Upside Down

Here's an action shot of us playing Eliza's favorite game these days! All the blood that rushes to her brain probably is making her super smart, uhh....

Remarkable Videos for the true Eliza fans!

I know that some people don't care enough to read through the longer posts and especially not to watch 3 minute long, random videos of my child splashing in puddles and playing Wii games with their Oma. BUT if you are one of those TRUE BLUE Eliza devotees, then ENJOY...

Wii Fit with Oma!!


Rain Boots!


Family Home Evening: Let us see your smile!

Someday my ... Batman? ... will come!

So for the past few months, Eliza and I have had the privilege of having lunch with my dear friend, Will, on Monday's! Will and I have been friends since we were like 17, and he was my boyfriend's best friend. It's been really great to spend time with Will again since I moved back here especially this Spring and Summer!

I've never really had a friend that I got to do something with consistently on a weekly basis since I had Eliza, and I've really enjoyed our lunches! Sometimes we have other ambiguous friends join us as well which is a great pleasure too! But it's been a great way to start the week! It can get lonely as a mom, as I'm sure many people know, and I wish our Monday lunches with Will had started a lot sooner! We usually go to a Chic-fil-a where Eliza can flit in and out of the kids' play place while we chat.

A few Monday's ago a WONDERFUL conversation ensued as a result of Eliza's interactions with a little friend she met on the play place.

Eliza came back to our booth and looked a little bummed, and I asked her if something was wrong. She was like, "Uhhh, no." But then she said that her new friend, a little boy named Ethan, didn't want to play with her. Awww. I asked Eliza what happened....

As many of you know, Eliza LOVES to play the game of pretend. Apparently she had been trying to convince Ethan to play the Princess genre of pretend, telling him that she was the Little Mermaid and he was to be Prince Eric.

Eliza told us that Ethan refused, however, and told her, "No. I want to be Batman!"And then, in frustration and confusion, they parted ways.

When Eliza came and told us the story, we couldn't help but laugh. We decided that this dilemma between the sexes is not a new one, nor does it necessarily dissipate with age!

Girls still want to be princesses. AND they want the boys they meet to become their princes.

Boys still want to be super heroes. And if a girl happens to come along, they'll probably agree to play with them (but only if it involves a fight! jk).

I find it interesting and a little bit sad, though, that most little girls grow up with these Disney princess stories that almost all seem to end with getting the guy, getting pretty dresses, and getting married in order for their happily ever after to come along.

(And it's disturbing for me, as a mom of a princess-crazed 3 yr old to happen upon her picking leaves off of a bush, saying, "He loves me! He loves me not. He loves me! He loves me not...")

Meanwhile, boys are learning about being tough, fighting evil, and using weapons.

I worry that this leaves girls codependent and boys emotionally stunted.

And then at some point in their adult lives, they're supposed to combine/shed these delusional media influences and find some sort of common ground.

However, I think this might mean that men and women still continue to play games, but not realizing that they're playing a different one than their counterparts.

So now I plan to hide all the barbies and let Eliza only watch violent cartoons featuring super heroes for the rest of her childhood leisure time. She'll thank me the next time she wants to have a conversation with a boy... or have to fight off some ninjas to save a wimpy boyfriend! Either way, she'll be ready!

Super Sweet Synopses

Paragraph 'o Excuses for lack of blogging: Our main computer on which I upload/edit/save photos on got displaced because of the remodeling. I've been using my netbook only. No pictures = boring blog in my mind. Hence, no posts. But we'll see what I can do!

