A new parenting tip

When the kids have way too much energy from staying inside all day long when the weather is nasty outside, it helps when you or your spouse has been through boot camp.

 

Tonight, the kids have done:

 

suicides

 

wind sprints

 

push ups

 

mountain climbers

 

leg lifts

 

squat thrusts

 

arm circles

 

jumping jacks

 

And like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going and going and.....

 

He stole a pancake

Sunday morning, something funny happened in a not-so-funny way.  The kids were eating pink  pancakes (I made extra pink pancakes on Saturday so they could also have some on Sunday) and I was downstairs catching up on my emails while they ate.  I usually get a good 5-10 minutes uninterrupted, depending on what they're eating.

  

Monkey has this habit of getting up in the middle of breakfast and dashing to the bathroom.  One would think that she would get that bit of business taken care of beforehand, but not so.

 

She came back to the table (after cleaning up, of course) and I hear, "Little Man!"

 

Monkey walked downstairs, calling for me, and I could tell by her tone that she was barely holding it together.  

 

"What's up?"  I ask, thinking any number of things that Little Man could have done.

 

"Little Man ate my last bite of pancakes,"

 

"Really?  He really did that?"  This was not on my list of things that Little Man could have done.

 

"Yeah, he really did."

 

Oh man, what to do.  Well, he can't really give it back, now can he?  So we go upstairs and have as reasonable a conversation as anyone can with a 3 year old about how it's not nice to take food from another person's plate, not even his sister.

 

But I have to wonder if she'll be leaving her plate of pancakes unprotected again.

 

 

where's the love, man?

[knock knock]  Anyone home?  Hey, Kool-Aid?  Are you there?  Where is she?  Anyone know where Kool-Aid is?

 

I have been wallowing in self-pity, that's where.  See, Trey is out of town and I'm left to do all the work two parents normally are able to share.  It's not like he hasn't traveled for work before.  It's not like I haven't done the "single parent" thing before.  I've done it several times over the course of the last 6 years.  No, many times.  More than I care to remember.

 

Sometimes it's a weekend, sometimes it's a week, sometimes it's two weeks, but every time it gets harder.

 

Maybe it's the age of the kids.  6 and just-about 3.  They keep me busy; they keep the house messy - oh, wait, no that's me.  But they help keep it messy.  And I'm forever trying to negotiate peace treaties.  After this, I think I could help the Israelites and the Palestinians strike a permanent peace accord - surely that would be easier than getting those two siblings to get along.

 

I'm wallowing in self-pity because I can.  Poor-poor me.  I really shouldn't be, though.  There are others who are worse off than me, for sure.  I have a roof over my head, food in the kitchen and a car to get me where I need to go.  Also, I have friends that love me and are willing to help.  Why is it so hard to ask for help?  A dear friend and I were talking on Saturday and she told me "When you don't ask for help, you rob someone of the opportunity to help you."

 

When you don't ask for help, you rob someone of the opportunity to help you. 

 

Strong statement, that.  Yeah, I have smart friends.  I should listen to them.

 

So, I'm asking for help.  Accountability from some of you readers out there.  Have I cleaned the computer desk yet?  How about picked up the toys?  More importantly, have I read to Little Man today or is he plopped in front of the one-eyed babysitter?  Have I played Little Pet Shop with Monkey today?  Or helped her with her homework?  What about those leaves that are scattered like so many thoughts out in the front yard?

 

Imagine how happy those kids would be if I raked up a great big pile for them to play in. 

  

Imagine how much fun it'll be for me to watch those kids scatter the leaves that I worked so hard to put in a pile for them.  

 

They might actually get along... for about 5 minutes until one jumps in the pile before the other one and a fight ensues because the pile is no longer there and there are no more leaves to jump in because big sister or little brother spread them all out again and now there's just no more fun to be had even though there are a bazillion trillion leaves out there that just need to be scooped back up and tossed into the air.

 

I think I should head to Israel.

 

Daylight savings

Ahhh.... daylight savings time.  It's the two times a year that we actually have "control" over time.  In the spring, we get to spring forward and skip an hour.  As if our days weren't short enough as it is.  In the fall we get to fall back and trick our bodies into thinking they get an extra hour of sleep. 

