Tuesday, but felt like Monday, but glad it's not

Sometimes I look at her and say "You're so pretty! I love you!" But then clap my hand over my mouth because they're in no way related, obviously, and ah! Don't say them together, Maloof!

But, yeah. HJ: I love you!

(And you're so pretty.)

My favorite part of today was when, at 5ish in the PM, we were so hot after the nature center playground and were collapsed on the couch looking at things together and I said: "Want some kale?" And she said: "Okay!" And I sauteed it up real quick, brought it in on two bowls and we both inhaled it in 3 minutes. We were desperate for some greens after a morning of fatty diner breakfasts and macaroni and cheese lunches.

I also loved it when she did her usual: "Looka me, woman! I wearing my mermaid shirt!" at the library to a random lady on the stairs. She always introduces herself via clothing choices. And always calls random ladies WOMAN. It's awesome.

Apropos of nothing, but -- after reading many, many, many children's books over these past couple years it becomes alarming how 96% of them end with bedtime. Even if the book has nothing to do with anything remotely bedtimey. It's just, like, hey! You're probably reading this before they go to sleep, so we better wrap it up with a major nudge nudge wink wink! ... ?

"Claire and her buddy had so much fun at preschool that day, playing with dinosaurs and eating apples. But then it was time to go to sleep, so goodnight!"

Stop it, please.

Rainy rainy Tuesday night

Om.

Thank you, thank you for your really kind words of support/love/high fives. It means a lot to know we've got a cheering section out there! Yep, it's a good time for my little fam. 

I've been super sleepy lately, with all this rain (and rain and rain and rain) and an early a'risin' toddler lady. (She was on such a good 6:30 stretch, but 5:00 this morning wha? Also a very short nap? No thank you, ma'am.) And I've been super on alert with Monsieur George, who got a visit from a dog trainer yesterday. Lotsa new rules for the pup around here and it's exhausting staying consistent. Zzzzzzz.

It can be crazyhard filling 15 hour days spent inside, but we're getting by. When I just can't take another fun-filled playdough/puddle splashing/puzzles/sinkbath/"cooking"/tea party/reading/painting moment, we've been putting on The Red Balloon -- that 50s French movie that is ohsosweet. I had no idea if Harps would take to it (it's not exactly action-packed and doesn't have any tunes...), but oh my. She is enamored.

THIS WAY.

Other deep loves of hers right now, before I forget: Billy Joel jams (specifically "Piano Man" -- aka "Man Song" -- and "Only the Good Die Young" -- aka "Drum Song") and saying "so, so, so, so, so" about many different things. As in: "Daddy your face is so, so, so, so, so, so prickly." It's awesome.

Okay. Zonked. Hearts.

A good day

I'm happy today, guys.

My best friend, my cc, had a surveillance scan last week and got his results yesterday -- all clear.

It's a big deal. And has been weighing its weight on my shoulders for weeks now. I feel so light today.

So, right now: the sun is shiny, my family is healthy, my baby is napping, and I'm feeling good.

I'll take it.

Happy, happy weekend!

Jorge

Just mah dog and me. We're friends. But...we get into a lot of fights. Or maybe, actually...he keeps lovin' on me all the time and I get into fights with him in my head.

Oh, George. Having a dog has been much harder for me than having a kid. Is that strange to admit? I feel like it's supposed to be the reverse... like dogs are so simple and trusting and full of soft fur, you don't have to reach down that deep to get through the rough days. I'm just not an animal fanatic, tho, so the cuteness factor doesn't help me as much as others. Or something.

But the growing pains are forcing me to learn and adjust and make my cold heart a little warmer. As my mom reminded me, we don't take on all these things (kids, dogs, houses, projects) to keep an easy life. We take them on to make a richer life. And oh my. He's rich.

At the end of the day, tho... he's a good, good pup. I think I'll keep him.

How'd it get to Wednesday whaaaa?

