by semi's with no visible lane-lines and crazy drivers who were going too fast and spinning out of control, I clutched my steering wheel with white-knuckles and kept on going. It was pointless to turn back now, right? Needless to say, I was late. So instead of being nice about it (HELLOOO, I came to you during the snowpacolypse rather than cancelling!), they cut my massage short. And I had a male masseuse for the first time ever. He was a little... different. I figured since it was going to be short, I'd try to get the most out of it that I could, and had him do fairly firm pressure. (As in, I was clenching my jaw and holding my breath to not cry out in pain at times. I have a very tight/knotted back.) This was a mistake, as it turns out. Because today? I feel like my entire back got beat with a sledgehammer. So rather than helping me stand up straighter, I can barely handle lifting my daughter. #epicfail


3. Many of you have probably seen me tweeting/FBing about my "Problem Child." This is what I'm (semi) lovingly calling my new WIP. I'm a fast drafter. It's just how I write. Usually. This book? Not so much. This book is trying to kill me. I have moments where I think I'm prevailing, where I feel like I'm figuring it out and whipping it into line. And then my characters and this plot just laugh and laugh at me when I'm floundering five minutes later, totally frustrated and lost yet again. Does this mean I'm on the brink of brilliance--or the cusp of utter and total failure? Maybe somewhere in the middle. I hope.

4. So recently I've been thinking a lot about social media, and the negative effects it has in life. We are SO interconnected now; I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to see every picture and hear every detail of each other's lives. It can lead to moments of jealousy or feelings of inadequacy or being left out or a myriad of other negative emotions. Or at least it does for me sometimes. Maybe I'm just insecure like that and that doesn't happen to anyone else. But there are also moments when social media can be absolutely incredible, and SO helpful. Like when I tweeted about #ProblemChild and how it wanted to be set in a place I know nothing about... and one of my amazing friends/followers tweeted back and when I told her about it said, "It sounds like it wants to be set near where I live!" SCORE! Her help has been invaluable. So the point is that I'm torn in my feelings toward FB and Twitter. I guess that's how most things in life are though, there are always good and bad sides to most everything.

Wow, these were all so long, let's just call it quits at 4, shall we? So that's a glimpse of what's on my mind on this snowy cold Friday morning. How about you?

10 comments:

Chersti Nieveen said...

Wow, that's really funny about your eating routine, but I can see it getting old so fast! Hopefully, he grows out of it soon, right?

I had the same thing with a massage recently. I was in so much pain during, and then for days after. But I did stand taller, so there was a good side. But I feel for yoU!

Good luck with #ProblemChild

DL Hammons said...

So...you were really chatty today! :) Glad to hear that about the positive changes to your "problem child". Our problem children are often times the ones that make us the proudest later on! :)

Have a great weekend!

Jennie Bailey said...

L.A. thinks it is Chicago today. I had to walk Lily in a wind tunnel this morning. So naturally, she wanted a long walk. I might have imagined she had a limp so that I could cut it short. Does that make me a horrible person? She's snoring on the couch right now so I can't be TOO bad. Ahem. I think it's awful that they cut you short on the massage. That's bad business! It's not like you ran late because you didn't value their time - you had to go through snow to get there! Happy Friday! And good luck with your ProblemChild. Too bad you can't tell the book that it's growing bigger each sentence and have it cooperate like SonB!

DL Hammons said...

So...you were really chatty today! :) Glad to hear that about the positive changes to your "problem child". Our problem children are often times the ones that make us the proudest later on! :)

Have a great weekend!

Kathryn Purdie said...

Your son sounds like he'd fit in right with my kids. We're always involved in all these elaborate routines just to get them through each day. It's exhausting (but, dang, they're cute!).

And I know what you mean about social media and the blessing/curse it is. If I'm online more than about 30 minutes each day, I go crazy. And I've spent far too much time online lately. :-P I'll try to do better.

Well, take a hot bath and rest those sore muscles!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Ack! My worst nightmare EVER is driving in the snow. I will do almost anything to avoid it, but it's harder now that I have to take my daughter to school in the mornings. This week I lucked out because it's my carpool friend's week to drive. Score! So sorry to hear about your massage. I can't believe they cut it short! I wouldn't ever go there again.

As for social media, I understand completely. I think one of the reasons I get more depressed easily is because I'm constantly comparing myself to others because it's so easy to do that when you're online all the time. I definitely think cutting back is a great idea. I do so often. :)

erica and christy said...

I think SonB is just ahead of the learning curve. Mine didn't start that stuff until he turned 5. :)

The massage story made me laugh. My mom gave me a certificate once - I'd never gotten one before - and I had to use it when I was still nursing my Son #2. I was nervous about being there as a nursing mom and she kept saying "Wow, you're carrying a lot of stress in your upper back" and pressing harder when actually I was trying so hard to squeeze everything together. *rolls eyes at self*.

Good luck with all the #children in your life!
erica

Tammy Theriault said...

phew! so much going on when you got a family, right?? you're not alone!! new follower, hi!

Peggy Eddleman said...

Best of luck with Problem Child! I'm sure it means you're on the brink of brilliance. Aren't problem children always brilliant? That's most of what makes them a problem. :)

Carolyn V said...

Ah! Your little girl is so cute! I miss those days. I hope your back is feeling better. Yikes! ;)