So, apparently, speech class is working. The Little Man is talking like crazy! And it has really been an overnight change.
At the end of March (geez, has it really been that long?) an old friend of the Big Man's and his family were in town and came over for dinner. As their children marched around our house and deck, making their own band, LM somehow ended up with his shaker egg in hand. Just for fun, I started singing one of our speech school songs. (Miss Terry calls it school so the kids know it's time to work) Shake, shake, shake and shake, shake and shake and ROLL! I told LM he could sing, and he started saying "Roll!" first time ever! Then, he totally sang along with the next verse, Bang, bang, bang and bang, bang and bang and ROLL! Amazing, right?
Next morning, I went in to LM's bedroom to get him up for the day, and was still wearing my green PJs, which LM pointed to and said, "Geen!!" I didn't even know he could say that! He started gaining a word or more every day. I had to make a list to keep up!
A couple of weeks later, my dad was the lucky person to be the first family member (besides Mama and Dada) who's name LM said! We were Skyping with the family, and he'd been talking so much, we thought we could try, and out comes "Pop-Pop!" My dad was thrilled! (in defense of my mom and BM's parents, Pop-Pop is the easiest to say of all the grandparents' names).
Since then, he's added at least one new word every day, and sometimes 3 or 4 words. Often, they are words that we didn't know that he knew. He has the cutest little voice! One of LM's favorite things to do now is to narrate his play. While he plays trains (his favorite thing EVER), he talks and talks about what the trains (or, "cains") are doing. "Ferdinand follow Bash, Dash," "Bash, Dash follow Ferdinand." Currently, Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand, the Misty Island Logging Locos, are Billy's favorites.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Episode 16: Speak On, Baby!
(I wrote this back in February, and never posted it, so here it is!)
OK, the Christmas decorations are finally all put away, as are (almost) all of the presents, so I can post again!
As you probably know, the Little Man is now almost 29 months old! He's getting really big. However, he isn't talking much more than he did at a year or 18 months old. I had brought my concern to the pediatrician at LM's two-year appointment, and he advised to just see what happens and check back again at 2 1/2. A few months went by, and I was eagerly awaiting the day all my neighbors (and fellow moms) said would come, when the babe suddenly develops a huge vocabulary overnight! When it didn't happen by about December, I decided to call in the big guns and get him evaluated by our county's Infant and Toddlers program.
I was hoping they would also look for signs of autism or asperger's during their evaluation. It's something you hear about more and more often these days, and LM has some tendencies that worried me. He wasn't talking. He has the longest attention span of any toddler I know (he can play trains by himself for half an hour without making a sound). He loves to line things up, especially trucks. Part of me didn't think that autism was likely to be a problem, but I was still really worried about it.
The evaluators from Infants & Toddlers came out on 12-20 to check out the Little Man. We saw a Speech Therapist and an Occupational Therapist. They did lots of tests that looked like play, and asked lots of questions. At the end of the evaluation, it was determined that LM was right on track (scoring 24-28 months) with gross and fine motor skills, but was delayed in speech. He scored at 20 months, and was age 27 months at the time. That means he was exactly 25% delayed, which just qualified us for free speech therapy services from the county. As my mom says, that's exactly the score you want, just enough for help, but not any more behind than that.
I did ask about autism, and they said that he showed no signs of autism or asperger's, so that was good news, too.
We started speech classes with Miss Teri in January. Little Man did well the first time, but Miss Teri said he was a little bit peculiar! (Poor choice of words, I think, as I got worried.) He has a long attention span, and was far more interested in figuring out how the Duplo gate worked than playing with the big barn she brought with her! Also, the fact that he knows lots of letter sounds, but not any words. He threw one tantrum, when she took the blocks away to do something else, but otherwise behaved well. I was a little disappointed, since he didn't really seem to catch on to what he was supposed to be doing, but everyone reminded me that it was only his first day! He didn't even know what to expect, much less what he would be expected to do!
He just had his second class last week, and things went better. He is still gaining some new words (of course, none of them are the words we are supposed to be learning for homework), and seems to be trying a little bit, at least.
OK, the Christmas decorations are finally all put away, as are (almost) all of the presents, so I can post again!
