This Metatarsal

My daughter is the Pied Piper of nudity. After thirty minutes in her presence even the most gently nurtured of children will find themselves trying to explain to bewildered parents what happened to their pants: "Well, Caroline said... ."

We had friends to dinner on Saturday night and the mystery of Lucy's leggings may never be solved. Caroline explained that she put her BFF's clothes in the dryer (isn't she helpful) but this story has yet to be corroborated by any evidence (like the finding of the leggings. in the dryer.)

And poor Edward, all pink and sturdy, keeps emerging from the basement with, "Mommy! I'm COHD!"

I say, "Of course you're cold; you're naked. What happened to your clothes, Edward?"

And he tries to crawl under my shirt as he explains, "Well, Cayayine said... ."

Every night I tuck in a pajama-wearing Caroline only to find her au naturel hours later, curled under the blankets with her pajamas hanging from the lamp. Now that she no longer requires a diaper this does not presage the laundry disaster it once did but it makes me cold just to look at her. And I hate being cold, so although I also hate trying to cram a sleeping child into footie pajamas (it's like trying to put the breakfast sausage back into the casing) I have dutifully done so every night for weeks and weeks. 

Recently it occurred to me that this maternal solicitude might actually be doing her a disservice. I mean Caroline (despite her older brother's dire predictions to the contrary) is no dummy dope. She can get herself dressed and undressed with firefighter speed and since she is almost too in touch with her own feelings

(Caroline: I was worried that Edward was going to take my butterfly wings and then I ran but he ran too and then he tried to take them and I said no Edward Swiper no swiping but he did and then I was mad and I knew I had to bam him but I did and now *fake sob fake sob* I feel so so sorry. But I will bam him again)

can't we assume that perhaps she takes off her clothes because she likes to sleep without any pajamas? Steve after all... well. He also shoves the electric blanket all the way over to my side of the bed and sleeps with his feet hanging out from his side of the special duvet we got that snaps in the middle and allows you to have two different levels of warmth: Normal Minnesota Weight and Steve.

So I have been fighting my instincts to get her dressed again at night and now I just cover her with four blankets. When she comes down in the morning she is back in her pajamas so... I think she's ok. She also has some great career options ahead of her. I hear burlesque is making a comeback and someone, somewhere, is always casting for productions of Equus. Or Hair.

And to continue this theme (not Nudity. the theme is One Should Try to not... oh what's the word? Transfer? Convey? damn it, it's eluding me... Project! onto One's Children) I feel kinda guilty because I inadvertently discovered that Caroline is shockingly good at puzzles but it had never in a million years occurred to me to give her one. She just never struck me as a sit-down-and-do-a-nice-puzzle type but Patrick brought some of his old toys up for the twinkles and Caroline was enchanted with them. She did three Melissa & Doug puzzles one after the other

and then the next day she dumped all the pieces together and did three at once

Oooh hey, maybe she'll be a naked brain surgeon! Or a naked architect, a naked air traffic controller, a naked particle physicist... good spatial skills are useful in so many fields.

I pointed out to Steve the speed with which Caroline was putting together simultaneous puzzles and he said, "Well, she'll certainly be able to parallel park." Then he ran because those are fightin' words.

He thinks he's so witty - making fun of my limitations - but lots of people cannot parallel park. In fact I'll bet if I backed my car into nine people in the Target parking lot at least seven of them wouldn't be able to parallel park either. So there.

+

Edward - like his brother and sister before him - was a little hesitant to use the toilet for all his toilet needs and - again like his brother and his sister - required something in the nature of a bribe at those critical moments of resistance to get him past the NO.

"Edward," I said in a manly, straightforward fashion that well became me, "you sit there and poop in that potty and I will drive you to Target to pick out a special present."

Although that might sound to you (and Edward) like I meant I would drive him right that minute I meant it more like.... keep it up and there will be a reward at some as yet unspecified time in the future.

