May 2008 - Posts

• The cover charge is very, very good chocolate

  This is why I hate vaccinations.  This is why I delay them whenever possible.  This is why we’re at least six months behind on the AAP vaccination schedule.  Dom reacts to all vaccinations the same way.  At the doctor’s, I’m faced with wails of pain when the shots are given, then a horrified, betrayed look on his face afterwards.  For several hours after the vaccinations, I’m treated to stubborn silence.  He hangs all over Daddy for the rest of the day while running away from me in tears.  As if that weren’t bad enough, about six hours post-vaccination, the physical reaction starts.  It doesn’t matter what the shot was, or whether it was one, three, or eight vaccines (yes, they give that many on one day).  Six hours later, the fever starts.  I don’t mean a slightly elevated temperature.  I mean a fever that will easily exceed 105 degrees, medicated or not.  Apparently, this is how Dom’s body handles viral invaders.  After a vaccination last year, we spent three of the following five nights in the ER, desperately trying to keep his fever below brain-frying level.  That’s not considered a vaccine reaction, though.  Yeah, I’m lost, too. After shots, we alternate Motrin and Tylenol every three hours.  That’s the only way we can begin to fight the fever.  Of course, this means waking Dom up just when he’s finally fallen asleep after hours of tossing and sobbing.  Once he’s awake, he’s awake, which means I’m awake, which means that the next few days around here will not be at all perky.  By tomorrow night, you will find me drowsing on my sofa, wearing exactly what I’m wearing now, with an exhausted-but-not-able-to-sleep Dom on my chest watching television.  We will be surrounded by glasses of various juices and alcohol (mine, not his), tissues, thermometers, and pain relievers.  If you come visit this week, the cover charge is very, very good chocolate. Posted May 29 2008, 10:36 PM by marylandmom with 1 comment(s) Filed under: maryland, doctor, vaccinations [Edit Tags]

• Toddler Toothbrushing Resistance

  Dom now has a full set of teeth.  Even the stubborn, pointy canines have finally made their grand entrance into his mouth.  He takes great joy in grabbing my hand and pulling it toward his mouth while saying, “Uh-uh!” in a singsong voice.  Sometimes, he’s nice enough to release my fingers, but others he chomps down.  Hard. Because of his big mouthful of teeth, we need to be dedicated toothbrushers.  Both Daddy and I have the battlescars to prove our attempts at oral hygiene.  When Dom sees a toothbrush heading his way, one of two things happens.  Either his lips clench closed so tightly that Parent #2 needs to pry his jaw open so Parent #1 can gain access…or he pretends to cooperate, opening his mouth, only to gnash down at the last minute on an unsuspecting finger.  Hard. We’ve tried everything.  Thomas the Tank Toothbrush…Elmo Toothbrush…Singing Toothbrush…The Who-Can-Brush-Their-Teeth-the-Best Game…Dom doesn’t fall for any of it.  I asked him the other day whether he wanted all of his teeth to fall out, and he triumphantly said, “No toothbrush then!” I can only assume that God somehow built this toddler toothbrushing resistance into our genes.  In that case, plaque and germs won’t cause problems until, say, age four, when a child is slightly more reasonable.  I mean, God created toddlers, and he knows their stubbornness, right? Sometime after age two, a child should make his first trip to a pediatric dentist.  I need to schedule this appointment, but I’m terrified.  Dom may not have any teeth left by then, since no toothpaste is allowed to enter his mouth.  He may bite the dentist’s finger off, pulling us directly into a multi-million dollar, loss of livelihood lawsuit.  Or, the boy might just open wide for the nice dentist, giving me a mean-Mommy complex about forced hygiene.  Posted May 27 2008, 11:13 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, doctor [Edit Tags]

• Hometown Holidays

  Today, Dom, Russell and I went to Rockville’s Hometown Holidays to watch the Memorial Day parade.  It was hot and crowded, but we barely noticed – we were too busy watching Dom watch the parade. There were police, horses, color guards and various rescue vehicles (including a fire truck that Dom nearly ran underneath to see).  Several Boy and Girl Scout troops walked the parade route, too.  Interspersed among these groups were several cultural groups from Bolivia, dressed in brightly colored outfits and dancing traditional dances that enthralled the crowd.  Politicians smiled, shook hands, and threw candy into the crowd. It was a beautiful parade.  My son loved it.  He danced and screamed and waved to the parade participants.  We’ll go again next year.  But I was left slightly annoyed with my fellow attendees.  There were several groups of veterans in the parade, and they barely received any notice from the crowd.  Each time they passed, Dom waved his American flag while we clapped.  But nobody else bothered.  The kids were more interested in the free candy, and their parents were too busy chatting with each other.  I might offend someone here…but Memorial Day should be about those veterans.  And it’s a sad day in America when a Boy Scout troop gets a standing ovation while a group of military heroes is ignored. To add to my annoyance (did you think I was done?), there was a man selling a cart full of cheap toys.  He blocked all views of the parade as he marched up and down the parade route, enticing kids to spend Mommy and Daddy’s money on crap that wouldn’t last a week.  On the way home, we were stuck on a road behind somebody who had just taken advantage of a mattress company’s Memorial Day sale. It all left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  Apparently, our heroes died for people’s right to buy stuff instead of honoring them today.  That’s sad, but I guess that’s what freedom is. Thank you to all who have served our country and protected this freedom.  Posted May 26 2008, 10:47 AM by marylandmom with 4 comment(s) Filed under: maryland, holidays, fun stuff to do [Edit Tags]

