Favorite Books, Bedtime Battles, Steam Cleaners, Star Sightings and For All That Is Good Please No Centipedes

In the spirit of feeling overwhelmed, I give you bullets from the week.

-Monday night when I was reading David Gets in Trouble which Leo adores, I made a “burp” sound, as the book called for. Leo burst into giggles and leaned over and kissed me. I love that I know just how to make him laugh (actually it was a surprise that this would delight him so much but it was duly noted for future need!).

-We’ve been having Pat Benatar “Bedtime is a Battlefield” nights lately with Leo. He’s not crying, just refusing to go to sleep. He was up until 10 p.m. reading on Tuesday night. Reading! I have to say it’s pretty cute to open the door to check on him to find him sitting on his bed, quietly flipping though the pages of Clifford’s Christmas Presents. I finally caved and gave him Tylenol last night, thinking maybe the congestion was making him uncomfortable (though that is much better, thanks Zyrtec). At one point I asked him if someone had given him a latte in the afternoon but received no response from him. After reading, he moved on to more exciting endeavors, specifically dissecting the extra bed in his room, stripping the sheets and pillowcase, I just couldn’t get over how much energy he had. At 10 p.m. I’m not sure if it’s the time change, or what.

-Speaking of books, Ellie is obsessed with this book. She actively seeks it out and can sit and “talk” about all the pictures. The last few nights she has breezed through dinner so that she can go get this book and sit with it on my lap. She seems to know all the pictures by sight (i.e. if I say “where’s the car?” she can show me. It’s just amazing to see her language develop at what feels like warp speed. She has also mastered most of her animals sounds. Seriously, is there anything cuter than a 20-month old meowing like a cat? Except Ellie's "cat" is more like a screech. Even better, really.

-Leo loves that book too. He is so competitive with Ellie and it’s quite sweet. He is so eager, he’s the kid who raises his hand before he knows the answer. I say “where is the boat?” and Leo busts up with a raised hand and says “Mine!” thinks a moment and then points to the boat with a huge grin.

-I had a wonderful birthday last weekend. First of all, it was 70 degrees. Seventy! Degrees! I got to sleep in and then Erin and the kids brought me coffee and a homemade card. It makes all the aggravation worth it when I see those happy little faces greet me in the morning, scamper into the bedroom and jump on top of me. Erin told me I could do whatever I wanted and for me that involved going to Macy’s and buying this:



And no it's not a Swiffer though it kind of looks like one. Oh it is so much more. I had seen an infomercial (I know, I know, sue me, the TV had been left on HGTV the night before and when I turned it on at 6 a.m. it was showing a riveting piece on the Haan steam cleaner). Well it intrigued me and so I did some digging/research and learned that most people seem to think the Haan is (surprise!) a piece of crap but that the Shark seems to be quite popular and effective. The concept is pretty awesome. It steams your floors with water that reaches over 200 degrees farenheit and you wash and reuse the cloth pads that come with it (it supposedly even "sanitizes" your floor, though I don't think we'll be having dinner on the kitchen floors anytime soon). No chemicals and no waste and safe to use on wood floors (which comprise our entire house). I have to say so far so good. I mean, it's not a miracle or anything (a miracle would be someone else cleaning the entire house). Then again any sort of cleaning is better than none which had been my floor cleaning technique as of late. And yes, I spent part of my birthday steam cleaning the floors. I am that big of a nerd.

-Saturday night went to the opening of an amazing new restaurant in the city. Not to name drop (Oh what the hell, here goes) but we saw Caroline Kennedy, Diane Sawyer and her husband Mike Nichols and actor Ralph Fiennes. And oh yes, the food was unbelieveable. We don’t go out much but when we go out, we do it right.

-In Little Girl As Vampire news, we’ve had two straight days of no biting. I hope I’m not jinxing it by talking about it here. We’re just taking it one day at a time.

