I think no is going to be our family's motto. It seems like we are constantly saying it to the kids and the kids are constantly saying it to us. Without a doubt, it's S's favorite word, even when she means yes or maybe. It may even be what is put on her headstone: "She always said NO!"
The best part of the constant no is the reaction you get when you abide by it, even though said child means yes. Case in point: Last night and the dinner/bedtime routine.
Me: T, what do you want for dinner tonight?
T: I don't want nothing. Just...nothing.
Me: S, what do you want?
S: NO!
Me: mmmmmkay. Leftovers it is!
S: NO!
T: I don't like leftovers.
Me: Okay, no leftovers (I'm totally lying)
I go into the kitchen and start to heat up what I think they'll eat, think about it a second, and decide to get the pots and pans out to help fool them. Within five minutes:
T: Mom, what are you doing?
Me: Making dinner
S: NO!
T: Making dinner?
Me: Yep! Smells yummy, doesn't it?
T: Yes! I'm hungry, Mommy, I'm hungry (he picked up this line from 101 Dalmations)
S: No!! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
10 minutes later as I'm serving dinner
Me: T what do you want to drink - juice or milk?
T: Milk
Me: S, what do you want to drink - juice or milk?
S: NO!
Me: Do you want juice?
S: NO!
Me: Do you want milk?
S: NO!
Me: okay, milk it is then since you've had juice today.
S: NOOOOOOOOOO!
Fill cup with milk and put it on the table
S: No! No milk! NO!!!! I want juice!
Because I know this is coming, I switch out the milk with the cup of juice I already poured.
Me: Okay, here you go. Juice instead.
S: NO! NONONONONONONOOOOOO NOOOOO JUICE.
Me: Your only other choices are air and water.
S: NO! I want juice.
Me: You have juice right there.
S: No mommy! NO!
Me: (sighing heavily) S, do you even know what you want?
S: No
Me: Are you tired?
S: No
Me: Are you grouchy?
S: No
Me: Are you hungry?
S: No
Me: Are you just determined to be difficult?
S: NO! Leave me alone.
Me: Okay.
S: Mommy! Mommy!!! Mommymommymommymommymommy.
Me: Okay R - tag team - you're it.
R: No problem
S: NO NO NO!!!! Mommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommy
Me: I'm turning in my two week notice.
R: I will not accept it.
I love my kids. Really I do.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Moving on
One of the things about being a military family is that you get used to saying goodbye pretty quickly. For me, at least, it seems like almost every time I meet someone that I really, truly click with they move within a year. It doesn't make the friendship any less solid, it's just something that's always in the back of my mind "she's leaving soon, drat it!". In one way, I think it's beneficial because I tend to try and make the most of the time I have before they move, but in another way, there's always a little hole in my heart when they leave. For the first few months, we'll stay in touch and then we'll slowly stop emailing or updating each other. It's sad, but I am grateful because for these few women that I have met and developed friendships with, it's made my life here better, richer, more bearable during the ups and downs.
Friendships were something I always took for granted without even knowing it. When I lived in NC, I had the fortune to meet some amazing and wonderful people along the way and I formed some amazing friendships. Of course, since that's what I was used to, I didn't really appreciate it for what it was or realize how rare it was. Now that we've been gone for almost six years (gosh, it doesn't seem possible), and since we've been stationed at a base that seems to be filled (at least from my experiences) mostly with women that make me want to dunk my head in the nearest toilet so I don't have to deal with the drama and hypocrisy that mere socializing seems to involve - I've developed a true appreciation for those few women that have truly touched my life. With them, I don't have to be anything but myself and they accept me as I am both good and bad. For those of you that read this blog (and I really hope you know who you are) thanks for being my sounding board, psychologist, support system, cheering squad and most importantly my friend.
As my friend J just left, she asked me if I wanted her baking supplies since the movers couldn't pack them and it didn't make sense to ship them. I went over to her house last week and was surprised to see five large bags full of stuff. They sat in the car for a few days, then we moved them into the house were they sat by the door for a few days and I finally got around to going through them today. I now have more baking stuff than I'll be able to use before we leave here, so thank you J! You've only been gone a few days, but you are missed :( and not just because of all the sugar. LOL!
