Twinkle little star

Thursday, May 15, 2008

I lie down with Carlita at nap time until she has fallen asleep. This used to be painstaking when she was still nursing, because while most babies automatically lose suction as they slip into unconsciousness, she would stay stuck like a big, fuzzy headed leech, and any movement from me would trigger a new, tighter suction.

These days, if I’m lucky, I cradle her for a couple of minutes and then slip away, both my knees and the bed creaking, and she doesn’t even stir. Which means I don’t spend nearly as much time in bed around the clock as I did a year ago, but on the flip side I get my 8 nightly hours, because she sleeps like a rock at night.

Looking back, I don’t know how I survived. And I know I’m lucky because sleep always come easy to me. Well, it used to come much easier, as I now have to be sleepy in order to sleep, while before I just had to decide to get some sleep and voilà! I’d be napping.

Now that we are finally having some sort of nap routine I’m suddenly scared to death that she is going to decide to drop her one and only nap. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

* * *

We have had a couple of days of panic here because my period wasn’t showing up. I don’t know what prompted me to think it hadn’t shown up when it should have shown up, because I haven’t been keeping track and so I didn’t know that it hadn’t shown up on time, um, if that makes any sense whatsoever. In any case, it has shown up now, and I’ve duly noted it on Cyclespage.com, which has a spotty record of my periods since before Carlita was conceived, no pun intended. If we learned anything from this it would be that we are definitely not ready to expand the family just yet, however tempting it is.

And it is! But we’re resisting!

* * *

The car. It is apparently a BMW and thus German, not some cheap Japanese thang as I first put it. I blame Jelly Man, but not too much. I can live with misinformation like that! We are looking into getting a decent stereo and the guy who is selling the car will install it for us.

[Insert obscene hand gestures and lots of hooting]

So, does anyone know how toddlers and road trips mix? And what happens when you add the midnight sun? Oh man, I wish we’d find out. However, I think Jelly Man and I are going to have to put off our planned midnight runs to the gas station until mum comes back - I just don’t think Carlita would understand having to get up in the middle of the night because her parents want to go for a drive and listen to music - I mean, how old are we anyway?

So totally old, it appears. Yet so apparently unsophisticated.

Again, something I can live with.

Zzzzzomg!

Friday, May 09, 2008

So, here I was writing about Carlita and how her nap time has evolved over the (soon multiple) year, when Jelly Man calls me and totally throws me for a loop.

First, it’s unusual for him to call me. We text most of the time when we are apart, mostly nonsense at that. But he called.

And then he told me he just got us a new car.

And then I had to pick up my jaw from my lap, and gingerly put it back in its proper place, so I could ask him;

Bla bla blaeurgh, eurgh herh, erm, sorry come again?

This is what I get for cohabitating and procreating with an Aquarius.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We have had our current car since 2001. Jelly Man actually bought it a few months before we got together, and it has served us pretty well, if you just choose to ignore the couple of times the exhaust pipe fell off mid-drive (yes, it happened at least twice, that I can remember), and considering it is a Lada I’m glad it has lasted us this long - lets not kid ourselves, a new car has been on the to-do list for quite some time now. And because it is Jelly Man who drives the car, it is only fair he gets to pick a suitable one.

I just wish I’d get some time to prepare, and maybe, just maybe the illusion of having some say in what kind of car we’ll be seen in in the next couple of years.

Apparently it’s some cheap Japanese thang that he is buying off a work buddy. White, no less. Gawd, I can’t believe we are going to be driving around in a white car, white! Our so far failed attempts at keeping a clean car will henceforth be visible failed attempts, as the green Lada blends in with our surroundings like nobody’s business, and white most definitely doesn’t.

It should be noted that the Lada nearly failed our last annual car inspection, and that any car is better than no car, white or not. And I’d be lying if I wasn’t excited at a new car, even if it isn’t NEW, new. But I am also slightly nerved out. What if I hate it? Also, how much you want to bet that Jelly Man is going to get pulled over twice as much with this flashy white machine?*

*Apparently, a green hunchback** Lada is the least offensive vehicle you could possibly find, and cops wouldn’t want to poke it with a stick, much less talk to the person driving it. I’m not even shitting you.

** LOL, hunchback! Suits the Lada so perfectly..

I am still half in shock. If a white Japanese car materializes on Monday/Tuesday next week, I’ll be sure to post pictures! Until then I think I’m going to stay in denial!

