Archives for 2009

Two weeks ago, when we visited the pediatrician, the doctor checked Tai’s ears and could only see wax. After digging in both ears and washing them out, a process that was torturous for both Tia and Lee and I, the doctor had successfully removed four plugs of wax that were each roughly the diameter of a pea. Our doctor told us that Tia had likely been only hearing at about 10%, which is probably why she still wasn’t talking.

Today she is talking more clearly than I’ve ever heard her and she’s talking a lot more. She also keeps putting her hands over her ears and saying, “Too loud!” Poor kid.

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While driving in the car the other day, I pointed out a brillinat sunset to the kids. We talked about what a great job God did painting the sky. Here were Tia’s comments:

“Mommy, Do yud me.” (translation God Loves Me)
Me: “Yes he does, Tia.”
Tia: “Yeah. Do dood.” (God is good)
Me: “Yes, He is.”
Tia: “Yeah. Da Hedew bad. Do dood. Da Hedew till me. Do say me.” (Darth Vader is bad. God is good. Darth Vader kills me. God saves me.)
Me: “Ooookaaay.”

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Sloan is into telling jokes. Someone shoot me now. These are the jokes that I must endure multiple times a day.
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Gladys
Gladys who?
Gladys ba-Gladys I don’t know where my eyeball is.

I know. Painful. Literally, my stomach starts to twist up in knots every time I hear the words Knock Knock. I even bought him a jokebook in the hopes that he would learn good jokes. Didn’t work. He still prefers to make up his own. How long does this phase last?

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When Sloan tells Tia a joke, this is usually her response:
“Hol, da no hunny.” (Sloan, that’s not funny)
Or, my personal favorite, “Hol, da no may sense.” (Sloan that doesn’t make sense)

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I have recently introduced the movie Singin’ in the Rain. The kids love it. They dance around the house singing, “Make ’em laaauugh.” It’s great. We’ve also started watching Little House on the Prairie on a regular basis. Much to Lee’s chagrin. I keep trying to remind him that this will make Sloan very marketable with the ladies someday. He usually responds by telling me that he doesn’t want me signing Sloan up for some fru-fru dance class. Deal, babe.

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There is a George Clooney movie filming in town in March. I went to the open casting call for extras but when I saw the several hundred people standing in line, I laughed and walked away. On a whim, I sent in my application, but figured I wouldn’t hear anything because I heard they were giving preference to those who actually showed up for the casting call. I got a call yesterday asking me if I could come be part of the shoot on March 10. Fun! I’m excited. My mom is out of town that day so I’ll have to round up childcare, but it should be a good time.

I told Lee I hope I get to see George Clooney because, um, hi – he’s sexy. Lee told me I have full permission to drool over him if we come in contact. My husband is cool.

Enjoy the video of our little rock star. I particularly love the part where he sings “I will levah praise you.” Awesome. He kept starting just a little too high and had to go into his falsetto. So cute. If you click on The Next American Idol link under the Favorites tab, you can see him singing the same song last year as well. Happy Monday to you all!

If you need help wiping, let me know.

Hold still, I’ve got to dig this booger out of your nose.

Wow, I love that Crockpot.

7:30? Man, we slept in today.

Don’t grab your brother’s penis.

Can I please use the bathroom in private?

Eat your french fries or you can’t have dessert.

I swear, this house smells like poop.

Gorilla Munch does not go up your nose!

Why is there chocolate running out of your nose? Did you put a chocolate chip up there?

All I want is a nap.

I can’t wait to vaccuum.

Maxipads are not stickers.

We have to leave in 20 minutes? Okay, I’ll jump in the shower.

I wish I had an office job to escape to.

No, you’re not superman so don’t try and jump off the top of the swing set.

Yay! A date night. Let’s go to Borders and have some hot tea while we look at travel magazines.

Because I said so.

I don’t care who started it, I’m gonna finish it.

Take your shoes off I just mopped!

Who flushed mommy’s necklace down the toilet?