 

Next year, I'm just going to bed an hour earlier.

 

The puppy (who is crated in our room at night) usually is a great sleeper - except for the snoring, but I can get past that.  He picked this morning, at about 4am, to wake up and whine that soft but high-pitched whine that slices through your subconscious like splinters under the fingernail.  I do my best to ignore him and manage to drift off to sleep again.  If there's one thing he's learned in his relatively short time here, it's that whining will not get him out of the crate now that I know he's able to control his bladder for the entire night.

 

The children don't understand what daylight savings is.  Monkey will sleep late, if you can call 7:00 late, but Little Man follows a different drummer.  At 6:30 am (and this is before I turned back my clocks, so that makes it 5:30 am), Little Man comes climbing on my bed and uses my prone body as a guide to crawl to the top of the bed - as if falling off my body will dump him into a deep abyss.  Once he reaches the pillows, he finally climbs off and asks to be covered up and lays still for a little while.

 

Have you seen The Lion King?  Remember the scene where Simba gets up and plays with his sleeping parents trying to wake them up by crawling all over them and talking to them when they OBVIOUSLY don't want to be woken up?  Does Simba stop?  No.  Does Little Man?  No.

  

Just as I thought he was drifting off, he becomes one with Simba and starts crawling all over the bed and talking about breakfast.  Things like cereal and waffles and such.

 

"Let's go back to sleep."

 

"But I'm really, really hungry."

 

Damn his cuteness.

 

So yes, I'm up at my "normal" weekend wake-up time of 6:30am despite the fact that I was supposed to get an extra hour of sleep.  Making pancakes from scratch because I'm out of my mix.  At least there's coffee.

 

Yeah, next year, I'll just go to bed at 9:00 to get that extra hour of sleep.

 

 

(I'll be posting a Halloween post once I get my pictures downloaded from the camera.  I know I'm a little late, but that's how I roll.) 

parental bribery

photo by jerine

 

Today I took the kids to get their flu shots.  Actually, Monkey was a few months overdue for her 6-year well child checkup so we needed to get that done, too.  What??  We've been busy!

 

First, let me tell you that last year, when Monkey had to have her shot, I had to hold her down kicking and screaming.  Little Man was with me and a nurse had to carry him out of the room because Monkey was making such a fuss.

 

I was not a happy camper.

 

This year, I talked to Monkey and talked and talked about it.  About how she needed to be a big girl and set an example for Little Man.  She needed to put her on big girl panties and suck it up.

 

Ok, I didn't say it quite like that, but she knew my meaning.

 

Have you ever taken a puppy to the vet to get shots?  They crumble up a bunch of treats for the pup to eat and while it's eating, the vet gives it the shots.  The puppy has no idea what happened.  Monkey went with me when our puppy had to have shots and I explained what they were doing with the treats.  He didn't even flinch.  This was back in July or so. 

 

Apparently, this stuck with her.  Just as we were getting ready to leave the house, she asked if we could take some of our chocolate covered pretzels for her to eat to distract her from getting the shot.

 

Uh... sure!  

 

Let me tell you, it worked.  I didn't think it would because Monkey didn't want to pull her arm out of the sleeve and started pushing the nurse away and getting upset.  The nurse reminded her of her pretzels and as soon as Monkey took a bite, the nurse popped the syringe.  I swear to you, Monkey actually giggled!  Giggled that a trick that works on a puppy actually worked on her.

 

Hey, whatever gets it done, right, people?

 

On the way home, she tells me it didn't even hurt.  After explaining (again) why she needed one in the first place, she tells me she's glad she got her flu shot.  Amazing!

 

Oh, for those of you who wondered, "What about Little Man?", he got his shot first, in the leg, and he didn't like it.  He cried until he got a pretzel of his own.  Then he simmered down a bit.  

 

Just another banner parenting day - full of threats and bribery.

 

 

The ripple effect

photo by Snap®

 

 

There's an interesting discussion that has been brewing at another blog that I regularly read.  Writer Dad first spoke of an incident he was involved in here, naturally lots of comments followed, then he continued with this post and even more comments followed.

 

It lead me to question something that was embedded in a comment, although I can't find the exact one, now.  That one person cannot bring about change, so why bother?