This has been going on for a couple of weeks and it has worked in stages until Edward finally seemed on-board enough with the program that I decided yesterday we'd achieved success. Mission Accomplished. Special present acquisition team, ho! 

I was helping Edward get on his shoes and he said, "I go in the potty, Cayayine, so we're driving in the silver car to Target to get a special present!"

Caroline looked at me, like, ET TU BRUTE, and said, "I go to the bathroom all the time. And I haven't gotten a chocolate chip in... since more than yesterday."

I said, "Yes yes, fine. You too. We are all going to Target and you can both pick out one big kid special present for giving up diapers

("Edward wears a diaper at night," said Little Miss Viper-Tongue) 

for giving up diapers except at night and for being such a big boy and a big girl. I'm so proud of both of you."

I drove and they sang and then Caroline started talking about what her special present would be. She thought she might like her own car and I said I would see her in hell first (translate that into preschool: something like "Silly girl! Only mommies and daddies and responsible teenagers who have never climbed out of windows and who can pay for their own car insurance get to drive cars!")

Edward said, "I know my special present. I know what I getting!"

And Caroline and I said, "What, Edward?"

And Edward smiled beatifically and said, "I going to Target and I buying... a pacifier!"

D'oh!

[He got a dragon racetrack thing and he slept with it. Caroline picked out a Barbie. A FAIRY Barbie with a molded plastic corset, arms that stick straight up over her head and the most improbable fuckme heels since whatever designer it was tried to break all those ankles with en pointe shoes at Fashion Week. I would worry about what this doll might do to my pumpkin's budding feminism: but 1) I loved me some Barbie back in the day and Aphra Behn and I are like this; and 2) Barbie hadn't been in our house more than 30 minutes before Caroline had stuffed her headfirst into the mouth of Edward's dragon. I haven't seen her since.]

Edward. My sweet - only rarely and then developmentally appropriately psycho - Edward. He reminds me of a more balanced Patrick at this age. Like a young Patrick he digs letters and words and numbers and he understands how they work together. He can recognize some simple words like "big" and "go" and "car." He always wants to know how to spell everything, so a request for him to drink his milk can take five minutes: what does "drink" start with? what does "milk" start with? then what? He can count to 100 and he can add numbers as long as you don't go all crazy and ask about anything higher than five. When the woman at the carpet store asked him what his favorite color was yesterday he tapped his chin thoughtfully with one plump finger and said, "Ummmmmm, I yike... grey. A niceth grey."

He's incredibly good at throwing balls and dribbling them with his feet. He plays elaborate games with his cars and his trains and they always make sense, like, his cars are having a big race or the trains are trying to deliver balls to the airport. Caroline never plays like that and Patrick didn't either so I find it endlessly entertaining to listen to the conversations he creates. My mother observed that in a lot of ways he seems to be the baby of the family and I think that is true. He does things at his own pace and the fact that Caroline moved out of a crib or stopped using a bottle or diapers didn't faze him in the slightest. He was like oh how nice for her; now change my diaper, put me in my crib and I'll be seeing you at 4 am for my bottle of milk. Not now you understand, then - he just doesn't give things up until he's ready.

- someone in my comments last summer suggested that the reason I was depressed was because I had failed to sleep train my children and I live in the middle of nowhere. I was amused at the time and now that Celexa has helped to curb my crippling anxiety I am even more amused. I think I was depressed because I never left the house and I never left the house because I thought that monsters would eat my babies. Getting up with them because they were crying in the middle of the night? Not that big of a deal. And I like the woods. And believe your choices are the only valid choices much? -

Celexa. While we are on the subject, I suppose.

By last Fall my anxiety had gotten completely out of hand and I was making everyone miserable. The lightbulb moments for me (sorry if I told you this before; I don't remember) were two-fold. The first was when I asked Patrick to plug in the sewing machine and he looked at me in total horror. He sincerely believed (at eight years old) that putting a plug into an electrical outlet would kill him. The second was when I realized that Caroline kept saying everything (and I mean everything. like Cheerios and the hair brush) was dangerous. 