Good news: I lost 10 freakin' pounds in the last 3 weeks! And as opposed to the last time I lost about that much weight, I don't have an ulcer or random undiagnosed infection like last January! I've been following the basic premise of weight watchers but not doing meetings or paying for anything. I just use their chart to factor in points (calories/fat/fiber). I've been exercising but not as much as I could.
Bad news: We have been living without a kitchen for over a week now because of remodeling! Ahhhhh! We have all been living off of microwavable meals and eating out. I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat a microwavable pasta meal again in MY LIFE! I'm really not trying to be whiny, seriously. Luckily, eating cereal 2 to 3 x's a day has not made me sick of cereal. It's made me AWESOME. Some fav's include Fruit Loops w/ Marshmellows, Lucky Charms, Kashi Berry Crunch, and Cracklin' Oat Bran! (I eat the sugar cereal w/ skim milk for a treat instead of ice cream these days!)

Yummy news: This Half NAked popcorn rocks my socks! I only like it for the name. Kidding, it's really healthy but yummy for the munchies! Good news: I now get to carry a card around in my wallet that says I am Licensed in the State of South Carolina to practice social work at the masters level! What, what!! A card carrying member ... AND my boss actually asked me for my license # the other day for medicaid stuff, and I got to be like, "Check this. Here's my card!"

Bad news: Eliza doesn't take naps.

Good news: No more pacifiers.

Music news: This song is a little old, but the video is awesome and it's TOTALLY MY LIFE! (totally an original thing to say)
Check it out:

Awesome news: Last Monday Abby helped me grilllllllll some of the best chicken you've EVER had in your LIFE on our bbq during a severe weather alert thunderstorm. Yeah, we're that cool. Later that night, we all roasted marshmallows and had s'mores for our Family Home Evening (FHE) treat.

Sad news: Eliza wouldn't even TRY to eat a s'more! Nor would she even try a bite of my oatmeal drop/no bake cookies for FHE the week before. That's like the epitome of the FHE treat experience. But no- not one bite. Normally, I'd be like, "Fine! More for me!" But since I'm watching my diet, I was like, "Crap! More for me!" Weird news: Why is marshmallow not spelled marshmellow. 'Cuz that's totally how everyone says it. But I guess a world that spelled all things phonetically, is not a world I would want to live in anyways.

Random news: Now I want to go eat at the Mellow Mushroom. Numm num num.

Movie news: I watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It's plot had some "god" awful holes in it. I saw Eclipse, and it was some super giggly fun. Although, my friend and I weren't always giggling at the parts people were supposed to giggle at. And our giggling might be considered to be more like snickering... It reminded me of how stupid I was when I was 18 years old. Good thing I didn't let any vampire bite me back then, though.
GREATEST NEWS: Oma (my grandmother, Rosalie) now resides with us! Yeah, that's four generations under one roof, BABY! We're like one hippy away from becoming a commune... and LOVIN' it!

Doggy news: Oma's pooch, Cali, also resides with us! It's like the most exciting thing that's ever happened for these poodles here. Finnegan's stickin' to the basement. All bets are out for who learns to use the new doggy door first- Finnegan or Cali!

How-it-relates-to-Eliza news: Eliza's pretty ecstatic about Cali and "Oma Rosie" as well!! Hopefully Oma won't get too sick of Eliza's little knocks on her bedroom door.

Literary news: I am reading "Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules," which is edited and introduced by David Sedaris. It's sick, yo. In the good way. Car news: My car's in the shop. Lame-o.

Sports news: Dad and I have been rockin' out on the volleyball court! Indoor AND outdoor! That's right! We play with the BAPTISTS! aka our really sweet neighbor who also lets Eliza swim in their pool whenever we want. LOVELY!

Secret News: Did you actually think I'd write a secret on my blog? Come on! This is for public defamation only!

Mothering news: I put Eliza to sleep TWICE today by telling her two of my ridunculously awesome princess stories. Sleeping Beauty in the car on the way home from Columbia and Little Mermaid tonight at bedtime... my beautifully detailed accounts were just so gripping that she probably had just no choice but to pass out from excitement....hmm.

Family gossip news: Katy's baby is due this week, and she has a birthday as well! Robby just returned from a wedding with his GURL friend. Not their wedding. Her sister's. Abby spent the weekend in NYC with our great Aunt Julie.

