This Week in Mommyhood

The word of the week is "Relief." We had the last music class on Saturday and Cati behaved herself. She was so good she made me wonder if taking a break from the music classes was a good idea. Then at the end of the class she went after one of the kids and quickly snapped me out of my reverie. Ahh kids.

Here are some of the other fun developments from this past week:


Jumping Jumparoo: I have been too lazy to pack up the Jumparoo and put it away. This is a good thing because Cati has taken a renewed interest in it. She's too big for it but she loves to sit and bounce around. She will actually go up to you and point to the Jumparoo so that you know she wants in. What really got me this past week was her putting one of her baby dolls in and making it bounce.

Watches are for Dada: We took a trip to Macy's and, as usual, Alex wanted to look at the watches. I don't know if it's because the first section contained G-Shocks, which Alex owns, but as soon as Cati saw the watches she pointed and yelled out "dada." Every time she saw a watch she said "dada." I thought it was hilarious.


Monkeying Around: Cati will not repeat words back to us but if you introduce her to a new animal noise she's all over it. Alex taught her how to make monkey noises and to do an arm motion and now every time she sees a monkey she does it.

School Thoughts: Cati will be starting school in the fall. Alex is actually more nervous about it than I am. I think and hope Cati will benefit from being around other kids and learning the fun social skills of sharing and patience. Alex, on the other hand, is worried about the bad stuff: not fitting in and getting picked on. To be honest, I was worried about these things too until she started hitting and I realized I might have to worry about her being a bully than someone who is picked on. But then he brought up something I hadn't really thought about: expectations. With the start of school comes certain expectations and with those expectations comes the testing of skills and knowledge. Cati will be starting on a track that has no way back. I told Alex this and I am saying it here, I'll be happy if Cati is average with average grades as long as she is a happy child. There are plenty of pressures and expectations out there and while I will have certain expectations I want to make sure she knows that there is nothing wrong with being average as long as you are trying your best.

Here's to another week of hot weather and struggling to find fun, indoor activities to do with an active toddler.