 

Seriously?  There are plenty of examples in history where one person started something that caught on and brought about change.  Jesus, Muhammad, Ghandi, MLK Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Jim Jones and Mother Theresa are all examples that just popped into my head.  I'm sure if I were to dig deep in the annals of the internet, I would find dozens upon dozens of names of people who have changed something around them because of their actions or their words - both positive and negative.

 

What about on the small scale?  Have you ever read something or heard something that someone said that caused you to stop and think for a moment?  Have you ever had a conversation with someone that caused you to change your views - or at least reconsider them - about something?  Maybe you saw a pastor speak at a service and whatever they had to say resonated with you so much that you had to go and do something about it.  Suppose you saw someone on the side of the road with a flat and because you helped them change a tire, they were able to get to the hospital to visit a dying friend.  You know that homeless person standing there holding a sign on the corner of the intersection?  Suppose you gave him/her a bottle of water on a hot day.  I have a friend that keeps a case of water bottles in her car for such instances.  And parents have unbelievable ripple effects on their children, so many they can't possibly know them all.

 

The point of all this is that it is absolutely impossible for one person to NOT cause changes in their environment.  It's a ripple effect.  What I do today will cause changes around me.  Maybe it's a small change.  Maybe it's a big change.  Maybe I'll never know, but when I toss that pebble out there, there will be ripples and they will spread.  

 

Can you honestly say that one person can't bring about changes?  In Writer Dad's case, that has yet to be seen.  But even if the vandal chooses to just go to a different stop sign instead of quitting altogether, change still occurred and one person caused it.  Or maybe someone who witnessed the incident decides that he/she will stand up the next time.  Maybe it's just as simple as someone who saw it told it to someone else and that started a chain reaction.

 

Remember that what you do today can and will cause a ripple effect.  Are you tossing a good pebble or a bad pebble and just how big will those ripples be?

 

The golden rule

My faith in humanity is somewhat restored.  Not because the bailout was voted out but because of something that happened in the car line yesterday.

  

I have a pet peeve.  Actually, I have several, but one of them is people cutting in front of me while driving.  I noticed it all the time in the mornings last year dropping Monkey off at school.  Some parent would be late for work, I'm guessing, so they're in such a hurry they feel they have the right to cut in line.  I don't mean just cutting in front of me when I let the person in front of them in, although that bothers me, too, but cutting through the staff parking lot to get towards the front of the line.  I mean, all the rest of us have to wait to meander through the line, what makes you so special that you can bypass all the other parents waiting in line?

 

Whenever that happened last year, I made a point to NOT let that person in if I happened to be near where they would be trying to get in line.  Unfortunately, at 7:20 am, there are people nicer than me that would let that better-than-thou parent through the line and their shortcut would then be justified because they made it through the line before everyone else.  We're all adults, here, right?  If you're running that late then maybe, just maybe, you should get up earlier.  Take some responsibility for your own actions and don't be late.

 

But I digress.  Yesterday, I got to Monkey's school a little earlier than usual for pickup.  I was the first to show up, so I park in the car line at a spot where I think the first car usually parks.  There was one car that parked right behind me right after and since that mom didn't give me the "why don't you pull ahead" look that people give at the station when you stop at the first pump instead of pulling right through, I figured I was ok.  I needed to pick up something from the office, so I grab Little Man and walk in.  I was inside for about five minutes and when I went back out, there were about 4 or 5 cars behind me and one in front of me.  Not farther in front, like they were parking to get something then leaving, but you could tell they passed the other cars, pulled in, then backed up to park in front of me.  The driver was still in the car, so I knew they were there for the pick up line.

 

I really don't care if I'm the first one or not.  I'm usually in the first 10-20 cars because I get there early enough to sit in the car and read for about 20-30 minutes before school lets out.  Yesterday's timing was a fluke.  But it bothered me to no end that someone had the gall to pass other parked cars to position himself as the first car.  However, I try and let it go and enjoy my quiet 30 minutes before dismissal (Little Man often naps in the car while we wait).

