Just a quick bathroom renovation...NBD

You know what is a great idea when you have exactly seven days before your housewarming/meet-the-neighbors party? To gut-renovate your powder room.

Can you sense my sarcasm in that statement? Good.

All-in-all, it was a pretty smoothly done project, but we definitely encountered some obstacles that rearranged that original (and tight) timeline for the various stages and we finished the last detail the morning of the party. BUT WE GOT IT DONE! We learned some things (or rather, hubs did…he is the primary renovator while I help occasionally but mainly keep the crib midgets out of the construction zone…and have design input, of course!) and the entire project was under $800 from start to finish, not including the couple of new tools we bought for the project or the gas mileage from the DAILY (...and I mean several per day) trip(s) to either Lowe’s or Home Depot.

Demolition was a new fun time for us—we had never completely demo’d a room—taking out ALL of the old was very cleansing. Plus, sledgehammering all the things is kind of awesome when you need to get out some aggression. It was also nice to take things apart with the knowledge that none of it needed to be salvaged. There were challenges to some of the removals—baseboards being glued rather than nailed, so wall damage. And, finding an old toilet drain (we think?) while we were demo-ing the floor tile and damaging the sub-floor…oops! 

Here are the before's: 

Brown and yellow, and more brown and yellow....The tile itself was actually very well installed and had it been another color I would have kept it and worked around it--I even considered a cheaper option of painting the tile--which would have showcased the pattern. I had been reading several blogs about painting floor tile--but in the long run, the paint was not likely to last more than 2-5 years without starting to show wear and we had to take into consideration that this bathroom was going to be high traffic for our family and for guests. 

Gut complete! After we had removed everything, Hubs had to go out and buy a grinder to get the majority of the old thin-set off the concrete subfloor (It was only $40). Then, he had to patch the damaged area to get some semblance of a level floor in order to lay the new tile. The patch took almost a full 48 hours to set up enough so that we could start the floor--hence the timeline adjustment and subsequent last minute finishing. In the mean time, hubs started tiling the left side of the area and I put two coats of plain white paint. For now, the bathroom is staying white because we were under such a time crunch that it was just easier to paint the ceilings and walls all white rather than worry about a color selection. While I know changing the paint color once the toilet and vanity are in will be a challenge, time was of the essence--and anything was going to be better than the pee-colored yellow that was on the walls. 

We decided to keep it simple and crisp. A subway style ceramic tile that has gray accents with gray grout (hopefully will hide a lot of future stains unlike white grout), a dark gray vanity, brushed nickel fixtures and light wood accents.

And the finished product! YAY!

(With the exception of this picture--Hubs was out getting the toilet paper holder when I took this...I also realize that maybe I should take a picture sans toddler-stool but really, this is REAL LIFE and we have potty-training children, so there.)

There you have it--7 days of all evening (and early morning) work later, and we have a new powder room. Now, to recover the credit cards a little before the next project!

House Fixings: The Master Bedroom

As some of you may know, we moved into our forever home back in August--a 1980s built all brick split-level that is completely outfitted with the original finishes. We fell in love with the location, the amount of land, the fact that it had a well-kept pool. However, when buying it, we knew we were in for a long haul of renovations and projects over the next 5 or so years.

With the layout, we actually have a lot more living space, but it is spread out and there is not a lot of closet space. In our townhouse, we had two walk-in closets in our master. At our new place, we have 1 walk-in that is half the size of the others that we had previously. So we were in a clothing and bedroom organization dilemma. We mulled over some ideas over a couple weeks--more furniture vs built-ins vs eventually expanding the current walk-in closet into the bathroom. I kept leaning towards a built-in closet option along our one wall, while my husband was set on finding an armoire and another dresser. After he came up empty at one of the local vintage barn sales, he was more easily swayed towards the idea of the Ikea Pax system that I had in mind.

