So Much Fun

Well, we had an excellent Fourth of July! We went to Tito J.'s brother's house, as the baby and I did last year (S was at work last year and missed out). It's actually almost worth it that S is not working presently so we can do fun things together as a family. We had a great time and ate some good barbecue and enjoyed watching Tito J. setting off lots of outrageous fireworks!

And the other great part of being a parent is what we did on Saturday. We went downtown to the new Discovery Green park and played with turtles. Tito J. came with us as he had not yet seen the new park. After turtles we watched the baby frolic in the kiddie water park and even I scampered through the water once or twice! Then we had lunch at the cafe onsite, which is quite reasonably priced. The day ended with a trip to the new downtown library, again which Tito J. had not yet seen. Now that he is a library administrator in San Antonio, he took lots of pic's throughout the building and called his trip there a "work-ation", though I later coined it a "investi-cation"! Tito J. and I poked around the entire building, saying hi to old friends and taking pic's while S and the baby were in the chirren's room playing Wii. (Naturally, my pic's will be posted later, as always.)

Yesterday I had to work at Job #1, then I went to the gym, then went grocery shopping, and here's where the bad part about being a parent pops up. For the last 2 nights the baby has not gone to sleep when we've told her and I found her downstairs with S at 11:30 pm on Saturday night! So I had to scold both of them and send her little butt back upstairs, NOW! (I really do feel like I have 2 kids sometimes, Jesus help me.) Then last night she was still awake in her room at midnight, having a camp out on the floor. Again, into bed, NOW!

I told S he better damn well think of some consequences that will grab her attention. The no snow-cone thing doesn't seem to be working out too well, which is surprising since the snow-cone stand is literally in the parking lot next to our house and we see it every day. So today I met them for lunch at Chik-Fil-A near my work and she had the nerve to ask for an ice cream with sprinkles. I told her that if she goes to sleep when we say then she can have one the next time we come back. I also told S that tonight she will not get to go to sleep with a movie playing like we usually let her do, and she will have to lie there in the dark in silence and fall asleep that way tonight. He agreed with my consequences. Why do I always have to think them up??? S called me a little while ago to tell me that the baby fell asleep in the car on the way to Target, so he just went home and put her down. SEE?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!? Oh, she is not going to be a happy camper tonight at 10 when she is lying there in the dark trying to fall asleep now after an afternoon of napping! Her problem, not mine!

I admit that I am strict, but cliche as it sounds, "it really is for her own good!" There's nothing but truth in that statement. She needs to be on a good sleep schedule so she is not tired and cranky the next day and so her energy level and immune system stay up. I had chronic bags under my eyes the entire school year all the way from preschool to junior high b/c my parents did not enforce a bedtime and I'm also such a natural night owl. I just don't want to see those ugly dark bags under my baby's eyes like I always had.

My parents raised me in the philosophical vein of "Free to Be, You and Me" which was great in a lot of ways but perhaps not so great in other ways that I would point out except for I don't want my friends finally recognizing and understanding some of my personality flaws. I still believe children truly want structure and consistency. Just as we are all overwhelmed by choice nowadays, I don't think children need too many choices at their disposal. And if I'm wrong about that, well too bad, MY kid will do what I say when I say it and that won't end until the year 2020 when she's 18 and out the door! Fortunately S is right there with me, although he is too much of a softy and lets his guard down sometimes. Example: if we're in the car and the radio is playing and the baby says she doesn't like that song, S will switch stations until she says she likes it. Not me! She pulled that shit with me last week and my response was, "Oh yeah? Well when you grow up you can get a job and buy your own car and listen to whatever music you want. But this is MY car." And I didn't say it mean, just matter-of-fact.

So we will be going back to the Discovery Green every Saturday this month. It's a great deal! S agreed that I am the best mom in the whole world for finding the most fun, free things to do! Our calendar is booked for the month, that's for sure. They also do yoga in the park there and Zumba and other fun stuff. Last week we went to the Health Museum for the first time on Free Family Thursday and had a stellar time there as well! S and I took the interactive life expectancy test. He should live to be 71 and I should live to be 92! That sounds about right. I can up that age if I eat breakfast more often and exercise more, though. (They probably mean really exercise, not the walking-on-the-treadmill-while-reading thing I so enjoy!!! [Hey man, at least I'm out there!])