Ok - over a month. Now I should really qualify for that coveted worst blogger ever award. I have excuses though! Mother in law visit! Brother in law visit with kids! Fight with Mother!
First - I am, unbelievably, almost 34 weeks. I still can't believe (hence the "unbelievable" - guess who hasn't written more than CAT, DOG, DADDY in a while?) I've made it this far - chances are looking good at this point, right, right?
Second - A. is an absolute maniac - I can't imagine a boy being more boisterous than her. I joined the Y to swim and to start the separation process with A. (they have babysitting and she'll be going to preschool in September) - we've been a whopping one time. A. is starting ballet camp for 1.5 hours today for six weeks, I'll get some time in which to clean my disaster of a house (see above in law visits and I've been at the lake) and/or nap. I actually hired my cousin's daughter to come over and play with A. yesterday so that I could take a nap. I slept for two hours. So I guess the housecleaning should come first - especially since I have guests coming this weekend. Guests that I like though! How exciting! This is one of my dear, dear friends that I met on ivfc - we've seen each other a number of times and I'm so excited that she and her daughter are coming to visit. The daughter, M. and A. have met once and video skyped once - I think they're going to be hilarious together - so even though the house is a disaster, I'm very happy to have them here.
I'll start with the Mother in Law visit. I'm over the initial trauma and can actually speak about it without frothing at the mouth. This woman - oh this woman! I used every reserve of patience because she is so recently a widow, but it's not like this is new behavior. And yes - I know that so many of you have it so much worse, but she undermines everything I do. And then I had a huge argument about it with G because he didn't believe me. Fortunately, when his brother (K) came, K agreed (actually 'undermine' was his definition of her behavior) that she does this constantly. G's apology consisted of "I thought she was just spoiling A. because she rarely sees her.". Thanks pal.
Funniest: We were in the library and A was getting out a couple of videos - mil picked up Cinde.rella and A. jumped on it. I reminded her that we have it at home and to put it back - mil decided that she should have it anyway and asked why she couldn't:
Me: What if someone else wants to take it out?
MIL: How do you know someone else wants to take it?
Me: Why should she get it if she has the same one at home?
MIL: Because she wants it.
OH!! I see - because she wants it. She told me another time that she should have something because she wants it and I had to gently inform her that, although it sometimes appears otherwise, the three year old doesn't always know what is best for her. Gah!
The funny comes in when A. was carrying around the video with her in the library (she was NOT going to get it, I was deferring the screamfest) and another girl nearly jumped over a chair to get to the video. The girl's mother said that they've been looking for this video for three weeks - every time they come to the library, it's always gone. I assured the girl that she would be taking home the video and left it at the front desk for them. The girl was happy, the mother was happy, A. was fine with leaving it at the desk and I didn't even look at mil. Sometimes life is sweet.
Most Frustrating: A. hasn't been napping and all the excitement of Granny visiting and playing chase/monster/princess was creating quite a sleep deficit (you'll remember we have major sleep issues - if she doesn't get enough sleep, she cannot sleep well). One of the days we were at the lake, A. went to lie down on the couch after lunch. I told everyone to leave her alone, don't talk to her, don't look at her - nothing. If we leave her alone and just stay in the kitchen, she'll probably fall asleep. My apparently HARD OF HEARING mil, grabbed a set of magnetic dress up dolls and started playing with A. Furious? Oh yeah. Later she had the gall to tell A. that no she couldn't have that chocolate right before lunch (she and G had just asked me - why does her father not know that she can't have chocolate right before lunch??) - not because it wasn't in her best interest, but because 'Mummy said NO! And Mummy is the boss." There's nothing I detest more than someone putting the bad shit off on me instead of squarely on the reason. I hope that's coherent, I'm getting a little agitated just thinking about it.
Most Telling: When we were at the lake my Mother told me that she had a watermelon in her car - I told her (I was speaking to MY mother directly - not through MIL although she was at the table - silly me forgot the universe is powered by her personal energy - la la la - starting to froth) - I told my Mother that I would take the watermelon out of the car since the day was starting to warm up. To which, my MIL (remember - the one I was NOT speaking to?) said "oh watermelons like heat." Well, you have fun with your warm watermelon and marking every single difference between Irish culture and American culture - how microwaves back home don't have popcorn buttons - POPCORN BUTTONS! Can you imagine?! Pippa is a hugely popular name in Great Britain and anything, anything at all that would contradict words just uttered by me. Warm watermelon indeed.
Oh and she wants to come back in September to "help" - even though she couldn't be bothered lifting her tea cup from the table most days and I waited on her hand and foot. Lovely!
I am having trouble with the popcorn button issue too hahaha! OMG I must be your MIL!!!!
Yay for 34 wks!!
Posted by: Pamplemousse | July 22, 2009 at 03:57 PM