The Po Show

The Family Midget

That's what I'm going to be. I've said it for years, and now it's getting increasingly obvious that it's happening sooner rather than later.

Matthew had his annual checkup today and he's 72 pounds (90%ile) and 54 inches (95%ile). He's a little chubby for him right now, the result of a month in CA and all the snacks Grandma can buy. He did this last year too: gained 5 pounds in the month we were in CA, then lost 5 pounds by Christmas (and he grew an inch too!). But the height, that's not artificially augmented by Grandma's snacks. He's huge.

Tessa had her checkup last week and she was 39 pounds and 42 inches (75%ile for both). So, not as huge, but still pretty huge. And she still wants me to carry her all the time.

So how long before Matthew is taller than me? Certainly before junior high. Maybe within the next two years. He only has 8 more inches to go to reach my height. How long before he's as tall as my mom, who is 5 foot and shrinking, thanks to osteoporosis and years of working in the fields?

Someday there'll be this family portrait of my family, and there'll be little Mommy. Me.

Weird.

Choosing Not To

Wasn't it Bartleby the Scribner who always answered "I choose not to?" Anyway, Matthew has chosen not to go to soccer camp this week and I'm feeling all chewed up about it.

The first day was perfectly understandable: we were late arriving, having not heard that the site had changed, so all the kids were already out on the field. Matthew felt intimidated. He decided that he didn't want to go. Many parents would have said, "You wanted to go to soccer camp; it's already paid for. You're going." But I knew that would do nothing but create a scene. He agreed to try again the next day.

The next day, he didn't want to go. Actually he was somewhat ambivalent, wanting to play soccer but afraid of going to camp. And I did not push, not even a little. What I think I really should have done was say that we were going to get ready, get in the car, and go down there. And if he decided that he didn't want to do it, we'd leave, but we at least had to go down there. But I chose not to. I just didn't want to get us ready again (including getting Tessa up, as she was still in bed, and dressed) and potentially deal with a meltdown there at the field. I just did not feel equipped to deal with that. It was so much easier just to stay home.

I really do feel like Matthew needs more motivation, some more challenges, some gentle pushing to try things, just try them. But I feel so tired, so anxious myself. So I choose not to.

Sadly, to the detriment of my child, I believe.

Hot Time, Summer in the City

Or at least, in the 'burbs. We're back and it's HOT and HUMID! It cracked me up how, while we were in CA, people kept complaining that it was humid. Oh my, you don't know from humid. Humid is when a big ass thunderstorm is plowing through your neighborhood at 9:00 at night and it's still like 80 degrees. Humid is when you look at weather.com and it's 94 degrees (but feels like 104!).

But anyway, we're back. We had a great month in CA. It was one of those time warp periods, where it feels really long while it's happening, but then seems really short once it's over. The first two weeks seemed to drag forever. We spent the first week just acclimating and relaxing at Grandma's house, as she doted on the children and ran back and forth getting them ten million snacks a day. Matthew gained his annual belly, though not as badly as last year. Tessa actually got skinnier, because she grew like two inches during the month.

We went to a water park with my nieces and their kids (including my ultra-adorable grandniece Maddy, 7 months old!) a few times, went to the beach once (it was really cold and grey along the coast most of the time we were there!), went miniature golfing, went to the Santa Barbara zoo, picked strawberries at my family's farm. Very low key stuff. They watched a lot of Cartoon Network (ugh). I got to eat amazing taco stand tacos and In-N-Out (the world's greatest cheeseburger!). And we drank many, many Ice Blendeds from Coffee Bean, which is the one consumable item we miss the most from CA. We drove for 2 hours and 20 minutes, in traffic from hell, down to Long Beach to see Ross' mother (there briefly from Mexico) and grandmother. I bought $2,800 worth of clothing at Gymboree, which I got for $1,377 thanks to my Gymbucks discount.

We missed Daddy (Ross) very much.

We went to my cousin's little girl's birthday party at CEC. We had a memorial service at Forest Lawn for my dad, who died 12 years ago (but by the wack way Japanese people count these things, it's been 13 years and that's a major anniversary). We saw our lovely L.A. mommy friends and their lovely children and wonderful hubbies, who were kind enough to keep my children from drowning so I could sit in the house in the airconditioning and yack with my much loved and much missed friends. We went to my grandniece and grandnephew's birthday party at the farm, a yearly huge event with like 100 people. We went to Universal Studios with my sister, who I love so much and miss so much it hurts.

Then Ross arrived (yay!!) and it got really busy. We went to Long Beach again to see his grandma, spent the night in Buena Park, and then spent 13 hours at Disneyland. We swam at the farm, after my sister set up her pool. Ross and I went out to dinner for our 17th anniversary, which was two days before he arrived (the one and only time we've been apart on our anniversary). Matthew and Tessa had their annual CEC party and got lots and lots of toys. Ross and I went to the wedding party for our dear friend Eric and his new wife (we had already been to their wedding party in NYC, and just coincidentally were in CA for their L.A. party), a 10 course Chinese banquet. We packed up all the stuff we had acquired in the four and a half weeks we were in CA.

And then we flew back to NY. The kids spent the entire next day alternating between saying "I miss CA. I miss Grandma!" (just rip my heart out RIGHT NOW), and saying "Ah, it's great to be home!" literally about 100 times.

Ah, ambivalence. Love it there, but this is home. I hear ya.