Hey hey, it's Friday! This has felt like a bit of a long week since, for a change, I'm the one solo parenting while Phil travels for work! Here's how my week shaped up.
The book I read this week was The Girl in His Shadow which is historical fiction set in England in the 1800s. It's about the female understudy of a surgeon. My doctor/surgeon running partner suggested it and I am loving it!
The high of my week was my birthday! It was great to have the day off and to spend half of it with a good friend, followed by a massage and then family time in the evening! I need to take my birthday off more often! I also had a fun birthday lunch yesterday with 2 coworkers that I've gotten really close to over the 7+ years I've been at this company.
The low of my week was a rough toddler tantrum on Thursday morning. Will strongly prefers Phil lately so he was not happy that I was his only option when he woke up that morning. When he is upset, his clutch phrase is "go away!" so I heard that many times that morning and had to wrestle him into his clothes. Luckily Paul was wonderful that morning and tried to help out as much as he could. This is my first experience with a child preferring daddy. Usually it's kind of nice to not be the preferred parent for a change but it sucks when you are the only parent home! There have been some fun highlights, like bath time on Wednesday night.
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| They lined up all the toys so they could jump into the water. |
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| How could this sweet boy be sooo angry at times! Note: the bath water is pinkish from a bath bomb. |
A recipe I made was absolutely nothing. Luckily we had plenty of leftovers in the fridge so I haven't cooked since Sunday night!
A show we are watching is the Bernie Madoff documentary on Netflix. Since Phil and I both work in asset management, this documentary is of particular interest to us. It's mind boggling that he got away with the ponzi scheme for SO LONG!!
For workouts I ran with Kyria on Monday morning and today I will hopefully fit in a strength training workout. Tomorrow I'd like to squeeze a run in before going to the library/gymastics and then I'll hopefully do some strength training on Sunday during quiet time.
The best money spent was on Valentines for Paul's classmates. He wanted to hand out dinosaur Valentines. I got some packets of m&ms to hand out with the Valentines. It might be controversial to hand out candy but I figure it's fine since the kids are 4-5 years old? We've gotten things like organic granola bars or fruit snacks in the past and a few candy items. I decided to go old school and have him give out candy. To be clear, I did not buy Valentine's or candy for Will - I hold off until they are in the preschool rooms.
My plans this weekend include nothing tonight - I'll be reveling in having my partner in crime back! After naptime on Saturday we have a playdate with another family. Sunday is plan-free but we'll find something to do. Maybe we'll go to a park if the parks don't look too wet/soggy? It will be in the 30s which is warm for us! The Superbowl is that night so we'll probably make chili or something along those lines to enjoy while cheering for KC!
What was the high of your week? What are your thoughts on giving candy with Valentiness? Should I have gotten organic fruit snacks instead? As a child of the 90s, I only received candy for Valentine's Day. I do not think there was such a thing as organic fruit snacks or the like back then - at least not in my tiny town in North Dakota.
The high of my week was getting my surgery completed! It was delayed by over an hour and when the nurse came in to say she wasn't sure what was going on and hinted it *might* be canceled I thought I was going to lose my mind (a SECOND canceled surgery), so it was SUCH a relief to get it done.
ReplyDeleteMy kids aren't allowed to bring in treats to share with classmates at their elementary school (and weren't allowed at preschool, either). Teachers organize the snacks now - at preschool they weren't allowed to feed or distribute any candy and at the elementary/middle-school level teachers bring in sweet things, but maybe they filter stuff for allergies? Every single year we get instructions not to send in candy...and every single year my kids come home with Valentines that have candy!
I'm so sorry you had tough moments with Will; this WILL pass, but it is so exhausting, Lisa. Especially when you're parenting solo. It's incredible how such cute, tiny little creatures can upend a day!!
My husband and I watched the Madoff documentary - I knew quite a bit about this story, but it was fascinating to watch the meteoric rise...and fall of such a crazy Ponzi scheme.
Woof, that sounds like a LONG week. Solo parenting little ones is not an easy task. But you made it and yay, Phil is home!
ReplyDeleteAs an older kid mom, the thought of the classroom Valentines made me smile. Awww. So fun. I would be totally on board with the candy. Since my kids are adult/ basically adult now, things like that, that seem controversial, just seem fun now. YOU ARE THE FUN MOM! Yay! But you know what I used to HATE? I hated those little tiny containers of Play-Doh people would hand out smugly because it was "better than candy." No. It isn't. It's a useless item - too small to do anything with - and then plastic that will, let's face it, probably end up in the ocean. I HAVE FEELINGS, LISA, I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT TINY PLAY-DOH.
I don't remember receiving anything for V Day except for little cards. I don't think anyone gave out candy back then. When my kids were little I used to bake cookies for their classes, and I would send a GF item for the two kids that had celiac.
