Due to some heavy commitments (I am a mom after all), I won’t be doing any further posting here at Eat Your Peas. Although I like blogging, there isn’t enough time to keep it up. I will be doing some occasional posting at my husband’s blog, Rebels Are We, so look for me there!
Thank you all so much.
For the last several years I have made the same New Years resolution…to be better about where I parked the car at Walmart. No joke. And I am sad to say that I really have made no improvement in that area. Clearly not one to set my sights too high in years past, I have decided it’s time for a change. So this year I have made several New Years resolutions that I am determined to follow through with.
So here I am to tell the world so that anyone who reads this will be able to hold me accountable. Some are ordinary, some silly, and one is very important to me. You figure out which is which.
1. Lose the last 10 baby pounds…I will stop eating junk and fill my body with healthy food. It is about time started respecting the body that gave me two beautiful children.
2. I will do at least two scrapbook pages a week…to achive this goal I will let go of the idea of perfection and I will become at peace with my own handwriting, after all that’s part of me too.
3. I will sit up straight…no explanation needed
4. I will be the change I wish to see…I know, I know, this is a cheesy saying, but it’s also the best way to describe this resolution. I will not dwell on the negative in people (I certainly hope they are not dwelling on the negative in me), I will try to treasure each moment. When my daughter wants me to read her the fairy pop up book for the umpteenth time I will be glad because there will come a time all too soon that she will not want me to read to her at all. I will happily return my cart to the cart coral at the grocery store, after all, I am blessed with working legs to get it there. I will give the bum on the corner a buck because I am blessed with more than him. I will remember to thank the lord more often for all we have. I will try my hardest not to pass judgment on anyone because I have not walked a mile in their shoes. When I strongly believe (or disagree) in something I will write our politicians about it rather than just whining about it, after all, they are my elected officials. I will take more deep breaths. I will run around in the yard with my kids every chance I get! I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
5. I will read books with more than 30 pages…at least one a month.
Okay so that may seem like a lot, but for some reason I really believe this is my year to become who I want to be. I will have some bad days…or weeks probably. I realize that the fate of most resolutions is like that of the diet that lasts until the SuperBowl party and them promptly drowns in the bowl of cheese dip, but I will try. I play on using my blog as a journal of how this is going. I promise to be honest if I fail miserably. Oh and one more thing:
6 . I will be better about remembering where I park the car at Walmart 
So I don’t know if any of you are familiar with infant potty training, also known as “elimination communication” (this term totally cracks me up) but if you haven’t here is the info.
infant potty training is the practice of introducing your baby to the toilet or potty at a very young age — usually between birth and 4 months.
Some parents who do this avoid diapers completely by racing their baby to the nearest bathroom whenever they anticipate a poop or pee. Others use diapers on and off. By 18 months, in most cases, their children have “graduated” — that is, they know when they have to use the toilet and get themselves there successfully.
This by in large is an idea that I think is pretty silly. But to each his own. If you have the time and patience to keep that close an eye on your kiddos to know if they are about to relieve themselves, then more power to you.
But lately I have been thinking that this is a path I might start going down…at least a few steps. You see when my now four month son is about to poo (real technical term here) it is very clear. I can spot that face a mile away. So today as I watched him wrinkle his little nose up I had the desire to head to the bathroom and hold him over the toilet. This seemed like a totally normal reaction to me…It’s what I do when I get the urge. I didn’t…but that really started me thinking though, what the heck, why not. I don’t think I could ever be them mom that is aware enough to know if he’s about to pee…but even if I only catch that poop every once in awhile, by some point he’ll as least think that the porcelain thrown is a normal place to relieve oneself.
Another stagering statistic that I found that made me think this wasn’t such a crazy idea after all:
The average baby boy in the United States gives up diapers at 39 months and the average girl at 36 months…While the notion of potty training a very young infant seems radical to many American parents, it’s not a new idea. Prior to 1950, most children in the United States were toilet trained by 18 months. And today, most African, Asian, and European babies are trained well before their second birthday.
