Potty Training (and Other Bathroom Fun)...

Little O is officially obsessed...she loves the bathroom more than any other room in the house. She could spend all day there...brushing her teeth, washing her hands, playing in the bathtub, and of course sitting on her new potty chair.

The potty chair has been a big hit..."mama, do potties?" I hear every single time she needs her diaper changed. This is good, right?! Clearly, she is ready to begin the potty training phase of being a toddler... So, why am I so resistant? It just seems like there is too much going on right now to start this...a family reunion is looming, then a long weekend where I am out of town, and the weather is so cold that my whole plan to dress her all summer in sun dresses to make the process easier can't take effect yet. Yes, I have a lot of excuses...

Why is Little O so into the idea? Could it be the kids in her class who are trained? Is it just the novelty of having the potty chair? I have to say, she is so funny about it sometimes... earlier this week she was sitting on the potty in nothing but her rain boots (green rubber frog boots), reading "Golf Digest" and repeating "Tider Woos, Mama" over and over...it was pretty funny.

Perhaps it is time to stop making excuses and start the training...she seems to be ready to be a big girl, even if I'm not ready for her to be one. But maybe we could wait until after this family reunion business???

Farewell to Grey's (Just for the Summer)

If you are a Grey's Anatomy fan like I am, you are probably just as distressed as I to find that after just a few episodes (thanks to the writer's strike), the finale was this past Thursday. I guess my fantasy was that after a delayed start to the season, we could look forward to Grey Thursdays all Summer. So much for that...

So the real question is this...why am I so disappointed that the show is over for the season? What is it that sucks us all in and keeps us watching? Is it the sex? The drama? Personally, I think the writing is the best on tv...I look forward to the dialogue every week. They just have some of the BEST lines... And of course, for me (and you, too, just admit it), the boys are not too tough to look at either...I suspect this is part of why we all watch. McDreamy, McSteamy (personally, I like the bad boy best), sweet George, even Alex the not so jerky jerk. So, maybe it is the sex? Or just the idea that you can have career success and still have so much struggle to find the right relationship (just like all the rest of us)? We don't watch to learn about cutting edge medical technology...I mean, I don't think this is the hospital you want to end up in, do you?! Unless of course, you want to be in a closet kissing McSteamy...

Well, to all you fellow Grey's fans...hope you enjoyed the finale. I certainly did and I'm looking forward to the fall and finding out what will happen next. In the meantime, you'll have to get your sex by going to see the Sex and the City movie this summer...enjoy!

Mother of the Year

So, I know, we all have those moments as moms that we feel inadequate and like we haven't done the best we could, right?! This week, in an effort to be a good, caring, set a good example mom, I volunteered to watch the kids in Little O's class while the teachers went out to lunch. This is an annual event and I wanted to show my support for the teachers...so, myself and three other moms signed ourselves up.

Little did I know (but, yes, should have guessed) that this would be a disaster for Little O in terms of her daily schedule. Suddenly Mom shows up in the middle of the day... To make matters worse, it was nap time...of course my daughter had no interest in nap time once I showed up. Her primary interest was being disruptive and naughty while the other kids were trying to sleep. To top things off, the Director of the school had stopped in to help and was busy giving me the "can't you control your own kid" look...

Needless to say I was feeling very judged... What had happened to the sweet natured little girl I knew? Why did she have to pick now to act two? If I chalk this one up to being too excited that Mom showed up in the middle of the day to visit...am I making excuses? She really IS a pretty easy-going girl most of the time. Am I rationalizing too much??? Well, needless to say, I am letting the "other" mothers volunteer next time...

The Skinny

So lately I find that almost everyone is asking me about my weight... Now, they aren't asking me in an unkind, oh, my god, look how skinny you are way (or are they?), but it keeps coming up. So, the reality is that in times of stress, I just get skinnier... I know, gee, what a problem to have. But, the truth is that I don't set out to make that happen, and I am truly not that excited about having my pants falling down all of the time.

A good friend of mine once said that "it's better to be fat and happy, than skinny and sad". She said that to me at a time when she was separated from her husband and I was going through my divorce. And she is so right... The fact is that when I am stressed out and so full of anxiety, it doesn't matter what I eat, I just burn it all off through sheer mental agony.

I did spend time with my doctor to make sure this was a stress "thing" and not something else... She told me that I was perfectly healthy, but that I had "too many things on my plate" and I needed to get some help and make some changes. Basically, she told me I have too much stress... Hey, thanks for the news bulletin.

So the bottom line is that I KNOW I have too much stress and I KNOW that somehow I need to manage it all better...but how? I don't really know that I can take things off my plate or make any radical changes in my life...even if I need to. Until I figure that out...yes, I am skinny and I plan to strut around in my smallest pants and enjoy it while it lasts.