Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, artist, Cocoapuffs, drawing, Family, housewife, Lego Ninjago, parenting, peeps, St. Botolph Club
Yes, I am still here…although my focus on art has taken a serious hiatus. I recently stopped sending my son to the preschool that he has been attending, for reasons that I will not bore you with. In a nutshell: I have no regular childcare now. SAVE ME. My mom has been exceedingly helpful by coming to watch my son while I attempt to run errands, like picking up six of my drawings from the framer, or having a series of stressful portfolio reviews. I am CLEARLY not cut out to be a 24 hr.-a-day-stay-at-home-mom. You know those blogs where all of the photos are dreamy and misty, and where the author is a stay-at-home-mom who makes muffins from scratch with wild blueberries that she just picked whilst her brood of delightful children invent delightful games with rocks and sticks?
This is not one of those blogs.
I feel that having a child is one of the universe’s ways of telling us that we have stuff we need to work on…and it’s only by being confronted with such issues as a parent, that we will ever attempt to work on those things we need to. Am I being too vague? Okay. Basically, I have a very short fuse and an excess of buttons that are easily pressed. My son, whom I love dearly, has been, besides “my little love”, the one impetus for me to excruciatingly stretch my fuse and reduce the tsunami normally unleashed when my buttons are pushed.
Sigh. I love him, AND he can seriously drive me cuckoo for Cocoapuffs.
Yes, my eyeballs explode just like that.
My mother and I recently took him to the MFA to see the samurai exhibit. Great idea, right? Aren’t I “Mom of The Year”? Hmm. The universe told me “no,” as I hopelessly overestimated my own brilliance and the attention span of my five-year-old…
Seriously. What is not to love, right? The helmets especially were…AMAZING. It’s hard to believe that anyone wore these, as they are so fantastic, intricate, and other-worldly. I especially liked the room where several were set up to be “on horseback.” In spite of the similarities between his Lego “Ninjago” figures and these REAL suits of armor, my son gave up halfway through the exhibit and wanted to leave.
SERIOUSLY. Is there ANY comparison? Sheesh. Maybe if they could have had someone walking around in a samurai outfit…kind of like a “Late Edo period Chuck E. Cheese”, the show would have been a bigger hit with my son?
No? I’m not sure what would have scared him more…a masked samurai walking around or that big rodent? The kid in this photo doesn’t look too sure either…
Besides being a well intentioned yet hopelessly idealistic parent these past few weeks, I also attended the reception of one of the group shows that I am in. It was the “New Talent / New England” juried show at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. Nice!
Thank you to Kyla P., Karen S., Karina C., Marcus S., and Charlie S. for coming to see it! I really appreciate it. I also appreciated being able to go out and have a good laugh with friends, as that doesn’t happen often enough, IMHO. My friend, Kyla, brought me something that evening that she had been meaning to give me for weeks:
Really?
I don’t remember anyone saying ANYTHING in my professional development class about bringing stuffed animals to show openings…do I really need to be holding a deranged stuffed Peep while I am trying to carry on an intelligent conversation and look remotely professional?
Of course I did. Kyla, thank you for coming to the reception AND for reminding me why we are friends in the first place.
Now, if I can just hold onto this thing for a few days before my son absorbs it into his growing harem of freakish toys…
Is that selfish of me? I’ll just go look up this kind of “typical parenting dilemma” in my growing pile of parenting books…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: Christmas, Christmas cookies, Cookie, Family, Holidays, Home, Sugar cookie
My son, stepdaughter and I were making Christmas cookies with the Trader Joe’s sugar cookie kit. This is actually the third batch that I’ve made with my son. SO GOOD! I truly have to restrain myself from eating ALL of them. Especially with a nice cup of coffee. I highly recommend that you rush out now and buy all of these kits, plus all of the peppermint Jo-Joe’s. Those are also amazing. Don’t get me started on the chocolate covered ones.
This is a fun Christmas for me, as my son is turning three tomorrow! Christmas has taken on a new meaning now that I’m a mom…and it’s his birthday. I’m excited for him. We bought him a couple of nice trucks, and I can’t wait to see his face when he opens the presents. Beyond that, though, I feel lucky to have such a lovely family. My husband has been slaving away in the basement, trying to “finish” it in order to have some more breathing room around here. I think that he should win the “husband of the year” award, for all the work that he’s done on this project. I am very grateful. Actually, he should win “husband of the year” award, as he is the one that suggested I quit my job. Our quality of life and parenting won out over our financial, and my career, needs. It was very hard to do, but it has been very good for all of us.
I am also grateful to have three, very fun kids. Sometimes a little TOO fun, and then I need to hide. Otherwise, they have a great time together, and generally make me laugh. My son regularly comes out with statements that are hilarious. Like when my DH asked him to stay downstairs, instead of following me upstairs to the bathroom…my son barked at him, “DAD! Don’t make things complicated!!!” Seriously. He’s two. At least he hasn’t started rolling his eyes at us yet. I’ll cry the day that he won’t let me hug and smooch him on the cheek.
Sigh. I think that I actually love Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. Is that terrible to say?
Have a lovely holiday!!!
slightly wonky 