Vagina Monologues

Vagina Monologues
I was bathing Lucy Friday night and she informed me, while using her finger to point,
Mummy! I have a vajayjay!
Yes you do Lucy!
Mummy have a vajayjay?
Yep, Mummy has one just like Lucy, all girls have a vajayjay...
Even Rosie?
Yes, even Rosie...all girls have a vajayjay..
Oh...yeah for vajayjay (with her hands raised above her arms)

Vagina Monologues Part II
I overheard Lucy having a similar conversation later in the weekend with her Dad. It started by her asking him if he had a vajayjay
No Lucy, only girls have a vajayjay, boys have a penis
Oh, no vajayjay Daddy?
No honey, that's one of the things that makes boys and girls different:Girls have a vajayjay, boys
have a penis
Oh, okay Daddy

(side note: I was super impressed with how Sean handled this and was even more impressed with the whole "one of the things that makes boys and girls different"
So as a result of this, I am rewarding Sean by letting him have THE TALK with Lucy when she turns 10)

Later, as I was dressing her, Lucy said
Mummy, Daddy no have a vajayjay
I know honey
Oh...boys no have a vajayjay, boys have a penis (which sort of came out p-is)
That's right Lucy, girls have a vajayjay, boys have a penis.
Oh, so Daddy have a penis....(I nodded my head and said that's right as she paused collecting her next thought)........which she delivered with a solemn face and a small sigh.....
**.......Poor Daddy.......**

Maria, the Mum

The Negotiator, Spies Like Us, Golden Ticket

The Negotiator

Sometimes, in order to get Lucy to do things, we "negotiate" with her (some may call it bribing...some bargaining…..some may call it keeping one's sanity intact...

We'll say something like

Lucy, if we don't go upstairs and get changed, we can't go see Rosie
Lucy, we need to get a clean diaper or no hot dog
Lucy, let's get our shoes on or no playground

Lucy turned the tables on me the other night…I was trying to change her and she looked at me and said

No Beatles, no diaper

Spies Like Us
I walk into our bedroom to find Sean and Lucy stretched out on the bed looking out the window
What are you doing I ask?
Watching the people replied Sean, we're spying!
What people? I asked
Lucy popped up on her knees and yelled loudly while pointing out the window,
This people!!!!
This people!!! she yelled again causing them to look up at our bedroom window

Cover blown

The Golden Ticket
Sean observed the other day lottery winners seem to be old and immigrants…..he's going to start buying tickets this week

Maria, the Mum

Game On, What's for Dinner, Beatles, Haircut

Is there a game on?
When Lucy and I get home from work/school, I am in the habit of flipping the TV on to catch the news

The night we had the storms and the tornadoes, the news coverage remained on the TV, never breaking to normal programming

Lucy had finished dinner and was sort of flitting about the kitchen dancing and chattering away.

At one point, she stopped in front of me and said

Mama, I don't want to watch this anymore, she announced with one hand on her hip and the other point at the TV. Watch something else!

What would you like to watch Lucy? internally, I prepared myself for a battle as to why we could not watch Blues Clues or Yo Gabba Gabba

Ummmmmm.......Lucy has a long think and brings her hand to her chin and she raises her eyes upward deep in thought......

Ummmmmm, how about the baseball game?!?!?

Eggs, its whats for dinner
When I picked Lucy up on Monday, she and Rosie were putting some toys away in the tubs out on the playground. They spotted a spider and spent a few minutes watching him scurry about.

Lucy called me over to observe the spider

Look Mama! Itsy bitsy spider! Look! Look! LOOK!!!!! she jumped up and down and pointed in the tub and pulled me down to see

So I stuck my head in and ohhed and ahhed and made a couple comments about how fast the spider can run.

Lucy stuck her head in with me and we watched the spider work his way out of the tub and scuttle off away from us

Where he go? asked Lucy

He's going home for dinner Lucy. Just like we have to....

Oh, OK Mama, she replied slightly dejectedly

I put my hand out for her and we started to walk away

We stopped to say good night to Rosie and Lucy informed her the spider went home for dinner

He did? said Rosie, I wonder what he'll have for dinner....

Lucy, not missing a beat declares

Eggies!!!