-The birthday party invites are beginning to roll in for Leo. I’m like Amy, I love a good kid party! These are both kids from Leo’s school where nearly everyone has Down syndrome so there is the added benefit that I won’t feel pressure for Leo to “act” a certain way at the party. Plus I will get to see some of the moms that I rarely get to see. Saturday’s party is here. I think Leo’s head might explode from excitement. These parties just get bigger and bigger. I told Erin we are the holdout hillbillys who still have parties in our backyard. What can I say? We are simple people. Anyway, I am just hoping Leo doesn’t want to hold a centipede at this party (it’s one of the “insect options”). I'm totally down with spiders (thanks Charlotte's Web and Buddhist Dad). But after living in a centipede-filled "garden" (fancy word for basement) apartment in Brooklyn I became a little too well acquainted with centipedes. And if Leo wants to hold one I think my head might explode.

Wherein the Victim Becomes the Assailant

A few months back I moaned about the "outline of a mouth and teethmarks on my sweet baby girl’s milky soft shoulder" after Ellie was bitten by another evil child at daycare.

Oh sure, she looks innocent enough, but I give you, suspect #1.

Pay no attention to the strawberry on her face. The assailant also likes fruit.

Yes, I’m here to report that the bitee has become the biter. I know in the Grand Scheme it's not a huge deal, and it's probably just a phase, but I am embarassed. I was home sick yesterday, wallowing in my first cold of the season (I held out as long as I could and I like to brag about my hearty Russian disposition but by gosh I finally succumbed to the plague around here that is The Cold) when I got the call from the daycare director. She was very diplomatic, just wanted to know if Ellie had been biting at home and if so if I had noticed anything in particular provoking it and also, how we handle it.

Well, she did bite Leo this weekend and I had seen her “go in for the kill” a few more times but had managed to catch her in the act. And poor sweet Leo, when Ellie bites him, he bursts into tears and points to the spot and cries “Ey-yie!” in his most accusing and horrified tone. When it happened this weekend I said “No biting,” to Ellie firmly and attempted to put her in a time-out, in which she promptly told me “No.” Oh I fear the teenage years with this one.

Totally unrelated to anything, I recounted the whole Ellie Biting Thing with a work colleague and when I said how I had no experience with this (Leo never bit anyone) he said "that seems like a little girl thing." For some reason this made me feel better and I'm not sure why, but it made sense. Then again, there was a little girl at Leo's daycare in Brooklyn who was expelled (no, really) for biting. I can't even think about that.

After the weekend biting incident I told Ellie to tell Leo “Sorry,” and Leo immediately told Ellie (in sign language) that he was “sorry.” Poor Leo. He’s the kid who gets a shot from the doctor and then immediately throws his arms around the shot wielding doctor.

Of course I consulted Dr. Google after my phone call with Daycare Director. Apparently biting in her age group (20 months) is very normal. I didn’t need a PhD in early childhood education to know that it stems from frustration and an inability to communicate one’s feelings. Boredom and an interest in attention are also apparently culprits. I’m sure she gets bored at some point in her day (as we all do) and I know that she is definitely an attention seeking missile, both at home and at school (see earlier entry, “Uppy Uppy Uppy.”)

Working Mother Guilt kicked in big time for this latest "phase." If she was home with me she wouldn’t have other kids to bite and also, she is probably learning to bite from the other rotten kids (no way my Angel would think that up on her own!). And also, she is not getting enough attention at school whereas at home she would always get enough attention (totally not true and I know it as there are moments when I have to Put. Her. Down.)

I think about how angry I felt towards that little girl who bit Ellie (who by the way no longer bites, she’s three months older than Ellie and apparently has grown out of it). I mean I wasn’t really angry but I think you know what I mean. No one likes the idea of the child hurt. But now I see how it's not much fun to be on the other side either. I think whenever your child does something less than spectacular, at some level you feel it’s a reflection of you as a parent. Nobody wants their kids to steal the family car, shoplift, drink underage, bite other kids at daycare. I mean, it’s a slippery slope, right? I kid, but it does make me think that is is just the first of the many (well, hopefully not many!) things that one of my children will do that is less than stellar. They are independent little creatures with minds of their own. We do the best we can and yet...who knows?

I just called for a bite check. As of a little after lunch time there had been no biting incidents and Ellie was reportedly in a “great mood” all morning. So maybe yesterday was just a bad day. Let’s hope.