Tragic Sandwich

Tag: Baguette

  • A Few Things Baguette Is Saying These Days

    • “Alicious! Mmmm!” (With a smile, often just after throwing the alicious food on the floor)

    • “Daddy Elmo I play drums.” (Followed by drumming. I am unsure about how to punctuate this. Is she telling Daddy and Elmo? Is she telling Elmo’s father, but she’s unsure of his name? I can’t fault her on that, since Dorothy the Goldfish thinks it’s “George,” but apparently he’s been identified elsewhere as “Louie.”)

    • “Super Mommy! Super Daddy!” (I’d like to thank Sesame Street and Super Grover for this one.)

    • “Want to see Zoe. Hi, Zoe!”(This girl does love her Sesame Street characters.)

    • “Bed!” (Often at completely implausible times, like 30 minutes after waking up.)

    • “Wow! A guitar!” (Sometimes it’s a violin, but to be technical, it’s a ukelele.)

    • “Shoe! Shoe! Shoe! Shoe! Shoe! Shoe!” (About shoes that are much too small.)

    • “Chug, chug, puff, puff, ding dong, ding dong.” (And here I thought “I think I can” was the most important phrase in The Little Engine That Could. Shows what I know!)

    • “Flower!” (Yelled angrily as we approach the house. Evidently she cannot wait to begin our evening Family Walk so that she can assault the neighbor’s garden and uproot their decor.)

  • Headaches

    Monday I had a headache. One of those grinding, relentless headaches that refused to succumb to OTC medications, water, or much of anything.

    Wednesday I stayed home with a migraine. Even after it receded, I felt groggy.

    Thursday I continued to feel groggy for much of the day, with a headache that came and went on a whim of its own.

    And on top of that, Baguette’s school still thinks she’s insufficiently interactive. Or something. We watch her in all kinds of settings, and we still think the main question here is the size of the group.

    headache

    So I haven’t posted much this week. But here’s to the weekend–may it be headache-free for all of us!

    Photo by DebbieC, via Flickr.

  • How Was Your Weekend?

    Ours started a day early, kind of. On Friday, Baguette’s cast came off (huzzah!). What was her response to this development?

    Sock all gone. I got a foot!

    At the moment she walks with that foot turned out, and she still has a bit of a peg-leg pirate walk, but she’s rapidly getting back to her normal gait–and activity.

    Since she’s Baguette, that activity includes not sleeping. We were up at midnight, driving around Los Angeles and environs at midnight. (You think I’m kidding? I’m not. We’re talking at least 20 miles of driving, and not all of it in town.)

    Since we’re the Sandwiches, Saturday did not mean sleeping in early. Quite the opposite: we got up at 3:30, because Mr. Sandwich was entered in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. He did quite well, finishing in the top 1/3 of his age division, and Baguette got to spend the morning on the beach. Let me tell you, this is one fearless toddler. And that means that when you’re her parent, and she won’t stop rushing toward the waves, you are definitely not fearless.

    An early morning and extensive beach time did not mean that she had a good nap. No, she slept for about 30 minutes and then was awake for the entire afternoon.

    Awake and tantrum-y.

    But eventually even her strength of will could not overcome her exhaustion, and at 6:30 p.m. (6:30!)she passed out on my lap. We carefully moved her into the bed and settled in for a night of streaming video. That’s right, it was Date Night, Sandwich Edition. What did we watch? Captain America, of course (Avengers not being available yet, and both of us feeling that Thor would be ruined–ruined, I tell you!–by the presence of Natalie Portman). Now, Cap has never been my favorite superhero, and I had some issues with the movie–but it was fun, and we really enjoyed the chance to curl up on the couch and watch something of our own choosing while endlessly petting the dog’s stomach (Wicket is indifferent to TV as long as she is getting petted).

    We made it to bed at about 11, which meant that when Baguette woke up at 3:30, I really, really hoped we’d be able to get her back to sleep. We couldn’t. But that’s okay, because we would have been getting up too soon anyhow: shortly after 5, I left for the ER, where it was determined that yes, I had another kidney stone.

    Some Dilaudid and several hours of fitful sleep later, Mr. Sandwich and Baguette arrived to pick me up. We went out for breakfast and picked up some groceries, and then went home so that Baguette and I could nap. Which we both did, successfully. Our evening was low-key, and we made it to bed at about 9. Everyone slept through the night, and Baguette woke up on her own at 6, which (combined with the night before) tells me that, barring teething or broken legs, her tendency is to sleep for 9 hours at night.

