Last in the Rat Race

I’m turning myself in for Mother of the Year based on the last 36 hours. Two stories – either of which could actually result in a call from DFS.

Award #1 – Teaching the Lesson of Dining Out

Saturday night Mike has the idea to go back to Acero in Maplewood. OMG, just the word and I’m salivating. Fantastic food. Small but plentiful, flavorful Mediterranean Italian courses served under low light with great wine.

What to do with Kate?

“Take her,” he says. “We’ll sit outside. It’ll be fine.”

With the flash of extrovert, I call our neighbor who’s wife is throwing a cocktail party for a bunch of girlfriends. We’re all good friends and given his options, he’s game for joining us. So now, we three adults are off with a three year old for a lovely meal. In public. No kids menu. You can see where this is going. What I saw laid out before us… Did I mention that our neighbor, while he really likes Kate, doesn’t really like kids? I mean, not AT ALL?

I panic and begin to run around the house collecting coloring books and markers. Anything that might entertain Kate long enough for the rest of us to enjoy our 4 course meal. Then my eyes catch the reflection of the screen. The little black box is nearly screaming “TAKE ME!” I’m a genius. Two weeks ago, I loaded WALL-e on our iPod. I snatch it up, grab the headphones and shove it all down in my purse with the markers.

Ten minutes into our evening out, Kate has sampled the bread, played with the olive oil, nearly knocked over her water and is regaling us with tales of the string ray exhibit at the zoo. Again. Out came the iPod and on went the earphones. I love my child. LOVE my child, but fine dining and Kate are not yet closely aligned. So, many of you will say that you have to start somewhere. Teach her to sit properly at a table in a restaurant. We are working on that. Really we are. But for that night, with that food, WALL-e was her dining companion.

And we enjoyed our adult night out.

Award #2 – Teaching Communication

Kate and I are biking to school/work fairly regularly now. At major intersections, the kind with stop lights, I’m careful to cross only when we have the WALK sign… An even more important lesson as we’re generally on the sidewalk at these intersections. (I know, I know… Share the Road and all that rot, but it’s my KID! I’m not risking her life to make a point to the countless careless STL drivers who DON’T Share the Road!)

We have a bit of a system at the intersection. I get us lined up to cross, stop and hold the bike steady. More often than not, we’ll have time for Kate to get off her bike and push the button requesting the WALK signal. It works great – she LOVES to push buttons and I’m saved the hassle of getting off the bike and pushing it myself.

This morning was no different. At Big Bend and Forest Park Parkway, she hopped off and pushed the button.

At Lindel and Skinker, we pulled up and I was right at the button, so I pushed it. The light was ready to turn anyway, so I tried to convince Kate that she didn’t need to push the button. “I already pushed it and the light is about the change! Ready? Here we go!” She’s chatting away, it’s loud with the morning rush, and I push off to cross the street.

As I’m crossing – riding – I hear a cacophony of horns. (If ever there was a time to use the word “cacophony” this was it!) Blaring, blasting and rapidly tooting. As we were on the sidewalk, I wasn’t too worried, but still I wondered who the poor driver was that caused the ruckus. Didn’t see anything, and just as I’m getting ready to cross the next part of the intersection, a car blows by, still honking, with a woman leaning out the window.

“YOUR KID IS BACK THERE!” she yells, pointing back the way I’d come.

Holy shit.

I stop, turn around, and see Kate.

She’s right there, at the light, pushing the button.

Kate has a fantastically annoying habit of pulling her dress up around her waist – and even higher – when preparing to sit down. My dad even said “You need to fix that before she goes to school.” We have yet to break the habit.

So sitting down to dinner tonight, Kate hikes up her dress so far that her belly is completely exposed.

“Belly! Belly button! Belly bump!” she shouts and comes over to bump her belly on mine.

I’m amused, so I oblige.

“Did you learn that at school?” I ask, as it’s clearly the work of someone else’s crazed child.

“Uh hm, but no one wanted to belly bump me.”