Friendships were something I always took for granted without even knowing it. When I lived in NC, I had the fortune to meet some amazing and wonderful people along the way and I formed some amazing friendships. Of course, since that's what I was used to, I didn't really appreciate it for what it was or realize how rare it was. Now that we've been gone for almost six years (gosh, it doesn't seem possible), and since we've been stationed at a base that seems to be filled (at least from my experiences) mostly with women that make me want to dunk my head in the nearest toilet so I don't have to deal with the drama and hypocrisy that mere socializing seems to involve - I've developed a true appreciation for those few women that have truly touched my life. With them, I don't have to be anything but myself and they accept me as I am both good and bad. For those of you that read this blog (and I really hope you know who you are) thanks for being my sounding board, psychologist, support system, cheering squad and most importantly my friend.
As my friend J just left, she asked me if I wanted her baking supplies since the movers couldn't pack them and it didn't make sense to ship them. I went over to her house last week and was surprised to see five large bags full of stuff. They sat in the car for a few days, then we moved them into the house were they sat by the door for a few days and I finally got around to going through them today. I now have more baking stuff than I'll be able to use before we leave here, so thank you J! You've only been gone a few days, but you are missed :( and not just because of all the sugar. LOL!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!
Finally, finally, I am done. Finished with school at least until I realize that this degree still isn't going to help me get a job and I try for a new one. I made a joke a million years ago that I was going to start with Accounting and continue getting degrees until I got to Zoology, but who can afford that kind of thing these days? I sure can't! Even with the military discount (which was pretty substantial), I paid enough for this Masters' degree that I flinch when I think about it. I know R is supportive and we talked about the financial aspect of it before I started the degree program, but something about not having income of my own and spending that kind of money makes me queasy. So, let's hope it pays off in the long run. If I go back to school - and that's a pretty substantial IF - I'm going to major in marriage and family counseling or human resources. If that doesn't work, I'm going to stand near intersections with my diplomas in one hand and and hold up a sign in the other that says "Have degrees, seeking work, resumes available". I mean, hey, how often do those folks give you something for free?
The kids aren't sure what to think that I'm not glued to my laptop for hours a day. Of course, now I'm on Facebook and addicted to Sorority Life and Farm Town and My Zoo, so I might still need an intervention. I take it as a good sign that when I open my laptop, S doesn't shout, "NOOOOOOOOO!" and try to close it even if my fingers are in the way.
So, what am I going to do with all my free time? My immediate priorities are twofold - get back in shape (I want to jog/run a 5K before we leave this base) and get this house in order. We've still got boxes in the spare downstairs bedroom that haven't been unpacked since we got here. And that was almost a year ago. Of course, both of those pale in comparison to spending more time with the kids. For the most part, I tried to limit how much time I spent on schoolwork while they were awake, but I was often distracted. So, here's hoping for a wonderful and fun summer - our last in Germany - and the start to another wonderful chapter of our family life.
Yesterday we went for a walk, letting the kids ride their bikes on the walking path. When I say ride their bikes, I really mean that T rode his bike and S sat on hers while we pushed her. About a half mile in, I noticed that S can finally reach the pedals of her bike. Two months ago, she was a couple inches short. She's just growing so fast. So is T, who now comes up to R's elbow when they are standing side by side. On our way back, S had decided she wanted to walk, and she just started twirling. R, who I truly believe had very limited fun as a kid, didn't get the fun in that, so I told him and T just to keep going, that I'd wait for S to finish and we'd catch up. She was having so much fun that I started to twirl too, and then we twirled together, laughing and giggling. I looked up to see R looking at me with an expression on his face that suggested he was doubting my sanity. Who can blame him? But the divine Ms. S and I, we had a LOT of fun.
The kids aren't sure what to think that I'm not glued to my laptop for hours a day. Of course, now I'm on Facebook and addicted to Sorority Life and Farm Town and My Zoo, so I might still need an intervention. I take it as a good sign that when I open my laptop, S doesn't shout, "NOOOOOOOOO!" and try to close it even if my fingers are in the way.
So, what am I going to do with all my free time? My immediate priorities are twofold - get back in shape (I want to jog/run a 5K before we leave this base) and get this house in order. We've still got boxes in the spare downstairs bedroom that haven't been unpacked since we got here. And that was almost a year ago. Of course, both of those pale in comparison to spending more time with the kids. For the most part, I tried to limit how much time I spent on schoolwork while they were awake, but I was often distracted. So, here's hoping for a wonderful and fun summer - our last in Germany - and the start to another wonderful chapter of our family life.
