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!
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!" 
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. 
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! 
Car news: My car's in the shop. Lame-o. 
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)!
.... 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!
Eliza and I spent last week in DC and Maryland with the handsome man above, Reuben, and Katy, Aaron, and Robby! 
Reuben LOVES his walks. He periodically would point out the door to us, saying outside and knock on the door until we let him out. He would climb right into the stroller and say, "Go!" 
The BALLER!
We got to go to the church bookstore, and here are some CD's that I wish I could have gotten...umm... but not really.
On one of the evenings, Eliza and I took the train into the city to visit Robby! Eliza was SO excited to ride the train- excited enough that she actually SMILED for the pictures!! 
It was a really long line to the cupcake place, but soo worth it!
(Myra gave Eliza a ring pop which won Eliza's heart and tummy!)
Katy was "behaving" herself by sitting down at the aquarium for a while. 
Eliza spotted this stuffed Cheetah and froze, asking me if it was real. I reassured her that it was not alive... I was not exactly sure how to explain that it was dead but stuffed? So I told her that it couldn't hurt her. She pointed it out for the camera.
There was the Amazon Rain Forest floor where there are these monkeys just out and about. Eliza was kinda freaked out by them. I asked her to take a picture with it in the back, but she did NOT want to turn her back on that thing!! haha. But she wanted a picture of it to show Oma.
5. Food!
Eliza was THRILLED to see Uncle Robby! She was so sad when we dropped him off at the Metro on Friday morning. She kept telling me that she was sad that we said bye to Uncle Robby and kept asking me why he had to go to work.
It was also WONDERFUL to get to spend time with Kate this week! I know she was really bummed by the bed rest order. She still tried hard to make our DC week fun, but I LOVED just getting to hang out and talk with her. I've missed her SO much since she moved up to Maryland in April! She is such a hard worker and an incredible mom! I don't know how she does all that she does. Despite her and Aaron's busy-ness, they were amazingly kind to let Eliza and us invade their house and make our time special!! 
Thanks for having us! 
.jpg)
