As my kids are more than halfway through the 1st grade and think that they are now learning about things that I don't know anything about, it just makes me laugh and intrigues me with the way the think and see things. It's so innocent. They have no idea how they are coming across to people, they don't mean to be malicious or to be condescending and that is what makes them so funny.
The curriculum in 1st grade is so much different than kindergarten. They are learning about real people. Every few days they come home and tell me "mommy do you know so and so and do you know that he/she did this and that?" They purge all this info out to you. It's the sweetest thing to hear...especially from kids that refused to speak early on in their lives. Just recently they finished their unit on Black History Month. They learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. The kids would come home and inform me "mom! we're learning about Black History Month" and I said "Great! you guys are gonna love it!" Now understand that my kids refer to everyone as "that man, girl, lady, or boy." So one day they came home with a cut out of Martin Luther King, Jr, it was 24 inches tall. Madison's was wearing a black suit and purple tie. Purple is her favorite color. So I asked her who is this? She informs me "it's that boy, Mardin Luder King, Jr!" A few days later the kids were discussing something and I couldn't understand what they were saying so I asked them how school was and what they did. They replied "good. Mom, you know that girl?" I answered, "nope! which girl?" Tyler answered "you know, that girl on the bus?" and I knew already that they were speaking of Rosa Parks. So I said "No, which girl? What happened?" So Madi finished, "the girl on the bus and she wasn't "apposed"(she has trouble pronouncing suppose) to sit in the front of the bus and the police arrested her. She has to sit in the back. Do you know that black and brown people are the same thing?" So I replied "yes i know her. Her name was Rosa Parks. And a long time ago that's how people who were not white were treated and it was not right was it?"
For my kids they are brown people vs. black people. They get confused when they hear people being called black people because for them they are brown not black. One day they will understand I suppose. Just like they will continue to learn more about "the girl on the bus."
I was watching "The Help" this weekend and my kids wandered in and read the title. Intrigued the hung around...I thought it would be ok since they have been exposed to Rosa Parks and being arrested. I've also never been one to hide reality. Plus being Asian and being in a very diverse community at school I think it's important for kids even at a young age to understand what inclusion truly means that there is no room for discrimation. I would like to preclude this with remember my kids calls everyone a boy, girl, lady, or man. For example, a chef is a "cooker boy." So in the beginning of the movie we still haven't settled so there was still a lot of talking and I know the kids haven't heard anything the narrator was saying because I know I didn't and of course they had no clue that this was a movie where there was still segregation or what that was. On the screen was a maid taking care of a baby and the mother came in and barked out some orders. Tyler screams out "Hey! We should get a helper girl too! That way mom if you need help you don't have to bother me then she can help you and I can still play games!"
My son the genius. I just hope he doesn't say that at school and find out that some of his friends actually DO have "helper girls" and ask for one for his birthday! That is not the same as getting him a beyblade or a lego kit! It's all so innocent. No malicious intent. Just looking out for his momma...and for his own convenience!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Yet Another Holy Shit Moment...
I know we always say wow our weekends just fly by and as the twins get older the weekends really do fly by. As they do get older they have their own social lives and I'd like to be able to develop my own social life again...whatever that may be. This morning I got the kids to school and I saw Tyler put his folder in his cubby and it happened to open a little and there were papers in there. Normally I would take everything out so that it's empty when he takes it back to school. Even if I can't look at his work I put it in a pile and check out his progress later on...so it was obvious that we didn't even look at his folder over the weekend. How embarrassing. What's even more embarrassing is that I KNOW Madi's folder would be a mess as she shoves EVERYTHING including the kitchen sink in her folder and I am always taking everything out...so her teacher will definitely know that I did not go through her stuff...oy! So I stood there and thought "what in the hell is going on?! what did we do after school yesterday that I didn't look in your folder?!" and then it hit me. OMG! We didn't have school yesterday! It was the weekend! So that's even worse! I seriously could not remember we had a weekend and just lost 2 days from my memory!!!
My problem is that although I am not a single mother and I KNOW there are a lot of moms out there that feel the same way I do, I feel like I am! I have to do everything myself. Why? And as I think back to this weekend now I think I know why I've wiped it out of my mind. I was actually asked at one point..."So I'll actually have Madi by myself all day?!" I told him "yes!" and he actually grunted. It was a day out of the ordinary as normally on Sunday mornings I have my walking groups and then I would do my food shopping and then take one or 2 kids to a birthday party if there was one and if not I would have them do some activity. However yesterday was different. I am on the reunion committee for our 20th High School Reunion and so yesterday was our first meeting and that was followed with a birthday party for Tyler's friend. This happened with work calls in between and work calls right when I returned from the party. Oh and the THREE loads of laundry I put away that were sitting in baskets in the livingroom. He had "helped" me by folding them. Thank you! So I didn't get a chance to relax until about 5pm...and HE had it hard.
I'm thinking it's less headache and much more fun to not have a husband and to just have a nanny and a boyfriend? just saying...
So as I stood there this morning in Tyler's class and thouht what happened?! and all these memories came gushing back and I had a big "a-ha!" moment. I turned to his teacher and said oops! thank goodness there was no homework, but he is clean and I did feed him!
My problem is that although I am not a single mother and I KNOW there are a lot of moms out there that feel the same way I do, I feel like I am! I have to do everything myself. Why? And as I think back to this weekend now I think I know why I've wiped it out of my mind. I was actually asked at one point..."So I'll actually have Madi by myself all day?!" I told him "yes!" and he actually grunted. It was a day out of the ordinary as normally on Sunday mornings I have my walking groups and then I would do my food shopping and then take one or 2 kids to a birthday party if there was one and if not I would have them do some activity. However yesterday was different. I am on the reunion committee for our 20th High School Reunion and so yesterday was our first meeting and that was followed with a birthday party for Tyler's friend. This happened with work calls in between and work calls right when I returned from the party. Oh and the THREE loads of laundry I put away that were sitting in baskets in the livingroom. He had "helped" me by folding them. Thank you! So I didn't get a chance to relax until about 5pm...and HE had it hard.
I'm thinking it's less headache and much more fun to not have a husband and to just have a nanny and a boyfriend? just saying...
So as I stood there this morning in Tyler's class and thouht what happened?! and all these memories came gushing back and I had a big "a-ha!" moment. I turned to his teacher and said oops! thank goodness there was no homework, but he is clean and I did feed him!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Eating My Words
"Mom! Are Uggs for boys or girls?" hmmmm....So this was such a loaded question not even knowing that it was a loaded question. Instinctively I said they are for girls. So then both Madi and Tyler came back at me with well a boy in my class wore them today!!! and I did a mental "oh shit!" and all these moments replayed in my mind. First moment: Why is Tom Brady growing out his hair?! He looks like a girl...Oh! it must be for the Uggs endorsement because they are trying to get into menswear. OMG did I say those things outloud to my husband?!? Forgetting what giant sponges my kids are?!?! and then second moment "Hey Kevin! your cousin bought John bought a pair of Uggs!" and to this he replies "What?! is he serious?!?! those are so girly!" another OMG except this would warrant a OMFG because this was just recent when my kids are ginormous sponges!
So now I have to eat my words. "Well guys, Uggs are actually for both boys and girls." hmmm....you could see the wheels spinning in their heads. And before they even opened their mouths to say "but you said..." I explained that "mommy thought that Uggs only made boots for girls but now they do for boys too." and I THINK that registered and they are ok with...I THINK.
Having my kids grow up too fast...eating my words...MAKE UP! Make up is the thing that many little girls love to play with. Madi is now 16 trapped in a 7 yr old body...I remember going through that stage and my mother would not let me play with it. I am willing to compromise though. I don't want her to ruin skin by playing with toy stuff so I went to Sephora and bought her an inexpensive kit that has shadows, blusher and lip gloss. The deal is though that she can only play with it on the weekends and at home...NO GOING OUT WITH MAKE UP ON!!! She tells me some little girls do but I will not allow that unless it's Halloween.
I've had to adjust so much as the kids are growing...there are so many things that I said I would never do, but I've had to compromise and do some but not all. I think it's important as a parent that we do adjust to their needs and our needs, if we stay rigid and in our boxes no good can come of that...
It's so hard when you teach your kids not to act a certain way or do a certain thing and when they see it in public they actually say it outloud. Like "Mommy you wouldn't like that" and it's actually something someone else's mommy allows...it's kind of well embarrassing I THINK for them because yeah I still think it's inappropriate behavior! How do you teach your kids to just think it and not say it?
So now I have to eat my words. "Well guys, Uggs are actually for both boys and girls." hmmm....you could see the wheels spinning in their heads. And before they even opened their mouths to say "but you said..." I explained that "mommy thought that Uggs only made boots for girls but now they do for boys too." and I THINK that registered and they are ok with...I THINK.
Having my kids grow up too fast...eating my words...MAKE UP! Make up is the thing that many little girls love to play with. Madi is now 16 trapped in a 7 yr old body...I remember going through that stage and my mother would not let me play with it. I am willing to compromise though. I don't want her to ruin skin by playing with toy stuff so I went to Sephora and bought her an inexpensive kit that has shadows, blusher and lip gloss. The deal is though that she can only play with it on the weekends and at home...NO GOING OUT WITH MAKE UP ON!!! She tells me some little girls do but I will not allow that unless it's Halloween.
I've had to adjust so much as the kids are growing...there are so many things that I said I would never do, but I've had to compromise and do some but not all. I think it's important as a parent that we do adjust to their needs and our needs, if we stay rigid and in our boxes no good can come of that...
It's so hard when you teach your kids not to act a certain way or do a certain thing and when they see it in public they actually say it outloud. Like "Mommy you wouldn't like that" and it's actually something someone else's mommy allows...it's kind of well embarrassing I THINK for them because yeah I still think it's inappropriate behavior! How do you teach your kids to just think it and not say it?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Year in review...
