Trip to the Palo Alto Children's Zoo

I think I need a 12 step program. I'm not kidding. EBay is taking over my life! I've been able to manage my addiction and justify it before because I could tell myself that Emmett was spending more than I was, but now that he's being so careful [which is wonderful] it's making me want to walk the line. I think what I need to do is get as obsessive about selling things as I am about buying and raise some funds. Maybe I could make an internal deal with myself that I can spend whatever I make selling off various items around this house. Or how about spending half of what I make selling things, that way The other caveat is that I need to be really dilligent about getting to the post office twice a week. I can't believe what used children's clothes are selling for on Ebay these days. It's absurd. I must make it a TOP priority to spend several hours next week sorting and listing Tommy's old clothes. Then I can justify buying him the new fall clothes that I want him to have that are way too expensive for me to buy out of our household budget. :-) So far I've been able to stop myself, but the pull to buy is very strong. Anyway, please excuse this long digression. I'm typing my thoughts out rather than writing anything interesting. C'mon, Melissa, FOCUS!

So yesterday was a reasonable day. Work was long and boring, I wish sometimes that I was more engaged in what I'm doing, but then I have to remind myself that that was why I chose this job, so that my primary energy would be spent taking care of Thomas and working with him. The good part about my job has always been that when your shift is over you walk out the door and there's no more thought about work until five minutes before you begin the next shift. And that has some definite advantages. The unfortunate side effect is profound boredom. Ahhh well, as someone once told me, there are always trade-offs.

I almost forgot the best part of yesterday! Thomas and I went to see Zuz and Nico. It's always such a good time going to see them, I sometimes wish we lived closer so it would be easier to see them more often now that the boys are getting a bit older. Nico is such a sweet boy, much softer spoken than Thomas and I always worry that Thomas's extreme energy is going to overpower Nico, but they seem to do well with each other. I was VERY impressed with Nico's language skills. I think his vocabulary is a little larger than Thomas's, but it's really hard to tell in such a short period of time. The main thing that I noticed is that Nico's annunciation is so much clearer. I have discovered something interesting (and I think good) about myself as a Mother through these interactions. I do not feel competitive about my child. In other words, I don't feel threatened by Nico's better language skills. I just feel like Thomas will get there sooner or later and it's no big deal. On the other hand, I definitely have a complex about being able to provide as much for my child as other Moms do. I've accepted the fact that I'm a working Mom, but when I go to other Mom's houses I find myself looking around to see what they have for their childs enjoyment and comfort and comparing everything. It drives me crazy because I know logically that it's not about how many *things* Thomas has, but somehow if I go somewhere and that child has more toys and stuff than Thomas, that makes me feel like I'm not doing enough. It's ridiculous and I'm trying to overcome it, but it's there.

Anyhow - Zuz and I took the boys to the Palo Alto Children's Zoo and they seemed to have a really good time. Nico fell down and bumped his head, poor guy, so I don't think he had as good of a time as Thomas did. Thomas loved the owl and, although he thought at first that it was a kitty, he did understand after I told him that it was an owl. He really loved the bunnies - there were two of them, a small gray one that was hopping around everywhere and also a big white one that was just kind of sitting there. There were lots of geese and ducks and I tried to teach Tommy the difference, but no luck. He didn't have much interest in the bat house or the snakes. He LOVED the raccoon. He kept pulling me towards that enclosure and saying "coon, coon". It was a lot of fun. An added bonus is that whenever Thomas is with Zuz and Nico he will eat ANYTHING. So I took the opportunity to feed him some melon - and he chowed it down. Zuz fed him some pizza with veggies on it that he seemed to like also. It's good when he eats a lot of healthy food.

We will see Zuz and Nico again this weekend at Nico's birthday party. It should be fun and hopefully I'll remember to bring the camera this time!

Well, better run. Gotta get ready for work

Love,
Melissa