    Meanwhile, I’m still tired. You?

    Captain America Shield

    Photo by abuckingham, via Flickr.

  • Baby’s First X-Ray

    Radiation Sign

    So last night Baguette went into our bedroom, and a little later we heard a slappy thump followed by tears. She was sitting on the floor at the foot of our bed, and sobbing. I picked her up and cradled her and sang to her, and she kept sobbing for at least 15 more minutes. We examined her carefully and couldn’t find any bumps, bruising, or swelling, but she was clearly unhappy and uncomfortable. I was able to coax her to sleep, but she was restless and needed soothing all night.

    Until 3:40 a.m., when she was wide awake. After some failed efforts at getting her to fall back asleep, we all got up to watch Sesame Street. She snuggled on the couch with Mr. Sandwich and smiled a bit, but was nowhere near her usual levels of enthusiasm.

    She’s home for a few days anyhow, because her day care is closed for some teacher in-service time, and the plan was for Mr. Sandwich to stay home with her (he has more vacation time). So I went to work and called to see how they were doing.

    At that point, Mr. Sandwich described it as “a sick, lazy day” with lots of Sesame Street. But later he took her out to play with her water table, and realized that Baguette hadn’t just been relaxing on the couch–she couldn’t stand up on her own.

    So he called me and the pediatrician’s office, where we met a couple of hours later. Now, Baguette does not love going to the doctor’s office. She’s had relatively few visits, so she associates the doctor with shots and that weird stomach-poking thing. She wails incessantly at the top of her lungs, both at the nurse and at the doctor. It’s really, really hard to calm her down afterward; there is no calming her down during. But the doctor managed to examine her, and decided that he ought to send her to radiology.

    And it turns out she feels exactly the same way about x-ray machines. While she was very–uncharacteristically–sedate in the waiting room, she screamed and screamed the entire time she was on the table to be x-rayed.

    The results were normal, so no fracture–good news. And while the screaming was heartbreaking, it completely wore her out, and she fell asleep in my arms before we even got the update from the radiologist. She stayed asleep the entire way home and for several hours afterward.

    So it’s likely to be a long night. Tomorrow, her pediatrician may provide another referral–this time to an orthopedist. And we suspect that we have a 2-year-old with a sprained ankle, particularly because now we can see some minor swelling. But she’s also smiling for the first time all day, and that’s an amazing relief.

    Photo by microwavedboy, via Flickr.

  • Why Our House Is a Disaster – Weekday Edition

    caution tape

    We’re refinancing, and on a recent Friday, we had a visit from an appraiser. The house was not even remotely clean, although I did set my alarm for 5 a.m. so that I’d have time to at least straighten up the living room (read: put things in stacks). Instead, I was so exhausted that I just kept hitting the snooze button. Sorry, appraiser.

    Mr. Sandwich and I are constantly evaluating the way we spend our time, particularly on weeknights, so that we can finish everything we need to and be ready for the next morning, while still getting Baguette to bed. What does that look like right now?

    5:30 a.m.
    Get up, wash face and brush teeth, unload dishwasher, wash any dishes in sink and put in drain rack to dry, give dog her medicine, open dog door, take one egg out of the refrigerator, put skillet on burner (which is not yet turned on). If it’s a day when we send lunch for Baguette, prep thermos with hot water.

    5:48 a.m.
    Finish bathroom routine. Shower if I’m lucky.

    5:53 a.m.
    Go back to bed to keep Baguette from rolling out; Mr. Sandwich gets up, gets dressed, and leaves for work.

    6:20 a.m.
    Get up, counting on Baguette to not roll out; get dressed, pull her pre-selected clothes/socks/shoes off of the shelf, get diaper and wipes and put them with her clothes, scramble and cook egg, heat up food to go in thermos, put egg in portable container, put food in thermos, assemble her lunch bag, put her breakfast in her tote bag along with anything else needed that day (set out the night before). Put yogurt and granola in my lunch bag if set up the night before; otherwise plan to buy breakfast at work. Feed dog. Make sure back door is locked, cabinets are latched, stove is off, and refrigator is closed.

