We all need a laugh sometime

Look out Pele, here comes "The Kat"

So I am going to be upfront with this information. I am COMPETITIVE! I can't help it, especially when it comes to sports. No one is harder on me than myself. The push to perform consistently and well. I played sports, intramural and in community leagues. Softball was my main thing but I dabbled in volleyball, broomball, and everything else in between. Well except golf. Golf is a whole other post.

So what I am trying to say is that with the excessive competitiveness comes the ugly triple headed sports mom. Now, I have seen them, watched them and told myself "pfheww, I will NOT be like that with my kids", however that little monster peeked her ugly head out of the shell last night. I scared myself.

That realization that I had just made a complete ASS of myself in front of others (it is bad when you do that in front of the people you love, but a whole different matter when it is people you don't know) I felt the hot eyes. And I fully deserved every bit of disdain I received. I own the ridicule.

I was a hard on the Kat. I forgot that this is her first year playing, I forgot she is not physically conditioned yet to keep running, I forgot she does not know about protocol and procedures.

Luckily this league is forgiving to these young athletes and are more understanding of a young six year old and her propensity to over dramatized her fatigue for the masses. Not all of it was pure exhaustion. Learn from my mistake and turn the lesson into how can I help her and keep the triple headed sports mom in the van.

Here are some shots of the last two games. In the end, they had fun and so did I. The Kat is a great defender, she has had two halves of playing the goalie and kick some rumpus. These kids make this game sooo much more exciting than any sporting event with adults. Pure joy of being a kid let loose and kicking a ball. Autopilot all the way, and they always travel in a pack, aka "bunch ball".

I need to work on my action photography.

Excellent job, my dear. I am soooo very proud of you and all the hard work.

Friday Morning Whimsical Musing

Picture a mother and her children commuting to work and preschool. The day is fresh and cool, children are chatting away in the back of the van. Mother entertaining the little folk with games of "What letter starts the word ......."

Scene:

The girl: Mommy, Mommy, what letter starts the word trees.

Me: The letter t, tuh

The boy: Mommy, what letter starts the word.....uhhhh......pointer?

Me: What?

The boy: Pointer!

Me: Pointer?

The boy: Yes, yes, the word pointer.

Me: The letter p, puh

The boy: (small pause before speaking) Mommy, what letter starts the word tall man?

Me: (confusion) Tall man?

Then I look into the review mirror to see this vision of lovlieness. My son, my only son, the sweet little guy, from whom I get many "I love you Mommy" giving me the tall man.

TMI Moment, I know....

Ok, I am sharing this only because, well, you guys are my friends and friends don't judge.

So, I am feeling sort of sassy today, nice shirt and pants, hair is looking pretty good, and I sit down at my desk surveying the work to be done. I happen to run my hand over my neck/collarbone area and feel something poking from my skin. What the hell is that? Did I have a piece of food, a booger, stuck to my skin? So I promptly grabbed hold of the object and pulled. I grabbed my hand mirror to inspect what the hell is going on. Geezus Louezzus, it is a frickin grey chest hair.

How long has that bad boy been hanging out there? What did my body suddenly decided the estrogen wasn't enough? Ok, Ok, I get the hair on the upper lip thing, I get the occasionally hair under the chin, but the chest? Come on man, it is not like I don't have enough issues to deal with while I am getting OLD!

So, there it is. My TMI moment for the whole world to read. I, Whimsy, had a grey chest hair. Just sayin'.

Whatcha got growing on you?

Blink and there it was.......

One of the most recent hanging out with the kids and taking pictures weekend came with it a bribe. The condition put to me by my eldest was that she would only let me take her picture if and only if I pinkie promised to try to get her picture in a magazine. Without thinking or blinking I sealed the deal with a curved pinkie finger. DONE.

OH NO, WHAT IN THE HOLY MOTHER HAVE I PROMISED? The wheels turned and turned, search and searched all over the Internet. Who would be charitable enough to indulge a foolish mother pinkie promise to have her kid's picture printed in a magazine?

Well thankfully, not only is there a magazine, which is local, and my friend had her picture on the COVER, I went to the website and sent in a picture of all three of my monkeys. I waited. Waited some more and finally just gave up.

Lesson learned, don't make promises with kids you can't keep. Then just when I was digging my hole a little deeper for another reason, I get an email. My friend says (and I am paraphrasing) "OMG go look at this link!" For her a great moment because she was awarded the cover and for me, another great moment, go look on page 29!

I am truly happy and honored to have my photographs in print in a local magazine of my three monkeys. I know they have limited spots and a bagazillion entry photographs. So I got to keep my pinkie promise and "Look Mom, I am Famous"

So please enjoy, I am off to my next adventure. First Grade Back to School Night! Pictures will follow this event, stay tuned.

Finished! After 6 years and 4 months, give or take a few days

Hallelujah, the sea has parted and I can see the promised land! After 6 years, 4 months I am finally, FINALLY, finished potty training.

I have three autonomous potty kids who stay dry all night long. Everybody breathe with me now, whewwwwwwwww!

I don't want to see another diaper, pull up, a little plastic bag full of fun from school, or a damp sheet. No more wiping butts, wait, what is that feeling I am having? What is that pang in my chest? OH DAMN IT! ::sniffling:: MY BABIES ARE GROWING UP! ::sniff, sniff::

I know what you are saying, Woman you can't have it both ways, I get it. I really do, so where one door closes another window opens up.

Now I have to make good on the Disneyland promise.

Where hath she gone?

I woke up at the crack of dawn, lumbering into the shower, all the while puzzled with sleepiness and pure exhaustion, ignoring the pending activities for the day. There are some markers in life that alone do not seem to be a big deal, today's proved to be a big one for me.

My baby girl has started first grade. She bounded out of her bed, chanting "first grade, first grade, yeah, yeah, yeah", completely wound up and ready for action. She completely pissed me off with her aloof behavior this morning but even through my frustration, something was gnawing at me. Dressed, teeth and hair brushed, breakfast eaten, and by 6:30 as I was walking out the door with my little ones, I looked over my shoulder to get the last glimpses of my baby.

I know I am being overly misty about the whole situation, but I have invested 6 years and nine months into this relationship, nurturing her little body and mind, expecting to always see the big cheeked darling smiling back at me. But instead there is a whole other person standing in front of me. Staring back with her big, brown doe eyes, questioning everything, already putting the wedge between me and my baby. UGGGGGHHHH!

The truth is she is not always smiling at me, in fact more often than not, she is thoroughly pissed with me. And well, I do deserve the snarky looks sometimes, not ALL the time, but some of the time. I go back to the core of it all. The core being, she is always loved, she is always cared for, she is offered a listening ear, she is disciplined when warranted and through all of the toil, in the end, she will be a better person and hopefully someday say thank you and really mean what she says.

I can't wait to hear about her day and find out how "cool" everything is, what friends are in her classroom, and all the homework I will need to find a tutor for myself in order to help her.

Does this anxiousness ever go away?