In the process

[BobbiJo]

Well, as far as teachers getting things done, I broke down and took a personal day last week. I get two a year and didn't use them last year. So, I took one. And spent it doing about 80% of my shopping and wrapping. However my house is a flippin' mess and I am dying for a day to just clean and organize before Christmas gets here!! And sadly, we get out after school on 12/23 and go back on 1/3. Yuck.

Skiing with an experienced partner? I bet it will be intimidating! The guy I am dating currently takes a couple of ski trips every year and a year ago went to Switzerland with the guys to ski...and I have been skiing exactly once! So I will live through your experience...

[awest1217]

BobbiJo, you only get a week and a day for Christmas and New Years...YUCK! I personally wish I had a few days next week just so I wouldn't have to come back 1-3, but I feel for you only having one week and a day.

NM, enjoy the boring days, and have a great break!

[lostandconfused6]

That's my break schedule this year to -12/23-1/3. But I am actually glad. Right now I do a lot better at work than I do at home. Being around kids is so therapeutic, my job has been such a blessing to me this year.

[newmama]

WOO HOO! Winter break is here!

Yesterday I broke the "rules" and we had one academic activity and then made snowflakes, had a party (we had 2 birthdays to celebrate) where a mom brought goodie bags that were mostly little party favors--so nice! As well as some capri suns. I threw in some Doritos and Oreos and we had a dance party for about 20 minutes (burned up some of the junk, right? If we have junk we get to exercise in a form of recess or dancing). In the p.m.-- a movie with hot cocoa and candy canes.

The weather was cold but clear so when I picked up S, we went to the park and played for around 30 minutes. He was bundled up but I stoppped when his hands got cold. This morning all I wanted to do was stay in my pj's and lounge around with coffee. THANK GOODNESS that S seemed to be content to play around as well! I took turns playing kitchen with him or reading to him or playing with his blocks with him but also took turns talking on the phone to a girlfriend or making Christmas plans on FB with my family. I think he was happy to not have to get in the car and go somewhere again (we always do stuff). NOw he is taking a nap while I get some laundry done and write here on my thread.

Something bad happened, though! Before you read and tell me what a bad mom I am, he is ok THANK GOD. When I was on the phone, watching him 100% and never taking my eyes off of him -he was 3 feet in front of me-- he started playing with the drawers and cupboards on the buffet table in the entry way. He has done this before and it hasn't been a problem. I go over and remove the stuff that could hurt him so he can put his toys inside, etc. Again, I wasn't walking around the house or not looking at him, etc, I was fully watching him and letting him do this. IN A FLASH, he pulled some part of the table and the whole thing FELL ON HIM!!!! (not his head, it landed on his lap kind of.) Of course in a nanosecond I drop the phone and rush over in 1 second since I was so close! THANK YOU GOD that the table is a very light weight one and nothing was inside but he of course was super scared and so was I and I felt so stupid and guilty and shocked that he did this with my permission when I was watching what he was doing! I guess I feel the need to write this here because I feel so foolish for not anticipating that he could pull the table on him?!? Isn't that a #1 cause of ER visits? Kids climb on furniture and it falls on them??? I also felt guilty for talking on the phone...although if I had been sitting on the floor cleaning up toys he still would have done it. DUH- LIGHT WEIGHT also means easy to pull! It's just that I usually an smart about child proofing--it is a parent instinct thankfully--and now I am going to be double checking things around the house now. I never let him be in a separate room except when I am changing out the laundry or I have to go to the bathroom.

OK enough. I feel guilty, I feel relieved and I need to just be smarter from this point forward...arghhhh!!!

[awest1217]

Don't worry about it! Boys will be boys. You can't protect S 24/7, even though we all want to. Don't beat yourself up.

S needs his independence. He is going to do things and may from time to time get hurt. All you can do is protect him the best you can, but you can't anticipate everything. No worries.

Enjoy your break!

[courageous wife]

Oh NM...I could tell you stories! I am amazed that my kids are both still hereand fully functioning!!! It is simply not possible to anticipate and protect them from everything!

Glad he wasn't hurt!

[newmama]

ok so I also have a thread on MA and I forget what I post where!

THANK YOU for comforting me a little, CW and Awest although I am not comforted hearing that he will do stuff like this AGAIN! sigh...;)

just so you know, I am NOT going to engage in skiing with zoobrew if I end up going-- do you realize that has been causing me way more anxiety than actually seeing zoobrew again? lol! You would think I would be obsessing about the next date and how to communicate or act before then, but NO- I have been anxious over all the logistics that go into skiing for the first time without gear and with someone who is an expert! Now that I have made that decision, I feel much relief and can focus on other stuff.

