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I have to admit that I love doing laundry. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment…and an excuse to catch up on all my recorded television shows during nap time (I need time to fold!). My system is that I take the laundry from our sorted hamper in our bedrooms, put it in laundry baskets (which currently live on the floor of our bedroom for lack of a better place), bring the baskets downstairs and make piles on the kitchen floor so I can reuse the baskets to collect the folded laundry and bring them back upstairs. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw these. They don’t exactly match the décor of my bedroom (where my current hamper is), but they’ll certainly save me a step and give me back the added space that the hamper and baskets currently take up.
I just had to post a follow-up to my Family Connections post. This past Memorial Day weekend we hosted a party in Maine for my husband’s family. Aunties, uncles, cousins and friends barbequed, played on the beach, toasted s’mores and the like – 10 of them even stayed overnight. Going in to the weekend I was feeling bad that my own daughter would be the only real child there. All her cousins who were there are young (and not-so-young) adults. She is the youngest by 20 years. I knew they’d dote on her for a little while, but I figured that would last a short time before they moved on to more adult pursuits. Instead, the more the weekend wore on, the more they all grew on each other. They took my daughter on walks to see the horses up the street, read books to her on the couch, played with her on the beach. I’d always suspected, but now have proof, that Uncle Steve will make an excellent surrogate grandfather to my little girl and will enjoy her as much as she enjoys him. I’ve come to learn that young men in love make great daytime babysitters (they must think it impresses their girlfriends – and I think they’re right). And I owe my life to Safety Officer Uncle Jack who removed the Ziploc bag my daughter had turned into a hat/mask before I even noticed, despite the fact that she was less than 2 feet away from me. We may not have so many grandparents in our life, but I think we’ll be just fine.
My son is turning 7 next week, and for the first time I’m coming up dry on ideas for a present. Maybe it’s because for the last 11 months or so he’s been talking about what he wants for his birthday, and I’m not really on board with any of his requests. He’s asked for a bunch of different computer games – some handheld and some for the Wii. I’m not against computer games in principle, but I’d rather get him something that doesn’t specifically encourage more screen time. He’d also love anything Star Wars related, but frankly the three light sabers he has seem to cover that category sufficiently. So what do I do? Do I get him what he’s asked for or try to come up with something original that he will love? Any ideas?
One of my favorite parts of the day is snuggling with my daughter on her “green” bag (it’s a green beanbag) chair and reading 3 books before bed. My current favorites are The Day the Babies Crawled Away and Violet the Pilot.
We have been reading The Day the Babies Crawled Away for a while now. After listening to this interview with Peggy Rathman I bought the book. My daughter and I have read it over and over and over and over. We’ve read it so many times that now we read it together…and my daughter knows all of the words.
For Christmas this year, my Aunt sent us Violet the Pilot. I don’t know which I like better, the story or the pictures. Violet isn’t like all of the other kids; she gets teased for building “flying machines” out of parts from her father’s junk yard. One day, she decides to enter one of her airplanes in an air show in hopes of winning a blue ribbon. But, on the way there she sees a group of Boy Scouts (including the 2 boys who teased her the most) stuck in a raging river. Rather than continuing on to the air show, she rescues the boys and delivers them safely to the hospital. Later that night, as she sits in her room, sad she missed the air show, the whole town gathers in front of her house to honor her for her good deed.
Since many of you may be taking long car trips this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, here is a great resource with some road trip tips.
Yesterday Green Mom wrote about her travails trying to find “safe sand” for her son’s sandbox, which got me thinking that I too need safe sand for my kids’ sandbox. But first I need a sandbox. And I also need a new swing set, slide, climbing wall kind of play structure. The one we inherited when we bought our house is fairly dilapidated, and though the neighbors have yet to complain about the shrill shrieks of the swings, it’s only a matter of time. I’m a very decisive person, but the decision of which play structure to get is throwing me for a loop. My husband suggested he build one. The only problem is that I would like to have it before my kids graduate high school. We’ve looked at Craig’s List and E-Bay on one end, and explored brand new sets from Cedarworks and Creative Playthings on the other. I want it to last for years to come so I’ve come to terms with making the investment. The problem is that most of the sets are available online, so we don’t have the opportunity to see and feel them ahead of time. I’m wide open to suggestions, so if you have any, please let me know.