I can't believe how quickly this year flew by. It was quite the busy year which is why I barely had time to write...1st grade just kicked my ass. Homework is just a bitch. Not hard work just have to find the patience within myself to help them and not do it for them. My advice to moms with multiples out there is to not take the easy way out. Don't put them in the same class, I found that it helped to build each of their confidence levels to be able to help each other out because you will find that one will have better reading skills and the other math skills, so it's nice for them to balance each other out in that way.
For 2 kids who started off in early intervention and needing speech therapy for lack of speech we are now what I call "over speeched!" Madi comes home and reports back to me about everything and everyone. In face some of the moms call me to ask about what's going on the classroom...or rather asks Madi because THEIR kids don't tell them anything! It's very cool to see how these kids blossom as they are midway through the 1st grade, no longer the lowest in the totem pole. They are now familiar with the school and with the teachers.
I went in to work with Tyler's class for a holiday project and was their for one of the little girl's show and tell. She brought in her make up collection and her brushes. I was so jealous! It was a beautiful collection and I asked for a playdate. 1st grade. These girls are growing up to 18 overnight. Madi is aware of a boy in her class who has a crush on her. She comes home and tells me he looks at her everyday and she runs. Everyone tells her he thinks she's cute. I ask her if he knows she doesn't brush her hair and she tells me she thinks so. So no motivation there for her to perhaps brush her hair without prompting from me since she has admirers without having to brush her hair...need a new angle.
Tyler has finally backed off the older women in the school I think...I do hear him and his buddies whispering about boobs and nipples. I guess boys will be boys and when they are playing sports and hanging around older boys that will happen. I try not to make the topic taboo at home. I want him to come and ask me questions rather than going out and getting the wrong answers. He tells me the other day that he can't wait to be a grown up. He wants to be able to say the F word, the SH word and the B word. My son continues to aim high!
We continue to try and decipher Madison. She is definitely my difficult child and pushes us to our limits. My guess is that I will be admitted to the Betty Ford clinic before she graduates from elementary school...I'm thinking perhaps we should move to Kentucky where it's ok to married off young!
For 2 kids who started off in early intervention and needing speech therapy for lack of speech we are now what I call "over speeched!" Madi comes home and reports back to me about everything and everyone. In face some of the moms call me to ask about what's going on the classroom...or rather asks Madi because THEIR kids don't tell them anything! It's very cool to see how these kids blossom as they are midway through the 1st grade, no longer the lowest in the totem pole. They are now familiar with the school and with the teachers.
I went in to work with Tyler's class for a holiday project and was their for one of the little girl's show and tell. She brought in her make up collection and her brushes. I was so jealous! It was a beautiful collection and I asked for a playdate. 1st grade. These girls are growing up to 18 overnight. Madi is aware of a boy in her class who has a crush on her. She comes home and tells me he looks at her everyday and she runs. Everyone tells her he thinks she's cute. I ask her if he knows she doesn't brush her hair and she tells me she thinks so. So no motivation there for her to perhaps brush her hair without prompting from me since she has admirers without having to brush her hair...need a new angle.
Tyler has finally backed off the older women in the school I think...I do hear him and his buddies whispering about boobs and nipples. I guess boys will be boys and when they are playing sports and hanging around older boys that will happen. I try not to make the topic taboo at home. I want him to come and ask me questions rather than going out and getting the wrong answers. He tells me the other day that he can't wait to be a grown up. He wants to be able to say the F word, the SH word and the B word. My son continues to aim high!
We continue to try and decipher Madison. She is definitely my difficult child and pushes us to our limits. My guess is that I will be admitted to the Betty Ford clinic before she graduates from elementary school...I'm thinking perhaps we should move to Kentucky where it's ok to married off young!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Birthday Hell
Turning 7. I can't believe we are planning our 7th birthdays and it's getting to the point where I feel like we are planning a mini wedding. Do you remember that episode of the Brady Bunch where if we invite the Ditmeyers then we have to invite the Browns and if we invite the Browns then we have to invite the Smiths and so on and so on...and that was for a bbq. This is the samething. And it's like ok the kids have become friends with kids and now separated in 1st grade and with 2 kids I can't mentally and financially host 2 parties back to back for 20+ kids each party and plus kids outside of school! That's insanity! and then there is the issue of where we have it. We can't have it at home, because the house is not large enough for 20 kids and we are November birthdays so outside is not an option, plus the husband is anal retentive so I would just rather not hear it, thank you very much.
So I start of with a guest list to see how many kids we are dealing with and try and steer the kids in the right direction and make sure we are not leaving anyone out. I looked into a few options. And I need to point out that I am just appalled at some of these prices...I mean I just feel like I've been raped by just LOOKING at them on the website! So a certain place that shall remain anonymous, but you basically go there and the kids jump around. They advertise that they can play games, 3D Dodgeball!, and you get a private room for cake and pizza...you get i think 3 pizzas, and all this for $18/head on the weekends. It's less on the weekdays. Well how many has a weekday party and really?! $18/head to jump around on a trampoline?! Man! I'd like to shake the hand of that genious who came up with this. People are paying it. it's insane.
Then I have my own issues where I need things to match...and I get a bit crazed, but I admit it. If the invitations don't match the cake, napkins and goodie bags, then everything changes. And also, I can't pay full price. I have twins! I'm paying for 2 sets of everything!!! and yes yes, I know people have more than 1 or even 2 kids, but to do it all at once is a bit harsh. So after much finagling I have settled and convinced the kids that Madison is doing a princess theme at a place where they paint with her girls and Tyler will have a sports theme and doing laser tag with his guys.
I suspect that these birthdays will only get worse as we get older. However I think as we get older we will narrow the guestlist down to the BFFs and smaller but meaningful events.
So I start of with a guest list to see how many kids we are dealing with and try and steer the kids in the right direction and make sure we are not leaving anyone out. I looked into a few options. And I need to point out that I am just appalled at some of these prices...I mean I just feel like I've been raped by just LOOKING at them on the website! So a certain place that shall remain anonymous, but you basically go there and the kids jump around. They advertise that they can play games, 3D Dodgeball!, and you get a private room for cake and pizza...you get i think 3 pizzas, and all this for $18/head on the weekends. It's less on the weekdays. Well how many has a weekday party and really?! $18/head to jump around on a trampoline?! Man! I'd like to shake the hand of that genious who came up with this. People are paying it. it's insane.
Then I have my own issues where I need things to match...and I get a bit crazed, but I admit it. If the invitations don't match the cake, napkins and goodie bags, then everything changes. And also, I can't pay full price. I have twins! I'm paying for 2 sets of everything!!! and yes yes, I know people have more than 1 or even 2 kids, but to do it all at once is a bit harsh. So after much finagling I have settled and convinced the kids that Madison is doing a princess theme at a place where they paint with her girls and Tyler will have a sports theme and doing laser tag with his guys.
I suspect that these birthdays will only get worse as we get older. However I think as we get older we will narrow the guestlist down to the BFFs and smaller but meaningful events.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The Mean Girls Club
It has been a crazy start to the 1st grade that is for sure. What a transition for ME from kindergarten to 1st. We now have homework which I have to get accustomed to. It's not difficult work obviously, but it's more discipline on me as a mom. I feel like I am being watched. So we have these reading logs we have to sign. The kids are to read 15-20 mins every night, write down the name of the book read, if they read it themselves, we read it , or a sibling did and then we sign it! and I know if I said we did that my kids would rat me out in a second...especially Madi!
And I have been trying to get in the habit of making myself come out of my home office early and checking for homework and helping them while preparing dinner and getting them showered. Instead of realizing it at 830PM and saying "oh just f*ck me there's homework!" ugh! One night I was exhausted and was gross and had to take a shower and of course Tyler announces "oh yeah, I have homework!" wonderful! it was a color by number. So I explain it to him and set him up at his table. I tell his father and he responds with "well what is it?!" I tell him it's a color by number. "What do I do?" Did he seriously ask me "What do I do?!" Did I want to punch him in the face? yes. so I explained it to him just as I did to his first grade son. Jump in the shower come out. He's on the computer. Tyler has colored in one shape. Again...just f*ck me now! As Tyler would say "cheese n rice!"
Today Madi comes home and shows me this list. It was a list of all the kids in her class. She then shows me how she and her girlfriend has made columns and labeled the columns "gff" that was originally "bff", but bff means boyfriend so they changed it to gff. So I had to explain to her the meaning of a bff. There were a few other silly columns but the one that stuck out was the "D" column. What does "D" stand for you ask? the "D" stands for decide. The girls need to decide if that child is someone they like or not and therefore a friend. I believe this is the start of "The Mean Girls Club"
As we finished dinner and were cleaning up she tells me, "Mommy, I think Kyle is going to be in the "D" column." ME: "really? I like Kyle, I don't think he should be in the "D" column." She looks at me and does it anyway. Looks like she will be the president of "The Mean Girls Club"
And I have been trying to get in the habit of making myself come out of my home office early and checking for homework and helping them while preparing dinner and getting them showered. Instead of realizing it at 830PM and saying "oh just f*ck me there's homework!" ugh! One night I was exhausted and was gross and had to take a shower and of course Tyler announces "oh yeah, I have homework!" wonderful! it was a color by number. So I explain it to him and set him up at his table. I tell his father and he responds with "well what is it?!" I tell him it's a color by number. "What do I do?" Did he seriously ask me "What do I do?!" Did I want to punch him in the face? yes. so I explained it to him just as I did to his first grade son. Jump in the shower come out. He's on the computer. Tyler has colored in one shape. Again...just f*ck me now! As Tyler would say "cheese n rice!"