Yesterday we went for a walk, letting the kids ride their bikes on the walking path. When I say ride their bikes, I really mean that T rode his bike and S sat on hers while we pushed her. About a half mile in, I noticed that S can finally reach the pedals of her bike. Two months ago, she was a couple inches short. She's just growing so fast. So is T, who now comes up to R's elbow when they are standing side by side. On our way back, S had decided she wanted to walk, and she just started twirling. R, who I truly believe had very limited fun as a kid, didn't get the fun in that, so I told him and T just to keep going, that I'd wait for S to finish and we'd catch up. She was having so much fun that I started to twirl too, and then we twirled together, laughing and giggling. I looked up to see R looking at me with an expression on his face that suggested he was doubting my sanity. Who can blame him? But the divine Ms. S and I, we had a LOT of fun.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saving the worst for last - part 2? 3? 4?
STUPID COMPUTERS!
Okay, let’s try this again. For the fourth time. (mumbling under my breath)
I knew this week was going to be busy. Friday night is the Dining In, and I have my doubts about a few of the people that have said they are going to help. I base this on the one thing I have always agreed with Dr. Phil about – the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. And based on the past behavior of one of the people that’s supposed to show up and help me decorate tomorrow – I’m pretty certain that I’ll be there by myself. There are worse things of course, but it’s just been a frustrating week and this isn’t helping.
I’m just into the second week of my last Master’s class. Since starting this program, we’ve had learning teams in almost every class. I’ve been extremely lucky with my learning team thus far – even though there have been procrastinating team mates, the work always gets done and submitted by deadline. With this learning team, however, we’ve missed one deadline already, we have two assignments due this week and no one has done jack s**t towards it. I’m so frustrated! The other three individuals don’t seem the least bit concerned. But I work hard for my grades and I really, really don’t feel like having my GPA ruined by these slackers. So I’m mentally preparing myself to do it all alone. Not the best way to handle it, but between this same situation happening in three different areas of my life right now, I’m losing patience. If you say you’re going to do something, freakin’ do it. ON TIME.
To take a break and vent via this blog, I popped in a movie and gave the kids a bowl of popcorn, which S decided to dump on top of the new rug, then stomp on and walk through. This follows her parlor trick of dumping out the entire first aid kit and walking on that too when I was trying to put a bandage on T’s face after he fell off the wall at the edge of our property into some ivy and sticks. Luckily he was only about three feet off the ground instead of higher and he escaped with minor scrapes and a bumped nose. But he wailed for a good five minutes because I think it really scared him. Poor kid. He’s going to end up with a nose like Michael Jackson if he keeps up this pace of damage.
So, now I’ve got to get our resident diva, the divine Miss S to clean up her mess while keeping T away from it so that he doesn’t do it for her. Any why he’s willing to clean up her mess and not his own is a mystery to me. And as I just looked up from my computer, they are both asleep. It’s 4:45 here and if they sleep now, they won’t sleep tonight. If they don’t sleep tonight, I won’t be able to get any school work done. If I don’t get any schoolwork done, I’m in deep doo-dah because the entire day tomorrow is shot between the dining in and getting ready for the garage sale we are participating in on Saturday. And, since it looks like I’m going to be doing two team projects solo – I guess the smart thing to do is accept that there will be no sleep for me until this class ends, at which point I never ever have to see or talk to these lazy-assed ‘team mates’ again. And could someone PLEASE tell me how people that can not form a coherent sentence or agree verb tenses within a sentence make it all the way through a Masters’ program and actually freakin’ GRADUATE. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Note to anyone who is interested – since I’ve been typing in Word, I haven’t had a single incident of magically disappearing text. And, Word spell checks as I go. So…PHBTTTTTTTTTT Blogger. You are so on my “I don’t like you list” today, along with most of the rest of the world. Who needs a Midol? I do, I do!!!!!
Okay, let’s try this again. For the fourth time. (mumbling under my breath)
I knew this week was going to be busy. Friday night is the Dining In, and I have my doubts about a few of the people that have said they are going to help. I base this on the one thing I have always agreed with Dr. Phil about – the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. And based on the past behavior of one of the people that’s supposed to show up and help me decorate tomorrow – I’m pretty certain that I’ll be there by myself. There are worse things of course, but it’s just been a frustrating week and this isn’t helping.
