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Just getting up and out the door to our usual Saturday swimming class. Fortunately, Mary Catherine has decided that she really likes her swimming class - January/February she was really complaining about having to go. One Saturday we went and she was so enthusiastic about it that other parents were actually asking us what had happened! Thankfully, she's remained keen. We were thiiiiiis close to not enrolling her again this term. I think learning to swim and having one extra activity is so important.
Although part of me wonders what it would be like to consistently have Saturday mornings at home! We haven't had that, like, ever.. she's been in swimming lessons for four years now!Labels: Mary Catherine
 Hopefully you know me well enough to know that I'm pretty picky about what I allow Mary Catherine to watch on television. We normally don't allow anything violent (and yes, that includes Tom and Jerry) or commercial television. To be fair, the non-commercial thing is easier in this country as we have two great dedicated childrens' channels from the BBC, CBeebies for the littles and CBBC for the over 5s.
However, we've recently gotten satellite television and suddenly our childrens' television options have skyrocketed. We get, like, fifteen childrens' channels, I think? Far too much choice! It's been nice, though, introducing Mary Catherine to shows that she's not seen before. Like Madeline, The Fairies, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. Since we don't watch 'live' television, I've been recording a few here and there that appear on commercial channels. I can blip through the stuff I don't want her to see. However, last night I was talking to my mother in law and forgot to fast forward during the break.
Everything Mary Catherine saw, she wanted. The Barbie bride set? Yes. The Fur Real baby lion cub complete with feeding bottle? Oh yeah. But what she wanted most of all - and this makes me laugh so hard that I would almost be tempted to get it just because who the heck thinks up a toy like this - the Barbie Teresa(can you tell we watch shows aimed at girls?) & Mika cat play set. Why are Barbie and Mika so want worthy? What do they do? Well, here's the official description.. "Teresa doll has an adorable cat named Mika who is just like a real cat! Mika can drink some water from a bottle and then wets in her litter box. Teresa scoops up the litter clumps. Teresa doll and Mika come with a kitty litter box, bottle, cat litter in a variety of colors, litter scooper, cat food bowl and cat toys!" Oh, ho, ho yes. The cat wees and your child can scoop the clumps - just like real life!
I wonder if Teresa curses when she realises that Ken hasn't cleaned out the litter box in a while? Do you think Mika ever finds Skipper's sandbox and uses that instead? I'm too entertained by it all, already!
 Maybe after we get that, we'll move on to Barbie and her dog Tanner. You guessed it, Tanner eats dog treats and then poops them out when you lift his tail. Heck, Barbie's cooler than Teresa because she comes with a like real life magnetic pooper scooper stick. Not sure what Tanner eats, but it must be iron rich!
Okay, I'll stop now.Labels: Mary Catherine, Shopping
The nurse said, 'Just a sharp scratch'... afterwards, a crying Mary Catherine said in a very, very serious voice, 'That was NOT just a scratch!'
We made it through and she's now sporting two beautifully pink plasters/bandaids, one on each thigh. Good news is that she doesn't get her next round of immunizations until she's 14!Labels: Mary Catherine
Happy Valentine's Day!
 Something weird has happened. For the first time, like ever, I don't want flowers for Valentine's Day. Here's why:
"To grasp the sheer scale of air freighting that our demand for cut flowers creates it pays to look at the operation of World Flowers, by far the UK's largest importer. Each week it flies 600 tonnes of cut flowers - 250 tonnes from Kenya alone - into the UK. Two flights a day leave Nairobi airport, each carrying about 18 tonnes of flowers - enough to make about 40,000 bouquets of a dozen red roses - to World Flowers' vast distribution centre at North Warnborough in Hampshire. From there, they are shipped by road to retailers, mostly the large supermarkets which, over the past decade, have aggressively entered the cut flowers market realising just how profitable they can be - so much so that most now stock flowers by the entrance.
Throughout this journey the flowers will have been quality-checked 17 times: World Flowers boasts that from the moment a flower is cut till it reaches the retailer at no point will it have left the "cool chain" - a climate-controlled atmosphere of just a few degrees above freezing. Added to the fact that many flowers are transported in water, and that some green foliage for bouquets is brought in from other countries, the pollution footprint of a typical bouquet can be enormous.