As you probably know, the Little Man is now almost 29 months old! He's getting really big. However, he isn't talking much more than he did at a year or 18 months old. I had brought my concern to the pediatrician at LM's two-year appointment, and he advised to just see what happens and check back again at 2 1/2. A few months went by, and I was eagerly awaiting the day all my neighbors (and fellow moms) said would come, when the babe suddenly develops a huge vocabulary overnight! When it didn't happen by about December, I decided to call in the big guns and get him evaluated by our county's Infant and Toddlers program.
I was hoping they would also look for signs of autism or asperger's during their evaluation. It's something you hear about more and more often these days, and LM has some tendencies that worried me. He wasn't talking. He has the longest attention span of any toddler I know (he can play trains by himself for half an hour without making a sound). He loves to line things up, especially trucks. Part of me didn't think that autism was likely to be a problem, but I was still really worried about it.
The evaluators from Infants & Toddlers came out on 12-20 to check out the Little Man. We saw a Speech Therapist and an Occupational Therapist. They did lots of tests that looked like play, and asked lots of questions. At the end of the evaluation, it was determined that LM was right on track (scoring 24-28 months) with gross and fine motor skills, but was delayed in speech. He scored at 20 months, and was age 27 months at the time. That means he was exactly 25% delayed, which just qualified us for free speech therapy services from the county. As my mom says, that's exactly the score you want, just enough for help, but not any more behind than that.
I did ask about autism, and they said that he showed no signs of autism or asperger's, so that was good news, too.
We started speech classes with Miss Teri in January. Little Man did well the first time, but Miss Teri said he was a little bit peculiar! (Poor choice of words, I think, as I got worried.) He has a long attention span, and was far more interested in figuring out how the Duplo gate worked than playing with the big barn she brought with her! Also, the fact that he knows lots of letter sounds, but not any words. He threw one tantrum, when she took the blocks away to do something else, but otherwise behaved well. I was a little disappointed, since he didn't really seem to catch on to what he was supposed to be doing, but everyone reminded me that it was only his first day! He didn't even know what to expect, much less what he would be expected to do!
He just had his second class last week, and things went better. He is still gaining some new words (of course, none of them are the words we are supposed to be learning for homework), and seems to be trying a little bit, at least.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Episode 15: Fa-hoo Fores, Da-hoo Dores, welcome Christmas, Christmas Day!
I haven't posted in a while, and this Christmas questionnaire has been going around my friends' blogs (Patchie and Marizabeth to be exact), and I thought I would throw my blogger hat into the ring and talk about CHRISTMAS!!!
I love, love, LOVE Christmas! It is, by far, my favorite time of year! I love the lights, I love the presents, I love Santa, I love the tree, the music, the specials, all of it! So, without further ado, here we go:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Egg Nog, for sure! Especially good out of the little German(?) footed glass that my parents had. I always used that for my egg nog when I lived at home.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa always wraps presents. With the rare exception of an unwrappable gift like a bicycle or scooter.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I always liked colored lights on the tree, but the Big Man hates them, so we have white at our house.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We have a Kissing Ball like this one, with mistletoe printed on it. I figured it was safer than real mistletoe, and it looks better than my parents 1970s(?) plastic mistletoe ball.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually, the weekend following Thanksgiving, to be ready for the big party we have every year.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
There are so many to choose from! I love pumpkin bread, especially with cream cheese on it! Also, Pilsbury cinnamon buns for breakfast on Christmas morning, and stuffed shells for dinner!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
I think my favorite holiday memories are the traditions we had every year. I loved decorating the tree, my mom would hand us an ornament, and would direct where to put it on the tree, one of my favorites was a little carousel with a family of snowmen on it. I liked looking for crumbs in the bottom of the milk glass that we left for Santa (it was proof that he had been there).
Going to the Christmas tree farm to cut down a live tree was always fun, too. My dad used to bring his electrical marking tape, that non-sticky plastic tape that comes in neon colors. We would always mark the trees we liked, so we could find them again, but we never could find them. I like to think that we saved a few Christmas trees everytime we went to the farm. I also loved watching the guys put the tree through the tying-up machine, and the hayride out to the tree fields!
Going to the Christmas tree farm to cut down a live tree was always fun, too. My dad used to bring his electrical marking tape, that non-sticky plastic tape that comes in neon colors. We would always mark the trees we liked, so we could find them again, but we never could find them. I like to think that we saved a few Christmas trees everytime we went to the farm. I also loved watching the guys put the tree through the tying-up machine, and the hayride out to the tree fields!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't really know. I distinctly remember a cafeteria conversation where one kid I knew insisted that the way to find out was to compare Santa's handwriting to your parents'. If it was the same, you knew he wasn't real.