Ugh...am looking forward to Christmas with S and seeing my family but I am not motivated at all to figure out what the heck to get them for gifts. I have run dry this year on clever ideas or "the perfect" gift. SO I will be going the basket route, I guess. That is kind of fun to do. A basket for my dad and his wife (who hasn't reacted warmly to any gift I have given her although she posts quotes from Mother Theresa and other saints on her FB wall each day), and one for my mom and her H. They are drinkers (aka alcoholics!) so I bet they'd be thrilled with a bunch of beer or booze but that would be "enabling" more than I already do, I guess! Ok sorry I am not in a bad mood- I am just annoyed that

1) my mom has not returned my texts, phone calls, or emails over the last 3 weeks

2)my dad wasn't willing to work with my schedule for when I have S and can bring him to HIS house across town (as always). I proposed Christmas eve morning and he said Thurs eve would be better- after dinner. DUH! first of all, S is with exH then. Second of all, even if I switched, S' bed time is 7-7:30! He lives 45 minutes away so I wish he would remember the baby days!

When he first said that Christmas Eve morning wouldn't work I responded with "tell me what time works for you."

I don't know if that was playing games-- I was trying to be direct and NOT go back and forth. Just basically "tell me what you want!"

I called him and he was "concerned" about my message- was I mad at him? I explained that I had a complicated schedule to work around between him, exH, my family and S' sleep and nap schedule and that although I understand that he is busy, I just get overwhelmed by all of the coordinating sometimes. He felt bad and compromised on Sunday after Christmas in the late afternoon.

3) my aunt wants to micromanage my plans for Christmas at MY house ....

Happy Holidays!

[Mystik]

I agree with the others, thankfully DS wasn't hurt and you can't ever 100% babyproof a place. Those little guys are quite skilled at finding things we parents miss.

Yay for holiday break! The last day of class sounds like it was fun for everyone there.

Can totally understand your annoyances. It's your house, you should do what you want. And glad that your dad was able to work with you on finding a good time that fit both your schedules.

[newmama]

so I have to post something else-- just got off the phone with a friend of mine who is a betrayed spouse. His wife still hasn't filed for divorce (been a year+ since they have been separated and she started the process but stopped). Well, today some "older woman" called her OM's mom and went off trash talkin her and what she is doing. Apparently, the woman also called a couple of weeks ago when his W was on vacation (with her stepmom, NOT OM) but the OM's mom just let them know today. His W said she was filing for D on Monday.

He initially replied by explaining that he doesn't care about her, he is fed up, he is living his life (fyi--he also has been dating someone that he doesn't care much for over the last 4 months) and his family doesn't care about her--that no one he knows or his mom would do such a thing at this point. She seemed to believe him. She initially suspected her mom did it!

Then he explained that he added later in the conversation that he does care what happens to her and doesn't want her to be hurt.
He asked her how being officially divorced would improve her life at this point (apparently she has been having extreme financial issues, the kids are lashing out at OM and her and life has been hard). She said she thought it would change things.

By the end of the conversation(s), she stopped talking about filing for D and was more focused on finding out who did this. She ended up figuring out someone found OM's mom on FB and she ended up deleting 200 "friends!"

So I share this because I kind of think it was a form of exposure. It seems like it is likely that it was her MOM (considering some details that were shared about her that no one else besides my friend knows)!

And surely, OM's mom is now doubting things and feeling duped because she was fed one story and now it could all be lies...

WOW!

ok just sharing... considering how broke she is, I doubt she will be filing on Monday and I reminded my friend how many times exH said he was going to do it before he did. And I reminded him that it wasn't too horrible when it happened, because, like him, I had already suffered and at the same time was building a life acting as if I was divorced (pretty much).

[lostandconfused6]

NM-
It is so hard trying to schedule around your little guy's sleep schedule!! That used to be a source of conflict between wh and I b/c he always justed wanted to "go with the flow" and it is so hard when your child is that age. You really cant!! My son would not sleep anywhere but a bed. You couldn't just have him sleep in a stroller, or on a couch, or even in my lap. Noone ever seemed to understand this. They would always say " oh, well he can just sleep in the stroller right?"
But it gets better soon. My son is 2 1/2 and I still stick on a pretty tight schedule with his naps and bedtimes but he is actually getting to an age where if we skip a nap we can usually make it till bedtime or if we need him to stay up late he can.
I would be curious to hear how your friend's situation works out. His W is talking about divorce now, but I wonder if exposure will actually push her in the other direction eventually. I have kept everything so quiet for my wh. But am just now starting to tell people.

Hang in there! The holidays are almost over!!! (I can't believe I am excited about that.)