I never followed up on our day care situation. It's all good now.

In the end, I decided to drop a little e-mail to our child care provider about the SpongeBob action, but so it didn't sound all crazy, I couched it in a longer e-mail asking how she was adjusting, is she napping, etc. and also mentioning that I really liked this little craft project that Punk had come home with that day. And I sort of casually mentioned the SpongeBob issue and just said something like, "I know a lot of little kids don't really pay attention to what's on, but you've probably noticed by now that my child is obsessed with television, and I'd rather she didn't mimic anything she heard or saw on SpongeBob." She wrote back right away and said she always puts on PBS or Disney for the kids and that one of her sons (they are something like 7 and 9) probably changed it. And you know, that's really plausible. So I wrote back my thanks and said we were happy with everything and Punk seemed happy and blah blah blah.

She seems quite taken with Punk (who isn't, really?) and Punk is happy when she is picked up, so honestly, it's all good for me. One thing I /do/ like is because this place is really set up for younger kids, they're doing more stereotypical toddler/preschooler crafty things - you know, making trains out of ziti and stuff like that. The old place was awesome because of its creative academics, and Punk ate that stuff up with a spoon, but I think that as a 2 year old she's really entitled to make some macaroni crafts for a while before I send her off to junior college. :)

In other news, she's become 2 and a half all of a sudden and I am ready to sell her to the gypsies some days. She has discovered the fine art of hitting for attention and otherwise being blatantly uncooperative (i.e. I ask her to do something and she makes this "I'm going to be naughty" sound - it's like BOP!! - and then does the opposite... and then says, "Do you like that sound, Mama?"). And has been fighting sleep again. GOOD TIMES.

I am officially "that mom."

Punk started her new home day care yesterday. After looking at a number of day cares, we didn't find one we LOVED except for the big Montessori school in Springfield but they require 2 year olds to be picked up at 4 and umm, that's not possible. So we looked at a lot of "not our favorite" places and in the end had to kind of choose a lesser of evils thing. Well, none were EVIL. I hate that expression. But anyway.

So we went with this woman who was very nice, very personable, very sweet to Punk, who had a nice house and had a small gaggle of little girls who were not doing anything outrageous. There were a few things I wasn't jazzed about (TV on at drop off until about 9am, seemed to eat more "kid foods" more often, a bit less structure) but overall she seemed like a lady who is a nurturing mom type and would be very present for Punk, and I thought she would like that group of kids - a bunch of girly girls who like "beautiful dresses" and playing "dress up," both very big in our house right now.

Yesterday was her first day and I brought her diapers and wipes and blanket and pillow and all of that and it was fine. She was excited to be there and sat down at the bookshelf with all of the books, picking out her favorites. ("Look, Mama, The Foot Book!" etc.) And I left, and at pick-up Jen said it was a little more chaotic than she liked but Punk seemed to be having fun, and the day care provider was flexible in trying different ways to help Punk nap, etc. Punk said she had chicken nuggets and fries and ketchup for lunch and came home asking for vegetables for dinner, but whatever. You know? I'm not a total psycho hard-ass.

This morning I dropped her off and there were a few other parents dropping off, and Punk was a little freaked by the new parents. I heard C mention that the TV was on (Punk came in and asked for TV) so I tried to kind of move Punk over to that area so she wouldn't be so freaked by the parents. I am not bothered by the TV being on at drop-off for 30 minutes or so before breakfast as Punk watches TV at home. When C told me she has the TV on in the morning, I simply stopped having Punk watch TV at home in the mornings so she would have her morning TV time over there. No big.

But when I brought her over to the couch I saw that SpongeBob was on. I'm not some freak who thinks SpongeBob should be banned or anything but I don't think it's appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. And I have never let Punk watch SpongeBob. And I don't plan to for quite a while. I don't like the way they act on that show and I don't like the way they talk to each other and I don't really need my kid calling people "stupid" and acting like a nutter. I am actually kind of furious about the SpongeBob.

I sent an e-mail tonight to the day care provider asking how Punk is adjusting and also asking if it's possible not to have SpongeBob on for the toddlers in the morning. I vacillate between worrying about being a psycho-mom and wanting to find a new day care ASAP before she gets attached. And then I worry that I will mess her up for life if I switch her day care a million times, too.

Being a mama is HARD.

I have my moments when my child is not sleeping because we've changed the clocks or whatever but on a daily basis I am reminded how blessed I am to have the child I have, because she really is amazing and awesome. Blessed, I tell you.