I’m just into the second week of my last Master’s class. Since starting this program, we’ve had learning teams in almost every class. I’ve been extremely lucky with my learning team thus far – even though there have been procrastinating team mates, the work always gets done and submitted by deadline. With this learning team, however, we’ve missed one deadline already, we have two assignments due this week and no one has done jack s**t towards it. I’m so frustrated! The other three individuals don’t seem the least bit concerned. But I work hard for my grades and I really, really don’t feel like having my GPA ruined by these slackers. So I’m mentally preparing myself to do it all alone. Not the best way to handle it, but between this same situation happening in three different areas of my life right now, I’m losing patience. If you say you’re going to do something, freakin’ do it. ON TIME.
To take a break and vent via this blog, I popped in a movie and gave the kids a bowl of popcorn, which S decided to dump on top of the new rug, then stomp on and walk through. This follows her parlor trick of dumping out the entire first aid kit and walking on that too when I was trying to put a bandage on T’s face after he fell off the wall at the edge of our property into some ivy and sticks. Luckily he was only about three feet off the ground instead of higher and he escaped with minor scrapes and a bumped nose. But he wailed for a good five minutes because I think it really scared him. Poor kid. He’s going to end up with a nose like Michael Jackson if he keeps up this pace of damage.
So, now I’ve got to get our resident diva, the divine Miss S to clean up her mess while keeping T away from it so that he doesn’t do it for her. Any why he’s willing to clean up her mess and not his own is a mystery to me. And as I just looked up from my computer, they are both asleep. It’s 4:45 here and if they sleep now, they won’t sleep tonight. If they don’t sleep tonight, I won’t be able to get any school work done. If I don’t get any schoolwork done, I’m in deep doo-dah because the entire day tomorrow is shot between the dining in and getting ready for the garage sale we are participating in on Saturday. And, since it looks like I’m going to be doing two team projects solo – I guess the smart thing to do is accept that there will be no sleep for me until this class ends, at which point I never ever have to see or talk to these lazy-assed ‘team mates’ again. And could someone PLEASE tell me how people that can not form a coherent sentence or agree verb tenses within a sentence make it all the way through a Masters’ program and actually freakin’ GRADUATE. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Note to anyone who is interested – since I’ve been typing in Word, I haven’t had a single incident of magically disappearing text. And, Word spell checks as I go. So…PHBTTTTTTTTTT Blogger. You are so on my “I don’t like you list” today, along with most of the rest of the world. Who needs a Midol? I do, I do!!!!!
Saving the worst for last
I'm really starting to hate computers. After spending the better part of an hour typing a entry, this stupid computer make a little clicking sound and backed up to my blog sign in page. I know exactly what that means, because it's happened before - I just lost all my $%($*%&(#*&$(#@ work. Except the title, which is just the least useful thing to be saved. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And like I pointed out, and will likely point out again, it's not the first time it's happened, it probably won't be the last, but I'm seriously considering getting out my other keyboard that I can attach via a USB port that doesn't give me all this trouble.
OH! MY! GOODNESS! It just freakin' happened again. That's IT! I'm typing the blogs in word and then cutting and pasting from THIS SECOND FORWARD.
And like I pointed out, and will likely point out again, it's not the first time it's happened, it probably won't be the last, but I'm seriously considering getting out my other keyboard that I can attach via a USB port that doesn't give me all this trouble.
OH! MY! GOODNESS! It just freakin' happened again. That's IT! I'm typing the blogs in word and then cutting and pasting from THIS SECOND FORWARD.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Color coding
My friend Kellie asked if the kids and I would be interested meeting her kids and her at the pool today. Yes and no. Yes I'm interested, but being interested in taking them and successfully accomplishing it are completely different beasts. But I agreed, because it did sound like fun, the kids LOVE the pool, and frankly, if R and handle it, then surely I can too. No really. I can.
R found out a few months ago that there were family locker areas at the pool that offer more space in the way of changing areas, less crowding and more privacy. So today, I took the kids into the family area, changed them into suits, changed into mine and we headed down to meet Kellie and her kids.
Let me just explain quickly that I'm apparently having a severe shortage of patience and understanding this week. I'm thinking of taking some Midol to see if that's part of the issue, because honestly, things that don't normally bug me are making me want to rip off the heads off people and stomp on them. This is so not a good disposition when dealing with a two and four year old, especially difficult two and four year olds. Wait, did I say difficult? I meant...spirited or full of personality or maybe extremely individualistic. No, actually I really meant difficult. Of course, I'll post this and begin to feel guilty, but today... well, today I'm speaking the truth. Hello, my name is B. and my kids are freakin' difficult. Hi, B.
