Warning- Do not leave your purse in the car!

I am writing this post less for myself than for the handful of blogger friends and readers I have out there.

I went to San Dimas Canyon Park today after taking the kids to the library storytime. I was there less than ten minutes when another mom came to the park and approached me asking if I had a Toyota Sienna van. I told her yes, why? She said that the window was smashed in and that there was glass everywhere. I was confused and told her "What? I just got here." Like, it can't possibly be my car you are talking about. She asked if my van was champagne colored and I told her yes. So I went over to my van and sure enough the passenger-side window where Adam sits was smashed in and my purse had been stolen. There was shattered glass all over the inside of the car, on the carseat, and still hanging from the window.

I didn't hear anything, or see anyone. I had been sitting on the bench facing the playground when it happened and there were at least three other mothers at the park playground as well. It happened so fast.

Good news is that I was able to use another woman's cell phone to call the police. The sheriff was very nice and she called Sander's Towing who cleaned everything up (as best they could) for free. They popped out the rest of the window glass, and shook out the carseat and got as much of it out of the car to make it safe to drive home. I was very thankful for that. And thankful that the sheriff let me use her personal cell phone to call my bank and cancel my cards right away. That created the most emotional panic for me because I know how quickly your name and information can be used to create and charge accounts.

So we are all fine and ok, and my purse was the only item taken. Which had all of FOUR DOLLARS inside. The rest of my day has been in doing the legwork to file a fraud alert, cancel my bank accounts and establish new ones. I have to make an appt. for the DMV and get the car fixed. It's more of a hassel than anything. And it will cost us money of course. I do hope that this is the end of it and that the person who has all of my information is not particularly saavy.

So lesson learned: Never leave your purse in the car. Especially now, people are more desperate.

I also think it is a good idea to have a purse with a long enough strap so that you can hang it across your chest. This way you have both hands free to handle your children w/o your purse slipping off your shoulder or ever needing to set it down. That was how my purse got stolen the last time. I was helping Frannie onto the potty in a Stater Bros. bathroom and set my purse down by the toilet to help her. As I later went to pay for my groceries I realized I had left my purse in there. And in that short time it had been stolen. When I got home a new account had already been opened in Wal-Mart and a $1000 charged.

Happiness!

Today for the first time EVER, Adam played w/ the toys at the preschool class (the one I take both Frannie and Adam to on Thursdays) without grabbing my finger and insisting that I stand right next to him the entire time! I am shocked!! He is finally starting to outgrow his super separation anxiety. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! He was actually a whole room-length away from me and playing! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! At one point he even went to play outside without me! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! My little boy is learning to be a little more independent at just the right time. High five Adam!

A Proud Moment

This happened a few days ago and I considered blogging it then, but then thought "Nah. It's not THAT important." So anyways, I deemed this event to be un-blog-worthy. But darnit I'm still thinking about it and it still makes me happy to think about it, so I'm writing it down.

On Thursday I took the kiddos to the grocery store. As we're walking in Adam doesn't want to sit in the cart (he's been resisting it more and more), so I told him "Fine. You can walk but you have to hold Sissy's hand. No running. No touching." I wasn't expecting this scenario to last very long, but Frannie and Adam grabbed hands and they walked sweetly behind the cart. They did this through the whole store!!! It was the cutest thing ever and it just made me so proud of my sweet kids. A little four year old and almost 2 year old walking hand in hand and giggling and just being little dears. They sure made me look good that day!!

I'm Bored

Hi All. I need a forum to visit or something. Do any of you have one that you visit and like?

Various Things

Little Vegetable Garden


Green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, jalapeno, and yellow squash. I've got lettuce growing in the back.

We don't get much sun at all in the back area and I've been wanting to have a food garden for years. Now that I finally have a patch of dirt to plant in...it won't work. It seems that when it comes to Growing Vegetables 101 they need water and FULL sun. Full sun translates to 6+ hours a day of direct sunlight. There is just no way any of my plants receive that kind of sunlight in the back. So container vegetable gardening is my creative solution to hopefully get some sort of food production this year. (Lettuce and spinach do well in partial sun.) If it works well, I'll add to it next year.

If I didn't live in an association, I'd be very interested in yanking out the front lawn and creating an interesting food/flower garden in the front. A really neat book on the subject is Food Not Lawns.

Figuring Out Adam

I know I've written a few posts about my trials with Adam and his temper tantrums. And this is something that keeps evolving so here is my latest update. Time outs only work to a point. I've learned that he has certain triggers that set him in a bad way and if I don't steer clear of the triggers then I'm almost asking for problems. I've noticed that on days when we are outside all morning at the park he is a little dream boy. He'll just play the whole time with a ball or whatever and just wander around. When we go on long walks he will jog and jog and be chirping away. And I'll have no trouble with him. When we get home he takes a nice long nap, and when he wakes from sleep it's good if we can go outside for a second time before dinner. He's sweet and funny and my happy Adam.

Here's where I have trouble. Last Wednesday I was at a Moms Club meeting and he did the same thing he always does: started whining and burying his head between my knees and pulling on my finger to go with him into the playroom. He won't leave my side. Since I am the club secretary I really need to be in the main room taking notes, I can't just go with him into the playroom. When I tell him no, he starts to cry and whine and eventually throw a big tantrum. This then becomes really frustrating to me because I feel like I can't give my attention to ANYTHING because he will always flip out. I left the meeting as soon as it was over. I couldn't even enjoy hanging out with my Mom friends, I was soooo annoyed.

When I got home, I started thinking about the times he is good and no trouble and the times when he frustrates me the most. And I realized that my boy needs to be outside exercising. He doesn't like it when we are in rooms or houses especially with a bunch of other people. He will always be yanking on my finger to follow him and be right next to him, and if I leave him in a room in any way, once he looks up to find me he'll start to cry if I'm not there. So then it hit me...Why am I doing this to myself? If my boy needs to be outside and running around to be happy, then why am I creating problems for the both of us by forcing him into situations that make him uncomfortable? True, it means that I really can't have any Moms Club responsibilities right now, but maybe that's just the way it needs to be.

So I've decided that to make us all happier, my Adam needs a good walking every single day. He needs to get his energy out and be outside. Time outs work pretty well for the other tantrum things.


Some recent pics

This is Adam's friend Mona from across the street and her sister Sara. Frannie with her new scooter. Thanks Rachele and Alana! Adam with Daddy :)