Today Madi comes home and shows me this list. It was a list of all the kids in her class. She then shows me how she and her girlfriend has made columns and labeled the columns "gff" that was originally "bff", but bff means boyfriend so they changed it to gff. So I had to explain to her the meaning of a bff. There were a few other silly columns but the one that stuck out was the "D" column. What does "D" stand for you ask? the "D" stands for decide. The girls need to decide if that child is someone they like or not and therefore a friend. I believe this is the start of "The Mean Girls Club"
As we finished dinner and were cleaning up she tells me, "Mommy, I think Kyle is going to be in the "D" column." ME: "really? I like Kyle, I don't think he should be in the "D" column." She looks at me and does it anyway. Looks like she will be the president of "The Mean Girls Club"
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Selective Osmosis
We are in a society where we are constantly watching our weight. I know I am forever "on a diet", it's just the norm. My brother is always going to the gym and coming home and saying he is watching what he eats and wants to only eat healthy and so the kids are picking up all this through osmosis. Kids have what I call "selective osmosis". It's similar to selective hearing. They just soak in the wrong info. So their uncle is playing sports and stays in shape to do so and so Tyler picks up on it as he is just starting his soccer season right now. This is a great thing. He is conscientious about what he puts in his mouth, he "tries" to avoid fatty foods, pizza and candy does not count. However he does understand that it is important that he stays active and gets his exercise. Ok. Great!
Well we were in line at the Stop & Shop last weekend and it was busy, there were quite a few ladies in front of us. We're standing and I had glanced at the magazine racks...of all the magazines, Tyler HAD to comment on the one I was pretty grossed out at myself. It was the National Enquirer and I don't even know who it was but it was not a flattering shot and it was from behind of some in a bikini. There was cellulite on cellulite on cellulite. Just not nice. Tyler points out and tells me pretty loudly "Mom! That lady needs to workout!" The problem with that was that every "lady" in front of us TURNED AROUND!!! Did I want to be buried right there in the floor of Stop & Shop? yes! This is something that he has picked up through "selective osmosis" from his uncle.
Everyday after school I ask the kids, "how was school today?" and they either answer fine or not good. Either way I probe. Can't be just fine, SOMETHING had to have happened! What did you do? blah blah blah. So Madison tells me that a reading teacher had come into her classroom. I said that was exciting! Getting extra help for the class to learn how to read was awesome...and Tyler chimes in "yeah, she came in our class too...the girl was kinda cute." I ask, "what girl?" I was a bit horrified. I knew the reading specialist was going in, but she was much older than me AND she was definitely NOT cute! He replied "the teacher!" and thats when I found out there was an assistant...my son only saw the assistant...didn't see the REAL teacher...
oy vay!
Well we were in line at the Stop & Shop last weekend and it was busy, there were quite a few ladies in front of us. We're standing and I had glanced at the magazine racks...of all the magazines, Tyler HAD to comment on the one I was pretty grossed out at myself. It was the National Enquirer and I don't even know who it was but it was not a flattering shot and it was from behind of some in a bikini. There was cellulite on cellulite on cellulite. Just not nice. Tyler points out and tells me pretty loudly "Mom! That lady needs to workout!" The problem with that was that every "lady" in front of us TURNED AROUND!!! Did I want to be buried right there in the floor of Stop & Shop? yes! This is something that he has picked up through "selective osmosis" from his uncle.
Everyday after school I ask the kids, "how was school today?" and they either answer fine or not good. Either way I probe. Can't be just fine, SOMETHING had to have happened! What did you do? blah blah blah. So Madison tells me that a reading teacher had come into her classroom. I said that was exciting! Getting extra help for the class to learn how to read was awesome...and Tyler chimes in "yeah, she came in our class too...the girl was kinda cute." I ask, "what girl?" I was a bit horrified. I knew the reading specialist was going in, but she was much older than me AND she was definitely NOT cute! He replied "the teacher!" and thats when I found out there was an assistant...my son only saw the assistant...didn't see the REAL teacher...
oy vay!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
First Day of 1st Grade!
Here we are...it took 6 years and many days of whine and cheese, but full day school. Got the twins up and dressed and we could still hear the snoring in the background...their father had taken the day off for the 1st day of school festivities...glad he could help! Getting back into the swing of things is hard after a whole summer off.
So I got the kids breakfast, got snacks packed, supplies packed and we're ready to go...oh wait...Daddy is not ready. Really? Cheese n rice! Why are we always waiting for him??? So finally he's ready and we go and we walk to school. As we approach the school we begin to see old friends that we haven't seen all summer. Tyler is excited to see people and is waving hello and talking to some kids and takes off for his classroom. Madison had her normal anxiety and was hiding behind me and wouldn't say hi or even wave to anyone. As we walked down the hallway and Madison was shooting her darts of poison from her eyes, I was surprised people didn't start falling down to their knees.
She has this look on her face...this look of just disgust, she just doesn't hide her feelings, that's for sure! So we found her locker and put her stuff inside and took her folders and supplies into the classroom. Met Ms. L her teacher and then we were instructed to find our way around the classroom and put our supplies in the correct bins for the class to share and to put her name on her folders. So we did this and met old friends along the way and of course Madi was less than pleased to see them...or at least she appeared this way. As this was happening, I had instructed the boys, Tyler and his Dad to go to Tyler's class and get settled, emergency forms dropped off and yada yada yada...but as Madi and I were moving along I turned around to find the boys right behind us! Oy vay! Tyler was eager to go to his class but I think Dad had anxiety too! Did I have triplets??? good god! Cheese n rice! and then I hear the bell ring! by now I was no longer shvetzing, I was full blown sweating! I had said to one of the moms I am sweating! and she replied no here we shvetz! and I said oh no girl, I am way beyond shvetz, I am sweating!!! So I kissed Madi goodbye and sat her down with her dear friend Matthew to play dominoes. God bless Matthew, Madi's knight in shining armour!
I went into Tyler's room just in time to give him a quick kiss and a hug to wish him a great first day and pray that everything got to wear it needed to go...
After school...we came home Dad was in charge as I was working from home. The kids were home from 12-5 with him and I was in my home office before I came back up to realize "where is Tyler's lunchbox?" No one knew. Day 1 and missing lunchbox. Dad cleaned up 1 lunchbox and didn't ask where #2 was. Breathe. I went through the backpacks to see what came home, more forms...oh! and the emergency forms I had already filled out for Tyler and Dad was suppose to drop off when he was in charge of dropping of Tyler that morning...breathe...but running out of air. HE'S exhausted from the 1st day of school activities and doing dishes and taking care of the kids...which was watching a movie with them all afternoon...breathe...oh wait can't...no air!
So I got the kids breakfast, got snacks packed, supplies packed and we're ready to go...oh wait...Daddy is not ready. Really? Cheese n rice! Why are we always waiting for him??? So finally he's ready and we go and we walk to school. As we approach the school we begin to see old friends that we haven't seen all summer. Tyler is excited to see people and is waving hello and talking to some kids and takes off for his classroom. Madison had her normal anxiety and was hiding behind me and wouldn't say hi or even wave to anyone. As we walked down the hallway and Madison was shooting her darts of poison from her eyes, I was surprised people didn't start falling down to their knees.
She has this look on her face...this look of just disgust, she just doesn't hide her feelings, that's for sure! So we found her locker and put her stuff inside and took her folders and supplies into the classroom. Met Ms. L her teacher and then we were instructed to find our way around the classroom and put our supplies in the correct bins for the class to share and to put her name on her folders. So we did this and met old friends along the way and of course Madi was less than pleased to see them...or at least she appeared this way. As this was happening, I had instructed the boys, Tyler and his Dad to go to Tyler's class and get settled, emergency forms dropped off and yada yada yada...but as Madi and I were moving along I turned around to find the boys right behind us! Oy vay! Tyler was eager to go to his class but I think Dad had anxiety too! Did I have triplets??? good god! Cheese n rice! and then I hear the bell ring! by now I was no longer shvetzing, I was full blown sweating! I had said to one of the moms I am sweating! and she replied no here we shvetz! and I said oh no girl, I am way beyond shvetz, I am sweating!!! So I kissed Madi goodbye and sat her down with her dear friend Matthew to play dominoes. God bless Matthew, Madi's knight in shining armour!
I went into Tyler's room just in time to give him a quick kiss and a hug to wish him a great first day and pray that everything got to wear it needed to go...
After school...we came home Dad was in charge as I was working from home. The kids were home from 12-5 with him and I was in my home office before I came back up to realize "where is Tyler's lunchbox?" No one knew. Day 1 and missing lunchbox. Dad cleaned up 1 lunchbox and didn't ask where #2 was. Breathe. I went through the backpacks to see what came home, more forms...oh! and the emergency forms I had already filled out for Tyler and Dad was suppose to drop off when he was in charge of dropping of Tyler that morning...breathe...but running out of air. HE'S exhausted from the 1st day of school activities and doing dishes and taking care of the kids...which was watching a movie with them all afternoon...breathe...oh wait can't...no air!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
and She's Not Even 7 Yet...
It's not like I leave my kids to fend for themselves and let them starve. Tyler had a doctor's appointment yesterday in the middle of the day and so instead of me taking them to my mom's house where they normally go for the day and then have to pick them up only a few hours later for the appointment, I just kept them at home with me. We had a really nice morning, we had breakfast together, the kids did what they wanted, played games, etc. Then they wanted to help me, so I had them help me stuff some envelopes for a mailing I was preparing. It all worked out great. Then we left for the doctor's appointment, but before the appointment I wanted to stop by my office to get the mailings stamped and sent out and Madison knew this so she got her Hello Kitty sparkly purse and brushed her hair. She NEVER brushes her hair!