 

After a while, though, just a little before dismissal, he starts his car, drives to the end of the circle, parks and walks up to get his child.  Huh?  After all that work of parking at the head of the line, now you're walking up to get your kid?  I don't get it.  Oh, just so you know, dear reader, I don't leave my car running while waiting in the car line - another pet peeve of mine.  No matter how hot, I'll turn off the motor, roll the windows down and open a door.  So, I notice this dad walking towards my passenger side window.  He comes up to me and apologizes for parking in front of the line!  

 

Graciously, because I'm a good southern gal and all that, I tell him how nice that is and he really didn't have to and all that.  He says that he didn't know I was waiting in the car line (I wasn't in the car when he arrived, remember?) but when he saw me come out with Little Man and wait, he realized that he had cut the line and so wanted to apologize to me because he doesn't want to do things that would bother him if someone had done the same to him.  You know, that golden rule?

 

Really.  This truly happened.  A total stranger apologized for cutting me off.  Granted, we were in parked cars so it's not like we were passing through an intersection where there's no opportunity for apologies, but the fact that he took the time to apologize shattered some pre-conceived notions I had built about his character (he was driving a really big fancy SUV and  chatting away on his cell when I walked out of the school.  Yes, I'm guilty of stereotyping.  Who isn't?).

 

My faith in humanity is somewhat restored.  And it begs the question, when was the last time you took ownership of a wrong you committed, whether perceived or actual?  Is there something for which or someone to whom you need to apologize?  Is there someone or something you need to forgive?  We all do, don't we?  

 

Restore someone else's faith in humanity today.

 

the internet, part 2

Ok, you know how yesterday I was critical of the internet?  Well, guess what?  Today, I love it.  Why the sudden change you ask?  It's simple.

 

Pandora.

 

And Austin City Limits.  Live.  On my computer.

 

If it hadn't been for Pandora (I'm an avid user - just another reason to get an iPhone), I would never have known that I could listen to Austin City Limits.  Live.  On my computer.  While I do housework.

 

And this isn't the watered-down version that's featured on PBS.  This is the actual festival, happening in Austin.  Right now.  Today.

 

A few years back, Trey called me from ACL.  The Dead were there and he wanted me to hear them play.  I couldn't, really (sucky cell service), but it's the thought that counts, right?  Which leads me to another reason I like the internet (except when it's keeping me from doing housework) is I can look up The Dead's tour schedule for the fall.   I found out from a friend today that they're touring again.  It's not the same, I'm sure, but it'll still be a fun time.

 

Get out your tie-dye, people.

sorry

I want to take a moment to apologize to a commenter.  Not because I didn't like what she said - I still don't - but I feel like I shouldn't have blasted her comment the way that I did.  Now, I don't know if Lydia has been back to my blog or not, but hopefully she'll see this if and when she does.

 

I need to remember that at 5:30 am, when I can barely see out of both eyes and haven't yet had at least one cup of coffee, my filters are not in place.  Lydia can certainly say that she thinks I'm irresponsible and shouldn't blame my inequities on the internet.  True.  I am an adult and I shouldn't blame others for my actions.

 

However, I am pretty certain that I intended my post about the evils of the internet to be funny - poking fun at myself and the internet for being what it is and for my own shortcomings.  And I'm pretty certain that, at least for some, it came across that way.  I'm sorry if it didn't for others.  It was not my intention for it to be interpreted as a serious shifting of blame to the internet for all the things that I should be doing and aren't.

 

Saying all of this leads me to another point that I'm learning about blogging.  Along with the possibility that people will steal pictures, there will be negative comments.  Get over it, Kool Aid.  So, I'm now enacting my "comments regulations" bit.  I've read that blogs should post rules for comments, or some such thing, so here goes.

 

1.  I welcome all visitors and comments, both good and bad; however, if you (the commenter) resort to simple name-calling or drag my friends/family into the comment, it will not be published.

 

2.  If you post a negative comment, you should expect a response from me.

 

3.  If you post a positive comment, you should expect a response from me.

 

4.  If you have an opinion that you don't want publicized, then I suggest you keep it to yourself.

 

5.  Lastly, if you post a comment and don't proofread what you post before hitting the "send/submit/whatever" button, expect to hear from me.  Poor proofreading skills are a pet peeve of mine.  (and before anyone accuses me of being in a glass house and throwing stones, I have missed errors in my own typing, too, and it's still a pet peeve)

 

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging.... 