• Lazy Holiday Saturdays

  I love holiday weekends in the D.C. area.  Suddenly, things are less rushed.  Nobody is scrambling to get to work or school, and the holiday is a reminder to slow down and appreciate all you have.  No fights over parking spaces or rude comments tossed from car windows…it’s just relaxed. In Montgomery County, especially, things are completely different on holiday weekends.  When we go for walks, we don’t need to dodge stopped traffic to cross Connecticut Avenue (or run across, Dom getting dragged by one arm as we frantically try to beat the crosswalk signal before it changes).  Instead, everything is wide open.  Grocery lines aren’t as long.  Park trails aren’t as crowded.  It’s almost as though we’ve been transferred away from the city to a small town.  People are happier. My favorite part of holiday weekends is the lazy Saturday.  Sunday is spent as usual, and Monday is spent in holiday pursuits – parties, barbecues, parades, that sort of thing.  But the Saturday moves like molasses.  We spend those afternoons outside, watching Dom run through the grass chasing bugs.  He’s learned well from his Mommy, too – when a car speeds down the street, Dom looks at it and screams, “Slow DOWN!”  Thankfully, he doesn’t repeat the naughty words often tacked onto the end of my yells. We really need speed bumps here.  This weekend, Saturday was spent chasing bubbles from the bubble machine and catching and releasing bugs.  Dom didn’t even accidentally de-wing or de-leg any of them.  Which is good – when that happens, things get very guilt-ridden and teary.  Lately, we let Dom roam a bit farther from us.  Gradually, that gap between us will widen more and more, until finally it is the insurmountable I’m-going-to-college-2000-miles-away canyon.  But for now, he still looks back to make sure we’re watching.  He still looks at us for approval before stepping off of the sidewalk. Posted May 25 2008, 05:10 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays [Edit Tags]

• Baby Butterflies

  We live in the Chevy Chase Lake area of Chevy Chase.  No, I still haven’t found the lake.  Either it was filled in long ago to make room for some development or other, or it’s just a myth.  At any rate, our neighborhood, and the surrounding area through which we like to go walking, is currently covered with caterpillars.  There is much grumbling about leaves and squashed bug guts and falling fuzzy missiles.  But I don’t get it. They’re beautiful!  Yeah, yeah…I know they might kill some trees.  But, honestly, isn’t that part of the cycle of life?  For millennia, haven’t caterpillars killed trees and then watched as new ones grew to feed their offspring?  Yes, they’re everywhere – but they make the greatest tickle in the palm of your hand. Dom is very into “baby butterflies” now.  Everyday, we catch one and put it into his bughouse with some sticks and leaves.  For at least an hour, my apartment is dead silent while the boy watches, transfixed, the movements of this tiny, furry creature.  When we finally let the little bug go home to his friends, Dom immediately asks for another one to come inside.  Our walks take forever now because we have to carefully step over tiny furry insects.  Dom stoops down and herds them across the sidewalk to the safety of the grass.  He picks them up and giggles as they climb his arm.   When he sees one squished, he cries.  He dreams of the day they become butterflies.  We now have several books about the caterpillar-to-butterfly metamorphosis. So I don’t get it.  How can these little beings, beautiful and educational, be a bad thing?  How can something that brings so much joy to my boy’s face ever be a pest?  Your trees or my kid’s childhood, that's an easy choice.  Trees can be replaced.  These innocent, bug-filled days – they won’t last. Posted May 23 2008, 01:53 PM by marylandmom with 2 comment(s) Filed under: maryland [Edit Tags]