In fact, the true extent of the trade's environmental impact was only recently recognised officially. Figures released by Defra last November following parliamentary questions from Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Norman Baker showed that almost 17,000 tonnes of flowers - worth £46.1m - were imported more than 4,000 miles from Kenya in 2004. Roses accounted for almost 5,000 tonnes of the imports. Overall, this signified a 83% increase in air-freighted flowers from Kenya in just four years. Baker has since calculated that this trade from Kenya leads to 33,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year - meaning that the transit of each flower creates far more than its own weight in CO2 pollution. More.. "
I'd rather be flower free AND guilt free! Andrew and I gave each other imaginary cards and presents this morning. I normally demand that Valentine's Day be observed in our house - but it's been fun this year not doing a darn thing. Mary Catherine has asked that we go out to dinner this evening. We'll see. I sort of feel that maybe we should do what she wants to do BECAUSE....
 Today at 3pm Mary Catherine has to go for her four year-old jabs/shots. Two intramusculars and I'm dreading it. She knows we're going to the doctor, but I haven't told her yet about the jabs. She can be quite an anxious child so I thought it best not to give her any time to worry about this. Trust me, I've been doing enough worrying for the both of us! I hope I'm worried about nothing and she'll just take it in stride. I just can't get the image of us having to hold her down in my head and I so don't want to do that. Fingers crossed it will be way better than I imagine. So off I go at 2pm to run home and grab the ever important red book and whisk MC off to the doctor's office.
My friend in America says that her two girls (one four, one two) have had multiple rounds of shots already. Not here in the land of very little medical intervention for children. This will be the first doctor's appointment (and actually, she's seeing the practice nurse, not the GP) since she had her MMR jab at 13 months. Very different to how I was raised, going to the paediatrician for check ups all the time.
Kind of makes me wonder which is better. Oh no - another debate!Labels: Mary Catherine, Save the Planet
Mary Catherine and I have been watching a show on television as she winds down for the evening. When it was over, I started to turn off the telly as usual. And as usual, she asked for another show - which is her way of delaying bedtime. It's pretty standard fare and normally we get her down the hall to bed with very few problems.
Tonight's been different. She asked for another show and I started to make my standard excuses why we couldn't watch more. She stopped me mid-sentence and said, 'I want another show' and then added quite grumpily, for good measure so I'd realise she meant business, 'poo-poo head.' When I gave her my customary 'we don't say things like that in this house' glare, she looked me square in the eye. I could see the cogs in her head turning, concentrating on finding another really bad thing to say. After a second, her eyes narrowed and said, 'wee wee' in a very, 'well, what are you going to say to that' way.
If 'wee wee' is the worst thing she ever comes up with, we're good to go!Labels: Mary Catherine, Parenting
 I'm so stoked - Andrew just booked our tickets to see the Scissor Sisters at the O2 in July! Andrew was looking at The O2 website and happened to see that they were playing. We even got decent seats. It's all very exciting. The new O2 complex looks like it's going to be fabulous - it's nice to see the Dome being used for something.
Do we have a babysitter lined up? No - but we have until late July to sort that out. Mary Catherine will be so gutted that she can't go - she's their biggest (smallest?) fan. Seriously. I am going to start saving now to be able to buy her a concert t-shirt! Heck, I had to wait until 15 to get mine (ZZ Top, Afterburner tour, in case you were wondering). (note - I just looked up the image for that tee on ebay and it's listed as VINTAGE. Kill. Me. Now.
In other news, when I picked Mary Catherine up from school today she was complaining of an ear ache. Bless her - by the time we got home she was really upset and it was obvious that her ear was really bothering her. A big dose of ibuprofen, some warm milk and a little internet research on ear infections and we're doing a-o-k now. I'll keep her home from swimming tomorrow, but I'm pleased to read that ear infections no longer mean running to the doctor for antibiotics. (I believe in antibiotics for confirmed bacterial (not viral) infections only. I'd hate to need them one day and be immune to them.) I expect we'll be up in the night for another dose, but thankfully she's happy to take ibuprofen (she likes the orange taste - isn't a big fan of paracetemol/tylenol strawberry, go figure).Labels: Geeky, Mary Catherine
 Good news - we've had a jet lag breakthrough. After a full day at school yesterday, she fell asleep in the car around 6pm and she, literally, was not capable of waking up until 7 this morning. I actually tried to wake her to get her to the loo, but she would just cry any time we moved her.
Of course, what did Andrew and I do last night to celebrate our sleeping child? We stayed up until 1am watching television. Make that one jet lag breakthrough, two silly adults still not coping.
Nothing much to report, really. We're slowly unpacking our bags. I'd like to tell you that we're really great and super efficient - but until we take time this weekend, it's our usual 'seek and ye shall find' method of unpacking. Not ideal, trust me.
