Mar
27
Babies, babies, everywhere
Filed Under Parenting, Remembering | 1 Comment
These days it seems like everyone I know is pregnant. I’ve been so busy making baby things, that my etsy shop is really suffering. But really, who cares? Teeny tiny clothes are so much fun to make!
Two of my best friends recently discovered that they will be mommies this year, and it’s really got me thinking. I’d love to have another baby to snuggle and love and nurse and be the sibling that Alexis wants so badly, but I don’t know if I can take the long nights or the late feedings. Why does everyone tell you that having two children is exponentially more difficult than one? How does the human race survive – even thrive – when there is that kind of threat on the parents sanity?
Alexis was/is so good at entertaining herself. You don’t have to run to the next room because it’s too quiet. My aunt who has worked with children in public schools for years, tells us how lucky we are, and that we have no idea what it’s like to have a “normal” child. She raves about how gentle Alexis is, and how you don’t have to worry about her messing with stuff she shouldn’t. And she’s right, we barely did any baby proofing when she was small. I’m afraid of the possibility of getting a “Holy Terror” for a second child.
I also wonder if it isn’t too late for Alexis to have a close friendship with a sibling. At this point, she’d be in 2nd grade before she could even really play with him or her. And even then the baby would only be a year old.
Then there is the matter of space, and money. Daycare is ridiculously expensive. The idea of paying upwards of $1000/month for the next five years for childcare just fills me with dread. And this house is already in need of another room but we love it so much there is no way we’re going to move. There is a good place to put that extra space, but again, the cash to do it would be outrageous.
But even with all those fears and worries, I still feel envy for my friends who are embarking on such a rewarding journey. There is just nothing like watching your child grow up. They surprise and delight you every day.
Perhaps that’s why people keep having kids despite the enormous amount of work. So for now, I guess I will have revel in the fact that I’m going to soon meet two new babies, and I will love them almost as much as I love Alexis. And I can spoil them even more rotten because I can give them back to their parents when I’m done.
Congrats ladies.
Feb
12
Alexis does this thing that totally cracks me up. She’ll be sitting upstairs in the loft happily tearing the place apart and watching TV when all of a sudden some infomercial catches her attention. A few seconds later I hear “I WANT <fill in junk product for $19.95 here>!” Every. single. time. it makes me giggle. I’m not sure why.
She’s even gone so far as to bring me the 800 number written in orange marker on the back of my credit card bill. I stared at it and wondered how she remembered such a long number when she can’t even remember her birthday. Without me even asking she spouts, “I paused the TiVo and wrote down the number for you momma so you can buy me this.” Never mind that it’s for Betty Crocker’s green bags, a product that keeps your vegetables and fruits fresh for up to 40 days! (She informed my mother and I of that little fact in the car on the way home from San Antonio on Sunday.)
I now have a stack of 800 numbers written by her that is at least 10 deep. I don’t even know what any of them are for because she only writes the number, never the name of the product. Yet, I can’t throw them away because pausing the TiVo to write down the number is just too ingenious, and I know some day I will look at those papers and laugh even harder than I am already.
I know at least one of those numbers is for another Betty Crocker product. Some sort of cake decorating kit. We tried to explain to her that we already own everything that they ship in the kit. She looked at us and said, “but if you order within the next 15 minutes it comes complete with a storage box!” She might be watching too much TV.
Dec
17
Baaa
Filed Under Parenting, Ranting | 4 Comments
What is it about the public school system? Why do they want every child to conform? Why can’t they see that some children need to learn differently than others? Why are children expected to behave in exactly the same manner? Why are differences in creativity smothered?
If they have programs for children with special needs, why can’t they adjust the curriculum for children whose skills are far beyond the lessons being taught in their classroom? In my opinion (which is worthless at best) gifted children *are* special needs cases. At the very least, they could skip the child ahead to keep her challenged. But that is not generally allowed either. Children must be grouped according to age. For some unknown reason, they think that putting a younger child with a group of older children at the same academic level is unacceptable. Chris said it best, “No child left behind means no child gets ahead.”