Anywho, after taking over 20 minutes to change the two kids and myself into suits...well, the divine Miss S, resident diva, didn't even have a suit, I just put her in a swim diaper...my disposition hadn't exactly improved. As we are walking down the hall, T grabs his crotch, and announces that he has to potty and starts hopping up and down. Which, sorry for the additional sidetrack, but it seems like hopping up and down would make it worse, not better. Luckily we had walked right by a bathroom, so I pointed him to the men's room. After dragging S out of there about 15 times and standing there sweating in the heat and humidity (which did nothing, nothing, nothing for my disposition) I started to get really impatient with T and snapped for him to come on already. It was just pee... what the heck was taking all day?!?! Plus we were already late to meet Kellie and crew, and that didn't help my attitude whatsoever. I hate to be late. Being that I hate to be late, you would think that I'd be late less often. Yet - not so much.
T finally comes out of the men's room naked and carrying his bathing suit. In Germany, this is no big deal, but in certain states, I feel pretty sure that this could result in a public indecency charge. So I took a deep breath and asked why he wasn't wearing his suit. Seems like he got a little pee on it. (insert sigh and eye roll here). So I take the suit into the ladies room and rinse it out. Well, then he doesn't want to wear it because it's wet, so I actually snarl at him - put. it. on. About seven minutes later, we finally make it to the actual kiddie area of the pool. To have been a holiday, the pool wasn't very crowded so the kids had lots of room to play and splash and get tired.
Eventually it was time to go, so we headed back to the family area to change into dry clothes. In the family area, there's a red, yellow, and blue area, which didn't stand out as significant to me whatsoever. Germans are fond of different colors, and we'd always used the blue area before. As the kids and I walk into the blue changing area, there's a man and his two sons standing there. Naked. Which, after almost four years here, I'm used to the fact that Germans have a much more relaxed view of nudity than Americans do, but it took me by surprise anyway. I started helping the kids get undressed, but the guy was standing (still naked, btw) in front of the locker where our stuff was. So I politely said "entschuldigung" which is 'excuse me' and went to get out stuff out of the locker when the man politely told me that the blue family area is for men, red is for women, and yellow is for entire families. I turned seventeen shades of red and was obviously mortified, which made him laugh. I immediately started gathering up our stuff to move to the proper area, but I hadn't expected this faux pas, so there was just stuff crammed into the locker everywhere since we had been running late and I was already impatient. As is usually the case, the more flustered I get, the worse I make it for myself. So I was dropping stuff ALL over the place - shoes, underwear, change...and it wasn't like my disposition had improved at all during our visit - so now I'm mortified, impatient, short tempered, bordering on hateful, and frustrated. At that point I just give up and decide that we'll have to get dressed there and chalk this up to one of those really valuable life lessons that will hopefully be funny. Soon.
I get the kids dressed, then I start to yank on my clothes. The thing about getting the kids dressed first is that then they are ready to go.. so as I'm buck naked, T and S open the door to the hallway. I yelp, and dive for cover. It's one thing to change in a locker room, it's another for an entire hallway full of people to see you do it. So S, trying to be helpful, flings the door shut and smashes her finger and starts to wail. Greaaaaat. I check it for damage - no blood, broken skin, and the bone doesn't seem to have suffered any real damage - and then try to finish getting dressed as fast as I can. S is having none of that, so she sits down (on the wet floor in her dry clothes) and just wails like a siren. I'm trying to talk her down as my clothes simply refuse to cooperate. Seriously, it was like trying to wiggle into a pleather catsuit. Finally, FINALLY I get my clothes on and pick up my soggy bottomed daughter, who is now over it and doesn't want me to hold her since I didn't hold her when she wanted. Fair enough, actually. I cram all the wet suits and towels into our bag and off we go. Kellie and her kids are waiting patiently for us, so I start to tell her the story only to look up and see locker room guy standing right behind her. Blushing another six shades of red, I tell her I'll fill her in later and start the process of getting the kids to head to the car. We were planning a trip to McDonalds, which I had withheld announcing as a way to get them out of the pool and to the car. Sadly, today when I needed it to work it had no effect at all. S threw herself down on the sidewalk and refused to budge. T, trying to be helpful starts shouting, COME ON, S. MOVE YOUR BUTT!!!!!!!!! I seriously need to start watching what I say. I finally get them down the steps and they both run into the road. And then just stand there. Oh, for the love of Pete! I have no idea how they have escaped damage at this point with their love of running into roads. I end up firmly escorting them to the car, dreading the trip to McD's.
