Miss Norah

Someone asked me recently if Norah is “like that” because I’m tired out from the other two.  I didn’t bother to ask what she meant by “like that”…anyone who has met Norah knows that she’s what you might call a “spirited” child.

I’m sure it’s at least partially my fault that she’s “like that,” but I think being the 3rd child has something to do with it too.  She is extremely independent, because we’re not always hovering around to help her like we were when we only had 1 kid or even 2.  Today, Norah was trying to get something on top of the entertainment center, which over 5′ tall.  I caught her heading in with a second stool to put on top of the first one since she still couldn’t reach.  She learned to dress herself and zip her sweatshirt before Adlani did, even though he’s 2 years older.  Nothing stands in her way.

Aliya knew at a young age that there were words she wasn’t supposed to say, even if we said them occasionally, and Adlani was pretty oblivious to the “bad words” so he didn’t often repeat them and get us in trouble.  Norah, however, has absolutely no filter.  If she knows that she’s not supposed to say something, that’s even more reason to say it.  Being extremely curious, having no restraint, and being naturally loud is a bad combination (her preschool teacher actually had the nurse check her ears to see if there was a medical reason that she talks so loud).

Recent comments from Norah (all spoken at top volume):

To a lady in Wal-Mart:  “IS THAT FAKE HAIR???”
To me in Mel’s, a restaurant with very tight quarters:  “WHY IS THAT GUY SO FAT???”
When she drank out of the wrong cup in a restaurant:  “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!”
To random friends and family members:  “MY DAD CALLS YOU STUPID.”
Me:  “Your hair looks like-” Norah:  “HELL??”

I’m pretty sure that someday she’s going to become a well-behaved young lady, but for now all I can do is tire her out and grab the few hours of peace while I can. There’s a song on my iPod with the lyrics, “She looks like an angel when she’s sleeping, but she looks like Charles Bronson when she cries.” I can’t help but think of Norah when it hear it. Or when I heard “Born to be Wild.”

It’s a good thing she’s cute.

I Feel Happy

This morning in the middle of the chaos of having 3 kids on summer vacation and trying to get some work done, I got that giddy feeling that has been so elusive recently.  I almost didn’t recognize it.  It’s not that I’m usually unhappy or sad, but the range of emotions has seriously leveled out.

Twenty years ago I could go from depressed (“He didn’t call.”) to elated (“He called!!!”) at the drop of a hat.  I felt hopeful when I woke up in the morning, proud when I was complimented by a customer, angry when something didn’t go my way, sad when I found out that I had been lied to, excited when I had plans to go out and mingle.  Now my emotions on a typical day range from overwhelmed by my to-do list, annoyed when I have to say something for the 5th time, angry when I have to say something for the 10th time, enraged when I have to say something for the 15th time, and relieved when I’m able to escape and go to Zumba, a business dinner, or just to run errands.

Today was a great day.  I had a few things that I had to do for work this morning, and I did them all.  I had the afternoon off and went to Lana and Larry’s to tire the kids out in the ce-ment pond.  While I was there, our niece cleaned our house top to bottom.  When we left the pool to take Adlani to Taekwondo, Norah fell asleep and I went through the DD drive-thru, got an iced latte, and had a half hour of peace and a People magazine.

After that we went to Papa Gino’s for Aliya’s soccer party, and tired the kids out again.  Aliya went back to Lana’s so I *had* to go get her [alone] later on.  When I walked in, Lana handed me a plate and a beer, and I got a little misty.  We watched some Friday night trash TV, and came home to a quiet house with everyone asleep.

Add in the fact that BJs now stocks turkey pepperoni, I got new hand soap and shampoo at Trader Joe’s, and I have a bowl of raspberries and whipped cream waiting for me to finish this post, and it was a fabulous day.  Meeting our new friend Bailey, who just arrived from Ethiopia (and is the most lovely, delicious baby ever), made it even better.