To be fair to myself and the extent to which I broke him, I do think that Patrick has a naturally cautious temperment. That said, it did not help him develop appropriate perceptions when I had spent his entire life freaking out about dangers; real imagined and always exaggerated. To this day he refuses to walk from one side of the produce section to the other if I do not come with him. My belief that he needed to be within arms reach at all time registered loud and clear and I feel terrible about that. But... we're working on it and I think that the fact that I feel so much better is making him feel better. Just the other day I convinced him to walk all the way to the bathroom by himself at the library and... nothing bad happened. Go figure.

So Patrick was afraid I was trying to electrocute him and Caroline - who does not have a drop of fear in her entire body - was going around talking about how dangerous things were. It horrified me. I know it's all very Mrs Lovejoy but I suddenly heard myself through the wee mouths of whatsits and I sounded like a looney. Worse, I was making a timid child more timid and I was on course to wreck an amazing, courageous spitfire spirit. Not that Caroline doesn't need some major boundaries, just that she doesn't need someone telling her she cannot do something simply because it scares ME. I mean, seriously, there is no reason why Caroline cannot be a naked roofer if she wants to be. Sure she needs to be older than two when she goes out there again but if she wants to walk the naked high wire it doesn't matter that I have a fear of falling. 

So I knew these things but I still couldn't get past my visceral responses to the contrary (in much the same way you can assure me that the snakes in the pit into which I am being lowered are all non-poisonous but I will still die from the mortal heebie-jeebies) and I wanted to change. So that is when I took Steve with me to the doctor and got a prescription for anti-anxiety meds.

To recap I started on Paxil and I took it for a month during which time I was sleeping 18 hours a day. I asked for something that might enable me to stay awake long enough to enjoy all that new anxiety-free time  and I got Celexa, which I have now been on for about six months. At first it was AWESOME. Like... I have never felt that good in my entire life, felt like a pop song, wanted to have sex all the time, AWESOME. Apparently that was a side effect - a really really nice side effect - appropriately called euphoria and it wore off after about two months. Then I was like, well, this sucks. Where are my rainbow marshmallow unicorns? But gradually I noticed that I am, just, better. Calmer. Able to take children to the indoor playground without having honest-to-god panic attacks about the climbing and the falling. And I noticed that I am making new friends and seeing old ones more. It felt totally normal to suggest meeting a local blog reader; to have people to dinner more often; to send out a mass email saying we had a babysitter and were going to a wine bar, did anyone want to meet us there? It's not the sugar-high I was on in the beginning but it feels pretty great. 

And if this were a real Celexa advertisement I would now show you baffling images of butterflies in meadows and people running on a beach and puppies frolicking and snowflakes glistening and I would race through a list of potential side effects that would make your blood run cold. But it's not so I get to just tell you I like it.

PS I picked Caroline up from preschool today and her teacher said, "Does Caroline know Spanish? We did Spanish today and she was just amazing."

I modestly admitted that it is true. Caroline is fluent in Dora and she can totally get by in Diego. Recently she has expressed interest in doing an exchange program to Kai-Lan so we expect she'll be picking up Chinese too. 

As we left the class she waved and shouted, "Goodbye! Goodbye friends! Good luck! Adios! ADIOS!"

She is such a fraud.     

Comments

[katie]

Oh, Julia. You made me laugh so many times in this post I don't even know where to start. Caroline with her "I bam him and I will bam him again" is so perfect. And Edward wanting a pacifier at Target. That is so something my 3-year old would do. What a great update! Glad you're feeling better. I will be back on the anti-anxiety meds ASAP after I have this second (and last) kiddo because I too have a healthy dose of the "watch out, that's dangerous" gene. Take care and give us a Patrick update soon!

[Angsty Jen]

We have a mini-nudist too...our four-year-old gradually sheds clothes throughout the evening. I just wish she would take them off in her room - it's unnerving to have a friend over and see Dora undies in the corner of the room.