Yesterday afternoon, our pediatrician practice's website announced that they would have an H1N1 vaccine clinic tonight and was opening the vaccine to all children 3 and under. (Previously it was available to chronically ill children and children under 5 with asthma.) The clinic was from 5:30 to 7:30pm and Jen was going to aim to get there around 5:15pm. You can imagine where this is going.

It was a three-ring circus over there. The traffic was backed up waaay past the pediatrician office, the parking lot was full and people were walking from other parking lots down the street, there were kids and parents everywhere, having to wait outside, packing in the place, etc. They gave out numbers and said they would serve up to number 104, and Punk was number 82. When I got there around 6:30pm to give Jen some backup, they were up to number 30.

Punk rocked the house. When I got there, she was in a jam-packed waiting room and was quietly sitting on a chair coloring a magazine with a pencil. Then she rocked on the rocking chair. Then I took her outside and she threw mulch around until I got too cold, and then she willingly came inside again. Then she went back to the magazine and the pencil. By the time they called her number, it was about 7:10pm, and then she got her temperature taken, then waited a few more minutes, then got the nasal mist (which she had never had before). She completely cooperated with the mist, itched her nose a few times, and asked for a sticker. We left at 7:30, and got home at 7:40.

Typically she eats dinner around 6pm, has a bath at 7 and is in bed at 7:30. She did not throw one fit, she did not act out at all, and though she scarfed her dinner we managed to make it without any meltdowns. I am so proud of her and so impressed with her ability to keep it together. She really is amazing. God, I love her.

~//~

At one point this one girl was throwing big pieces of sidewalk chalk into a metal bowl and it was making this awful CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! noise, and Punk is all, "Mama, what is that sound?" and I say, in sort of a passive-aggressive manner, "The girl is throwing the chalk into the bowl and it is making a very LOUD noise," and then added, "And that's probably a no-no." The woman next to me started laughing and said, "I think you're right!" and then told me she was a teacher and ran a tight ship. Aaah, waiting room bonding in a cattle call vaccine clinic.

My child no longer wants to go to sleep, ever, and I want to claw my eyes out and scream. It's like she's an infant all over again, where she won't nap unless I am holding her or in some way restraining her. And at bedtime, she's all over the place, doing all kinds of things, often not falling asleep until after 9pm. For a brief period of time, I had a kid that slept. What the heck happened?

I am hoping this is one of those things called "a phase." Because if it's not, there might be "a homicide."

I'm pretty much in love with my pellet stove right now. I want to kiss it on its hot little mouth.

Finally got the chimney/stove guy in this morning to give it a good cleaning so I hadn't used it yet this year. Now that it's all cleaned out, I blasted the house this evening/night and aaah, it is fab. It's actually a bit too hot here in the living room but if you let it get hot enough in here, it will heat the whole house. I guess that's one time when a small, shoebox-shaped house is a plus!

Because we had the stove heating the house tonight, I had to open Punk's door after she fell asleep so she wouldn't freeze in there. Don't know if I should close it when I go to bed or not... I have fears that either she will wake up and start wandering the house or the cats will have a big drag down in her bedroom in the middle of the night. I guess only time will tell.

Speaking of Punk, we're still doing 7:30 bedtime but she is often not falling asleep until between 8:30 and 9:00. What is up with that, people? I thought one of the joys of children was that they went to bed early before all of the good TV shows came on.

And now it's time for bed. Aah, bed.

We conceived Punk on October 11, 2006. In Boston.
Celebrated our birthday on the 17th.
Received a very generous gift certificate to a fancy pants sushi place from my smurfbrother as a birthday gift.
Got a positive pregnancy test on the 22nd.
Moved away from Boston and had a kid and never used the gift certificate... until now.

We're going to attempt to use it this month. Only three years late. SCORE!

(x-posted with the baby blog)

It was time for the annual trip to the corn maze. Mike's Maze, to be specific. Best in the area. This year's maze celebrated Charles Darwin's 200th birthday.



( More photos and a play by play. )

Did I mention that my kid has been sleeping in a toddler bed for two weeks now?

Easiest freaking transition we've ever done.

Perhaps potty training can miraculously be that easy.

Okay, maybe I'm a little biased... but I have the most beautiful child in the history of children.

FYI, this is why I totally always wanted to have kids:



It's just... oh, I don't know. It just is. It's everything I ever imagined and more.