The hows and who’s of child abuse

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Unless you have been hiding under a rock lately, you have most likely noticed that the “blogosphere” is ablaze with child exploitation allegations, and from that stemmed the “what about the child molesters!?“. It’s so rare for me to have an opinion that I even care to share (sometimes I feel so dry, my skin flakes and falls from my forehead every time I feel one coming on), that and I just can’t bear to write them down (that’s what I have Jelly Man for! He gets my sense of humor at least), but I just got to chime in this time.

I’m not for or against - do what you want, or what feels right to you and yours (if the two are not the same, and I would guess that often they’re not), but I just have to laugh out loud* at one argument I have seen more than once these past weeks.

*Yes! An actual LOL, IRL! ROFL!
Ahem..

Look, I understand that not everyone feel it’s safe to put up pictures of your children, and I can see how the argument goes, and might even agree a little bit. It just gets a little laughable when people start making the claim that they are making sure their children don’t get in contact with “questionable people”, assuming there is some sort of definition for “questionable” and as if you can tell from looking at someone whether or not they are more or less likely to abduct your child and abuse him/her. Especially since about 95% of children know their abuser.

Who in their right mind lets their child be alone with someone they know to be a child molester? Exactly - no one sane would, yet it still happens. And not because we put our family pictures up on our silly blogs, whether big or small. We have gotten babysitter offers from a lot of people, some of whom we trust to be able to take care of Carlita if need be, others whom we don’t, and we both agree that we aren’t taking any of them up on their offer; Not because we think they are child abusers, but because we wouldn’t be able to tell if they were.

Exceptions being my mum and Jelly Man’s dad, who happens to not have offered.. yet.

Again, I respect that opinions differ on the matter of putting pictures on the web, but I think it is demeaning to those parents whose children have been molested by someone they trusted, school teacher, coach, priest, other family member, family friend and so on, to imply that other’s are not taking the safety measures they could be taking, because I am willing to believe that most of them would never have thought themselves to be leaving their child in the care of someone “questionable”.That, in fact, most child abusers, sexual or otherwise, look pretty darn “normal”.

Child abusers mainly look at child porn, not family photos, and in my case some nitwit masturbated while looking at me through the bookshelves of our library when I was 15 - not exactly your typical “questionable” hang-out place, if you ask me, and I would have personally preferred that the guy had stayed at home that day and masturbated to my picture, than have him brush his load off on me in the isle after he was done**.

**I was utterly clueless as to what exactly had just happened - it took me a couple of years to figure that one out.

The world is turning out to be a really sick place when one feels awkward filming one’s daughter’s face while she is getting her diaper changed, for fear of what others would think should they find out what is going on where the camera is not filming. Yet that is exactly what happened the other day when Carlita was talking up a storm during her diaper change. To pervert family photos, lulling people into believing they are safe as long as they don’t put pictures on the web, is not helping the actual issue, if you ask me.

But then, that is just my opinion, so I’m curious - what is yours?

Sunday wrap

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Poor Croala Bear!

She is on her second nap today, and she officially dropped her second nap around 13 months or so, so the verdict seems pretty grim. She will most likely wake up crying later, as she has the past couple of days, but that is what baby panadol is for, and so far they work like a charm. I’m pretty certain she has an ear infection, but as long as the panadol keeps her happy I think she’s better off than starting antibiotics.

Jelly Man took a turn for the worse as well and is now cawing like a crow. As feminine as he is in all other aspects of his life, he still manages to be super-ultra irritable when sick. PMS is a minor mood fluctuation compared to his sickly morning grumpiness, oh lordy! Of course he ends up feeling guilty, like now, and I get to demand that he buy me truffles and champagne, like now! (OK, so more like chocolate, ice cream and mineral water - cause mineral water cancels out the calories in the chocolate and the ice cream, unlike, say, coca-cola which only doubles them!)

Anyway, this is a pretty sucky end to a very sucky weekend. I’ve still not managed to tackle the easiest of household duties, so will have to scramble through Monday and Tuesday to get the house ready for another 5 days of ATTACK OF THE GRANDMA! starting Tuesday evening.

I swear every time she has been here Carlita has to re-learn how to eat and drink properly - and wow, that’s a completely different post - IT DRIVES ME BONKERS! Let the kid drink water if she is happy with it, dude.. Seriously. (But yes, it’s fodder for a whole stand-alone entry.)