A tale of two meltdowns ... Ghosts and Goats totally messing with us

We went to a nearby pumpkin patch this weekend for a playdate with one of Bug's friends.  Over the course of several hours before we left for the pumpkin patch, Bug kept asking me whether there would be ghosts in the pumpkin patch.

"Do you want there to be ghosts at the pumpkin patch?  Or no?"  I asked.

"Yes!  I want to find some ghosts," answered Bug.

"Oh - okay.  Well then we will have to look for them when we get there," I said.

Bug had been excited for this playdate and trip to the pumpkin patch for days.  When we were finally packed and ready to get in the car and drive to the pumpkin patch, Bug started to protest.

"No!  It's not nighttime!  There won't be any ghosts!!"

Twice as old as last year

On the morning of Squish's second birthday, I woke up in a hotel room in Canada (work trip).  I knew I would be home by 11 am that morning, but the Mom Guilt for not having been at home when he woke up on his birthday had been with me for days [weeks]. 

Two days earlier, on the day I flew to Toronto, I had bought Squish's daycare class mini cupcakes and left them on the kitchen counter so that my husband could bring them in with the kids on Squish's birthday.  I had also gone out to get Squish's birthday balloon and then hid it in the kitchen pantry.  (The birthday balloon is meant to be the first thing a birthday boy sees when he wakes up and arrives in his room the night before his birthday.)

By the time I was back from Canada and in the cab home from the airport, I started to worry about whether the birthday balloon and the cupcakes had been delivered on time.  On some level, I think I expected to walk into my apartment and see the balloon and cupcakes replaced with neon signs that read, "Good Moms Are Home On Birthdays," and "Good Moms Deliver."

I freaking hate Mom Guilt.

The good news is that my husband delivered both on time.  (Thank you, sweet, awesome, amazing husband of mine.)

The really good news is how awesome it felt to pick Squish up from daycare that evening.  He ran toward me with his mop of curls and a huge smile, and (almost) all of my guilt vanished as I scooped him up.  Thank you, sweet Squish, for reminding me that there are no neon signs, that we do the best we can, and that, if you're ever feeling a little low, the best trick is probably to turn around and around and around and around and around and around in the kitchen until you careen into the wall and tumble to the floor giggling all the way down. 

It was an honor just being nominated, but votes are nice, too

A Momma Grows has been nominated to be one of the Top 25 Family Blogs By Moms at Circle of Moms by Pop Sugar!

I have set a goal of writing a blog post for each day that the polls are open... Please reward me by clicking on this button and voting for A Momma Grows!!

Four

Bug just turned four, and it was a wonderful day - sunny and complete with friends and family.  But I didn't write my usual happy birthday post for him, and I have been feeling guilty ever since.

The night before his birthday and the party, I was stuffing a Spiderman pinata with three pounds of candy and little toys and trinkets.  Spiderman's face started to peel off of the pinata (for maybe the third time), and I realized we were going to need to scotch tape that spidey face to the pinata for the big day. 

I even thought to myself: "Ha!  Spiderman's face is coming off.  Classic.  Put that in a blog post."

free time

Forgive me for writing yet another post about routines - a changed routine, a failed routine, a lack of routine, a new routine that was the answer until it wasn't.  But, as my mom recently reminded me (when I apologized for talking about our new schedule at home for probably twenty-five minutes with an inordinate level of enthusiasm):  "Routines are so crucial!  Of course you think about them and talk about them!"

COMMUNITY NEWS: FingeNYC's 2013 FringeJR and Eva Dean Dance

I got a note about the following dance performance - tomorrow, this weekend, and next week - go, enjoy, tell your friends!

Venue #8 - The theater at the 14th Street Y
344 E. 14th St (b/w 1st and 2d Avenues)

Wed., Aug. 14 at 5:45 pm
Sat., Aug. 17 at 4:30 pm
Wed., Aug. 21 at 4 pm

Tickets: $15 in advance (www.fringenyc.org) or $18 at door

"Floating dancers on circus globes, bedeviled pirates, and free-spirited gypsies inhabit the netherworlds of Peter Pan, Esmerelda, and Tinker Bell.  Enter these worlds illuminated by mystical twirling lights.  Peter Pan and Stardust Dances is a unique one-of-a-kind production for adventurous audiences from ages 4 to 104.

The impetus for Peter Pan and Stardust Dances comes from an interest in magic, joy, and wonderment.  Eva Dean Dance first premiered an excerpt from this production at 2012 First Night Boston, set to original music from David Kahne's larger completed "Peter Pan Ballet" score.  Its 2013 FringeNYC installment will add one new segment - Peter Pan SHADOW.  Eva Dean and David Kahne plan to work together to make a full-scale production of PETER PAN using Kahne's composed "Peter Pan Ballet."
 

That time Squish maybe had a little, tiny bit of some iced latte

When I went to Milwaukee to see an old friend recently, I left my husband home with a seriously painful back spasm that was definitely not appropriate for air travel.

I packed a suitcase, a travel crib, a baby carrier, and a carry on bag into the back of the car and drove the three of us to the airport.

As we were walking to the ticket counter from the parking garage - pulling a suitcase with a travel crib on top of it, Squish in the carrier, and Bug walking alongside, a kind man said, "Would you like some help?"

"Oh, no, thank you!"

That's right.  I was in the middle of some kind of adrenaline rush  - having successfully made it that far, I was mentally preparing for the ticket counter, security checkpoint, and bathroom break, and I was pinning all of my hopes on the fact that there might be a coffee shop between security and the gate for our flight.

The coffee was going to be my reward for having successfully shepherded my three-year-old and one-year-old and all of our stuff to the other side of security.

I couldn't wimp out and take help at that point - before I had even checked us into our flight.

Caffeine was my help.

And it was waiting for me on the other side of security.