Your kids are SO precious. I'm convinced that Caroline and my Julie could be co-dictators of a medium-sized island nation. Long live strong girls!

[diana]

Glad to hear you are feeling better and more like your self!

We recently discovered our 3 year old is pretty great with puzzles also. He can do fairly advanced ones in no time, and it is pretty much the only thing he will sit still for. We were visiting my parents last weekend and HILARIOUSLY it took my dad (PhD in statistics, seriously one of the smartest people I know) a WHOLE HOUR to do one of those huge toddler floor puzzles. He was trying so hard, and it was all we could do not to jump down there and finish it off for him.

[Kizz]

I am applauding you. I haven't heard an Aphra Ben joke in YEARS!

[grace413]

I can't parallel park either. Who cares?

I do like to sleep naked.

[lizardek]

I would also like more info on the miracle duvet, especially whether it's available in Europe!

[kara]

I can't parallel park either, and consider the inconvenience a necessary sacrifice to enhance public safety. Also, YAY for Celexa! As always, I love your stories and your family.

[jill]

"She is such a fraud."

Will be smiling for many more minutes because of this line. Classic. Like "phony" in Catcher in the Rye.

[raya]

For some inspiration, freerangekids has a good website.

[m.]

i love your posts so much that i saw a new one last night but only had my phone and did not want to do your writing a disservice by reading it on a 4 inch screen, so i saved it for today. and it was so worth it. thank you for the glimpses into your life!

[Linda]

I recently finished reading all of your archives & felt a little sad--because now, when there's nothing to do (well, there's always something to do, but I usually don't care to do it), I can't just start reading More Julia. Plenty of people tell you how great you are, so maybe you don't need one more, but, really, I have enjoyed reading your journal much more than I enjoy about 87% of what I bring home from the library.

Thank you for all the time it takes to put together all these words. Thanks for all the little kid stories, because mine are so big that they are 1) in college & 2) have their own baby.

Just another data point: I am 60 years old (& look it) (but do not feel it) & continue to not enjoy sleepwear (which I will wear only when not in bed or when sleeping at someone else's house). I do love being not too hot & not too cold, but just right.

In summation, thanks for writing; please continue to do lots of it.

[angelal]

I look forward to your entries so much. This one was so good! I'm so happy for you. :) :) :)

[Leah]

Sigh. I feel happy. I check every day for a new post and today's was worth the wait. I love your writing. Thank you!

[Sarah]

So glad to hear the meds are working for you. Yay! I am a worrier too, always have been. It drives people around me crazy, but I've never considered it an issue until reading this post. I constantly have to tell my 2.5 year old boy not to do x y or z because he could get hurt. I thought that's what all mom's who want to avoid trips to the ER did? He isn't nearly as adventurous as your dear high wire girl which makes me OH so thankful. I'd have trouble functioning if he were. Anyway, my big goal is to prevent preventable injuries. I wonder how I'll know when it's too much...

As for your smarty pants kiddos, it's a good thing the twins each have a bit of Patrick in them that way they won't feel so left in his dust when they all grow up. ;) It's amazing that Edward is so deep into numbers and letters at his age and that Caroline is a whiz with puzzles. I'm around plenty of little ones in that age range and both skill sets seem pretty advanced for being just past 3!

[Rachel]

I was a nudist child. I shucked my clothes at every opportunity. Even now when I'm home and not expecting company the clothes are gone (but I always have a tank and yoga pants handy in case of an unexpected knock). I still don't sleep in anything unless I am very ill or it's below freezing (The heat in my house is set to 65 all the time...how is it that 65 degrees feels colder when it's 30 degrees outside?).

But I have totally learned to wear clothes outside and not try to convince my friends that naked is so much more comfortable. Caroline will probably eventually be fully-clothed Secretary General of the United Nations.

[Melissa]

Among the many listed pluses to Caroline, there is also the fact that she wears ultra-cool clothes. I am dying for that outfit in the second pic.

