Good comedy's all about timing; and if you were at Red Arrow Park's Slice of Ice this past Friday around 2:00ish, you probably got some great comedy from the adults there skating badly.  VERY badly.

Like this one woman  -- she oozed cockiness as she came out of the skate rental place with her daughter (who was obviously a little pensive about skating in the first place) and her husband -- who was there with the camera ready for the photo ops.  Nose in the air, she told her little one, "Let Mommy warm up first, and then we'll skate together" and took off.  Only she didn't.  She wobbled like a newborn calf and joked "Wow, this ice is really slippery!" with the Sideline Moms who couldn't help but look at the spectacle.  They only looked at her like the fool she was.  I'll give the woman credit though, she kept her brave face while stumbling awkwardly and began to glide....glide out of control, that is.  That's when she came crashing down with a BANG-ker-Slide (about 4 feet, if anyone was measuring) on the ice.  The beaten-down woman looked at the Sideline Moms and mumbled something like "What the heck happened?" and the moms just tried to politely ignore her as best they could.  I swear, the ruckus this clumsy woman created even caused her husband and child to back away (far, far away) from this crazy-newborn-calf-nonskating person they came to the park with.

That would have been hilarious...if it hadn't been me.

Once upon a time, I had been a very graceful skater.  I regularly skated at Mayfair Mall's ice skating rink, zipping round and round for hours on end.  And even last year -- and the year before that -- even the year before that, I had been good!  DARN good!  But for some reason this past Friday, I remember stepping out onto the ice and knowing that something didn't feel quite right.  I figured that the unusal slippery-ness was just me getting older (heck, I'm gonna be forty this year), but it wasn't anything I couldn't overcome, hence the trivial commentary with the Sideline Moms.  Then the initial fall happened.  Stubbornly refusing to believe that getting older could turn me into a wreck on the rink, I got up.  Big Mistake:  That's when the final SPA-LATT happened.  I was ready to throw in the towel or at least use one for my backside that was by that time covered in slushy ice.  Even Jamie and GG had backed away and started looking at me like I was from the Twilight Zone or something.  Then thankfully...finally, some wonderful man whose name I shall never know, but to whom I'll always be grateful said "Hey!  You've got your blade guards on!"

My pride hopes that your timing was off on Friday so you would have missed the five minute disaster that was me that day.  But if it was on and you caught my impromptu slip-sliding-away show, I hope you got a chuckle out of it.

This time of year known as the Holiday Season to everyone else is known as Year End to those of us in the non-profit world.  Now's when we make our last push to get those extra donations in to meet our budgets and fundraising goals, so we send out letters, double-check with funders that we've approached about pending grants, and start preparing for the annual audit.  In a word, it's just been busy, and I've definitely been on that crazy treadmill too.  And lately, the running theme in my mind has been "All I want for Christmas is my sense of humor back...or at least my sense of fun back" because I find it really hard to disconnect from the busyness of work and reconnect with the not only the true meaning of Christmas, but also the funny, silly things that GG does.

Anyway, today started the first day of an entire week off.  I spent the morning -- probably like a gazillion other people -- trying to get the last minute things done that I should've have done weeks ago, and of course GG was with me -- partially so she could see Santa, and mostly so we could reconnect.  GG calls it a "Mom and GG Day."  We got up early, headed to the mall in the blowing snow and made it there before the crowds hit.  She picked out a present for her uncle, and then we headed off to see Santa.  I love Mayfair's Santa because he looks like the genuine article.  Each year, he says "My you've grown"  and that always makes me feel like "maybe, just maybe he does exist."  But today was the capper of all cappers -- he says "Well, you're on the good list.....BUT you've got to work on your listening.  Especially when you're shopping with your mom."  That was the very thing we've been talking about over the last few days!  How did he know?!

Call me naive, but all of the sudden, I was 7 years old again, wondering along with GG how he could've possibly known that she's got "listening issues."  I couldn't have asked for a better present than that.  And GG had renewed motivation to work on her listening.

Think I'm officially off the treadmill now.  Merry Christmas everyone.

4 days until D-Day – or shall I say the B-Day (although, technically, GG’s birthday is indeed D-Day/Pearl Harbor).  Anyway, she’s turning 6 on Sunday, and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself.  I don’t know if has to do with hormonal stuff that women go through when they reach a certain age, or just the fact that (sniff, sniff): my baby’s not a baby anymore.

I’ve realized this melancholy/nostalgic/introspective thing happens to me every year about seven days before her birthday.  GG, on the other hand, seems to exert her independence/will/individuality – sometimes exhibited by uncharacteristic (and it pains me to say it) brattiness seven days before her special day. 

And so I end up on this weird emotional seesaw where I’m on her (it seems like constantly) for doing things she wouldn’t normally do (e.g. sassing one of her favorite aunts) and wondering where I went wrong and realizing how woefully unprepared I was for this parenting gig in the first place.  Then the seesaw goes up (or down depending on the day) and I see how she’s got her own little circle of friends at school.  Or I call home from work to see how her day went and she tells me that she’s “a little busy right now.”  Or she comes up with ideas about helping “people who are poor” and “people who are sad.” 

All of it gets me misty because I realize that GG really is a big kid now….and maybe, just maybe – in between all the ups and downs - some of what we’re trying to impart is getting through.

Guess I’m looking forward to D-Day/B-Day after all, even though I’ll see it through the misty eyes of a woefully unprepared mom.

Happy Birthday, GG.  Mom and Dad love you more than anything.

GG two months after THE Birth Day

GG at last year's birthday party.

Sniff. Sniff.

My BFF Amy emailed me the following message:

So Holly comes to my bedside this morning, wakes me up, and asks me why the tooth fairy didn't come last night. There goes my Mother Of The Year award....geez.

She's got three kids, ages 10, 9 and 7, so Amy gets a pass.  The Tooth Fairy's visited our house four times already; and we only have one child; so I can see where things might get a little tricky with three.....and expensive.  When GG lost her first tooth, I had no idea how much the Tooth Fairy should leave, but I thought 2 shiny new quarters would be cool.  Then I found out that the Tooth Fairy was being cheap, so we started leaving a dollar per tooth after that.

Which brings me back to my forgetful BFF Amy.  Read on...

So I remember the tooth the next night after Holly told me she didn't come. Feeling a bit guilty, I put $3 under her pillow thinking she'd be so wowed. Her reply was "Why did Molly get $10 for her tooth a few weeks ago?"

TEN DOLLARS? Is that the standard going rate for baby teeth these days?  Heck, we've been hoping that GG will save every Tooth Fairy dollar to help pay for braces when her permanent teeth come in.  And now I'm really confused:  On Monday, we found Charley's tiny little canine tooth on the carpet.  Apparently, puppies lose their baby teeth too; and it is rare for an owner to find them.  Lucky us.  I just wonder what the Tooth Fairy is supposed to do for puppies.

So fill Amy and me in -- how much does the Tooth Fairy leave your little one?  How much money is too much?  What did the Tooth Fairy leave for you when you were a kid?