TheMommyBlog

Saturday, June 30, 2007 Me, Me, Me, Familybits, Fun Finds

So I’ve got like five stories backed up (there’s a pill for that) and I don’t know where to go first. Okay, here’s the lineup: heartwarming, 80’s, swooning, revved up, and No Place Like Home.

Heartwarming: we’ve been trying to organize an exorcism for Daphne this week, because, damn. She’s Queen of the Dark-n-Deadly Tantrum. Any little thing shuts her down, and she has one of two reactions. Either she’ll grab the nearest object and heave it across the room, or she’ll run away. Sometimes she’ll just go boneless and sit staring at the ground, refusing to get up or walk. But if she does walk, it will be AWAY from you, and if she senses you following, she’ll kick it up to warp speed. The girl’s got some long legs—I once had to run most of a block to catch her. In short, she’s been having tough mornings, sometimes involving unfastened seat belts, Taiko-like drumbeats on the back of my seat with occasional forays into the console where I plug in my phone, and slithering down in her booster seat until her headband is the only thing holding her under the seat belt. It’s making us crazy.

So, Wednesday morning. We (finally) get to camp, after having dragged this rag doll through two previous drop-offs. Geographically, she had to be last in order for me to finish the run in under ninety minutes. As we checked in, her counselor said, “Daphne, the note for your mom is in your cubby.” Oh great, I thought, now my daughter’s getting notes home. Time for another Year of Hell with a Five Year Old. You may recall the Year Dylan Was Five. You may not. I’ve had most of it surgically removed from my brain.

“Mama! I have a note for you!” She tore into the other room and returned with a letter, face alight… and was… was she SMILING? What? All of a sudden it’s all kittens and rainbows? The counselor explained that Daphne felt bad about her tantrum the previous morning and had asked her to write down a message to me from her:

I love you Mommy.

If you want you could call me if you want to come to my daddy’s house. You could come to his house and you could come to daddy’s and you could call me and I would have a little snack for you.

Love,

Daphne

This was her way of apologizing. As soon as I read the note and hugged her tight, she was transformed. She feels a thousand times better once she’s drawn a picture or written a love note, and I think we’ve found a way to short-circuit the cycle. It was like a gift from God, who probably was just glad He didn’t have to deal with the exorcism.

80’s: Last night, Phil and I watched the videos from his wedding nearly twenty years ago (like me, he was married in his early twenties for two years. Only I didn’t have two hours of footage of the biggest, 80’siest, Italian Catholic wedding ever seen).

Dear Barbara.

Fourteen groomsmen, somewhat fewer bridesmaids, royal blue taffeta and lace, white fur hand muffs, and a long sermon comparing a good marriage with homemade lasagna (they’re both chefs). Wow. Just… wow.

Swooning: I had a job interview yesterday with the CEO and CTO of Renkoo.com. I was early, and we were meeting at a little bakery/cafe in Redwood City called Pamplemousse. This place was not to be believed. I had time to sit in a tufted suede banquette with an orange brioche and citrus chamomile tea and a copy of 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny, which I’m reading for the third time because it’s so funny. It’s written by Phillip Done, an old classmate of BlogHer co-founder Elisa Camahort, whom I met one summer day in 2005 as we gathered to stuff binders for that year’s BlogHer meeting. Yes, I’m a dinosaur. I made goodie bags for the first BlogHer. (By the way, you may not be able to access their site. The next meeting is coming up and I think the site has been overwhelmed with visitors.)

Anyway, it was a delicious hour spent in the best way possible without a masseuse present.

Revved up: What a great interview. And what great people. I don’t want to jinx it. More later.

No Place Like Home: The CEO, Adam Rifkin, asked me to check out the new app Renkoo released yesterday for Facebook, called Booze Mail. When I saw it I nearly fainted, but it’s impossible to faint in an ergonomically superior chair such as my Aeron. But I was a bit giddy. Now this is something I can sink my teeth into!

Anyone want a drink? First round’s on me!