Just a Clunky Lullaby to a Sleepy Baby

I grew up with this song, but the first time I heard it when I was pregnant, I knew I had to add it to E's lullaby list!

So, here it is -- this mom's clunky lullaby to a sleepy baby. It's not a perfect recording by any means, but it comes from the heart!

If you want to take this song with you, you can download it for free here.

Thanks for listening!

The Day I Planned

On any given day, I plan for a few things to go horribly wrong -- nothing catastrophic, just a spilled meal on the floor, E bumping her head. I don't know what it was about this day -- maybe the fact that day care's Columbus Day holiday hadn't made it into my planner before Friday or the fact that I was just feeling "blah" today -- I think from my flu shot. Low-grade fever and all-around icky feeling. I just couldn't plan for the series of events that followed this morning.

Day care was closed this morning, and Mark and I had to work out taking care of E while we worked. This involves a unique trade-off system in which we get as much work done as possible while the other works then trade off for any conference calls, etc. More often than not, the one in charge of E is still trying to keep up with work while answering email on the phone or sneaking a peek at the laptop.

That's exactly what I was doing when E ripped the mouse cord out of my computer. She slammed the mouse on the floor a few times then ran across the kitchen dragging it behind her. I let her go, as long as I could see her and worked with my track pad instead.

Then she came over and grabbed my iPhone charger cable. I grabbed the other end to prevent the cord from breaking. She pulled harder until I had to let go, and she tumbled to the ground.

I tried to distract her with a video and played between emails. I just had to get through 1 hour.
She threw a toy dog at my screen.
I took her in the kitchen to have a snack.
While I went to the fridge, she got her raisins out of the cupboard, opened them, dropped them on the floor.
I got a sleeve of crackers for her. I opened them halfway and handed them to her, like I would for Mark... forgetting that she was a toddler.
She dropped an entire sleeve of crackers on the floor.
While I went for the broom, she danced on the crackers.
I gave her a mug with some hot-cocoa in it. She did so well with a big-girl cup! Day care says that's all she uses there now.
I gave her a big-girl cup with her milk in it.
She dumped it on the floor and all over her shirt.
I took her in our room to change her. It was like trying to bathe a cat.
When I finally got it on, it was on backwards.
Ten minutes later, I got it on correctly.
She jumped off the bed and got herself wedged between a bag of clothes and a suitcase.
I tried to get her out as she went limp and laughed.
When I finally got her out, I was stuck.
She ran in the bathroom, turned on the sink, and soaked her clean shirt.
I caught up with her, ushered her out of the bathroom.
As I closed the door, she ran back in our room to wedge herself between the bag and suitcase again.
I got her out and brought her back to the kitchen where she stood on a chair at the counter.
The crockpot was within her reach, and I moved it, so she wouldn't get burned.
I burned myself on the crockpot.
I used a bag of broccoli to soothe my burn.
E cried, because she wanted to eat the broccoli.

Other tantrum-worthy moments:
She didn't want the purple milk cup.
She didn't want to eat carrots out of a green bowl.
She only wanted to eat macaroni out of the green bowl.

Throughout the day, I told her not to climb/stand on the furniture.
She jumped up on her chair, which tipped, and the back of the chair hit her nose.
It didn't look that bad, but her nose started bleeding.
And bleeding.
I got her nose to stop bleeding.
She climbed back up in the chair.
She did a somersault into the recliner.
And out of the recliner.

I gave her a bath, snuggled her, kept my cool (for most of the day).

She pinched me, scratched me, and hit me with a toy. She found a stray Sharpie and colored all over the floor. I scrubbed it for 20-minutes straight.

I yelled, I screamed, I cried, I put her in time-out.

She cried too, asked me, "What's wrong, Mommy?" "Are you sad, Mommy?" I know she just wanted my attention. She's never acted like this before, not all day. She was also exhausted. She stayed in her crib for 2 hours this afternoon, but refused to sleep.

Mark came home at 6:15 and took a phone call while I brushed her teeth, gave her fluoride, and read her a story. Then he put her to bed for me.

When he came out of her room, I asked him if he'd do the dishes for me and put E's lunch pail in the dishwasher for tomorrow.

He said, "Oh, I didn't plan on doing that tonight," got himself a yogurt, and sat down on the couch.

Any other night, I would have flipped... and given a really long, sarcastic, soliloquy about how today went exactly as I had planned. But, I didn't. And only because I was exhausted... and, more than that, I had decided that I was done parenting for the day. I would now plan to get some freelance work done and hold onto the one small aspect of my night that I could control -- work.