    6:40 a.m.
    Unplug anything that has been charging overnight and put in handbag. Go back to bedroom and change Baguette’s diaper. Put her pajamas in the hamper and dress her for the day. Comb her hair. After she lies back down, sit her up and comb her hair again.

    6:50 a.m.
    Make Baguette stand up and walk to front door. Pet dog goodbye. Pick up bags, lock door, coax Baguette down steps, put her and bags in car.

    6:55 a.m.
    Arrive at day care. Get Baguette and her bags out of car, sign her in, drop off tuition or hot lunch money or other paperwork as needed, and walk her to classroom.

    7:02 a.m. If I’m lucky.
    Leave day care. Drive to bus stop. Park car, run across street, hope to catch bus. If I do, hope to get seat. If I don’t, drive to work. It’s an hour either way.

    8:05 a.m.
    Enter building. Buy breakfast and coffee, or just coffee if I managed to pack my own breakfast (lunch is even less likely). Go upstairs and work.

    5:00 p.m. Unless I have to work late.
    Leave building. Walk to bus stop. Catch bus home.*

    6:00 p.m. Unless traffic is worse than usual.
    Exit bus. Get in car and drive home.

    6:07 p.m.
    Arrive home. Pet dog hello. Change clothes. Put away any dishes in drain rack. Pour milk into straw cups for evening and next day.

    6:12 p.m.
    Mr. Sandwich brings Baguette home. Feed Baguette as much fruit and/or Goldfish as she will eat.

    6:25 p.m.
    Take Baguette and dog for walk around the block (1/2-mile distance). Discuss day. Encourage Baguette to walk, but carry her for intermittent stretches. Let her run back and forth when the impulse strikes her.

    7:10 p.m.
    Return home. Pull together some semblance of dinner for Baguette while Mr. Sandwich helps her play with the hose (it’s hot out). Start her bath.

    7:20 p.m.
    Change Baguette’s wet clothes and feed her.

    7:50 p.m.
    Mr. Sandwich gives Baguette her bath. Set out her pajamas and nighttime diaper, take dog out, feed dog, close dog door, wash dishes from her dinner, empty her lunch bag and clean containers, straw cups, and thermos, probably wash the skillet from that morning.

    8:05 p.m.
    Dry Baguette off, put her in nighttime diaper and pajamas, let her watch Sesame Street. Continue to prep for next day, gathering any paperwork or materials needed for day care. Eat tortilla with peanut butter (if lucky).

    9:10 p.m.
    Go to bed. All of us, because otherwise Baguette won’t. (Note: That’s “go to bed,” not “go to sleep.” There’s no telling how long that could take.)

    What’s missing from this picture?

    *This is when Mr. Sandwich does as much laundry as humanly possible in 50 minutes. Neither one of us has time to fold it or put it away.

    Photo by skyloader, via Flickr.

  • Can a Toddler Be an Introvert?

    Untitled

    Recently, Baguette’s teachers asked to meet with us. Apparently she falls asleep throughout the day, and she doesn’t interact with children or her teachers the way they’re accustomed to seeing.

    Her sleep is an issue, and we know that. And we’re working on it.

    But apparently she’d often rather read a book with Bestie or by herself than trade toys with the other children. And she ignores her teacher when told that it’s time for a diaper change. (Which is strange, because at home she’s so cooperative about diaper changes. [/sarcasm])

    What we see is that she holds back a little when first encountering someone–even Mr. Sandwich’s parents, who she sees regularly–but warms up when allowed to do so on her own terms. When Mr. Sandwich picks Baguette up from day care, she and Bestie want to dance and play and spin together. On playdates with one or two other children, she both plays with them and gets territorial with toys, just like they do.

    And even in large groups in noisy settings, like birthday parties at indoor playgrounds, she has a great time running from the ball pit to the trampoline to the tiny basketball backboard. It’s not like she’s cowering in a corner. She’s just doing what makes her happy, without the need for constant companionship in her choices.

    Also worth noting: when she moved from the toddler room to the two-year-old room, she went from a class of 8 to a class of more than 20, in a much larger setting (and by that I mean that I think our entire house might fit into her new classroom).

    I know I’m on the cusp of introvert and extrovert. I can be very outgoing when I choose, but I also really, really like staying home with a book.

    So when can we get a sense of whether Baguette leans toward the introverted side of the scale? Because her behavior doesn’t seem to require evaluation–I just think she leans toward smaller groups and smaller settings.