I'm irritated

I found out today that someone downloaded/copied one of the pictures I posted to the blog.  Some of you might think "well, you put your life out there for the public to see," so there.

 

Well, I disagree.  Just because I wear a mini-skirt doesn't make it ok to sexually assault me.  "Oh, that's not the same thing."  Isn't it?  I'm walking down the street and someone snatches my purse.  Well, I was carrying it in public so I deserve that.  No.   I don't think so.  

 

Just because I put something "out there" for the public to see, doesn't mean that it's ok for you to use it without permission, Austin, TX.  I have no idea why you wanted that picture.  Maybe you thought Monkey's room rules were cute and you wanted to show them to your child as an example.  Maybe you wanted to put it on your own blog and claim that your own child wrote them.  Maybe you just like to read kid's writing and decided to put it on your desktop.  Whatever your reason, you took without asking.  I'm a giving person.  I take pictures, lots of them, for our church to use/not use at their discretion.  I don't want credit and I'm not concerned because I know they will be used carefully.  I share pictures I take of school parties with other parents because I think they may want pictures of their kids that I take.  Had you asked first, I probably would have said "sure, how flattering," but you didn't give me that choice.

 

Call this a lesson learned, but I will no longer be posting pictures - and I will be removing all the ones I've posted so far - until I have purchased a watermark program and learned a little more about copywriting pictures.  Ignorance isn't an excuse and I won't hide behind it.  I was naive and thought that surely no one will take my pictures, they really aren't all that interesting.  Well, now I know better.

 

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

(just as a side note, yes, I do use pictures from flickr's creative commons area, but you'll always see a "photo by" underneath so credit goes where it is due.  I'm not the pot calling the kettle black)

my list of seven

I was reading this is reverb.... and he posted several lists of 7 and then challenged his readers to come up with some.  This is harder than I thought - to come up with 7 things of a specific topic.  Let's see....  And they are in no particular order.

 

How about seven things I like to photograph.

 

old cemeteries and old buildings

 

sleeping children 

Halloween 

mountains 

sunsets 

interesting trees 

children 

Seven things on my to-do list;

 

1.  Pay bills

2.  Wash puppy

3.  Cook dinner

4.  Organize coupons

5.  Clean up my dresser (I've had issues with this since childhood)

6.  Clean out my car

7.  Wash dishes

 

 

Seven things I'd rather do than clean

 

1.  Play with the kids

2.  Anything

3.  Have a tooth pulled

4.  Anything

5.  Go take pictures

6.  Volunteer at Monkey's school

7.  Anything

 

 

Seven things I want to do before I die

 

1.  Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail

2.  Go on a safari in Africa  

3.  Visit the pyramids of Egypt

4.  See my children grow up

5.  Go on a cruise

6.  Go to Israel

7.  Become a grandparent   

 

just an update

Just a quick update.  Monkey has survived the Yellow-Jacket Stinging Incident.  So well, in fact, by dinner-time she had completely forgotten about it, except to tell Trey when he got home (and I even had to remind her, then).

 

Final verdict:  I like using baking soda on bee stings.  It works.  There wasn't even a dot where the stinger went in and all swelling was gone within a couple of hours.  Also, I'm thankful to know she isn't allergic!

 

Now, on to birthday party planning, back to school planning, puppy classes (yes, we still have the puppy) and the regular day-to-day life of a socially driven mom who loves to "do things" instead of stay home and clean.  Who wouldn't, right?

Home remedies for bee stings

(Just a note - for some reason I'm having issues with the thingy that I type my blog in, sorry if it's hard to read for some reason...)

How many of you know a home remedy for bee stings?  Or several?  Well, guess what?  There are a LOT of home remedies for bee stings.  I remember as a child I got stung once and Daddy chewed up some tobacco from a cigarette to take the poison out. I also remember thinking that it didn't help much.

Well, Monkey got stung by a bee today. On her finger. She wasn't happy about it. Actually, she screamed. I thought it was her normal "I have a bug on me" scream, 

because those are usually the loudest, shrillest screams.  The kind that when it happens in our yard, I expect the neighbors to come running to see what's

going on. Anyway, I heard her scream so I look to see what bug had the audacity to land on her arm, when in fact it was a yellow-jacket on her finger, hanging by his stinger.