What about you? What are some thing you’ve said recently that you never thought you’d say?

Well, I did it. Yesterday I took the plunge and registered my oldest for kindergarten. Ohmygosh, how did we get here so fast? I try hard not to be one of those weepy moms who gets overly emotional at silly stuff, but this made me a little emotional. It does go by fast doesn’t it?

I thought I’d write a little post about the options for schooling and get some feedback from the rest of you. I have really gone back and forth on this schooling thing the last couple of months. We registered Sloan for public school, which had been the plan all along, but I started to have some reservations about two months ago and it took quite a bit of praying and soul searching (on my part – Lee has been cool with this option from day one) to get me to that school yesterday.

I’ll be honest, private school has not really been on the table. While I’m not against private school I do have some reservations that have held me back from pursuing it as an option (my husband shares the same reservations). I know there are some good private schools in our area, but I just don’t feel like that is for us, at least not right now. We are very blessed to be in a good school district and the elementary school our kids will go to is smaller and is a great school. So, between private and public, public won out.

Until about a year ago, I always said that I would never, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, homeschool my children. I, like so many people, had misconceptions that those who choose homeschooling are granola lovers with 15 kids who all wear homemade clothes and sing old hymns accapella at night under the stars. But then, out of the blue, I got a little stirring. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe I should give it a try. Suddenly, I found that I really liked the idea of homeschooling. And who cares if I can’t sew a button onto a shirt? I could make it work! Oh, and guess what – homeschoolers are normal! I now realize that my misconceptions were way off and that most people who choose to homeschool are just like the rest of us – they’re just trying to do what they feel is best for their children.

I have to say, I like the freedom that homeschooling presents us as a family. I like the control it gives me over my kids education and I like the fact that it presents so many other options for the kids. There are amazing homschool co-ops in the St. Louis area. I had no idea how organized homeschoolers are. Which is probably a red flag given that I’m not known for my organizational capabilities.

But, after much prayer, I realized my motives were not right – at least not all of them. Part of me wanted to homeschool because I wanted to be able to say I did it. Of the three schooling options, homeschooling is definately the most challenging and I wanted to take on the challenge. Not a very fair reason to keep my kids at home. Also, I was so taken by several women who I know, either personally or through the cyber world, who homeschool and do such neat things with their kids that I wanted to be a part of that group. You can check them out here, here, here and here. Again, though, it’s not a great reason to choose to keep my kids home. Mostly, I think I just wanted to keep control of our family schedule. I am not looking forward to the craziness of trying to get everyone where they need to be next year. I have had minor panic attacks wondering how on earth I’m going to get Tia picked up and get home in time to meet Sloan’s bus. It may not be as bad as I’m thinking, but right now it seems daunting. Homeschooling just seems easier in that regard.

I finally decided that, for now, our best option is to stick with the public school, which I’m totally comfortable with. When I signed Sloan up yesterday, I walked through the halls and got a little misty-eyed thinking about my elementary school years and what lies ahead of him. Sloan is such a magnetic kid – so people oriented and motivated by a crowd. He’s going to do great in school. I’m excited for him and he’s beyond elated that he’s going to big kid school next year. The fact that he gets to ride the school bus makes him jump around like an electric chihuahua. He’ll be fine…and so will I.

I did, however, pass on the Adventure Club and full day options. I want to keep him home as long as I possibly can. He’s got the rest of his life to go to school. He can stay close to his mama for one more year.

So, this soul searching process has been good in one regard; it’s let me know that I am open to anything and that, I think, is a good place to be. If I have a child that would benefit from homeschooling, I’m all over it. If we have one that would thrive in private school, we’ll do that. But for now, I think we are going to be a public school family. What about you guys? How did you decide what school to send your kids to?

Tia had a purple tea party for her birthday and all she wanted was a purple bike. Here are a few pictures from the celebration. We’re busy here the next of days so I’ll post when I can. In the meantime, hope you’re all having a lovely (frigid) Wednesday morning.