------

And, he just went into the kitchen and did my dishes... He must have sensed my eye daggers.

My Girl

My girl is almost 2-years-old. She's about 3 feet tall and 27lbs. When I put her to bed each night, she asks, "Mommy, rock you?" She wants me to rock her in my arms. The rule is that I have to be standing. I'm not sure why. She doesn't like to rock in a rocking chair. It's always been that way. I cradle her in my arms, a slender bundle of limbs. She looks up at me and smiles. I rock her back and forth and sing, "Be My Baby," the line, "For every kiss you give me, I'll give you three!" She holds her hand up, so I can give it a kiss. Then I nuzzle my nose against her cheek.

Soon after, my back gets sore, but I hold her long after I should, reminding myself that I won't be able to rock her like this for much longer. I put her down, and she rolls over. I keep singing while I rub her back, until she gets sleepy enough to fall asleep on her own after I walk out of her room.

I love these little moments with her.

Yesterday, I took her to get ice cream. I've always gotten her vanilla. Chocolate ice cream isn't a favorite. Ice cream doesn't usually agree with me, but I treated myself to a tiny scoop of Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake. 'Tis the season, after all. She wanted to try my ice cream and proceeded to eat the entire cup. She even took my spoon away as I tried to get a bite in.

"Hey, I want some. Can I have my spoon back?"
"No."

Finally, I convince her to return my spoon and decide to have a few bites of the vanilla.

"No, that's mine!" she protests.

Apparently, both ice cream cups are hers. I explain to her that we're sharing this time, and she eventually agrees. She's happy to have the pumpkin flavor all to herself.

We play at the park, visit with the cows, then head home.

Look Who's Talking! A Lot.

My little E said her first word, "Mama" at 2-months old. She just mimicked the noises I was making, but I was still impressed. By 4- and 6-months-old, "Dada" "Bee" were favorites, and by the time she was a year old, she was speaking in full sentences.

Then she went through this strange stage, where she could say so many words and phrases but still didn't comprehend what I was saying. There was a lot of crying during that phase, as she tried to figure out how to communicate both ways.

Then, all of a sudden, it clicked, and she started ordering us around, asking for things, and there were fewer tears when I said things like, "You can't eat chalk, but you can play with your dollhouse."

Better understanding of language brought up new questions like, "I put kitty in toilet?" and "I drive car now?" and of course the WHAT'S THATs. My days were spent speaking in 3-word answers: "That's a rock." "That's some lint." "That's my eyebrow." "That's a (really old) green-bean (from under the recliner)." "Don't eat it!"

She still asks the occasional WHAT'S THAT, like yesterday in the waiting room at the doctor's office, when she pointed to a man sitting in the corner and said, loudly, "WHAT IS THAT?"

"That's a man," I said. He laughed.

But, now we've pretty much moved on to having grown up conversations with her. Add the kid-isms, and it makes for some pretty amusing discussions.

"How was your day today, E?"
"Oh, good."
"What did you do."
"We went out to the playground."
"That's nice, what did you do outside?"
"I ate some sand."

Great... I sincerely hope that the sand-eating doesn't happen as often as she reports.

"E, are you going to Nini's and Bee's this weekend?"
"Yeah!!"
"What are you doing to do there?"
"Eat!"
"What else?"
"Get a present!!"

She has my in-laws figured out!

In the morning, Mark helps me put her in the car. Before he closes the door, she insists:
"My kiss!"
"Yep, here's a kiss for you, E!"
"My hug..."
"Ok, huggies!"
"Wave?!"

Yep, we have to stop the car before driving off, so that she and Dada can wave to each other.

She likes to interject random, "Oh, hello, Mommy!"s into the oddest of situations, like as Mark whisks her off to the potty, bare bottom showing, holding her diaper in her hand. The inflection in her voice says, "Ah, well, just another day..."

I'm always so surprised when I hear her do some new talking trick. She already knows her entire alphabet and can count to 10. I praise her each time she recites them, always with a hint of surprise in my voice, and I think, "Wow, is this really my kid?" She's growing up so fast.

Then I think, "Maybe a little too fast..." as she's begun praising me for my accomplishments. The little hint of surprise in her voice is so genuine that it almost sounds like she's mocking me:

"E, how many leaves does this clover have? 1, 2, 3, 4!"
"Good counting, Mommy!" she says, with such pride in her voice.

Why, thank you...!

Then, last night, she got upset and scratched me. The most effective way to prevent this has been to say, "If you're going to act like that, I don't want to play with you right now." I turn away from her or walk to another room to do something else. She usually cries, but last night, she came after me, put her hand on my arm and said, "Come here. Come here..." She patted my arm and said, "What happened?" Her tone was very, "Who hurt you? Do you need me to take care of this?"

