Because Leap Pad told me so!

Delaney was playing with her “Human Body” book on Leap Pad.  She yelled, “Mom, come here!”

So, I walked into her room and she said, “Listen!”

She used that green wand to push on the face of a lady in the book who was wearing frumpy clothes, had an ‘easy’ haircut such as a bob, and even looked, well, old.  The cheery Leap Pad voice piped up and said, “Between the ages of 40 and 50, people are considered Middle Age.  They get gray hair, their metabolism slows down, and they tend to put on weight.”

Delaney looked up at me and said, “You’re going to be 40!”

Then she proceeded to click on the woman’s hair and the damn Leap Pad informed us that gray hair occurs when the body produces less pigment.  Again, my darling daughter looked at me and said, “Now we know why!”

Took Delaney to the doc today and ended up heading to a hospital for X-RAYS!  She fell this week and has been limping ever since.  The doc really thought she fractured something in her knee, but she didn’t. phew. 

She DID, however, have a sinus infection. I’m so friggin clueless.

Doc: “How long has she been coughing like that?” 

Me: “Two weeks?” 

Doc: (eye roll) 

Let’s talk about volunteering, shall we?

I remember, when my girls were really young, I read a book called “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” (or something like that). It was a witty, fictional book by a British author about a mom who does it ALL! Crazy career demands, marriage maintenance, friendships and, of course, motherhood.  There was one scene when she was up until 3am making something for her daughter’s kinder class; something involving potatoes, food coloring, and lots of mess. The kid, of course, was sleeping and the mom had all kinds of rants running through her head.

I remember reading that, thinking, “Well, she just needs to make different choices. I’ll never get sucked into something that ridiculous.”

Fast-forward five years and my kids are in SCHOOL.  A school where, to be honest, the moms are all Type-A.  I love this school and the parents because everyone is so involved and cares tremendously.  But everyone is so involved and cares tremendously. That means they come up with about a gillion ways for fellow parents to give of their time and money. Since we’re lacking in the second category compared to many of the others, I give of my time.

This last weekend, we had the annual auction for the school - an event that takes nine months to plan, requires meetings every two weeks throughout the school year, forces people to cooperate in rather stressful situations, and taps a tremendous amount of energy from everyone involved. But I was involved… there was a time in February when I got the shingles virus in my MOUTH because I got so stressed (it’s my nature. no one was pushing me more than anyone else) and I realized… I HAD BECOME HER!  The woman who stayed up until 3am making potato class projects!

The big event was this past Saturday and it was MARVELOUS!  I was so proud to have been part of it, and I really played a very small part… but I played the part that I could.  I learned a lot from it, too.  Such as:

• I don’t HAVE to do everything I’m asked to do. Because people just keep asking!
• I can set my own deadlines. I should not continuously ask others “when do you need it?” I should say, “Here’s when you’ll get it.”
• If I end up working with someone unpleasant, I can opt out. I don’t have to suffer for the greater good! There are better ways to spend my time… like with my kids!
• Finally, I AM proud of my role and I will be part of the event next year.  I just wish that people who weren’t as involved as I was would take a minute to complement our endeavors before letting us know how it could have been better.  My lesson: I will never offer criticism to a volunteer who has pulled off a giant feat. Rather, I will be grateful that she/he did something I was unable/unwilling to do!

OK, that’s a bit of a rant!  It’s where I’m at this morning.  Here’s a pic of me and my girls taken by the sitter just before I left for the event. It was a Kentucky Derby theme, so we donned our hats!

Onward!

I just have to tell you about a new company by a couple of great moms.  The company is called Sparkletees http://www.sparkletees.biz/ and the shirts are not only hip and fun to wear, but they come with a greater mission.

Every single shirt they sell has a theme and portions of the proceeds go to a nonprofit organization: The Peace Sign shirt supports America’s Second Harvest (http://www.secondharvest.org/); the Dragonfly Tee supoorts the Reach out and Read Foundation (http://www.reachoutandread.org/); The Flower Tee supports the Make-a-Wish Foundation (http://www.wishcolorado.org/); and my favorite, the Earth Tee, supports Habitat for Humanity (http://www.habitat.org/).

I’m wearing my SparkleTee today, for Earth Day, and I feel so danged cute in it!  And when the sun is shining, like it finally is in Denver today, I sparkle!

These make great gifts and you’re supporting a small business run by two busy moms… so I just HAD to tell you about it.

I do plan to share stuff about MY life again soon!

Tonight, over dinner, we had this exchange between Dave and Allie, who is now 5… (a little history… a while back, Allie said that she was going to marry Dave and that he was her Prince Charming):

DAVE: Allie, Are you still going to marry me?
ALLIE: (pause, pause)
ME: Or are you going to marry Chase? (a boy in her class)
ALLIE: I think I have to do eenie, meenie, minie, moe. (Dave about collapsed here.)
(just a few minutes later)
DAVE: Allie, I’m stronger than Chase.

I just received this email from Tiffany and it is worth saving for posterity…

————

OMG!!!!!
Today is a fabulous reminder of why I need to protect around Tues and thurs (and not do any computer work with kids!!)

Let me just share one gem: I’m working away and all of sudden my screen goes black! Eli had crawled under my desk and turned off my computer!!! Yes,    he did.

I have dinner with the girls tonight, if I can survive that long!!!!!!

