The Day the Music Died....

Sometimes, I get more attached to my kids' toys than they do. For this very reason, I have a little "memory box" where I put special toys when the girls get bored or outgrow them. For instance, like the little Ernie doll that Miss Princess would never part with. The memory box is getting a new addition. Dr. D's little music box: Ages ago, we bought her this "Backyardigans" book in Toys R Us, and it came with a little "cd player" and little "cd's" -- it is (was) her favorite thing. Whenever she got stressed out (yes, my 3-year old gets stressed) she'd pop herself up on the couch in "her spot" and play her music, and rock back and forth until whatever the crisis was passed. The other night we were getting the girls ready for their bath, and I was running the water; Dr. D. came running in buck nekkid, and got into the tub -- it was too late before I realized that the music box was in the tub as well. I tried to let it dry out, but it's toast. I found her looking for it the other day, and singing one of the little songs (I think it was "Home on the Range...") I wanted to cry. There's no way she'd understand what's happened, so I'll tuck the cd player into the memory box, and someday she and I will find it and laugh about it together.

Dr. D. has mastered a pretty good ostrich imitation of late: she'll do something that gets her in trouble, and when she hears me use "the voice" (aka the voice that means she's about to get an ass-whoopin'...) she drops everything, runs for a secluded corner, bends over at the waist, sticks her ass in the air, and her head on the floor - like an ostrich sticking her head in the ground. No matter how mad I am at that point, I can't help but giggle when she does it. Speaking of asses, she's got one heck of a diaper rash. I think its a combination of her 3-year molars, and the fact that she's trying all these new foods, and the fact that she's got a sensitive gut to begin with. Just when you think you're done with a particular phase of child-rearing -- like diaper rash -- it comes back again to remind you of how tricky this parent gig can be.

We took the girls to see "Surf's Up" this week - they both liked it. I thought it was just OK. Then we went off to Wendy's where the girls had french fries and I had a vanilla Frosty float - the greatest invention of our time!

Looks like we've got the pool up and running. Pool maintenance is just a pain in the ass, period. I had to get a new pool liner this summer, even though we had a new one put in last summer. I think the liner ripped, so we just blew almost $400 for a new liner and install - not to mention that those chemicals are NOT cheap. That's OK -- in a couple weeks when I'm blissfully floating around in crystal blue water, you're allowed to remind me about how I bitched about it - and then I'll apologize.

Have a great weekend everyone!