• Remember to Play

  Today, Dom and I made a trip to Chevy Chase Supermarket.  We love the market because it is within walking distance and gives us someplace to go.  It doesn’t hurt that the market is very child-friendly.  A toy train makes its rounds on top of display shelves.  A hopscotch grid covers the floor of the dairy section.  The pièce de résistance is the mechanical horse, or “hoor-hy” as Dom calls it.  Which is a major improvement…last year, he pointed to it and yelled, “Whore, Mommy!”  The staff was amused.  The customers were amused.  I was humiliated.  It was months before we returned.  Even then, I had Dom practice “Horsie” all the way there.   Anyway, the mechanical horse costs a penny to ride.  Actually, it’s free, as there is always a dish of pennies sitting underneath it.  Today, I let Dom push one of the kiddie shopping carts.  Since we weren’t getting much, the tiny basket would work perfectly.  Well, it would have worked perfectly if Dom wasn’t Dom.  Silly me, I handed the boy a weapon.  He ran away down an aisle, playing bumper shopping carts.  He was finally stopped by a crash with an elderly woman’s cart.  That is where I caught up with him.  I apologized repeatedly, saying that I thought he was old enough to use the carts.  She said, “He is old enough.  He’s also young enough to remember to play.”  Which made me reflect on myself.  When was the last time I had fun in a grocery store?  Even when I’m watching Dom ride the “hoor-hy,” my mind is reciting the grocery list.  In fact, I can’t remember the last time I let myself not worry about people’s opinions.  I can’t remember the last time I just had fun.  Yet another lesson learned from my two-year-old.   Remember to play. Posted May 20 2008, 09:20 PM by marylandmom with 5 comment(s) Filed under: maryland [Edit Tags]

• Hang your head out of the window like a doggy

  I’m a good cook.  Really.  My husband tells me so all of the time – sometimes without prompting.  I learned to cook from two experts – my grandmothers.  One taught me Native American dishes, and the other taught me down-home, West Virginia, country cooking.  My Mother can’t cook anything other than banana pudding (her mother’s recipe), so I started cooking family meals at a young age.  And I’m good at it.  Really.   Just don’t pay attention to the family stories about me burning toast, setting fire to cabinets, or baking turkey jerky on Thanksgiving.  Honestly – they’re all exaggerated. Tonight, though, I’m taking a break from my dinner preparations to call for HELP!  Maybe it’s the toddler underfoot, maybe it’s that my mind is elsewhere, maybe today’s a bad food day in my astrological chart.  I just forgot dinner was cooking.  Oops. I guess it doesn’t matter why.  All I know is that the steak is black.  I don’t mean slightly charred around the edges.  I mean black.  All over.  And it was cooked indoors (in the oven, not on a grill), so my apartment is filled with smoke.  For some reason, we have two smoke detectors in our hallway - and I can now safely say that they both work. Thank God for nice weather in DC.  At least the open windows let in some fresh air and let out some of the smoke.  If you live in Chevy Chase and hear fire engines, don’t be alarmed.  They probably just smelled the smoke. Dominici keeps yelling, “EYES!  EYES, MOMMY!  EYES!”  So we’re playing the “hang your head out of the window like a doggy” game right now.   He likes it.  Really.  He’s very into the panting part. I don’t even think the garbage disposal will eat this steak, so I’m off to order a pizza. Posted May 16 2008, 06:34 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, food [Edit Tags]

• I only run around naked on Tuesdays

  I’m 34 years old, and I’m Mommy to a two-year-old, Dom.  I’m at the stage when you start to realize that you really are two separate people.  You know – the “holy crap, what has happened to the me that I know is still in there?” stage.  You wake up one day, look in the mirror, and you realize that you haven’t had a haircut in more than a year, you haven’t been to a gym in more than three, and you really, really need to start wearing makeup again.   And, interspersed with these demands to be you are the demands of a toddler.  “I want water – no milk.”  Then, “I said juice!” when milk is in hand.  There are contradictory demands to go to the library and to stay home, to eat and not to eat, to get dressed and run around naked (Dom, not me.  I only run around naked on Tuesdays).   So that’s where I am… trying to balance being the best Mommy the world has ever seen with some Me-Time.  No pressure, right? Here, I’ll share the ins and outs of our daily lives.  I’ll tell you about my never-ending attempts to engage the mind of a toddler who’s much, much smarter than his Mommy and Daddy.  I’ll detail local places we go, things we do, and people we meet.   Mostly, though, I’ll probably brag about my wonderfully awesome little guy.  Sometimes, his antics will make you snort coffee out of your nose as you read. I want all of you to be part of this blog.  Your feedback will let me know when I’m on the right track.  Feel free to send advice when I seem particularly lost.  Or hugs on the days when I realize that my baby is growing up too quickly. Posted May 12 2008, 11:36 AM by marylandmom with 2 comment(s) Filed under: maryland [Edit Tags]