Events beyond my control

So this weekend on the way to yet another and second to the last Color Guard event for the season, Sparkles, Ms Bee and I were driving down the freeway it was raining (again). The windshield wipers stop working… I am in the fast lane and the rain is coming down with a vengeance. So I try to very calmly exit the freeway… with out being able to see really well and all the while explaining the driver in training that when faced with a situation like this the best thing to do is get off the freeway as quickly and as SAFELY as we can! So I get off the freeway pull in to the first parking lot I find and pop the hood… NO I do not have much mechanical knowledge… I know how to check and add the oil, windshield wiper fluid, the break fluid and the transmission fluid and coolant. I know where the fuses are and the air filter… After many hours watching ex boyfriends and friends work of their cars I do know a little bit but really what did I think I was going to do but what do you do when your car stops working you pop the hood and hope that something jumps out with a sign that says… FIX ME!!! Anyway I am able to identify what I think is the motor for the windshield wipers and I play with the wires that are going into the box… and they start working again… so I laugh and get back into the car and continue down the road.

Later that day (yes its raining on and off) once we get to the event I am walking up a ramp and I slip and fall… kinda twist my left ankle and really banged my right knee. YEP I am a mess. My only defense is there was no music so I do not have to be graceful.

So Sunday really goes well we have a friend come over and put in some lights for us and then we all head off to a wedding of a really dear friend… the afternoon off with out a hitch. My knee kinda bothered me but only when I was carrying Ms Bee. So I did not carry her made her three year old little legs carry her.

Monday shows up and its sunny and brite news said no rain until late in the evening… I try the windshield wipers and nothing… I open the hood and play with the same wires and nothing. So the news said not rain until later I will go to work and call the auto shop, make an appt for later in the afternoon to have the car fixed KNOWING its going to rain… it started raining early… at noon. So I call the auto shop tell them that there is no way for me to make the appt and can I bring it in first thing in the morning? No problem… Now how to get home? Luckily one of my co-workers lives in the same town as I do so she lead me home in the rain with me trying to see in between the rain drops… stressful to say the least. Tuesday the car is fixed and it only cost $300.00 electrical problem…

Meanwhile my knee is starting to really cause me some concern so I go to the Dr (also Monday night) and get some x-rays just to make sure I did not really pull a number on it… I like not being in pain when I dance, walk or carry my child. Anyway the ER Dr said “Well it looks like it COULD be a plateau fracture of the tibia but I am not sure Ortho will have to look at later on but right now lets put you in a cast….”

I think about this for about .5 seconds and say “I would rather that we not put it in a cast until we know for sure one way or the other can I get away with a brace of some kind?” He agreed and so I am now hobbling around in a knee immobilizer…sucks! Appt on Friday for Ortho… I don’t believe its broken I am in some pain but I have to believe that if it were really broken I would really feel it.
And if that were enough this week is crazy it’s the last week of colorguard, the whole season has been leading up to this week… we had two comps last weekend, and this week we have one exhibition on Wed and then leave on Friday for the Tournament Of Champions. So pretty much between practices and shows I had one day off from CG, Oh yeah that was Monday… busy, busy, busy week. I have to say I do not feel in control this week at all.

Parenting

I don’t consider myself an expert on parenting. I make mistakes and my children make mistakes. BUT I get a little amazed when people are amazed with my kids, how they act, how they talk, when they sleep. This last weekend we were at a color guard competition for Sparkles it normally takes a good part of the day if not all day… Saturday was no exception we left the house at 1pm and didn’t get home until after 11pm. LONG day… Froggy doesn’t like to go but Miss Bee does, Sparkles has been competing for the last five years this is the beginning of season six, this has been part of our lives for a while and Miss Bee has been there since before birth. She sits for hours watching other teams, playing nicely with her little toys and books. I make sure we have enough treats and drinks. When she was really little it was very easy just to let her nurse and no one even noticed. When she got a little older potty training was a little fun, bathrooms weren’t always close by but we managed and she did great! The other parents that have been doing this as long as I have love to bring little snacks (and they ask me first) or occupy her with little stuff ooh’ing and ahaa’ing over her drawings, books, or toys… we do this for seven weekends, eight competitions the last one being an all weekend thing. Miss Bee always is mostly well behaved and generally calm and self contained.

