loaning out my brain
it’s clicking, whirring away
happily reading

I am reviewing a book today! This review is part of a blog book tour facilitated by MotherTalk.com (which I always want to call mothertalker.com because that’s just how I am).

Reading Naptime is the New Happy Hour by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor reminds me of getting to know that cool girl you stalked during high school. She seemed so nonchalant and awesome, listening to her New Wave music and not giving a shit about the actual "cool" kids. She had her own style and her own way of doing things. Soon, you couldn’t believe your luck – you were part of her little ecosystem of non-conformist friends. And then, after a while, you realized that maybe she wasn’t as original and awesome as you thought. Her jokes were a little repetitive, she secretly worried a little too much about what the freaks thought of her. And your idealistic view of her crumbled just a little. Eventually, all was well, though. You began to feel affection for her repeated stories, you empathized with her struggle to be different and yet not completely out of the ordinary. You were friends. And friends aren’t perfect.

That right there was a crazy ass long way for me to describe how I felt reading this book. At first – loved it! It was funny and true. "I try to think of my child as a pint-sized foreign exchange student: she barely speaks the language and everything in this country is pretty much new to her."

But then, as I moved through the essays I began to realize that, for the most part, the jokes were all the same (lots of drinking jokes, which I know, duh, read the title, but still. It’s funny at first and then it’s like yeah, yeah, I wish I had a standing order for Versed, too, let’s move on).

And every now and then the "let’s not judge" tone got a little judgey (really, though, this is unavoidable, and at least it’s done in a funny way. I totally hate the moms at the park in skinny jeans with ironed hair, too).

By the end of the book, though, I enjoyed it for what it was – a funny, non-glossed-over, compilation of anecdotes (and quasi-advice) about life with a toddler. Maybe there are too many exclamation points. Maybe the drinking references get a little tiresome. But all-in-all, the mixture of "holy shit can you BELIEVE how psycho toddlers are?" with "Here’s what I did to maintain my sanity with my psycho toddler" is a handy blend of fun and empathy.

The cool girl is still cool, even when she drives you a little crazy after a while.

Much like your toddler.

UNSALTED dry roasted peanuts?! Why did I buy UNSALTED dry roasted peanuts?!

Bleh!

Bleh!

Now what do I do? Plant them?

Bleh!

celebrate Easter
deviled eggs on holy day
mmmm, sacrilicious

We had a lovely Easter cookout today, complete with burgers and hot dogs and chicken and deviled eggs and bacon-y baked beans. I could totally use about 14 deviled eggs right now, as I suddenly find myself famished. I am too lazy to go make some, though. What is a good lazy person substitute for deviled eggs? Not egg salad, that takes just as much work. Begging someone else to make me some egg salad? Hmmm. That is a distinct possibility. Eating bunny ears and watching TV and trying to forget about eggs? Another possibility.

I feel a little bad for not having some kind of holiday debacle to share with you. After The Exploding Easter Ham Pan of Aught Seven, I feel like some sort of bizarre and exciting tragicomedy should have unfolded today. Alas, we ate jelly beans like everyone else, drove in traffic like everyone else, grumped in the car like everyone else, and are now at home like everyone else. I am definitely not disappointed in the lack of drama this year, but I feel like I owe you, dear readers, a story of mayhem.

I’m sure it won’t be too long, though. There are still a few hours until the day is over and I have MORE than jinxed it with this post.

vocabulary
growing bigger everyday
still needs translation

The wee-er one just emerged from the little play tent she has in the living room. She was not wearing a diaper. She had been wearing one when she went INTO the tent, so this was my first cause for alarm.

Second cause for alarm?

"Pee!" she says gleefully, approaching me and gesturing to her tiny butt. "Pee!"
"Did you pee in the tent?" I ask, feeling dread rise up like last night’s heartburn.
"Pee!" she repeats and points to the tent.

With trepidation, I swing aside the tent flap and OH SHIT!

That’s right. There’s no pee. There’s a giant ball of toddler poo. Carefully placed on top of the outside of a diaper. Upon further inspection, though, there is poo everywhere. Apparently, she removed the poo from the diaper, tried to cram it into a plastic jar with a lid she was playing with, gave up on that endeavor, and replaced the poo on (rather than in) the diaper.

