Rammidy Rammity

I really like being Bowser on Mario Kart. He is a big character so when I drive I get to just go wherever I want and ram other people off the road. I like ramming. This makes me a bit of a hazard in the team games but I just really like that if anyone runs in to me, it is their fault.
You might ask yourself why this is important. believe me it is. I think it means I need a bigger car mainly. You see maybe the same thing could apply to driving. What kind of car would I need? I think I should blame the video game for my desire to sometimes ram the other players, like the people who cut you off then slow down 20 miles.
We have done a lot of driving this summer- and I have learned that the enemy of cruise control is the competitive driver. These are the drivers that really make me crazy. You set the cruise and come up on them and they speed up just so you can't pass them. Then you give up and they slow down again. Like it's a race. As soon as they realize they are about to lose their spot they freak out, then stop paying attention and slow again. Competitive drivers want you to maintain the status quo- where they are ahead. They want you to know that they were always going fast and your passing is an insult. Maybe they don't have cruise control- and I wish I had some kind of car sign that says- you are the one with the crazy changing speed jerkface. My favorite thing? A competitive driver that gets pulled over when they are trying really hard to establish their dominance.
The other day I was at the grocery store and the strangest thing happened. I met a competitive driver in the aisle. I was trying to look at things and she kept getting in front of me- slow down, speed up, she was just following me. Even though I didn't need anything in the aisle we met in, she was not going to let me pass her. I didn't realize how effective people could be at blocking a shopping aisle where really two carts could fit comfortably past. Normally you can ask people to move to the side but not really when they are still moving and you just want to pass them. She had two whining kids and a shoulder length brown hair with a tight perm. I never did pass her.
The other day at the park Danielle was playing and a kid wanted her to get out of the wooden boat- a competitive driver in the making. Too bad there aren't more adults around to tell those people to let the kid who got their first stay in the fast lane.

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Tagged. Finally.

Hello everyone I got tagged by Annie- I am happy to be tagged and welcome other tags. so here it is.

3 Joys:

• Shoes
• Gossip
• Chocolate
  

3 Fears:

• abandonment
• being fat forever
• having no money
  

3 Goals:

• Lose 20 pounds
• finish my business plan
• work out 5 days a week
  

3 Current Obsessions/Collections:

• board games
• strawberry whoppers
• sewing
  

3 Random Surprising Facts About Me:

• I learned how to make a believable fart noise with my hand last week
• I have published a paper or two about linguistics and German
  
• I am a licensed German teacher.
  

I tag - Rachelle, Heather and Jen

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Boise

We had lots of fun this weekend visiting Claire and Steve. Danielle especially liked the fountains at the Farmers market and PF Changs, which is her favorite restaurant. They have huge kids portions and she eats lots of Shrimp Fried Rice whenever we go there. We didn't get to play tennis (I was feeling like too much of a bum) but we did get to play lots of Mario cart.
I have been informed that there aren't very many pictures of me on here- sorry! I take most of the pictures and sometimes I just feel too chubby so I don't post them! Anyway Claire is learning to quilt and I was excited to sew with her. Baby girl was excited to find a permanent marker and color all over her dress and neck. I think baby girl has shut the door to her room right now. She likes to go into a room and shut to door. Then I am supposed to open the door. The process continues from there. I occasionally wish she wanted to play a different game after about 20 minutes of this. It is amazing what Danielle will do if someone is playing with her. She could throw the ball for a few hours. We let her play this game a lot, but then she doesn't understand why she shouldn't throw the bowl. Kids are funny that way. Now she forgot that one of the important aspects of the door opening game is mommy, who is the one who opens the door. She just wandered down the hall and I am writing about Boise. How long are you supposed to wait before freeing a child from a room they have shut themselves into? I am not quite sure but I will probably go get her.
Boise was great fun. It made me realize that I am really dreading driving with her anywhere- especially back to Philly. Oh dear. I also think that working full time must be easier than school, because I get to spend to much time with John. I will miss it. So will Danielle, who starts running all around the house whenever daddy comes home.

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Potty Training

I realized this week that I am a college educated mom that is a little bit obsessed with potty. Some people call it being busy or doing in your pants. Some people hate to change diapers and some people never go to the bathroom in front of their spouse. One thing that all moms seem to have in common is that they are faced with cleaning up after someone every day. In one of my college classes we studied German fairy tales. One thing that wasn’t really a paper topic since it was over done was German obsession with fecal material. I guess there is a lot of German Literature about going potty. Freud even wrote about what stage in development makes humans obsessed with their own waste. Even reading the material then it was a little bit awkward. I don’t really like bathroom humor because I just don’t think it is funny so why is there so much psychological literature explaining why this type of joke or obsession exists? Germans are much more open about things like an upset stomach or digestive problems. I will always remember the first time someone told me in detail about being sick. I thought it was so strange at the time, why in the world would they share that, or think a lot about that?

Last Thursday Danielle went to the bathroom for the first time on her potty. She has been sitting on the potty every time I go for a while now and finally her moment to really go potty instead of just rip toilet paper up like mommy does had arrived. I am so ashamed at how thrilled I was that my only option was so make a blog entry about it. It has taken me over a week to try to think of what if anything I could write about such a personal topic. Toilet training is just a little bit different than the debate between cloth and disposable diapers. Also what grown adult wants to call everyone they know when someone else goes to the bathroom? I didn’t have to change that diaper. Danielle has gone potty in her potty three times already. She gets M&Ms when she does but I don’t think she has any idea what is going on yet. Maybe when she has more words than ma, da and doggie.

One time someone asked my mother why Danielle wasn’t potty trained yet. She was six months old at the time. Maybe Americans really are on a different time table than others with potty training. I don’t know too much about it but I have heard all sorts of crazy advice, from the people who think a six month old should be potty trained to people who are shocked that I change a diaper before it is full of poop.

How does one end a blog post like this? I still have just as many questions about this as I do about the mysteries of potty.

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Secret Dancer

Something about being a mom brings me back to things I wanted to do in gasp- high school. I am reminded especially of dance parties I would have with my friends- Just a few of us, dancing out hearts out. I don’t think that we were particularly good dancers- we weren’t like the girls that got together for dance parties after hours and hours of practice at the dance studio. Danielle and I have private dance parties. The 15 year old discovering movement is excited that Danielle seems to laugh when we get to dance together, and I love dancing with just to two of us. Sometimes when daddy comes home too since he will dance with Danielle, but I guess I am just more of a secret dancer. Two days ago I discovered Danielle is a secret dancer as well. She always likes it when we have music on in the car and on that particularly fussy evening we were trying to find a station that wasn’t too annoying. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Danielle lean her head forward in her seat and start to dance. As soon as I was seen the dancing stopped and she looked out the window, nonchalantly. It almost never happened. Then a few minutes later another of her favorite songs came on and the dancing started again. If she was discovered her audience the fun was over. Now and then Danielle hears the music and is moved, and sometimes she does her spinning dance with no music, but I know she is hearing the call of the secret dance.

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