This particular weekend was nothing out of the norm but one of the other families brought their two year old with them, they don’t normally bring her and let me tell you she was a small terror. She crawled over everyone and wanted everything and was just so tired that she really just couldn’t see straight… I am not delusional enough to think that my children have never acted that way BUT when they have I am hoping that I have disciplined them, taken them out of the situation, and/or apologized for their behavior. This parent didn’t do half of that about the second time that the baby screamed and cried they finally took her out of the gym. When she finally fell asleep and she only slept for about 30 min. Miss Bee crawled into my lap and put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep and slept for about 1.5 hours…slept through Sacramento State Drum Line performance. Did I say that these comps are done inside in a basketball gym? Miss Bee can sleep anywhere and through anything for that matter so can Froggy and Sparkles.

I don’t think that I demand too much from my kids but I do require them to behave in many situations. Another child (not with our group) was running around the floor in-between comps. The teams have 10 mins to set up, perform, and tear down. Some of them have props and floors, ect. This child started to run around the floor as another team was starting to set up and she nearly tripped the student that was setting up, it was a little dangerous not only for the team setting up but for the child and the parent did nothing… and didn’t stop the kid from running around again it took a line judge to go over and talk to the parent and probably let them know that it was an unsafe situation and to keep the child off the floor. We couldn’t believe that it took a line judge to talk to the parent… it astounded us to know end. I then made the comment that “I would kill my child if they acted like that” I was then told that my children would act like that because they have a better sense of responsibility or etiquette. That I have a better sense of responsibility or etiquette I never really thought of it that way… The PARENT needs to have the sense of responsibility/ etiquette. How can we teach the child if the parent has no clue, how do we expect the child to know if the parent doesn’t?

I have had many compliments about my kids everything from ‘they are false advertising’ to ‘I wish there were more kids on the plane like yours’. I am always surprised on the compliments they are always unexpected sometimes in my brain I am remembering the times that they didn’t do their chores or talked back to me instead of listening, It gives me a sense of pride to know that even if I think that they can be rotten children and deserving of a weeks worth of restriction that other people think them well behaved human beings.

I don’t know if I expect/demand too much from them or if the rest of the world doesn’t expect/demand enough from everyone else. I do know that I am proud of my children. I am happy that I can take them traveling, dinner out (fancy), to parks, to social gatherings, to weddings and they know how to act and most of the time will do it without embarrassing the heck out of me!! The only thing that I can think of that I do with my kids is I bring them places… always have, always will. I have often said “have baby will travel” they have slept on hay bales, in cars, at soccer games, and during drum comps. I also believe that if they don’t experience HOW can they know how to act? You have to teach them so that they know.

I am proud of my kids and I am in constant amazement that they are as graceful, thoughtful, caring, helpful and wonderful as they are…

Batteries

So the other night I was getting Miss Bee ready for bed and she looks out the window and exclaims:
“Mommy the Sun is going down…”
I say “yes it is”
she says “I guess it needs new batteries…”
so after I giggle a little and try to tell her that the Sun is really going to the other side of the world to give the other people light I put her to bed and walk away still giggling and amazed at the thoughts of a Three year old…


Batteries and Tape fix everything… I wish life were that simple.

The epic move

This last weekend we have moved around the kid’s bedroom. Froggy gets a different bed and we have tried to move it so that he will get more privacy from his little sister. But of course that meant selling the old bed, taking apart old bed, buying a new bed, putting together new bed, ‘cleaning’ the bedroom and re-arranging the whole thing!

Massive undertaking.

We started out one weekend just cleaning the bedroom… I was surprised to see how much Froggy was able to ‘let go of’ I guess being 14 and in the whole I don’t care mode works well in this case.

The next weekend we started by taking apart the old bunk beds, carrying the mattress down stairs to sit in the living room and making the bed a pile of lumber and bolts. Just in time for the person who was buying it to pick it up and take it away. Craigslist is a wonderful tool!

Next comes putting the new bed together with the help from a friend of ours the three of us managed to get it put together. For the record I hate it when the directions come in diagrams only and NO really written instructions. While putting this bed together we are rearranging the room… moving things around trying to give the 14 year old some privacy. So we ended up moving the bookshelf three times and this isn’t any small bookshelf its one of the big ones about 6 feet tall so we have to unload it, move it, re load it, figure out it didn’t work, unload it again, move it, re load it. CRAZY!! So we get it all arranged and the bed put together and the room settled a little and stuff… it wasn’t so bad…

Now to go to work on the garage.

I do have to say the Froggy was a great help in all that needed to be done you know once you get him motovatied to move he really does it and mostly enjoys himself.