I agree with Kate Buker; although I would buy your book the moment it came out & make my library buy a few copies too, I would rather you not write one - please just keep the blog posts coming. It brightens my day to hear about you & your lovely family in the middle of nowhere.

I also cannot parallel park.

[victoria]

I keep thinking "her writing can't get any better" and then I discover the next sentence is even better than the last.

I also think, well of COURSE her kids think the world is a dangerous place. For Julia's kids, the world, in fact, is pretty lethal.

You lost 11 pregnancies. If that doesn't make you hyper-aware of your children's vulnerability I don't know what would.

[LMM]

A parallel parking story for your amusement: When I was 16 and getting ready to take my drivers test, my dad was convinced I was going to fail. Badly. Like, not worth the $30 fee to even try badly. Normally he was a very encouraging dad but he saw nothing but disaster ahead for me. (A note - I was not that bad. I swear.)
So, the morning of my test, as we were driving to the DMV, my dad made me practice parking again. Yes, in morning rush hour on the way to the DMV.
We get there, I check in and I walk out to my car with the tester. He stops short and says, "Were you practicing your parallel parking this morning down the street?"
"Yes sir".
"Then that must be your weak spot! We'll have to do lots of that!"
And he laughed. My dad looked appropriately chagrined. I tried not to vomit on the spot.

The jerk made me parallel park THREE TIMES on my test.
And I still passed.
But I still hate it.
Thanks dad!

[victoria]

Oh god, I hope my comment wasn't insensitive. I don't think the world is ACTUALLY dangerous for your kids -- I mean that I can totally see how a multiple-miscarriage survivor would be vigilant about her kids' safety.

Not that I presume to diagnose your anxiety's causes or cures over the internet. Sorry if I seem intrusive or arrogant.

[Emily]

Just saw this and it made me think of your amazing Caroline.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/22/naked-woman-rescued-frombeing-stranded-san-diego-cliff/?test=latestnews

There really are so many naked options out there...

:)

[Halyn]

I wear pajamas as around-the-house daywear only. For sleeping, I go au naturel. I feel claustrophobic when I try to sleep in clothing.

Caroline's "bam" story kills me...she is so funny.

I'm really glad your psyche is doing better.

[Marie]

Loved reading this. THANK YOU!!

[reenie]

I love your writing! I fear making my kids scared, too...so I try to say "ok, just be careful" instead of saying it's dangerous. I hope that conveys to them that they can do it, but they should be mindful. Who knows, maybe I'm kidding myself.

Also - my son was a preemie who had trouble staying warm in the hospital, but ever since he got home, he prefers as little in the way of clothing as possible...sleeps in underwear and only puts clothes on if he has to...and his skin is warmer than mine even though I'm bundled to the max.

I know I had more to say, but I'm recovering on the couch from surgery this morning and the percocet is making me drowsy.

[SusanOR]

Ok, now it's a plot. I think the internet is eating my comments.

1) Emily Rodda - The Fairy Realm. Fairy books you can read without wanting to vomit or fear for your daughter's future.

2) Glad the Celexa is helping. Please, however, follow it up with a good how-to book about reining in those anxious thoughts, talking back to them a little bit so that you don't have Celexa as your *only* tool. Anxiety blurs the difference between what *could* happen and what is *likely* to happen, so we feel we have to prevent everything that could possibly go awry. I encourage folks to differentiate a) how likely is that and b) what will I do if that happens?

3) Parallel parking is a learned skill. Most of America doesn't have to practice it often so they don't do it well. My husband (grew up in LA) gives me the keys when we need to go somewhere downtown (I grew up in NY). 'nuff said.

4) What about giving Caroline summer pajamas? Maybe she's just too hot. I sweat at the *thought* of flannel sheets, down comforters, flannel pjs. If I must, I can sleep in a T-shirt in the middle of winter, but I banned down comforters from our bedroom many years ago. I'd prefer sleeping naked too. Kidlet sometimes prefers summer pjs in winter, and I figure she's regulating her own body temp well.

