This is your brain. . . this is your brain on motherhood

Here are a few snippets from what my brain processed yesterday:

With Mike when he got home from school: "And the flash memory was working! I took a wave file and we were sampling at a rate of 2 per second. . ."

During Joyschool: "I gots to tell you something! I gots to tell you something!" "Cough, cough! Teacher, Tayson gave me his cough." "Mom, I just want to be alone."

Before a run with Kenzie and Hannah in the *&%$^# double jogger: "Kenzie, it's cold outside, here's your jacket." "No, Mom! It won't be cold." "Fine. It's really going to be cold though. Let's put your jacket on." "No." "Fine." (I grab her jacket, just in case)

During the run: "Mom! I want to go home! Where are we going? I'm soooo cold. No blanket! It's in my eyes!" Kenzie grabs Hannah's blanket.
"Kenz, if you don't give that back to Hannah, I'm going to take your blanket away. One. . . Two . . .Three . . . Kenz! I'm stopping now. Give me the pink blanket. Here's your pink jacket."
"I don't want my pink jacket! I want my pink blankie."
"Kenzie, here is your pink jacket. It will help you to not be cold. You cannot have your pink blankie. I told you I would take it away. " (Of course I am very calm during this exchange. The only reason I am huffing is because I am out of breath.)
"Nooooooooo! I WANT MY PINK BLANKIE!" (Amazingly, Hannah is quiet. She has reached the "stroller daze" state of mind, where she calmly stares at everything.)
"I'm not stopping again. If you don't want to be cold, put your jacket on right now. One. . . two. . . three. . . Okay I'm going again."
"I want my pink blankie. I want my pink blankie!" (accompanied by heart-rending, screaming sobs)

I am surprised at how mean I can be sometimes. I did not give in. I stuck firmly to my no pink blankie policy, although I did stop after 6 minutes (yes I timed it) of incessant choking sobs to make her put her jacket on and give her some goldfish crackers. Hannah fell asleep.
Here is our conversation after the goldfish. (Amazingly the crying stopped.)

"Mom, you forgot to close the sack." (It was a ziploc bag) I have started running again, only slightly annoyed that I can't run for more than 6 minutes continuously.
"No Kenzie, if I close the sack, you can't get it open."
"Yes I can mom. Like the the the the. . . "
"The Little Engine that could?"
"Yeah, and the little girl." That morning we had our joyschool lesson on trying new things, and of course we read "The Little Engine that Could." I also told a story about a little girl trying the diving board for the first time.
She listened! I was amazed. I had to stop and close the sack. Every week I ask her what she learned at Joyschool and she says, "We had a snack." or "We played with toys " or, my favorite, "About being good." I know that the other moms are giving these awesome lessons, so her answers are just funny. She was so pleased when she managed to open it, and it gave her something to concentrate on.

The end of the run: (finally) "Mom. It's windy. You should put a sweater on." (I am not inappropriately dressed. I have capris and a tshirt on.) "I'm HUFF not really HUFF cold." "Why mom? Why? Why? Why aren't you cold?"
"Because HUFF when we run HUFF HUFF, we get warm."
When we got home, Kenzie promptly ran to her room and put a tank top on. When I told her we couldn't wear just a tank top, she told me it was because she was warm, from going on a run.

Whoever said that "twos" were terrible, hadn't gone through "threes" yet. Does anyone else have a supremely sad and bossy little person? Actually I guess she is more bipolar than just sad. She is so happy one moment, but one wrong move, the wrong cup for water or the wrong way of putting her in the car, and she explodes into inconsolable tears. Sometimes she yells at me that she wants to be alone, then she clings to me and wants me to hold her. She is mercurial!

Kenzie is also very tenderhearted. She is sometimes overwhelmed by loud noises and lots of people, and will put herself in time out at JoySchool, or try to hide from everyone during free playtime. One day she brought me a poetry book that had a picture of a baby in her diaper sitting there alone. She had tears in her eyes. "This baby wants his mommy." She was so sad! We had to give the baby a blanket and a kiss. Today, we were watching the Heffalump Movie (oh boy! This movie only gets better with each showing). At the end, Roo and Lumpy are reunited with their moms after being lost together for a little bit. Kenzie was sitting on my lap and at this point in the movie she burst into tears and wrapped her little arms around my neck.
"Kenzie, why are you crying?"
"I'm not mom. I'm happy." Sweet Kenzie. We'll make it through threes together.