We’re still on the mend here. Lee and I are functioning at about 80% today, which is a huge improvement. Landon is by far still the worst but hopefully in the next day or two he will turn a corner as well. In the meantime, well, I’m going to discuss politics again. I know, I know, I said I’d stop but there’s really just so much going on these days, how can we ignore it?

Listen, I’m appalled, dismayed, outraged, you-name-it, about the “stimulus” bill that passed last night. Dana wrote a great article about it for BlogHer and since I can’t say it any better than what she did, I’ll let you read her words. In a nutshell, though, she makes the point that while this is being touted as a stimulus, what it is is another bailout – and it’s a bad one.

What I would like to talk about, however, is the idea of bipartisanship that everyone seems to be going on and on about but no one is really making an effort to achieve. Look, I’ll be honest with you here. I only received two C’s in all of my college career. One was in Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters, which – well, okay that’s embarrassing. The other was in Political Science. Incidentally, I also barely passed that class in high school as well. It just didn’t make sense to me. Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, Judicial Branch, blah, blah, blah…

I didn’t vote in an election until 2000. I could have voted in the ’96 election but I was barely 18 and truly could have cared less. I’m not even sure I knew what day the elections were held. So my first experience voting was the 2000 race between Gore and Bush. My husband stayed up late into the night watching the crazy results – I went to bed because blah, blah, blah.

So, there’s a brief bit of history. I’m no political expert and I am not trying to be. But, I do care now about the political climate of this country more than ever before and now that I’m a mother, the decisions that these politicians make matter to me. As Dana has said before (yes, I quote her a lot, but I respect her very much and appreciate her amazing gift with words) motherhood is political.

So, here’s my take on this situation. President Obama came into office proclaiming his desire to reach across party lines and work in a bipartisan matter. Well, he’s one week into office and I’m already doubting the sincerity of those words. Did I really think he meant it? I don’t know. I hoped. As I said here, I want his success.

What happened yesterday, however, was anything but bipartisan. Which brings me to the climax of this post. I do not feel like there should be the opportunity for one party to have such a broad majority in the House. If we’re going to be a bipartisan nation, then we need a bipartisan government and when we have a party that is so dominant, bipartisanship goes down the drain. It’s all about survival of the fittest. This bill did not have one single supporter from the GOP. Does that not say something? House Republicans were not trying to deny America the help that it needs. But they saw things in this stimulus, nay BAILOUT, bill that were flagrant and unnecessary and all they asked was for their voices to be heard.

But it’s a popularity contest right now and the Democrats win. I’m not saying that the Republicans are perfect and their ideas were a save all, but come on – they deserve to have a say because they speak for a lot of people in this country. The last poll I heard, 40% of the American population disapproved of this package. Is that not significant?

To the Democratic party – look, you guys won elections fair and square (for the most part). You’re in office because we the people put you there. But just because you have the majority doesn’t mean you get to bully us. We want a voice and we deserve a say in the direction you take our country. Don’t say you’re going to work in a bipartisan way then walk away laughing. If you plan on running our government like this for the next four years, then please, have the dignity to tell it like it is. Don’t lie to us because we’re not buying it.

So that’s my take. We now have an massive bill out there that’s going to cost us and our children a lot of money. It was passed by a majority, but the entire majority was of the same party. This, in my opinion, is where we went wrong. There’s another chance today as the bill goes to the Senate. Will Obama listen? Will he follow through on his word to work in a bipartisan manner? Well, I certainly hope so because I want to believe in my President. But, you know, don’t listen to me. I’m just the girl who got a C in Poly Sci.

10. When you receive an email from your child’s school informing you of a case of influenza in his class, blow it off and assume that due to your stellar parenting your child will not be affected.

Just an fyi for local bloggers. Tomorrow morning the St. Louis Blogger’s Guild will hold our monthly meeting and if you’re interested in coming to see what we do and meet some of the other members, we’d love to have you. Details are posted on the guild site. Have a great weekend everyone!