The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I just tired myself out updating my parenting book entry, but I'll at least get this one started since its been over two weeks!

The Good:
I'll finish this section up another day. I've already been on here more than an hour.

• Play date with teacher colleague's son
• Toddler bed!
• Easter
• Playing outside in the Spring weather
• Positive interactions at play group
• Clothes shopping with neighbor C
  

The Bad:

• Trip to the New England Aquarium - Sadly this much anticipated trip was a huge let down. The main reason was that it was school vacation week. I thought that might make it less busy since kids go to the aquarium on field trips. Not the case. It was insane! Natalie and Jake couldn't see much from their strollers. The touch pool was so overwhelmingly packed that Natalie just barely got to touch a star fish before I had to take her away. We had to cut our visit short before even making it to the top of the tank. But, it was nice to see my friend and talk with her on the car ride to and from Boston. We plan to go again on a less busy day where Natalie could get out of the stroller and walk some. It was just a real bummer because I planned a whole trip to MA around this one thing, and it turned out pretty crappy. We had said that even if the weather had been better we at least could have taken the kids for a walk, but it was a rainy, cold day to boot.
  
• My car - The icing on the cake of the failed trip to the aquarium was that on the way down, my speedometer breaks. It was a little nerve wracking to drive on the highway not knowing my speed. I have a tendency to drive either a little to slow or a little too fast. But once back home, its been pretty easy going not having it. We finally brought it in to be looked this weekend, but they couldn't fix it! They mechanic there couldn't get the sensor off. So, we've already been billed for the diagnostic and an hour of labor, but its not fixed yet. We plan to trade in this car at the end of the month (to take advantage of any Memorial Day car sales if possible), so dumping money into this problem is not cool at all. Not to mention the hassle of dropping the car off and picking it up. I'm sooo glad I didn't try to wait there for them to fix it! What a nightmare that would have been!
• Money - We feel like we've been spending a lot recently, but despite my guilt about it, we just seem to keep spending more. The problem is its all reasonable things or necessary things. For example, Mother's Day presents for our moms that turn out to be more than planned. Or my fillings at the dentist. Or that I for once used up the expiring coupons at the end of the month and stocked piled us some things. I saved $45, but had to spend over a hundred. At least we won't need razor blades or carpet cleaner for a long time. So, this car repair isn't a very welcome thing right now. As always, its not that we are broke, but that we are uncomfortable taking money from our savings. We still have about five years before I got back to work (a little less if I can sub or part time work when William is in preschool, a little longer if I can't find a job right away), so we don't like using our savings.
  

The Ugly:

• First swim class - I didn't attend Natalie's first swim class because I was clothes shopping with my neighbor, but Mike says it was horrible. Natalie cried pretty much the whole time. The main reason was that the first thing they did was to put water on the kids' faces, and this is one sure fire way to make Natalie cry. It happens every time we wash her hair, even with a face cloth. So, with no face cloth and in a scary new place, she just never calmed down. She kept telling Mike, "all done," to say she wanted to get out of the pool, but he tried to follow the instructor and put her through the little activities. Half way through, she told him to try taking her out and calming her down. Even out of the water he still couldn't calm her down fully until they were walking out. This sucked for many reasons. First, we didn't sign her up for these lessons to make her cry. They were supposed to be a fun way for her to spend time with Mike and prepare for using out pool in the summer. Second, I really was looking forward to having a little reliable time alone in the house every week for a bit, but we decided right away that I would have to attend the next lesson. Third, we paid for these lessons, so stopping them meant a potential waste of money we didn't want. The good news is that we went again this past Saturday, and it was better. We didn't wet her face and she had both of us there. She actually liked a little bit of it where she "swam" towards me or after a duck, though she wanted to go get the baby next to her's duck to complete her duck family, just like she does in the bath. So, we've decided to continue the lessons since there was so much less crying, but this is about as opposite to peaceful time alone as you can get. I'm not only going with them and taking part in the stress of the lesson where she is crying, but I'm also now in charge of getting her dressed and undressed, which this time included her slipping on the floor and hitting her head, resulting in crying before we even made it to the pool.