We got to my office and they were very pleasant. I did what I needed to do and we left. They did well at the doctor's office as well and then we went home. At home we had lunch and dessert then they settled down to watch tv and I went down to my home office to get some work done. About 30 minutes later Madi comes down and asks for ice cream. I hold up my finger to signal for 1 minute as I was on the phone. They know at an early age that when I have a phone in my ear you can't disturb mommy and now that they are almost 7, they should know better. Especially when it's my office phone. So she goes upstairs and comes back down after a few minutes and beginnings to go off on me! "No! you said 1 minute and that was a long time ago! You get me ice cream NOW!"
Whoa! Is she serious? 1. She can't be hungry 2. Even if she was she can't be THAT hungry 3. There are kids hungrier...especially when she just had lunch. 4. I AM HER FREAKING MOTHER AND SHE SHOULD NEVER EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT and last but not least 5. I AM HER FREAKING MOTHER AND SHE SHOULD NEVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT EVER!!!!!
So of course that resulted in her getting NO ice cream and me breathing really really hard in my office counting to 10 about 500 times. After I calmed down I explained to her again that when mommy is on the phone with a client that she must wait patiently until I am done. She is also never to talk to me or anyone else for that matter in that tone! Not acceptable. So she said yes she understood.
This morning she had breakfast, all was dandy. I had to take care of a few emails and concentrate on something real quick and she wanted a 3rd piece of toast. ok fine. Just give me a minute. I come upstairs to find that she had flipped our dining room chair onto the floor! Is she serious?! She was gonna have a bar fight in my dining room? I was ready to kill her! 830am in my diningroom with a chair flipped on the floor. i told her i was going to take a picture of it and send it to her father and her 1st grade teacher and she flipped out and tried to put the chair back, of course she didn't make it in time.
What am I going to do? I know wine won't help me...but will vodka? I'm not sure...
We got to my office and they were very pleasant. I did what I needed to do and we left. They did well at the doctor's office as well and then we went home. At home we had lunch and dessert then they settled down to watch tv and I went down to my home office to get some work done. About 30 minutes later Madi comes down and asks for ice cream. I hold up my finger to signal for 1 minute as I was on the phone. They know at an early age that when I have a phone in my ear you can't disturb mommy and now that they are almost 7, they should know better. Especially when it's my office phone. So she goes upstairs and comes back down after a few minutes and beginnings to go off on me! "No! you said 1 minute and that was a long time ago! You get me ice cream NOW!"
Whoa! Is she serious? 1. She can't be hungry 2. Even if she was she can't be THAT hungry 3. There are kids hungrier...especially when she just had lunch. 4. I AM HER FREAKING MOTHER AND SHE SHOULD NEVER EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT and last but not least 5. I AM HER FREAKING MOTHER AND SHE SHOULD NEVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT EVER!!!!!
So of course that resulted in her getting NO ice cream and me breathing really really hard in my office counting to 10 about 500 times. After I calmed down I explained to her again that when mommy is on the phone with a client that she must wait patiently until I am done. She is also never to talk to me or anyone else for that matter in that tone! Not acceptable. So she said yes she understood.
This morning she had breakfast, all was dandy. I had to take care of a few emails and concentrate on something real quick and she wanted a 3rd piece of toast. ok fine. Just give me a minute. I come upstairs to find that she had flipped our dining room chair onto the floor! Is she serious?! She was gonna have a bar fight in my dining room? I was ready to kill her! 830am in my diningroom with a chair flipped on the floor. i told her i was going to take a picture of it and send it to her father and her 1st grade teacher and she flipped out and tried to put the chair back, of course she didn't make it in time.
What am I going to do? I know wine won't help me...but will vodka? I'm not sure...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tell Me To My Face Lady!
Like the lioness, mother gorilla, mommy dinosaur and any mommy animal, I am very protective over my babies...just as you mommies out there reading my blog are as well I am sure. Some may be more so than I am. Those of you who know me know that I am all for independence and letting go, but when another mother has something to say about MY baby...well you better keep it to yourself or do like this chicken of a mother did and said it without my knowing until it was too late.
We were at Tar-jay yesterday getting the stuff we needed for back to school. I had my list that was sent for 1st graders in hand, the twins, and the cart pusher aka my husband. Not helpful as he was only a part time cart pusher as he "has a hot coffee in hand and can't push the cart." So there we were at the "Back to School" section and we had 2 of every requested item so we had:
tissues, clorox wipes, markers, crayons, colored pencils, #2 pencils, scissors, glue sticks, and the list goes on. Ok supplies done. Now we need a new backpack and lunchbox.
Now with the backpack and lunchbox I do want to get new ones every year because they do go through hell and god only knows what kind of crap is growing in them. The kids have learned that it would be nice if the backpacks matched the lunchboxes...they even took it further and had the file folder and binder match the lunch box and backpack too :)
So Tyler and Madison were looking through and there were some choices to be made there. Do we do Spongebob? Transformers? Princess? But last year was princess...oh but there's iCarly! Ok....breathe. Well there next to them were 2 little girls, one was right about the twins' age and was trying to help them decide...and pulling out different backpacks for them to look at. I thought "wow, Tar-jay can really get busted for these underaged workers!" But come to find out she too was a shopper! But why the interest in my kids? well she was cute and probably just nosy like Madison.
So Tyler finally decides on the Star Wars theme and we got his backpack, lunchbox, folder and binder. Madison, decides on iCarly. iCarly and her friend Sam is plastered all over the backpack and lunchbox, folder and binder. oy vay! The little girl comes over to me and informs me "I think she's picking everything iCarly..."
Me: "Yeah...I think she is" and I smile at her. "She loves iCarly. Do you?"
And she walks away.
Later on my cart pusher tells me that the little girl was telling her mother and her mother said "well iCarly is silly and that is why you are not allowed to watch that program." Well you know what ugly lady? if iCarly is silly then my kids and I must be out of our minds crazy. How dare she?! So now it all makes sense. The woman doesn't let her poor daughter be little girl which is why she was all in Madison's business. And if that woman had said that to my face I would have informed her that she should perhaps open her mind just a teensy bit and allow her daughter be a little girl and have some fun. Life is just too short and if she doesn't let her daughter have fun and be a kid she's going to grow up to be an uptight stuck up bitch like her!
We were at Tar-jay yesterday getting the stuff we needed for back to school. I had my list that was sent for 1st graders in hand, the twins, and the cart pusher aka my husband. Not helpful as he was only a part time cart pusher as he "has a hot coffee in hand and can't push the cart." So there we were at the "Back to School" section and we had 2 of every requested item so we had:
tissues, clorox wipes, markers, crayons, colored pencils, #2 pencils, scissors, glue sticks, and the list goes on. Ok supplies done. Now we need a new backpack and lunchbox.
Now with the backpack and lunchbox I do want to get new ones every year because they do go through hell and god only knows what kind of crap is growing in them. The kids have learned that it would be nice if the backpacks matched the lunchboxes...they even took it further and had the file folder and binder match the lunch box and backpack too :)
So Tyler and Madison were looking through and there were some choices to be made there. Do we do Spongebob? Transformers? Princess? But last year was princess...oh but there's iCarly! Ok....breathe. Well there next to them were 2 little girls, one was right about the twins' age and was trying to help them decide...and pulling out different backpacks for them to look at. I thought "wow, Tar-jay can really get busted for these underaged workers!" But come to find out she too was a shopper! But why the interest in my kids? well she was cute and probably just nosy like Madison.
So Tyler finally decides on the Star Wars theme and we got his backpack, lunchbox, folder and binder. Madison, decides on iCarly. iCarly and her friend Sam is plastered all over the backpack and lunchbox, folder and binder. oy vay! The little girl comes over to me and informs me "I think she's picking everything iCarly..."
Me: "Yeah...I think she is" and I smile at her. "She loves iCarly. Do you?"
And she walks away.
Later on my cart pusher tells me that the little girl was telling her mother and her mother said "well iCarly is silly and that is why you are not allowed to watch that program." Well you know what ugly lady? if iCarly is silly then my kids and I must be out of our minds crazy. How dare she?! So now it all makes sense. The woman doesn't let her poor daughter be little girl which is why she was all in Madison's business. And if that woman had said that to my face I would have informed her that she should perhaps open her mind just a teensy bit and allow her daughter be a little girl and have some fun. Life is just too short and if she doesn't let her daughter have fun and be a kid she's going to grow up to be an uptight stuck up bitch like her!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
I Don't Get It...
I wake up every morning and look at my babies. They are turning 7 this November. I can still remember bringing them home from the hospital. What an incredible ride it's been and it's still going on and on and on. I have to say there has not been one dull moment in our lives ever since the twins have been born although Madison may disagree, she still constantly sits there and complains about being bored. My wish is for a day of boredom!
So how does this child with just so much wisdom...I mean it has to be wisdom right? She has input on just about everything anyone says or does in this house. She "teaches" Tyler how to do things the "right way" and she advises him on how to do things and what he should do. Like yesterday, they were hanging out in their play area in the basement and I was working in my office not far from them. My radars are alway picking up what they are saying and although it doesn't appear that I am paying attention, which admittedly sometimes I'm not, but there are times that something will click into place...so yesterday I suddenly pick up signals.
Madison: "hey Tyler wouldn't it be a great idea if we have popcorn and sit here and watch our cartoon like a movie?"
Tyler: "oh yeah!"
Madison: "ok! you go ask mom!"
Tyler: "ok"
and I hear feet running up the stairs coming to my office. Tyler, Tyler...the poor little man just got tricked by the wicked...wicked smart little Madison.
"Madison, I heard that whole conversation and don't you ever trick Tyler into asking for snacks for you again!"
"No Mom! But Tyler does want it too!
"Madi, it was YOUR idea so YOU should ask me not Tyler!"
Needless to say they both went back down with no snacks. There are many other things she suggests for others that I just can't blog about...not until they are no longer with us so that I don't offend them. This little girl is just so on her toes. So now I ask the question...
