Author: Big Mama

  • Visitin’


    Tonight we were having our neighbors over for dinner, so instead of showering and putting on my pajamas like I usually do, I showered and actually got dressed. Caroline immediately picked up on it and said “Mama, where are you going?” I told her I wasn’t going anywhere but that Mama and Daddy were having some friends over for dinner. Oh! She got so excited! “Oh Mama I want to stay up and would like to visit with them!” She danced around and sang and by the time they knocked on the door she was so keyed up that she greeted them with about a hundred words a minute.

    She definitely got the social bug gene from her daddy. He loves to meet new people, make some small talk and basically branch out. I love to be social but usually just with people I know and love. I’m not a big fan of small talk and prefer to cut straight to the good stuff. My friends have always said that when I talk about making a new friend they know it must be someone really special because I’m not one to just make friends for the sake of having more friends. But Caroline, that girl loves to strike up conversations with new people. She is her daddy’s girl in that aspect for sure.

    Speaking of her daddy, I am glad to see on MSN entertainment news that the new hot leading men in movies are trending toward being “retrosexual”. In a nutshell, pretty boy is out and manly man is in. I am all about this trend. I can say that I am married to the original retrosexual. While he is nice looking, he is very masculine and certainly not in to what he wears or if he’s perfectly groomed. My best friend Gulley and I have always said that our belief is show us a dad with washboard abs and I’ll show you someone who’s spending too much time at the gym and not enough with his family. In my opinion, I’d take Vince Vaughn over Brad Pitt any day of the week. Not that I’d take either of them because I’m happy with what I have, but you get the point.

  • Best Friends

    A couple of hours ago we were leaving to go to Walmart. I made Caroline make one last trip to the potty to help us stay accident free. After she went I said “Good for you, you did it! I’m so proud.” She hugged me so tight and said “Mama, we are best friends!”

    I realize that as her mother she won’t always see me as her best friend and really being a good mother means that at times she will really not like me. I will cherish it while it lasts and remember it when she’s 14 and has no desire for me to be her best friend.

  • Invasion of the Bees

    P. and I took Caroline to the neighborhood pool on Saturday only to discover that the grill was closed due to an overabundance of bees. One lifeguard was quick to tell us that she even got
    “stung on the spine”. I have to agree with P. when he said that unless bees are now burrowing into our skin, she really just got stung on her back. I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but no one on staff at the pool seems that concerned about the grill being closed, while I, as the mother of a toddler, view the grill as crucial to our pool enjoyment experience.

    I met Gulley and her crew there today and yes, grill still closed. They now have it roped off with caution tape so it looks like maybe someone met a grisly end at the pool. The only fatalities I saw however, were bees floating in large jars of something that apparently is bad for bees.

    No one is saying when the grill will reopen but in the meantime you can still purchase popsicles, drinks and slices of Double Dave’s pizza (for $2.00 per slice). So we left this evening after having an ice cream sandwich, but no dinner for Caroline which there again (and I can’t overstate this) is crucial to the pool experience.

    So you might think I am a little overly obsessed with the pool food. Let me say that the food is completely mediocre for the most part. As P. says “what do I expect from food cooked by 14 year olds?” I have eaten a few meals there and it really all tastes the same, which is quite the accomplishment considering what a varied menu they offer.

    For me the grill isn’t about the quality nourishment, but the ability to go to the pool, swim our hearts out and eat dinner all in one glorious stop. Granted (and as Gulley can attest) I spend most of our dining experience saying “Caroline, THIS IS YOUR DINNER, YOU NEED TO EAT, or you will get NOTHING ELSE when we get home”, to which she usually runs off to play with Jackson some more. The point is that by the time we get home and are at the point of sheer exhaustion, dinner is already out of the way and we can move on the bathtime and pajamas.

    I realize that the bees got out of control, but have mercy call an exterminator, a bee keeper, anyone so that the proper order of things can be restored at the pool. I would kill for a soggy grilled cheese sandwich, which maybe explains the caution tape.

  • My wish for you

    After having a child free evening last night and getting to sleep in a little this morning, I am now paying for it because Caroline will not nap. I thought she had fallen asleep until I heard every book from her bookshelves being thrown on the floor. I went in to find books everywhere and she had torn another piece of her Wizard of Oz book. I said “Caroline, do not tear up your books.” I guess my tone of voice combined with that fact that she is truly exhausted caused her to burst into tears. After awhile she settled down as I rocked her and agreed to let her “rest” on the couch (which isn’t going to happen, but at least I know she’ll go to bed early tonight). She pulled back, smiled at me and said “look mama, I see myself in your eyes”. Maybe it’s because I’m a little extra emotional today but it made me all teary. I hope she can always see herself in my eyes because then I’ll know that she will always know how sweet, how charming, how precious she really is. Even more, I hope that I can teach her to see herself through God’s eyes because that will make her unstoppable.

  • You want me?

    Caroline had a bad dream the other night and woke up calling for me. I went into her room to rock her until she settled down. As I was rocking her I thought how amazing it is that my presence can calm all her fears. She immediately felt safe and protected. The irony is that I am a girl who slept in my mom’s room for two weeks before I left for college because I saw Pet Semetary. No one would accuse me of being brave. To this day if scary movie previews come on, P. will say “Don’t look, don’t look” because he knows that whatever I see will be permanently imbedded in my brain and cause a bout of insomnia.

    My childhood nighttime adventures are legendary so she comes by it honestly. I am famous for yelling “But Mama, I can’t see” to which my mother would reply “You’re not supposed to see…it’s nighttime go to sleep”.

    A few months ago she was waking up all hours of the night and one night I finally said “Caroline, this is ridiculous, I’m not coming in here again.” In my defense I was very tired and sleep deprived after 2 weeks of mediocre sleep and I am a girl who loves my sleep. She went to school the next day and told her teacher “mama says IT’S DICULOUS and she’s never coming in my room again.” Nice. That right there will win me some major parenting awards.

  • I wanted to go to the pool….

    Caroline didn’t take a nap today so instead of the usual long day I had the excruciating long day. That’s the one that comes complete with whiny, tired toddler who feels like the whole world is out to get her because she can’t have a third popsicle. Lovely.

    I finally got her ready for bed and was tucking her in. She went through her usual “I need a drink of water, sing another song, rock me”…and when those possibilities were finally exhausted she yelled “But I wanted to GO TO THE POOL TODAY!!” Sorry. No pool today. No one said it’s easy being almost 3.

    Earlier today (during the no napping) we were on the computer playing games on Noggin. I think it was Pinky Dinky Doo and the big word game. The word we got was apprehensive. Caroline repeated it and asked “what that mean Mama?” I told her it’s when you’re worried about something. She said “I apprehensive about having bad dreams.” It was so sweet and very impressive for a child with 50% DNA that considers the Cabelas catalog to be a fine piece of literature.