Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Quick Updates

So... the new job is going well so far. I am surprisingly busy for having only two days of work under my belt- I haven't even had a chance to set up my voice mail yet- but I guess that is better than the alternative. I am glad to be working again, but a little bit sorry that I didn't have another week or two to wrap up some of my "lay off projects." Now I'll have to try to carve out time on nights and weekends to finish things off... which probably means that I'll have the exact same things on my to do list six months from now.

The commute from the new job to day care is far better than the commute from the old job was. This will either mean that I get home a little earlier and have some extra breathing room for dinner preparation or that I can stay at work a little later. Sadly, I suspect it will be the latter. This is a company where most people work late. Of course, most people don't get in until 9, and I'll be getting in closer to 8, but that doesn't always get figured in to people's impressions. My boss and his boss (the chief science officer, so pretty much the head honcho) know my preferred schedule and are OK with it, though, so on the whole, I don't think my hours will be a problem.

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Petunia's illness-induced marathon sessions of snuggling on the sofa while watching Signing Time have paid dividends. She has added some new signs. We were looking at a book and saw a picture of an apple, and she said "pa", and pinched her cheek in an approximation of the sign for apple. That was very cute, but I think my favorite of the new signs is the way she waves her hands in front of her tummy in an approximation of the sign for "signing", which means that she wants to watch a Signing Time. She picked that one up entirely from the song at the beginning of those shows, and the smile on her face when I understood what she wanted was priceless. And irresistible- she got an extra episode of Signing Time that night.

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Pumpkin and I had a major showdown at dinner tonight over whether or not she would ask nicely for another slice of bread. I eventually won, but it took a short time out in her room for her to concede. It started out with me innocently correcting her when she demanded "more bread!"- "Ask nicely." I did it without thinking, because we almost always tell her to ask nicely. And usually she just does. But tonight she refused, and pouted, and screamed, and pouted some more. I would dearly love to know what the big deal was, but she certainly couldn't articulate it to me, and I doubt anyone over the age of 4 really knows. So I'm just going to take my victory and not worry about the reasons for the battle.

It isn't all stormy with her right now, though. She is overjoyed that I am back to picking her up from day care, and greets me when I arrive by running full speed across the playground at me, with a big grin on her face, yelling "Mommmmyyyyyyyy!" That is definitely and incentive to get me out of the office on time....

7 comments:

  1. Aw :) Glad the new job is working out!

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  2. I know exactly what you mean about your totally ordinary reaction provoking a screaming fit. We've had more and more of those recently and I suspect it is just them pushing boundaries to find out what happens when they do. There might also be some underlying emotion that they don't have any idea how to express, but is making them grumpy, and they just need to get it out. It's tough, but also so cool to watch them get better and better at getting those outbursts under control, and figuring out where they're allowed to be individuals and where they need to just follow the rules that you've set.

    Glad to hear the new job is keeping you busy!

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  3. Glad the new job is going well - always better to be busy I think.

    I so totally hear you on the random preschooler outbursts over minutia that make no effing sense at all. Stay strong, mama!

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  4. Ok, what is WITH kids and NOT ASKING NICELY? We have the same battle at our house.

    It's like she doesn't know how to ask a question. It's not "Mommy can I have a drink?" It's "I'm Thirsty!" declared over and over (as I ignore, waiting to be asked nicely) until finally I cave and say "Rosie would you like to ask me for a drink?" and then she does. But after doing this 100000000 times, one would think it would sink in. Alas, it does not.

    Glad your job is going well! :)

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  5. So glad that the new job is working out! And that Petunia is using new signs! Love it!

    Ditto what Melba said about kids demanding things and expecting it to appears! I thought it was my daughter picking up the habit from a cousin we spent time with recently, but apparently it's just part of the 3.5 difficulties. Or just being a kid. Sigh...

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  6. I've seen that melt down thing before and it has nothing to do wit the issue at hand. I have no idea what it does have to do with though. If I figure that out, I get to retire.

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  7. Ditto to all of it regarding the demanding, perfectionist, moody nature of three year olds. Just trying to survive it. One day, one tantrum, one reminder to ask nicely at a time. :)

    Love the Mommmmmy greeting at daycare pick up! Best part of my day for sure.

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