Another Generation of Fans
Lucy is a grubber. As a direct result of this, most of the clothes I buy for her come right from Target ($3-4 for a shirt, $3-4 for a pair of pants/shorts) or Kohls (same things, $3-5 for each piece)

At Target, I often browse through the boy's section for T Shirts - they run bigger than the girls and I find that a 3T boys will fit her longer than a 3Y girls. In the last bunch I picked up, one of them happened to be a T Shirt with a cartooninsh picture of The Beatles on it - John, Paul, Ringo and George. It's actually a pretty cool T Shirt - like one I would wear of it came in my size

When I initially put it on Lucy, she was not impressed with it - until I turned her iPod on, flipped it to the Beatles "1" Album and explained to her the Beatles on her shirt were The Beatles singing not beetles.

Lucy now loves The Beatles: her T Shirt and the singing ones

While getting her dressed for bed (she often wears a T Shirt to bed and the boys T Shirts are perfect night shirts for her) she'll tell us I want my Beatles, I want my Beatles shirt!

And when we pull it down over her head, she screeches in delight BEEAATLESSS!!! My Beatles!!
We then of course have to turn on the music and listen to a couple songs while singing (which when Lucy says sing also means dancing)

And if we ask her if she'd like to listen to music....

Yeah! How about the Beatles?

What, no Lollipop?
Last weekend, we took Lucy to Davis Farmland.

Davis is this fantastic Farm in Sterling where the animals roam around the grounds, you can go in and cuddle the cows, you can chase the chickens, goats and sheep. You can pet a llama, a chinchilla, big fat rabbits and ride a pony. Oh, you can also milk a fake cow....which Lucy did a number of times but was quick to point out

Hey! That's not milk Mama! That water!!! Where the milk?

Well, this is only a pretend cow Lucy so we pretend the water is milk....

Oh.....silly fake cow! she declared as she slapped her on the rump....

While we were there, the sheep were being sheared...we asked Lucy if she would like to watch the sheep get a haircut...

The fellow doing it was quote entertaining and used clippers the whole time instead of an electric razor...so instead of taking 15.3 seconds as it does in a sheep shearing contest, it took probably 30-35 minutes...and eternity to a 2 year old....

But Lucy watched pretty intently though at one point she was distracted by a goat who came over to see her........

Where his Mummy Mama? Where his Mummy?

I don't know Lucy....

He sad Mama......you be his Mummy!

At least three times, she pointed at the sheep and farmer guy and asked

What he doin'?

And Sean would explain The sheep is getting a hair cut...just like Lucy!

A haircut?

Yes baby, a haircut....

Oh....sheep get lollipop after haircut? Like Lucy? (when you go to Snip Its, after the haircut is over, the kids get a lollipop and a little prize...one time Lucy got a knock off plastic slinky and she thought it was the best thing ever...she still has that slinky and if you mention hair cut, she brings up her slinky and asks for a lollipop)

Well, let's wait and see honey.....

When the sheep was done getting a haircut and was sent back to her pen, Lucy pops up from her Dad's lap and says

Hey! No lollipop?

Maria, the Mum

The Block

I still have the block - so I've come up with my own lists list...and instead of ten minutes per list, I have to move to the next list when the song I'm listening to on my iPod ends....

List of Lucy, please stop....
Lucy, please stop licking yourself
Lucy, please stop licking the lotion off your arm
Lucy, please stop eating your shirt, you are not a goat!
Lucy, please stop putting your fingers in there
Lucy, please stop licking your plate....I will get your more ketchup
Lucy, please stop tugging on the puppy's penis
Lucy, please stop jumping off the porch
Lucy, please stop coloring on the windows
Lucy, please stop feeding the fish, we don't want him to get a belly ache (Ah Mama, do fish have bellies?)
Lucy, please, for the love of God, please stop licking the lotion off your arm
Lucy, please stop licking Mummy's arm

List of my favorite things to hear Lucy say
I love you
How about again?!?!
Mama/Daddy, look! A fire hydrant
Mama/Daddy, will you read to me?
Mama sing! Daddy sing!
I wanna see Caiti...
Mama, I like (insert name here)
Have a good day Mama! See you this afternoon!
Mama, where Daddy? I miss Daddy....
That's so cheesey!
Scooby Dooooo!!! Where are you?????
Mama, read Winnie the Pooh
Hot Diggity Dog!