So rainy and humid and lush and strange out there this week... Like I'm a'livin in Florida instead of CT. We've been cooped up like Grey Gardens ladies, painting with sparkles (that never come off of anything, everever) and singing that "My Home is An Igloo" song from 1980s Sesame Street, but filling in different words ("My home is an igloo and it's made of boogers!" etc) and looking up many different pictures of her new crush (Obama, sorry, "OMama" and no -- this wasn't pushed on her by me. She saw him in the paper and from that moment on, wouldn't rest until his face lay on her bedroom wall; right next to her First Haircut Certificate) and making playdough pies and dancing to La Bamba on repeat. Whew.

And she's up at 5:45 again these days and so it just reaaaaaally stretches, stretches, stretches. These days. I kind of can't believe I enjoy them as much as I do, honestly. Like, I'll stop sometimes and think "This is fun, I think?" And I'm all, back to myself, "It is!" But then I realize I'm so tired and of course would wish 7:30 to arrive just a little faster, dear god, faster.

I had a really nice Mother's Day, the perfect combo of sleeping late, smushing my lovies, getting pretties in packages, and then solo time. (The first chunk I drove to McDonald's in cc's fancy car while they did swimming lessons and I ate salt, salt, salt. Was awesome.) (The second chunk, I took a restorative yoga class at the Y. Delicious.)

Oh and here's a video to show how the whole day wrapped up. Pretty typical evening.

A few things before my battery dies

Sometimes (most times?) I don't blog because the battery on my compy is dead. In general, my ee-lec-tronic devices have between a 2-10% charge at all times. When do ya'll find the time to charge these suckers? (I know, I know. Nighttime. But I'm busy then.)

Okay, so quick before this dies on mah fingers, these things occurred to my head today:

1) I suddenly felt REALLY RELIEVED that I never, ever, ever have to discuss after prom plans. Will we drive to York Beach? Will we have a bonfire in Stephanie's backyard? Will we have the bonfire at night and then drive to the beach the next day? The possibilities were endless. All I can tell you is, I just wanted to go home in my jams and eat Froot Loops. Stop touchin' on me, boys. (Or alternately, ignoring me and chewing gum like a cow for all our pictures. MOO-VING ON.)

2) Without fail, every single day of this life, I have that Monica song (I throw that in so casually, like I have any idea who in hell Monica is/looked like/is she alive?) where it's all "Just one of those daaaaaays. Don't take it personaaaaanal." Yes? You with me? Remember? I mean, this was roughly 15 years ago and it won't leave me be.

3) Remember how importantly hilarious blooper reels were? Like, getting to catch 2 minutes of your favs from Full House mess a line made your life complete? I was on the You Tubez for some reason or other tonight and there were a million options to click on for, of all things, Will and Grace outtakes. And my old self was all "Click click click! The comedy gold!" but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I've come so far?

Okay, computer dying and George wants me to take him up to bed. Last night before cc's back from Dubai-ai-ai. (I can say that now because by the time anyone reads this, he'll be back and it'll be too late to steal us from our beds. Mmmkah?)

Mondee again

Hmm. It appears I've only been updating my corner of the 'nets once-a-weekly. For shame! I think? Or maybe that's a nice flow for me, for now. I feel very, very behind on communications with the outside world; I feel myself slipping into a former bad habit of saying yes please! to things and then not being able to follow through for various and sundry reasons, followed by having to say no, I'm sorry ah! quickly after.

In general, I need to keep a much lower profile ... Just accept the goodness/limitations of my current life (toddler and husband and puppy and house and yard and family and maybe-working-on-a-career-plan) and realize the extras can't happen as often as I think they can. And then, when I do say yes: mean it and stick with it and enjoy it.

Oh, but you probably just wanted to look at that glue stick picture, right?

Funny Harper things (these are more for my benefit to look back on... I love looking back at these things and never seem to do them enough):

- Girlfriend loves to glue. And has the skills! I stand back and let her do her thing (with either real glue and a Q-tip or a stick) and it always shocks me when everything is actually stuck on there, without major overflow. Maybe she'll be a glueologist when she grows up?

