Do you need to be validated?

Sometimes I find this whole parenting gig to be quite difficult. Now that Ciara is getting older (and more sassy), I find that I actually have to do more PARENTING than just hanging out and listening and having fun.

I think my biggest failures as a parent come in the form of validation and sympathy. Now don't get me wrong, Ciara knows that I will love her, and that she will always be my first priority in life - no matter what. So her position as the centre of MY universe is not the problem. It's the rest of the world I'm concerned about.

I also lack the skill of mustering up the necessary sympathy for the scraped knee. Six hours after it happened. When it wasn't sore when it hurt, but it magically is now that it's been cleaned, and she's seen that it is in fact a scrape, and not just dirt. I'm like 'Ciara, it didn't hurt when it happened', and she's 'but mom I didn't know it was a scrape then.' and then she looks at me like I'm and idiot. Because it's perfectly logical that something didn't hurt when you thought it was dirt, but now that you know it's a scrape it must logically hurt. WTF?
Then I muster up the best 'eina' face I can and say 'Oh poor baby' because I don't know what the hell else to do.

I won't get into the incessant talking. Sometimes I actually have to say 'Ciara, for the love of all things sane and pretty, please just stop talking for like 5 minutes'. And then I feel really crappy. Because what kind of parent tells their kid to shut up? But it's not like she listens to me. She just rolls her eyes and gives me the 'whatever' look, and picks up right where she left off. It's a skill, often leaving me wondering if the 25 seconds before really happened, or were just a figment of my imagination.

Overall, I really quite enjoy this crazy, confusing and metamorphic job I was thrust into. She's quite a peach that little one. I think I'll keep her.

Can someone explain this to me?

Okay, so you can see the spelling of my name there on the right. It's not an easy name to spell, and when I speak to people I always tell them how to spell my name. Not once, in the history of EVER, has someone managed to spell my name correctly without being given the spelling.

So I understand the Caryn, Karen, Kerrin, Keran, Kiaran when someone hasn't been given the correct spelling.

But how, for the love of all things good and shiny in this world, do you get it wrong when you are replying to an e-mail, that contains the correct spelling of my name not once, but THREE times. And you still address the e-mail "Hi Kerin". How do you do that?

It must be some kind of gift, to be able to completely ignore EVERYTHING around you. I am either the most conscientious person I know (I actually check the spelling of peoples names when I reply to e-mails), or I am surrounded by some of the worlds most wilfully oblivious people!

This is difficult

Crickey, keeping up with this blogging thing is difficult.

I get my best blogging ideas at around 3:23am, but by the time I'm fully away (8:41am), the ideas are all gone.

I was thinking the other day about how many 'Internet crushes' I have. There are so many words written in so many blogs that I simply must read every day. My cyber crushes are both boys and girls (although I swing only one way irl.)

There are those that I admire, those that inspire, those that make me laugh, and even those that make me cry. I have 17 blogs that I read almost every day. I feel like I know those people. I'm disappointed when they don't blog EVERY DAY. When they decide to leave blogging (forever, or just for a while) I feel personally abandoned.

OMG : The Boss just missed his flight to Tanzania!?! He assumed 12:30am on the 14th was tomorrow morning?!? WTH?

Okay, so, love you guys, do you want to split a milkshake at the Wimpy?