List of what I remember from the day Lucy was born
I watched a Jon and Kate Plus 8 Marathon
They had tried to induce my labor the day before but nothing was happening so the Doctor decided to break my water
Getting your water broken is the most uncomfortable thing ever - I don't care what they tell you in birthing class, it was fucking uncomfortable...!
Yet the breaking of my water was also a bit of a relief...given that I lost about 20lbs in water weight, it should have been
I wanted a Blizzard from Dairy Queen in the worst way but they would not let me eat
Which meant my last supper had been the shitty chicken sandwich I had the day before
The nurses spent a lot of time in my room
I had an ultra sound and when the picture was handed to me, I fell in love
When Dr Wu was examining me, Lucy kept kicking her - Dr Wu informed me This baby is going to be a spitfire....if she only knew....
At one point, the nurse who was watching the monitor said can you feel that contraction? Yeah I said, why? Because the woman screaming next door is having the same one you are and all you did was shift your position. Doesn't it hurt? Yeah, I replied, but I feel like yelling might make it hurt more
To the Doctor doing my epidural: So this is my first time (getting an epidural), please tell me its not your first time doing one?

List of what I wanted to be when I grew up...from when I was a kid up till now...
A nun (3rd grade)
John Travolta's Girlfriend (3rd Grade)
A Teacher
A Librarian
A Writer
A newscaster
A reporter
A toy tester
A bartender
A Mum (check)
A Wife (check)
An event planner
A personal shopper
A bookstore owner
A baker
A lawyer
A book reviewer (like a food critic but books)
A columnist
An Editor of a newspaper
A farmer - or a farmer's wife

What I wish I could do or know how to do that I can't or just don't for whatever reason (but probably could if I put my mind to it...well, some things but not all)
Draw
Knit
Play the piano or guitar
Sing
Run...you know be one of those people who gets up early and runs a couple miles before the day begins
Cook a five course meal - and cook it well
Be one of those Mums who remembers to take pictures at all events
Be one of those Mums who remembers to take a new picture of their child every day/week/month
Scrap booking - did I really just write that?
Shop - I hate shopping but sometimes wish I were better at it
Speak a foreign language....just to say I can...like....Irish Gaelic or Welsh
Reconnect with old friends

Maria, the Mum

Writer’s Block

Sean's oldest and dearest friend came for a visit. Gareth arrived last Thursday, 5.26, and left Sunday…..so I have not blogged much. Don't get me wrong, there's been lots to blog about (where we took him, his reaction to eating his first burrito ever, his fascination and appreciation of Fenway, how Lucy attached herself to him, how he introduced Lucy to Scooby Doo cartoons…) but it appears I have writer's block. I'm having trouble getting motivated to write…and then when I get motivated, everything is all jumbled in my head. So I decided I need to do something to unjumble everything that is flying around in my brain – this is my attempt to focus myself.

Sometimes, when I'm on Blogger, I browse through the other blogs that are out there (using the Next Blog link thing on the top of the page). The other day, there was a blog that caught my eye – actually, there was a link on the side of the page that caught my eye. It was called Listology…so I clicked on it and was taken top another blog…..where someone has posted 52 questions and challenged you to write answer to one question a week and post them on your blog…linking to her blog so she can see all the people who are participating.

Given that I am not one for group activities…and did not want to come off as some creepy blog stalker, I just decided to steal her question and use them when I felt like I needed a jump start……I've given myself ten minutes for each list

List all the teachers you can remember:

Ms Howard, Kindergarten, I made her cry

Mrs Hooper, First Grade, I still adore her and get giggly when I see her

Mrs Hamlin, Second Grade, she had the Reading Castle and may have started my love for reading….this is also where I started to become an over achiever as you were rewarded with stars on the castle for every book you read and I always had the most stars….more so because I loved reading

Mrs Howard, the reading teacher was the one who cultivated my love for reading

Mrs Alley was my Third Grade Teacher and used to read to us Paddington Bear….but she also made you sit on a box if you misbehaved so her good deed was sort of undermined by the whole box thing

Mr Mugnai was my Fourth Grade Teacher….we did not get along….I think that was when I started to develop and attitude towards teachers…also my first foray into politics as I was elected Class president

Mrs Lent was my Fifth Grade Teacher….she was kooky and I loved her! She taught me to knit during inside recess when it was too cold or rainy to go outside. I must have made a million pairs of slippers that year.

Mr Walker was the music teacher, Ms Kellenbeck was art and gym was Miss….I have no idea how to spell her name..Collasey…Linda was her first name. And Mrs Capen was the Librarian at the school….I used to want to be a librarian because of her…..and I wanted to be a teacher because of Mrs Hooper

When I got to Junior High, that was when you had multiple teachers and I remember most of them: Mr Drisko (social studies/civics) Miss Cluff, Mrs Stoneton, and Mrs Lisnick all taught reading/English. Mr Kingsbury and Mrs Harrington (best teacher ever!) were the Science Teachers. Mr Thurston and Mr Quint taught Math

High School….Mrs Sullivan, Mrs LeBlanc, Mr and Mrs Delvecchio, Mr Nahra, Dr Jones, Mr Cowan, Mr Floyd, Mr Merry-o-la, Mrs Millet, Mrs Sprague, Mr Wilson, Mrs Strauch, Mr Schaab, Mr McCarthy, Mrs Waring, Mr Soucy

Oddly, I remember my elementary school teachers better than anyone….what does that tell you?!? I can name maybe three professors from College….and that would be pushing it….Dr Copeland, Dr Schafer, and….okay, I can remember two…so sad….