- Her love of music is intense, dude. Twice now, we've climbed up the stairs at the library, snuck to the back corner and found the sheet music for Broadway shows to "read the music notes" together. (Per her request.) She loves to run her finger along the notes and listen to me sing/try to find the right tune. She also loves to try and guess what instrument is playing in a song and is often correct. (At IKEA this weekend, she stopped in her tracks to yell "trumpet!" while a muzak song jammed on. It was a sax, but hey! Not too bad.) Never stops singing, has about 20 songs in her repertoire. Often when we pull into the driveway, she requests we sit for awhile so she can stare out the window and listen intently... And music class is the highlight of her week.

- She loves scary things. But then gets genuinely scared. But loves that feeling of oooo creep! This is so obviously inherited from me, it's weird. Tonight, we sat on a chair together and listened to the same Pippin song ("Glory") over and over again, because she thinks Ben Vereen sounds like a ghost at the beginning. She jumps into my lap and hides her head in my chest. "Mummy, I scared! A ghost singing ooo! Ah!" But then as soon as it's over she yells "Again! Again!" Nutcase.

- Obsessed with her "apple boots" (rainboots) and putting them on herself. Wears them everywhere.

- Another inherited thing (from both of us) is her night owldom. No matter when you start the routine (vitamins, bath, brush teeth, jammies, stories, song) she won't fall asleep before 8:45 or 9:00. She pretends to lie down (for cc that is -- with me, she just outright sits up when I walk away) before popping up to read and read and read. We always think she's asleep way before she is, till we suddenly hear a tiny little voice waft down, reciting a favorite book by heart. Sneak.

- Just learned how to use her fingers to count and thinks it's hilarious/fascinating/the meaning of life. And how I love watching her chubby little digits spring up one at a time...
Speaking of counting... She is very, very into me being the Count from Sesame Street. "Be the Count, Mummy!" and then she tells me what I'm counting and I do my borderline fantastic impression. We start out with normal things (toes, apples, cars) and then she gets into complicated verb-y things. "Mummy, be the Count! One baby pretending bubbles are cupcakes!" "Okay... Er. One baby, uh...pretending bubbles are cupcakes... HAHAHA!" Rinse, repeat.

Okay. Brain emptied of that stuff.

George is snoring and I'm kicking myself for not buying Trader Joe's donut holes this afternoon. Picked up some dark choco covered cherries, but those are basically health food and I need some serious starch in my mouth. Amirite?

Mondee morning

Morning, all.

Harps and I had a tea party (mine was coffee, technically) and then she took a huge gulp and clothes were drenched (so much for dressing her in clean clothes under her sleep suit at night) and so then she was naked. And then requested glue and there was a glue party. And then it was all over her and she started to completely lose her mind. (When it dries and starts to stretch and feel/look weird, she goes nutso.)

So up to the tubby for a lavender bubble bath, way heavy on the bubbles. Out she comes, and into her room she goes. Naked and reading books quietly, while I eat leftover pasta and George sleeps. For 9:57, I'll take it. (Tho truth be told, I'm nervous she'll fall asleep up there naked. That will be an awkward fix.)

Nice weekend with my dad/Joie in town -- beach time, Shake Shack time, coloring over pancakes time. Girlfriend thrives on grandparent love.

Other thoughts: It feels that for most of my life, most of the time, I am both hungry and needing to pee. And often cold. How frustrating?

Also: I am so deeply confused about where we are in the seasonal calendar. I cannot stop thinking about pumpkin picking and apple cider and naps-during-football. What? It's almost summer, me. Get with ze program.

I just found out that when we drain her tub, the downstairs toilet bubbles and talks. Glad we're renting tralalala!

I hope she's not peeing in her bed right now.

(No, she's not potty trained yet. Planning on doing an intensive week this summer. Can't handle the long drawn out training style.)

My favorite thing she does lately is a very dramatic, but weirdly who-gives-a-f*ck shoulder shrug with "I don't know!" 

But closely followed by her last sentence of the night a few days ago: "No poopie in the bum, Mummy. Just gas in the bum."

