Battling cabin fever

Filed under: Family togetherness, 6-7 years, Creative projects

I like snow a little. It's pretty as it falls and certainly dresses up a dreary winter landscape. But after having lived in upstate New York for a few years, my relationship with snow is strained at best. That part of the country is insane with the stuff. It starts falling early and just keeps on accumulating. No amount of shoveling and salting will ever result in you getting ahead of it. As soon as you've cleared a path to your front door, a load of it slides off the roof and blocks your way. It was just too much for a south Texas girl like myself.

Now we live in Idaho where the snow is different. In the valley where we live, it comes down sparingly and usually melts within 24 hours. Except for this year. While it could never rival New York snow, this year's Idaho snow has been sticking around for weeks at a time. Like a tease, it all melted away Saturday, only to reappear two-fold on Sunday. So much for our plans to take our new roller skates out for a spin.

After exhausting all my ideas for indoor activities and failing to interest Ellie in a nice, long nap, we did what had to be done. We bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. I don't like to be cold and neither does Ellie, so our excursion didn't last long. In fact, it lasted just long enough for us to realize that we haven't a clue when it comes to making a snowman. Instead, we made something that looks kind of like a legless muppet body-builder, holding a bouquet of plastic flowers. Yeah, that's what we meant for it to look like. Only 74 more days until Spring!

By the way, how do you make a snowman?

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Britney goes off the deep end, again

Filed under: Child Custody, Celebrity parents behaving badly

Just shy of the one year anniversary of her bizarre head-shaving incident, Britney Spears is in the news (and prayers of fans) again, this time for refusing to hand over her children to Kevin Federline's bodyguards sent to collect the boys after their visitation time their mother.

After four hours of "intense negotiation" the Jayden was taken from Britney (older brother Sean Preston somehow was removed earlier) and she was forcibly strapped to a gurney and taken to a hospital. Jayden was also taken to the hospital as he had been left alone with Britney, who appears to have locked the court appointed monitor out of the house.

The 26-year-old was taken to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she will undergo a mental health assessment.

A police spokesperson told the press today, "We believe Britney Spears is under the influence and needs to be evaluated. At this stage we do not know what she may or may not have taken - that's why she needs to be evaluated. But obviously if the test does prove positive, then we would be looking to move her to a police station and charge her."

If this is how the legal system handles custody issues involving a clearly messed up parent, what hope is there for the kids of unstable parents who are not followed by photographers?

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Silly nicknames for baby?

Filed under: ParentDish Laughs, Adventures in Parenting

As you may know from reading my posts my husband and I often refer to my son as Mr. Pickles. We've been calling him this since before he was born, in addition to at least twenty other "pet" or nicknames. It's not that we don't like his real name, but more a sign of our affection. If love were a name Mr. Pickles would be the most loved child in the world.

The other day over a break I decided to Google Mr. Pickles just to see what would pop up. Admit it--we've all Googled ourselves so why not our children too? And yes, Google is now a verb too!

Anyway, I Googled "Mr. Pickles" and came across this absolutely hilarious website. Naturally, they sold t-shirts so I checked out what they offered for children. They just so happen to sell a t-shirt my son's size that has a picture of a pickle playing the banjo on it. The caption on it reads, "They call me Mr. Pickles."

I simply had to have it, as you might imagine. It was only ten bucks so not too bad a deal. People who don't know us will ask us (when they see him in the t-shirt) why our baby has on a shirt that says "They call me Mr. Pickles," to which we'll reply that we call him Mr. Pickles. I imagine it will be quite humorous.

So, take a shot, if you haven't already, and Google your kids' nicknames. You might end up with a chuckle. Or a t-shirt.

Pic of Mr. Pickles, my hero, by joelogon.

PS--you know, it never hurts to look your kids up online, as a safety precaution. Something you don't know about--and don't like--might be lurking out there in the ether.

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Punishing your kids through the laughter

Filed under: Middle school, 13-14 years

How do you keep from laughing when your son or daughter gets in trouble at school for something funny? I remember working with a lady a few years ago who always warned me, "Just wait, your time is coming," when I would laugh at the antics of her son. One day, she received a call from the school that her son was in the principal's office for being disruptive during the school fire drill. Apparently, he had lead the school in the limbo while they were exiting the school. She called her husband to go with her to the meeting and they had to make a pact not to look at each other during the meeting because they were afraid they would laugh.

That's funny, right? Yes, he was disruptive and broke the rules, but I always wondered what I would do when that happened to me. Well, I can wonder no more. My son came home from school Friday telling me how he had gotten into trouble in band class for yelling during practice. They were playing a song that was a Paso Doble and it reminded him of "Dancing with the Stars," so when the song ended, he threw his fist into the air passionately, imitating Bruno, and yelled out "10!" The whole class laughed, of course, and now he has lunch detention.

He told me the story and I wasn't prepared, so of course I laughed. His response to me was, "I told my friends you would probably laugh and I wouldn't get in trouble."

Well, that sobered me right up. Yes, it was funny, but no, he should not have done it. So we had a little chat about appropriate behavior and I told him to save the Seinfeld stand-up routine for the lunch table. Now I just need a little practice on my poker face and response time.

How do you reprimand your children when they do something that's funny, yet still against the rules?

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Are birth days more telling than we think?

Filed under: Moms, Newborn, Infant / First year

When I was first given my son's due date, two things sprung immediately to mind:
1) I am going to be ginormous and sweating and hulk-sized, with grapefruit-sized ankles, all summer long.
2) My son is going to be a Leo. Oh no.

My Dad is a Leo, and, he would agree with me 100% when I say that he is one of the most difficult human beings on the face of the earth. I have never met a Leo (and oddly, I dated quite a few of them) who didn't live up to their trademark astrological characteristics: proud, passionate, ambitious, strong, independent, leader, bossy, dogmatic, aggressive, argumentative, etc.

When Nolan was a baby, he was so docile and sweet that I couldn't imagine him inheriting any of the intrinsic Leo traits, but I watch him now, demanding to be watched, wanting to be the center of attention. He is almost absurdly bossy for a two year old, and I can already see that he is strong and passionate about every little thing he does. He is a consummate Leo and I can't deny it. Not that Leos don't have tons of awesome traits, too (JK Rowling is a Leo!) but I don't know...aren't Cancers easier?

I've never really put a lot of faith in astrology -- I am a Taurus and possess very few of the characteristic traits -- but someone recently explained to me that I am not really a Taurus but am on the Taurus/Aries cusp, which is a different ball of wax. A quick glance at the description and it's me. I'm convinced: I think there might be something to this whole astrology business.

I'm curious to know -- do your kids "fit" their astrological sign?

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