Halloween costume drama: Princess? Fairy? Princess fairy? Seriously?

Posted on October 11, 2011 by JD

I think Fall is my favorite season. What’s not to like? Leaves changing color. Pumpkins and mums. The overabundance of candy and chocolate and cupcakes. The fact that there’s no need to shave your legs every day. And it’s finally appropriate and even fashionable to wear sweaters that cover everything.

But you know what’s not my favorite? Halloween costume (in)decisions. Halloween costume drama. Halloween costumes in general. Anything having to do with Halloween costumes and my kids. Oh, but just one of my kids is being coy about what she wants to be. I’ll let you guess which one.

<waiting>

If you guessed Sophia … DING DING DING! You win!

Lizzie is a girl who knows what she wants. No drama or surprises there. Last year she said she was going to be Wonder Woman or Princess Leia and she’d be the other the next year. She picked Wonder Woman last year. This year she’s Leia. Easy peasy. And hey, major props to her for picking wicked awesome strong women to dress up as. Rock on, Lizzie.

But Sophia. She is full of indecision. I wannabe a princess. I wannabe a fairy. I wannabe a princess fairy. I wanna be a bee.

What?

This is The Child Who Makes My Hair Gray. Now to be fair, she is just about three years old. Three year olds are ruled by indecision. And ohmygoodness she is as cute as a button so just as I start to get to get annoyed at her indecision about what dress she wants to wear or what tights or what shoes or what ponytail holders, she busts out with, “Mama, can I give you a kissie because I love you?”

<melting>

So right now I have a purple princess fairy costume on order from Zulily. I ordered it last month. The thing hasn’t even shipped from the vendor to Zulily, who then will ship it to me (this bizarro shipping method is how you can get great stuff for like 70% off). I ordered early last month. No costume. Purple Princess Fairy may not be happening. Maybe for Christmas she can wear it. Yay.

So I tried to find something at Target. I thought I was being all smarty-pants savvy shopper when I went not to the Halloween section, but to the toy department – and found a gorgeous princess dress and wings and crown. Perfect! Pink, not purple, but adorable. And on sale!

Supposedly. I got home and checked my receipt later and the freakin’ dress rang up for $30. Very NOT on sale. Add in the crown and wings and I’ve got myself a $50 costume.

So for those of you adding it all up at home, I’ve spend $68 on two costumes so far. And I’m sure Sophia will decide to wear the old ratty Cinderella dress from the dress-up bin, instead. Just like I figured she would last year.

Look! Is that another gray hair?

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Is your house ruled by Halloween costume indecision every year? Are you about to give up, toss a sheet over your kid’s head, and say – There. You’re A Ghost. Deal With It. – or is it just me?

Posted in Family, Kid behavior, Parenting, Raising girls | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Just a quick aside… Thinking of my dad today. I was browsing around The Lucky Mom‘s site and read her page on wise words. And I saw there the Emerson quote that my mom and I put on my dad’s prayer card when he unexpectedly passed away last year:

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. 

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote was my dad to a T. Yes, he was often misunderstood. He could be quite difficult. But he was a good guy in lots of ways. He wanted the respect of other intelligent people, for sure. He loved children, especially his granddaughters. And man, did he love gardening.

I’m one life that’s breathed easier because you lived. Miss you, dad.

Posted on September 22, 2011 by JD | 3 Comments

My toddler won’t sleep through the night. So I can’t. And I’m really tired.

Posted on September 22, 2011 by JD

Dear wiser parents than me,

My toddler – almost preschooler now – is a horrific sleeper who won’t sleep through the night. I’m at her mercy now. And I’m looking for your advice.

I think the last time Sophia steadily slept through the night was a brief, lovely, blissful, heavenly period when she was six-to-nine months old.

Oh, my sweet, sleeping cherub, how I miss you.

Did I mention she’s almost three now?

When I say “won’t sleep through the night,” here’s the scenario: In her sleep – as far as we can tell she’s still asleep – Sophia yells out. Sometimes it’s her typical crying she does during the day: WHAAAAAAAAH-EHH-EHH-EHH-EHH. Repeat like 800 times. And welcome to my life.

And sometimes she yells “NO!” or something like that, like she’s having a nightmare, and then cries the lovely cry I described above. Often she calls for me. She does this for 5-10 minutes and then goes back to sleep. And she does it anywhere from two to four times a night. Not every single night – but most nights.