I know that I went through a period of peeking at the presents, though, at about middle school age. And, based on what my friends have posted, I was a terrible big sister. My little sis caught me peeking at the presents one year, and asked what they were. I told her that they were our Christmas presents, and then my mom caught us. She told my sister that they were presents for the little girl next door, and told me that I had ruined Christmas. I don't remember if I peeked after that year, but it was around that time that I stopped, because I was tired of pretending to be surprised on Christmas morning.
I know that I went through a period of peeking at the presents, though, at about middle school age. And, based on what my friends have posted, I was a terrible big sister. My little sis caught me peeking at the presents one year, and asked what they were. I told her that they were our Christmas presents, and then my mom caught us. She told my sister that they were presents for the little girl next door, and told me that I had ruined Christmas. I don't remember if I peeked after that year, but it was around that time that I stopped, because I was tired of pretending to be surprised on Christmas morning.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
My sister and brother and I used to open our gifts from one another on Christmas Eve, but I don't do it any more.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
By hand? (weird phrasing on this question). We have red cranberry-colored beads instead of garland or tinsel, and white lights. Tons of ornaments collected since the Big Man and I have been living together, as well as a few from each of our childhoods. We still keep several of the clay ornaments that we bought our first Christmas together. They were only $1 each! They remind me of our first house together. I also have several that my mom sent me on our first Christmas in our own house. Some of them had been hanging on my parents' tree since they were first together, so they are really special to me, too.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love, love, LOVE IT!!! It just makes it winter like nothing else can!
12. Can you ice skate?
I can, but haven't in a while. During my high school years, nearly every weekend was spent at Twin Ponds ice rink! I used to be able to do crossovers going backward. I rocked the rink!
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
In 10th grade (I think, maybe 9th), I was taking flute playing really seriously. I had started private lessons and both my private teacher and band director were encouraging me to buy a better flute than the 6-year-old beginner model that I had. My mom had taken me to the instrument store and I found a $1200 flute that I totally fell in love with! But, I knew that was WAY too much money and there was no way I was going to get it. For the next few months, I constantly joked with my parents that if they found an extra $1200 lying around, they should get it for me.
Well, on Christmas morning, we always opened our one "big present" last of all. My sister handed me a shirt box, and I opened it. As soon as I opened the box, I saw the flute case. I looked at my mom and said, "No way!" I just kept asking, "Really? Really?! NO way!" I had to open the whole case and see the actual flute before I was convinced. My mom asked if I thought they had filled it with bricks!
That flute served me all through high school, and is still one of my most prized possessions. Definitely the best Christmas present of all time.
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
It's hard to decide. Of course, I love seeing friends and family, but I also like the ceremony and traditions. I love to see all of our ornaments and remember why they are special, I love watching all the same movies year after year, and I love Christmas music!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
I love Toll House chocolate chip cookies! Also, homemade fudge is always part of our family's Christmas spread. And, kiffles and raspberry almond cookies from The Kiffle Kitchen!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I don't know if I can pick a favorite. I love doing the tree every year with Mitch Miller's "Holiday Sing-Along with Mitch" playing on the radio, and I love to watch all of our Christmas movies. When I was little, it was my job to put the topper on the tree, since I was the oldest child. That was always one of my favorite traditions.
17. What tops your tree?
Now, we have a ribbon. My parents had an angel for a long time. We are thinking of changing to an angel or star, so that the Little Man can start putting the topper on the tree, since it is his job as the oldest kid!
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
I love getting presents!! I like getting presents, but I always stress myself out trying to come up with good ideas for everyone. Although, my mom says I give great gifts, so I guess I end up doing alright in the end!
19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
Peppermint flavor? Yuck. But the rainbow cherry-flavored ones? Yum-o!
20. Favorite Christmas show? Show or movie?
Oh, there are WAY too many to choose from. Love A Muppet Chirstmas Carol, my favorite Christmas Carol ever! And the only one that makes me cry when Tiny Tim dies, every time. Of course, the old claymation Rudolph. And, How the Grinch Stole Christmas - but the old, animated one, not the Jim Carrey movie. I love the lesser-known A Christmas Toy ("You are thrilling, Meteora!!"), as well as A Muppet Family Christmas. And, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street! I love Bert and Ernie doing the gift of the Magi, and the song A True Blue Miracle.