[Mama Fuss]

My daughter (a precocious, 3-yr-old Caroline herself) prefers to sleep in just a t-shirt and her blankets. I realize that it's colder where you are, but I never could get her in footed PJs, even as an infant (which had more to do with her really short legs than anything else, really) but maybe rethink the whole PJs thing for your Caroline? And in the summer, she prefers to sleep without clothes at all (diaper last year. Soon to be panties for this summer.)

You could also institute "Naked Time" at your house. So between the hours of __ and __ she can be naked, but otherwise, appropriate clothing must be worn. Just watch out if you have visitors during Naked Time. It could get awkward.

[Mama Fuss]

Oh, and I too cannot parallel park. I was blessed to get my license while they had a short-lived ban on parallel parking for the Driver's test (as in, they didn't even ask me to do it for the test) and therefore, I never learned. They added it to the test again about a year later and I breathed a sigh of relief that I was good to go.

[Libby]

Oh Julia, I adore your stories, your writing. So very much!

Never stop.

[Monica C.]

I love:

naked Caroline (who, by the way, is getting so big - I barely recognized her with those "big girl" legs in her puzzle pictures)

Edward and his "Cayayine" - LOVE

Caroline's bamming of poor Edward

The duvet of Normal Minnesota Weight and Steve. ROFL!

[Emily Drew]

Pants are for the weak. :) Caroline obviously already knows this...

You and your family never ceases to entertain me. Hugs to you all!

[Christy]

So glad you are back! Hope the twinkles are sufficiently healthy now. Missed you, Julia! You are the highlight of my blog reader...I often leave yours "unread" for several days so I can come back and read it more than once!

[Kate]

I remember very vividly as a child the frustration of not being able to verbalize the fact that I was TOO. HOT. ALL. THE. TIME. I remember sitting on the kitchen counter while my mother tried to stuff me into a turtleneck AND (I swear I'm schvitzing just thinking about it now) a sweatshirt and not having the resources to explain, "Listen, mother, I know you mean well, but it seems that I retain heat better than the average human, and I need you to understand that I will be just fine if we forgo the layers. Also, stop trying to make me wear socks to bed."

Years and years later, I went to an endocrinologist who explained that due to some thyroid weirdness, I naturally rock a body temperature that hovers about one full degree less than average, so it stands to reason why I can comfortably sit outside in a t-shirt while my friends and loved ones shiver and ask whether we can please go back in the house now.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Caroline has Chronic Thyroid Weirdness, just that I understand the need to wear less clothes than everyone else. :-)

[Christina]

So glad to hear - by omission - that Patrick is so much better and staying that way. If I had twins plus I'd be super-anxious too so I think you're a hero(ine). Thanks for writing...

[SarahB]

I absolutely cannot parallel park. Thankfully the need rarely arises for me. The fact that I'm terrified of driving in the city eliminates most the need, see anxiety issues below.

I haven't kept up in a month or so but am so thankful that Patrick's mri was clear. I hope the antibiotics help him.

I've known my anxiety has been worsening, but the mention of mention of Patrick and Caroline picking up your worries makes me realize it's time I do something about it, rather than just follow in my mother and grandmother's footsteps. I didn't do well on other antidepressants though, so I hesitate to try another. (Worry again.) Something to consider though.

[Pam/Wordgirl]

This was a wonderful post for me to read -- I dealt with a serious bout of anxious depression nearly ten years ago now -- but considered myself in remission --and then I struggled with conceiving my daughter --and finally did so through IVF -- anyway -- this first year of her life has been a challenge for my already cautious temperament -- and reading this just makes me feel less alone -- and for that, I thank you.

Pam

[Cheryl]

Great post - laughed all the way through it!

[D]

When we went to the kindergarden meet-the-teacher, my 4 year old daughter told the vice-principle that she spoke Spanish, French and Chinese. Then said "Ni how!"

The teacher looked up at us in amazement and said, "wow, she speaks Chinese!"

We had to point out that no, it was TV's training. Dora = spanish, and Ki-Lan = Chinese. She would just make up words as "french."

