Be A Good Mom

Pookie loves books. All books. He asks us to read to him all the
time. Sometimes, he asks us to read things that really aren’t that
easy to read out loud. For instance, he loves Mad Libs. We don’t know
why. We fill in the spaces and he grins at the story. I don’t think
he really gets it, he can’t possibly, but he does smile and pay very close attention.

Right now, he is stuck on this book:

This is the 70th anniversary edition of Wisconsin Electric’s annual cookie cookbook. Grandma gave it to us. When she did, I bet she did not expect us to read it at storytime 2-3 nights a week. How do you read a cookbook at story time? Well, only I know, because Geetle told BAGD that he did it wrong tonight. I make up backstory as I turn each page. With great enthusiasm, I say things like “Busdrivers like Peanut Sitting Pretties, Oatmeal Stars and Choco-Cherry Chewies.” Or, “if you are mailing a gift to someone in Alabama, why not consider Rainbow Cookies, Coconut Bon Bons or Self Frosting Anise Cookies.” Or, “When I go to bed hungry, I dream of Thumbprint Cookies, Tea Rings and Christmas Stollen.”

Each page has the picture and recipe for 3 kinds of cookies. After we finish, Pookie takes the book to his bed and reads it again himself, with a big grin on his face. He likes cookies, and we cook/bake together frequently. But, I do not think that he understands that this is a recipe book. I think he thinks “Wow! Great Idea! Someone made a picture book full of cookies!”

The point is that he likes it, so we read it. I also read a small pamphlet advertisement put out by State Farm Insurance that Geetle likes. It has a picture of Lighting McQueen on the cover, so she loves it. But, its really an 8 page ad for State Farm, masked as a public service announcement about driving safely.

We read whatever they ask us to. And we like it. We chuckle to ourselves, but these books make us as happy as they make the kids.

Recipe

Equal parts White flour and Salt
Paint
Squeeze Bottles
Sturdy paper or cardboard

Mix flour and salt. Add enough paint to make a paste. Put in squeeze bottles. Paint! The flour makes the combination puffy and 3D. The salt gives it a shiny iridescent quality when dry.

Geetle liked the idea of this craft project. I told her we would pretend we were painting with ketchup and mustard. Unfortunately, as a 4 year old, her squeeze power is not that strong. So, I had to make the paint and flour/salt combination runny enough to easily squeeze out of the bottle. That sort of ruined the effect. But, she enjoyed the process.

I would recommend saving this project for older kids (6-8) so that they have enough hand power to squeeze a thick paste through the bottles. You can also cut the bottle tips wider.

Took Pookie and Geetle for haircuts today.

Stylist asked Pookie how old he was…he answered promptly and correctly, just like we practiced at home.

Stylist sprayed Pookie’s hair with water.  He said it was rain drops and he needed an umbrella.

Stylist said “Hello” to Geetle.  She responded with details on why she needed a haircut, that her brother needed one too, that we were going to Panera Bread afterwards and that the baby was named Giggles.

2 old men and one old lady waiting for appointments watched us like we were an episode of Full House.  Smiling the whole time.  We smiled back.

Time for bed now, over and out.

Razbaby Keep it Kleen pacifiers

These pacifiers have a built in cover that snaps shut when they are dropped. Its also convenient for when you stick a pacifier in your pocket.

Skinny Cow Fudge Bars

100 calories, 1 gram of fat. Whatever. Most importantly, they taste great! Pookie also likes these; he calls them Black and Whites because of the wrapper. They are thick and creamy, very smooth and tasty.

French Doors with in-glass mini blinds

We just installed our new patio door (thanks Papaw, Uncle Ben and BAGD), an out swing French Door with shiny brass handles and miniblinds between the glass! Really classes up the joint.

Dinner by Design frozen meals

We ordered 12 pre-made dinners before Giggles was born. We are just finishing them up. Boy, its nice to have them waiting for you in the freezer. I need to get some more.

My Levis 550 relaxed Bootcut jeans

These are the only jeans that I like, now that Giggles and I have stopped sharing one waistline. I have one pair. I wash them alot.

