updates and clown cars

not that I'm nicole's personal mouthpiece or anything, but I see that the list of comments over at her site are growing. she seems to be doing okay. I think the primary issue for her is seeing her mother so distraught. I can only guess that there may be some feelings about larry himself that she needs to sort out, but as she has mentioned, they were not very close. the mood up there is sad and harried, with lots of people calling and stuff happening, all with an inquisitive boy in an unbabyproofed house with no baby gates. I think they will be travelling home on monday evening, so I'm hoping she'll be able to post herself on tuesday. I'm trying to simultaneously be there for her and not bug her.

so last night, we decided to knock out bella's christmas shopping. as in stuff for bella. now, I don't know what's going on lately, but our usually mellow, laid back baby has rocketed herself into terrible twodom already. we used to pride ourselves on being able to take bella to restaurants and other establishments without much fuss. now that she can walk and has discovered the power of the tantrum, though, it's not quite so easy. in fact, it's not easy at all. we went to the new macaroni grill in montgomeryville because it's right next to toys r us, and because we were celebrating sean getting crazy excellent remarks (and a raise) from his performance review. the plan was to meet there after I ran some errands (consisting of buying super-hold-you-in underwear and taking the dress I purchased at macy's back to macy's to take off the stupid sensor) and after bella woke up from her spiritually cleansing nap, refreshed and ready to have a meal at a restaurant.

well, we met, we were served promptly, the tables are covered in white paper and crayons are provided so there's endless areas on which to scribble, and there are people on all sides ooing and ahhing over her, so you'd think we'd be in the clear. nope. after she exorcisted her torso around almost 360 degrees in an attempt to get out of the high chair, she threw one of several mini tantrums. boots went flying. crayons catapulted. chicken bits landed hither and thither. finally, I told sean to just pack her up and take her to toys r us and I'd take care of the check and all that.

the plan for toys r us was that bella had no idea that we were buying her stuff anyways, and both of us wanted to be there for the toy purchasing. first off, toys r us is a big place, but oddly, has very little selection apparently. second, bella was racing around with a toy banana she found somewhere that looked very dirty, and by the time I went to the checkout, I had to call sean on his cell phone to find out where in the store he was, so there went the shopping together idea. our big gift for her is a play kitchen, and while TRU had a few on display (including that hideous dora the explora one which will never find its way into our home, goddamn football headed freak) many were not in stock. however, the one I wanted had just come in, as a kindly employee seeing me checking out the display models said. so I did get the one I wanted, and it was on sale. nice.

we got a few other things, including a kid sized foam chair with a picture of elmo on it in a bright yellow covering that seems to be big bird skin, and then we got into the line at checkout. cue the next tantrum when we try to pry the dirty plastic banana out of bella's hands and put her coat on. seriously. isn't she too young for this???? so I send sean on his way again since all I'm doing is paying and we drove separately. I had a 20% coupon good on one item only, so I used it. a woman behind me, who for some reason didn't want to use her coupon, gave me hers, so I got another 20% off another product. nice. twists and turns, these days.

I get all the stuff but the kitchen out to the car and pack it up. thank god bella's not in the car. I drive around to the front of the store to load up the kitchen and holy fucking shit. the box is huge. I'm having an ikea moment. you know, when you buy too much shit at ikea and then realize that there's no way you can fit it all in your car. the guy who brought the kitchen box outside said, "you ain't gonna fit this in there." thanks. so I call sean - come back quickly! you need to put some of this in your car! as I'm making the call, the guy is rearranging everything in my car and somehow, some way, makes it fit. I can hardly put the car in gear because there's shit on the console and the car seat is now upside down in the front seat, and I can only use my side mirrors to see out of the car, but I'm self contained. so I called sean again - nevermind! go back home!

of course, I had one more stop to make, as sean's department was having a potluck something or other, and I was (or "sean" was) supposed to make pumpkin dip. and we don't have pumpkin laying around, nor cream cheese. (sidenote: I believe that cream cheese is disgusting, vile, and of the devil.) so I got that stuff, threw it on top of my now-crumpled and wrinkled dress that is on top of the car seat in the front seat, and made it home. and saintly sean, he unloaded the whole car and put everything in its right place.

now how the hell am I going to wrap that huge kitchen??