My father built my son a sandbox for his birthday…last July. It is currently sitting in our backyard, empty, because I can’t find sand to fill it. I know you can find play sand at any big box store, but that sand contains tremolite (a form of asbestos) and crystalline silica, both of which are known carcinogens. Some brands have a warning on them because it is required if they are sold in California, which leads me to believe it shouldn’t be sold anywhere. Some research insists it is not the sand that is harmful, it is the dust…but what child doesn’t create dust in a sandbox? I understand that river or lake sand is the best to use, but I can’t seem to find that for sale anywhere (and I’m guessing lugging a trash can to the beach and “borrowing” some from Mother Nature is frowned upon). The few landscaping places my husband called had no idea what he was talking about and tried to steer him in the direction of play sand. They are willing to sell us Mason’s sand, which is a reasonable choice, but they only sell it by the yard, which is far more than we need. A coworker, whose daughter has also had an empty sandbox for over a year, discovered Safe Sand, but it is very expensive so she’s in the same boat I am. Now that the weather is nice, I’m hoping to find something soon so my son doesn’t have to spend the whole summer sitting in an empty box. Any ideas?
I’ve been reflecting on family a lot lately, as my mother-in-law recently passed away. Since my own father passed away before my daughter was born and my father-in-law passed away less than a year ago, my mother is my daughter’s only living grandparent. While my own grandparents were not a huge part of my everyday life and I never lived in the same state as any of them (or country, as the case of my mom’s parents), I still have very particular memories of what each brought into my life, and I was fortunate to have all my grandparents in my life into my adulthood. I feel sad that my own daughter won’t have a single memory of most of her grandparents. She does have a very large extended family, with 8 aunts, 6 uncles, and 16 first cousins. But many of those cousins are more than 20 years her senior, and when they have children of their own, my daughter’s aunts and uncles will have grandchildren of their own to dote on. So I wonder, with my daughter being only 2, what is appropriate to fill in the missing pieces and connect the family dots? I think I will work extra hard to be sure she knows her aunts and uncles well -- surely they have enough love to spread around. But is this too young an age to try to keep her grandparents who have passed alive in her mind? How would I explain to a 2 year old where they are, why she can’t visit them, etc.? Any ideas?
As the weather warms up (finally!), are your kids looking for a yummy frozen treat? Try freezing squeezable yogurt. The yogurt in a tube that typically makes a mess turns into a cool, easy to eat snack.
It’s 9:00 a.m. and I’ve just arrived at work. To the casual observer, I’m an organized professional ready to face the day ahead with energy and enthusiasm. What they don’t realize, however, is that I’ve just returned from battle...morning battle, that is. It’s been a rough one today, and I don’t think there was a clear winner. I let my son sleep a bit later than usual. Most likely that was my first mistake, as it left us precisely 28 minutes for him to eat, dress, wash, and get to the bus stop. There was, much to his dismay, exactly no time for dawdling, playing, or lollygagging. We needed to be in synch – to work together to meet our shared objective. Only he wanted nothing to do with that plan. He wanted to stay in bed; he wanted more butter on his pancakes; he wanted more syrup on his pancakes; he decided he didn’t like the syrup and didn’t want pancakes after all but wanted yogurt instead; he wanted to hide instead of get dressed; he wanted to find a missing piece to one of his toys; he wanted to engage in water play rather than brush his teeth; and when, with not a second to spare we got in the car to drive to the bus stop, he pointed out that I had forgotten his glasses. Yes, that’s right, I forgot them, not him. I wanted to be the mother with limitless patience, who calmly guides and provides encouraging support. Instead, I was the mother who was worried that my neighbors could hear me yell that we were going to miss the bus and that he would have to go to school in his pajamas if he couldn’t get dressed. In the end, we made it to the stop just as the bus pulled up…neither one of us wearing our pajamas. We’ll do it all over again tomorrow morning, but I have a new strategy. I’m going to start the process tonight.
The EPA has recently increased its scrutiny of flea and tick control products for pets. Apparently many of the well known flea and tick repellents pet owners use may cause the animals to have adverse reactions ranging from skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, death of the pet. I guess I never really thought about flea and tick repellent as being a pesticide, but that’s exactly what it is. I think I’ll be searching for a more natural repellent to use on my dog from now on.