WHY DOES SHE KEEP WETTING HER BED?!?! Good lord! I'm sick in bed with a 101 temp, fluid in my ears and her father snoring next to me. She wakes me up to say she needs to be changed because she has wet her bed. I go to her room and not only has she wet her bed, but she has converted her bed into a complete WATERBED! How big is her bladder?!?! CAN it be bigger than her head?!?! OMG! I just don't get it...
So how does this child with just so much wisdom...I mean it has to be wisdom right? She has input on just about everything anyone says or does in this house. She "teaches" Tyler how to do things the "right way" and she advises him on how to do things and what he should do. Like yesterday, they were hanging out in their play area in the basement and I was working in my office not far from them. My radars are alway picking up what they are saying and although it doesn't appear that I am paying attention, which admittedly sometimes I'm not, but there are times that something will click into place...so yesterday I suddenly pick up signals.
Madison: "hey Tyler wouldn't it be a great idea if we have popcorn and sit here and watch our cartoon like a movie?"
Tyler: "oh yeah!"
Madison: "ok! you go ask mom!"
Tyler: "ok"
and I hear feet running up the stairs coming to my office. Tyler, Tyler...the poor little man just got tricked by the wicked...wicked smart little Madison.
"Madison, I heard that whole conversation and don't you ever trick Tyler into asking for snacks for you again!"
"No Mom! But Tyler does want it too!
"Madi, it was YOUR idea so YOU should ask me not Tyler!"
Needless to say they both went back down with no snacks. There are many other things she suggests for others that I just can't blog about...not until they are no longer with us so that I don't offend them. This little girl is just so on her toes. So now I ask the question...
WHY DOES SHE KEEP WETTING HER BED?!?! Good lord! I'm sick in bed with a 101 temp, fluid in my ears and her father snoring next to me. She wakes me up to say she needs to be changed because she has wet her bed. I go to her room and not only has she wet her bed, but she has converted her bed into a complete WATERBED! How big is her bladder?!?! CAN it be bigger than her head?!?! OMG! I just don't get it...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
5 steps forward and 1 step back...
So we had a wet bed last night...oy!
She told me that she woke up and and "forgot I got my bedsheet back and thought I was still sleeping on the plastice", as if THAT was ok...to pee on the plastic. I explained to her that it wasn't so much the bedsheet, but that peeing in her bed was just not ok! That mommy and daddy don't do it and neither does Tyler! So she continues and demands that I just give her her pull up back. "Just give it back to me!" she says.
I ask, "and how long do you plan on wearing pull ups?"
She answers, "I don't know"
"Well none of your friends wear them, so how will you explain this to them?"
"I just wont' tell them, I'll lie and say I don't wear them."
Just like that. She will lie and say she won't wear them. Where did this girl come from?! How does she figure all this out??? and how much of it do I need to tolerate?! For the love of god already!
I had set my alarm for 1230AM like usual and she peed all over herself early! at 1130pm! she's early! she's not suppose to pee at 1130PM! what is she doing?! So when I was chatting with her about it this morning, she had the audacity to accuse me of not waking her up! I said Madison! I had my alarm set for the regular time! YOU were early! and why can't YOU wake YOURSELF up?!? MY mother doesn't come over to wake ME up to go to the bathroom! Are you serious?!? "Oh, well just give me my pull ups back!" I informed her that all that hard work has to start all over again. She got angry and informed me that I was wrong. She will challenge me the whole way. I know some of you may think that I should make the goal shorter so that she can easily attain it, but you have to know the history of this child. We have been down this path many times and unfortunately easily attainable goals will not help her. Thats what getting her bedsheet, her babies back were for...the big prize will require more work from her. She's a big girl now and I will not baby here and blame it on "trend."
I'm thinking...although it could backfire if she is stubborn enough, to say ok fine, you can have your pull ups back. However if you wear them to sleep you have to wear them to school too. Let's see how that sits with her....
She told me that she woke up and and "forgot I got my bedsheet back and thought I was still sleeping on the plastice", as if THAT was ok...to pee on the plastic. I explained to her that it wasn't so much the bedsheet, but that peeing in her bed was just not ok! That mommy and daddy don't do it and neither does Tyler! So she continues and demands that I just give her her pull up back. "Just give it back to me!" she says.
I ask, "and how long do you plan on wearing pull ups?"
She answers, "I don't know"
"Well none of your friends wear them, so how will you explain this to them?"
"I just wont' tell them, I'll lie and say I don't wear them."
Just like that. She will lie and say she won't wear them. Where did this girl come from?! How does she figure all this out??? and how much of it do I need to tolerate?! For the love of god already!
I had set my alarm for 1230AM like usual and she peed all over herself early! at 1130pm! she's early! she's not suppose to pee at 1130PM! what is she doing?! So when I was chatting with her about it this morning, she had the audacity to accuse me of not waking her up! I said Madison! I had my alarm set for the regular time! YOU were early! and why can't YOU wake YOURSELF up?!? MY mother doesn't come over to wake ME up to go to the bathroom! Are you serious?!? "Oh, well just give me my pull ups back!" I informed her that all that hard work has to start all over again. She got angry and informed me that I was wrong. She will challenge me the whole way. I know some of you may think that I should make the goal shorter so that she can easily attain it, but you have to know the history of this child. We have been down this path many times and unfortunately easily attainable goals will not help her. Thats what getting her bedsheet, her babies back were for...the big prize will require more work from her. She's a big girl now and I will not baby here and blame it on "trend."
I'm thinking...although it could backfire if she is stubborn enough, to say ok fine, you can have your pull ups back. However if you wear them to sleep you have to wear them to school too. Let's see how that sits with her....
Monday, July 25, 2011
And We Have Success!!!
Right when I thought there was no hope...we are on day #8 of having a dry bed!!!! After morning after morning of her waking up with a wet bed and losing the priviledge of sleeping with her "babies", her bed sheet, her comfy blanket, and the total loss of her body pillow she has finally found success.
I finally found a bit of a pattern...although I realize that our summer hours are way different from school hours so we shall see if this is for real when school starts...but this is what I did. She would go to bed at like 9 or 930PM and I would wake her at 1230AM to go potty. She would fight me to wake up and stomp down the hallway, bang on the wall to turn on the light and the whole way to the bathroom she would insist that she does not need to pee...then we get there she sits down and pees like a race horse...that's my girl!
So we started off with me waking her up at 1230 am and then again at around 330am and then we sleep until she wakes up. The last 2 nights I woke her up at 1230am and she went and she slept all the way through without wetting her bed. Last night I did try to wake her again at 330am but she was so exhausted she couldn't do it...just wouldn't budge, so I left her in bed. I'm so obssessed with this task that I myself have been having dreams and I think maybe even walking in my sleep and going into her room and making her go to the bathroom! I think now thta she's had so many dry nights she has her confidence built up and that helps. Her goal is 10 before she gets a toy. I'm going to let her reach 10 before we take the next step where I don't wake her and she has to do that on her own.
I know she's "only 6" and the "trend" now is that kids are older before they are completely trained, but I still think that's a load of crap. It's an excuse. I'm not saying I'm better, because look at me sitting her with Madison who is going on 7. For me a lot of it I think is because I such an easy time with Tyler and I got lazy. Well part of it is lazy and part of it is exhaustion. Having twins is definitely not easy and those without twins but with more than 1 kid doesn't have it easy either...so maybe not so much lazy as it is more like "running out of steam." When I was younger and in those years kids got out of diapers faster...but many moms didn't work. They had the time and energy to get everyone trained. Life was also much easier those days. So this business "trend" business I think is bogus, I think we need to call it what it is...we just haven't had the time or energy to get our kids trained. No shame to that.
So I think for us moms, cuz let's face it, unless you are a single dad, the moms are doing this, so for us moms WE need the motivation to get our kids potty trained. It's exhausting! and if we stop and "let it go tonight" we have screwed up all our efforts from the days or weeks prior. So all of you moms and dads out there trying to do this you have to stay consistent! Or you start all over...it's just like that house of cards...everything will just topple over! I know many moms are frustrated out there...just as I was...but you know if you are not ready to do it don't pressure yourself or your child. One thing that I think really helped Madison too is that she had gone through a year of kindergarten. I know I don't want her to be a victim of peer pressure, but this was necessary. So I had a talk with her and just casually informed her that all her bestest friends are all out of pull ups and I knew that in 1st grade that there will probably be sleepover parties and I wasn't sure what to do because SHE was still in pull ups and I didn't want her friends to know. That really struck home with her. She really tried hard and still is trying. So all you moms before you start this try and get some rest and prepare for a lot of erratic sleeping!!!
Let me know how you do!!!
I finally found a bit of a pattern...although I realize that our summer hours are way different from school hours so we shall see if this is for real when school starts...but this is what I did. She would go to bed at like 9 or 930PM and I would wake her at 1230AM to go potty. She would fight me to wake up and stomp down the hallway, bang on the wall to turn on the light and the whole way to the bathroom she would insist that she does not need to pee...then we get there she sits down and pees like a race horse...that's my girl!
So we started off with me waking her up at 1230 am and then again at around 330am and then we sleep until she wakes up. The last 2 nights I woke her up at 1230am and she went and she slept all the way through without wetting her bed. Last night I did try to wake her again at 330am but she was so exhausted she couldn't do it...just wouldn't budge, so I left her in bed. I'm so obssessed with this task that I myself have been having dreams and I think maybe even walking in my sleep and going into her room and making her go to the bathroom! I think now thta she's had so many dry nights she has her confidence built up and that helps. Her goal is 10 before she gets a toy. I'm going to let her reach 10 before we take the next step where I don't wake her and she has to do that on her own.