In Touch Weekly magazine

I also read CNN.com, the local paper and 2 parenting magazines, just so you know, but I like the mindless entertainment of this magazine. I like to read about whether or not Katie really loves Tom or how Britney is trying to lose custody on purpose. I like to decide “Who Wore it Best.” It’s great.

Plum Sweets

Dark chocolate covered dried plum bits (that’s prunes for all you ignorant people). Just like Raisinets, but the chocolate is waaaaay better and the plums are chewier. The kids think prunes are “big raisins.” They love these too. They ask for them at the grocery store and get mad when I eat most of the bag myself.

Pantene Hydrating Curls Curl Shaper AntiFrizz Creme

1-2 squirts a day. Does not leave your hair stiff, feels light. Love it.

Children’s pants with the built in adjustable waistband

Why don’t all pants come this way? I mean all pants. For adults too. I adjust Geetle’s a few times a week, whenever she complains about her pants falling down or them being too tight and leaving wrinkles in her skin. I make Pookie’s very loose, because he rarely unbuttons his jeans in the bathroom. I am not going to fight him on that point, I am just happy he is using the bathroom.

The Office

I love Dwight and Jim and Michael Scott. I love Stanley. I recently moved to a very small, very remote office and the people here are OK. But one of them cries alot and has sometimes has a distinctive odor. There is one that follows me around all day, asking questions like “do dogs have teeth when they are born?” There’s another one that sings along to the radio all day, so loud that I cannot even hear the radio itself. Then there is one big guy who seems OK, but he smells like coffee and proudly wears mismatched slippers to work. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I worked at Dunder Mifflin Scranton. Its so glamorous and exciting there.

Brekke Bed from Ikea

$179! That’s crazy! 3 giant drawers underneath so big that you can stuff 5 storage bins of clothes inside? That’s crazy! But its true! I let Geetle use 1 drawer for her treasures, but the other ones are mine. I can’t wait until Giggles gets one…oh, the stuff I can store under there.

If I had as much money as Oprah, I would buy you all some of my favorite things.  You would be so appreciative that you would keep them and try them out, not sell them on ebay.  But, since I don’t, you will have to take my word for it.  I checked out Oprah’s list.  One thing caught my eye…the Rachel Pally Lounge Suit.  Poor Macon Georgia (where Oprah’s show was filmed).    I hope your streets are not overrun with women wearing these.

What are some of your favorite things?

At Pookie’s parent-teacher conference last week, we asked how his play skills were developing. The teacher said he does not play with the other kids yet. She said he will usually tolerate other kids in his area, but gets angry when they interfere with his play. Hmmm. Well, I guarantee you that Belaina was interfering with his play in this picture. In fact, I was there. They played (or played and interfered as only a 4 year old and a 1 year old can do) for about 20 minutes. Pookie was fine with it. Occasionally, as he wanted to run a car up the ramp, her arm was in the way and he had to go under it like a bridge; he did. She kept closing the lid on the playset; he just reopened it. She put too many cars in the garage; he pulled them out one by one.

Maybe its because Belaina is a comfortable playmate. Pookie knows her. Or maybe its because she is not threatening. I think Pookie knows that he is older and he considers her a “baby.” Maybe its because this was a new toy and he did not have a routine established for the “right way” to play with it yet and therefore what Belaina was doing was not “wrong” or incompatible with what he was doing.

Who knows. But more and more, I think I see Pookie developing a home persona and a school persona. There are things he does at school that he does not do at home, and vice versa. Its an interesting study; just like Pookie himself. But the more he practices these things at home, the more successful he will be at school and in life itself. So, rather than figuring out why he and Belaina play well together, we will just encourage it and see what it leads to.

As I still slowly recover from Giggles’ birth, I would like to take the time to say Thank you to my Mother for agreeing to give birth to me. By the time I was born, she had already had one C-section and knew she was going to have another one with me. I have had one C-section and if BAGD and I were not “done” I would seriously consider declaring the baby-making factory closed, just to avoid going through it again. But, my mom did do it again. And that was in the 1970’s, back before the bikini cut, back when they ran the incisions vertically from belly button to pubic bone. In her case, right on top of the incision where baby #1 came out. And she knew that when I was born she was going to have to take care of me, herself and my sister (a great girl, but only 21months old at the time).