We normally don’t go in her room. Only when the crying goes on for more than fifteen minutes do we go to her, mostly out of fear that she’s keeping Lizzie awake. And Lizzie needs sleep even more than Sophia, so we want to avoid that. When we do go to Sophia, she is groggy and awake and upset, and we can tell she really just wants to be asleep. She goes back to sleep pretty quickly after we rub her back and sit by her for a few minutes.

Since we try not to go into Sophia’s room too much at night, we are not 100% sure if she is still asleep while the typical 5-10 minute crying jag is going on. But we’re pretty sure she is asleep, from the times we have peeked into her room. We think when she carries on for a while she wakes herself up.

We don’t know what this is about. I have looked online and flipped through books, and I haven’t seen a scenario like this, bad sleeping that carries on for years. Doesn’t seem to be typical night terrors. Could it be nightmares? I don’t know. All we know is we are so tired, all the time, and just want to be able to sleep. The whole family would be healthier and happier. And maybe wealthier and wiser. And prettier. Hey, who knows what lots of sleep could do? Not me!

Here’s what we’ve tried to help her over the past year or so: Any and all combinations of: White noise. Quiet room. Dark room. Dim nightlight. Bright nightlight(s). Music. Door open. Door closed. Letting her cry it out. Going to her. Stuffed animals, dolls, loveys. Blankets. More blankets. Less blankets. Cool room with blankets. Slightly warmer room with no blankets. Humidifier. Crib wedge under crib sheet. Sleeping in the same room as her sister. Sleeping in the same room as us. No daytime nap. Very short daytime nap. Long nap, later bedtime. No nap, earlier bedtime.

None of it has worked. The behavior doesn’t change. We are going to collapse of exhaustion soon. Sophia is tired, too. And I am hoping you have some tricks up your sleeves, oh wise parents of the interwebs.

So, all you parents out there, what else can we try? Do you have a similarly horrible sleeper? What are we not doing? What are we missing?

We haven’t gone the sleep specialist route because we keep hoping Sophia will outgrow this. That it’s just a phase. But in our sleep-deprived state, we’ve failed to realize this “phase” has gone on for YEARS.

Oh, and yes – she’s still in a crib. Partially because we are too friggin tired and overwhelmed to get our butts in gear and furniture shop. And then move all the bedrooms around to put her in what is now the guest room – and also get a sofa bed for the office. And partially because we are very, very afraid she will come into our room multiple times a night and wake us up in new and even more painful ways. EEEEEKS!

I am hoping you all out there have some advice. If I get enough of it, I will create a post about it and credit each of you. Because I know there are many other sleep-deprived parents of toddlers and preschoolers wandering around out there who also need help. And maybe my little blog could offer a ray of sleepy hope.

So, I’m crashing now. And hoping for a one-wakeup night. Cause I need some sleep, yo. Obviously. Because I just said “yo.”

Sleeplessly yours,

The Momagement

Posted in Family, Kid behavior, Kid sleep problems, Overwhelmed | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

I sure as hell don’t know how she does it. Or maybe … I do.

Posted on September 20, 2011 by JD

I haven’t seen the movie “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” I haven’t read the book, either. But I’m still thinking about it a lot.

This movie really seems to target my demographic: a working mom established in her career and doing pretty well. Small child/ren. Husband. Various commitments, all pulling at her, making her spread herself too thin. And making her always wonder when she’ll be spread so thin, the dough that is her life will snap apart and the big holes will show for all to see.

I think for a lot of us working moms, this is our ultimate fear: that we can’t have it all. That it can’t work. That the big holes are unavoidable. And sometimes they are. But I’m finding that yes, I can have it all – as long as I accept there will be the occasional hole that needs to be patched back together.

Right now, the hole has been time for myself. I haven’t had any. Which means my blog has suffered, I have three unread books on my nightstand, I haven’t gotten to read many of my fave blogs or tweet or Facebook, and I haven’t been exercising.

But that’s just the way it’s had to be for a little while. And I’m ok with that. Usually.

For the past month I have been working more than usual. And I’m all right with that sometimes, because I love what I do. Really, really love it. And can I tell you a secret? Sometimes I’d rather be working than – GASP – hanging out with my kids.

There. I said it.