I know she's "only 6" and the "trend" now is that kids are older before they are completely trained, but I still think that's a load of crap. It's an excuse. I'm not saying I'm better, because look at me sitting her with Madison who is going on 7. For me a lot of it I think is because I such an easy time with Tyler and I got lazy. Well part of it is lazy and part of it is exhaustion. Having twins is definitely not easy and those without twins but with more than 1 kid doesn't have it easy either...so maybe not so much lazy as it is more like "running out of steam." When I was younger and in those years kids got out of diapers faster...but many moms didn't work. They had the time and energy to get everyone trained. Life was also much easier those days. So this business "trend" business I think is bogus, I think we need to call it what it is...we just haven't had the time or energy to get our kids trained. No shame to that.
So I think for us moms, cuz let's face it, unless you are a single dad, the moms are doing this, so for us moms WE need the motivation to get our kids potty trained. It's exhausting! and if we stop and "let it go tonight" we have screwed up all our efforts from the days or weeks prior. So all of you moms and dads out there trying to do this you have to stay consistent! Or you start all over...it's just like that house of cards...everything will just topple over! I know many moms are frustrated out there...just as I was...but you know if you are not ready to do it don't pressure yourself or your child. One thing that I think really helped Madison too is that she had gone through a year of kindergarten. I know I don't want her to be a victim of peer pressure, but this was necessary. So I had a talk with her and just casually informed her that all her bestest friends are all out of pull ups and I knew that in 1st grade that there will probably be sleepover parties and I wasn't sure what to do because SHE was still in pull ups and I didn't want her friends to know. That really struck home with her. She really tried hard and still is trying. So all you moms before you start this try and get some rest and prepare for a lot of erratic sleeping!!!
Let me know how you do!!!
Monday, July 18, 2011
My Poor Wet Little Girl...
I know she is trying. I also know she wants to. She just can't wake up dry. She also can't get herself to wake up when she needs to go. I set my alarm to get her up in the middle of the night and yet she STILL manages to wet herself. The other day she says to me "just give me my pull ups back!" My daughter is persistent. I know she is just waiting for me to give up and give her those pull ups back...but I just won't do it.
I now have her sleeping on just her mattress cover with only a baby blanket and a pillow. She has ruined her body pillow which I was so not happy about and I have taken away her "babies" that she sleeps with. She has been attached to those babies since birth! I thought for sure that those babies would be the ones that would do her in...nope! I also took dessert away from her. The first night I took it away her father decides to give it to her anyways. I told him that he better get up to clean up her mess in the middle of the night because I am exhausted! He agreed and said that taking her dessert away was not going to help. So here's how that night rolled out...
4am...Madi comes in..."Can I change?" Kevin, "Madi! Are you serious? Again?! you said you would get up and go to the toilet!" gets up and gets her new clothes. Now I'm awake and listening to all this. He comes back. I ask, "Did you clean off her bed?", "yes", "really? did you just dry it off with a towel or did you clean it with a wet one?" He gets up with a grunt and goes to the bathroom and gets a wet towel to clean her mattress cover and dries it off again. Then he gets back into bed and I'm lying there wide awake and he seriously starts snoring! I watch the sun come up again!!!
I just don't know what to do! I tell her that I love her. I want to help her. She is going to the first grade and soon her friends will want to do sleepovers and what will she do then? She can't go in her pull ups! She's tough. She puts up a front like she doesn't care but i know that deep down she does. She cares a lot.
Most kids don't like to feel dirty...especially when they get to this age when they know what it is and how gross it really is! She can't stand dirtiness...that's what I don't get. Knowing that something dirty is near her grosses her out...yet she is ok sleeping in her peed on bed. In my delirium when she has come in to tell me she is wet I have told her to go back to sleep and she has! In her wet clothes and bed!
I refuse to buy an alarm to hook up to her underwear. I don't know how old she will be when she is finally trained overnight...but my suspicions are that when she is finally trained it might be time for me to get into some Depends!
I now have her sleeping on just her mattress cover with only a baby blanket and a pillow. She has ruined her body pillow which I was so not happy about and I have taken away her "babies" that she sleeps with. She has been attached to those babies since birth! I thought for sure that those babies would be the ones that would do her in...nope! I also took dessert away from her. The first night I took it away her father decides to give it to her anyways. I told him that he better get up to clean up her mess in the middle of the night because I am exhausted! He agreed and said that taking her dessert away was not going to help. So here's how that night rolled out...
4am...Madi comes in..."Can I change?" Kevin, "Madi! Are you serious? Again?! you said you would get up and go to the toilet!" gets up and gets her new clothes. Now I'm awake and listening to all this. He comes back. I ask, "Did you clean off her bed?", "yes", "really? did you just dry it off with a towel or did you clean it with a wet one?" He gets up with a grunt and goes to the bathroom and gets a wet towel to clean her mattress cover and dries it off again. Then he gets back into bed and I'm lying there wide awake and he seriously starts snoring! I watch the sun come up again!!!
I just don't know what to do! I tell her that I love her. I want to help her. She is going to the first grade and soon her friends will want to do sleepovers and what will she do then? She can't go in her pull ups! She's tough. She puts up a front like she doesn't care but i know that deep down she does. She cares a lot.
Most kids don't like to feel dirty...especially when they get to this age when they know what it is and how gross it really is! She can't stand dirtiness...that's what I don't get. Knowing that something dirty is near her grosses her out...yet she is ok sleeping in her peed on bed. In my delirium when she has come in to tell me she is wet I have told her to go back to sleep and she has! In her wet clothes and bed!
I refuse to buy an alarm to hook up to her underwear. I don't know how old she will be when she is finally trained overnight...but my suspicions are that when she is finally trained it might be time for me to get into some Depends!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Search for a Dry Pull Up Continues...
I am on a mission to get Madison off the overnight pull ups once and for all. Last night she went to bed at 930PM. She went to pee at 9PM and then before we went to be at about 11PM we took her again. She actually DID pee! So I thought ok, her bladder is empty. We had stopped liquids early that evening, but being summer we have to be careful with that since it IS hot outside I don't want her dehydrated either.
I had taken away her big comfy comforter and did not let her have a pull up. She had started to cry. I wasn't sure why she was crying. Perhaps the fear of knowing that she will wet her bed. So I told her that we both know that SHE knows when she is peeing in her sleep and she just needs to get up and go. I had also given her her little lady bug emergency flashlight, so that she can use that to come get me to go with her to the bathroom if she is afraid of the dark. Not to mention the extra night light I put in the short hallway to the bathroom.
At 430AM, she came into my room to get me, she had wet herself. So I got up she got changed, I took off her bedsheet and now she gets to sleep on her plastic matress cover. She will not get another bedsheet until she has a dry night. She slept until 9am today...she's NEVER slept so late in her life! I guess getting up in the middle of the night takes a lot of her. So she asked me while she was washing up and brushing her teeth if she gets her pull ups back tonight. I told her no and she was not at all happy. I told her that she is going to the 1st grade and that no one wears pull ups in the 1st grade! She has to learn to wake up and go to the bathroom. So she said nothing and accepted this.
Sleeping on a plastic covering just can't be comfortable! I know that personally I would hate to sleep with a pull up on, or to sleep on a piece of plastic! How can she be ok with it? I can't even stand having my period and having to sport a maxi pad...I just don't get it. I've tried the reward system, bribery, you name it and I've tried it. Now it's just plain it JUST DO IT! I'm adopting the Nike logo. I feel like I'm doing the midnight feedings again with the waking up in the middle of the night, but we need to get out of these pull ups! So come hell or high water...or perhaps my death...she will get out of these pull ups before school starts!!!!
I had taken away her big comfy comforter and did not let her have a pull up. She had started to cry. I wasn't sure why she was crying. Perhaps the fear of knowing that she will wet her bed. So I told her that we both know that SHE knows when she is peeing in her sleep and she just needs to get up and go. I had also given her her little lady bug emergency flashlight, so that she can use that to come get me to go with her to the bathroom if she is afraid of the dark. Not to mention the extra night light I put in the short hallway to the bathroom.
At 430AM, she came into my room to get me, she had wet herself. So I got up she got changed, I took off her bedsheet and now she gets to sleep on her plastic matress cover. She will not get another bedsheet until she has a dry night. She slept until 9am today...she's NEVER slept so late in her life! I guess getting up in the middle of the night takes a lot of her. So she asked me while she was washing up and brushing her teeth if she gets her pull ups back tonight. I told her no and she was not at all happy. I told her that she is going to the 1st grade and that no one wears pull ups in the 1st grade! She has to learn to wake up and go to the bathroom. So she said nothing and accepted this.
Sleeping on a plastic covering just can't be comfortable! I know that personally I would hate to sleep with a pull up on, or to sleep on a piece of plastic! How can she be ok with it? I can't even stand having my period and having to sport a maxi pad...I just don't get it. I've tried the reward system, bribery, you name it and I've tried it. Now it's just plain it JUST DO IT! I'm adopting the Nike logo. I feel like I'm doing the midnight feedings again with the waking up in the middle of the night, but we need to get out of these pull ups! So come hell or high water...or perhaps my death...she will get out of these pull ups before school starts!!!!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Whatever happened to simple?
I guess I've always known this, but it really has hit me that our world is just crazy...really crazy. Whatever happened to simple living? Our children can't even enjoy simple lives of just going out and playing outside without the need of having all this different equipment and that is because we have built them to be this way. We want them to be exposed to all these activities, baseball, soccer, basketball, etc and so now we go outside and just playing on the playground is "boring."
How about their diets? With the organic craze and kids who will "only eat organic." Chicken just isn't chicken anymore, it needs to be the organic, non-antibiotic chicken...what?! What in the hell IS that? and why would kids even know the difference?! HOW would kids taste the difference?! I'm gonna have to say the kid with that kind of palate should probably go work for Gordon Ramsay!
Then we have their schooling. I mean honestly. The pressures some of these parents put on their kids is ridiculous. I mean this is only what I am seeing in the kindergarten level! ok so if they are not reading Harry Potter yet by the time they get to 1st grade...it's OK! I'm praying that my kids can still remember how to spell their names and read ANYTHING when school starts again in the fall! Kids are thrown into all these enrichment courses after school to help them move ahead with their academics...whatever happened to a simple childlife?