It was no easy feat--we had to rent a Uhaul tow trailer in order to fit all the boxes. Thankfully, we pre-measured and planned and figured out that neither the Outback or the Forester would be able to house the monstrosities of these 93 inch tall systems. I have got to hand it to Ikea--first of all, there is a way to plan out exactly what you want for these systems (bar, pull drawers, pants hangers, lights, etc.) on the website. THEN, once you have planned it all out, it populates a shopping list....with the areas in the warehouse where everything is located (provided you pick the right store....we boo-booed on this and chose the Baltimore store instead of College Park, so then there was frantic trying to figure it out on our phones), AND the program even gives you the approximate cost! So, basically if you use it correctly, there isn't much in terms of surprises.

So, we set off, rented the trailer, took a quick look at the system in the showroom and then went to work to load 700 lbs of boxes and pieces into the trailer and then unpack and unload them at home.

My husband is a perfectionist to a T and while his inability to complete something without it ensuring that it is completely flawless sometimes drives me a bit batty (I'm constantly the voice in his ear--"Honey, nobody is going to notice that gap in the crown molding"), he does some damn good work. With me being the primary "distracter" of 4 and 2 year old minions, he is often left to his own devices when it comes to the renovation happenings in the house. After settling on the Ikea system, hubs looked up different ways to ensure that it looked like an incorporated/built-in piece. Once we had all the supplies, we chose a paint color and got that done, as well as updated the fan and electrical outlets.

The lonely and sad wall to be transformed (and dresser to be moved)

The original outlets

After many a YouTube videos--Hubs working his learned electrical magic. He only tried to burn down the house once! :)

Fresh and white

Securing the gigantic PAX to the wall, these giants are 93 inches tall.

Framing it in. Hubs used a coping saw to integrate it to the baseboards so we didn't have to demolish baseboard to get it into place.

Coming along

Spiffy auto-lights and soft-close doors!

All 3 in place and secured!

Out with the old...

In with the new!

And add the crown molding and we have a completed room!

The other walls are a light gray, and the wall behind the bed is a dark gray. I am definitely in a gray phase #grayalthethings

When I polled the Hubs about the project--he said the most challenging part was framing it in and figuring out a molding size that would look good in the room but also fit above the Pax piece. Then getting the molding up was full of issues because no wall is really flat/straight nor a room perfectly square. As hubs says--"Caulk and paint to make it what it ain't" :) The Pax system itself went up pretty quickly once he hit a groove, but the molding probably took him the better part of 3 weekends between needing brain breaks, rest for a back injury, and the procrastination of the caulking (which is his 2nd least favorite renovation chore other than putting up crown molding). 

BUT it is done (aside from maybe new bedroom side tables and dresser, but that is for another time), he now has a spiffy new closet space and I have taken over the dresser and small walk-in closet within our bathroom. The bedroom is mostly finished....for now. We are also toying with a relaimed wood wall/side table thing. Still brainstorming on that one. 

Stay-tuned. We got silly this past week and renovated our powder room top-to-bottom in the 7 days prior to our Housewarming party...

American is great, but we have to work to keep it that way.

Today starts a hard morning for many of us who were hoping to wake up to America’s first female president. The majority of my friends and where we live are feeling many emotions: disbelief, sadness, numbness…some of us may even move through the 5 stages of grief over the coming weeks and months. The grieving process is fluid and you can regress back to the different stages of it many times. You never fully get over losing something or someone in your life—you will miss them, and while the frequency changes over time as you get used to them not being there, you still will have bad days. While moving through the stages, some days will seem like you’re feeling all of them at once, and other days much less dramatic. Denial/Isolation (and I think apathy can fit here, as well), Anger, Bargaining, Depression…I’ve felt many of these emotions in full force and it is only 6AM the morning after Election Day.

The final part of the grieving process is acceptance. And it is true—America has spoken, states and areas that were once blue voted red this election, and it is nothing short of a huge upset, at least for those of us in our coastal/city highly populated and very progressive areas. I am scared, but I need to have trust in our government, which has the system it does to ensure that our President is part of a democratic process and not a dictator. However, despite my disappointment, I have already started my process of trying to accept the results. The main reason being that I have watched the majority of the American population – this same population that showed up at the polls for Mr. Trump, disrespect and say horrible things about our current President for 8 years. And, while I am not in agreement of the results today, I will not be that American. I don’t have to like the man that has been elected, but he is our President come January, and I will respect his title.

