Adventures of Two Sisters, One Brother, and a Mom: Fall Blues And Face Biting...

Fall is not really one of my favorite seasons. I always seem to get a little down this time of year. As long as I can remember I have felt this way. When I was a kid, the beginning of the school year always filled me with dread. I'm not really sure why. I remember getting school supplies was always somewhat exciting, but somehow my memories of " back to school" are not really good ones. I guess I probably suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder-- the shortening of the days really gets me down. You would think that I would really enjoy this time of year because of all the great things to do with my kids-- fall festivals, pumpkin carving, Halloween, etc. I do enjoy doing these things-- in fact, every weekend this month is packed full of these types of activities. I just hate that it gets dark so early. It will be worse when the time changes. Here in Atlanta, this is the perfect time to be outdoors-- cooler temp, less humidity, etc. But, just when it is tolerable to play outside, it starts to get dark by 7:00 pm! Depressing. I guess if I didn't have to work full time I could enjoy these days a lot more-- take the kids to the park, etc. But, I don't usually get home until 6:30 or 7:00 pm-- just enough time to feed and bath the girls, then get ready for bed. Well, maybe I will win the lottery one of these days and live a life of leisure.

I really shouldn't be complaining, because I do tend to have more free time in the Fall and Winter-- business usually slows down. Then I get stressed out about not making enough money. It is a lose/lose situation. If I work constantly, I have enough money to live a decent life, but no time to enjoy it. If I take more time off, I have time to enjoy life, but I am constantly stressed about paying the bills. That is the American way, I guess! I need to get off my pity pot and focus on how lucky I am to have two wonderful girls, reasonably good health, a roof over my head, and food in my belly.

On a lighter note, below is a picture of Big A's "Pink Party" She set this party up the other day while her sister was napping. When Little A woke up, Big A explained to her that this was a "party" to look at, not to touch. Fortunately, Little A woke up in a good mood and left her sister's creation alone. Had she been in " one of her moods", she would have walked right over to the "Pink Party" and kicked all of the party goers across the playroom floor!

You never know what too expect from Little A. Yesterday when I took her to school, she seemed in a great mood. Before we went inside, I asked her how she was going to behave -- she answered "good". Then I said " You aren't going to bite anybody today, right?" She said "wight Mama". I said "promise?" She said " pomise Mama". Then she looked up at me and smiled a sweet innocent smile. So.... You can imagine my surprise when later that afternoon, Theresa called me after picking them up from school and said "Well, I have some bad news, Little A bit TWO children in the face today"!! Not only that, one of the kids she bit was same one she had bitten the day before!!! Turns out she bit him on his other cheek this time! I dread the day I see his parents again... So we had another long talk last night about how biting is not acceptable, and if she bites again she will be punished. Of course she just stared at me with that blank look she gets and said " okay Mama" or "Yeah Mama" whenever I asked if she understood me. At least she didn't bite anyone today-- of course, I picked her up from school at lunchtime and took her shopping with me, so she wasn't really there that long. I thought she might need some alone time with me. She seemed to enjoy the afternoon-- we shopped for Fall clothes. She helped me pick out clothes for her sister-- she would point to something she liked and say "Mia's sirt (shirt)" or " Mia's gess (dress)." When she saw something she liked for herself she would say "Ayade's" We had a good time shopping-- except that I had leave the checkout line and retrace our EVERY step through the store to find the "baby teddy bear" that she had lost. Fortunately, we found it stuffed in a shelf in the shoe section of the store. This was very fortunate because the "baby teddy bear" actually belongs to Big A! I knew I shouldn't have let her bring it into the store in the first place!!

The Pink Party