Three Good Things

Three Good Things for the day:

1. I finally started practicing on the piano, and it’s all coming back to me.  For my first song, I’m going to learn Sammy’s favorite, The Rainbow Connection.
2. I had somebody come in and clean the house for me.  What a luxury!
3. The Christmas cards are pouring in.

I forgot my Three Good Things yesterday, but not because there weren’t any.  It was actually an ok day, but I’ve been so busy I forgot I had a blog.  I thought tonight maybe I’d do Six Good Things for the past 48 hours, but I really can’t remember yesterday at all, so I’ll just stick with the usual format.

1. Sammy came home today singing OH CRADLE CRADLE CRADLE, I MADE IT OUT OF CWAY, AND WHEN IT DIE AND WEADY, OH CRADLE I WILL PAY.  I learned that song in Montessori when I was a little girl, too.
2. When a man in line at the post office asked Sammy if she mailed a letter to Santa Claus, she replied, YES, AT THE MALL.
3. Sammy is allowed to take down and play with one Christmas ornament from the tree at a time.  She was playing with a red ball when I heard her cry out to the dog:  NO, TOBY!  YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LICK MY BALLS!

Until I can get over this strange illness, my Three Good Things will continue to be a difficult exercise:

1. Sammy and I had a 2.5 hour nap today.
2. I made an appointment with a new doctor tomorrow.  I’ve been using the walk-in medical care places for the past year and a half so I’m hoping that I like this practice.  And I’m really hoping that they can fix my ear.  I’ve had fluid behind my eardrum for 11 days now and it’s driving me nuts.  But desperation is what drove me to finally try to find a permanent doctor, and that could be a really good thing.
3. In talking about our respective projects, Adam helped me with my research and I helped him with his.  Cool!

Three Good Things for the weekend:

1. We picked out and ordered new lighting fixtures we’ll need to install before we paint the house.  We decided to take a chance and go for a very modern style.  Our house is a piece of crap right now, but only on the surface.  I have a vision, and I think it’s going to be quite beautiful when we’re done.  I love owning and improving a home.
2. I reorganized Sammy’s playroom again.  Had to make room for Santa’s gifts!
3. We got some Christmas lights up on the outside of our house.  Just a few gold lights along our stairway banisters.  It’s not ideal.  Personally, I’d like to have every square inch of our house and yard lit up and decorated, but Adam has more refined tastes.  When we had a detached home in Michigan, every year we used to argue about whether to put up the small, white lights or the big, colorful bulbs.  Adam won the argument every year by default, just because we didn’t own any big bulbs.  But the last year we lived there, for Christmas he bought me 4 packages of big, multi-colored big outdoor lights, which was his way of saying that he knew how important it was to me.  Unfortunately, we moved, and now I have no idea how we can use those big bulbs on the townhouse.  Next year, he might have to get me a big, blow-up yard ornament.

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Sammy has not had an accident in 3 days.  3 days! 
2. Somehow, in our little townhouse with only 800 square feet on the main level, we’ve managed to keep the space open enough so that we could enjoy a rousing game of fetch with the dog (and child) tonight, inside.
3. There’s no place like home for the holidays.  So true.

Three Good Things for the day:

1. For the first time in a couple of weeks, I walked the dog, showered before noon, styled my hair and put on jewelry, worked on my fiction writing, and cooked a real lunch for myself and Sammy.  It wasn’t the first time I did all of those things together, but the first time I did any of them, and I did them all today.  Good day!
2. My cat is becoming a lap cat.  Pets are nice in their old age.
3. We just finished watching Battlestar Galactica.  It was amazing.  I loved it.  I was not disappointed.  This was one of the greatest stories, ever.  I’m already thinking about the next time I’ll watch it, and how old Sammy should be for us to watch it with her.  Just beautiful.

Three Good Things for the day:

1. I spent the entire morning running around town: I dropped Sammy at school, then I got a massage, I put gas in the car, I made copies at the UPS Store, I went to the library to donate a children’s book I hated and would not allow Sammy to read, I bought stamps for the Christmas cards, I picked up the framed drawing of Sammy, I picked up lunch, then I picked up Sammy.  That took 4 hours.  Luckily, in all the driving time, I had the most recent podcasts of Diana Hsieh and Leonard Peikoff to keep my mind busy.
2. Adam and I picked out Sammy’s Christmas gifts.  Fun!
3. I finished reading a good book by an author new to me.  Many more promising books to come!

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Sammy got her face painted.  The first time she got her face painted she was scared silly, but now it’s just fun.
2. Although I still can’t hear properly out of my left ear, I’m well enough to have played “mop the floor” with Sammy – meaning I dragged her by the arms around the floor on her butt.  I haven’t been capable of anything so physical in the past week.  It’s nice to be back.
3. I finally reorganized the hall closet and foyer area for winter.  I say finally, but it’s only been a few days since it went from fall to winter and it snowed.  But in those few days, gloves and hats and muddy shoes and mud had accumulated in all sorts of random places.  Now we’re ready for the Virginia winter.  Did I mention mud?