List things that freak you out:

Twins…identical twins more than fraternal….but twins nonetheless

Snakes

Listening to someone describe how an injury occurred or a dental procedure

Death

Heights

Liberals

Dwarfs

Gnomes

A lot of anything in one place (I blame my sister Mikel for this) specifically flocks of birds

The thought of the world ending freaks me out – not like the apocalypse but like the physical earth blowing up

The movie Planet of the Apes freaks me out but I watch it whenever it's on

People who believe in paranormal stuff freak me out…..because they always seem so paranoid and that freaks me out…and new age stuff

Fairies

I think more thoughts than things freak me out….that would be a list in itself

Flying freaks me out

Feet and toes, especially when they are clammy and cold

List books that made you cry:

Bridge to Terabithia

Where the Red Fern Grows

The Giver

Sounder

Messenger

Love you Forever

A Taste of Blackberries

The Shack

Joshua

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Bible

Little Women

The Red Tent

The Stone Diaries

We Were the Mulvaneys

God on a Harley

Deep End of the Ocean

Stones From the River

Tuesdays with Morrie

Lesson Before Dying

Conversations with God

Into the Wild

Cider House Rules

Lovely Bones

Happiest Baby on the Block

Prince of Tides

Kite Runner

I Heard the Owl Call My Name

Shoeless Joe

Ok, my thirty minutes are up....maybe now the block is broken.....

Maria, the Mum

What's......

What's it look like I'm doing?
The other night, while dressing Lucy for bed, she pulled her foot up to her nose

What are you doing I asked?

Scratching my nose Mama!

What's for lunch?
Yesterday afternoon, while wandering around Boston Common, Sean spotted a butterfly and pointed it out to Lucy. She watched the butterfly for a few seconds when it abruptly flew away

Where he go Mama?

To get lunch I replied

Oh Mama.....

What do you think he eats for lunch Lucy?

Ummmmm......a hotdog!



What's your name?
A week or so ago, I asked Lucy who a picture on the refrigerator was of (it was her)

That's me! she replied hopping up and down

Who are you I asked?

I Lucy Ellen Sykes!


I almost fell over, I had no idea she knew her full name....and she just busted out with Lucy Ellen Sykes....pretty cool the first time you hear it.

She also, as I mentioned a few blogs back, has figured out that Sean and I have first names, we're not just Daddy and Mama.

This morning, while making breakfast for Lucy, she was pointing to the pictures on the refrigerator and naming the person in each photo :

There Daddy, Lucy, Papa, Noni, Cooper, Mama, Lucy, Daddy, Lucy, Lucy......

Hey Lucy...what's your name?

Lucy Ellen Sykes!

What's Daddy's name?

Sean!

What's Mama's name?

Maria!

What's Daddy's whole name....?

Uhhhhhhhhh........Sean Daddy Sykes!

Maria, the Mum

Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday

We were married May 26, 2007 at Immaculate Conception Church in Malden
We had our Reception in a Barn with hot dogs, hamburgers and potato salad on the second hottest day in May on record for Boston

48 Months
1,460 Days
35,040 Hours
2,102,400 Minutes
126,144,000 Seconds

4 years....not really a landmark anniversary....but I think any year with me is one to be celebrated (so many ways you could interpret that statement, please, I beg of you, have fun with it at my expense)

In the grand scheme of things, four years is not very long.....but it's four years I did not have before today so for that, I am grateful.

Regardless of
how long or how short its been
how good or how bad things have been
how rich or how poor we've been
how sick or how healthy we've been
how hard we've laughed, cried, fought, made up, laughed some more and loved,
its been four years I would never give back or trade for anything - I can only hope that next four give to both of us, and Lucy, what the past four have given to us......

So Happy Anniversary to us -and to our families and friends who love and support us

Sean, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me, and you've given me all kinds of good stuff I could have only hoped for.

I love you more today than I did yesterday but not as much I will tomorrow......and please remember to bring the card you bought for me home from work

Maria, the Wife