Great… I can just picture her running around the playground, dress around her midriff, chasing her well-mannered classmates, yelling “Belly bump! Belly bump!”

Can’t wait for this month’s Parent Teacher Conference.

Over the Labor Day holiday, we had the distinct pleasure of touring our own town a fantastic 8 year old. One of Mike’s sisters, her husband and one of his girls came to visit and see the sights of St. Lou. (I hope we didn’t disappoint, b/c it has taken me this long to recover!)

Short and sweet, the highlights:

Friday night – pizza in the backyard, Cards game on tv, mapped out strategy for weekend

Saturday - rain. 100% chance of it and falling steadily, so we hopped in cars and headed to the City Museum downtown. While I had been several times, half of those with Kate, it was a first for the rest of the group. Within the confines of an abandoned shoe factory, an artistic genius was let loose. Four stories plus – designed to allow you and your kids to do all of the wickedly dangerous things WE were told NOT to do as kids. Crawl in small dark spaces. Tunnel under the floor. Run and jump off a ramp. Swing. Slide. Repeat. It’s one adrenaline rush after another.

The pic is a little blurry – we were at the bottom looking up – but these are a series of winding stairs and slides/chutes down.

By the time we left, there were several hundred people packing the place and the adults were over stimulated.

We lunched at a micro brew in Lafayette Square. (did I mention the adults were over-stimulated? needed to calm rattled nerves)

Rain let up so we headed off to the zoo. One of the best zoos around, the St. Louis Zoo is free and open to the public. We saw everything: offensive t-shirts, tattoos, jorts and even animals. Regardless, it hit the mark with Little Miss 8. She was pleased and tuckered out.

Sunday - more sprinkles, but whatever. MRA, still over stimulated from the previous day, begged off for a little R&R at the golf course. The rest of us packed up and headed off to Grant’s Farm. Another free attraction and cool in its own right. Animals, horse carriages, and beer.

Kate was digging on her Aunt G (note the jorts in the background)

Back to the house. Rest for 2 hours. Board train for the St. Nicholas Greek Fest. I have wanted to go to this event for about 6 years now. It’s packed with people, Greek food, music, dancing and beer. I’ve been dying to go…

I’ll never go again. Entertaining the girls for an HOUR while the adults stood in the food line just about sent me on to the looney bin. Luckily, I had two pens and some random business cards in my bag to keep them entertained. We then made up songs about how hungry we were. Holy crap. You could have served me shoe leather with tzatziki sauce by the time our food came and I would have called you a culinary genius!

“I’M SOOOO HUNGRY!!! I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT IT’S NOT CHICKEN FINGERS – JUST FEED ME!”

Monday - The Arch. Not caring if he ever gets shot up 63 stories in the air by a capsule smaller than his first car, MRA begged off again. The rest of us traipsed downtown and enjoyed the engineering marvel.

Pretty cool.

We finished up at Fitz’s in the Loop (check out that root beer float!)

and then sent them on their way back to OK. Good times all around.

(I think I slept for a week…)

Can you say “quick release lever?” The guy at Big Shark popped it out and pulled the tag-a-long right off. Back on again in a matter of a minute. Duh… duh… duh…

Got some nice comments on my saddlebags (the ones on my bike, sheesh!). Interestingly enough they were all from men. In their 50’s and 60’s… What does that say about my sense of style?

Today, Kate and I biked to school.

I’ve been thinking about this almost obsessively since we returned from vacation. Kate’s new school is two miles from our house. My office is another six miles away. (we biked 8 miles around Mackinack, surely I can do this!)

I started researching bikes, gear, and routes. I talked with the guys at the local bike shop (Big Shark) about the mechanics of it all. I trolled Craig’s List for a tag-a-long bike for Kate.

Decision made. I closed out a never-used bank account and ponied up for a new commuter bike complete with fenders, a bike rack and saddle bags (can’t get use to “panniers”). It’s AWESOME.