We, as supporters of Democratic/Third/Green/Alternative parties, need to continue to go high here, folks. We pride ourselves in our acceptance of differences—of other races, customs and beliefs, of the total LGTBQ community, and of women’s and general human rights. With the help of social media, it was easy to feel like the majority that would have swayed this election the other way—because friending and unfriending gives us a false sense of power and egocentrism. The “all of my Facebook friends are voting for Hillary, so how did we get here” mindset. I’ve lived in the suburbs of DC my entire life, and in the notoriously blue state of Maryland. I don’t understand “Trump country” and those who occupy it. But, I need to. Their opinion and beliefs are still things that I need to accept and respect as we are ALL American citizens.

We need to educate each other, and not continue to divide. We can all get along if we try to understand and empathize where we all come from in our values. Hard stops for me will continue to be anything HATEFUL towards any of the populations that occupy our wonderful and already great country. That shit is just not tolerated in this house and shouldn’t be in yours either. However, because of my chosen profession and my interracial marriage—It is a part of my entire being to try to understand where others come from and why they are the way they are. In 9 years of nursing, I have treated all races, backgrounds, and social classes. In these experiences, I have come to understand that you are a direct product of your surroundings and what you know. I do not know what is like to be black, brown, Hispanic, poor, rich, a man, a Muslim, a Jew, etc. I only have some insight, but I can never fully understand. I only know the privilege I have had as a white middle-class citizen. There are people in this country who fight every day to put food on the table, who have no credit, who have to fight for work, for education, for respect, and for health. There are people who have felt left behind during Obama’s presidency and feel that our elected president is the change that America needs. And guys, it is a large part of that map that is red—and we should all try to understand each other.

So, move through your grief and come to acceptance. Your children and families deserve to see a graceful example and you need to lead within your households as you wish to be lead in your country. Be fair, be pragmatic, have love in your heart, accept the differences, and educate. And lastly, move forward. Continue to fight for equality and for those less fortunate than yourself. 

A Day of Reflection

It’s been a long time, ya’ll.

With this blog, after my last post, I got stuck. Some of it writer’s block, and some that I had issues that I wanted to write about but unsure of how to approach them. I’m unsure of where I want to go with this blog—I have a list of topics I want to approach. We shall see if I get there. It’s going to be a mix—some tongue-in-cheek, some serious, and some fun.

For today, since it is September 11th, fifteen years after that day of infamy, I feel that we all need to reexamine our place in our country. This is a day where many of us can answer (and also never forget) exactly where we were and what we were doing when we learned of the terrorist attacks that were in process. One thing I remember about that day, too, is when the announcement was made over the school intercom, I didn’t know what they were talking about when they said that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I did know the nickname given to those buildings, but I certainly didn’t understand the GRAVITY of this attack and I don’t know if any of us really could anticipate where this would take our country. By the time a lot of us got to a television, one tower had already collapsed, and then we witnessed the other one do the same. Glass, steel, first responders, workers, bystanders--so many lives in one instant. Everyone one of us effected.

The thought that I feel that many Americans had that day: We are not as invincible as we had grown accustomed and even taught to think. A battle had been initiated on our own soil—it questioned our security and our infrastructure. We are a huge, but young country, and we still have a lot to learn. In the weeks and months after the attacks, as we mourned the lives lost, cleaned up the rubble and started to rebuild, the patriotism suddenly bubbled over and could be felt all over the world. And now, 15 years later, we continue to struggle. Would we be here if we hadn’t been attacked and thrusted into a war? Hard to say. Everything that has a weak or crumbling foundation eventually falls. I’m not saying that we will fall as a country, but I do see where we have room to improve in order to band together to be a stronger nation—and one that is respected by other nations.