Let's move onto potty training. I am still battling the overnight training with Madison. She is now 6 going on 7 in November. I am just on the edge of jumping. She tells me this morning that she actually does know when she is peeing in the middle of the night but she is just too tired to get up. So I go and finally google the alarms I've heard about. Honestly! Really?! Alarms?! Now we have to buy alarms to clip onto her underwear to wake her up to go to the bathroom? why?! our parents didn't have to do that with us! Why is it so normal now that there is a market for this alarm?!? it just puzzles me...I just don't get it. I can not allow myself to go there. So my next tactic. Complete uncomfortableness. Tonight she will sleep in her underwear and pajamas. I will take her bedsheet off and she will sleep on the plastic bed cover that is on her mattress. That's it! That piece of plastic is so not nice!!! Also, since she is so tired to wake up in the middle of the night when she needs to pee I will put her into bed when it is still light outside. If this doesn't work I may need to move her onto the bathroom floor...
How about their diets? With the organic craze and kids who will "only eat organic." Chicken just isn't chicken anymore, it needs to be the organic, non-antibiotic chicken...what?! What in the hell IS that? and why would kids even know the difference?! HOW would kids taste the difference?! I'm gonna have to say the kid with that kind of palate should probably go work for Gordon Ramsay!
Then we have their schooling. I mean honestly. The pressures some of these parents put on their kids is ridiculous. I mean this is only what I am seeing in the kindergarten level! ok so if they are not reading Harry Potter yet by the time they get to 1st grade...it's OK! I'm praying that my kids can still remember how to spell their names and read ANYTHING when school starts again in the fall! Kids are thrown into all these enrichment courses after school to help them move ahead with their academics...whatever happened to a simple childlife?
Let's move onto potty training. I am still battling the overnight training with Madison. She is now 6 going on 7 in November. I am just on the edge of jumping. She tells me this morning that she actually does know when she is peeing in the middle of the night but she is just too tired to get up. So I go and finally google the alarms I've heard about. Honestly! Really?! Alarms?! Now we have to buy alarms to clip onto her underwear to wake her up to go to the bathroom? why?! our parents didn't have to do that with us! Why is it so normal now that there is a market for this alarm?!? it just puzzles me...I just don't get it. I can not allow myself to go there. So my next tactic. Complete uncomfortableness. Tonight she will sleep in her underwear and pajamas. I will take her bedsheet off and she will sleep on the plastic bed cover that is on her mattress. That's it! That piece of plastic is so not nice!!! Also, since she is so tired to wake up in the middle of the night when she needs to pee I will put her into bed when it is still light outside. If this doesn't work I may need to move her onto the bathroom floor...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Is it Like Fungus?!
As I was getting dressed this morning Madison was with me. We are at the point now where of course I don't let Tyler watch me getting dressed but if Madison is in the room I don't make a big deal. I do turn around so she's not looking at me butt naked, but exercise a bit of modesty. She's really curious about bras though and has been asking me a lot of questions. She sees them hanging everywhere! When we even walk into Target they are hanging in the kids section and she's asking asking about them. Being naked and your body should not be taboo and I've never been a believer of making up crazy names for body parts.
So she asked me why I wear bras. I said when you get older I will explain it to you. She then asks will I wear one too? and I said yes, when you get older. Then she asked, how come some are so big? "Well Madi, people are all different sizes and shapes. So some breasts are larger and so they need a larger bra. People grow when they get older." and she then responds "really?!? you mean I will grow too?! do you mean they grow like fungus?!"
That took me by surprise. It was so funny. So innocent. and so true! they can be like fungus! They can get annoying! and sometimes itchy...
What a journey I am about to go on...
Just this past weekend Tyler went to a pool party and afterwards all the boys went into the locker room to change. Most of the little boys just dropped trousers and stood their with their jewels just out for all to see. Everyone started to point and giggle. Tyler was more modest and asked me to help him hide himself so that he could change and I had to explain that while it's ok to be modest that it's ok. As he grows up there will be times like this especially since he is into sports that he will be in a lockerroom and everyone will be changing! It was really cute and funny to watch all this happen.
So she asked me why I wear bras. I said when you get older I will explain it to you. She then asks will I wear one too? and I said yes, when you get older. Then she asked, how come some are so big? "Well Madi, people are all different sizes and shapes. So some breasts are larger and so they need a larger bra. People grow when they get older." and she then responds "really?!? you mean I will grow too?! do you mean they grow like fungus?!"
That took me by surprise. It was so funny. So innocent. and so true! they can be like fungus! They can get annoying! and sometimes itchy...
What a journey I am about to go on...
Just this past weekend Tyler went to a pool party and afterwards all the boys went into the locker room to change. Most of the little boys just dropped trousers and stood their with their jewels just out for all to see. Everyone started to point and giggle. Tyler was more modest and asked me to help him hide himself so that he could change and I had to explain that while it's ok to be modest that it's ok. As he grows up there will be times like this especially since he is into sports that he will be in a lockerroom and everyone will be changing! It was really cute and funny to watch all this happen.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Way To Fit In Lady!!!!
Little kids can be strange and do strange things, but that's ok, they are kids and that's their job. Now I realize that some of these little kids do strange things because their parents are strange! We are near the end of kindergarten and I decided to orgnanize a scrapbook project with pages created by the children to give to their teacher as an end of the year gift. I thought it would be personal and thoughtful and that the teacher would appreciate it to see what she had taught these kids.
So being the control freak that I am, I went and bought the scrapbook album, some stickers and the paper to be used for the project. I sent out emails to all the parents and described the project and asked for whatever small donation to help pay for the book, refreshments for the kindergarten party, and perhaps a small gift card for the teach. In the email I advised that I will be looking for them when we drop off at school and picking up from school to give them the pages instead of putting them into their child's backpacks to avoid wrinkling or the teacher finding out the surprise. I had it all set up, each child had a page, a folder to put it in and the directions typed out again...along with a deadline for all these pages to get back to me.
Before the deadline I got almost everything back but I know everyone's busy and may have forgotten so I sent out reminder emails. I got more back except for 2. These last 2 I sent another email and even called them at home. No response. I just felt so awful because every child had a page where they had written something to the teacher with pictures of them or pictures they drew, and I really didn't want anyone left out!
So I see her at pick up afterschool the Monday before the celebration and I approached her. The woman RAN! She just ran. Pushed her daughter into the car and peeled right out of her parking space and took off. While she was running I ran along side trying to talk to her and she wouldn't look me in the eye. She said we are not participating. As if I was trying to do harm to the teacher and they wanted no part. The whole scene was ridiculous, I was like the paparazzi chasing down Lindsay Lohan! Puhlease Lady! Good way to be a role model to your girls. What she doesn't realize is that she has now exposed herself to be completely odd and we have 5 more years in elementary school together and I LOVE to be near odd ducks and find out what makes them tick! Watch out! I just might be chasing you again :)
So being the control freak that I am, I went and bought the scrapbook album, some stickers and the paper to be used for the project. I sent out emails to all the parents and described the project and asked for whatever small donation to help pay for the book, refreshments for the kindergarten party, and perhaps a small gift card for the teach. In the email I advised that I will be looking for them when we drop off at school and picking up from school to give them the pages instead of putting them into their child's backpacks to avoid wrinkling or the teacher finding out the surprise. I had it all set up, each child had a page, a folder to put it in and the directions typed out again...along with a deadline for all these pages to get back to me.
Before the deadline I got almost everything back but I know everyone's busy and may have forgotten so I sent out reminder emails. I got more back except for 2. These last 2 I sent another email and even called them at home. No response. I just felt so awful because every child had a page where they had written something to the teacher with pictures of them or pictures they drew, and I really didn't want anyone left out!
So I see her at pick up afterschool the Monday before the celebration and I approached her. The woman RAN! She just ran. Pushed her daughter into the car and peeled right out of her parking space and took off. While she was running I ran along side trying to talk to her and she wouldn't look me in the eye. She said we are not participating. As if I was trying to do harm to the teacher and they wanted no part. The whole scene was ridiculous, I was like the paparazzi chasing down Lindsay Lohan! Puhlease Lady! Good way to be a role model to your girls. What she doesn't realize is that she has now exposed herself to be completely odd and we have 5 more years in elementary school together and I LOVE to be near odd ducks and find out what makes them tick! Watch out! I just might be chasing you again :)
Monday, May 23, 2011
"Tween" Years Starts At 6?!
As we approach the end of our kindergarten year I feel a bit of sadness. My babies are moving onto the 1st grade and are not babies any longer, they now have some "seniority" under their belts...and there is also this big lump of fear that resides right in my heart. I try and give my kids space to feel their way around and learn and meet different kids and experience different things. I want them to without being too obvious to be friends and play with different kids rather than the same ones over and over again and being apart of a clique. Our school is notorious for being like that...as I'm sure many are, but we are so very very good at it...especially the parents. I should know, I'm a product of this same exact school system.
So I try and schedule playdates with kids that Tyler would not be playing Tball with or soccer with and I do try and request that he is not in the same class with kids that he is on the same sports team with...especially if I know they get too carried away together. I know some may argue that I am preventing a close relationship, but I disagree. Being on a sports team together creates a really strong bond that does not need being in the same classes to nurture.
I hear these young boys ALREADY at the age of 6 talking about girls. Telling each other so and so is "hot." How do they know what hot means? and they FLIRT! I see the little girls looking at these boys and the boys doing the same! Granted not every little kindergartener is maturing at that rate, but there are a good handful that are and once the others start drinking that "Kool-aid" forget it! I chat with some of the other moms in Tyler's class and they tell me that their daughters go home telling them that they are going to marry so and so...and we think how cute is that?! and it's funny! Well some of us think it is...I do. Some of us think it's not so funny...oh well. But there are moments when I do see that age 6 innocence of a little boy shine through.