It sounds so horrible. But it’s true. And you know, I think it’s ok to say, hells yeah – sometimes we’d rather be doing something else besides playing with our young child. Because where is it written that we have to prefer playing a fifth game of Candyland with our kids to doing something that we truly enjoy? I’d rather be creating an amazing concept for an advertising campaign than moving a plastic gingerbread man around a board for hours on end.

That doesn’t mean I always do what I want instead of what’s right for my kids, though.

I think that’s the difference. That’s being a successful working mom. Finding the balance of putting myself or even my work first sometimes – and putting the kids first way more often. Making sure that the hole that needs to be patched isn’t the kid hole. To me, that’s the challenge and sacrifice of being a working mom.

Even with all the extra work lately, my kids haven’t gotten the shaft. In large part to my seriously awesome Hubs. But when it comes down to it, can I answer “YES” to the following questions: Are my kids happy? Do they feel loved and paid attention to by mom and dad? Are they learning and growing and laughing and evolving into kind, good, little people?

If I can, life is good. Holes and all.

And that, my friends, I think is how she does it.

 

I’d love to hear how YOU do it. Do you accept that there will always be some holes? Do you always strive for “good enough” instead of being the best at everything? If you’re a SAHM, how do YOU balance it all?

**************

Next time: How to play with your kids without being bored to bits. Seriously.

Posted in Family, Mom confessions, Parenting, Work, Work-life balance, Working mom dilemmas | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Eats: Garden tomato, basil, and mozzarella sandwich

Posted on September 8, 2011 by JD

Sometimes the most simple foods are the best foods, right? Today I grabbed a Big Boy tomato and some basil from my garden and made this sandwich of deliciousness.

Tomatoes from the garden are so vastly superior to grocery-store tomatoes. I don’t think I’d make this with a grocery-store tomato. Don’t have a garden? Get thee to a farm stand. Or swipe a tomato from your neighbor’s garden. And make this, the best end-of-summer sandwich, EVER.

Garden Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Sandwich

2 slices of crusty multigrain bread

4 small basil leaves

4 thin slices of fresh mozzarella

2 thick slices of garden tomato

Butter (I used whipped)

Spray oil

Salt and pepper

Lightly butter one side of the bread. Spritz with spray oil. Lay bread butter-side-down on a frying pan. Break up two slices of mozzarella and distribute on the bread. Put your gorgeous tomatoes, side by side, on the cheese. Lightly salt and pepper them. Put two pieces of basil on each tomato slice. Then put the other two slices of mozzarella on the tomatoes. Lightly butter your last piece of bread and spritz with spray oil.

Cook on stove until golden brown, then carefully flip. Brown the other side. And then enjoy!

Tomorrow I’ll use my one ripe heirloom Brandywine tomato for this sandwich. YUM.

Posted in Eats, Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Momagement Roundup: kindergarten drama, cleaning lady blessings, and inane t-shirts

Posted on September 7, 2011 by JD

I’m back! Hooray! My unintentional blogging hiatus is over and to celebrate, I’m introducing the Momagement Roundup. My life is just SO fabulously exciting (ha) and I have SO much to tell you (true) but I don’t want to blather on for 1,000 words (you’re welcome). So I present to you The Momagement Roundup: bite-size glimpses into the goings-on of my overworked, underperforming brain.

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Kindergarten drama has ruled the roost for the past few weeks. My sweet darling Lizzie had oodles of angst over the big first day of kindergarten. The class. The teacher. The bus. Ohhh, man, the bus. But you know what? She did fine. I sprouted more gray hair and slept even less during the lead-up to the big day, but it went fine. Mostly because I busted my butt, trying to make the transition as pain-free as possible. Which involved lots of advance preparation for her and lots of wine for me.

How did I help Lizzie? I followed your advice, my friends! Kerri at Three Savvy Ladies (who is also a K teacher!) suggested reading books about going to kindergarten and visiting the school. Wendy at Mama One to Three recommended talking through the experience to limit the fear of the unknown. The ladies at Confessions of the Id recommended taking Lizzie to the bus stop before the big day. Kim at Let Me Start By Saying… said to not make it a “big deal” and be sure not to build it up. And various non-blogging friends had other fabulous suggestions. And you know what? You guys are smart. It all worked. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

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If it weren’t for our blessed cleaning lady sent directly from Jesus himself, I would be coexisting with life-size dust bunnies. And piles of laundry, both dirty and clean. And a sink of dirty dishes. And I’d be forgetting to change the sheets on the beds. And I won’t even mention what the state of the bathrooms would be. EW.

