The staff of life

....in which our fearless blogger listens to her child being damaged and downloads some soft, fluffy cheeze bread...


Yay! I got my first comment a couple of days ago! Boo! It was a piece of advice on how to edit my blog a little better!

Today did not get off to a promising start. Little Miss No Intensity (i.e., the baby) actually woke up in the middle of the night, and while this never really poses too much of a problem because she sleeps with us and feeding her just involves a reshuffling of positions and various bits of anatomy, for whatever reason, this time I couldn't doze off again once she had finished sucking. So I read for a bit, and then squandered an hour and a half or so of my precious short life lying in bed trying to fall back asleep. When the morning came and Little Miss High Intensity was shoving her face in mine demanding breakfast and cartoons, I felt like a dead old man. Explaining to That Guy why he would have to be the one to get her ready for nursery school despite the fact that it was My Turn required delicacy and tact, which I think I managed with only a minimum amount of shrillness and swearing. Oh sweet, sweet falling back asleep when you're really, really tired and you really, really should be getting up but have been given a really, really lovely break! I'm surprised there haven't been more songs written about it.

The sad fact is that I did NOT get to fall back asleep, though, because Little Miss H. I. and That Guy proceded to get into The Fight to End all Fights as he tried to get her dressed.

Her: NO! NO! NO! NO! NOT THAT SHIRT!!!! NOT THOSE PANTS!!!!! YOU ARE NOT A NICE PERSON!!!!YOU NEVER LISTEN!!!!!

Him: AUUUUUUUGHGHGHGHGH!!!! SHUT UP!!! JUST SHUT UP AND PUT ON YOUR PANTS!!!!!

(Sound of four-year-old buttocks being forcibly shoved into pair of pants.)

Her: WAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHGHGHGHGHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!

Him: $#@$!!! &*#*&$#@#$$%$###$$%%%%%$$#%$@#$%^%$!!!!!!!!

I am giving you, of course, a transcript of the fight at its climax, and have omitted the several pages of crap where That Guy was doing his best to be patient and quietly insistent, wise and firm, gentle and guiding, how else do those books say you should behave? In the end he gave in to the frustration and let her have it. Part of me was angry at him for telling her to shut up, and part of me was VERRRRRRRRRRRY sympathetic. So I lay in bed with a pillow over my head, and pretended the whole thing wasn't happening.

In other news, my friend alerted me to the existence of this Pandora site, where you type in the name of an artist or song and it creates a "radio station" that plays music of the same genre. It's FABULOUS!! That Guy and I have had lots of fun driving each other nuts with our choices, but I think I really got the best of him when I got the computer room chilling out to the smooth, mellow tones of Bread Radio. Heh heh heh. He got pretty cranky there for a while. Right now, I am rocking out to the soulful groove of Stevie Wonder Radio, and I'm typing my blog, and both m'babies are asleep and WOW! Could life get any better???!! I wrote the other day that I set up this site to complain about things, but after that false start this morning, I have to say, the day ended up being absolutely fabulous. The weather was perfect, and we took this nice long walk to the Thrift Store and I got an intact copy of The Jolly Postman's Christmas for $0.49 and then we went home and I made an absolutely fantastic vegetarian stew for supper and best of all, that damn mouse that has been tormenting my soul and my spice drawer for the last week is, as I type, rattling around in this big metal live trap we put out, awaiting his (her?) unceremonious dumping in yonder field that will occur later this evening.

No. Best of all, Little Miss H.I. just came down for her ten o'clock pee in a sleepy fog and gave me the sweetest little hug and kiss. She has this green nightgown and she looks like a cherub in it.