Now I know that all kids develop at different rates, but this seems a little crazy. I was very lucky that my daugher was easy to potty train, she practicly did it herself right after her second birthday. And yes, I know girls are easier to train than boys…but wow, 39 months seems like a very long time to be in diapers.
Wow, suddenly holding an infant over the potty doesn’t seem so crazy after all.
Just a little disclaimer: I am in no way passing judgment over what methods you use to deal with your childrens poop…you gotta do what best for you…they all get potty trained eventually no matter what method you use. I just find this all very fascinating.
…yuck…does the title scare you? It should!!! I have had an exciting night…well exciting for our standards
I rarely use our printer, so rarely that as I pulled it out of our closet to print Christmas letters on tonight I realized that the last time I used it was when I printed last years Christmas letters. Since this last use we have bought new computers and so my husband (the tech savvy one of the household) had to install the drivers, which was a lost cause since the printer was so old that the drivers weren’t compatible with Vista (oh, how I long for a mac). Any how as we sat in the bedroom trying to figure the printer out I start getting wiffs of a very nasty smell. My first response was to accuse my husband of farting, which I think is a very typical response. He denied it and since the cat was also sitting nearby, she became my next target. I assumed she had snuck some food off of one of our plates which had resulted in some gastrointestinal fireworks. But as we sat there I slowly realized that the smell was not going away, in fact it was getting worse. It was overwhelming us and we began to look for the culprit. I smelled everywhere. One quick wiff of the cats butt (yes, I smelled the cats butt, you would have too had you smelled this foul odor) and I was sure that it wasn’t her. I smelled the couch, the bed, the carpet, the blankets, the shirt on my husband back, myself. Soon my husband was joining in too and we seemed to get no closer to finding the culprit. On a whim, I lifted up the printer and the smell came rolling out from underneath it.
A little background here. When we first moved back to Montana from California we rented an old farmhouse for about a year before we bought our home. It was a nice place to live and I really enjoyed a lot about living in the country, but one of the things I did not like was the mice. We had to have mice traps set all year long, I couldn’t even look as my husband as he carried the little dead bodies outside to dispose of them. We also got a cat to try and help with the problem. She turned out to be a failure of a mouser as she would rather have played with them than killed them. All our food had to be kept in high cupboards, and I would occasionally find mouse dropping…yuck.
So it didn’t take us long to put two and two together and figure out that a mouse had made our printer his coffin. The printer was swiftly removed and placed in the trash can outside. I guess you never know where the bad smells are going to come from!!
So I’m pretty sure that this is a topic that has been done to death but I just have to say it…I am so tired of caddy moms!!! What kind of example do we want to set for the next generation anyhow. We complain about junior high and high school girls with attitude problems, but I think it’s pretty obvious where they are learning their behavior.
I’m pretty sure this is something almost every mom out there has run into. No matter the choices we make for our children and our families we will run into someone who thinks we have made the absolute worst possible choice we could, and they are clearly not afraid to say so. I truly believe that the most parents are doing what they need to do to provide the best life for their kids, so why can’t we respect other peoples choices.
I could go on and on about situations my friends or I have been in where this has been a problem, but the most recent example I can think of happened recently when I had taken my daughter and infant son to the children’s museum with some friends. While our kids explored the ins and outs of a bubble machine, we moms started discussing kindergarten, something I will be dealing with all too soon. One of the local school districts no longer offers half day kindergarten. It’s either full day, every day of the week or full day half the days of the week, but the school district that we live in still offers half day, every day. I simply mentioned to one of my friends that I was there with that I really appreciated this since I didn’t think all kids (including my daughter)are ready for that at the tender age of 5. Another mom who was standing not too far from us piped up that she thought it was irresponsible to not start full day kindergarten, and that I clearly didn’t have my child’s best interest at heart. I’m sure you can picture the steam coming out of my head, and unfortunately I was so taken aback that I couldn’t think of any quick witted responses and I simply said “yes I do” and walked away.