    Don’t get me wrong. I do want to know about real problems, and I want to address them as soon as possible. But I don’t see “likes smaller groups” as a problem. It’s just a little different from what they’re used to seeing. And “different” isn’t a problem.

    Photo by GenkiGenki, via Flickr.

  • What I Want to Tell Every New Parent

    Meagan Francis of The Happiest Mom has asked me to contribute a guest post to her wonderful blog! I’m writing about what I’ve learned as a new(ish) mother:

    To paraphrase Olympia Dukakis’s Rose Castorini from Moonstruck, “What I don’t know about parenting is a lot.”

    Baguette was born in April 2010. Mr. Sandwich and I brought her home two days later, and as we opened the front door, I thought, “Why did they let me bring her home? I have no idea what to do.”

    To read the rest of the post, visit The Happiest Mom.

  • You Can Never Have Too Many Jackets

    It’s not just Kristin Wiig’s Suze Orman.

    Nope. Baguette is obsessed with her raincoat. Why do I find this noteworthy?

    • All winter, Baguette would scream any time we put her in a jacket, no matter how cold it was.
    • No one else was allowed to wear jackets, either. She would pull my cardigan off my shoulders when I got home from work.
    • Summer is not our rainy season.
    • As suggested by the line directly above, it is summer.

    So, really, none of us needs a jacket–of any kind. But Baguette has us all wearing them. (Except Wicket. Apparently the dog gets a pass, and I think we can all agree that’s for the best.) She will open the closet door (Oh, BTW, she can open doors now. Huzzah!) and pull down a peacoat for me and a fleece jacket for Mr. Sandwich. On Friday, she insisted on wearing her raincoat to school. (She also insisted on taking a bag of egg noodles with her, but I think her love of egg noodles is better suited to a separate post, don’t you?)

    I missed the walk she and Mr. Sandwich took this morning, but apparently today’s favored accessory is rain boots. Which leads me to wonder: Why all the concern about rain?

  • It’s My SITS Day!

    What do you call a community of some 40,000 women who support each other? SITS!

    Women Online

    Just like the name says, the secret is in support. Each day, the site features a blogger, and today’s my day.

    Those of you who are new to Tragic Sandwich may be wondering what’s up with my name. You can find that on my About page.

    So who am I?

    • I’m a 40-something writer/editor/social media marketer with a husband (Mr. Sandwich) and one daughter (Baguette).
    • I’ve lived all over the country, but have been in L.A. since Mr. Sandwich and I got married in 2004. We have a dog named Wicket who adopted us a few months before Baguette was born, and we love reading, TV, movies, travel, and the outdoors.
    • I like to cook, but I rarely have time–I’m not even able to pull together slow-cooker meals as consistently as I’d like. Simple and fast are key these days.

    This blog is about our daily life–things we do, and things I think about. If you’d like to take a look around, here are a few recent-ish posts to get you started:

    Tales of the Dragon Mother–I’ve always been fight-y, but motherhood means that my ferocity sometimes surprises even me.

    All the Single Ladies–I’m not a single mother, but I think society should stop giving them grief and start giving them more support. Because this job is hard.

    It’s Not Rat Poison–Everybody calm down. It’s just formula, and it’s fine.

    Guest Post: Mr. Sandwich    –Our marriage is based on teamwork and mutual respect, and that extends to my blog. I can’t leave out this post!

    Work-Life Balance–I think this sums it up.

    Thanks for stopping by–I hope you’ll come back! And please feel free to comment wherever you’d like. I’m always open to civil discourse, regardless of whether we agree with one another!

  • Things About Baguette Right Now

    When she’s on the verge of frustration, she goes into her Karate Run. It’s her usual Stompy Run, but with vertical karate chops to the air as she goes.

    She likes to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” but she only knows two lines, and not all the words to those. The result is that she sounds like she’s reciting a prehistoric incantation.

    Bananas are peeled with the hands. All other fruit is peeled with the teeth. Including oranges.

    She eats very little cake at parties, never asks for juice, and wants fruit so much that it’s hard to make it to the checkout counter.

    But she will only eat processed meat.

    She likes her pacifier to coordinate with her outfit, and will exchange the one in her mouth for a structurally identical one in a different color.

    We keep telling her that the dog door is not a girl door, and she keeps proving us wrong.