I feel we are in a bit of an impasse. I’m not saying we won’t get through what we are going through as country--but over the past 8 years with our current president, I have continued to observe an appalling disrespect over race and gender. Over 50 years ago, African American citizens were given the right to vote and have a say in our country, and almost 100 years for women. Yet, the divide still exists. While we are not in the same state we were during the Jim Crow Laws time, it is still amazing to me that we continue to have an issue with race and respect in our supposedly “progressive” country. And, in truth, I will never fully understand the race divide. I can’t possibly--because I am a white, middle class, and suburban raised citizen. My upbringing places me with an automatic set of blinders that while I constantly fight to take off, I never fully can. I have married a wonderful man of Indian descent, with a Muslim last name. We have two beautiful mix-raced children, who I fear will constantly be forced to identify with one or the other race, rather than embracing their true multi-cultural backgrounds and families. People still stare. People still GLARE. I did not notice until my husband pointed out that people do, indeed, give our family disapproving looks. Some people disrespect our President, not based on his politics, but solely that he is a black man. And the statistics do not lie—the jail sentence of white co-ed who raped an unconscious woman is a glaringly revolting example of the divide that our country still continues to feed. We are all citizens of this great country, but unfortunately, we are still not all treated as equals.

So, this 9/11, I ask you to not only reflect on the lives lost, the war we still continue to fight (and especially those who are fighting while we are back at home), and your thankfulness to be alive. I invite you to look outside your comfortable place, embrace those that are different from yourself, and request that you look for ways to do and be better, and to also stand-up for those who deserve better. Recognize your own views and opinions, but also recognize that you don’t have the only right answers to our America’s problems.

We are all humans. We all are made up of the same insides. We are capable of reasoning, love, empathy, an understanding. Dig deep and open your eyes. We can do better.

We need to be better.  

So we did a juice fast...

Let me preface this post by saying that my husband and I are not particularly unhealthy.  Our BMIs are within an acceptable range, we’re average for our heights and weights, and we eat our vegetables…most of the time.  Recently, we had our cholesterol checked.  Mine was fine but, as we suspected, my husband’s genetics plus our only mostly healthy diet had contributed to some nasty looking numbers.  Also, my husband’s side has family members that have suffered a range of cardiac related events—some due to cultural influences but probably most due to genetic inclination. After the results, I made more of an effort to cook more vegetarian and vegan dishes for dinner.  Truth be told, if your DNA predisposes you to higher cholesterol and triglycerides, diet has a minute influence.  But hey, trying to get all the balls in our court. 

So one night, my husband watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  He became motivated to try a juice fast.  Now ladies…you know men.  It has to be their idea to make a change or try something new (like a drastic change in diet).  And try it we did.  Here is what we learned:

1. We LOVE food.  When we can, we go to local establishments/restaurants and we also eat a variety of cuisine types.  When you drink your caloric intake for 3+ days, you really get a sense of your relationship with food. While we are not total foodies—I’d say we are 75% foodie.  Recent limitations have infringed on our foodie status due to two kids under the age of 3 (limits outings to nicer establishments) and my last pregnancy with #2 where I could only eat pasta for 8 months that is still having effects on my tastes 11+ months later.
2. As I have gotten older, I have learned that I am a hangry person.  I can go, go, go without food, drinking or peeing—I work 12 hour shifts as an RN and it is how all of us nurses are trained to perform in our job (although, this self-sacrificing practice is not encouraged).  When lives are in jeopardy, we run on adrenaline and table our needs until appropriate…or at least until we get a spare 3 minutes to shove something in our faces. As a result of 8 years of this practice, when I am not working, I literally eat every 3 or so hours or else I am zero to HANGRY in no time flat.  My husband has also trained himself to anticipate with my food-related behavior and can tell when I am teetering in hangryville.  The juice fast brought out a world of hangry-hurt.  However, the hangriness was expressed in both of us.  To know that I am not the only person who goes a little crazy/cranky when hungry made feel AWESOME…for about 2 minutes…until I felt hungry again.  We were not a happy juicing couple.  Especially in the afternoons from about 2-5pm, where there was a serious amp up in crankiness…maybe because there was not a yummy dinner on the horizon but just juice. Adding to the hangriness was that I was still feeding my kids regular food (obviously), which made it very tempting to just snack on what they were eating.  
3. My snacking habits before this fast were pretty awful.  Whenever I put stuff out for my kids, I’d take a bite or two, or grab a couple of chips for myself.  Not only was I eating too many refined carbs, but I was hindering my weight loss with the snacking.  Really examining this habit has really highlighted my need for greater self-control.
4. It is very hard to eat a diet devoid of protein so we did not completely give it up.  We had nuts…a lot of almonds and cashews. To do this without protein is just nuts (pun intended).
5. We lived without caffeine for 4+ days.  In preparation, I went to half-caffeine coffee for about a week before starting the fast.  I really did not notice the change.  I managed to continue with no coffee for almost a week after the fast was over…until the kids got my up 4 times in one night with the first round of the preschool plague that hit our house.  However, I am only drinking half-caffeinated coffee in the morning, and I plan on keeping it that way…for now. I have a history of a fast heart dysrhythmia so the benefit of this change in habit is something to embrace. (Update since I've written this--Our daughter contracted her first round of the preschool plague after her first two days of school and woke me up 4x in one night, and her brother got up to eat in between her last two awakenings so after that night I'm back on full-caffeinated coffee.  However, only allowing myself to drink one per day. Plus...I mean...it's PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE season. Enough said.)
6. It is expensive.  Even with cheaper items like bulk bought carrots, apples and Kale.  So. Much. Kale.  It was close to $30/per person PER DAY to do this juice fast. And on that note—2 people juicing with just a side-by-side fridge?  Not a lot of room. Which means more trips to the grocery store. Which means more gas money. Not our cheapest endeavor.
7. If you drink a lot of beet juice your pee will turn pinkish. Also, I was so worried about turning orange that I tried to limit my carrots in my juices to once a day.  One juice we made had both carrots and sweet potatoes.  The next day I complete avoided carrots.
8. Juiced onion always needs to be in a lesser quantity that whatever the recipe calls for…if at all.
9. Of all the foods we missed—it was mostly the umami and savory flavors.  We did not miss sweets at all.  This was big for me.  Also since completing the fast, I have reduced the amount of sugar in my coffee by half and we have both had a significant drop in our sweets cravings overall. However, on day 3, I saw a Domino’s delivery car in my neighborhood around lunchtime and I had visions of running out and carjacking him for whatever pizza he had in there…and I don’t even really like Domino’s!
10. On the third evening, after powering through our “dinner” (begrudgingly…and perhaps with a couple of tears), my husband looked at me and was like “um…are we essentially crash dieting?”  Light-bulb moment…YES.  We both lost 6-8 pounds in 3.5 days.  Yes, we know that this was mostly water weight. Duh.
11. When you’ve only had juice and nuts for 3+ days and go out to dinner with a group of friends, you are a very cheap date when it comes to the fermented grape juice.  Okay, this is not much of a change.  My alcohol tolerance has always been…nonexistent?
12. When it comes to juice recipes stick to what has been already created by the people who have done it before.  I tried to brainstorm some combinations on my own and it always ended up gross but since I was so hungry I would just hold my nose and power through. Also, while mustard greens and kale have a very similar appearance, DO NOT MIX THEM UP when juicing.
13. The main character of the documentary, Joe Cross, did his juice fast under a doctor’s supervision for 60 days.  60. He said the first 3 days were the hardest—which I now know to be true.  When we embarked upon this juicing journey, we really thought that we’d keep this up for a week or two.  Once we got to the fourth day, we both realized that we were going to kill each other if we didn’t consume something that actually involved chewing.  It did allow us to take a hard look at our old ways and habits in order to start making the changes we needed to lead healthier lives.  We are still juicing in the morning as a meal replacement and occasionally as a snack in the afternoon. Lunches and dinners are more balanced with lean meats or plant proteins with a lot more vegetables are making it onto our plates. 

So there you have it. Juice fast complete.  Now a month later, we have continued to juice occasionally and really cleaned up our diet habits.  Since Labor Day, I have managed to lose 8 pounds and my husband 11.  Portion control, snacking control, and just overall nutrition quality control is what we gained from our fasting experience.  Given the opportunity, what could you possibly gain?

