So It Begins

I heard and saw my daughters whispering and scheming to do naughty things behind my back today for the first time. Katie has been tiptoeing around the past two days and when I ask her what she's doing she has a guilty look across her face and tells me she can't tell me what she is doing and please can I leave the room.

One time she was biting little bites off of the remains of a baguette, the other time she was taking saltines one at a time. I could hear her crunching from the other room and could follow her trail of crumbs. Little devil.

Today they were peeling eggs on stools at the counter while I bought our plane tickets online. Then all of a sudden they both left the kitchen and disappeared for a while. When I called them down for lunch, they both came running down with very pleased, very guilty looks on their faces. I asked them what they had been doing and Katie whispered to Carter, "Carter you can't tell her- it's our secret." Carter said, "Mommy, I can't tell you, it's just our secret." I asked them again and they said they couldn't tell me. I saw chocolate all over their faces so I asked if they had chocolate and they both nodded their heads and Carter said, "Yes, we had chocolate up in our rooms and we hid the wrappers in our bookshelf so you wouldn't find them." They were both laughing and blushing and SO PLEASED with themselves.

Then there was a lot of audible whispering on Katie's part telling Carter what naughty scheme they should try next. When I told them I could hear them, they laughed so hard about it. Silly girls.

We are in for it now. Starting with secret scheming at age 3! The sweetest part is that they will keep each other's secrets. Loyal sisters.

Bad Mom

I got chewed out at the Marin Farmer's Market today for leaving my dog in the hot car while I dashed in and bought strawberries. Three angry women were chastising me for taking too long. Two angry three-year-olds were screaming at me because they were not ready to leave the market yet (We were literally away from the car for 10 minutes). One angry man was defending me to the angry women (He talked to me as I got out of the car and saw me walking hurriedly to my car). I had the remains of a migraine pounding in my head. I could not get out of there fast enough.

My refrigerator is still empty of veggies. I keep looking at the dog to see if there is any sign that he was affected in any way by the 10 minutes in the car on what was admittedly a hotter day than I first thought (which is why I rushed back to the car-once I realized). He retreated to the back of the van to escape the air conditioner on our way home. We got home and he whined to be let out on the deck where he baked himself in the sun until he was heaving and panting and then came inside and lay right on my pillow. During dinner he was running all over the living room trying to catch a fly in his jaws- the sound of his teeth clicking together making all of us laugh. Why does criticism- even completely misinformed not-applicable criticism stay in your head at the forefront of your thoughts, and praise, even well-deserved praise dissolve instantly in your memory?

All day I have felt like a bad mom because of what those fired up women said- even lied about (one woman said she had been standing by my car 40 minutes and had placed a call to the vet number on the dog tags 30 minutes before). Um sorry- not possible. I was parked in the spot a total of 20 minutes, away from my car a total of 10 minutes.

I am only now remembering the five different times each of my daughters told me she loved me today. I think if my dog hated me or felt neglected by me, he would not have chosen my pillow to slobber on after his patio bake. Or maybe he chose it BECAUSE I am such a bad mom. Hope those strawberries taste good!

Home Again

I woke up and made meatballs before I ate breakfast. I went to the grocery store and made stuffed shells. I watched my mother who had knee surgery yesterday bend down to pick up a microscopic princess shoe from the floor of the understairs closet. I packed all our stuff from our 10 day trip, took about 5,000 steps rounding up everything I could see and cleaning up what I could and then got in the car and drove 530 miles. One hour into the trip I stopped at Babies R Us and bought a baby shower gift, then wrapped it with my two kids still in the shopping cart and the dog waiting in the hot car with a frozen block of grass-fed beef and a half loaf of homemade pumpkin bread in the ice chest beneath him.

I listened to 1.5 books on CD and half a Giant's game. I ordered my child a cheeseburger happy meal at McDonalds with no meat, no onions, extra cheese in the cheeseburger. I almost fell in a ditch while trying to pick up after my dog at a gas station green patch. I looked pregnant in every window I passed. I got home, backed into my tiny garage while my eyes could barely focus after driving so long. I unloaded our stuff into the elevator (still boggles my mind that I possess an elevator).

I got my girls into bed and met their millionth demands of the day, "No mom- that water is icy cold and I wanted a sip of warm water before bed." I found the two invitations to the two parties we have tomorrow in two different piles of paper in our living room. I hit my shins on our new bed frame 3 times and pretended I did not notice that the curtain rod my husband installed in the girls' room is crooked and that there is an unidentified smell in the refrigerator. I did notice that we now have two couches and a futon in our living room at the moment. It is 12:20am and a new day. A different day from the one where I woke up and made meatballs before I ate breakfast.

Does anyone else in the world have days like this?