I detest crowds. I never leave the house to go shopping on Black Friday. I will, however, shop online. Usually while still in my pjs. Really, is there any better way?
One of the places I’ll always check out is Amazon. Check it out for yourselves.
Note: If you wish to visit Amazon through the link above and spend hundreds of dollars that would be fine by me as I would get maybe a whole dollar for referring you. If you’d rather just go straight to the site, I won’t hold it against you.
This year we will be eating two Thanksgiving dinners. Next week I will be visiting the gym as many times as possible. We will be on the beach in two months. Woo Hoo!
The kids are in swim lessons at the Y for the first time. I really wanted to get them in lessons before our vacation this winter. Mainly for Sean because he hated the big pool this past summer.
Sean is doing great. He loves it. Meghan? Not so much.
Meghan spends the entire 30 minutes crying, moaning, complaining and screaming that she is going to “sink”. It’s excruciating. She is always clinging to the instructor. I feel like I should apologize to the instructor and the other parents. It sucks. At first I thought it was just part of the whole recent crying problem but that went away and this did not.
I will say that last week was not as bad as the previous two. The regular instructor was back and she does a better job getting Meghan to calm down and do everything she is supposed to do. The girl filling in for her the past 2 weeks looked like she just wanted to lesson to end.
We are going to miss the lesson this week. Here’s hoping that next week is better. Otherwise I may start hiding during the lesson.
Is there some sort of toy shortage this year? Because, honestly, everything I intend on buying is impossible to find. I even left the comfort of my own home to go and browse the toy aisles hoping to find things that are unavailable on the internet (or have seriously inflated prices). Between the H1N1 shots and these ridiculous toys I am a bit tired of spending my days searching.
So, yes, I have all the browser alerts working for me. Yes, I’ve subscribed to notification emails when available. And yes, I am using Twitter and Facebook where I can. I was able to score one of the impossible toys using these methods (yippee!!). But the others seemed more challenging.
There was one* in particular that was driving me crazy. I’d get the email, I’d go online, it would be gone. Again, same thing. And again. I was beginning to wonder if it was ever in stock. I was trying to get it from the Toys R Us website. Have you been? Their pages load a bit funky. The beginning of the page load displays the “Add to cart” button but once the load is complete it removes that and displays the unavailable message. I tried to use my software troubleshooting/trouble-making knowledge to sort of trick it. And guess what? IT WORKED! I managed to trigger the “Add to cart button” for a supposedly out of stock item and it did add it to my cart. And let me complete the purchase. WIN!! Plus, I got a purchase confirmation email with a delivery estimate. Fingers crossed that it actually arrives.
Unfortunately, this method hasn’t worked with some of the other items but I’ll take whatever I can get.
*Yes, I am being vague. But my kid already is very proficient with the computer, web browser and mouse. Once she gets that reading thing down, I’m in trouble.
Sean has a pair of Buzz Lightyear pajamas. He runs around the house saying “Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!” He just about jumped out of his seat when Buzz appeared on stage at the Disney Live show.
We took the kids to the show last weekend. I almost forgot we had tickets. You can’t really blame me. I think I bought them in May. But the seats were great, 3rd row. And the show kept the kids attention the entire time.
Bonus? We managed to get out of there without buying either one the $20 spinning, glowing, weapon of death. (I always seem to get bonked in the head with those things.)
Pictures? Ok, here you go. And considering this post is about week late I’m going to just throw them up here. No photo tweaking involved.
Today was a rough day. You know it’s gonna be bad when you cannot wait until nap time no more than 10 minutes after the first kid wakes up. And, that first kid? He woke up a little after 6AM. And started whining. The ENTIRE morning.
It wasn’t just the whining, Sean couldn’t figure out what he wanted and neither could I. Five minutes into every video he started crying that he wanted something different. He was screaming “Give me my phone!” when I wouldn’t let him play anymore games on my iPhone. He wanted to be held. He wanted to be put down. He wanted stickers. No, he wanted his trains. No, crayons. He was hitting. He was in time out. He was, well, acting like an almost 3 year old.
Meghan was slightly better. Slightly. She refused to let Sean play with her today which didn’t help. And she was pushing the limit all day. What could she get away with? How far before I snap? I’d ask her (tell her) to do something and she would flat out say no. They were both throwing toys everywhere. The place looked like a shit storm rolled through (more than it usually does) and everyone refused to help clean up. I found myself saying things like “Watching TV is a privilege, not a right” and “Actions have consequences.” Um, hello? I was talking to a 5 year old and a 2 year old. I just got wide-eyed stares if they even bothered to acknowledge that I was speaking to them. I’m tired of using the Santa/Christmas gift threat to get anyone to do anything. It’s frustrating. But, I know not everyday is like this.
The good? In between the whines and tantrums Sean always is ready for a cuddle. That helps. And Meghan? No tears so far this week. Hooray for little victories.
Now excuse me while I return to my so-desperately-needed glass of wine.
Our kids have always handled drop-offs well. Daycare , preschool, child care at the gym, anything really. So well, in fact, that they would try and tear themselves out of our arms to go in. Which kinda makes you wonder. I mean jeez kid, can you at least stop for a second to say goodbye?
Sean is still that way today. Meghan, however, has changed. I don’t know what happened. One day last week she started crying while we were getting ready for school. And didn’t stop. I had to drag her into the school while she was saying she didn’t want to go over and over again. Her teacher had to carry her in the classroom. Sooooo unlike her. I asked her what was wrong. Got nothing. Went through a list of possibilities. No, no, no, no. I took her temperature. Nope, no fever. So I thought maybe she was just having an off day.
The next day she broke down crying in the middle of dance class. It was like someone flipped a switch. All the girls were dancing in a circle and as Meghan came around towards the front her head was in her hands and she was crying. And once again she was not able to tell me why. Preschool drop-off was just as bad as the day before. And yesterday she cried as soon as I took off her jacket at the gym’s child watch.
Not really sure what is going on. Her teachers said she has been crying more in class. There they are in a circle for their class meeting and in the middle of the meeting? Tears. But every breakdown only lasts a few minutes and then she is back to normal. I know she is an emotional and very dramatic little girl but usually there is something that sets her off. Even if it is something as minor as Sean messing up her puzzle. But at least we knew why she was hysterical. Now? No clue.
My only guess is that she is tired. I used to have to drag her out of bed at 9AM so we would make it to dance class on time. But recently she has been waking not long after Sean (who wakes up too damn early). Short trips in the car after school almost will almost always put her to sleep. So is she exhausted? We can’t really put her to bed any earlier. And, other than passing out in the car, she refuses to nap.
She has preschool today and I am really hoping today goes better than the past few times. Because leaving a screaming, crying, begging, pleading kid anywhere just sucks.