When she's tired/hungry/angry, she'll yell "I need to push Mummy!" Oh. Hey, thanks. I love you, too. Also, no. You can't.

She's listening to a singing birthday card (frogs) right now. "Bye, bye, frogs!" No sleepy in the bum. Just reading in the bum.

Off to find more foods.

Rainy rain

A good weekend had by all! Harper felt much, much better and I felt...better. And thank you for your well wishes on Friday -- felt the vibes, my friends.

The rundown: 

George helped me meet the neighbs next-door. By being a total punk and running away, but still. I was nosy and he helped his mama.They are French and have a Frenchie named Croissant (oh my) and invited me to the pool for the summer. Win.

Got a nice long sleep this morning while cc took the morning shift. The most important part of thisness was getting Jorge off my hands ... He's been driving me nuts today (and yesterday).

I made good progress on Harper's purple cardi. I need to shop for some cute buttons ... Etsy perhaps?

We looked at some fun houses up for sale. We may, may, may be interested in buying something. But we also may completely change our minds and rent forever and till eternity. Keep you posted. The nutty thing about houses in this area of the universe is, they have so many stories. "The man designed Disney theme parks..." or "She designed costumes for Radio City Music Hall" or there's huge canvases half-filled with paint or rooms filled with architectural blue prints. "Martin Luther King came here to help her with a poetry translation." Oh. I mean of course. Makes me feel a little softer about this town... seriously interesting people have made their lives here, so. I can roll.

We finally started watching the new Sherlock Holmes. I LOVE IT. What took me so long?! Headplant.

Harper was begging cc to take her to the "Prosithia, prosithia!" And he was wandering around, confused and desperate to crack the toddler code. She's pulling on his hand and I come down the path with George to see the scene. And then "Pretty yellow flower, Daddy! PROSITHIA." Like duh. And then he gets it -- Forsythia. And we all find one creeping over the stonewall and she looks so pleased and proud and right with the world. Thanks, Grammy/Botany proff!

Oh and. Harper fell in love (deep, deep love) with heels:


 

Sickz

Bribery.

 Junior year of high school, I went to Johnson's (we all worked there, you get delicious fried food there, you wear red shirts and scoop ice cream and hand out french fries and clams there) one afternoon after classes and sat at a picnic table with some girlfriends. I ordered a girch plus t (grilled cheese and tomato) and a mint chocolate chip frappe (milkshake) and pepper rings (green peppers fried into onion ring goodness). I ate it all and then drove back to one of the gals' houses and promptly fell asleep on her couch for 16 hours.

I woke up and felt semi-alarmed, but blamed it on the food bomb and general exhaustion after a long week of...whatever juniors in high school do. (I felt very put upon by my life of ballet classes, play rehearsal and failing pre-calculus.)

I got home and started moping around, feeling 100% strange. My family was on a trip and I was free to watch trash and lie around. An hour or so into this, I got a phone call from the doctor's office I'd visited a couple days before for a routine lady exam.

The nurse led with: "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible, actually." What in the world? How'd she know to call.

"Oh my. Well... you have Toxic Shock Syndrome."

".... .... ...."

"So... you'll need two or three weeks of medication and you shouldn't be alone right now. Someone needs to wake you up every few hours to make sure you're..."

"...alive?!"

Anywho. So I had this crazy rare thing and I took the meds and was fine and it was all pretty crazyville. But I know now when the doctor calls you with "How are you feeling?" they're not inquiring about your existential/career quandaries. 

Which brings me to these past couple weeks. (I'm making this way more dramatic than is called for, we're both fine, I'll just jump to that now for the grandparents' sake.) We've both been feeling baaaaad since a few days before Easter. Colds and coughs and sore throats and tireds. Then a week ago, my general malaise kicked up a few notches (sore neck, aching joints, super sore throat, losing the will to live) and I convinced myself I had Lyme/meningitis/flu/plague/consumption.

My mom cruised into town to help us sickies and I immediately headed for Urgent Care, where they looked me all over (including my bizarro/raised bite that is probably a spider bite ahahahaha GROSS THE HORROR) and did a Strep test and it came back negative and the doctor asked me if I'd like to be admitted to the hospital? Um, no. If I have a choice, no thanks? He shrugged and said well, I guess it's some kind of viral thing dot dot dot ...

