Posted in motherhood
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My little babykins is now two and a half years old, but he is wise well beyond his years. Picture slightly frayed mother, cradling aforementioned toddler in her arms, walking furiously up the stairs, clearly on a mission. She's beyond ready to put the little stinker down for his nap, when he wails through his tears in one last, desperate-yet-comical attempt to save himself: "No mommy! Want to watch the NEWS!" That boy has got a career in marketing ahead of him. |
Posted in motherhood
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My baby, who is now two but will forever be known as "Baby," can do some pretty amazing things for a two-year old. In addition to humming the tune from Star Wars, he can:
He will be lots of fun at Frat parties someday (Heaven forbid). And today, he learned to remove his underwear all by himself. Now, if he could only get them back on! |
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I have really done a disappearing act from my blog lately. I've been caught up in my latest weight loss enterprise and just didn't have any spare brain cells left to write with. All day today I've had the hymn "Resting in the Arms of Jesus" running through my head. Well, maybe not all day; just since the cat bit my baby viciously on the cheek (there's probably not a non-vicious way to bite someone). This inspired the murderous thoughts that eventually led to my mental choice of hymns. I've owned and hated this cat for four years. It was abandoned at a rental house next door to us at our previous domicile and we quickly learned why. But we felt sorry for her, so rather than abandon her a second time, we brought her with us to the house on the hill. And we've lived to regret it. While her name is Honey, it really should have been Lucifer, if you know want I mean. Sure, she's all friendly when you come up on the porch, but if you make one wrong move, or stop petting her when she really wants you to continue, she'll bite. At one time or another, she's bitten all of us. We warn all our guests, but all are still shocked when she bites their little Johnny or Jane. And now she's gone too far. My neighbor the vet says we need to keep her another 10 days to make sure she doesn't keel over from some dread disease that could impact baby. But that cat has all her shots, so I'm not worried about her health. But how does one do the right thing with a pet (execute it summarily at dawn, in this case) without traumatizing your children? My husband thinks we should try the direct approach and explain that she's simply not pet material for anyone and really, there's not another job available for cats. His point being to convince them that sending her on to the next of her 9 lives is the right thing to do. I, on the other hand, am still really, really mad at my mother for putting the family dog down when I was 10, so I think that's a terrible idea. I'm thinking of calling in a hit man who'll just arrange for a sudden, unexplained disappearance. And the kids can just believe she's found a better porch to cover with hair, or a warmer hearth, or maybe even some people that like her. But I'll know she's "Resting in the Arms of Jesus." Or in her case, maybe she'll be off in the other direction... You can see that it might be in my children's best interest not to know exactly how mean I can be when it comes to that monstrous cat. When you and your spouse have had to make these tough decisions about pets, how did you talk about it to your kids? Or did you? HELP! |
Posted in motherhood
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I know I should get to Part 2 of the Fluoride Mystery before everyone loses interest, but we've been afflicted with the epizootig again and also, spent some time this week actively working against the introduction of fluoride into the local public water. Oldest Son (OS) is not an early bird, but on the day of a recent board meeting of the Utility District, he got himself up at the crack of dawn, showered and dressed and insisted on going with me to join a protest we heard about the day before. I had visions of truancy officers in my future, but couldn't come up with a single rational explanation for why he shouldn't enjoy his right to freedom of speech on a homeschool day! What better civics lesson is there? What better way to learn what democracy is about? What better way to teach him to "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have." [Margaret Mead.] So here are a couple of photos to document that he was there -- lterally ripped from the newspaper headlines. It is hard to believe that there were maybe 10 or 12 other people there total, when OS is pretty much the only one pictured in both the papers. But then again, I've never seen a more enthusiastic sign waver in my life!
It was very gratifying that a couple of other homeschoolers came to contribute to our numbers during the protest, and I received emails after the fact from folks who would have participated if they had known of the event. We didn't succeed in getting the Mayor to reverse his decision, nor did the Utility District board decide they had the courage to fight, but they have delayed the actual release of the chemicals until after the next board meeting. This makes me think they are hopeful there will be something dramatic occur between now and then. OS and I'll help out in that department best we can. | ||
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For a week or so, I listened to Baby singing a tune like this: "Doo doo doo, do do do, do do doo..." I thought there was a pattern to it, but then I thought , "Nah, the kid is only 19 months old..." Finally, the King says, "Hey, is that baby singing the theme to Star Wars?!" My older children argue that the song Baby has stuck in his head is really "Sith Revenge" or something. Either way, I'm glad I wasn't just nuts! Could Baby have some weird aptitude for music?
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