I had a lovely evening with my dear friend last night. Sue has been my friend for nearly 20 years, and we always have so much fun. We sat and shared dinner and beer, and when the restaurant closed at 10, we stood outside and talked until we became too cold to continue. Otherwise, we probably would've stood for another two hours and talked. We could talk forever. Literally. We would never, never run out of conversation. It's lovely. I came home to a relatively clean house, kid in bed, and husband nearly asleep on the couch. And, even better, I only got one call while I was out-- and it was legitimate, a question about Nan's medicine. But best of all? Jay got up early this morning, got Nan dressed and fed, and took her to the Children's Museum so I could finish up the ethics class I'm taking. WOOOOO! It makes it easier for me to handle his absence through the week when I know he'll take up the slack on the weekend. The kid misses her dad. The had a good evening last night, and I'm sure they're having a lot of fun at the museum today. And, it gives me a chance to miss my kid-- something every mom needs on occasion. I finished my ethics exam, and think I passed with flying colors. I'm looking forward to starting the actual meat of my program-- the coding and the billing. Hopefully, this will motivate me to move a bit quicker through the classes, and I can accomplish my goal of completing the course of study before February.
Lately, my child has been agitating to stay at the after-care at her preschool. Apparently, her best friend J gets to stay, and it's Shangri-La and Disneyworld all rolled into one fantastic package. They get to watch MOVIES! and bring a SPECIAL! BLANKET! and sit with their BEST! FRIEND! and clearly I'm a BAD MOM for not letting her stay. Why won't I let her stay? Why don't I want her to be happy? Finally, I have relented, and I signed her up to stay after on Monday. She's beyond excited, and has already chosen the blanket she wants to take with her. Fortunately, J's name was on the list, too, so her happiness should be complete. We'll see how happy she is when it's an hour past her usual naptime and she's not home in her bed. Or rather, we'll see how happy I am when she's napless and overexcited. Stay tuned.

I took Nan to the doctor this morning. She's had some questionable-looking toenails for some time now, and I decided to ignore her suggestion that we simply just avoid touching them until they feel better. I was right-- her big toes have infected nails, and the doctor recommended that we give her an antibiotic and soak the toes in epsom salts, then head to a podiatrist(!!) to get the nails cut. As the doctor said, "I don't wanna mess with that." When she prescribed the antibiotics, I heaved a huge internal sigh. Nan HATES the taste of the antibiotics, and we haven't found a flavor that makes it more palatable. And this particular medicine is to be taken THREE TIMES A DAY for TEN DAYS. Not sure what I've done to Dr. O to make her hate me, but it must've been bad. I broke out the bubble-gum flavored bottles from the pharmacy bag, and Nan started backing away, shaking her head "NOOOO" and covering her mouth with both hands. I used my firmest voice to order her to stay still and try it, and she let half a teaspoon dribble out of her mouth as she wailed at the injustice of being forced to take such swill. I sternly ordered her to the sink, where I washed us both off and administered the remainder of the dose. Sigh. Looking forward to repeating this three times a day for ten freaking days. But, we did manage to hit the office on a day that they had H1N1 flu-mist available, so she's vaccinated. And it was painless. Thank God. I'm a little irritated that I, as a person with a suppressed immune system, cannot go the mist route for my vaccination this year, but must be stuck with the needle. No fair. I find I'm dragging my feet in finding somewhere to get myself vaccinated-- I do so hate needles, and I have never taken the flu vaccine before. But. This year's strain is particularly bad, and if I get sick, I can't take care of the kid. That's the ONLY reason I've entertained the thought of getting one. I suppose I should suck it up and call our family doctor, and try to get in one morning while Nan's at school. It sucks to be a grownup.