Two days pass, get a phone call. "How are you feeling....?" So I really do have the Strep plague and they got me hooked on the meds stat. We also got Harps checked and I'm waiting to hear back on the results tho they started her on Amox, too, since it's likely she's got it and her ears looked red and her throat looked red and she's still hacking up a lung.

I'm not 100% (maybe I'm 75%) and I'm surprised since usually 2 days into meds and I'm like woo! Party! But I don't feel worse and my throat is considerably, considerably better. But the aching and the neck stiffness and tireds are still there. Maybe that's just called Being a Mom? Harumph.

Long sicky posts always bum me/bore me out, so apologies for inflicting that on ye. Just wanted to say hello! And sorry it's been a quiet week and sorry if I owe you an email or three... I will get back to you, I will, I will!

Middle of the night phone blogging because she's yelling for me to take her downstairs

Some things in no particular order

I'm eating a stale doughnut and Earl Grey tea for breaky. Why can't I just throw away a doughnut at the end of the day when it hasn't been eaten? Because I just can't. Must be my Depression roots. 

Oh and I feel like a genius for two Harper food-related things:

1) For her lunch, I make individual portions of Annie's mac and cheese instead of the whole box. Just boil a little bit of water, pour in a kiddo's portion, and pour the cooked macaroni into her bowl. Sprinkle in some of the cheese, add a drop of milk, done. The pot doesn't get messy, just one bowl to clean, no weird leftovers that turn hard and tasteless, and it cooks up much faster. (Yes, I know there are individual microwave packs, but those things have issues of their own.)

2) Frozen sweet potato pancakes from Whole Foods and frozen french toast from Trader Joe's. 30 seconds in the microwave, smear of agave, cut into halves on a plate. She inhales.

I've become obsessed with the Princess and the Frog soundtrack. Because I'm 11? But mostly because it's written by Randy Newman. I came upon it through Harper's little YouTube routine: Watching "Mermaid, then Belle, then Jasmine!" (We put on "Part of Your World" and then "Belle" and then "A Whole New World" and she's in early 90's ecstasy.)

I was just Googling ballroom dancing lessons. This worries me, but I also think I might need to do it. (I've been doing a lot of Latin inspired moves when the Dora theme comes on.)

I've started eating Uncrustables again. More like...unforgivable.

I bought some scratch 'n sniff stickers for HJ at the dollar store. This is a very difficult concept to get across to a two-year-old.

My entire yard is covered in violets. Beautiful, actually, but probably not Westport lawn material. I will be having many garden parties this year, of course. Really, tho -- is there anything I can do with violets? I hear they're edible -- are they tasty? Can I, like, candy them? Dye a towel? Sprinkle them in my bed? (No.)

Happy Friday/weekend/warm weather, hopefully!

Harper's world

You know...(or maybe you don't) liiiiike Elmo's World? With the crayon and the goldfish, too? Lalalala. Oh, Dorothy.

 (p.s. One of my favorite moments in all of children's television was: an Elmo's World where Dorothy was "talking" to a child with Down Syndrome. And afterward, Elmo said: "That baby was gorgeous!" I think about it all the time and still get choked up.)

She's feeling almost entirely better now and was happy to be at school today (I get a little thrill/chill down my spine when I realize she'll be there without me for 6 hours a week starting September) and there's a new session of music starting tomorrow and tiny little purple flowers popping up all over the yard.

She's been really chatty lately (especially at home, pretty quiet in public -- which I think is how I was) and it's fun to hear how she's getting more and more reliable/offering up details when cc asks her what we did that day. Oh and she busted out with one of my favorite word combos yet a couple days ago:

(Running out of the bathroom, holding up her sleeve): "MUMMY! I have boogers in my nose and I wiped them!"

It's so weird when they are just making big ol' sentences that make sense and are gross and then they laugh.

"I funny!!!!"