As it happens, my co-worker, Mindy, had a friend looking to sell her tag-a-long bike. Bingo! I’ll take it.

Ok, I’m really embarrassed to say how excited I was about this whole idea. I mean REALLY excited. Like waking up at 4:00 am-can’t-go-back-to-sleep-cause-you’re-excited excited.

Determined to do this for the first time today, I brought home the tag-a-long last night and set to attaching it to my bike.

The grand plan was to bike Kate to school, dump her and the tag-a-long off, leaving the latter locked to the school’s bike rack. I’d then bike the 1/4 mile (if that) to the Metrolink stop and then take the train (with bike) downtown. At the end of the day, when I’m a little less concerned about the potential stink I may be working up, I’ll ride back to Kate’s school, pick up, reattach and ride home. Perfect, right?

Um… no.

After a number of curse words, a bucket of sweat, three tools from MRA’s workshop, a call to Big Shark, and a towel scream, I had the tag-a-long attached to my bike. I had grease covering both legs, up one arm, and again, bathed in sweat. There was no way on God’s green earth that I was ever, I mean EVER going to take it off again. EVER. Another scream. That was a key component to THE PLAN. Damn!

Another call to Big Shark. The poor guy answering the phone assured me that they’d help find a solution if I’d just bring the whole set up by the shop. I wanted to lick the guy through the phone, I was so relieved.

So, anyway, I’m not sure what to do about the detachment issue (buy a spare seat to pop on/off?), the safety flag won’t stay on Kate’s bike (causing a safety hazard when we stop in the middle of the street to fetch it) and the arm of Kate’s bike makes a fantastically annoying sound when it rubs on the new rack over my back tire.

Who cares? We rode to school today and it was awesome. I mean it was like the first day of summer vacation awesome. We waved to neighbors and said hello to strangers. Kate chatted the whole way. The sun was shining. We flew by the poor schmucks stuck in traffic (yes, we were on the sidewalk – save your snide remarks). We arrived at school exhilarated. I locked up the whole mess, Kate ran to her classroom, and I hoofed it to the train.

The whole trip took a little less than an hour.

We’ll head to the bike shop on the ride home tonight and get the kinks worked out.

It’s like being a kid again. Did I mention it was awesome?

Fall is festival time in STL. (and I love it!!)

Recently, we checked out the Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park. While everyone else was enjoying the craft booths, the ceremonial dances, and empanadas, Kate was enchanted by this circle of hay bales.

Before long, she had inspired a small, but equally rambunctious group of kids to follow her lead. Luckily we left before any bones were broken.

In the midst of the August vacations and school changes, Kate spent a day or two at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Lucky for Kate, Uber Cool Libby lives right next door and was looking for a playmate. While I think Kate kept up with the 8 year old just fine that day, it’s clear that being Uber Cool can take a toll.

I love my iPhone.

There. I said it.

Didn’t want to become one of the wanna-be-designer-cool-media-heads… held fast to the corporate Blackberry… then I snapped. In a fit of I-Wannabe-Cool-Too-ness, I did it. (Sorry, Puzder. I converted.)

Now I am cool.

Now I will fit in with the In Crowd.

Now I, too, will pay $200/mth for my phone.

Yea Me!

No, really. It IS awesome. Love it. The best part? I can post here from my phone! (see “Going Greek” below) How cool is that?

Now I have finally discovered what the rest of you figured out last year.

So we finally made it to the St. Nicholas Greek Festival. The girls couldn’t be less impressed at the moment, but I hear scrumptious food is on the way!!

Kate and Maggie – her cousin from OK – are doodling on business cards. Thank the Greek Gods I had two pens and some random cards. WHAT we were thinking, bringing them to this without some form of entertainment to keep them sane while the adults waited in the food line… in the beer line… in the baklava line…

Walking outside last night, I noticed the moon – amazing and full. Kate noticed the star right next door (Venus). So… she made her wish:

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

Kate: “I wish Sue would come back.”

Guess we’ll be making another trip to the Science Center soon…