I like my job, but you know, even if I didn’t, I’d still work. Even if it was only to pay the cleaning lady. Because I CANNOT live without her. Once Hubs said, you know, we can probably handle the cleaning ourselves, now that you’re not working full time. I think I fell to the floor in horror, sobbing and tearing my clothes at the thought. Never never never never never. Ever. Never ever will I give up the blessed cleaning lady.

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Hey, you wanna buy your daughter a t-shirt that proclaims looking pretty is more important than learning? No? I guess JC Penney would be surprised. Because until they pulled it from the shelves, they wanted your daughter to sport this shirt that declares, “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me.”

And it gets better. The accompaning descriptive text goes on to say, “Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is!”

Um. Hello? Since when does cute and sassy equal empty-headed and sexist with poor taste in music?

Thanks to Moxie Bird via Mommy Shorts for confirming the fact that, yes, indeed, I have no desire to shop at JC Penney. Ever.

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I have more I want to tell you about. Like my gardening trials and triumphs. Challenges I’m running into about being a part-time worker and still being a fab at what I do. Sophia going to preschool. An upcoming work trip. Helping Lizzie be a confident girl. So more to come. It’s good to be back!

Posted in Family, Kids, Kids education, Raising girls, Shopping for girls, Work-life balance | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Goodbye daycare, hello kindergarten: A weird commencement.

Posted on August 26, 2011 by JD

Today was the end of an era. And it was marked by Lizzie being sent home with all her worldly preschool possessions stuffed into three plastic grocery bags and a too-full backpack.

Lizzie has been at the same daycare center (or “school,” as we call it) since she was four months old. She has spent a huge chunk of her young life there. We entrusted this place with our baby, to nurture her during the morning, afternoon, and early evening – and for some years, for five days a week.

And this is how it ends? Really?

No “graduation.” No pictures. Nothing to mark the significance of the day by her teachers or by the school.

Not even some words from the director along the lines of, “Thanks for your loyalty and business all these years.” Which would have been too formal. But it would have been something.

Leaving with armloads of grocery bags and nary an acknowledgement seems odd. Incomplete. Abrupt.

I guess they don’t do a preschool “graduation” because they also have a kindergarten that a small percentage of the preschool kids attend. So if there was a graduation, those kids who are staying might feel like, “If I’m graduating, why am I still here?” So I get that.

And not all kids stop going to the daycare on the same day. So there’s no formal “end” day. I get that, too.

But today felt like a cold way to leave a place that’s been such a huge part of Lizzie’s life. I guess what it comes down to is this:

Didn’t anyone care that Lizzie wasn’t ever coming back?

And that’s what bothers me. It seemed no one did. And they should have. That’s why we picked this place originally. It felt right. It felt family- and child-centered. That’s so important to feel when you’re a working mom, still struggling with the idea of leaving your child every weekday to go to work. In fact, this daycare center spent more time with Lizzie in some of her very young years than I did. Doesn’t that mean something?

There’s been a lot of turnover during the past two years at the center. And we haven’t felt a real connection to the place for a while. This day just sadly emphasized how different it is now.

I didn’t want to make a big deal about this last day, since Lizzie is already anxious about kindergarten. She hasn’t wanted to go to daycare for a few weeks now, ever since she visited her kindergarten classroom. She was pretty done with daycare. Bored. Ready to move on. But yet, not. Caught between two worlds. Done with one, not ready for the next.

Thinking about it now, I would have loved it if the daycare center director or teachers wrote Lizzie a nice note for her to open later. Perhaps told her how lovely she is, how caring and kind, funny and smart. How they’ve enjoyed watching her grow all these years and seeing her special talents develop. About her love of words and letters. How she enjoys learning. Her excellent memory. Her running speed and graceful dancing. The way she came in as a helpless little baby and left as a smart, funny, loving, sweet Big Girl.

Since they didn’t write the letter, I will. It’s a nice idea. Writing these words, I know I would have done it anyway.

But I wish her daycare thought to do it, too.

Posted in Family, Kids, Kids education, Parenting, Work-life balance | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Something’s gotta give.

Posted on August 19, 2011 by JD

Things have been hard lately.

Not something-really-bad-happened hard.

Just like being-a-working-mom-and-having-young-children hard.

I’m sorry in advance that this post is one big vent. I’m sorry I’m not a lovely ray of sunshine. I’m not one of those bloggers who can be positive and happy for every post. But maybe you can empathize.