Oh, so, here are a few pics from her day-to-day.
 

Pink lady. (Dude, it's COLD again.)

They built her cottage together tonight while I cooked dinner. She is PUMPED.

Morning walk.

Shaving cream at Quaker school.

Sickies and Easter

Oops. Radio silence following a post about an ER rash. And then she got an entirely different rash (lacy and all over her abdomen) three days later! Party time. This time, it came alongside a brutal cold and a fever, yada yada. So I knew it was probably viral (Fifth Disease, I'm thinking) and that other rash was probably a harbinger of the sickness en route. WHY AM I STILL TYPING ABOUT RASHES. Sorry.

 I also got sick with super congestion and runny nose and a sore throat. And it was cold and wet and I had brutal, brutal cramps and had to do that whole putting on a happy face when I really want to hide under the wool blanket thing. Cue a very small violin.

Anywho.

 Suffice it to say, we've both been having a rough and stuffy and crabby few days, but we're definitely on the slow upswing. And we had a nice Easter -- she loved the can'y (tho I'm not sure she actually ingested much -- she really got into a ladylike stuffing-in-mouth and chewing, but then spitting it all out routine) and coloring the eggs (cc has all those pics, hope to post them later) and the egg hunt. But please, please. Don't mention the Easter Bunny or she'll lose her noodle. Eeeeeep. (He is a terrifying notion, honestly. And I never believed in him myself, so don't plan on doing him up much...)

And now, while Elmo wraps up and I have a few minutes, I'll go knit a row or two on the purple cotton cardigan I just started for her...

A few quick pics!

Monday, go away.

Today was so stressful I'm eating an ice cream cone in bed.

But we're all home now, snug as bugs. George had a last minute trip to the vet and got antibiotics. Harps had an ER visit, fresh out of the bath, in bare feet and a strange pink and yellow outfit we pulled hastily from drawers. She came home singing Aladdin songs and cheering: "Baby's fine!'

I can't even make a funny story out of it because, well, kids and sick stuff and potential sick stuff just make my heart heavy. I've been there when you show up at the ER and suddenly your worst thoughts are coming true. So it's not really easy anymore to brush things off, to remind myself the stats, to stay calm during the unknown.

She's just fine (knock on wood) if not completely pissed at us for taking her to the hospital at bedtime. I freaked out about an under-the-skin rash I saw during bath and while I was quite certain she was showing signs of Leukemia or Meningitis or about to lose her leg due to blood poisoning... the docs say it's probably nothing/keep an eye on it. Of course, I'll be watching it and every other spot on her body till she's 100 and I'm 127...so I'll never really feel total peace. But right now, tonight, I'll let myself feel a little bit.

Please let me remember how I felt tonight when it's 5:30 and she's screaming her head off about wanting another Wonder Pets and a slice of honey bread and dinner is burning and George peed on my foot and I just want to run away to a small village in France where I'll ride my bike in a flowy dress and pick out baguettes from the farmer's market while people sing about my head being stuck in a book. Please let me remember my life is pretty much perfect right here.

Oh and if you want to see my Jones in all her glory, check this vid.



Now to finish my cone before cc comes up.

End o' the week

 Oh, I'm so tired.

It's been a good week, tho. I got two count 'em twoooo visits from Manhattan and Brooklyn pals (complete with donut delivery YES) and there was Quaker school and tomorrow I'm hosting playgroup. George and I have gotten into a good groove (no accidents in a couple day hooyah!) with a schedule and Harper is all oh yeah, George is just here now. No big.

Our biggest triumph this week was getting her to sit on the steps and watch/chat while I get George to do his bi'ness instead of, oh, wailing and pulling on her wispies and begging me to carry her while I tried.

But yeah, so tired. I guess it's probably the "good" kind of tired people talk about...but I just know I can't get through another episode of Portlandia. I'm out, Seacrest. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Not gonna lie, people

The puppy thing is hard.

