Sewing and Tantrums

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
9:37pm

Today was a good day. Mostly. I am pretty sure that Ardyn has been possessed by an evil demon, or a molar coming through. They are pretty much equal. She really started getting onery last night, and was so bad that we actually went out at 8pm and took an hour walk, even though it was about 37 degrees outside. I bundled both of us up because she needed to be moving and distracted with lots of things to look at (and did I mention strapped down?) and I really wanted the fresh air to remind me that her attitude isn’t the only thing in the world right now.

She went to bed around 10pm, and I watched Leatherheads with George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. It was a really good movie. I also rented Jumper, which I am halfway through tonight. I was really hoping that today would bring a better attitude for her, but in fact it was much much worse. We started out the morning by skipping the Halloween Story Hour at the library. I had really wanted to go, but because of our walk last night we skipped baths that we both needed. This morning when I woke up at 8:30, I just knew that waking her up when she hadn’t gotten her full sleep would be disastrous. I went back to sleep and so did she, until about 9:30. We started with breakfast and baths, which were good. Then we got dressed and tried to get out the door, which is when the problems started. She is really good at walking now.

But whenever we are heading for the van, she insists that I carry her, and I insist that she get used to walking, because I am pregnant and have a ton of shit to carry already, and when we add a newborn to that in just 5 wee months, it will get ugly if she refuses to walk. If I don’t hold her hand, she gets off task and I can’t get her headed out the door. If I hold her hand, she either has a tantrum and gets spaghetti legs, or drops right to her butt and lifts her arms for me to carry her. Nothing is worse than being pregnant with a diaper bag, purse, and whatever else on your shoulder and have to bend over to pick up a 25 pound toddler who at that moment decides AGAIN that she wants to walk and you can barely hold onto her. When we got down the back steps and out the back door, I put her down again and held her hand and told her that big girls walk to the van, and she did. And was fine until the moment she got into the carseat and decided to throw the classic “arching my back and thrashing like a roped steer because I don’t want to be in this seat” tantrum.

We went to town and went to the pharmacy. She was fine. For a minute. We picked out athletic tape for her mummy costume this Sunday, and went to the checkout to pick up the prescription that I called ahead to have filled. And we waited. This is always when the trouble starts. If we stop, and there isn’t anything to DO, she gets hysterical. At first I thought we were actually going to pay, because she asked about my prescription and went to get it, so I put Ardyn down to get my debit card from my purse, because of course they were on the same shoulder and she was doing the “lean over” where I can’t keep her upright. Of course, near the cash register is lots of CANDY and fancy sparkly things like pens and bracelets and watches, and on the BOTTOM shelves, lots of breakable things that she can grab onto to entertain herself. She ended up throwing a tantrum on the floor behind two customers who were waiting in line ahead of me. Poor Beebs. Poor Me. Poor Everyone in the pharmacy. I love how everyone asks me how old she is. I can just tell they are expecting me to say “2” which would just immediately explain her horrible behavior. But I get to say “1” and they think that I am raising the demon spawn. But they say “she’s so cute” and when she gets in a good mood and says “what’s that?” all excitedly to a pumpkin they laugh and comment how smart she is, and then when I say “Pumpkin” and she insists “Ball” they think she’s just a genius, and then she tries to tear a chocolate bar out of a nearby customer’s hand and it starts all over. All I want to say is “Can’t you all see that I am going to go postal soon? Please just get me my prescription and get us the hell out of here.”

Then we left the pharmacy and walked across to the scrapbook store just so I could see what adhesives they carry. And from the second we hit the door, she screams hysterically. And loudly. So that we have to leave. So we go to McDonalds because this wrestling match has left MOM starving, and I Have more errands to run before she sprouts more heads. So we grab chicken nuggets and apple dippers for her and a toddler toy. She is happy. I am able to talk to the cable company, and my husband, and head for the recycling center where I miss my turn like an idiot and then the entire box of cardboard and magazines and newspapers dumps all over the entire van (and I mean the entire van, damn do magazines slide!) and I am once again cursing my green self and wondering why I am like the only person on the planet with every cereal box flattened and every soy milk carton rinsed and opened. Seriously? So I have to repeatedly climb in and out of the back of the van and RESORT the cardboard from the magazines, and dump everything where it goes, WHILE explaining to Evan everything the cable company said, which I already explained in my voicemail. Poor me. Poor Pregnant Me.
I called my friend Cari and arranged to meet her for an exchange after her work. Ardyn and I had planned to go to the library to return our books and pick out new ones but I could just imagine what screaming tantrums would look like in the library. So we went through the drive through book drop off. And met Cari. While waiting for her I cleaned out the entire van. And got a GIANT bag of garbage and crap. Yay! And then Ardyn hit hysteria level again. So I decided to drive onto the next town, and do my errands there, so that she could nap on the drive. And she did. And then we went to Target. And she was on and off so so in there, mostly on, but screamed every 20 minutes or so. She was temporarily pacified by a set of $1 wooden maracas with animals painted on them. Very temporarily. Then she was pacified by repeatedly throwing the van keys onto the floor where I had to bend to retrieve them.

