Organized Activities Are Cramping My Style

I always swore I wasn’t going to be one of those mothers whose children are in 50,000 different activities a day and who spend all of their time driving their children from place to place. So for a long time, I resisted organized weekly activities for Mouse.

Also, I’m kind of cheap.

We go to the library for storytime every Tuesday (free!) and we also have a swimming lesson (not free) on Tuesday nights. Those used to be our only activities, but then Mouse started exhibiting some speech delays so we had his evaluated and were recommended speech therapy twice a week. And because he was a late walker (17 months), they also recommended a “mommy and me-type gym class” for his “emerging skills.”

So off we went to speech therapy and…

Where I am now known as “Grandma.”


So now our week is:

Monday: Speech therapy (morning)

Tuesday: Library (morning) and swimming (evening)

Wednesday: Gymboree with Grandma–I mean me (morning)

Thursday: Speech therapy (morning)

I know it doesn’t seem like much to most people, but I am very unused to having 4 mornings taken up right off the bat. Plus it’s been very hard to go to playdates because many of them are at the same time as our above activities.

But mostly it’s just cramping my style. I liked being able to lounge around the house eating bon bons at my leisure. Now we have a schedule to stick to. And it’s only going to get worse from here. *sigh*

Who Are You Calling Grandma?





Me: “I’m Mommy.”







Apparently not.




The First Haircut

So we finally got Mouse’s first haircut in Florida. Yes, we traveled all the way from California to Florida for a haircut. What can I say–it was special!


Mouse had a bunch of fine hair with some adorable curls at the bottom. While I did love his baby soft hair, it was definitely obscuring his sight. But I held out. You see, in Disneyworld in Florida, there’s a working barber shop on Main Street, which we lack here in Disneyland in Southern California. And if you get your first haircut at the barber shop in Disneyworld, you get a complimentary pair of “First Haircut” mouse ears and a certificate of bravery. And Mom also gets a little packet of those adorable baby curls to take home.

Our barber was wonderful. Mouse hates sitting still, so I was a little trepidatious as to how this was going to go. In addition, Train Guy had a traumatic first haircut that involved cutting his little ear and making him fear haircuts for a number of years. I just wasn’t sure how it would go. But the barber gave him about 10 Mickey Mouse stickers to play with. She stuck them all over his chest and belly and legs, and he spent the entire time rearranging his stickers and not even noticing that his hair was being cut.


That Disney–they sure know how to do things right.

Anyway, it’s amazing what a haircut can do. Our baby turned into an actual little boy with his new ‘do. All in all it was a great haircut experience and I’m glad we waited until our trip to Florida, even if people started mistaking him for a girl at the end there.

ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF OUR HOOT, OWL, HOOT GIVEAWAY!   Rachel, you’re the winner!  Thanks to everyone who entered.  And stay tuned for more giveaways!

Not Now, Honey, Mommy's Sick

I’ve got “that virus that’s going around”–words in quotes because that’s exactly what the urgent care doctor said to me on Saturday. And of course, the sucky thing about a virus is that there’s nothing they can do to cure it except treating the symptoms and praying it doesn’t turn into an ear infection or a sinus infection.

The funny thing is, I got this from Mouse who is basically unaffected. He’s had a lingering cough, but coughs maybe once every 10 minutes or so. He had a runny nose, but that cleared up. He never looked or acted miserable and never had a fever. Unlike me, who got all of that. I don’t know how it is that I’m like 20 times sicker than a 2-year-old with the same virus, but there ya go. Better me than him though, that’s for sure.

So what do moms do when they’re sick? We do the best we can. Mouse is getting in some major television time. Oh well, it’s not going to kill him. And luckily Train Guy works from home and is able to pitch in tremendously. Unfortunately, Train Guy started coughing tonight too. My biggest concern is that we’re going to Disneyworld on Sunday for a week and I really don’t want to fly to Florida with a sick family.

Ugh, and big hugs to everyone else out there who’s sick.

Conveniently Green: The Quick Cycle

Here’s a quick Conveniently Green tip for you–the Quick Cycle on your washing machine. Take a look at your machine–do you have one? Here’s the difference on mine.

Regular cycle:

Quick cycle:

Yep, the regular cycle take almost twice as much time as the quick cycle. More time = more energy = more water. And then it occurred to me one day–not everything in the laundry basket needs to be washed on the full cycle. Sure, some of our clothes need the heavy hitting, but we also have clothes that are very lightly soiled or worn for a short period of time or just need a quick little wash. I started collecting those clothes in a pile and now put them on quick cycle instead of the regular cycle. If I’m mixing darks and lights, I sometimes throw in a Shout Color Catcher (they really work!). I’ve never pulled a garmet out of a quick cycle and thought “oh man, this should have gone for another half hour.” So next time you are throwing your clothes in the machine, take a second to think about clothes that are only lightly soiled and consider putting them on a shorter cycle. Conveniently Green: Just a Little Bit Less!

Why Can't We Just Support Each Other?

Sometimes I just get so frustrated with the Sanctimommies. You know the ones I’m talking about–the ones with perfect children who judge every little thing you do. Yeah, them. What drives me nuts in particular are the ones who interpret all of their children’s successes as direct results of their stellar parenting (and by inference, your problems are a direct result of your totally deficient parenting).

Like if your child misbehaves in some way, they’re the first to point out how their child has either never done that (followed up by a supposition as to why that might be the case) or their particular parenting technique was instantly effective so you’re probably doing something wrong. For example:

Me: I’m so frustrated–Mouse keeps throwing food on the floor and laughing about it. It’s driving me crazy!

Sanctimommy #1: That’s weird, Junior never threw food. I wonder why a child would do that. I always feed Junior homegrown organic fruits and vegetables cultivated in environmentally-sensitive ways and prepared with a variety of flavorings and spices so he has developed a love for cuisines all around the world. I avoid all processed foods because I read on the internet that they can cause behavioral problems. Have you tried cooking your own food and giving him something that he likes to eat? Maybe he wouldn’t throw it then.

Self-Portrait via Webcam:

Sanctimommy #2: Sweetums threw food once when she was 9 months old. I sat down with her and just told her “honey, we don’t throw food because there are starving children in other parts of the world and it’s a waste, and also it’s difficult for Mommy to clean up,” and she said, “Oh Mummy, I am so very sorry! If I mop the floor for you, will you give me extra money to donate to the fight against world hunger?” Have you tried talking to Mouse? Maybe if he understood why it was bad he wouldn’t do it.

Self Portrait via Webcam:

I mean seriously–a lot of stuff with our kids just has to do with their personality, not with our superior parenting. Sure, parenting does make a difference, but really kids have fully-formed personalities and traits and let’s not take credit for things that are just a result of that.

For example (again), Mouse is an excellent sleeper. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and continued ever since. If he does wake up in the middle of the night, he talks to his stuffed animals for a few minutes and then goes back to sleep. No crying, no calling for Mommy and Daddy, just an assured awakening and falling right back to sleep again.

Now from this experience I could conclude one of two things:

1) Mouse sleeps so well because I am a totally awesome parent. So awesome, in fact, that I should seriously write a book about kids and sleeping because look how well my kid sleeps! If everyone parented the way I do, everyone’s kid would happily sleep through the night.

2) We’ve done some very helpful things to soothe him to sleep and convince him to stay asleep, but for the most part, he’s just an easy sleeper.

Obviously the answer is #1.

I mean look, we’re all in this together. It’s not a competition. You don’t get, like, extra gold stars for having a better kid than other mothers do. Why can’t we just support each other?

So Whadja Get?


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