Last week was my kids’ spring break and I took them to my in-law’s cabin in Grand Lake. While it was not exactly as refreshing as a beach escape (it was negative-seven degrees one morning!) it was so nice to get away for an extended time! I went up on Friday with the kids and Dave, then Dave left on Sunday (no spring break for him) and TIFFANY BROUGHT HER KIDS UP ON MONDAY!

It was the first MA! Retreat! As I write this, actually, it is April 1 and it is EMERSON’S BIRTHDAY, which also means MA! IS ONE YEAR OLD! What an amazing journey this has been so far.

Tiffany and I planned to be up there and attempt to plot out the next six months or so, but we realized that it was simply nice just to BE. Our time together has always been tight and we have to STUFF everything from budgeting to brainstorming into our one-hour lunches! She lives in Colorado Springs and I live in Denver, so we meet in Castle Rock over lunch and sprint through an agenda. (Once, she ordered chocolate cake while I was in the bathroom and we both felt so decadent for taking extra time for this luxurious splurge.)

So, suddenly, we were in the peaceful mountains, a bottle of wine between us and kids in bed (and out of bed and in bed and out of bed… and we just TALKED! We took tangents. We explored our past and discussed our current lives outside MA!

Nope, we don’t have the next six months outlined, but there is no doubt in my mind that MA! is stronger because our understanding of one another, and care for one another, is deeper.

Here are a coupla pics from our time up there — we never found a way to get a picture of all of us together. There was one moment at a restaurant when we were waiting for take-out that we thought might work… but the kids started melting down and we exchanged that panicky “this-is-all-going-to-fall-apart-any-second” look, and rushed out.

Yesterday when I dropped Allie off at school, her teacher told me that Allie said she wasn’t getting enough sleep. Apparently, this was the exchange…

Teacher: How do you know you’re not getting enough sleep, Allie?

Allie:  My hands are still tired!

Teacher: Ohhhhhh, well you do have really busy hands!

Allie: Yeah… they need lots of sleep to do all the art we do.

I have FOUR girls, ages 6, 6, 4, 4, running around my house and, if my motherhood sensors are accurate, dangerously close to the dog poop in the backyard, but I simply must take a moment for ME and write about what’s happening with MA!

Starting early last month, we jumped on a wave and we have been hangin’ ten ever since!

First, MileHighMamas (http://www.milehighmamas.com/2008/02/06/motherhood-with-attitudes-hilarious-boxset-giveaway/) highlighted us and we got a lot of local attention.

One week later, the extraordinary e-newsletter CoolMomPicks (http://www.coolmompicks.com/2008/02/because_greeting_cards_are_not.php) picked us as a favorite!  That really set things moving!  We got a bunch of orders and a bunch of retailers called us!  THEN we discovered that the very same week, Real Simple magazine highlighted CoolMomPicks as their blog of the month, so we picked up a bunch of hits from their fortune!

THEN, we actually had a real-live photo shoot for a story run in the Colorado Springs Gazette! (http://daily.gazette.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VGhlR2F6ZXR0ZS8yMDA4LzAyLzI2I0FyMDIzMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom) That was a total hoot because the picture was gy-nor-mous and the story was right-on.

OK, perhaps best of all — the Associated Press picked up the Gazette story and it’s been running all over the country!  No lie!  My friend in Rochester started yelling “LOOK AT YOU! LOOK AT YOU!” when I called her and told her to check her paper!

OK, then yesterday, something happened that had us screaming like giddy school girls: PARENTING MAGAZINE (http://www.parenting.com/)  called us!  They took some details about when we launched, how much our stuff is, etc.  It was all via phone tag, so I have no clue what they’re doing or when they’re doing it.

Just to prove that motherhood still yanks us back to reality, at about the same moment we discovered that PARENTING called, my older daughter hauled off and BIT her little sister. This was a first and I was shocked, furious, and frustrated. I didn’t know how to punish her, was contemplating all the possibilities, when I got the message from PARENTING. I had to call Tiffany in the midst of it all and leave her a cryptic message because my girls were sitting with me and I wanted to keep the mood somber. I said, “I can’t sound like I’m doing back hand-springs right now but I am because Parenting magazine called. I’m in the middle of an ugly parenting moment and can’t share my real mood but, sister, we’re gonna be in Parenting!” (that last part came out as a squeek.)

Best of all, Tiffany and I keep saying, “This is fun!”

Hang Ten!

(Dang, one kid just came in and said I need to clean up the dog bombs…

Last night, Dave, Allie and I sat on the couch while Delaney read from her assigned ‘chapter book.’  I couldn’t take my eyes off Delaney.  Reading!  Now, as a writer, I’m sure that I hold this experience more sacred than some, but there truly is something magical about the world she’s cracking wide open right now.  We’ll be driving and instead of hearing about airplanes, dogs, clouds, cars and every other object she sees, I can hear her sounding out words. “Stop.” “No Parking.” “Zoo.” “Home Dee-Pot.” (“Dee-po,” I say, not sure how to explain silent Ts to a kid just beginning to learn silent Es.)

But… now she can read the graffiti.  And now she can read headlines. Now, the world seems more sinister to me, in many ways.  She can read the word “killed” in the newspaper and ask, “What happened to the woman in the picture? Is she dead?” Her innocence keeps being chipped away.

And yet, I know it’s part of growing up and I’m so danged proud of her! I’m excited to read Harry Potter with her in another year or so. I like that the questions I’m asked are no longer complete stumpers like, “How high is blue?”  Now, we can discuss sentences that she reads!

I’m so proud of her!