Not a celebrity

Wow, I never really go on LJ anymore, do I? I think between HuffPo and FaceBook and email groups with local moms and all the other writing I do regularly now I just don't have anything left for LJ, at least not anything that any of you can read on FB. Still I do plan to check in a little more often, at least with my Friends page.

Just letting everyone know that I have not forgotten that I have a Live Journal!

Preschool in New York is a hardcore contact sport, so I'm getting a head start with a website called Savvy Source, which has detailed profiles of preschools written by parents. And I'm glad I'm starting our preschool search so soon: one of our front-runner schools, Prospect Kids Academy, requires parents to take a tour of the school the October before the child would attend, in order to be eligible to apply the following January. Translation: Carlos and I have to tour the school THIS October in order to submit an application for Gabriel to attend in the fall of 2011. Good golly!

But we like what the parents on Savvy Source have to say about PKA, and we like their website and philosophy.

We also like this place Chickpeas. It's a parent-run co-op, which means parents run the school and do every job there except teach.

Also, both of our front runner schools do not require students to be potty trained. This is a huge issue for us, because Gabriel will be not-quite-three-years old when he starts preschool, and we know that boys are notoriously harder to potty train than girls are. We absolutely refuse to force him to learn to use the potty before he's ready, so it is a non-negotiable for us that he go to a preschool that allows students who are still in diapers.

As a side note, one of the most popular preschools in our area got awful reviews on Savvy Source. Another very popular school had a review saying that they have absolutely zero diversity in their students. Yet another reason I'm doing my research so early in the game.

I am officially - officially - the Wost Mother Ever.

First, I left some cuticle scissors out last night and Gabriel found them this morning.

Then, on our way back from daycare, I forgot to strap him in to his stroller and he slid down and we hit a bump and he almost flew out and forward onto the sidewalk. Thank GOD he was in his Bundle Me, or he actually would have flown out.

Then, once we were home I was running his bath and he fell, like he does a million times a day because he's a toddler, but he hit his forehead on the corner of our doorframe and it immediately swelled into a giant purple lump. I put an ice pack on it and called the pediatrician, but was assured that Gabriel will be fine and it's OK to put him to bed tonight and let him fall asleep.

Still.

I had to swallow a little whiskey just to calm down, and I'm still jittery and feel like I'm going to puke from the anxiety of it all.

I can't believe I haven't posted in the new decade yet!

Let's see, what's new?

Gabriel had his 15-month Well Baby checkup and is doing fantastic. A little ear infection, but some antibiotics are already helping. He's like a whole new kid now that we know what's been bothering him. He's sleeping better, and back to his normal, happy self.

He can climb onto the couch now, and will actually sit with his box of raisins and watch TV for about 10 minutes at a time. We don't watch much TV, just Nick Jr. for half an hour or so in the mornings, and then Plaza Sesamo before bed.

We got a family membership to the YMCA. There's one six blocks from us that has all kinds of fun classes and a pool, and they just opened a new sports complex one block away. Now I can go workout during the week and bring Gabriel to the childcare they have for free, and we can go to fun parent/child classes together. Today we went to Story, Song and Shimmy which was fun!

I'm fighting with our insurance company about some money they owe us that they think they don't owe us. Thing is, we're depending on that money to pay for a weekend getaway in February while Gabriel is in Miami. So...yeah.

We're also hoping to start a window farm while Gabriel is in Miami. And redo our bedroom, including painting it.

Busy, busy, busy in our house these days!

Gabriel had his first "conversation" with another baby his age today at Barnes & Noble. It went something like this:

Her: Hi
Him: Hi
Her: Hi
Him: Hi
Her: Hi
Him: Hi
Her: Hi
Him: Bye
Her: Bye
Him: Bye
Her: Bye

It was highly adorable.

I've always said that when I have kids I want them to be total New York snobs. Part of the prerogative of growing up in this city is, I think, the exposure to so many different cultures, languages, foods, ways of life, and so on. I want my kids to grow up knowing how to curse in at least 5 different languages, to be able to tell the difference between a Kandinsky and a Picasso on sight, and have favorite Ethiopian, Greek, and Vietnamese dishes.

Well, ask and ye shall receive.

Gabriel is going through a picky eating phase, and it's driving me up a wall. Now, when I say, "picky eating," I don't mean he only wants hot dogs and Oreo cookies. I mean he only wants fruit (preferably kiwi or bing cherries) and organic bunny graham crackers. Today I tried to give him a peanut butter sandwich on white bread, but he refused it and threw a tantrum. What did he finally eat? Hummus on whole grain pita. Plain mashed up potatoes and steamed carrots for his little tum-tum? Nope. Frozen organic vegan spinach pancakes. And since he can't have dairy for the rest of the week I bought a half-quart of plain soy milk, figuring he'd probably hate it but it was worth a shot. Well, he sucked down his entire sippy cup's worth in one pull.

I think it's safe to say that my toddler is a snob.

P.S. He threw not one, but two of his new backwards-flinging, head-banging-on-the-floor tantrums in Barnes & Noble today. I ignored them both. Another mother of a toddler saw me making a point of ignoring my flailing, shrieking son and laughed.

Every night when I run his bath, Gabriel comes in and puts all his bath toys into the tub. So this morning I brought him into the bathroom with me when I went to take a shower, and he put his toys into the tub for me. He's such a little sweetheart!

...Gabriel is not proposing to Lina in this photo. He walked on his knees across the kitchen to steal her cookie. Probably to give to one of you lucky ladies! Oooh-la-la!

Gabriel likes to hit himself in the head lately. Just now in his bath he hit himself in the head until he cried.

Thanks to Knottie Rachel, I now have 25-pounds of freshly butchered cow in my freezer.

After reading the book The Omnivore's Dilemma recently, she decided to start eating only locally-grown, grass-fed, all-natural beef. She invited all NY-area meat-eaters to join her in a "cow pool" where we'd each commit to part of a cow in 25-lb increments. Rachel did the research on local farms, selected our cow, and then when that cow was ready it was slaughtered and butchered by the same farmer who raised it.

And now we have 25-lbs of our cow in the freezer.

We got two cuts each of rib eyes, top rounds, eye rounds, bottom rounds, NY strips, and filet mignons, as well as 2 pounds of chuck for stew, seven pounds of ground beef, and a soup bone. All for about $6 per pound, including the filets. Not bad.