C's appointment - quick update

Her eyes are fine. I mentioned in an earlier post that she sometimes appears cross-eyed and I was taking her to see a pediatric ophthalmologist today. The appointment went fine, and her eyes are perfectly straight. The Dr. said it is an optical illusion because the bridge of her nose is so wide and flat. So, that is good news. She is now home and happily crawling around the kitchen looking for things to get into. I should go supervise.....

vent

I really should be in listening to W's sermon right now, but C. is fussy and gets really upset if I leave her in the nursery for very long, so I'm in W's office typing this. I am so mad I could spit, to borrow a phrase from my grandmother. Today is the first day of fall Sunday School. I dropped M. off in her class and told her and her teacher I would be back to pick her up for worship. I had some things to do here during Sunday School (I know I should be going to Sunday School myself, that's coming later...) I was talking with our nursery person when I realized, oops! Sunday School was over 2 minutes ago. I say goodbye and walk down to M's Sunday School room. No one is there. The lights are off and the door is shut. I look around. No M. I ask some of the other adults who are standing around talking. No one has seen M. I and about 5 other people (including W. who is in his robe ready to start church in 10 minutes) are looking frantically around the building for her. Where is she? I should state that M. has never run off - she normally sticks to one of us or the adult we leave her with like glue. She does not just disappear. Finally I find one of her Sunday School teachers who says, "Oh, have you seen N. (another teacher)? She was going to take M. into church and find you." Sure enough, I go into the sanctuary for the 2nd time looking and there is M., sitting next to N. and her daughter, looking very quiet. I told N. in no uncertain terms that I needed one of the teachers to wait in the Sunday School room for me to come pick up M. each week and that I had been frantic trying to figure out where she had gone. She apologized and said, "but she was right here with me. J. (the teacher I finally found who said M. was with N.) was supposed to tell you." I am so mad. I was practically shaking to keep from shouting at these women, who are now acting like "we were just trying to help." It makes me even more frustrated because I have spent the last year evidently talking to a wall when I have said over and over again that parents need to pick their children up after Sunday School and Children's Church, that it is not safe for the kids to just leave and find mom and dad somewhere, that it is far too easy if we just let them out at the end of class for someone to get lost. And today, all my dire warnings that these women have brushed off for the last year came true - and it was my kid who was lost. And scared, although they don't know her well enough to see it. I was able to talk to M. for a minute before church started to say that I was sorry I wasn't there to get her and sorry if she was scared and to tell her I'm not mad at her (she's 3 years old and was doing what someone in authority told her to - it's not her fault. The adults are the ones who messed up big time.) She looked relieved and gave me a hug, but it still makes me so mad. And I feel bad, because I know that we have spent years, literally, working on getting her to separate from me easily and be confident that I will be back as I told her I would. This is an on-going issue for M. - the fear of mom not coming back - and I am afraid we've been set back months now. GGGGGRRRRRRR!
Okay, I feel better now that is off my chest. Should head back to church......

Welcome to Utah....

This goes with a groan. The "lost boys" are not new news here in Utah, but they probably are in the rest of the world. They are from a fundamentalist polygamous sect in southern Utah/northern Arizona whose "prophet" is currently on trial on charges of being an accomplice to rape for marrying underage girls (some as young as 13-14 years old) to older men. This article in the New York Times tells some of the background on the FLDS. It is a scary world we live in.
I should add that this article correctly states that the Mormon church of Romney that you all have heard so much about has abandoned polygamy. This is only true in this life. They still believe and teach that faithful men will have multiple wives in heaven and get to become gods of their own worlds. They also believe that Adam is God. I kid you not.