Have you seen the test for graduation from school in 1895? I’m willing to bet that the percentage of students graduating today who could pass is remarkably low. I know I can’t pass it. Schools are so focused on passing standardized tests, that they forget to make learning fun. Children are filed into a classroom, expected to sit still and pay attention and go over the same monotonous bullshit every day. For the students who have already mastered the days lessons, it is a painful, boring process. And what do young kids do when they’re bored? Well, I know what MY kid does when she is bored, and that is entertain herself. Unfortunately there isn’t much way for her to entertain herself in her classroom. Her notebooks and crayons are put away out of reach. Without thinking about it (because she is FIVE) she begins singing to herself or wiggling. And when a child demonstrates these behaviors the first thing school administrators and teachers do is jump to the conclusion that she is ADHD.
I can’t tell you how angry this makes me. Not because in some cases they are probably right, but because in this case, I told the teacher MONTHS AGO that my child was bored. And that this is how she behaves when she is bored. For example, if we take her to a restaurant and she is given a coloring sheet, she will happily color it until the food arrives. However, if we forget to bring paper and colors, or the restaurant doesn’t have special kids activities, she wiggles, and sings and tries to get up and walk around.
But ADHD is out of the question. Alexis can sit for HOURS and color. She can sit for HOURS and write a story. She can read a 150 page book to me in one go. I don’t think her attention span has any deficit at all.
From what I can understand, the reading lessons in her classroom consist of staring at a sight word on the overhead projector and saying it out-loud with the class for several minutes. Can you imagine how boring it must be to read the word “the” 50 times? Especially to a child who is starting to read chapter books to herself?
But according to her teacher, “It seems to me that being challenged is not so much the issue as is learning interpersonal/social skills”. What a load of crap. My child can carry on an intelligent and engaging conversation with an adult. “[S]inging the Good morning, Weather, Days of the Week and Month of the Year songs with the class [and] counting the number of days we’ve been at school on our number chart” is probably BORING.
But hell, what do I know? I’m just her mother.
** I’m half tempted to post the entire email thread here just to prove what an idiot this teacher is.
Dec
13
Mornings in our house can get a bit, well, loud. With about 35 minutes from waking her to walking her out the door, Alexis’ morning is always rushed. There is usually a lot of crying and screaming, and Alexis is no picnic either.
This morning was much like other mornings with lots of yelling. Alexis won’t get off the toilet. And she screams bloody murder when I turn on the hall lights. Alexis won’t get dressed quickly – she does this thing where she HAS to get all of her clothes together first, and sits on the floor naked and looking at them forever if you let her. Alexis stands around instead of brushing her teeth. When I finally went in and saw her standing there after 5 minutes with still no toothpaste even on her brush, I brushed her teeth for her.
Part of the problem with the teeth brushing is that we can’t find a single toothpaste that she likes the taste of. She hates them all, and believe me, we have 15 tubes and bottles of the stuff to prove it. So throughout the entire experience of me tilting her head back and forcing the toothbrush in between her jaws she screamed and cried. I hate doing that stuff to her. But she won’t do it herself, so the “punishment” is that mom does it for her. I’ve used this tactic with picking out clothes, too, and she really really HATES that. I always pick exactly what she doesn’t want to wear.
But as she sat there pouting at her breakfast, I comment that she sure has a lot of peanut butter on her oatmeal (don’t knock it until you try it). Chris must’ve been completely zoned out when he put it on there. There were probably 3 tablespoons of it. It was melting like frosting over the top of the mush underneath. Somehow we started giggling about it and came to the topic of peanut butter and brown sugar sandwiches. You should have seen her eyes widen. I fully expect to come into the kitchen one day and catch her making one.
After she finished her breakfast and put away her dishes, she came over to me and starts giving me “peanut butter kisses”. Her cold little nose touched mine and I melted just like the peanut butter on her cereal. Then she walks over to her daddy and stands on her tippy-toes and gives him a kiss. I thought she was going to fall over backwards her head was tipped so far back.
As she and Chris left, I watched her bend over and give the dog a kiss, too. I watched my daughter who has grown so much in the last 5 1/2 years walk off to another day at Kindergarten and gratitude just washed over me. These are the moments that make parenting so wonderful.
Dec
7
KP – The second coming
Filed Under Laughing, Parenting | Leave a Comment
“Mommy, why do some people celebrate Hanukkah?”
“Well, Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. And people who don’t believe that Jesus was the savior celebrate Hanukkah”
“What’s a save – your?”
“A person who saves the world”
“You mean like Kim Possible?”