The Adventures Perils of Potty Training

About a month before our threenager started preschool, it was time.  It was time to push this potty training business.  Our daughter seemed to be pretty content with pooping her pants forever and while she may not have been that ready to start potty training, we sure as hell were.  That and we were paying for preschool and she had to be in a pull-up to attend. It’s not that we have not tried to slowly introduce the business of the bathroom to this girl.  There has been a little potty available for use since she was 18 months.  So, I had a good stretch off from work and I arranged my schedule to where no errands needed to happen in a that three day work hiatus and we stayed in our house like a prison.  The first day was rough, the second day was better and by the third she seemed to be getting the hang of it…except pooping. And while she has continued to do mostly well—there are still days of regression.  Maybe it is because of the use of pull-ups over plain underwear but I’m pretty sure that she just has lazy days, too.  Those lazy days just include peeing her pants.

     The shopping list in preparation of potty training:

1. Paper towels (don’t be stingy and get the 1-2 pack. This business needs the 12 pack…and maybe even 2 of those.)
2. TP and flushable wipes
3. Carpet cleaner (I recommend Nature’s Miracle.  It’s found at the pet stores and great for urine.  It can be used on hard surfaces, carpet, and the microfiber sectional)
4. Clorox wipes
5. Miralax and/or pediatric Colace (If you have a poop withholding child, treat it before it becomes an issue where you have to take them to the ED for them to do an X-ray and tell you that your child is FOP or Full O' Poop)
6. Potty with an ADEQUATE splash guard (I'm pretty sure after this experience there is no splash guard adequate for a girl)
7. Coffee
8. Wine
9. Dresses or long shirts
10. Toddler underwear
11. Pull-ups (if using)

Now.  You already know to reel in your patience and try to be encouraging when your child pees on the floor…or couch…or over the potty seat for the umpteenth time.  But there are some other things you might need g and situations you need to anticipate that you may not realize can occur:

• I have new carpet as of February of this year.  So every time she has had an accident on my beautiful, clean, new carpet, I have cringed a little.  It may not have been wise to change out the carpet before we began this process.  However, unlike the old builders-grade carpet we had before, this carpet does have some awesome stain resistant qualities so clean up has not been as bad as it could have been. 
• Good AC/Heat control.  Your kid is running around naked or only top-clothed.  Don’t make them freeze!
• A couch with cushion covers that can zip off and be tossed in the wash has been one of the greatest inventions ever.
• A somewhat comfortable existence with the hoohah that is flying all over your house free as a bird. 
• Towels and blankets—I know this seems like a given but it is not for mopping up the messes, that is what the paper towels are for.  You need these to put on the wet spots after they have been cleaned/disinfected because they will still be wet—and you do not want your baby crawling through that.  If you do not have a baby, you don’t want to keep stepping in the same wet spot you keep forgetting about. Trust me, if there is a wet spot, my husband will find it while wearing socks (and one of his biggest pet peeves is stepping in a wet something while wearing socks).
• A rock solid stomach as you may be cleaning up turds from the carpet…or the threenagers foot.
• You already know you’ll be cleaning accidents but accidents come in many different forms.  There was one day that if my daughter peed over the potty on more time I was going to lose it.  So we moved her to the big potty.  The problem is mostly remedied except when she decides to sit too close to the edge…and then I'm mopping pee again.
• Also, your child will say they need to poop and you’ll rush them to the potty, only to find a turd already in the pants that you just caught with your hand….ew. Just ew.
• Despite being a clean freak, you’ll inevitably miss a spot of pee somewhere and keep getting whiffs of it and then clean like a madwoman in an effort to find said spot.
• Before potty training, when the littlest Ali would go down for his afternoon nap, I could catch 15-20 minutes to catnap on the couch by putting on a show and giving the threenager some milk.  Now that she is potty-trained, every 10 minutes she asks to go…bye-bye catnaps.
• PAS or Poop Attention Seeking behavior. One afternoon, my daughter kept saying she had to poop and I must have put her on the potty at least 20 times in 2 hours with no result.  All during those two hours I was also dealing with her cranky, teething brother and attempting to make dinner.  By the 20^th time I had had it and she spent a half hour in room because I realized that she was just asking for attention.  This is also similar to MSATP syndrome or MUST SEE ALL THE POTTIES Syndrome—where you are out running errands and they insist on going potty, only to do nothing but just see another bathroom. Because, you know, it’s easy to do this all one-handed while holding the baby and holding your wallet…

Some children may potty-train overnight but that is not the case for my child (This was also not the case for me, according to my mother.).  Even now, I’ll cancel outings/errands to just stay home and reinforce potty time because I will notice some regression.  Her comfort with asking for the potty while we are out in public is also limited and often results in a wet pull-up. Can't blame her--public toilets are scary (Actually, she's not afraid of the loud flushing public toilet.  However, if one of those super hand dryers are present you would think the zombie apocalypse is upon us.)

