Hopscotch

Today was a good day.  Work went by super fast and aside from my right wrist hurting like crazy it was pretty uneventful.  I'm pretty sure I'm developing carple tunnel syndrome from all of the 'mousing' that I do at work.  I plan on checking with our IT guys to see if there is a mouse that is less physically demanding.  I came home for lunch today to check on the crock pot meal I had started this morning.  It was a really easy pork chop recipe that turned out pretty well.  I just browned the chops in a skillet (coated them with flour and some ground mustard, season salt and pepper) last night and then this morning I dropped them in the crock pot with a can of chicken with rice soup.  I added a little water to it this morning and more when I came homr for lunch, probably 3/4 of a soup can total.  But it was only supposed to cook 4-6 hours on low and I cooked it for about 9 so extra moisture was needed.  They were nice and tender and pretty good.... Allyson even ate a few bites!

This morning it was SUPER hard to get Allyson up, due to the time change.  I don't think she woke up at all when I got her dressed, but when I carried her to the couch she woke up, started crying and ran back to the bedroom.  Somehow I got her in her coat and carried her to the car.  Once there she demanded I take off her coat.  It wasn't freezing out and she has a big blanket in the backseat so I gave in.  I tucked the blanket up under her chin and we were off.  But before we got out of the driveway she had pulled the blanket (a fleece tie-blanket) up all the way over her head.  She stayed that way the whole drive to daycare, about 15 minutes.  She was not sleeping, just protesting being awake I guess.  I carried her into daycare like that and she was excited to hear that her daycare lady's (I'll call her J) daughter was home for spring break. 

I forgot to mention the other reasons for Allyson's sleepyness today, she was up WAY too late last night, it was around 11 (which before the time change was 10, but still late), then she fell out of bed.  I had to rescue her from between the wall, bed and heat register.  A couple of hours later she woke up whimpering, I reached over and felt that she was wet.  Her pull-up was soaked, which is odd because she has been staying dry through the night lately, but luckily she was sleeping on top of one of her blankets so that was the only bedding that got wet (not all of my sheets/blankets).  I changed her into a clean pull up and dry PJ pants and we both slept a little more.  Morning came too quickly.

On the way home she was telling me about who she played with and what she did at J's house today.  She said that we needed to play hopscotch when we got home.  The way she said hopscotch was just adorable, I can't even think of a way to type it like she said it.   So after supper, she set up the living room for hopscotch.  She lined up all of her dollhouse furniture in a row by the couch cushins she had pulled off of the loveseat and was ready to go.  Well almost... first she had to find her 'marker' which was a penny she threw  before she jumped.  She was having so much fun jumping all over and throwing that 'marker'.  She even got me in on the action and I took a few turns.  I got some cute video clips of her in action and some pictures too.  But then it happened, as I was filming she took a tumble and fell into that row of dollhouse toys she had lined up.  She immediately started screaming and crying, but after checking for blood and finding none I rocked her for awhile and got out her ice packs.  She was better in no time but not without a mark or two.  She has a big red spot that I think will turn into a bruise on her cheek and a mark on her butt/flank too.  Poor girl.  That was the end of our hopscotch game.  Hopefully soon we can make a real hopscotch grid outside on the sidewalk.  Spring... Are you coming soon?

Jumping on the love seat!

Getting ready to jump!  Quite the line up, huh?

She made it... this time!

Bedtime started  tonight at 9 with me reading some books to Allyson followed by some crying that she wanted to watch TV and then silence.  It was all over in 45 minutes!  Yeah!  I'll start moving it up to earlier in the evenings, but with the time change 9 seemed ok.

I'm noticing that my most frequently used blog label is "Sleep",  poor me :(

"I am the princess"

Ahhh, Wednesday evening, it feels nice to know that over half of the work week is done!  I am finally getting caught up on my worklists at work from taking time off for me being sick, Allyson being sick and going all the way back to my trip to Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon last November.  Missing a day makes a big difference at this job, I may have been gone but the work keeps coming! 

Before leaving for work this morning I grabbed my grocery list since I planned on going to the store after work.  I planned on looking at the ads and adding more to the list while at work.  Well, I couldn't find the list while I was at work so I ended up just making a new one.  Sadly, I forgot that one on my desk!!  So instead I just went to the store with the bits I remembered from my list.  I think I bought twice as much as I planned and missed a couple of key items I wanted to get.  Allyson was not in the greatest mood at the store, but didn't really throw a fit until we left the store.  She refused to hold my hand so I carried her and pushed the cart through the slush caused by over 24 hours of rain/snow mix.  She screamed, it was lovley!  But when we got home we took our fusteration out on the slush and had fun stomping  in it and kicking it all through the parking lot with our boots.

After that she was better and we had a nice dinner together.  Just a simple meal tonight.  We split a cheese quesadilla, had pickles, strawberries, cottage cheese and grahm crackers.  Odd combination, but tasty.  After dinner we sorted laundry and managed to get 4 loads done... Well technically 2 loads are still in the dryer and nothing is folded, but they are clean.

As we were coming back downstairs to our apartment after changing out the loads Allyson was so silly.  She was wearing a wide pink headband, purple beaded necklace and carrying a magic wand.  As she walked down the stairs she could see her reflection in the glass doors on the landing between floors.  She was walking with her head held high like a princess and her magic wand up in the air; all while saying in a sing-song voice, "I am the princess" over and over, it was so cute.  She was so prim and proper.  I wish I had the camera with, but I'm sure if I had it, she would have quit immediately, it seems that is how it works. 

Bedtime was it's usual struggle.  She got up and went potty, then requested to sleep in her bed.  I was thinking, "GREAT, please do!" So I tucked her into her bed and read one story (making it clear it was going to be ONE story since it was already 9:20).  She threw an asolute fit so I tried the Super Nanny tatic of putting her back in bed with out saying much to her, twice.  The third time she yelled she wanted to sleep in my bed.  I said OK and I haven't heard from her in 25 minutes.  I know, I'm weak and I caved in.  I just like to keep the peace.

Tomorrow night is Ladies Night Out (LNO) with my girlfriends, I can't wait!!  We are meeting for a late supper and drinks at a Mexican restaurant.  I can almost taste my margarita.  Gives me something to look forward to tomorrow at work.