21. Saddest Christmas Song?
There is a song on my Rockapella Christmas album called "Christmas Without You" which is so sad!
22. What is your favorite Christmas song?
There are WAY too many for me to pick just one! I love the Muppet Christmas songs - Keep Christmas With You, True Blue Miracle, Together at Christmas, One More Sleep 'til Christmas. I love, of course, Must Be Santa from the Mitch Miller album. I love my Jethro Tull Christmas album, with Birthday Card at Christmas, and A Christmas Song. Too many to choose from!!!
What is special about your Christmas?
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Episode 14: Kicking it into {Gender} Neutral
So, I'm a knitter, and I'm on this amazing knitting website, Ravelry. One of the greatest things about Ravelry is that you can join groups based on your interests. Some groups are more fun than others, and some more active. Well, when I got pregnant, I joined two pregnancy groups on Rav, and I still like to browse the message board of the more active of the two groups. People often have questions about must-have baby items, or stuff you can do without, (and you know I have opinions) or just funny stories. Also important to note is that many knitters are what I call "crunchy." My definition of crunchy includes folks that are a little bit hippies, into (as far as children/babies go) cloth diapering, organic and fair trade clothes, breastfeeding, and (what I think is) a new trend in gender neutrality.
Wikipedia defines gender neutrality in terms of language only. Most of the moms or expecting moms on Ravelry are at different places in the spectrum of gender neutrality for their children. And I totally agree with it on some level. I don't believe that I should force my child to play with "traditional" boy or girl toys. If the Little Man really wanted a baby doll or princess tea set, I wouldn't care. I would get him those toys for Christmas or birthday if that's what he wanted. Now, LM happens to be completely obsessed with trucks and trains at the current time, so that's what he's getting.
But, I think that some people are sabotaging themselves in their quest to raise balanced children. I have seen people saying that play kitchens are girl toys, which I don't agree with (although it is really hard to find a play kitchen that isn't pink). Trucks and cars are boy toys, which I don't get, I mean grown-up women drive trucks and cars, so why aren't they neutral toys? Plus, I am not the kind of person who takes my time to rail against what "society" thinks or says about things. If I think it's a neutral toy, then that's fine. I don't feel the need to complain on the internet (except, apparently, within the confines of this blog) about "Why don't people understand that I don't want my child to have X, Y, or Z?"
I actually saw the following quote on one of the message boards - "Even the really excellent spatial relations toys, like legos, seem to not want the girls to play unless they’re playing lego hair salon." Now, first off, I must be shopping in the wrong stores because I don't remember ever seeing a Lego hair salon set. Secondly, what exactly is is that makes Legos not acceptable for girls to play? Is it that they are red, yellow, blue, and white? Is it that the included patterns have a truck and a ship (they also include a house, you know)? If those are your reasons, then aren't you contradicting yourself? This was the same poster who complained in another post about girls not thinking they can play with toys that aren't pink. Well, if you want your daughter to play with non-pink toys, then why are you complaining that the non-pink Legos are not appropriate for girls?!
How do you all feel about gender neutrality for children? For those with kiddos, did your thoughts/plans/opinions about this topic change after you had your kids? Are most other parents as laid-back about it as me, or are there more people out there than I think that are really passionate about this subject?
Monday, September 19, 2011
Episode 13: What a Disaster!
So, we had a super eventful week here two weeks ago. Two (almost three) natural disasters in four days! The Big Man was out of town Monday-Friday, so it was just me and the Little Man weathering two of the storms.