"You scratched me!!" I replied.
"I'm sorry," she said, shyly.
Then, in an almost robot-like tone, she said, "I'm sorry, Mommy."

Here, Mom. Here's the exact phrase that will make you forgive me. Got it? Are we good now? Ok, let's go play.

I'm not sure she's getting the point... but we're learning together, there are fewer scratching incidents, and we're getting along much better now. She's still acting all wild and is into everything she can get her hands on.

Side Note: Someone tell me that this is normal and will pass soon: in one hour, we move from cooking in the kitchen to playing in the sink to painting to drawing to drawing with chalk, to playing dollhouse to trying on hats to trying to get into the fridge to eating a snack to hiding behind the fan eating chalk, to fits of giggles to tears of misery...

The good thing: all of this, every crazy minute, every precious and not-so-precious moment? We're talking about them!

Luke At Me Now

If you read the papers, you’ll know that Luke Perry has recently made an astonishing comeback via a hip, new, reality blog!

Over at the Luke at Me Now site, you can follow the “misadventures of a Luke Perry doll” as he travels New England and gets into all kinds of fun and trouble! Friends Melissa and Lisa have been journeying alongside Luke, documenting his every waking moment and sharing his thoughts and photos with friends and fans worldwide.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to sit down with Luke, Melissa, and Lisa this week to ask them about this new reality-blog sensation and Luke’s re-rise to fame: 

• Lisa, how did you get the idea to collaborate with (Little) Luke on this project?
  Luke was staying with a friend of mine in IL for this meditation retreat, and he’d been talking about moving to New England so that he could work on his memoir and just detach from the Hollywood scene for a bit. So my friend put me in touch with Luke, and the rest is history! Just to maintain a little bit of anonymity, I won’t reveal where Luke is currently staying.
• Luke, what was your reaction when Lisa approached you about this project, and how did you feel about suddenly throwing yourself back into the “Luke-light”?“Luke-light.” I like that. Can I steal that? Anyway, I had originally moved to Vermont to work on my memoir and just commune with nature. But Lisa’s friends were really eager to find out what makes me tick, which I totally understand, because I’m pretty awesome. So a blog was a natural choice. And when you, Gretchin, got on board as the designer of the blog, well, it was like kismet. And it’s not as invasive as a reality TV show, so I was cool with it. I mean, I really don’t want anyone to catch me coming out of the shower, although you would be impressed with the view.
• Oh, gosh, it was really no trouble at all (blushes).
• Lisa, what is your working relationship like with Luke? Do you two work well together?
  Luke is really easy to get along with and he’s pretty much up for anything, as you can see from the blog. We’ve grown pretty close over the past few weeks, and I think we’ll be lifelong friends, even if he does decide to move back to LA.
• Luke, many of your fans (me included, ahem) were pleased to see the “gun show” this week. How do you manage to stay in such great shape?
  Oh, thank you, thank you. I like to please the ladies, for sure, so that can be a motivation. And I just want to be awesome forever. That’s my goal.
• Luke, what do you look for in a significant other (giggles)?
  Besides tall women with luscious curls named Gretchin? (Smile.) Well, I like my girl to be adventurous, smart, funny, and sweet. She also has to be kind to animals. That’s a must.
• Oh my word... (giggles).
• Melissa, what’s it been like photographing the great Luke Perry?
It’s been a blast! Luke and I go way back, so it’s always nice when we get to spend some time together and traipse around different locations. As far as photographing him, he makes my job incredibly easy… am I right ladies??

• Lisa, do you have any long-term plans for Luke’s adventures?I’m hoping that we can take some trips outside of New England. Luke’s traveled the world, but now he’s in a place where he can truly be a tourist. It helps that he doesn’t mind getting his picture taken, especially when there’s a lovely woman behind the camera.
  
• Melissa, how has it been touring New England with Luke? Does he travel well?
He’s a diva. (I kid…) He’s incredibly reflective and introspective at times during travel, and dichotomously outlandish and adventurous, showing off his increasing flexibility and pliance, as well as his aforementioned awesomeness. He’s been a trooper about the locations and has really taken it upon himself to get into some risky positions to help us get shots we only dreamed about taking. He’s really quite versatile… and an extremely light traveler… less is definitely more with Luke.

• Lisa, Melissa, where is Luke off to next?
  Only Luke knows!

Well, it was truly a lovely experience sitting down with these three! Thank you all for your time! I'll see you next time over at Luke At Me Now!