Echoing Nicole, I would *much* rather my kid get a fun-sized candy than some piece of plastic crap that I'm going to immediately throw in the trash. The only thing I don't like is when parents send in like 5 pieces of candy for each child. Once you have 5 parents each send in 5 pieces of candy, you end up with Halloween.
ReplyDeleteOh, my heart goes out to you (and Will) for his parent-preference-related tantrum! That sounds so hard. Glad that your husband is back today!
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny to me that giving out candy with Valentine's is controversial, although I agree that it is! Like you, we ONLY got candy when I was growing up. It was almost as candy-heavy a holiday as Halloween, and I remember making Valentine's mailboxes in class and cutting out Valentines for classmates and handing out candy. My daughter's school is strictly NO FOOD, which is okay-ish (since I put out a little candy for her at home), but we get so much junk. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I also participate in the junk. This year we are handing out pencils, which hopefully will at least be used, but we've given out little toys and stickers and things in the past. I am sure it's fun for the kids, but to me it's just a big pile of junk I have to eventually sneak into the garbage.
Oh, I'm laughing at you single-parenting it while Will tells you to "Go away!" I'll bet you're soooo happy Phil is back!
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was in school I was annoyed with all the candy given out. That was when I was driving myself nuts trying to be the "perfect" mom. By the time my daughter was in school I relaxed, and realized how fun it is for them to get candy. It's not going to hurt them- I ate plenty of candy growing up!
Go KC!!!
I'm okay with the candy at Valentine's Day although this year my daughter wanted to pass out a temporary tattoo and space themed Valentines. I'm hoping since it's just one tattoo it won't add too much to the junk pile, but she's obsessed with them.
ReplyDeleteHa! I don't have kids, obviously, but it really hurts my feelings when the cat chooses to sit on my husband's lap. I mean, I should be happy they are bonding, but instead I'm jealous. LOL. It doesn't happen often, so I try to keep my not-so-nice feelings to myself.
ReplyDeleteI send stickers with all my Valentine's Day cards to my nieces and nephews and when they were really little, my in-laws would complain that they would be finding heart stickers all over everything for months after Valentine's. It doesn't seem like there's a good solution for sending something other than just cards if you want to add a little treat!
That book sounds really good! I like historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteI laughed at Will's "go away" phrase. Oh, isn't that the greatest? It's like, Sure, kid, no matter that I gave you life and also, by the way, dedicate my entire life to keeping YOU happy and alive, but sorry I'm such a bother to you...LOL. My kids preferred Ivan when they were babies for a while! I eventually decided I think it had to do with his dark hair and eyes and very dark eyebrows. They would literally stare and study his face. I guess my more pale face and small/ light eyebrows were not interesting enough. hahaha. Who knows!
Glad you had a good birthday and week overall. I haven't been cooking much either. I made a bunch of chicken tinga on Monday and it has stretched well, and last night I took Ethan out for a slice of pizza since Ivan is gone and Asher was at the gym with friends. :)
totally fine handing over handies. they can always choose not to have them. most kids love candies from time to time and parents give it to them sometimes too. In our house, if girls get candies from goodie bags, they'll use few and give the rest to our helper.
ReplyDeletegood luck single parenting... hopefully you don't get too tired.
I kind of want to chuckle when my son tells me to go away because, okay, lets see you get ready for school on your own my love. Exerting their independence, huh? Glad you dont seem to be upset by it as you know its developmentally appropriate. I bet you are so relieved for this sunny weekend with your husband back!!!
ReplyDeleteValentines- I tried to be the "perfect" mom for a while and now? Let them be little and have the candy. Sometimes my son doesnt even eat it but they get so excited and like others said, I would much rather have a little candy stash in my cupboard than plastic crap I have to sneakily throw away and THEN THEY NOTICE THEY ALWAYS NOTICE.
Thanking of you and how lively and lovely the Creek will probably be this weekend.
Well I am reading this after the game is over so...you got your wish! And it was actually a pretty good game. I spent the day working on the house with my Dad and we had it on in the background. This is an odd side note but I also found this "carb balance" Breyers ice cream which really just has less sugar (and some fake sugar). My Dad loves ice cream but is trying to cut down on sugar so I got it and had a bowl of the chocolate with him and it is actually pretty good! Maybe a good sub for you when you are having a sweet tooth.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall, we used to really only get those little heart candies with the phrases on them. I am not a big fan of candy and I guess never really was because I don't really remember eating much candy at Valentines day. We always used to get/give cards too, like little cheap chintzy ones but they were so fun to receive!
I agree with Nicole: You are the fun mom! The kids probably loved Paul's Valentines with the candy. :) I remember getting lots of candy around Valentine's and it was always so much fun! I miss how sweet Valentine's Day is for little kids.
ReplyDeleteSoooo happy that KC won the Super Bowl. I was rooting for them, too!
So fun you got to run with Kyria!
ReplyDeleteI am with Nicole and Stephany: You are the fun mom and the other kids probably loved Paul's Valentine more than anything :) You don't ALWAYS have to be good... candy for Valentine's is just fine!