So for 2+ months, we have coasted on this wave that is potty training.  Many wipe-outs have occurred (pun intended) and some days are better than others. She is mostly going in the potty and I guess that's a partial win. We are a couple weeks into the school year and so far she goes for her teacher or teacher aides with no problem.  Just like with any new phase, it will get better with time...I hope.  

Stay tuned.  My husband and my notoriously hangry self did a juice fast and we have to tell you all about it...

The Countdown to Preschool in the Ali House

In one week, our daughter will start her first day of preschool.  For 2.5 hours, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I will only have one child to attend to.  That is 7.5 hours per week.  Other moms I talk to are sad and weepy about their child going to school.  Me?  I’ll be dancing out the door. 

I love my daughter.  She is spirited, goofy and sweet.  She is also stubborn as hell and strong-willed.  She also needs more entertainment than what her 10 month old brother and I can provide.  Let me explain what I get a break from while she is going to be at school:

1. Asking every 5 minutes of every waking hour if she needs to go potty (Only for her to say NO.  She still goes in the potty.  I’d say she’s about 75% percent trained, which is good enough for her to attend school.)
2. Trying to develop her abstract thought.  This is so frustrating—while I realize she is only 3, some days she looks at me like I have 5 heads when I ask her to do something.  Like, she has never heard me ask before or that I speak a totally different language.  We’ve also been trying to get her to have normal conversations, which inevitably is a losing battle.  Conversations like:             Me: What is your name?
   R: NAMEEEEEEEE
   Me: No.  I’m asking what your name is.  What is your name?
   R: NAMEEEEEEEEE
   Me: No. You answer “My name is….”
   R: MynameisRayaI’mthreeyearsold. (Said hardly intelligible to those who don’t know what I call “Rayanese”)
   Me: ::sigh and faceplam::
3. Asking her 3 times in a calm voice to clean up some toys.  Only to escalate to threats and psycho-mom voice when she continues to just kick them around rather than put them in the effing plastic bin where they belong.
4. Trying to determine WHAT THE HELL she will eat today, if anything.  The hunger strike since the beginning summer is still going strong.  I fight every day for her to eat something rather than drinking milk all day. 
5. From her asking to watch Mickey, Bubble Guppies Halloween, Einsteins, “Doggy” (El Perro y El Gato) and Miles from Tomorrowland.
6. Thinking of ways to entertain her, especially after I got off work late and then they wake me up at 630a for the day.  Her brother will likely take his morning nap during her school hours and I get to act like I have only one kid for 2.5 hours and can actually get a nap in myself, if needed.
7. Errand running with 2 kids. Or even Doctors’ visits with 2 kids! 

Sure, I’m going to miss some aspects of our normal daily life while she is at school.  Things like:

1. Her and he brother playing so awesomely together.
2. Her cuddles, hugs and kisses.
3. A relatively germ free house because we have been lucky enough to not have to use daycare and have family in the area to care for the kids when we work.  School is about to alter this healthy status rapidly. Vitamins for everybody!

Now.  In a week—my attitude my change drastically .  I may be that weepy mom wiping tears away as she lets go of my hand without a glance over her shoulder to experience new things and make friends.  But, I have high hopes that preschool will make up what I have been lacking in getting her language skills developed and really help tune her into the model citizen that I try every day to achieve.  I hope that she will remember to say please, thank you and no thank you.  I hope that having other kids use the potty will encourage her to be more independent in her toileting.  I hope that while she may not eat much when she comes home, she will try whatever snacks that are served.  I hope she will learn that the worlds is hers to develop and change. 

Who am I kidding?  I just hope she learns to form a sentence with the added bonus of wiping her own ass. 

To be continued once she actually starts school next week :)