New Mom says:
Truth is, I don’t know what I want for Mother’s Day, except for my husband not to forget that it is, in fact, Mother’s Day. What I would really like, in general, is time to myself with no job to get done – no unfolded laundry in the basket, no bills to be paid, no lunches to make. But I don’t think I really want to spend Mother’s Day in particular without my daughter. I’m sure that may change in years to come, but for now I don’t think it’s this particular day of the year that I want to shirk all my motherly responsibilities. If it were possible to guarantee a tantrum-free day full of cooperation from my 2 year old, that’s what I’d wish for, but even if she got the memo, I suppose she can’t be expected to read it. So for now, I guess I’ll settle for sleeping in and reservations for brunch. It did just occur to me that I ought to send something to my own mother for Mother’s Day. See what you get after five children and eight grandchildren: you nearly slip their minds on the one day of the year that’s all about honoring you. Sorry Mom! I love you too.
Commuter Mom says:
Happy Mother’s day to you all. Hope you have plans to enjoy the day and be honored as a mother.
Here’s a fun Mother’s Day activity I found on Let’s Explore. I think I’ll make this a yearly tradition – it will be fun to see what she says year after year! Here is what my daughter had to say this year:
My mom is special
I really love it when my mom plays dress-up with me
My mom likes to wear some children’s clothes
My mom always tells me what I have to do
The best thing she does is clean up
It makes her happy when she buys something
My mom loves to relax by reading books
I like it when she writes notes
The best thing she cooks is sweet potato fries
When my mom shops she likes to buy stuff for me
My mom’s favorite household chore is clean-up time
My mom’s favorite TV show is Cash Cab
If she could go on a trip, she would go to Kindergarten
I love my mom because she loves movies
Try using frozen waffles. At our house, frozen mini waffles worked even better than any toy or frozen wash cloth. One waffle consists of 4 mini versions that right out of the freezer help soothe an aching mouth in no time.
I know Earth day was a while ago now, but I just got around to watching Oprah’s Earth Day episode. I figured it would be mostly tips on how to go green that I’ve already heard, but she had some guests on that had interesting things to say.
Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacque Cousteau) talked about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Apparently there is a garbage heap in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas. It stretches from the coast of California to Japan and in some places is 90 feet deep. It is estimated that 90 percent of the heap is made up of plastic and 80 percent of the total litter is not from boats, but from land — debris that has been thrown or has blown into waterways from as far away as Iowa. The photos that were shown of birds with stomachs so full of garbage (because they think it’s food) that they actually starve to death, or of a turtle that has grown into adulthood with an elastic band around its shell resulting in an hourglass shape were pretty eye opening. I don’t make a habit of throwing my trash, plastic or otherwise, directly into the street or waterway, but it does make you think about where all the trash goes and how it’s affecting us by affecting other animals.
The second most eye-opening nugget for me was probably the most obvious. Oprah had Michael Pollan, an author that writes about food, talk a bit about pesticides. One of the things he said was, “You wouldn’t let your child go under the kitchen sink and drink the cleaning products, so why would you use harmful products that when washed down the drain end up back on their plates via their food?” I do try to use eco-friendly products but I never thought about them actually being washed down the drain then consumed via the foods my family eats. The same goes with lawn fertilizer. We use organic lawn products because we have a dog and a toddler, but we are often on the lawns of others that do not. Even though the lawn care company is claiming that the lawn is safe for children to play on after 24 hours, that doesn’t take into account the chemicals that are then seeping into the soil, and ending up in the produce that we buy at the grocery store. That, on top of the pesticides used to grow non-organic food, equals a lot of chemicals being ingested.
For a limited time, Oprah is offering coupons on her site for things like Sigg bottles. Say what you will about Oprah, but this Green Mom was happy to learn something from her.
My brother sent us the greatest gift this week - a solar powered Rainbow Maker. We hung it in my daughter’s window on Saturday afternoon and talked about what would happen when the sun shined directly into her window. He sent us a regular prism, too, so we made some rainbows in the yard in the meantime.
On Sunday, my daughter came racing into the other room yelling, “Mommy, there’s rainbows all over my bedroom!!!”
Thanks, Uncle T!
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