Lately

Lately...
blogging weekly is asking too much. Or is it?
getting 8 hours of sleep is expecting too much. Or is it?
eating dinner BEFORE Carina goes to bed is unrealistic. Or is it?
taking the time to craft, work with photos, paint, or create is time we don't have. Or do we?

So this past weekend we made sure to try to get some of these under our belts. Except for sleeping. That would've been nice. A teething toddler who MIGHT have a head cold/ sinus infection doesn't sleep very well at night unless doped up on all of doctor's recommended medicines to treat all presenting symptoms: drainage=1/4 tsp of Benadryl at bedtime; Ibuprofen for fever and teething pain; AmoxK/Clav for sinus infection. I followed doctor's orders Friday night and Carina slept beautifully just like she normally does. And then Saturday overnight I felt a lot like Alice of Alice in Wonderland when she chides herself for thinking she gives herself good advice, but in that instance didn't take her own advice. This is one of Carina's favorites lately. And I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO glad because it's one of mine, too. She loves to "Sing Alice Songs". :-)

 

I half-heartedly decided that I didn't want Carina to take so much medicine at once while also not having much of an appetite lately (a result of teething) and not drinking as much as she should (again teething, darn 2 year molars), but I also knew that her doctor said it would be fine to give her these 3 meds since there was little adverse risk. I should have listened to my good advice and the doctor's. Sooooooo, I only gave her the AmoxK and Ibu. And wouldn't you know it, she woke up a few times both Saturday night and Sunday night and since I'm a light sleeper, so did I. The difference between us: she went back to sleep pretty quickly each time and I didn't. Tonight, Carina, you will be sufficiently drugged according to doctor's orders if you need these meds. Mama needs the sleep and so do you. Trust me. Now begins the mantra chanting to squelch that growing guilt-fear-worry ball in the pit of my stomach. I'm a great Mama. I'm a Great Mama. I'M A GREAT MAMA...

On a MUCH lighter note, I supervised Carina while she fingerpainted a birdhouse on Sunday. A sunny day, a shady place in the grass, a Sunday paper and 4 primary color tubes of Crayola fingerpaint did the trick! I picked up this birdhouse from an arts and crafts supplies dealer on eBAY last fall, but comparable ones are available at Hobby Lobby, A.C. Moore, etc. She and I had SO MUCH FUN doing it in some old clothes we didn't mind possibly staining! All of the paint washed out easily from our clothes and off of our skin. Her favorite colors to use were green, red, and the purple I mixed up for her. She preferred to paint the roof. The sides weren't as much fun or as well textured, according to her. She's not a fan of getting her hands dirty or making messes, so it took a little coaxing to really get her into it. I know she's fingerpainted at school and a couple times at home, but she's still not all about the mess. I hear ya, C. I've NEVER been interested in getting my hands dirty, fingerpainting for extended periods of time, or eating BBQ ribs with my hands (I use a fork). Modeling clay or Kiln clay is another story--that's fabulously dirty fun! More fun, off the cuff crafts to come, dear!

"Mama, I watched Tannnnnnnnnngled."

A little over a month ago, Carina's class watched about 30 minutes of Tangled. She made sure we didn't forget that she had seen it, too. It was as if she was working on her in-born, but well cultivated female ability to drop subtle-but-not-so-subtle hints. As in: I watched it once. I want to watch it again. HINT HINT. 

She not-so-slyly dropped the hint...

While driving along just about everyday, singing "Old MacDonald", talking about cows and hay, or feigning her fear of trees ("Ahhhh, trees!"), she blurted out "Mama/ Dada (depending on who was chauffeuring her to or from school), I watch Tannnnnnnnngled." Since I can be pretty animated and excitable, I got pretty good at egging her on: "YOUUUUUU DIIIIIIID?! Did you like it?" "Mmmhmmm." "What does Tangled do, Carina?" "She puts her hair UP!" "What color is her hair, Carina?" "It's lellow." This conversation repeated itself at least three times per week, and sometimes at least 3 times in one day without any recognizable trigger to set her off on her schpeel about it. That was the funniest part about it.

It was sweet and endearing and exciting for Jared and me to see her so excited about something, anything other than Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, (Elmo is a "has been" these days unless we're reading Elmo's Big Enough for A Big Bed book...), and The Big Bird Movie. While we love all of those movies, Carina you are by far their biggest fan.

So as any good, wanting-to-encourage-their-child's-interest parents would do, we determined to buy Tangled for Carina within the month and surprise her with it. Oh, we were soooo excited to do it, too!
Jared was off on a Friday 2 weeks ago and had to run errands at The BIIIIG Store (Wal-Mart according to Carina), so he picked it up, brought it home, opened it like a book and stood it up on the entertainment stand RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE TV so she'd be sure to see it when she would predictably request to watch one of her current favorite movies upon arriving home from school.

WRONG. She breezed right past it into her room to play with puzzles. PUZZLES?! She remembered she had puzzles one of the few times we actually wanted her to notice the TV. Of course she did.
So, when she came out from playing with puzzles, oh about 5 minutes later: just long enough to scatter 2 or 3 whole ones on the floor in her room, we made a concerted effort to get her to slow down in front of the TV by saying, "Carina what's that? What's that on the TV table?" She turned, stared at the Tangled box, and turned around to look at us with the blankest blank look on her face. Her face said,"Could it be? No it couldn't be. All my dreams in the past month (probably), the content of my random interjections into conversation, could it really be true!?" She looked at it again, Jared said,"Carina what's that? Is that...."
"TANNNNNNNNNNNGLED!!!!!! I watch Tannnnnnnngled, Dada and Mama! Pleeeease?!" She ran over to give us big hugs and kisses and then we all settled in on the couch to watch this long awaited and much-hyped by Carina movie.

We all got comfy together, Jared queued up the XBOX and we settled in to watch it. All was going just fine, peachy really, everyone was happy and smiley, that little Tangled baby is just adorable, yadda yadda yadda.
Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnn enter "SCARY LADY" who I'm pretty sure the teachers at school knowingly fast forwarded over because, dang, was she scary looking. Scary to a 2 year old. Maybe not to your 5 year old or even to a toddler of the same age range who might not be so aware of the dramatic music and attuned to facial expressions. Carina started screeeeaming, shaking, practically convulsing with pure fear and crying to beat all we had ever seen from her. That ended Tangled. Suddenly. After consoling and explaining that the SCARY LADY had gone "bye bye far far away" infinity times, Carina decided to watch Big Bird Movie. "Big Bird no SCARY LADY, Mama". Tannnnnnnnngled has been shelved for a year or more so Carina can adjust or until she decides she wants to watch it. No pressure there. I remember being scared of Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and The Queen from Snow White.

Tangled is now one of mine and Jared's favorite movies. No, not to put on as punishment to get Carina to leave the room, but we seriously watched it over the course of 2 nights and just totally love it. Especially that horse, Maximus. He MAKES the movie. Sure, sure, "shouldn't Rapunzel make the movie?" Short answer: Yes and No. Just watch it, you'll understand.

Lesson learned: preview ALL movies. Especially PG ones. Jeez. We didn't even notice the PG box on the box. You need a magnifying glass to see it! We just assumed and everyone knows what happens when you ASSUME...and boy did we.