Thoughtful news: Sometimes the people you grew up with turn out to be just like you thought they would. That's probably disappointing for them.

Cuisine news: I made some delectible lasagna for the Branch Brunch today. I didn't personally receive any compliments on it (besides Jean Marie but she doesn't count b/c she would say it tasted good even if you gave her something wretched like refried beans), but I thought it tasted like one of the best lasagnas I've ever made. And I RARELY ever fully like/approve the food I make. Oh, and the pan was empty, so I guess that could be a sort of compliment ... or a sign that single adults will eat pretty much any food as long as it's free. No, but REALLY it was delicious lasagna.

Verb Conjugation news: Eliza really likes to run races. Afterwards, she likes to announce, "I beated you!" I tried to correct her verb usage, telling her, "I beat you." And Eliza said, "I beated you!" Me: "No, say, I beat you." Eliza, growing frustrated: "No, mommy, I beated you!" Me: "Ohhh, yes, you did BEAT me." She's already competitive, but not in the race of the grammatically correct.

Oral Hygiene news: Eliza and I are going to the dentist on Tuesday! It's her first time!!! I hope it goes okay. She has some arching on her front teeth from the pacifier and possibly some weakened enamel in the front teeth too. :/ Scary news: My insurance benefits through USC end next month. This means that I either need to pick up another part time/full time job or get a full time job at The Nurturing Center. Big decision time coming up! Wish me luck. I've had a couple interviews. Let me know if they pay the social workers in your area big bucks! I heard they're paying like about $10/hr more in DC than here for some of the social work positions. Too bad I really, really like it here in SC (most of the time)!

What I'm doing right now...

.... Is listening to a very sad and tired Eliza cry it out while rolling on the ground in her room. Poor girl.

See, it all started with a little newborn sucking on just one little pacifier.

Three years, 2 months, and ~5 days later, we took away all the pacifiers. She did pretty well the first two days at my house, besides a rough night of waking up every few hours and crying. But she was happily announcing to people, "No more ba-ba's!" (Babas were what she called her pacifiers).

Now she's just sad ... and GRUMPY! and does NOT want to take a nap. And has a hand or finger in her mouth constantly when she starts getting tired.

Baba Withdrawals is what we're experiencing here, folks!

So all those reassuring stories we heard along the way- puh! Oh how deceiving!

"I just told my daughter that the paci fairy came and took away all the pacifiers. She asked for it once and then never again!"

"I helped my child collect all the paci's and then we threw them away. They were fine after that!" or "There was a little crying here and there, but not anything big."

"We just cut a little bit off the pacifier every night until there was hardly anything left. Then he just stopped asking for it after a while!"

Well, good for you! Spread your fiction and picture perfect stories to other "suckers," why don't you! I, however, prefer honesty!

We'll add this experience as another chapter of the book, "Things they never tell you about parenting because otherwise you'd never have Kids!"

Anyways, I'm trying to dole out lots of validation and reassurance! Praying for patience and for the withdrawal stage to break! It'll come, right? I mean, people eventually overcome opium addictions, so SURELY this too shall pass as well right?

Oh, and yes, I packed up Eliza's baba's into a box, and she wants to ship them to her new baby girl cousin! ... AND she hasn't asked for it at all since the first day. She knows that pacifiers are for babies and not big girls and that it's hurting her teeth.

And yet, she's still rolling on the floor crying. I'd post a picture, but I think that someone would report me for cruelty to 3 yr olds.

Sorry, Eliza, no one but me can hear your screams from the basement...

p.s. Steve's on board with this whole plan too... in case you're concerned.

p.p.s. Please don't leave any comments about how cruel I am-- I already feel it enough on my own. I'd be happy to let Eliza have a pacifier until she's 41 yrs. old if it wouldn't mess up her mouth and reek havoc on any chance of her ever having a social life!