This stuck with me, and I’ve done a lot of thinking about it and the countless other times I have come in contact with other moms who clearly think they have figured out the “right” way to raise a child. It’s my personal belief that there is no “right” way to parent. Well, there are some steadfast rules, I’ll assume you’re all aware of child abuse laws. But that aside every child is different, so much so that they all need to be parented in their own unique ways. From the day my daughter was born, she was busy. From the day she learned that she could make noise, by house has been a loud one. Because of her personality I have learned what parenting techniques work for her (well, I’m still learning ). My son on the other hand could not be more different. Even in the hospital when he was born, he seemed easy going and he has shown me that some babies really are less work than others (yes, I know I’m in trouble when he’s a teenager). Their personalities were evident even in the womb.
I guess I should stop my rambling and go somewhere with this so I’ll just say this: Please, please…I beg you…don’t be critical of others parenting choices. You don’t know why some parents choose to stay home or work, breastfeed or bottle feed, public school or home-school, half day kindergarten or full time, but just because you don’t know why they do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Oh, and to answer the women in the Children’s Museum, my daughter is a busy girl but with out some scheduled down time and a good long nap she gets over whelmed and has a meltdown. I know that full day kindergarten would be setting her up for failure and as a parent who DOES have her best interests at heart I am happy to have half day kindergarten be an option for her!!
So I know it’s been awhile since I posted. I even was considering shutting this whole thing down. As I’m sure you can understand I have a lot on my plate and my kids come before my blog But I have something I just have to rave about.
About a week ago I picked up the Jessica Seinfeld book, Deceptively Delicious, and I just can’t say enough good things about it. It has put an end to my lunch time battle over food. It is so nice to see my daughter happily eating her grilled cheese and knowing that there is butternut squash hidden away inside it. I no longer have to stress if she doesn’t eat all her veggies on her plate because they are now also hidden in her pasta, which she will undoubtedly eat. And I gotta say it was great to see the smile on her face when I said “yes, you can have another brownie”, and she is totally oblivious to the spinach and carrot baked right in. And unbelievable it all tasted really good. So thank you Jessica Seinfeld!!! Anything that helps me argue less with my three year old deserves a round of applause. I’ve even found myself sneaking in food purees in various recipes that are not from the book.
If any of you also struggle with this, please check this book out, you will be glad you did.
It’s been a long time since I posted, but no, I have not dropped off the face of the planet. I have just been too busy.
But about a week ago I took my son to the doctor for his two month checkup and am still laughing about something the pediatrician said.
A little back story: When he was born we made the very tough decision to have him circumcised (a definite benefit of girls)
So there we are sitting in the doctors office and he’s getting the thorough once over, and the doctor takes off his diaper to check all his little boy parts and make sure the circumcision healed properly. She seems pleased and tells me that he looks great and very enthusiastically says, “he’s got the best penis on the block” . I just totally cracked up and mentioned that I hoped she was the only girl to ever tell him that.
That’s all. I just thought that was funny enough to share here. I’ll be back with more soon.
Having kids requires more ’stuff’ than I ever could have possibly imagined. In fact, on a recent weekend trip, my husband commented that we looked like hillbillies driving down the road with our car loaded to the brim (and he was pretty accurate). And since becoming a mom and starting to buy all that ’stuff’ I have discovered that there are some really great companies out there and lots and lots of mediocre ones. I really like to support those great companies whenever I can, so in an attempt to spread the word about the great ones (and maybe a warning about the worst ones), I plan on writing about them here whenever I run into one.
So, to start my list….
Robeez kids shoe company. I started buying these for my daughter when she was just a few months old. They are great for growing feet since they have soft, leather soles. They are also great because they stay on little ones feet. When she was about 18 months, we were in the mall Christmas shopping and she lost one. I e-mailed the company to ask if I could buy just one shoe to replace the lost one since the pair was fairly new. They quickly responded and let me know that since the shoes are not supposed to come off like that, that they would happily send me a new pair if I would just send back the lonely one we had left. I was even able to choose a new design if I had chosen to, and to top it all off they even refunded me for the shipping cost. They were quick, friendly, and very professional. Now that my daughter is older she no longer wears Robeez, but I sing their praises whenever I can, and I recently bought my new son his first pair.
