by Kelly

“Shhhh. Do you hear that?”

I point yonder to the knock

of a woodpecker

by Kelly

Shopping for preschools.

Do we live in Manhattan?

Wait listed again!?!?!!!!!

by Kelly

He goes to preschool.

I drink coffee, watch trashy

TV, feel guilty.

But sometimes a mom just needs to veg out undisturbed, right?

by Kelly

I teach him how to

eat fresh snow — so many smiles

on the walk to school

by Kelly

“What’s that?” Han Min asks,

pointing to his ears. The roof

pops against the cold.

by Kelly

“Lips off the toilet!”

Oh, the things I find myself

saying as a mom.

by Kelly

yesterday I failed

as a mom — today I think

I did much better

Yesterday was fraught with power struggles, time outs and tears — from my eyes and from Han Min’s eyes. Oh, what tension and conflict goes on in the mind of a three year-old!

Or for that matter — oh, what tension and conflict goes on in the mind of a three year-old’s mommy!

I was so distraught by the end of the day that Hubby plugged “my three year old won’t listen” into Google. He read pages after pages on parenting forums about this very topic to me as I withered on the couch bemoaning my role as a stay at home mom and life with a stubborn little boy.

Today didn’t see nearly as many power struggles, time outs or tears — although there were some tears, but not on my part, probably because I did gain some insight from Hubby’s Googling and picked up a few coping mechanisms.

by Kelly

kid songs in the car —

I’d forgotten all about

three blind mice

One of my friends gave me a 3 CD collection of classic children’s songs with H came into my life. Since he’s been home, those CDs have proven themselves to be a well chosen gift. H loves them! I’m quite sick of them, if truth be told, but I’m continually amazed by the song collection.

Some of the songs are tunes I’d forgotten all about, songs I probably hadn’t thought about — let alone sung — in decades, and yet here they are coming through my car stereo and there I am singing every single word. Three Blind Mice is a perfect example. It’s even sung in a round on the CD, and I’m pretty certain I sang Three Blind Mice in a round in elementary school.

But beyond all the “a-ha” moments of suddenly discovering I know all the words to all these songs I’d forgotten, I also have these “what the f—?” moments where I find myself listening to one of these “kid” songs and thinking, “Who decided this was appropriate for kids?” For example, again, Three Blind Mice. The lady cuts off their tails with a carving knife and it’s the topic for a cute little ditty for wee children? Really?

And consider this one:

Oh where have you been Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Oh where have you been charming Billy?

I have been to see my wife, she’s the apple of my life. She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

What? His wife is so young she can’t leave home? Putting aside the rather obvious question about pedophilia, who decided this was an appropriate song for children?

by Kelly

dog puke on my bed

Han Min in trouble at school —

it’s not even noon

by Kelly

inconvenienced by

new front door security

at Han Min’s preschool

Yes, yes. I know. Stepped up security is a good thing in light of the Sandy Hook school shooting. But, that event took place before winter break and Han Min’s school didn’t have much time to respond before classes let out for the holidays. Well, apparently, the school took advantage of all this time off to come up with a new security detail. Yet I didn’t know that.

So this morning, here I was, trying hard to get Han Min back into the preschool routine. It felt like a monumental task. After so many days off sleeping in, hanging out in his pajamas until after lunch or going to a cousin’s house to play all day, Han Min was in no mood to be rushed out the door to preschool by 9 am.

“I play my house!” he kept telling me as I tried to stuff him into his clothes and sit him down to brush his teeth.

Finally, I got the dogs in the kennel, the kid in the car and ourselves to the school. We were already late and then I discovered the whole new front door routine. The door I was used to using was locked, so I had to run across the parking lot with the little guy to the one door that was open, which was, of course, on the opposite side of the building from where I needed to be. And while I’m doing this, I’m eyeballing the parking lot thinking, I could have parked so much closer had I known which door I had to use!

Argh! We were already late and the new routine felt like it made us so much later!