Now trust me; I didn't think it'd be easy. And I remember a few people saying: "Take how hard you think it's gonna be and then multiply that by...a few." Which is pretty accurate. I think the thing of it is -- I'm trying hard to do this the right way, the kind way, the set-things-up-good-now-so-the-future-is-smooth way. And it's exhausting.

I can't let the dude out of my sight (I just spent a good 10 seconds trying to remember how to spell that), which is really kind of a crazy feat. And the sheer amount of times I have to take him out to prevent accidents is mind boggling. And! Even when I'm taking him out every two hours or so, he still has accidents. Whew.

He's a good, good dog though. Not a barker or a biter or a maniac. He's stubborn and he's a chewer and he sure likes to pee a lot. But he's cuddly and tough and just a pal.

Thank god for all that, because if he were chock full of crazy behaviors, I'm not sure I'd be able to roll with it. Bless the people who can, but I need a laidback softie guy. Because even he is a challenge.

But really, it'd all be in the realm of doable without the whole having-a-toddler thing. And it's still in the realm of doable, obviously, or I'd be dead/in jail/running away and not typing this with a snoozing pup on my thigh. But Harper has really been thrown for a loop by the whole thing. She's past the scared phase and the GO AWAY phase (though, of course, she still wants him to go away sometimes) and now wakes up asking for him ("George! Where are you?!") and gives him big hugs and likes when he chases her around the house. (Though doesn't like it when he gets too tired to keep going.)

She's still angry about me not being available to her 24/7. Angry that sometimes we're playing happily, all together upstairs in her room, when I notice George is scratching and sniffing and AH! Grab the pup, run downstairs, grab the leash and a treat and AH outside! Leaving little Jones in the dust, reading Corduroy and wondering where the hell mum went.

I've had to rely a bit too much on treats -- cupcakes eaten in my bed while I run him outside (sorry, cc...) and games on the iPad to keep her occupied while I'm hustling him outside or cleaning up an accident or making him eat (is this a bulldog thing? not really caring about his food?) ... We've finally gotten him used to his crate, so I can plunk him in there at different intervals while we're home or we need to take a trip to Stew's/library/pool. HJ has had at least one away-from-George trip a day to do something fun and has gotten lots of books and cuddles and even stayed up late with us eating popcorn and watching Liz Lemon the other day. No violins for this girl.

But I know it's a big change for her, to go from ZE ONLY ONE to ZE ONLY BABY plus a dog. And I also know it's good for her, good to figure out that sometimes there are curveballs and shakeups, but life goes on. That yes, mom is kind of insane right now and really tired and wearing the same sweater for 5 days and feeding you toast for dinner -- but this too shall pass. That a little crazy guy (who really isn't all that crazy even as a puppy, whew) who drives you nuts can also turn into a real buddy that loves you deeplymadly.

(This too shall pass...right?!)

I have no idea where my computer charger is

And I'm also wiped from toddler plus puppy equals exhaustion.

George is a real honey and Harps is...slowly, slowly warming up. She's been madly jealous, but this morning she woke up asking for him to "tickle my feet!" and she's generally been a love to him. So...let's hope we're turning a corner?

Here are the pals hanging out.

Oh so, uh, we kinda got a dog?

His name's George, he's a Frenchie, and we're in love. More on this later. Was too busy snuggling to write a real post...

Friday

Please note her very, very tiny little bun.

On Wednesdays we go to Harper's future nursery school together, for a little mom+toddler class. I was a bit nervous this week -- she started pushing on our Florida trip (Sorry cousin Libs!) and now she'll give babies-in-her-way a little shove if she needs them to move. (She also likes to pick up their hands and move them to another, not-fun toy.)

She's slowed it way down since I've started my new strategy (removing her from the situation after a warning), but school is full of some fun sh*t and I was worried she'd get overexcited and overpushy.

After a small trial push with a look back at me, the teacher spoke gently to H before I could -- and that seemed to do it. (Dude, who wants to get in trubs with the teacher?) The rest of the class she kept her hands to herself and played alongside her pals without any moshing. She even painted for a long stretch next to another H, patiently holding onto her yellow brush even tho she was dying to use the blue.

Little Jones. All growed up.