The Po Show

The Flip Side

Ohhhkay, after my rather bitter and resentful (and brief) diatribe against having children yesterday, let's look at the other side of having small humans. Really, I should know better than trying to post during the morning while Ross is gone and both kids want my attention. Note to self.

My children are wonderful. They really are. They are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Trite as that sounds, it's the truth.

Tessa is two and a half and does things that two and a half year olds really aren't supposed to be able to do. She can draw representational art (you should see all the trains and party hats she drew the other day!). She has a knock out vocabulary (she points out not just squares and circles, but hexagons and trapezoids). She reads written numbers and many letter combinations. PLUS, she can throw and catch, can jump really high and can climb anything. She probably sings over 50 different songs. She does puzzles made for 3-7 year olds like they're nothing.

Like I say, she's the whole package. Like Ross says, she's all that, AND she ate the bag of chips.

She scares the hell out of me sometimes.

Matthew used to be my child prodigy. He still is, in many ways, simply amazing. He can listen to us read the Gamecube strategy guides he so adores, then run into the other room and follow the instructions perfectly. He is so good at these damn video games it's astonishing. He intuitively figures games out in a way I never, ever could.

But with other things, I'm surprised at how average he's become. I am extremely surprised that he doesn't read yet, since he knew his alphabet at 18 months and was sight reading words at 2. He just isn't into it. His handwriting is still really poor, and his math skills are pretty average.

But oh does that boy LOVE science. Biological science and physical science. It is amazing how quickly he grasps concepts, how much he remembers about animals and atmospheric conditions and other things he encounters. He is completely at home on the computer and can navigate his way around pretty well for someone who can't read.

So here I have these two smart kids, who are so different. Tessa makes friends everywhere she goes, actively seeking out attention from people so they'll make a fuss over her. Matthew is in his own little world so much of the time.

So much is so hard for him. I was amazed at how his speech therapist was able to pick up on areas that are difficult for him and parse them out into ways he could understand. It never occurred to me that he needed visual aids to explain to him that when someone says hello to you, you should say hello back to him/her, and why. All these things that most people "just" learn, Matthew has never learned. So I'm afraid for him, so much of the time. How is his life going to be?

Yikes, this is getting long... More later...'Night.

The Weather

I can't believe that I've gotten to the point where I look at the weather forecast and go "oooh, it's warm!" when the high for the day is in the 40s. The prospect of it being *57* degrees by next week makes me giddy.

To think that not that long ago, I thought it was freezing if it was less than 70 degrees in the dead of winter. I'm not sure I like this change in me.

Small Humans

I mean children, not the kind that belong to the Little People of America. I
have two. They rule my existence.

I watched "Lost in Translation" the other night (FABULOUS flick!!! The best movie I've seen in a long time. I think it's particularly fabulous if you've lived in Japan and understand how insane it is there.). Bill Murray's speech about how having children changes your whole life, because your life is no longer your own, brought tears to my eyes. OK, so I'm also a wee bit PMS-y. But the bittersweet acknowledgement of how being a parent eclipses your sense of self hits me hard. I feel it everyday.

Another movie moment: in "The Anniversary Party," Phobe Cates (yeah, Phoebe Cates for god's sake! I found new respect for her in this movie) talks about how having children ruins you. "You can't do yourself in...," she manages to choke out. That made me cry my eyes out. Because yeah, you don't even have that luxury, that option anymore, not with small humans to consider.

The mere fact that I've been trying to type this one-handed, because I have a two and a half year old stuck to my nipple, exemplifies my setting myself aside to meet my children's needs/wants/desires. And Matthew's been bugging me the whole time, wanting me to watch Sonic the Hedgehog with him. Can't I have two fucking minutes to type out some of my thoughts???

No, because I'm Mommy.

I can't believe I've actually done this... Once again, I get into a social phenomenon about five years after it's really cool...

Reasons for making a blog at this time:
1. Many of my friends have them, and I have a need to be part of the in crowd.
2. I'm trying to avoid working right now.
3. I've needed an outlet for my writing and I don't have the time or creative brain power to write anything of length.
4. Hell if I know...

A brief word on the Po. I am the Po. I was Po long long before Teletubbies. I was Po from childhood, when my sisters and mother called me Paki Po-Po. My husband later shortened it to Po, back about 1,000 years ago when we were first together. Not that this makes it any less odd of a nickname, but I just wanted to clarify that I am not a red, rotund alien with an antenna sticking out of my head. Not that there's anything wrong with that...