First was Tuesday. I was just chilling out, watching DVR while the Little Man was up in his crib. He wasn't sleeping (but I had left him up there for about an hour, just to have some quiet resting time). I heard a truck go by, but it got really loud. For a minute, I thought a bulldozer was going to crash through our wall. When the noise didn't die down, and the floor started shaking, I knew something was seriously wrong, and figured we were having an earthquake. Immediately, I was panicking. Thoughts rushed through my head at a million miles an hour: LM's upstairs! Should I get myself to safety and get him later (thoughts of "put your own mask on first, then put the mask on the child" were happening here)? But, if the house falls, he's not going to make it up there by himself, and he doesn't even have a chance, since he can't get out of his crib on his own. I ran up the stairs (I didn't know I could move that fast), all the while thinking, if this keeps getting worse at this rate, I won't have time to make it to safety with him. I don't think I was ever so scared as I was at that moment. I rushed into his room, plucked him from the crib and started back down the stairs, saying "It's OK, we're OK, you're OK, it's OK." By the time I got down the stairs, I realized that it was over, and tried to switch on the news. I was shaking so much I could hardly hold the remote. Then, no one was talking about what just happened! It was a good 10 minutes before the news coverage started. After watching for a while and no one telling me to seek shelter or evacuate or anything (I've never been in an earthquake, I didn't know what to do), I finally put the Little Man down to play. I texted my mom, who is famous for her caution about severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and told her that, with all of the natural disasters she had prepared me for, she had never prepared me for an earthquake! Then I started to cry. Really slightly scary crying, just releasing all this energy and fear. I was pretty hysterical. Poor LM, he was freaked out that I was crying, and he started crying, too! He kept telling me "V-voom, v-voom" (he was trying to show me a truck in a book). I just cuddled him and tried to calm down, and we had a few minutes of snuggles. This was followed by several hours of texting Big Man, my mom, and my neighbor. Assuring everyone we were OK, asking if they were, too. I really wanted to TALK to someone, but of course all the cell signals were too jammed. It's probably better that I had to wait, since I didn't just bawl on the phone!
So, Wednesday, as a return to some sort of normalcy, Little Man and I went out to lunch with a friend of ours who works from home. We had our neighbors over for dinner that night, too.
Thursday, there was lots of rain coming in the evening. There was a tornado warning for the county just south of us, and the sky here was getting all yellowy-green, which I knew couldn't be a good sign. I started to panic a bit, so I packed up two bags of supplies in case the Little Man and I needed to go to the basement. One bag of stuff that was in the pantry and could go right into the emergency bag (because you can't carry a bunch of stuff with a baby, and because what if I didn't have time to make two trips), and one bag of stuff to leave in the fridge until the last moment. I was even going to pack ice packs to throw into the cooler downstairs for a makeshift fridge. Luckily, nothing happened, but after Tuesday's insanity, I was overly cautious (or just cautious enough, if you ask my mom).
After chatting on the phone with the Big Man on Thursday night, I realized that we should stock up on some supplies for the impending hurricane coming that weekend. Being a housewife, I don't get much chance to watch adult news. I had heard a little about the hurricane coming, but like many hurricanes before, I figured it would just be a lot of rain, nothing to worry about, and no need to be one of the crazies at the grocery store stocking up on toilet paper, milk and eggs (besides which, LM can't have milk or eggs anyway, so they're not really a good option for food stores at the moment). So I went out and got 4 gallons of water (far less than the 9 gallons recommended), and a bunch of fruit, bread, and almond milk. The wind started first, on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was spent inside a deluge. It was a little unreal. I felt like I was inside a dollhouse or something, pressing my nose to the sliding glass door to try to see what was going on outside. I think I will only ever remember the hurricane in little rectangles of the landscape that I can see from my windows.
We moved the Little Man into our bedroom in his Pack 'n' Play for the night, as the Big Man and I were both too worried about leaving him upstairs all alone (our house has the Master BR on the first floor, and the other bedrooms on the second). LM was excited to have a special sleepover in Mommy and Daddy's room. At about 10:45, our power went out for about half an hour, which was no biggie, except that we could see the big green flashes from where the tree must have fallen on the power lines. At about (I think) 4 AM or so, there was a big noise, and more explosion flashes from down the street and we lost power again. Big Man couldn't sleep, so he stationed himself in the basement to monitor the situation.We got a few inches of water, mostly because the power outage caused the sump pump to stop working. One big casualty was that all of our outgrown baby clothes were in diaper boxes on the floor, so they all got wet. I spent the next week washing and refolding baby clothes (and putting them into our newly-acquired plastic storage bins), so I think I saved almost everything. We lost one top and two pairs of pants that had stained, but that I wasn't so attached to I had to really try HARD to save.
We laid everything that got wet out on the patio after the rains had stopped, but forgot to bring the outdoor furniture cushions back in before the next few days' deluge, so they all got soaked anyway. They're dry now, and seem to be OK. They've held up pretty well after being left out in previous rains.
