Parental Anxiety - Take 1

There are many reasons why parents are anxious.
Am I doing enough to care for my little one?
Are they well fed?
Do we play enough?
Do we spend enough time nurturing the intellectual capacity?

This quickly evolves (especially after child #2) into inane.
Does the little one watch too much television... etc.

Never, in my wildest dreams did I expect to be stressing out over my child's costume
(read lack thereof)
for career day the last day of school.

Did I mention she is three? If you ask her what she wants to do, the most frequent answer is drive.

Second place. Chef

Third place. Doctor

Fourth place. Teacher

She wanted to go as a teacher. No amount of thoughtful input would sway her to consider the doctor kit (already in the house) or a chef's toque - easily made or obtained.

I am sure all of you faithful blog readers with your creative left brains are assembling a costume for a teacher as you read this. It probably involves a hand held chalk board, glasses etc. Yes, you are better than me, and clearly Juliette would blossom under your care.

I couldn't think of anything and so she went in her school clothes. Perturbed.

Visiting class that morning, I didn't feel too bad until a construction worker walked in, followed closely behind by a paratrooper in an actual uniform.

That is when the anxiety attacks started.

I'm wearing my sister's flip flops!

Today's Top Five

Regular readers of the blog - you all know I love to quantify in lists. Please be assured, it is all about survival - if I didn't do it, nothing would ever get done.

Top 5 Nicknames for Evie -

1. Snowball - Juliette started calling her this around Christmas.
2. Ya Ya (to Juliette's La La)
3. Fairy Godmother - hmm who does that leave to play that secondary part, Cinderella?
4. Evie B - yes, her middle name is Elizabeth, don't ask for a logical explanation
5. Evie, NO! This technically isn't a nickname. Rather, it is a phrase often shouted by the other three members of the family shortly before Evie puts herself or them in mortal danger.

Happy Mother's Day!

Eldest daughter, shyster

shyster
n : a person (especially a lawyer or politician) who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods [syn: pettifogger]

Dora the Explorer is not my friend. Dora and her little buddy, Boots, are the uberpop culture for the under three crowd. Even little 20 month old Evie requests Dora by name and will sit profoundly still during an episode.

Dora and Boots have singsongy voices. Silly catchphrases. More marketing niches than The Dinosaur that Will Not be Named. They drive me a little insane.

Dora has come out with a memory game, natch. Match princess Doras, cowgirl Doras, Dora hugging Boots, etc.

One of the tangential characters on Dora is Swiper the fox. I have yet to meet a kid with any Dora experience that doesn't LOVE Swiper. There is only one Swiper match in the whole deck (versus Dora's 86 and Boot's 17). Everyone in our family competes to get the Swiper match first.

The other night, Juliette and I were playing. To my amazement she got Swiper as her first match. Second game, Juliette's first match was Swiper again.

Juliette had marked the cards.

Introducing Henry -

This note was banned by psychologist father.

Behind this innocent face lurks a future WWF champion.

Watch out, Diane Keaton. I have the same fashion sense.

American Idol, here I come!

Evie's five most spoken words and phrases

1. Oh Boy!
2. Cracker.
3. Juice.
4. Ju Ju
5. Bubble.

Juliette's most common phrases

1. Can I have a special treat?
2. Can I watch Big Bird in China?
3. When is it time for my special treat?
4. When can we do an art project?