Another one of my favorites is Peg Perego. When my daughter was born, we had purchased the cheap, off the shelf car seat/stroller combo. Since she was tall, she grew out of the car seat early and we ended up going through three of four strollers because they all seemed to have some problem. So, after finding out that we were expecting another baby I really researched infant car seats and strollers and decided on Peg Perego for several reasons. One is that the car seat can hold an infant a couple of pounds and a couple more inches tall than most infant car seats, it also has added side impact protection. The stroller is great too, it has all the features that I wanted. Recently though, I did have a problem with the car seat. After a trip to the store, I couldn’t get it to release from the base. One quick call to the company and they talked me through a quick fix. Recently I also had a friend tell me about an equally positive experience they had with them. Peg Perego’s products are on the pricey side, but in this case I feel you get what you pay for.
Okay, so there are two of my favorites. I could go on and on, but for sanity’s sake I will save more for later. If you know of a great company, let me know, I would love to hear your stories and expand my list of great companies to support. Also, if you know of any crappy ones, I’d like to hear that too .
So I have to admit that I recieved this via e-mail forward, but I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard that I had to share it here as well. All but about two of these were true of me.
You know you grew up in the 80’s if….
1. you’ve ever ended a sentance with the word “sike”
2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton
3. You know that “WOAH” comes from Joey on Blossom
4. If you ever watched “Fraggle Rock”
5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
7. On Friday nights you stayed in to watch Full House, Step by Step, and Family Matters
8. You played MASH (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
9. You wore a lot of plastic jewlery
10. You knew the profound meaning of “wax on, wax off”
11.You wanted to be a goonie
12. You ever wore florescent clothing (some of us head to toe)
13. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
14. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
15. You took lunch boxes to school…and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.
16. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
17. You still get the urge to say “NOT” after every sentence.
18. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
19. You ever owned a pair of jelly shoes
20. After you saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure you kept saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
21. You remember “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
22. YOu remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
23. You have ever played with a skip it
24. You remember boom boxes
25. You remember watching both gremlins movies
26. You thought that Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot
27. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
28. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool…and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as “NKOTB”
29. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on “Saved By The Bell” The ORIGINAL class.
30. You know all the words to Bon Jovi – SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
31. You just sang those words to yourself
32. You still sing “we are the world”
33. You tight rolled your jeans
34. You owned a banana clip
35. You remember “Where’s the Beef?”
36. You used to (and probably still do) say “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?”
37. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!
Makes me wonder what ridiculous list of things my kids will write about their childhood
My husband, kids, and I headed to Missoula for the Griz football game this weekend. After the game we headed to the mall to do some shopping with some friends. I decided that since I’m almost back to pre-prego weight that I’d shop for some new clothes (come on ladies, any excuse is a good excuse). So there I was in the Gap, and of course my daughter thinks she just HAS to come in the dressing room with me. I tried on a pair of jeans that actually fit pretty well so I decided I’d venture out to see if my husband and friends thought it was a yea or nay, and my daughter runs out of the room and yells “daddy, does mommy look sexy?”
After most of the customers had a few chuckles and the red in my cheeks finally faded, I started wondering where my daughter learned the word “sexy”. It hit me that occasionally I use the word to ask my husband how I look. This is usually said in a joking manner, for example I’ll ask him if I look sexy after I put on a clean shirt that is surprisingly spit-up free. Any of you moms of small kids out there know that sexy when you have little ones, generally just means that you’ve managed to squeeze in a shower that day.
It occurred to me that recently I’ve noticed her using other more grown up words, not bad words, just more adult words that sound so silly coming out of her mouth. For example after a recent trip to the grocery store she asked what kind of marinade I had bought. The word marinade sounds so strange coming out of a toddlers mouth. For a few fleeting moments I considered trying to only speak in words that don’t sound silly when spoken by a three year old, but I quickly realized that I would in turn sound like a three year old, and I guess they need to expand their vocabulary somewhere. I guess there is no way to avoid these moments, and just like every other part of growing up, even a child’s vocabulary has growing pains.
By the way, I bought the pants! And it’s nice to know that someone thinks I look sexy (even if she is three).
