Crazy For Her…

Madi hand feeding the stingray

Originally uploaded by CrazyForHer

What an awesome day we had! My friend Neena and I took 9 kids to Predator World. What a place! The kids were in heaven and the animals were spectacular. I have become a little less than enthused about zoos lately but this one is a little different. They do rescue animals and they focus a lot on education. There is staff everyone to teach the kids about the animals and they tell them the story about why they are there.

There are a lot of place to interact with the animals. The picture attached in Madi hand feeding the stingrays. I was so proud of her for being so brave because oh my gosh these things are HUGE. And they suck the fish right out of your hand.

She was also able to feed a shark and a giant sea turtle. She had a smile on her face the entire day! The other kids loved it as well and I have some great shots of the whole group that I will post later. This was definitely a day to remember.

Wednesday night I attended a surprise party for my good friend Neena at a local restaurant – She is 42.  This woman is amazing and I am lucky to have met her nearly 4 years ago when I was looking for a daycare provider.  She and her husband own the daycare and we have become very close, especially over the last year.

Neena, You are an amazing Mother, an adoring Grandmother and I am lucky to be able to call you my friend.

Picture courtesy of Clint’s iPhone which I covet.

Julie, Kristy, Neena and me!

The last few days have been tough with Madi. She is at an age where it is difficult to say no and let it end there. I have no problem with it ending there but Madi has a huge problem just letting it go. She will argue, she will plead and then she will try to reason with me. It is frustrating and trying on my patience. Last night, lets just say that I lost it. I blew my top and had to step outside on the front porch and do some quick thinking. As a parent there are times when you sound like a complete idiot because of the frustration that builds and I am sure that was the case for me last night. I actually told her “NO! You cannot have anything to drink because YOU ARE NOT LISTENING TO ME!” And Madi looked at me with her hands on her hips and said “Momma, you cannot refuse a child something to drink when they are thirsty”. She said the word refuse and that is when I lost it. She is four years old and is more reasonable in her arguments than I am. I cannot contend with this 4 year old. I lose! And I did! Out on the front porch I thought how I could possibly get this child to mind me, listen to me and yes sometimes she needs to fear me.

What haven’t I tried? I don’t spank her anymore because I don’t think it is effective. She is getting too old for time outs. She has watched me donate her toys and has even carried them in the thrift store herself and does not care. What is left? I have come to the realization that this is going to be a never ending battle as a parent. I am going to be constantly changing my discipline strategy to stay one step ahead of her. I sound like I am fighting an enemy and I am speaking of my precious 4 year old. My four year old who is getting ready to turn five, oh my god what am I going to do, and how will I ever outwit this child. She has become smarter than me, faster than me and before I know it she will be taller than me. Sigh…

So last night I taught Madi a new word and that word is privilege. And I explained how many she has in her life, how lucky she is and does she not know that there are starving children in this world. Okay, I didn’t go that far but I was very descriptive about these privileges that she has and what she must do to maintain them. And I think I actually saw the light bulb go off inside her head. She started naming things I could take away if she was bad and even told me the things that would really be hard on her if she lost them. The whole time I was making mental notes of which ones she would lose first and which ones she really doesn’t mind losing.

So for now I think I have everything under control and I am feeling good about our talk. I just hope she waits a while before she switches it up again. I am getting old and this parenting stuff is hard. Tomorrow we are going to White Water and I am going to laugh and play as much as I can. We are taking Taylor and his girlfriend with us so maybe they will play with Madi while I sit pool side and pretend that I am in Bermuda.

Crunchy the Caterpillar

Originally uploaded by CrazyForHer

I have bad luck with pepper plants of the ornamental variety. I always get more than what I bargained for. I bought a plant similar to this one years ago at an outdoor swap meet. Taisia bought one as well and we called each other at about the same time to find out if we both had the same problem. These particular plants were full of little mites if I remember or maybe they were worms. But I could never get rid of them and ended up throwing it away because I was afraid it would infect my other house plants.

I recently bought two of these plants to decorate the front porch. One is full of yellow, red and orange peppers and the other is all purple. They are very pretty and festive plus they were half price. And as a bonus I got Crunchy the giant caterpillar. You may not be able to tell by the picture but this little guy is a giant! He could almost eat your face off if you get close enough to him. I was ready to kill him for destroying my plant but Marty said no way. He is so cool, blah-blah-blah. And then I started thinking about what he was going to turn into and I kind of started liking the big guy.

Marty looked up all the information on the web and we found that this big guy will eventually turn into a big moth. Since I am unsure if the pepper plant will be enough to sustain him, sadly I must evict him from our home before he consumes my garden.

Good news – Crunchy has found a home! This morning I told my friend Neena who owns the daycare and would like to adopt him. She has the butterfly netting and she wants the kids to watch the cocoon process, then they will eventually release him. Since he seems to enjoy the pepper plant I will take him in plant and all. There is just something about those pretty little ornamental pepper plants. This will probably be the last year that I try to grow them. And to think I was going to bring them inside when the weather got cold!

I swear that I am not taking any more photos until I work with what I have on the camera.  Download them, delete the ones that just didn’t work out, post the great shots and then back them up.  Then I pick up the camera and take more pictures.  Like four hundred more pictures and I am not exaggerating this time.  Just an example of a few that I want to post:

• Madi and Jersey asleep on my bed.
• My first time water skiing
• Dwayne playing gospel music on the 4th of July.
• Marty and the giant caterpillar who ate my ornamental pepper plant.
• Madi and I sliding at Jump Mania.
• Madi and Destini sliding into the swimming pool in the backyard.
• Madi and Jordan playing a silly game before church.
• A beautiful catholic church in Defiance.
• Angie sitting in the restaurant with squirrels hanging over her head.
• Susan N. dancing her heart out on an empty dance floor in St. Louis.
• A series of Madi doing the hand motions to two of her favorite songs.

The last one is something I have wanted to do for quite some time.  One of my favorite pictures of Madi is a series that Taisia took when Madi was two.  She had a hat pulled down over her eyes and I think Taisia was singing a song while Madi danced.  She snapped a series of shots and I adore them.  More than any video, those pictures capture who Madi was at that point in time.  I look at those pictures and I remember, really remember what she was like.  Video is something I have never committed to.  I have a few videos of Madi but nothing that really stands out in my mind.  But the pictures that I have are priceless to me.

I look at the list above and I am glad I have no video.  Each item on the list is a memory that I want to keep fresh in my mind.  I don’t need a video to watch to remind me of these things, not yet anyway.  I am glad that I started writing again.  I feel like the last year is a giant fog and I am finally breaking through it.  Not all was bad but it was a rough year and I am healing.  This website makes that a little easier for me and the pictures remind me that good things have happened in the last year.  Although it seemed like it was the hardest year, there are permanent reminders that some great times were had, friends were made and things are going to be alright.