Did you know that when you yell at a child for crying, it MAKES THEM CRY HARDER? No? Well, now you know. My gift to you. It was a rough morning-- we were rushing around, trying to get ready to go to school. Wait. Scratch that. I was rushing around, trying to get ready to go to school, and Nan was crying about ridiculous things. The fact that her pink bunny was in the kitchen, when she wanted it in the bathroom with her. The fact that I gave her THE WRONG CUP. The fact that I gave her Dora yogurt when she wanted DIEGO yogurt. That was what caused the yelling. Sigh. It's okay now-- we made up, she went to school and had a great morning. I met a friend for lunch, and got to feel like a grown-up for a bit. That helped a lot.
This week, I met with my monthly book club. This has been a great addition to my life. I joined last fall, when I was starting to feel disconnected from the world at large-- working from home and hanging out with a toddler all day can make it difficult to get out of the house, and I needed to find a reason to leave. I found the group on meetup.com, and I really love it. It's an interesting mix of people-- we range from 25yrs old to 65yrs old. Men and women, married and unmarried, with kids and without. It's one of the few places in my life where I'm just Nikki, not Nan's mom or Jay's wife. It's lovely. Anyway, this month the leader asked me to bring a recommendation for the group's selection for next month. Usually, Elizabeth just brings a few ideas, and we vote, but she is getting tired of doing alll the legwork. I brought forward my idea, and the group agreed that we'd read it for October. Now that it's done, I'm having post-selection regret. I chose 'Skinny Legs and All', by Tom Robbins. This is one of my very favorite books. Ever. I'm wondering if I shouldn't have chosen a book so very close to my heart. It's kind of a kooky book, and I'm afraid it won't go down well with some of the older people in the group. I hope I don't feel personally attacked when they criticize the book. I might have been better off choosing something I hadn't read before, so that I wouldn't care so much if they dislike it. Ah, well. Too late now, huh? Hopefully, they'll all love it and I won't get all hurt-feelinged. If I'm asked to choose again, I'll choose a something a little less fraught.
Ok, one quick funny Nan story. Last night, my mom was here to help out with bath/bedtime while Jay was at choir practice. Mom was sitting on the couch, and Nan came to her and said, "Stand up, Grandma! You are a princess!" Mom laughed, and stood, and asked Nan,"And who are you?" Nan thought for a moment, and said, "I 'tending to be a MAN!" And then she asked the princess to dance. So Grandma the princess and Nan the man waltzed around our living room. They're crazy.