Tuesday Night, Wednesday Morning

Last night after dinner we went shopping – something that’s not normally done on a weekday night but we had things to get. For Christmas Lindsay and Mike got Nicole this really cool projector that shows view-finder slides (remember those!?) and has coordinated music. Jim loves/d it. Unfortunately the mechanics didn’t work quite right and it just zipped through all 20 slides continuously. We got a credit from Fisher-Price for $20 off of any of their products and have been looking at various times for just the right thing to replace it since. Jim wisely suggested we hit up Toys-R-Us as where better to find a toy?

Every time we go to TRU Jim comments about how much he loved the store as a kid. I didn’t go all that often so while we shop at the exact same store I did as a kid I'm not in as much awe as he is. Still makes me smile when he gets reminiscent though. : )

Anyway, I found these skates that clip over your shoes, something I did have as a kid, and Nicole’s feet will be big enough (size 6) to fit them by her birthday. Since they were on a shelf randomly I didn’t know the price and needed a check. To my amazement they were not only $24.99 but they qualified for the BOGO promotion Fisher-Price was having that we didn't know about. We ended up getting the skates and a learning vacuum (a favorite pastime of Nic’s) that teaches colors, alphabet and opposites, $50 in toys!, for $6.69 out of pocket! Nicole’s will get the vacuum now and the skates as part of her birthday present. THANKS LINDSAY!

After toy shopping we went to JC Penney where I might have found our curtains for the family room. OK, let me clarify, the curtains that I'll adjust and make my own as I never seem to be satisified with off-the-shelf draperies. I must have bad taste as the things I like/want don't seem to be sold anywhere and always need to be custom-created.

This morning Nicole was a terror. Breakfast was fine (how nice it is that she can use utensils and feed herself almost completely now) but then she wanted to fill her arms with books and take them all upstairs with her. Letting go of said books to lay down and get her diaper changed and clothes on led to fits, thrashing, yelling and crying. Ultimately she got a time out, stern talking to and smacked on her hand for bad behavior which did the trick and she calmed down. Sometimes I wonder if punishing her will make her mad at me but I’ve found that it typically has the opposite effect – she realizes she’s bad, thinks I'm mad, and then works extra hard to get back in my good graces. She was clingy, lovey and well-behaved the rest of the morning. Oh how I wanted to ring her little neck though!

Ironically Jim and I discussed what our morning schedule with Chris and Nicole will be the night before and I went to sleep feeling pretty confident of having a plan in place… clearly that won’t always work….