I have decided to attempt to participate in NaBloPoMo... we'll see if I can do it. I'm already behind, as I didn't post on the 1st, but hey! Two in a row! Go, MEEEE! I woke this morning at 7am, which is remarkable, as my daughter's eyes generally function like those pop-up timers in turkeys-- at 6am, her eyelids pop open and she's ready to party. I, however, am markedly un-ready to party at 6am. As are most humans. So, I blearily turn on the TV (thanks, 24-hour NickJr!) and roll over to snooze to the sounds of 'Ni Hao, Kai Lan'. Which can make for some kooky dreams. Anyway. This morning, she decided to give her mama a break, and I awoke when I became aware that the sun was up, and Nan wasn't. Then, I did a little happy dance in my head and went back to sleep. I love the days where we don't have to be anywhere at any particular time, and I am becoming aware that these days are numbered. Next year, she'll be at preschool four days a week, and then-- kindergarten! Where she has to be up, fed, dressed, and ready to roll EVERY DAY of the week, which means I have to be up, dressed, and relatively ready EVERY DAY of the week. Yikes. I know I've got some time before this is the new normal-- like, almost two years-- but! But! It's something I haven't had to consider since she was an infant, and I was working outside of the house. The panicky feeling it instills is interesting, and unpleasant. Apparently my own brand of control-freakiness extends to being master of when I leave the house. Time to deal with that later.
Nan is going through the most delightful dress-up phase. I've had each meal with a different creature lately-- the last two days, it's been a unicorn. Later today, it could be a princess. Or a cowgirl. Or a police officer. Is it bad that I'm considering making another visit to Target to see what's left of the clearance costumes? My sister and I loved to pretend, and dress up, and if we'd had the costume trunk Nan has? Oh, my. Our tiny minds would've exploded.
Nan is pretending to be Mommy now-- Mommy dressed as a unicorn, but Mommy all the same-- and she keeps calling me "Hons", which, in my mind, sounds like "Huns", as in Atilla the, so I have a little giggle every time she addresses me. And now it's time for Nanny Mom and her Hons (or Huns) to go grocery shopping.

Soooo. It's been awhile. School started, for Jay and for Nan, and things have not slowed down since. I didn't make my goal of finishing my classes before Jay started back-- in fact, I've only accomplished 1 3/4 of a class since the beginning of August. I need to step it up, but I find myself exhausted by the basic maintenance the family requires. I'm hoping that I can sort of re-commit myself to my goal of finishing in the next two or three months-- I need to quit making breakfast and lunch dates on Natalie's school days, and sequester myself with my book and my Ipod. There. Resolution established on a semi-public forum... perhaps that can keep me honest. Halloween engulfed most of the month of October. We're fans, apparently, of the whole dress-up thing. Natalie wore two different costumes to the various parties and outings we attended in October-- she was a Barbie Princess (very different from the run-of-the-mill princess, she will have you know) and then she decided on her old standby, the Supergirl costume, for the actual night of trick-or-treating.

The costume came with fancy booties that cover her shoes, lending the appearance of those awesome knee-high red and gold boots, but she refused to consider wearing them, even when Jay and I begged, wheedled, and pleaded with her. Three is stubborn. And Three doesn't want your stinking booties. But I love her pose-- she would stop periodically and do these hilarious contortions, usually with one arm out in front of her and her feet planted far apart, as if she were going to stop any evildoers with one hand. Silly girl. She's been wearing the Supergirl costume nearly every day for the last three or four weeks. However, last night we stopped to browse the post-Halloween clearance at Target, and found a contender to replace Supergirl in her affections-- Wonder Woman. This costume is fantastic. It comes with the dress, the crown, the MAGIC BRACELETS, and, of course, the damned booties that she'll refuse to wear even though they make the outfit look so. much. cooler. She's having a ball dressing up, and I like to indulge her in this, as it won't be long before she'll be too self-conscious to dress like a nutball in public. And, as a dear friend once reminded me, it's not as if people think I dressed her in these outlandish getups before heading to the grocery store-- they know it's allllll her, and if they've had a three-year-old, they know there wasn't much I could do about it.