Speaking of the weekend - I have not one idea what we should spend ours doing!Labels: Blah Blah, Mary Catherine
It's 2:15 in the morning. Mary Catherine went to bed around 8pm only to wake up at 10pm. She's been up ever since. Damn jet lag. We're having to really use a lot of patience with her, as she doesn't really understand why it's so late at night but she feels so very wide awake. Andrew and I are taking it in turns to each get an hour of sleep at a time. The crap thing is that all three of us have to be up at 6:30 - a mere four hours from now - and have a full day ahead of us.
I know that we won't do ourselves any favours if we take the day off (not that it's a possibility) to sleep and get back to normal. It's a painful, but necessary procedure to get back on Greenwich Mean Time. Still sucks though.
 Oh, and want has a new name... Check out the iPhone. When you look at all they say it will do - man, it looks amazing. Although - my current Pocket PC does the same stuff for the most part ... as with all Apple things, well, it just doesn't look as sexy and delicious as the new iPhone. There's a lot to be said for a sleek, posh user interface, huh?
Okay - it's now 2:36am and I'm rambling about sexy user interfaces. I've just given Mary Catherine some food - Rice Krispies, because we haven't stocked the cupboard yet - so hopefully she will listen to her full tummy and get a bit sleepy. Actually - that's a good thought. Bless the internet - I'm going to do my grocery shopping now. Excellent idea, self! Seriously, how cool is it that I can order groceries at 2:39 in the morning for delivery later today?
Throw another litre of milk in the cart - I'm on a roll!!Labels: Geeky, Mary Catherine, Sleepy
 Okay, get this. It's all packed and we stayed within our four bag, self-imposed, limit. Wait a minute, we must not have shopped enough! I took Mary Catherine to kindergarten at Mom's school this morning and snuck off to Target for one final run through. Two outfits for Mary Catherine, a PS3 game and a present for friends who have a new baby (congrats Hasnain and Benazir!), I was all finished. Not shopped out, mind you, just didn't see anything else to purchase.
Andrew's just brought all the bags downstairs and not only are there only four of them, they're not even packed to the max like they normally are! What's wrong with us?! I suppose we'll chalk it up to quality, not quantity.
Mary Catherine is ever so fragile at the moment (so is my mother, but that's a different story). So we're really trying to keep her calm and occupied (thank you Disney Channel) until it's time to go. I know she will cry all the way to the airport (ditto for my mom) and then absolutely fall apart when it's time to separate from my parents. So far today she's renounced country, school and parents. Go figure.
I feel so badly for her.Labels: Atlanta, Mary Catherine
 Ask me if we've started packing yet to go home.. Go on, I'l wait. Uh, the answer is no. Not one bit. We do hope to get to it at some point today, but we're having a good time sitting around, not doing very much. Mom made Andrew's favourite meal (meatloaf and mashed potatoes) and my favourite dessert (brownies).
We've been discussing the possibility of Mary Catherine staying with my parents for part of her summer break later this year. Now I have to do a gut check and ask myself (and consult Andrew, of course) if I could live without my daughter for three or four weeks in another country. Part of me says yes, part of me starts to ache. I'd like to think that it's something that we'll definitely be able to consider later this year. Interesting that she's old enough for us to think about stuff like that. She would have a blast being here for a while - she could ride her big wheel every day!Labels: Atlanta, Mary Catherine
Blinging Ride
We have a new car in our family. It's a Barbie Big Wheel. All lovely, pink and when she puts her mind to it, fast. It's just toy central here at Nana and Grumpa's house. (thanks to Nan for the picture)
We're all very attached to our Nabaztag/tag which we've named Shmi. You can go here to send my rabbit (and me) a message. Address it to Shmi - you can choose something pre-recorded (which are all pretty funny), an mp3 (send us a new song!) or just type something for Shmi to read. Eventually, I think I'll be able to put a button on my site where you'll be able to send us messages whenever you like. Man, I love technology.
We've been enjoying watching Shmi do tai chi and tell us the time on the hour. He also talks to us with random messages when he feels like it. Nerdy, nerdy.
Okay - we're off to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Nothing like a side of biscuits with a little controversy!
Labels: Atlanta, Mary Catherine
she likes it!
Mary Catherine is sitting next to me and is finally, five days after Christmas getting to know her new Leapster. I'm stoked - as she seems to be able to 'make it go' and is having a good time with the new painting program that we bought for it. Last year, we bought her a Leappad and while she liked it well enough, she's never really been into it. As the product of a very geeky marriage, you can imagine our surprise that our child has been incredibly slow to show interest in anything remotely computerish.
Hence our excitement that she's into the Leapster. Must run - old friend here to visit!
Labels: Geeky, Mary Catherine
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