Fall...and football is in the air

C. and I just got home from the Utah football game. We left 1/2 way through the 2nd quarter, after I spent most of the 1st quarter walking her up and down the concourse. C. is a bit too young for D-1 football, me thinks. W. and M. are still there - the game is now in the 4th quarter. They are going to ride Trax (the train) to the station closest to our house and then we will go pick them up. It is so nice to live someplace where public transportation not only exists, but is a practical means of transportation.
I have to say that today's game was a bit overwhelming for me, too. When I was in college, I remember going to the football games to watch the band perform (they wore real kilts and had bagpipes and were pretty cool, I think) but the game itself wasn't much to watch. And the stadium was small - not much bigger than my high school stadium - and there were concession stands, but not many. Utah plays football in Rice-Eccols Stadium, which is where the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics were held. It's pretty big. And loud. And lots of concession stands and people and sensory overload. M. was having a blast and I'm glad for that - but I was kind of glad to come home. Utah is also trying pretty hard to lose to Air Force, so it's not like I'm missing a great game. It's also not like I'm a huge football fan - we went to today's game because a family from the church has season tickets and were out of town today and gave us their seats.
C. is happy now. She woke up from both her naps (morning and afternoon) early today - this does not make for a happy baby or a happy mommy. And then fell asleep before I left the stadium with her when I was coming home. Woke up when I put her in the car and talked really loudly until we got on the interstate - about 10 minutes or so. She had a lot to get out about what she had seen and heard, I guess. And then fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home. And has now eaten and is playing. And just thought really hard about trying to climb a bookcase (I am not kidding here - trust me) and is now happily chewing on a board book. She is developing quite the mischievous personality....
Not much else to post I don't think. I'm going to go try to finish M.'s Elmo pajamas now - I'm almost done. Then I get to move on to pants - which I think will go quicker.

More pictures of M. and C.

M. is "helping" me put together a casserole. C. is practicing two of her favorite tricks - pulling up and grinning. Micah, the dog, is helping me clean the floor. See all the help I get every day? :) Oh, I should mention that M. is still wearing her leotard from her dance class. She is taking a creative dance class every Tuesday morning and loves it so much that she refuses to take off her leotard for the rest of the day. And no, she is not stubborn like her parents, why would you ask?

Forgot to save the red-eye correction on this one, I guess. Aren't they cute, though?
And baths are such fun. Lots to smile about. Except when Mom tries to rinse my hair and I look down and get water in my eyes. Lots of screaming then - and no pictures. But in general, baths are lots of fun.
And finally, the reason for my long post in the middle of the day. M.'s first day of pre-school for the year was today. M. loves, loves, loves school. She thinks that getting to go 3 days a week this year is perhaps the greatest thing since, oh, chocolate zucchini cake. She comes home exhausted. She naps. Mom gets alone time in the middle of the day without a fight. Mom loves pre-school, too....

Oh, one last thing. I am taking C. to see a pediatric ophthalmologist this Monday. She sometimes still looks cross-eyed and the pediatrician wanted us to have her tested and such to make sure that she is seeing fine out of both eyes. I think she's okay, but I'm a little nervous about the appointment (we got the pre-registration paperwork in the mail and they said to "expect a 1-3 hour appointment" - not my idea of fun with an active almost 8 month old, regardless of what they find.) I'll let you know what we find out next week.

Storm in the Mountains

So, contrary to what many who live here may think - because the valley is very well irrigated - we live in a desert. High humidity here is anything over, say, 15 percent. And it doesn't rain very often - like this summer we have had 4-5 weeks between rains sometimes. But it stormed last night. Lightening and thunder and all that jazz - almost as good as a midwestern summer thunderstorm. Not quite, but almost. I tried to take some pictures, because the clouds were so gorgeous, but none of them really turned out well. You can see bits of the mountains in the pictures, though. These were all taken in front of our house.I love being able to look out over the valley and see how the weather is coming and what is coming next.

This last one was taken by my almost 4 year old M. Not really of the storm, but she wanted me to put it up.....and I've found that peace and sanity in motherhood comes from arguing as little as possible about the things that don't really matter.....

Big Sister Brag Moment

Just had to post that my brother e-mailed to say he passed his oral exams for his PhD. Not that I thought he was in danger of not passing (he's brilliant like me, right? :) ) But I wanted to post and say I am so proud of him. For those who don't know, he is doing a PhD in Zoology at NC State - he is studying salamanders and population mapping and more that I don't understand.