Rightly so - S walks up to strangers and tries to help herself to their food, T pulls out all the wooden coffee stirrers from their container on the counter, S keeps trying to go behind the counter, and T starts to spin in circles. This is before we even order. About an hour and a spilled drink, dropped McNugget, epic battle over who gets the remaining drink, a fight over ketchup, 500 trips down the slide that's outside on the patio, various and assorted plastic burns from using his body a braking system and a flat out refusal by both kids to leave and I drag them both to the car amid the usual wailing and protests and vow not to do this again for a long, long time. Kellie, meanwhile is trying not to laugh (soooooo glad she thinks this is funny) and wisely resists the impulse to tell me to chillax.
Two seconds after I start the car and we head home, T announces - 'I'm hungry, Mommy'. Sigh.....of course you are, T. I expect nothing less.
R found out a few months ago that there were family locker areas at the pool that offer more space in the way of changing areas, less crowding and more privacy. So today, I took the kids into the family area, changed them into suits, changed into mine and we headed down to meet Kellie and her kids.
Let me just explain quickly that I'm apparently having a severe shortage of patience and understanding this week. I'm thinking of taking some Midol to see if that's part of the issue, because honestly, things that don't normally bug me are making me want to rip off the heads off people and stomp on them. This is so not a good disposition when dealing with a two and four year old, especially difficult two and four year olds. Wait, did I say difficult? I meant...spirited or full of personality or maybe extremely individualistic. No, actually I really meant difficult. Of course, I'll post this and begin to feel guilty, but today... well, today I'm speaking the truth. Hello, my name is B. and my kids are freakin' difficult. Hi, B.
Anywho, after taking over 20 minutes to change the two kids and myself into suits...well, the divine Miss S, resident diva, didn't even have a suit, I just put her in a swim diaper...my disposition hadn't exactly improved. As we are walking down the hall, T grabs his crotch, and announces that he has to potty and starts hopping up and down. Which, sorry for the additional sidetrack, but it seems like hopping up and down would make it worse, not better. Luckily we had walked right by a bathroom, so I pointed him to the men's room. After dragging S out of there about 15 times and standing there sweating in the heat and humidity (which did nothing, nothing, nothing for my disposition) I started to get really impatient with T and snapped for him to come on already. It was just pee... what the heck was taking all day?!?! Plus we were already late to meet Kellie and crew, and that didn't help my attitude whatsoever. I hate to be late. Being that I hate to be late, you would think that I'd be late less often. Yet - not so much.
T finally comes out of the men's room naked and carrying his bathing suit. In Germany, this is no big deal, but in certain states, I feel pretty sure that this could result in a public indecency charge. So I took a deep breath and asked why he wasn't wearing his suit. Seems like he got a little pee on it. (insert sigh and eye roll here). So I take the suit into the ladies room and rinse it out. Well, then he doesn't want to wear it because it's wet, so I actually snarl at him - put. it. on. About seven minutes later, we finally make it to the actual kiddie area of the pool. To have been a holiday, the pool wasn't very crowded so the kids had lots of room to play and splash and get tired.
Eventually it was time to go, so we headed back to the family area to change into dry clothes. In the family area, there's a red, yellow, and blue area, which didn't stand out as significant to me whatsoever. Germans are fond of different colors, and we'd always used the blue area before. As the kids and I walk into the blue changing area, there's a man and his two sons standing there. Naked. Which, after almost four years here, I'm used to the fact that Germans have a much more relaxed view of nudity than Americans do, but it took me by surprise anyway. I started helping the kids get undressed, but the guy was standing (still naked, btw) in front of the locker where our stuff was. So I politely said "entschuldigung" which is 'excuse me' and went to get out stuff out of the locker when the man politely told me that the blue family area is for men, red is for women, and yellow is for entire families. I turned seventeen shades of red and was obviously mortified, which made him laugh. I immediately started gathering up our stuff to move to the proper area, but I hadn't expected this faux pas, so there was just stuff crammed into the locker everywhere since we had been running late and I was already impatient. As is usually the case, the more flustered I get, the worse I make it for myself. So I was dropping stuff ALL over the place - shoes, underwear, change...and it wasn't like my disposition had improved at all during our visit - so now I'm mortified, impatient, short tempered, bordering on hateful, and frustrated. At that point I just give up and decide that we'll have to get dressed there and chalk this up to one of those really valuable life lessons that will hopefully be funny. Soon.