If you’re going to be a professional parent, you really must learn to love the Little Things.  Luckily, I have learned.  I know because I enjoyed this day.  This day when I got up, served breakfast, cleaned up breakfast, took Sammy to school, did the grocery shopping, made hard-boiled eggs, picked up Sammy, took her to lunch, got her down for a nap, took a nap, took a shower, helped Sammy take a shower, made dinner, ate dinner, and cleaned up from dinner.  I also spent about 20 minutes reading, 20 minutes just playing with Sammy, and 20 minutes on the computer, and I’ll probably read and watch TV for a couple of hours tonight.  Really, that was my whole day.  I did nothing else.  I never even got a chance to look at my to-do list.  All I accomplished was eating, sleeping, and bathing.  If every day were like this I’d slit my wrists with boredom, but usually there is more time for other pursuits, so once in a while a day like this is a nice break.

1. Eating:  Sausage McMuffin for breakfast on-the-go, Five Guys cheeseburger for lunch, and leftover sushi (yes, leftover sushi, I know) for dinner.  Not the healthiest food, but it was fast and it was good.  At lunch, I gave Sammy a sip of my Coke and her eyes almost bugged out of her head and her face turned completely red.  Then she asked for another sip.
2. Sleeping:  We had some nap-time troubles and Sammy ended up sleeping on my chest.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  bliss!
3. Bathing:  Showers are fun when they are accompanied by such sayings as THERE’S WATER IN YOUR BUTT!  And, I NEED A NEW SOAP.  A YELLOW SOAP.  I NEED A YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW SOAP.  I NEED A YELLOW SOAP NOW, MOMMY.  OH, THANK YOU, MOMMY.

Three Good Things for the weekend:

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Adam stayed home from work to help me.  What a guy!  He really saved me today.
2. I got to the doctor in time to save my ear drum from bursting.
3. A photo of Ben Rathbone’s drawing of Sammy is up at his web site.  We’re getting it framed and we’ll display it next to a pastel drawing of me at about the same age.  Sammy and I look very much alike and it’s really cool.  As soon as we have them together I’ll take a photo and post it here.  And as long as I have your attention on Ben’s work, you really should check out his portrait of Jerald Schwab.  I think Ben’s work is amazing.

It feels dishonest to even try to find Three Good Things today.  It sucked.  This day really sucked.

1. Since I’m sick now, we’re still in watching-TV-mode, so I did get to watch an episode of So You Think You Can Dance with Sammy.  I do love that show, I suppose.  Sammy liked one of the male dancers.   That was cute.
2. I don’t have to cook dinner.  Of course, the reason I’m not cooking is that the asparagus went bad and then Adam called at the last second saying he forgot to leave work and will be late getting home.  He can figure out how to feed Sammy, because I’m done.  I had leftover pizza for breakfast and lunch, so why not make it 3 for 3?  But, at least, I don’t have to cook.  And I’m not washing dishes, either!
3. Adam is taking the insane little ball of tantrum we call a daughter to Parents’ Night at school, so I’ll be free of both of them soon.  If I’m lucky, it will be quiet for an hour or so.

I guess that was a mostly backhanded Three Good Things, but it’s the best I can do.

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Sammy was still too sick for school and we had another magnificent day.  It’s frustrating and confusing that she loves school so much and yet she and I get along so much better when she does not go to school.  Today, she picked out her own clothes and put on her underwear, pants, socks, shoes and coat.  She’s still working on the shirt, but she gave that a good try too.  She also pooped in the potty 4 times and only had 1 accident, was generally agreeable, and behaved herself so well in the lighting store that I was able to browse for close to an hour.  Have you ever taken a 3-year-old to a store filled with breakable objects at knee-height?  If so, you’ll understand what a great moment this was.
2. The first thing Sammy said when we entered the lighting store was, WHERE IS THAT LADY? WHERE ARE CRACKERS?  You see, back in April, we went to that store and a saleslady gave her some crackers.  Almost 8 months ago, this happened!  And we did see the same lady, and Sammy recognized her, and she got crackers again.  It was really quite special.
3. Thank goodness for the pharmaceutical industry.  Mucinex is the best.  A little Mucinex/Ibuprofen cocktail and I’m as good as new.  Well, I’m not miserable, anyway.  I’m feeling good enough to stay up for a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and that’s what’s important, right?

Three Good Things for the day:

1. We received our charcoal drawing of Sammy today, which we commissioned from our friend, artist Ben Rathbone.  It’s amazing.  I’ll post a link to a photo of the drawing once he gets it up at his web site. 
2. Adam is, at this moment, practicing on the piano using the headphones.  Awesome!
3. Sammy opened the first door on her advent calendar today.

I forgot my Three Good Things yesterday!  Let’s see if I can remember anything:

1. Adam and I are finally into the new material in our viewing of Battlestar Galactica.  Our 18 month moving saga and the writer’s strike interrupted the series for us the first time around.  Six years later, we’re finally going to find out who the last Cylon is!
2. Sammy has conjunctivitis which is not a good thing, but for some reason sick days with her are always a nice break from the routine.  Yesterday we watched TV and read books and napped and ate all day.
3. I learned something from the sick day.  A lot of Sammy’s behavior problems stem from the rushing around that goes with her more hectic school schedule.  I had suspected this, but now I’m sure of it.  Yesterday was the first day since early September that we didn’t have to get out the door for school or weekend activities at a certain time, and she was so much more pleasant to be around, even when I had to put eye drops in her eyes.  We did go out to the pharmacy, but it wasn’t something that had to be done on a schedule so the fact that it took her an hour to get ready didn’t matter.  I know she’s going to have to learn how to get ready without all the angst, but it’s nice to have a little bit more understanding of what’s going on with her.