Have any of you had an experience that was really scarier than you expected? Have you ever really thought you might not make it out? Have you ever had as many as 2 1/2 natural disasters in a week's time?
First was Tuesday. I was just chilling out, watching DVR while the Little Man was up in his crib. He wasn't sleeping (but I had left him up there for about an hour, just to have some quiet resting time). I heard a truck go by, but it got really loud. For a minute, I thought a bulldozer was going to crash through our wall. When the noise didn't die down, and the floor started shaking, I knew something was seriously wrong, and figured we were having an earthquake. Immediately, I was panicking. Thoughts rushed through my head at a million miles an hour: LM's upstairs! Should I get myself to safety and get him later (thoughts of "put your own mask on first, then put the mask on the child" were happening here)? But, if the house falls, he's not going to make it up there by himself, and he doesn't even have a chance, since he can't get out of his crib on his own. I ran up the stairs (I didn't know I could move that fast), all the while thinking, if this keeps getting worse at this rate, I won't have time to make it to safety with him. I don't think I was ever so scared as I was at that moment. I rushed into his room, plucked him from the crib and started back down the stairs, saying "It's OK, we're OK, you're OK, it's OK." By the time I got down the stairs, I realized that it was over, and tried to switch on the news. I was shaking so much I could hardly hold the remote. Then, no one was talking about what just happened! It was a good 10 minutes before the news coverage started. After watching for a while and no one telling me to seek shelter or evacuate or anything (I've never been in an earthquake, I didn't know what to do), I finally put the Little Man down to play. I texted my mom, who is famous for her caution about severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and told her that, with all of the natural disasters she had prepared me for, she had never prepared me for an earthquake! Then I started to cry. Really slightly scary crying, just releasing all this energy and fear. I was pretty hysterical. Poor LM, he was freaked out that I was crying, and he started crying, too! He kept telling me "V-voom, v-voom" (he was trying to show me a truck in a book). I just cuddled him and tried to calm down, and we had a few minutes of snuggles. This was followed by several hours of texting Big Man, my mom, and my neighbor. Assuring everyone we were OK, asking if they were, too. I really wanted to TALK to someone, but of course all the cell signals were too jammed. It's probably better that I had to wait, since I didn't just bawl on the phone!
So, Wednesday, as a return to some sort of normalcy, Little Man and I went out to lunch with a friend of ours who works from home. We had our neighbors over for dinner that night, too.
Thursday, there was lots of rain coming in the evening. There was a tornado warning for the county just south of us, and the sky here was getting all yellowy-green, which I knew couldn't be a good sign. I started to panic a bit, so I packed up two bags of supplies in case the Little Man and I needed to go to the basement. One bag of stuff that was in the pantry and could go right into the emergency bag (because you can't carry a bunch of stuff with a baby, and because what if I didn't have time to make two trips), and one bag of stuff to leave in the fridge until the last moment. I was even going to pack ice packs to throw into the cooler downstairs for a makeshift fridge. Luckily, nothing happened, but after Tuesday's insanity, I was overly cautious (or just cautious enough, if you ask my mom).
After chatting on the phone with the Big Man on Thursday night, I realized that we should stock up on some supplies for the impending hurricane coming that weekend. Being a housewife, I don't get much chance to watch adult news. I had heard a little about the hurricane coming, but like many hurricanes before, I figured it would just be a lot of rain, nothing to worry about, and no need to be one of the crazies at the grocery store stocking up on toilet paper, milk and eggs (besides which, LM can't have milk or eggs anyway, so they're not really a good option for food stores at the moment). So I went out and got 4 gallons of water (far less than the 9 gallons recommended), and a bunch of fruit, bread, and almond milk. The wind started first, on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was spent inside a deluge. It was a little unreal. I felt like I was inside a dollhouse or something, pressing my nose to the sliding glass door to try to see what was going on outside. I think I will only ever remember the hurricane in little rectangles of the landscape that I can see from my windows.