Today for example was a good example. "Beyblades" are the hottest toys on the market. They are glorified tops that comes with a rip cord and a release mechanism that the top is attached to. Of course there are a dozen different kinds and the kids collect them all. Toys are not allowed in the classroom, but all the kids bring them to school and play before school or after school. Tyler brings them and promises to put them in his backpack. Today, I kissed him good bye at the front door like always and he went on his way, what he didn't know was that I waited and went down to his classroom to talk to his teacher and when I did....BUSTED! He had his Beyblades out showing a friend. Although I was angry at him for disobeying, I was relieved secretly that it's not all about girls.
As I was walking down the hall to leave the school I hear a whole bunch of giggling and I look in to see in the girl's bathroom, Madison and her little girlfriends in front of the mirror playing with their hair and giggling and chit chatting about something. She has recently changed so much! She has taken this huge interest in wearing skirts and dresses and putting ribbons in her hair and wearing headbands. She wants pocketbooks and lipgloss and just everything girly. oy vay! It's very cute and what all her friends are doing and I will let her, but to a certain extent, I still make her dress appropriately for PE class on the days she has PE where as her friends are still decked out in dresses. On the flipside, they may be rubbing off some good on her as well, her reading skills has improved 110% and it's amazing!
The S bomb has also been dropped. SEX. Tyler had said something about sex and Madi started to giggle and then just flat out started to belly laugh. When he did this the first time, Kevin was playing xbox and he almost dropped the controller and I almost dropped my iphone. I did manage to keep my cool and asked him what he thought that meant. He said kissing on the lips. I did leave it at that...I just did not and could not deal with correcting him nor did I think he needed to be corrected at this point in his life. He definitely was not going to be performing this anytime soon!
So all you preschool parents out there...prepare for kindergarten! it's like Space Mountain!!!
So I try and schedule playdates with kids that Tyler would not be playing Tball with or soccer with and I do try and request that he is not in the same class with kids that he is on the same sports team with...especially if I know they get too carried away together. I know some may argue that I am preventing a close relationship, but I disagree. Being on a sports team together creates a really strong bond that does not need being in the same classes to nurture.
I hear these young boys ALREADY at the age of 6 talking about girls. Telling each other so and so is "hot." How do they know what hot means? and they FLIRT! I see the little girls looking at these boys and the boys doing the same! Granted not every little kindergartener is maturing at that rate, but there are a good handful that are and once the others start drinking that "Kool-aid" forget it! I chat with some of the other moms in Tyler's class and they tell me that their daughters go home telling them that they are going to marry so and so...and we think how cute is that?! and it's funny! Well some of us think it is...I do. Some of us think it's not so funny...oh well. But there are moments when I do see that age 6 innocence of a little boy shine through.
Today for example was a good example. "Beyblades" are the hottest toys on the market. They are glorified tops that comes with a rip cord and a release mechanism that the top is attached to. Of course there are a dozen different kinds and the kids collect them all. Toys are not allowed in the classroom, but all the kids bring them to school and play before school or after school. Tyler brings them and promises to put them in his backpack. Today, I kissed him good bye at the front door like always and he went on his way, what he didn't know was that I waited and went down to his classroom to talk to his teacher and when I did....BUSTED! He had his Beyblades out showing a friend. Although I was angry at him for disobeying, I was relieved secretly that it's not all about girls.
As I was walking down the hall to leave the school I hear a whole bunch of giggling and I look in to see in the girl's bathroom, Madison and her little girlfriends in front of the mirror playing with their hair and giggling and chit chatting about something. She has recently changed so much! She has taken this huge interest in wearing skirts and dresses and putting ribbons in her hair and wearing headbands. She wants pocketbooks and lipgloss and just everything girly. oy vay! It's very cute and what all her friends are doing and I will let her, but to a certain extent, I still make her dress appropriately for PE class on the days she has PE where as her friends are still decked out in dresses. On the flipside, they may be rubbing off some good on her as well, her reading skills has improved 110% and it's amazing!
The S bomb has also been dropped. SEX. Tyler had said something about sex and Madi started to giggle and then just flat out started to belly laugh. When he did this the first time, Kevin was playing xbox and he almost dropped the controller and I almost dropped my iphone. I did manage to keep my cool and asked him what he thought that meant. He said kissing on the lips. I did leave it at that...I just did not and could not deal with correcting him nor did I think he needed to be corrected at this point in his life. He definitely was not going to be performing this anytime soon!
So all you preschool parents out there...prepare for kindergarten! it's like Space Mountain!!!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Mommy PhD
As a new mother you don't know what to expect and so you hang by every word of the pediatrician. After the first year you get the hang of it and you have the training wheels off and you can sense things now. By the 2nd and 3rd years you are a "resident" and by 4th year and beyond, you are the real mccoy. Also, you have the Mommy gut feeling which some pediatricians don't have because they don't have children! Now some don't believe in that, but I do...totally! It's a 7th sense.
I love how medicine changes. I always thought having a 102 fever is a fever and that warrants Tylenol or SOMETHING, but nope these days it's really a fever until it's 104 or higher! Really?! I need to wait until my child is on the edge of brain damage before I give them something? So I really don't believe in that. If my kids have a fever, even if it's 101, I'll give them Tylenol. As a working mom, I don't have time to wait for them to work itself out.
Then this whole thing with ear infections. Now the doctors don't like to treat them right away. Are they serious?!? "Come back in a few days if they don't feel better and then we'll give you antibiotics" Again, who has time for this?! Good lord, and why make the child suffer through the pain when they don't have to?!?! I just don't get it.
So this past weekend we did a family field trip to BJs and as we were checking out the kids were horsing around against my advice. I looked over and Madison had run straight into a cement pole and was crying. Great. She had a scratch on her head, but no bumps and no blood. So I didn't make anything of it. On the drive home, she fell asleep in the car, typical, so again, didn't think anything of it. When we got home I made them lunch, she didn't want to eat, said her head hurt and wanted to go back to sleep. THEN I had this bad feeling that I just might be taking a trip to the ER. So without putting ideas in her head I asked her why she wanted to nap and if she was hungry, she said she was tired and was being a little whiny. Again, sort of typical of her to be whiny and milking her injury. In the middle of her sleep she turned over and said that she felt like throwing up but she wasn't going to. That's when I knew I better make a call to her PCP, so I did. The oncall nurse called me back and I described the events to her. She advised me to wake her up and take her to the ER. When we woke her up she in fact did throw up and so I took her in. When the ER pediatrician came to see her Madison was having a fit because she did not want to put on the little "johnny" and was backed into a corner crying. The dr asked "is this behavior a result from the injury?" and I had to laugh and answer "NO, she's normally this difficult." So we did compromise with her and did not make her change. I did learn at that point that with head injuries "the first one is free." I was informed that normally with these types of injuries, 4-5 hours after the accident if symptoms of headaches and vomiting does not increase to 2 or 3 times it is ok!
I can appreciate new science and medicine however there are some old school ways that I still buy into. Unless it is to improve and it has worked in the past, why change it? So I think I will use MY mommy PhD and do what works for my kids in treating fevers and injuries and insist on antibiotics for things such as ear infections when we know as a mom that there IS one there and it's NOT going away magically. And then if we come across things that are more involved than what my mommy PhD covers I'll listen to our pediatrician whole heartedly!
I love how medicine changes. I always thought having a 102 fever is a fever and that warrants Tylenol or SOMETHING, but nope these days it's really a fever until it's 104 or higher! Really?! I need to wait until my child is on the edge of brain damage before I give them something? So I really don't believe in that. If my kids have a fever, even if it's 101, I'll give them Tylenol. As a working mom, I don't have time to wait for them to work itself out.
Then this whole thing with ear infections. Now the doctors don't like to treat them right away. Are they serious?!? "Come back in a few days if they don't feel better and then we'll give you antibiotics" Again, who has time for this?! Good lord, and why make the child suffer through the pain when they don't have to?!?! I just don't get it.
So this past weekend we did a family field trip to BJs and as we were checking out the kids were horsing around against my advice. I looked over and Madison had run straight into a cement pole and was crying. Great. She had a scratch on her head, but no bumps and no blood. So I didn't make anything of it. On the drive home, she fell asleep in the car, typical, so again, didn't think anything of it. When we got home I made them lunch, she didn't want to eat, said her head hurt and wanted to go back to sleep. THEN I had this bad feeling that I just might be taking a trip to the ER. So without putting ideas in her head I asked her why she wanted to nap and if she was hungry, she said she was tired and was being a little whiny. Again, sort of typical of her to be whiny and milking her injury. In the middle of her sleep she turned over and said that she felt like throwing up but she wasn't going to. That's when I knew I better make a call to her PCP, so I did. The oncall nurse called me back and I described the events to her. She advised me to wake her up and take her to the ER. When we woke her up she in fact did throw up and so I took her in. When the ER pediatrician came to see her Madison was having a fit because she did not want to put on the little "johnny" and was backed into a corner crying. The dr asked "is this behavior a result from the injury?" and I had to laugh and answer "NO, she's normally this difficult." So we did compromise with her and did not make her change. I did learn at that point that with head injuries "the first one is free." I was informed that normally with these types of injuries, 4-5 hours after the accident if symptoms of headaches and vomiting does not increase to 2 or 3 times it is ok!
I can appreciate new science and medicine however there are some old school ways that I still buy into. Unless it is to improve and it has worked in the past, why change it? So I think I will use MY mommy PhD and do what works for my kids in treating fevers and injuries and insist on antibiotics for things such as ear infections when we know as a mom that there IS one there and it's NOT going away magically. And then if we come across things that are more involved than what my mommy PhD covers I'll listen to our pediatrician whole heartedly!
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