Now that I have done it myself, I have an appreciation for what she went through. I want to thank her and say sorry I did not come out the other way.

I love how the baby stares at things. Its pretty much her only trick right now. But she does it well. I will admit, its sort of unnerving to be feeding her, look away to talk to someone or check the clock and then look back and see her silently staring at you. Sort of freaks you out because she has no emotion on her face….just wide staring eyes. Its almost like the plot of some scary movie.

Today she stared at the following things:
Her fishies, the crib mobile
Uncle JB’s striped shirt
Baby Belaina
Pookie as he ate waffles
Geetle as she danced in front of the carseat
the zipper on her carseat blanket

and me and BAGD, of course.

She should be learning to smile in the next few weeks. I can’t wait for that. I assume that her eyes are happy when she stares, but a smile sure make it easier to tell. Plus, I want to see her reaction to the things she stares at. A few times she has cried when we showed her things. I did a little “do bop do bop” song for her the other day…she silently stared at me and then broke out crying, her lip trembling. So, that one was a NO. But I think she likes the other things she stares at, a smile will let us know for sure. But, if she did not like them, I gotta believe she would not spend so much time staring at them.

But, as much as I want her to learn to smile, I will miss this silent staring phase. She has been a starer since day 1. Its cute and its will always be my first impression of her.

I should have posted this before Thanksgiving, but oh well. It will be here for someone who needs a cheap and easy craft for Thanksgiving 2008.

Take a walk through your neighborhood and pick up various colored leaves.
Cut out a brown body for your turkey (a bowling pin shape)
Draw a similar shape on a piece of large paper
Glue the leaves around the drawn shape, to resemble the feathers of a turkey
Finally, glue the brown turkey body on top of the leaves, hiding some of the stems

Ideally, your turkey will also have eyes, a beak and a wattle. But, my artists are only 4, and they got tired after the walk and all the gluing. But, they both really enjoyed this one. Hunting for bright colored leaves was fun, we brought home WAAAAY too many. And what kid doesn’t love glue?

Geetle, Bean and Belaina. A very photogenic bunch of girls.

Pajama Kids and Chaperone Fathers.

Bean and Belaina
How embarassing Mom.

BAGD and Belaina.
They don’t really get along.

BAGD wrote some nice things about me today, which I really appreciate. It takes alot of work to do what I do. Its hard. But most of the time all I need to keep it going is a little bit of recognition.  I just need someone to say that they notice what I do, and that they appreciate it. My kids are too young to do that themselves, so I rely on BAGD to do it for them.

I will admit, I am very sensitive about this issue lately. It makes me mad when I hear someone gush about the incredible service at a restaurant or how nice it was for their co-worker to take care of that file for them today. I think “that’s great, but did you take the time to say thank you to someone from your inner circle that did even more for you today?”

Often, over time, we come to ignore the sacrifices and labor of those members of our inner circle (mother, father, spouse, etc) and take them for granted. We are quick to notice when an outsider (waitress, neighbor, other driver, etc) does us some great favor or kindness. We gush about how that outsider really made our day by doing whatever they did. But, by doing that, sometimes we are insulting the members of our inner circle and trivializing their role in our everyday lives. And sometimes when we point out and over-hype what those outsiders did, it hurts someone in the inner circle.

For example, I was glad that BAGD was thankful to the nurses who helped me during the scary part of my emergency C-section, but I wanted to be his hero, not for them to be. That really stung. I know that when he said it, he was expressing his thanks for what they did to keep me and the baby safe, but I felt like it was not fair for them to get all the credit for that day. Its important to recognize the efforts of kind outsiders, but not at the expense of your inner circle’s feelings. Next time you go on and on about how your hairstylist is so great for squeezing you in on a Saturday, think about how your Mom/MIL always squeezes you in for free baby sitting when you need it. Or when you are so excited about the lady at church who offered to lend you her steam cleaner, remember that your sister/brother has always been so generous with his/her time and talents.

Let me close by saying,

BAGD does more for me every day than all the outsiders combined. I work hard at remembering to tell him that. I want to thank him for all the things we talk about and all the things we laugh about. I also want to thank him for being the best husband and father I can imagine.

I want to thank some other members of my inner circle for specific things, but I will wait. I want this to be just for BAGD.