We moved the Little Man into our bedroom in his Pack 'n' Play for the night, as the Big Man and I were both too worried about leaving him upstairs all alone (our house has the Master BR on the first floor, and the other bedrooms on the second). LM was excited to have a special sleepover in Mommy and Daddy's room. At about 10:45, our power went out for about half an hour, which was no biggie, except that we could see the big green flashes from where the tree must have fallen on the power lines. At about (I think) 4 AM or so, there was a big noise, and more explosion flashes from down the street and we lost power again. Big Man couldn't sleep, so he stationed himself in the basement to monitor the situation.We got a few inches of water, mostly because the power outage caused the sump pump to stop working. One big casualty was that all of our outgrown baby clothes were in diaper boxes on the floor, so they all got wet. I spent the next week washing and refolding baby clothes (and putting them into our newly-acquired plastic storage bins), so I think I saved almost everything. We lost one top and two pairs of pants that had stained, but that I wasn't so attached to I had to really try HARD to save.
We laid everything that got wet out on the patio after the rains had stopped, but forgot to bring the outdoor furniture cushions back in before the next few days' deluge, so they all got soaked anyway. They're dry now, and seem to be OK. They've held up pretty well after being left out in previous rains.
Have any of you had an experience that was really scarier than you expected? Have you ever really thought you might not make it out? Have you ever had as many as 2 1/2 natural disasters in a week's time?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Episode 12: Girls, Girls, Girls!
So, everyone who knows me knows that I am a pretty girly girl. I love shopping, I luurve pink, and have a (fairly) extensive collection of shoes. So it may be no surprise that when I was pregnant I was hoping to have a girl. Somehow I sort of knew it would be a boy even before we got the ultrasound. Partly because of our strange family history with firstborn genders, but also some sort of weird feeling.
When I first found out that Billy was a boy, I was pretty disappointed. Now I know as a mother, I should just be grateful that he was healthy. And for the most part, I was happy that there were no defects we could detect at that point, but a part of me grieved a bit for the girl I wasn't going to have. Mostly, I think I grieved for myself and the fact that, with a son, I would be unable to (or at least made a social pariah if I did) buy any of the adorable pink items available for babies. No pink stroller, no pink high chair, pack-n-play, nursery, diaper bag, no adorable dresses and ruffly diaper covers. Not to mention the shoes!! And even now, I miss not being able to buy the cute, pink, frilly dresses available for girls.
It also seems that there are far more options for girls clothes than for boys. There are aisles and aisles of girls' clothes in Babies 'R' Us, or even Target, with only one or two aisles of boys' clothes. Not to mention the fact that I am, generally speaking, not a big fan of clothes that say things. I don't like baby or kid clothes that say "I'm the Boss!" or "MVP" or even the girl versions "Here Comes Trouble" and "I'm the Cutest!" I don't like the idea that people are characterizing their children as troublemakers before their attitudes even become apparent. I also hate the idea that the parents all kowtow to their children forever, I wasn't the boss when I was a kid, and I certainly don't intend for my children to wield unquestioned power in our household. And the girls versions over-emphasize cuteness, starting a lifelong complex that a girl's most important asset is her looks. Also, I still don't quite understand why all of the clothes are Daddy/Daughter or Mommy/Son themed. Can't fathers love their sons? Can't mothers love their daughters? What about little girls whose mothers are single parents? Can't those girls be Mommy's Little Princess?
It also seems as though there are lots more options for girls' clothes that do not have these sayings on them. Lots of girls tops and dresses are just colors, or patterns. It's harder to find boys' clothes like that. For example, if you go to the Carter's website, and click on "Tops" under girls' clothes, there is a category right on the first page for "fashion tops." Boys do have a "polo & shirt" category, but 4 of the 6 polo shirts say something on them, and all of the shirts are plaid. What, is my son 65 already? This problem is what has started my love affair with Old Navy for boys' clothes. ON has tons of baby and toddler boys' clothes that look like adult clothes, just tiny!
But, today, I was reminded of why I should be glad that my first child is a boy. On the Today Show this morning, was a story about a French company that has started selling "loungerie" - lingerie for girls aged 4-12!! (You can see the story here) I was amazed at the photos that were taken to advertise the products. They are truly inappropriate. I can understand that for a girl closer to 12, she may be developing, and she may want a fancy bra and/or panties. I get that. And, I don't really have a problem with the general idea of making pretty panties for little girls. However, the ad photos seriously cross the line!