It’s all about perspective.  My kids are still rowdy, my house still has piles, and my to-do list is still long.  But I’ve been working on getting things organized, prioritizing the responsibilities I take on, and checking at least one “toleration” off the list every day.  I’ve been sleeping at least an hour more each night, and I feel better.  Aliya has been a huge help in getting the house in some semblance of order, and she works cheap.  🙂

I realized the other day that this is the way it’s going to be for a long time.  I’m not pregnant or nursing an infant any more.  My kids all buckle their own seatbelts, wipe their own butts, and dress and feed themselves.  I don’t have an excuse…”I’ll have more time when Aliya’s out of diapers…Adlani learns to walk…Norah morphs into a human being…”  I’d better learn how to manage the time that I currently have, because I’m not going to have more time until Aliya learns to drive.  No more waiting for things to get better…the time is now.

Adios Kindergarten!

Adlani and 100+ of his pals graduated from kindergarten yesterday, and he’s moving on to first grade.  He’s extremely excited to have Sra. Stubbs-Dame for next year, mostly because she has a pet gecko named Brenda who lives in the classroom (no offense, Sra. S-D).  We’re excited too because I think Sra. Stubbs-Dame will be a perfect mix of fun and structure for Adlani.

We’re going to be working on his reading over the summer…I actually noticed some improvement when we read today vs. the last time I did the reading groups in his classroom a few weeks ago.  He loves books, he just wants someone else to read them to him.  The Spanish books we have at home aren’t as good for beginning readers as the ones from school, but we got some from Norah’s teacher Maria today that are perfect.

Adlani’s really going to miss his kindergarten teacher, Sra. Gray.  In his card to her he told me to write, “I wish you could be a first grade teacher or I could stay in kindergarten.”  He told me to write in his English teacher’s card, “I love you because every time you say my picture is beautiful.”  AAWWW.  🙂

Above:  The kids were cracking up because the wrong music came out of the CD player.

Above:  The presentation for the retirement of Aliya’s kindergarten teacher was really sad.  🙁

Above:  Adlani’s teacher gave me this one.  So cute!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgjDNXWZ2sM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

Twigs Up!

For our monthly staff meeting today, we decided to end with an ice cream party and a movie.  This isn’t what we usually do at our staff meetings, although the kids have decided that they want to work for IR so they can have ice cream at meetings.

It was my job to find a movie that had some sort of a business message but wasn’t boring.  That was not an easy task, considering that I had less than a week to come up with something, and the budget wouldn’t support the popular movies like Fish! and Give ’em the Pickle.  While I was searching, I found out that YouTube, which typically limits movies to 10 minutes, also has a “Rentals” section, where you can pay to rent longer movies for a month.

I found a movie that had good reviews, and cost $10 to rent – Coyote Power.  I wouldn’t normally sit down and watch a “motivational speaker” for an hour and 17 minutes, but there was ice cream involved, so I did it.  I thought the movie was pretty good, even though most of his points were common sense.  I think in the process of scrambling to get everything done we sometimes forget the basic principals of success.

One point that really stuck with me was his discussion on goal setting.  He talked about the fact that unrealistic goals don’t get results.  If a goal is set too high, it doesn’t have the desired motivational effect.  It makes total sense.  If my goal is to get my house in order, I get overwhelmed and need to take a nap.  If my goal was to organize one room per week, by the end of the summer, my house would be in order!  I was so inspired that I cleaned half of my office at work!

The speaker told an interesting story to illustrate his point – about the swallows of San Juan Capistrano.  These birds migrate from southern California to Argentina and back each year – 12,000 miles round trip, much of the distance over the ocean.  If they set out to fly 6,000 miles that would be way too long, so they break it up into chunks.

According to legend, each swallow carries a small twig in its mouth.  When they get tired they drop the twigs into the ocean, and stand on them to rest.  Then it’s “twigs up” and time to keep going.  Isn’t that amazing?!  True or not, it’s a good analogy for eating the elephant one bite at a time.

The speaker recommended setting goals with a duration of 30 days or less, with long-term goals broken up into chunks.  He also said to set a personal, a work-related, and a financial goal.  So here are my three goals, which I’d like to accomplish within a week because that’s just the way I am:

  • Personal: Clean and paint workbench area in basement and begin to organize tools.
  • Work: Write one chapter of my book.
  • Financial: Send Citibank a letter about an issue I’m having with them (this will have to be a post of its own).

Think I can do it?  Twigs up!