Apparently bee stings are on the same "screaming" level as an innocent flying bug that just happens to land on her arm. Only this time, there were great big tears. Luckily (or unluckily, since this

was probably why the bee was there in the first place) she was holding a cup with a snowcone inside. I scraped out the stinger and held her cup next to the finger to keep the cold on it.

As we were heading home, I called a friend and asked her what to do with a sting. I haven't had to deal with this as an adult so the only cure I remember is tobacco and since I don't smoke, 

I didn't have any tobacco to chew up. She said she remembered her mom using baking soda and something - either water or vinegar.

Well, since the fizzing of combining baking soda and vinegar on her finger would completely FREAK her out, I went with baking soda and water as soon as we got home. She's watching TV

now, completely distracted. So I took the time to do a little research on home remedies for stings.

Let's see, there's:

raw onion

honey

baking soda with vinegar and meat tenderizer

baking soda and water

tobacco

toothpaste

the insides of a tomato

aloe and/or lavender (I'm guessing the lavender is to calm the patient??)

mud

egg yolk

ammonia (aka urine)

a penny or a nickel placed on the sting

raw bacon wrapped around the sting (I guess cooked would be too tempting to eat)

aspirin

antiperspirant

plantain leaves plus a whole host of different herbal/holistic choices.

then there's all the different remedies you can find at the store.

At our house, the baking soda and water seemed to work pretty well, so we may stick to that. Or we might go with the toothpaste. If nothing else, the idea of putting toothpaste on a boo-boo

will distract them enough to keep tears at bay.

lessons in kayaking

today was a beautiful day.  Sunny, nice breeze, warm but not oppressively hot.   Nice day to rent a kayak with Princess and float around the lake.

Or so I thought.

It was indeed beautiful.  We headed down to the Cove (Trey was home with Little man, who was napping) planning on a 3 hour rental for a canoe.  As we were driving to the park, I heard on the radio something about the dragon boat races sponsored by the local Christian radio station, Love89 (www.love89.org).  Hmmmm.  That meant that the Cove would be a bit more crowded than usual, but at least there would be something to watch while we were out floating.

It was indeed crowded.  It took us hours to find a place to park, then we had to hike the AT back to the boat rental building.  When we arrived, I talked with the girl behind the counter about kayaks vs. canoes.  We decided on a kayak - nothing like trying something new!  So I loaded up our water bottles and sunscreen, checked that my phone was in my pocket and put on the straight - I mean - life jacket and we headed out.  So far, so good...

It was indeed breezy.  As we were heading out of the protective shield of the trees into the vast lake, we were pummeled with gale force winds and waves surfers dream about.  I think there was a hurricane somewhere to the east of us.  We watched a couple of the races then started towards another section of the lake, with the wind at our back.  We trespassed near a hawk's nest (they didn't really like us all that much) and passed a sailboat marina.  Once we passed the boats, I stopped and rested and checked my phone to see what time it was.  Note to self: don't take a cell phone in a kayak if it isn't waterproof, or at least in a plastic bag, or else it'll get wet and not work.  

Well, that's no good.

So we turn around and start back.  Paddling against the wind is much harder than paddling with the wind, did you know that?  At least the waves were bigger going this way.  Actually, bouncing on the waves was pretty fun.  Princess kept squealing and laughing so I was enjoying that - even if my arms did want to fall off.  By the time we got to the Cove park, I was exhausted, so we floated around a little bit and watched another boat race before heading back to the cove where there weren't any gale force winds threatening us.

I found out what time it was and realized we had only been out there for 30 minutes.  30 minutes, huh?  I was getting nervous about not having a working phone (how did we ever survive without cell phones???) so we stayed in the little cove.  I let Princess try paddling for a while.  After ducking a few times as she helicoptored the paddle, I decided it might be prudent for me to take over paddling.

We headed back in, packed everything up and called Trey from the rental building (he was on call so I wanted to make sure he didn't need me to rush home).  He wonderfully suggested that perhaps I should have put the phone in a plastic bag.   Gee, thanks.

All it all, it was a good day.