The weather is nice....

I'm trying to think of good topics to bring up on the playground. I told a mother on the playground that I got tired of having to always ask "is this your ball?" I just wanted to have this agreement that anything on the playground is communal. Which is why I flipped out on the little four year old who was prancing around the playground with her bike helmet on and wearing sunglasses when she yelled at Leo for touching what I thought was her scooter. and he didn't get on it--I stopped him--but she came running up and yelled 'THAT NOT YOURS--THAT'S MY SISTERS AND YOU SHOULDN'T TOUCH IT BECAUSE SHE WILL GET VERY VERY ANGRY AT YOU!!!" and I checked to see that her mother wasn't around and I knelt down and said--to my reflection in her sunglasses "Don't yell at people...okay? It's not nice. You know what is NICE--sharing." and I stormed off.

I feel like Michael Keatons' character in Mr. Mom when he says to his wife after he's been at home with kids for weeks and weeks "I'm losing it honey..I'M LOSING IT" I'm not really losing it-I'm just sort of amazed at this world of children. And their parents. And their things...and their special foods...and their special parenting. Santa Monica is a trip.

Sometimes I prefer to talk to the nannies because they're not very sensitive about the kids they're taking care of. My favorite nanny (April, she's not REALLY my favorite nanny--I'm being sarcastic. I hope.) is woman who puts so much sunscreen on her kid that he is white faced. He looks like some 50's housewife with cold cream all over his face. And he wears this giant floppy Australian Outback hat as well to shield him from the sun. The weather really has been great in Santa Monica--the weekend is like 68-72 every day. PERFECT. And completely sunny. Back to my favorite nanny--and she's on her cellphone all the time. She'll take quick breaks to say "I'm gonna eat you up!! I'm gonna eat you!!!" to the kid when she's next to someone judging her phone use but her hearts not in it. I don't think she's gonna eat him up. Not with all that sunscreen on.

Both of the babysitters I've had--the Italian girl and now Davey-Blue..have both commented about how confusing and rambling and unclear my emails are. It's kind of like how my friends return my phone calls with "oh my god--I couldn't get thru your message--what did you want?" and the one I got this summer a few times "stop sending me so many texts....!" I'M NEEDY. And because I can't ramble and think things thru with Jeff I ramble away on voice mail and email. I love voice mail. A lot of voice mails are my closest friends. But when sweet (and apparently-direct) Davey-Blue gently teased me about my incoherent email I was like OH MY GOD IT'S ME...I was so hoping it was the Italian Nanny who had the problem. But when you hear a complaint twice--it's time to call a meeting.

I did some reading on how to handle a 2 year old today because Leo is SPIRITED. That's what Davey Blue said too--"he's spirited..which is WONDERFUL". It is. And then she asked me how do I handle when he just doesn't do what you tell him to do. My first thought was 'don't take him anywhere where he has to do what you tell him to do. Just find wide open spaces." But he runs. He takes off running. Which is the worst. I get down to his eye level and tell him NO from the depths of my belly--I try to bellow and be fierce. He gets all giddy and goofy when I do it. Like he's uncomfortable at me getting angry and he has to make a joke to cope. Twice today I had to run full speed after him and YELL. And I no longer care that the neighbors hear Leo and I all day long. Yelling about running--his screaming tantrums. They hear laughter too...and him jumping and running around. It's a loud time. Louder than when he was a newborn for sure--and I was so worried about that. THAT WAS NOTHING.

What is hard to believe is that I have a babysitter for almost 20 hours a week--that seems like A LOT!!! and yet I get so exhausted. I know I"m complaining a lot. And I'll survive. I don't think I'm having a nervous breakdown like my friend Jon hopes I'm having. (he loves drama....)

So...Zach is coming to visit at the end of Aug--right around when Jeff gets back. That will be FUNNNN. And he got a promotion. He can do returns now. I hope he wields his power well.

Tomorrow we're going to the beach with Derron (Hilary's husband) and Davey and Jasper. It's so much more fun to go with a large unruly group than by myself. I think Friday night Leo and I will be hanging by ourselves--and then this weekend..LAYS AHEAD OF ME LIKE THE OCEAN. Pretty and calming...and seemingly endless. "the years go by fast but the days are endless.."

And...I bought a Prius. I wanted one but I'm leaving the fancy new car land to enter into the cheap as possible payment land. So I got a 2004 Prius with 64 thousand miles on it for about 14 thousand. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it's silver. How will I ever find it in a LA Parking lot? The guy I bought the Prius from was the worst car salesman ever. The guy at the desk next to him basically did the deal for him. Having to spend time with him as the deal was happening was like being on a really bad date--he literally was like "so...uhm...have you always wanted to be an actress? wow. That's cool. Cool. (long pause) cool. Have you been on anything I"ve seen?" and then I listed a bunch of things while he just starred at me--nothing was registering with him. Until I said Reno 911. He loved the movie. And he told me that he buys all his clothes at Old Navy because they're such complete shit and badly made they actually fit him. "I've got this really odd short legs but long waisted--so really badly made clothes fit me really well."

BORING ALERT--BORING--SO BORING...BORING....here it comes...

I got the extended warranty but I can cancel. They pressured me so hard on this--the finance lady was like "I'M TELLING YOU--YOU HAVE TO DO THIS..I'M ON SALARY...I DON'T BENEFIT FROM THIS!!!" and she's been so intense about it. Her point was that because it's a 2004--when it has problems with the computer or something else big--it will cost a lot of money--and this is a 3 year warranty that covers everything--and it costs like 2500 I think. She rolled into the payments and instead of 46 months I have 60. I need Jeff or someone wise to tell me if I should do it--so confusing.

ANYWAY--

Tonight Leo saw the moon in the sky and said 'moon...I go night night." he said a sentence I swear.