Are we suppose to let them win?

This question, along with any subject related to parenting is destined to spark a debate. Luckily, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that reads this blog therefore, there's no need to worry.

Last night my 11 year old wanted to challenge me to a game of Big Brain. We borrowed one of her sisters' Nintendo DS game systems and the challenge began. I pretty much kicked her butt and anytime she would get discouraged I would remind her that I'm 25 years older than her. Hey, she still has youth and beauty, I have, well, more smarts than an 11 year old. As the competition was going strong the ds I was using suddenly aborted and said the connection had been dropped. I said, "Hey, what happened?" My daughter replied, "I turned mine off." When I asked why it turns out it was because I was winning. She said it wasn't any fun because it was obvious no matter what we did I was going to win.

So I guess my question is, should I have let her win a few just to boost her confidence? I certainly wasn't completely creaming her, at least not every time. She was doing a pretty good job holding her own in some of the areas.

If you happen across this blog by accident let me know what you think.

Happy New Year! Want a puppy?

Yikes! I remember the puppy days, I really, really do. I guess I was just enjoying the "old dog who lays around and does nothing" days too much.

Despite spending the past couple of years preparing myself for the possibility I would have to someday put my aging black lab, Hoss, down it was still one of the most agonizing moments of my life. I missed him terrible, ok I still do. The stupidity on my part came when I missed him so much I decided 6-8 weeks later that a new puppy would make it all better! HA! I remember thinking something similar after my husband died too, I'm glad there's not a shelter for surrendered husbands.

So as the story goes, there's a new puppy in the house. She's been here a couple months now and she is slowly eating away at every bit of sanity I have left. Her thought process goes something like - if it's edible eat it; if it moves attack it and then eat it; if it's put up out of my reach find a way to get it and eat it; if mom says no wait until she's not looking and eat it, if it has fur and meows at least try to eat it; if someone drops it on the floor get to it before they do and eat it; if it smells like a foot has been in it, eat it; if it looks like it wants to be eaten, eat it! If you've ever had a puppy, you get it, it's a puppy thing.

Eat it has most recently translated into injury, FOR ME! Cute little aforementioned puppy (also sometimes known as Hoov, short for Hoover) learned how to flip open the top of the trash can and remove it's tastiest contents. It turns out this last time around her snack of choice was a tin can lid. Apparently she realized she wasn't a goat and left the lid in the middle of the dining room floor where the bottom of my foot quickly and painfully made contact with it! This resulted in 8 stitches in the bottom of my foot on New Year's Day.

Happy New Year!

Recent Reads

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh; You Have to Kiss A Lot of Frogs by Laurie Graff; Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner; The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman.

Currently reading...

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Out of the mouth of Emily

My daughters took part in their annual school Christmas program yesterday. The girls attend a Catholic school so the program takes place in the church each year. In order to accomodate all the families who want to attend they do two performances. I attended the early performance and then since I was going to be without kids for an hour made plans to meet my good friend at the local bar for pizza and some drinks during the evening performance. T and I had a great time, as always!

When I returned to the church to pick the girls up the first one I went for was my youngest, Emily. When she noticed me she ran over and grabbed me and then looked up at me and in the loudest voice possible said, "You smell like you've been at the bar!!"

~sigh~

Officially Uncool

My oldest turned 11 yesterday, no biggie, she was the same kid when she got out of bed that she was when I put her to bed the night before. Then I dropped her birthday snack off at school...

After leaving the 31 mini cheese cakes (what happened to Tootsie Pops?) on her desk I hit the playground to let her know. As I was leaving I leaned in to give her a kiss, as always, and she leaned away. I would give anything to have seen the look on my own face. I think I truely believed she wouldn't be a typical kid because let's face it, I'm a cool mom!

I obviously believed wrong.

Perhaps the funniest part was when I told her later that I returned home and cried after her rejection. She rolled her eyes at me and replied, "No you didn't."

Ah, and to think the best years are yet to come.

Sweet Sodypop

Sweet Sodypop

I happened upon this blog and thought it looked pretty cool. If you're a scrapbooker you'll most likely enjoy it!

Speaking of scrapbooking... I started scrapbooking... Then it occured to me that perfectionists can't scrapbook if they ever want to actually have a finished product. ~sigh~ So, my scrapbooks sit, a few beautiful pages tucked inside. That's the reason I love the web, I can put the gazillion pictures I take of my girls on a web page and throw it out there for family to see. The best part? The perfectionist in me can go back and change things without ruining the pictures or a bunch of expensive products. :-)

Picture Play

The original photo is of my first morning glory bloom of the season.

The blooms are such a serene blue.