It’s like a perfect storm of life’s little difficulties, the typical stuff we normally deal with, all swirled together and converged upon me and Hubs. Things that are normally annoying but manageable in groups of two or three, just piled on. And on. And on.

Lizzie is scared about going to kindergarten. We’ve done a few things to help ease the jitters. I have wanted to post about it but haven’t had a second to write. And they’ve helped. But she’s still scared about the bus. Having-bad-dreams scared. And everything I’ve tried (downplaying it, reassurance she won’t be alone b/c neighborhood kids will be there, etc.) isn’t working. So I’m feeling a big parental fail with this. Which I know is unreasonable. I can’t protect her from everything. But I hate seeing her so upset.

Work has been Insane. Totally Insane. Partially my fault for cutting down from three days a week to two days so I can spend August Wednesdays with Lizzie before she goes to school five days a week, ten months a year, for the next thirteen years. Not that I’m freaking out about it or anything. But I’ve still had a three-day workload with two workdays to accomplish it in. Which means working nights to stay on top of things. And with a crazy, mismanaged, complex project going on, it’s just been a lot.

Sophie is not sleeping. STILL. It’s been a year or more of this and I am going to lose it soon. There’s a reason sleep deprivation is a form of torture. And it’s a very weird sort of not sleeping that I haven’t heard anyone else say they deal with. 3-7 times a night she cries out. Like crying in her sleep. Anywhere from a couple of minutes to ten minutes. Then she stops. And it happens again and again. We get a steady night of sleep maybe once a week. I am a person who needs 7-8 solid hours of sleep to function well and not be grumpy. So I am grumpy. Tired. Dragging.

The girls are fighting a lot. Being an only child, sibling dynamics are new to me. I feel like they fight all the time. I am constantly breaking up fights. Sophie cries about everything. Lizzie’s been crying a lot. I feel like my life is filled with crying. Usually not mine. But still. It echoes in my head and I think – wait – who’s crying? Or is that just in my head?

Sophie decided to start potty training. Which is great. But another thing to constantly think about. Potty every hour. I don’t always remember to prompt her. Hence, many accidents to clean up.

The yard is overgrown. You can’t walk up our walkway because of the brush. There are weeds all in the swingset area and it’s gross looking. I haven’t had time to pick the beans I grew and they are getting old and tough. Being a gardener, this is panic-inducing.

And the laundry! The dishes! The grocery shopping! The crunchy floor! The mail piling up! List of things to do. House maintenance. Back-to-school shopping. Haircuts. Shoes. Clothes.

I am forgetting things. Birthdays. Appointments. RSVPs to parties.

I have not had a minute to myself. No time to blog. No time to read. No time to garden. No time to see friends. No time to exercise. No time to cook.

I feel like I yell a lot. Too much.

Something has to change.

This is not working.

So what am I gonna do about it?

That’ll be my next post. For now, I just needed to rant. Thanks for sticking with me.

Posted in Family, Mom confessions, Overwhelmed, Parenting, Work-life balance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

A situation in which I felt like a jerk. But I’m not sure if I should have.

Posted on August 4, 2011 by JD

Today I felt like a complete and total a$$hole.

But I also wondered: Wait. Should I feel like an a$$hole? Or not?

Here’s what happened. I was at a pool club. I brought my girls – ages 5 and 2.5 – to the (very small and slightly crowded) girls’ locker room to shower and change into clean clothes. Sophia, the younger one, pooped in her swimmy diaper. Fabulous. So I’m dealing with that mess while Lizzie is whining about something, when a mom and her three school-aged boys come in.

We’re talking about boys aged around 5, 7, and 9. Not little toddler and preschool boys (which I am ok with in a girls’ locker room because what other option do their moms have if the boys or mom have to use the bathroom?). Big boys. In this tiny girls’ locker room. Where little girls are walking around sans clothes and showering.

The boys claim three of the showers and are getting ready to get in. There are girls around in various states of undress. My younger kid is nekked. My older kid is about to get nekked. And the oldest boy (clothed) is staring at my youngest, though I am strategically covering her and he probably can’t see anything. And the other boys are occasionally looking, too.

And I am internally FREAKING OUT.

Why is this mom bringing her older sons into the girls’ locker room? Why is she putting me and the other moms in this awkward position? This is not ok.

