About This Blog
Welcome to my blog. I'm Anne-Marie Nichols, a 40-something WAHM to Nathan, 6, and Lucie, 3. I've been married 12 years to their dad Paul, a scientist. When I'm not doing the mommy thing, I'm a freelance writer, and vice president of the board of directors for a Colorado public charter school. In my spare time I like to sleep, eat, read, and decorate cakes.
I created this online journal to share some entertaining and insightful stories from my own experiences as a writer, domestic engineer, and mom. I encourage you to share this blog with your friends, and hopefully it will spark some lively discussions on issues we can all relate to. Enjoy!
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Oct 10 2008
Put the ranch dressing down!
Nathan and Lucie wanted hot dogs for lunch. Usually, I heat and slice them up. Using forks, the kids dip the pieces in the ketchup. But Nathan had a different plan. First, he asked for me to take some "soft bread" (what he calls white bread) to use as the buns. I thought that was a clever idea and wondered where he picked the idea up.
Then he asked me to put ranch dressing on the hot dogs.
Ranch dressing?!? Ewwwwwwww! Not only did that seem kind of disgusting, but really off the wall for a dedicated ketchup imbiber. Still I went along with his (and Lucie's) lunchtime request. Yet I insisted that he eat both hot dogs (he asked for two) no matter what. After all, it was his choice to act uncivilized and be a bad culinary influence on his sister.
When I mentioned the lunch time gross out to Paul, he was just as shocked as I. Then we asked Nathan where he got the idea for the bread and ranch dressing.
"Oh, from Joey's mom," he said.
Joey's mom is my friend Julie who occasionally takes care of the kids. She's a terrific care provider and very patient and kind. She gets Lucie to use the potty and even does crafts with the kids. I have full confidence in her ability to take care of my two monkeys. Until now.
Per the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's website, "Don't use ketchup on your hot dog after the age of 18. Mustard, relish, onions, cheese and chili are acceptable." Ranch dressing must be a Minnesota thing (that's where she's from). I've really got to explain proper hot dog etiquette -- and its New York and Chicago nuances -- to her.
Oct 9 2008
The finish line
With Lucie starting preschool I'm amazed at how more grown up she seems than Nathan did at that age. She insists on dressing herself, even picking her outfit some mornings. (Or lack of them when she decides to have a pajama day and never gets dressed.) I always had to help Nathan get dressed when he was three. Even today, I have to help him pick out an outfit if I want it to match.
Lucie loves going to school. When I pick her up she tells me, "I had even more fun today!" Nathan would cling to me when I dropped him off at preschool. And there are some days when all I hear from him is, "I hate school."
As soon as Nathan grew out of his training wheels, Lucie got them put on her "new" bike (a used Schwinn that Paul's fixing up). The way she speeds around the neighborhood after her big brother, I know she'll lose the training wheels much sooner than her brother did.
Maybe it's a girl thing or younger child matter. But Lucie's growing up much quicker than her brother was at this age. My thinking is that when you have an older sibling, life is one big race where you're always trying to catch up.
No wonder Lucie and Nathan are constantly racing down the stairs while yelling, "I'm the winner!" Competition starts early around here.
Oct 8 2008
More family lore
In some families, all the kids are born the same time of year. In my family, my sister is born in late October and I'm a mid-November baby. This is because my parents used to take vacations in Florida the same time each year. My mom had to go away on a trip to relax enough to get pregnant.
While I didn't have to go on vacation to get pregnant with Nathan and Lucie, two things did have to happen. One, it had to be July. Two, we could only get pregnant in the Midwest. Nathan was conceived in the Chicago area, where we lived at the time. Lucie was conceived in Green Bay, Wisconsin on a trip to a rockabilly music festival.
Even though their due dates were a week apart, they were born in different months. That's because they're both preemies -- Nathan was born seven weeks early and Lucie four weeks early. While it's nice to have their birthday parties a month apart, it certainly wasn't convenient for them to be born so early. (That's a story for another day.)
Now guess where we'll all be next July? At Blogher 2007 in Chicago! (Blogher is a convention for women bloggers.) Great. Unless I want another baby -- which I don't -- I guess I'll be staying in a different hotel from my husband.
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