I am sort of glad that Billy is a boy, because I have a little more time (hopefully) to figure out how to address this early sexualization of little girls with my own daughters. I think we have been pushing the line for so long, with shows like Hannah Montana and iCarly. The shows themselves are fine, and while they don't contain any swearing or sex, they have many storylines about boys - kissing boys, liking boys, trying to get the attention of a particular boy. That's fine for girls that are the same age as the main characters, junior high or middle school age. But, I never really thought that they were appropriate viewing for 5, 6, 7, 8 year old girls, yet these girls make up much of the fan base. Whatever happened to shopping at Claire's and watching cartoons? I don't think we had any of these shows, except for Clarissa Explains It All and Swans Crossing (a kiddie soap opera). Maybe I just wasn't into those shows, or I wasn't allowed to watch them.
What do you think about "loungerie?" How about the increased sexualization of women and girls earlier and earlier? For my followers with daughters, how did you talk about this, or how do you plan to do so?
When I first found out that Billy was a boy, I was pretty disappointed. Now I know as a mother, I should just be grateful that he was healthy. And for the most part, I was happy that there were no defects we could detect at that point, but a part of me grieved a bit for the girl I wasn't going to have. Mostly, I think I grieved for myself and the fact that, with a son, I would be unable to (or at least made a social pariah if I did) buy any of the adorable pink items available for babies. No pink stroller, no pink high chair, pack-n-play, nursery, diaper bag, no adorable dresses and ruffly diaper covers. Not to mention the shoes!! And even now, I miss not being able to buy the cute, pink, frilly dresses available for girls.
It also seems that there are far more options for girls clothes than for boys. There are aisles and aisles of girls' clothes in Babies 'R' Us, or even Target, with only one or two aisles of boys' clothes. Not to mention the fact that I am, generally speaking, not a big fan of clothes that say things. I don't like baby or kid clothes that say "I'm the Boss!" or "MVP" or even the girl versions "Here Comes Trouble" and "I'm the Cutest!" I don't like the idea that people are characterizing their children as troublemakers before their attitudes even become apparent. I also hate the idea that the parents all kowtow to their children forever, I wasn't the boss when I was a kid, and I certainly don't intend for my children to wield unquestioned power in our household. And the girls versions over-emphasize cuteness, starting a lifelong complex that a girl's most important asset is her looks. Also, I still don't quite understand why all of the clothes are Daddy/Daughter or Mommy/Son themed. Can't fathers love their sons? Can't mothers love their daughters? What about little girls whose mothers are single parents? Can't those girls be Mommy's Little Princess?
It also seems as though there are lots more options for girls' clothes that do not have these sayings on them. Lots of girls tops and dresses are just colors, or patterns. It's harder to find boys' clothes like that. For example, if you go to the Carter's website, and click on "Tops" under girls' clothes, there is a category right on the first page for "fashion tops." Boys do have a "polo & shirt" category, but 4 of the 6 polo shirts say something on them, and all of the shirts are plaid. What, is my son 65 already? This problem is what has started my love affair with Old Navy for boys' clothes. ON has tons of baby and toddler boys' clothes that look like adult clothes, just tiny!
But, today, I was reminded of why I should be glad that my first child is a boy. On the Today Show this morning, was a story about a French company that has started selling "loungerie" - lingerie for girls aged 4-12!! (You can see the story here) I was amazed at the photos that were taken to advertise the products. They are truly inappropriate. I can understand that for a girl closer to 12, she may be developing, and she may want a fancy bra and/or panties. I get that. And, I don't really have a problem with the general idea of making pretty panties for little girls. However, the ad photos seriously cross the line!
I am sort of glad that Billy is a boy, because I have a little more time (hopefully) to figure out how to address this early sexualization of little girls with my own daughters. I think we have been pushing the line for so long, with shows like Hannah Montana and iCarly. The shows themselves are fine, and while they don't contain any swearing or sex, they have many storylines about boys - kissing boys, liking boys, trying to get the attention of a particular boy. That's fine for girls that are the same age as the main characters, junior high or middle school age. But, I never really thought that they were appropriate viewing for 5, 6, 7, 8 year old girls, yet these girls make up much of the fan base. Whatever happened to shopping at Claire's and watching cartoons? I don't think we had any of these shows, except for Clarissa Explains It All and Swans Crossing (a kiddie soap opera). Maybe I just wasn't into those shows, or I wasn't allowed to watch them.
What do you think about "loungerie?" How about the increased sexualization of women and girls earlier and earlier? For my followers with daughters, how did you talk about this, or how do you plan to do so?
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Episode 11: Eat, Pap, EAT! - Part 4 - Final Installment!
So, here it is, the conclusion to our saga. Enjoy!
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