The mom herds two of her three kids into the showers and proceeds to direct their cleansing. Lizzie keeps asking to take off her swimsuit and get in the shower with Sophia and I’m all in a whisper, “DON’T. Not yet.” And then she’s all in a not-so-whisper, “Mom. There are BOYS in here.” And I hiss in a louder whisper, “LIZZIE. Yes. There are boys in here. Keep your clothes ON.” And the mom can probably hear me but at this point I don’t care. I’m frustrated and frazzled.

I cover Sophia as best I can, throw her in the shower, and keep commanding a protesting Lizzie to keep her suit on because the nine-year-old boy, the one who was staring at Sophia, is now staring at her. And then Lizzie connects the dots and realizes – oh – wait – yeah, I need to keep my suit on. Because a boy is looking at me.

I know Lizzie is not okay with boys seeing her nekked, which is FINE BY ME. Because I’m not ok with it, either. And I want to respect her budding modesty. I try to convince her to wait to shower until we get home, but no dice. She is tired and I don’t want her to start crying and whining about it, so I let it go.

I focus on getting Sophia clean for a while and keep Lizzie right next to me. Then I’m getting Sophia out of the shower while trying to strategically cover her and get Lizzie in while also strategically covered. And then the nine-year-old boy, who is already clean and clothed somehow, is staring again. And then something occurs to me.

The boy may not be your average nine-year-old boy. There may be something going on with him.

Suddenly he comes over and hugs my (completely covered in a towel) Sophia, who seems shocked for a second, but then is ok. I say something to the boy like, “Oh, honey, she doesn’t like being hugged by people she doesn’t know,” which is usually true. She usually freaks out when someone she doesn’t know approaches her, let alone touches her. Oddly, Sophia seems ok. And she kind of smiles.

The boy’s mom realizes what’s going on and quickly distracts him and gets him in a changing room. Doesn’t say a word to me. In a whirlwind the mom, boys, and grandma, who appeared at some point, all leave. The mom seems a little flustered. I try to make eye contact. Nothing.

And that’s when I felt like a complete and total a$$hole.

This mom probably had a son with special needs that may not have been immediately apparent. But I should have clued in sooner. Right?

But then again, even if I did clue in, what would have changed? I still would not have been ok with these big boys in the locker room. I don’t think it’s appropriate. Maybe I shouldn’t have immediately felt like a jerk. Maybe I was justified in how I felt.

But I am not in that mom’s shoes. I have no idea what she was dealing with. I can’t possibly know the situation she is in. What if the oldest boy needed to be with her at all times?

But then why not shower the boys at home?

I guess what I know is, I am in MY shoes, and I want to protect my kid from feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable about school-aged boys staring at/sneaking glances of her when she’s trying to shower in a girls’ locker room.

My husband is gonna freak out when he hears about this. Boys looking at his baby girls in the locker room? Hide the shotguns, kids.

How would you have reacted? What do you think about school-aged boys in the girls’ locker room? What if one of the boys is older, but has special needs? It’s a sticky situation…

Posted in Parenting, Summer with kids, Uncomfortable situations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

9 things my five-year-old understands that Congress has apparently forgotten

Posted on July 30, 2011 by JD

We all know there is a debt-ceiling crisis going on. And it’s not getting resolved because a whole bunch of adults in Washington, D.C., can’t seem to remember how to work together. They are messing around with our country’s credit. The worth of the American dollar. Hubs’ and my retirement. Our kids’ 529 savings for college. And you know what? I’m pretty stinkin’ mad about it.

Some people WE ELECTED are too worried about politics and their own political necks to do what the majority of Americans want them to do: Compromise. Work together. Stop posturing, get in a conference room, and FIGURE IT OUT.

All this ridiculousness has made me wonder if certain members of Congress have forgotten some basic life rules. Maybe the air quality in D.C. is so bad that their brains have gotten all fogged up and they aren’t thinking straight. So I’m going to do all you Congressmen/women and Senators a public service and jog those memories of yours. Without further ado I present:

9 Things My Five-Year-Old Understands that Congress Has Apparently Forgotten

1. Bullying isn’t nice.

2. Play fair.

3. Clean up the mess you made before moving onto the next project.

4. Admit when you’re wrong and say you’re sorry.

5. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

6. Use kind words.

7. You can’t always win.

8. Respect others, even if you don’t agree with them all the time.

9. Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t the most popular thing to do.

 

Wise words to live by, are they not?

 

Posted in Politics, Random | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments