I have this evil cold that was given to me by my dear, darling children. Of course, they get a cold and keep running. I get a cold and I want to bury myself beneath a pile of blankets in my over-A.C.'d house, with a stack of magazines and a big bowl of chicken soup. So, because I don't have an original thought in my head right now, other than, "Nyquil! Now!" here's a little wrap for you of the past couple of weeks.

Our vacation: Did you know we went away? No, you didn't because I oh-so-cleverly scheduled a post for while we were gone, just to keep you entertained (wasn't that nice of me?). We took our third--and final (boo hoo!)--trip to the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, Vermont. It was as heavenly as ever and the kids loved going to "camp," Adam and I loved having alone time, and it was nice to escape computers and work and room parent assignments and all that other good stuff. This is only our last year because the program we go to is for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. And we'll have but one preschooler next year.

The highlight for Pie was definitely her counselors. Oh, she found one who she fell in love with. Pie came back to the room on Tuesday afternoon.


Pie: I asked my counselor to paint my nails.
Me: What did she say?
Pie: She said, no. She said, ask your mommy.
Me: Does your mommy let you paint your nails?
Pie: No.
Me: When does Mommy say you can paint your nails?
Pie: When I'm three.
Me: And how old are you?
Pie: Two.
Me: Right, two. So no painting nails.

Of course, Miss Thang comes back very proudly from dinner, showing off bright purple-y nails.


Pie: Mommy, look!!
Me: What did Mommy say about painting your nails?
Pie: Mommy said no.
Me: And what did you tell your counselors?
Pie, with absolute innocent glee: I told them YES!

How could I get angry with that joy? We had a little to-do today when I went to paint her (toe)nails for the 4th of July. But I'm talking about the relaxation of vacation, so we'll just not go there now. And it was relaxing: swimming, kayaking, massage, dinner sans kids, hiking, hot tub, swimming, batting cages (for Adam and Doodles), goofing off on the tennis court (for me and Pie), drinking, and a general good time was had by all.

Boot camp: Ever done anything like say, oh, skiing, and there's some person who has the top-of-the-line everything--the professional goggles, the killer skiis, the aerodynamic skiing outfit--but is clearly a completely novice who doesn't know he should point his skis down the hill? That was me, today. Boot camp went on a bike ride and I still had all my gear from back when I biked almost seriously. Back when riding was something I spent entire weekend days on; when I rode to work, from work, and then tossed in an extra ride at the end of the day just for good measure; back when I had money to burn and a Bianchi road bike.

I still have all that stuff. But do I have the biking body that I did in 2002, which as far as I can tell, was the last time I was on a bike? Again, let's not go there. A friend was kind enough to do a tune-up for me on my hybrid (no way was I going with the clipless pedals of my road bike), but I showed up in my little biking shorts and my cute purple biking jersey. Thank goodness I left the fingerless gloves and groovy glasses at home. Because, man, are they wrong. You can totally forget how to ride a bike. "Wait, wait!" I kept asking. "I don't remember! The bigger gear for going up the hills? Or down?" It was humiliating. But fun. And who knows? Maybe I'll start biking again. Once I remember definitively what the big gear is for.

Movies: I've been working my way through the suggestions everyone gave me for flicks to watch (still open to more! Always welcome a good movie recommendation). But I want to give a particular shout-out to Lionness, because a movie she suggested, The Bubble, is one of the most thought-provoking movies I've ever seen.

My birthday: Adam outdid himself. I didn't think he could do it, but he did. Got me my own personalized bowling shirt. Had my sister come up to surprise me. Arranged for his brother to babysit. Rented a limo "happy bus." Stocked it with friends and beer and champagne. Took us all to Jamaica Plain for bowling and food and booze and cake at the Milky Way. And you know what? For once, I don't have a single snarky thing to say. It was perfect.

And with that, I'm off to find the Nyquil. Ah, happy Nyquil. How I missed you all those years. Welcome home.

Labels: adam, birthday, me, pie, sporty mom, vacation

As you read this, I'm lying by the pool or perhaps I'm kayaking or maybe I'm enjoying a quiet dinner alone with my husband. Or, more likely, I'm begging the Pie to please go to sleep or I'm trying to convince Doodles that a week without TV is a good thing or I'm pleading with both my children to use their restaurant manners or I'm trying to slather sunscreen as Pie is running away screaming or Doodles is having a full scale meltdown because I won't let him have a third afternoon cookie or Pie is having a meltdown just because she's Pie... In other words, I'm on vacation (this entry coming from the wonder of preposting as I write it on Saturday night).

Of course, the week before vacation is always chaotic. Doodles had his end-of-year celebration and his teacher had asked me to put together a slide show for the parents--just a simple compilation on a c.d. that they could show in class and the parents could then take home. No problem, I said. I can do that I said. His teacher showed me the one from the year before and it was a straight-forward affair: lots of pictures and the parent had put on music like "Hey Hey We're the Monkees" (Doodles room was the Kofefim Room, which is Hebrew for "monkies.") Not bad, I thought. But... I can do better. Wouldn't it be nice if... To make a tedious process short, three weeks, $167 in new memory, 12 hours of Adam's time trying to keep my computer from crashing, I have a lovely 14 minute slide show that includes interviews with the kids, recordings of them singing, and a very short video. And the kicker? They loved it so much they want me to do it again next year for Pie's class. Sigh. It's official. I've turned into my mother.

Apropos of nothing, I just sucked Adam into watching Confessions of a Matchmaker. His exact words: "This is too good to not watch."

I feel like we've turned a corner lately. Things with Pie are just getting better and easier. Her words are multiplying. She's a lazy eater but she's so darn cute abou it. "Feed you!" she demands as she hands me her fork; even finger foods she'd like to be served. If I'm not moving fast enough--trying to get dinner on the table, say--she demands, "Sit! I feed you!" She loves to play games now. She'll walk out of a room, calling, "Bye bye! Bye bye!" And then she knocks on the door, comes back in laughing hysterically, kisses me, and says, "I missed you! Hi! Bye bye! Bye bye!"

I blantantly lied to my son. We went shopping for Adam's Father's Day gift. He's not the greatest at keeping a secret, if you recall. We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond so I could pick out the real gift, but I told Doodles we were buying Daddy a blender. But then I felt bad because Doodles got really excited. "A blender? One that won't make clumps? Because our blender makes clumps in my smoothies. How about this blender?" I felt terrible. But as far as I know he hasn't figured out what we really got Adam and I hope he won't be crushed when Adam opens up his non-blender gift in the morning.

All right. That's enough. Let me get back to the hot tub. Or am I having my massage right now? Or am I trying to keep Pie from biting Doodles as he steals her toy? Something like that.

Labels: vacation