I found the twin sized sheet set that I was looking for. It felt strange to be buying a brand new sheet set just to cut it up, but It is cheaper than buying fabric, and it matches the rug and theme of her room perfectly, so I am going to make my own toddler sheet set. Tonight I made two pillowcases for her new toddler pillow, from soft flannel and satin blanket binding. One in orange and one in red. I also got 6 Fabric Cubes that will fit in the 9 cube organizer that I will soon be getting to store diapers and pajamas and socks for both kids. They were on sale this week. I now have red, lime, turquoise, and hot pink. If they had orange it would be PERFECT but it’s pretty damn close!

I bought her a fancy nancy dress up hat, and she loves it. It’s purple straw with all kinds of ribbons and flowers in yellow, orange and pink. I knew I could make my own for less than 9.99 but I also knew that finding a straw hat to fit her head size might require more effort than I wanted to expend at this point. After the Target trip, in which we perused practically every inch of the store, I saw some really cool bins that are kinda pliable plastic and have handles cut in the ends, and are the perfect size for putting things on her toy shelves, like people, dishes, her tea set, her music instruments, etc. I was going to get red ones to match her room and label them, but then I figured that she can’t see inside, and she can’t read… so then I saw the same ones come in CLEAR. AWESOME. But they didn’t have any in stock. But that’s okay because I was out of money anyways. On my next trip I will be grabbing just a handful to try out. They are strong enough like hard plastic, but flexible to bend if someone say “stepped on one” or tried to stand inside one… *gasp!*

After Target we went to the mall to grab my wedding ring from the jewelry store. Once again Ardyn had screaming tantrums because we had to WAIT while they got the ring and typed a bunch of shit into the computers. Ugh. And while trying to hold onto her and stop her from screaming (with no success) my cell phone is ringing in my purse. And a couple looking at wedding rings was there looking very afraid as if seeing their own future. Or maybe they changed their minds about marriage. Ha. I got my ring and it is a half size too big but stays on perfectly, exactly as I want it, to leave room for a little last month swelling. And it has been all polished and fixed and is as pretty as the day I got it. Yay! Ardyn screamed for a little while while we got strapped into the van, and part of the way home, but then fell asleep and also slept for about an hour when we got home. Thank GOD.

When she woke up she was so hysterical that she wouldn’t open her eyes. I changed her diaper while she screamed hysterically. I checked her temp. Nothing. Then I gave her some hylands tablets in case it was teeth. I was really beginning to think that something was really wrong. As in call the pediatrician or go to the emergency room wrong. We tried a drink. We tried daddy. We tried an ice cube in a washcloth. We tried walking. We tried sitting. We tried rocking. She screamed so hard I thought she was going to throw up. And then I told Evan that I had an idea and I put in Little Einstein’s DVD and she was instantly quiet and sitting watching it. So it was a tantrum. Again. And maybe a little teething. So we made her a light supper and she ate, and has been mostly fine ever since, although she did think that it was cute to try to pull the fabric out of the serger while I was sewing, nearly ruining her pillowcases. Dad came and got her and she was banned from the sewing room while I finished.

She should be off to bed shortly, and then I can watch the rest of Jumper and maybe just relax (ha.)
Sewing is mostly my relaxation now, which sometimes seems crazy when it can take so much thought. But I can whip up a pair of pants in no time now, so it isn’t a big deal, and I feel satisfied with creating something unique and useful, and pants that are custom fit to a fluffy diaper butt. What makes me the happiest is making something that didn’t require a pattern, but just a measuring tape and some common sense. The serger is so awesome. I serge what I can and sew the rest.

Tomorrow we have a dermatologist appointment... although Ardyn’s rash is about 50-60% better since eliminating soy milk from her diet. Then tomorrow evening we are putting the downpayment on the new house windows, having the installer come and measure, and order them. I can’t wait. Especially since it is even COLDER in the house this year than last year, and usually we would be working on putting plastic on all the windows by now. Tonight Evan was saying “It’s FREEZING in here!” and I said “I know but the heat is on 73 degrees! Ugh. It seems insane, but windows make it so cold! I can’t wait to get them. I am so excited!
Still no internet, but my conversation with Comcast today resulted in our billing issues being resolved, which reduced my “bill” amount from $900.00 to $240.ish Huge Difference. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have cable and internet at home so I can upload a bunch of photos and get this backlog of blog postings online. Ya’ll are gonna have a lot to read!

Well, have a great night. I know I will sleep well after telling Ardyn “No” and “Stop” ten thousand times today. He he. Maybe I will even get a load of laundry done tonight so that I have clothes to wear tomorrow! You know you’re nuts when prepping fabric takes precedence in the washing machine over your own 10 pair of maternity underwear.