karma for laughing (silently, while looking away, so as not to traumatize her further) at ava when she exploded at the sight of a spider:

tonight, after swim class, i was rooting around in the bag for my socks when, you guessed it: a spider marched right out of ava's pull-up and onto my hand. all i can say is THANK GOD i found it and not her. we would never ever ever get a pull-up on her again.

i was pretty proud of myself for remaining under control and not bellowing "mother f#$%er!" in the presence of 14 other toddlers. i just contained my heebie-jeebies and flung it into the trash. then i gave a little shudder and spelled out "S-P-I-D-E-R" to all the other mothers, who then went "whhhohoohhohaahhaaaa" all together.

i will never get over how much laundry there is. everyone says that when you become a mom, laundry increases by a power of 10, or 100, or 1000, but i never really could picture it. now, i can, but i still don't understand. it is all i do. sort, carry, switch, load, pour, start, de-lint, start, carry, fold, put away, sort again (start over). it is ok on one level, but so profoundly boring on another. sometimes i gag at the sight of a pile of clothes to be folded. but i do it. blech.