I get the kids dressed, then I start to yank on my clothes. The thing about getting the kids dressed first is that then they are ready to go.. so as I'm buck naked, T and S open the door to the hallway. I yelp, and dive for cover. It's one thing to change in a locker room, it's another for an entire hallway full of people to see you do it. So S, trying to be helpful, flings the door shut and smashes her finger and starts to wail. Greaaaaat. I check it for damage - no blood, broken skin, and the bone doesn't seem to have suffered any real damage - and then try to finish getting dressed as fast as I can. S is having none of that, so she sits down (on the wet floor in her dry clothes) and just wails like a siren. I'm trying to talk her down as my clothes simply refuse to cooperate. Seriously, it was like trying to wiggle into a pleather catsuit. Finally, FINALLY I get my clothes on and pick up my soggy bottomed daughter, who is now over it and doesn't want me to hold her since I didn't hold her when she wanted. Fair enough, actually. I cram all the wet suits and towels into our bag and off we go. Kellie and her kids are waiting patiently for us, so I start to tell her the story only to look up and see locker room guy standing right behind her. Blushing another six shades of red, I tell her I'll fill her in later and start the process of getting the kids to head to the car. We were planning a trip to McDonalds, which I had withheld announcing as a way to get them out of the pool and to the car. Sadly, today when I needed it to work it had no effect at all. S threw herself down on the sidewalk and refused to budge. T, trying to be helpful starts shouting, COME ON, S. MOVE YOUR BUTT!!!!!!!!! I seriously need to start watching what I say. I finally get them down the steps and they both run into the road. And then just stand there. Oh, for the love of Pete! I have no idea how they have escaped damage at this point with their love of running into roads. I end up firmly escorting them to the car, dreading the trip to McD's.
Rightly so - S walks up to strangers and tries to help herself to their food, T pulls out all the wooden coffee stirrers from their container on the counter, S keeps trying to go behind the counter, and T starts to spin in circles. This is before we even order. About an hour and a spilled drink, dropped McNugget, epic battle over who gets the remaining drink, a fight over ketchup, 500 trips down the slide that's outside on the patio, various and assorted plastic burns from using his body a braking system and a flat out refusal by both kids to leave and I drag them both to the car amid the usual wailing and protests and vow not to do this again for a long, long time. Kellie, meanwhile is trying not to laugh (soooooo glad she thinks this is funny) and wisely resists the impulse to tell me to chillax.
Two seconds after I start the car and we head home, T announces - 'I'm hungry, Mommy'. Sigh.....of course you are, T. I expect nothing less.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Since I haven't blogged in ages....
Here are some quick updates and some pics to let everyone know what's been going on the last few months:
We tried many things over the last two years or so to get T to potty train. He was having none of it. Once he decided to do it, it was done in a day... go, T-man, go! (giggle)
S is now two years old - TWO!! We had a small, quiet birthday for her where she refused to eat the cake because we slid it away from her to put the candles on it. She wanted T to blow out her candles when she wasn't able to after two tries, and he was happy to oblige. She did eat the ice cream, though, and she loved all gifts she got. (thanks, everyone - thank you notes to follow!)
I've got one more class to go before I get my Masters in Adult Education. It's been a long, weary road and I will be happy to be finished, regularly get a full night's sleep, and see where this leads.
We've actually seen the sun more than twice in the last month. Yahoo! There's hope that spring will arrive, we won't need the heat on in the house in June, and we'll get orders (sometime in July, we think) to somewhere we really want to go.
T is really doing well in school with his speech therapy and he loves to come home and tell US how to correctly pronounce the word of the day. heh!
S is anxious to start school too, and whenever I drop off T she tries to join in on the fun, so I end up dragging her out of the room (generally screaming bloody murder). I used to think I wanted to be famous when I was younger - but this was totally not what I had in mind.
Our friends Paul and Polly had their baby - Keenan last week. We are so happy for you guys and love you all. Can't wait to see you and the little one.
T and S - all sacked out. Ahh..... the blessed quiet.
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