Hiding in the Closet

I was hiding in the closet.  Eating an ice cream bar (well, a yogurt bar actually).  Because I didn't want to share with either of my children.

That's my confession.

Want another one?  I am skipping my workout tonight.  

I'm just so tired.  Today was one of those days where I LITERALLY (and I do mean literally) have not stopped doing something since the moment my eyes opened this morning.  Which, by the way, was at 4:30am. 

Orion slept in until just after nine o'clock!  Mara was up at 7:00am with Corky and me.  I saw a bunch of extremely ripe bananas on the counter so Mara and I decided to make banana bread.  We were having lunch with my dad later and I used to bake things and take them to his office.  It had been a while since I'd done that so I thought we'd bring the banana bread down to his office when we went later.

I moved Mara's gymnastics class from Saturday morning to Thursday morning.  The main reason for the switch was to free up our weekends but it had a few unexpected benefits too.  For one thing, there's almost nobody there so there are actually parking spots!  That aren't half a mile from the door!  Another thing is that her new coach is a woman named Kayla who was actually Mara's coach about a year ago.  She's really nice and Mara likes her a lot.  A third benefit is that there are very few kids in her class, which allows everyone more one-on-one time with the coach.

Side note: Coach Kayla was exceedingly complimentary of Mara today after class.  She commented on how strong Mara is and how well-suited she is for gymnastics.  She gave us some stuff we can work on at home to help Mara improve.  Not that she needs a lot of improvement but I know she likes working on stuff and seeing herself improve.  Not to mention she loves to show off for her teachers. :)

Side note off the side note: Mara does figure skating lessons on Wednesdays.  The last few weeks have been tough.  She seems.... spacey.  Like she's not really enjoying it or mentally present.  She seemed to be having a really hard time doing the exercises that the rest of the class seemed to be flying through.  So yesterday, instead of having her use her same-old-same-old big, bulky blue ice skates, I had her rent the lightweight plastic ones from the rink. HUUUUUUGE improvement.  So we'll be going that route from here on out.  They don't offer lessons over the summer, so unless she does summer camps (which she won't) she won't be back on the ice until September.  At least not in a structured, class-like environment.

Side note off the side note off the side note: On Wednesday when I dropped Mara off at school, one of the teachers was arriving just as Orion and I were heading back out to the car. She came over to say hi to us and started telling me what a great kid Mara is.  How the threes are usually her least favorite age group but not Mara.  "She's empathetic, she's caring, she's loving, she's generous... you are doing a great job with her," she told me.  I smiled and thanked her but in my head I was thinking how unfair it is that I work my ass off to teach her good morals, good values and good principles and everyone else gets to reap the benefit of that except for Corky and me.  And that is SO unfair.  Don't get me wrong.. I'm glad she's good at school.  And I know it's normal for kids to act differently around their parents, especially their default parent (me).  But dang.... wish I could see that side of her more often!

Anyway, back to today.  Of all the days for Orion to sleep in!  I ended up getting him up at 9:05, nursing him quickly and loading him into his car seat and rushing us all off to Mara's gymnastics.  I chugged my coffee so fast I burned my tongue.  The banana bread was so freshly out of the oven that I had to wrap it in a towel in order to carry it to the car. Of course Mara had to change her shoes three times, find her favorite purse and do the sidewalk chalk hopscotch in the driveway before she could get in her carseat.  Then she had to buckle herself.  Heaven forbid I try to help her.  This made us late, and of course every light was red.  We rushed into gymnastics two minutes past the start time.  Not how I wanted to start my day.

So after gymnastics class ended at 10:20, we loaded back into the car, stopped at the gas station and headed for downtown, $50 poorer.  We delivered the banana bread to my dad, took Orion around his office to meet a few of his co-workers who hadn't met him yet, and then had lunch.

Corky's mom came over this afternoon to hang out for a while.  The big news for the afternoon was that Mara's new scooter arrived.  Her little buddy who lives across the street has this green scooter that he rides all the time.  He and Mara would take turns with it (grudgingly on his part) and so I finally decided to buy her a scooter of her own about a month ago.  I bought her this cute little pink and purple scooter.... which is apparently slower than molasses.  So for the past month they've continued to trade off this green scooter... and argue about it.  So finally I decided enough was enough.  I donated her pink and purple scooter and bought her a blue one, same kind as her friend's.  It arrived this afternoon and when he got home from Pre-K (he's 5) they spent the afternoon scootering around the driveway together.

Tonight at 6pm was the "coordinating rehearsal" and costume pickup for Mara's dance recital later this month.  Mara's teacher at school had confessed to me that she didn't know if she'd be able to take her daughter, Mina, to the rehearsal because she had to pick her older son up from his after school program in Tigard at the same time.  I offered to drive Mina since I was going there anyway and we live 3 minutes from the school.  So at 5:15 this evening, Mara and I (Orion stayed home with Corky) arrived at school to pick up Mina.  We then fought traffic all the way out to this huge synagogue, of all places, where the rehearsal was being held.  The girls received their costumes (in all their sequined and fringed glory) and all the different classes did a quick run-through of their song.  We left the rehearsal about 7:30, dropped Mina home 20 minutes later and were home 20 minutes after that.  

Orion was headed toward Hot Mess-ville by the time Mara and I walked in the door.  He hit meltdown mode within thirty seconds.  I helped Mara into her costume, as she was itching to try it on, whisked Orion upstairs, put him in his PJs and nursed him to sleep.  I came downstairs to Mara wailing and tantrumming about god knows what.  This was the point that I snuck my yogurt bar and shut myself into the master closet to eat my treat in peace. When I came back downstairs, Orion was just starting to fuss.  Corky went upstairs to calm him down, telling me as he passed that his brother texted and likely has appendicitis.  

Well, okay then.

Mara, who had refused her dinner earlier because she was too busy playing and was too excited about seeing Mina, informed me that she was hungry.  I gave her half a buttered bagel, an applesauce pouch and a cup of milk, brushed her teeth, put her in her PJs and put her to bed.  Only after discovering that she had taken my BRAND NEW bottle of soap from Bath & Body Works and DUMPED IT DOWN THE SINK and replaced it with water.  AGHGHHHHHHHHHH.

*Deep breath*

And now.  It's 10:02.  I should be pumping.  I should be taking a shower.  But I'm blogging.  Why?  Because I feel like it!  And after a day like today, I can do whatever the hell I want.