Being in French immersian has helped, I think, but she still tells people she speaks Chinese! So funny!

[Alison]

You are brilliant. I would say that each one of your posts is like a little hit if Celexa, but sadly I've never tried it. Definitely thinking about it though.....

[el-e-e]

Very glad to hear you're feeling better.

[L]

If Caroline likes puzzles, you might try looking for Geo*puzzles, which are basically map puzzles. There's a puzzle for every continent. Each one has roughly 60 pieces. Very educational and fun-- our son now has a stunning knowledge of geography, and mine has improved too.

[Jennifer]

love this post for so many reasons - your great, funny, sweet description of your kids, your truthfulness in describing what it's like to realize you need meds, and then what it's like to feel - normal. glad it's working for you. thank you for writing!

[hls]

I love your offspring and the way you make your long, hliarious and poignant stories wander off and come around in a circle(ditto on all Kate Buker said).

However, I would love you even without these things because you use the correct spelling of 'faze'!

[Katharine]

1. I'll just throw this out there, I didn't scour the comments first to see if someone already said the same, but interrupted sleep patterns and decreased sleep amounts both increase anxiety, so perhaps the fact that everyone chez Julia sleeps more soundly now may also be a mood enhancer? Don't care if you sleep trained or not (unlike last summer's poster) but I notice I am perkier now that my 3rd baby is 2+ and sleeping like a log.

2. In my first-born boy who also happens to be on the "wiser" end of thing and has been raised by a rather anxious mother, we are considering a little preemptive strike against his cautious personality developing into anxiety in the form of CBT for kids. There is evidently a curriculum for 8 to 16 weeks to identify: 1) how am I feeling? 2) how does this manifest itself in my body? 3) what can I do about it? Frankly, sounds like something I could use, too. Anyway, just thought I'd share that, too.

[Kait]

Oh my word. I just found your blog and was crying while reading it! The crying was due to laughter. I have a feeling that my little guy (he's 11 months) is going to be a nudest too, as soon as he can figure out how to get the clothes off.

Thanks for the laughs!

[Erin C.]

I can't parallel park either...but I am picking up my new Chevy Equinox tonight and have hopes that with the backup camera in the rearview mirror, that may soon change!

Love your update, happy about the drugs, and the kids are as gorgeous and smart as always!

[winecat]

I too want to be Caroline when I grow up - nude and no fear what a combo!

Edward and Patrick are adorable as usual. Are you still having problems with Patrick and his Flonase? Tell him he's cleaning his brain that's what I told myself for years when I started using it.

Yea for Celexa (and Welbutrin, Klonipin AND Abilify all of which I take). I'm a firm believer in meds if you need them. They don't make your problems go away but they sure as hell make them easier to deal with.

[joaaanna]

I miss Celexa so much. I'm 23 weeks pregnant and am unable to take it. So with pregnancy hormones, bad brain chemistry, and not being able to have a cocktail, it's pretty rough. Plus I hope to breastfeed, so that's even longer without the drugs. I miss that peace. I'm glad you found something that helps.

[Claire]

For my one son and his Flonase, I back him up against a wall and help him do it. If not then he keeps backing away from me and yanks his head back away from the bottle. He is pretty easy going about it, I think it is reflexes for him to yank backwards. Up against the wall he bashes his head if he does it so he has learned to sit still. He is six and we are having a time with oak pollen here in central FL...off the charts...made us all horribly sick with a secondary infection on top of the allergies.

[Melissa E.]

People were always telling me that my kid was cold, no matter how many layers he had on. He's two now, and loves naked time. He can easily tell me when he is cold--and he does. Nudity never hurt anyone. Perhaps she'll run one of those nudist spas when she's grows up.

If what you're saying about the side effect of Celexa is true, I want some. Really.

[Audrey]

Oh, Caroline. She amuses me more every time you post.

[SarcastiCarrie]

Would you mind telling me where one can purchase a marriage-saving duvet? It must, MUST, be cheaper than a divorce attorney.