I think we’re going to have to throw away the tent. Is there enough Lysol for this? I mean, I have it pretty clean in there now, but still. It’s kind of like not wanting to live in the Manson mansion, you know? Watching her play at the scene of the crime, even if the scene is perfectly clean… not sure I can handle it.

"Pee!" indeed.

So. Gross.

sustenance is good
fruit, veggies, crap, whatever
full tummies are great

The wee-er one has been so much happier today. Does this coincide with the fact that she ate almost half a quiche, a huge piece of lasagne, a handful of strawberries, and some yogurt – just for dinner? Who knows. But I’ll take it!

In fact, she has been so nice tonight I’m going to forget that she slammed me in the forehead this morning with the remote for the TV. Or maybe that’s just the concussion talking. Whatever. I’ll take it!

Right now she is upstairs being put to bed by Daddy – without nursing (!) without use of the swing (!). What is going on here? Did she read the last blog post?

Who cares?! I’ll take it!

at end of my wits
want to fold her up, stamp her
export to China

The wee-er one’s demonic possession is not getting any better. After a day of respite, her head is again spinning on its axis. Her high-pitched shrieks have made us all partially deaf, and alerted Sea World’s dolphins of the impending apocalypse. She will not be comforted. She will not be reasoned with. She will not acquiesce. She will not calm down.

WATA! She shouts. Upon receiving her cup, she throws it to the ground or at my face. WATA! She screams more urgently after this outburst. Same with MANTS! (pants) and OOSH! (shoes). NAK! She demands, reaching for cheddar bunnies, but when she gets her small bowl of bunnies, immediately she throws them on the floor, steps on them and cries NAK NAK! for more.

She will nap for no longer than twenty minutes. She wants to nurse all day. I want to throttle her. The gypsies will not return my phone calls.

The hell is up with this child? SHE IS MAKING ME CRAZY.

back on the sofa
computer in my tired lap
ignoring beasties

We have been back for not quite two days now. The wee-er one is continuing her descent into Toddler Maelstrom Nutjob-i-ness. She has gone completely berserk. I blame this on her cold, still being on Pacific Time, and a possible demon possession.

The wee one is doing great. he’s still on Spring Break and so I’m letting him eat sugary cereal and watch too much TV. He slept until 10 this morning! This is a kid who is really learning to understand what vacation means.

Now comes the unpacking. Maybe I will just leave everything in the suitcases until we go on vacation again. I’m too tired to do anything else.

making memories
for us and other people
cautionary tale

We retrieved our luggage in time for the wedding, hooray! And the kids were amazingly behaved at the ceremony and the reception, considering it didn’t even start until 8 pm cst (6 pm Vegas time). We had our pictures made with Elvis and we ate fancy food and shmoozed with high school and college chums – it was a lot of fun.

Now we are wrapping things up. We’re leaving tomorrow and we have successfully trashed this hotel room as if we were the Stones or maybe even Courtney Love.

Hey, speaking of music, the hubby and I actually escaped the kiddos last night and went to see the Cirque Du Soleil production of Love, the Beatles show. It was amazing – theatre in the round, crazy ass stunts, exploding cannons of confetti, a flying bed a la Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a grand piano full of bubble solution, and more. It was so overstimulating I kept sneezing just like a baby or a dog.

Today we went to Hoover Dam, but it was a disaster. The wee-er one has decided she is done with vacation so the tour sounded like this: AHHHHHHHH!!!! "three feet of concrete" AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! "turbine" AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! "dam" AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! "four years to complete" AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

We didn’t get to look at any of the exhibits or hear any of the tour, and I had to take her out of the little movie they show. We did manage to get an ice cream and buy some stuff in the gift shop, though. I mean, even with a toddler in complete Chernobyl mode we couldn’t leave without an ugly coffee mug, could we?

And so we are back in the trashed out hotel room, debating what to do for dinner and quite pleased that we weren’t actually physically escorted from the premises of the dam.

Vacation is fun, but I miss Austin.

trapped like pissed off rats
not great way to start off trip
and yet it got worse

Yesterday, we spent over 12 hours traveling. Only 3 of those hours were actually spent in the air, though. The bulk of the rest of time was spent TRAPPED. On an airplane. On the tarmac. In a freak March snowstorm. In Dallas.

I can’t even tell you how terrible it was. Can’t even describe the trauma.

Then, we finally got to Vegas and. No luggage! No carseats! No fancy dress! No diapers!

More details to come. Still processing the drama.