On Spontaneity

This past Wednesday, the girls had dentist appointments at 8:30, I had a volunteer job at the school at 10, Daisy gets out of school at 12, then Helen at 3:00. Girl Scouts was at 6:30. Our days are so scheduled and in some ways that is good. Kids like routine. Heck, I like routine or at least the part where I can look at a calendar and it tells me what I'm supposed to do next.

But it was also the first of 3 days in a row where Helen was going to have a sub at school. She was not happy about it. (That love of routine thing again.) It was also Ash Wednesday and we seemed to have no time for church. There was a service at noon. Should I get Daisy a little early and she and I go without Helen? The other choice was 7pm; right in the middle of Girl Scouts. Should I take Helen out of Girl Scouts but then put Daisy in the nursery since she was bound to be melting down by then?

Here's the thing. I am not spontaneous. I frown upon breaking the routine. I most definitely frown upon breaking the rules. But here's the other thing. Helen's class has tests on Thursday and Friday so there is no getting around that in this mom's stern book, but honoring my daughter's need to not be stressed versus the (most likely) insignificant amount of learning that would go on for one afternoon with a sub was important too. And it also bugs me to no end to be placing church at the bottom of the priority list.

So our Wednesday went like this: 8:30 dentist appointments, 2 hours back at school while I did my volunteer assignment, 12:00 Ash Wednesday service (where the girls behaved like the most pious little angels anyone has ever seen- or ever will again from this family no doubt!), extra playtime at home on a gorgeous warm, sunny February day, and 6:30 Girl Scouts.

So it wasn't our typical day.

Well, thank goodness for that!

On Eating Too Well

This is the lunch that Daisy asks for. As in, "What do you want for lunch today?" followed by, "I want tomatoes and broccoli and carrots and celery and apples and ranch. That's all." "Ham?" "No." "Crackers?" "No." "Chips?" "No." "Anything with any calories at all?" "No."

I know I must be the only mother who walks into the pediatrician each year complaining about how my daughter eats too many fruits and vegetables. I mean, that sounds so ridiculous. Except when you are in the 3rd percentile for height and weight, it is painfully hard not to want to shove every kind of fat and protein down her throat that you can think of. I know intellectually that Daisy's mother made me look tall and fat and her grandmother was about the size Helen is now, so in reality, Daisy is probably going to be 4'9" and 75lbs when she is full grown, but it is hard to process sometimes. On top of that, she eats very slowly- very, very, very s-l-o-w-l-y. I thinks she would make an excellent French woman!

Ham and cheese today too. Hooray!