Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Mama Success

Sometimes, Luna and I have these very deep conversations.  She uses a very serious whisper-type voice.  She makes intense eye contact.  She places her hand on my cheek to make sure I am an active listener.  And she e-nun-ci-ates with real intent.

Tonight, as we snuggled, we had one of those moments.

"Mama, farts stinks," she begins.  "And, if you touch your butt, your hand smells really stinky."

I feel triumphant that my youngest child has realized, fully, these two wise lessons.  They will carry her far in life, I'm sure.

Good night.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Sorry, Barbie

I had a date at Barnes & Noble with Tulip today - she still had a gift card from Christmas.  Out of the 100 million books in the children's section, she grabbed a Barbie book.  Now, those of you who know me know that I'm not that crazy about Barbie.  And neither is Tulip.  She has one doll and has never asked for another one.  Why Tulip was drawn to a Barbie book is beyond me.  Actually, I probably know why.  It's Barbie.  She smiles at you prettily from the front cover of a book.  Duh.

Anyway, when I looked at the title of the book, I had one of those "oh, it figures..." moments.  Barbie Wants To Be a Baby Doctor.

Seriously.  Those of you who know me know that I am a natural birth/attachment parenting advocate.

I flipped through the first few pages and saw Barbie in the nursery.  (What?!? No rooming in?)

Barbie gave a baby a bath.  (What?  Where's the midwife teaching Barbie the invaluable benefits of vernix?  Why is Barbie bathing a baby?  Why isn't she showing the mother how to massage the vernix into the baby's skin?  Sheesh.)

Then.  You guessed it.  Barbie gives the baby a bottle.  Gah!  (What?!  Where's the lactation consultant showing Barbie and the mom how to obtain a proper latch?)

Oh, and during all of this she is wearing skinny jeans and high-heel wedge sandals.  Whatever.  I'd like to have those same purple skinny jeans and wedges as Barbie but I wouldn't be wearing them if I was a baby doctor working in a hospital.

I had to remind myself that at least in Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for the 100th Day of Kindergarten a mother is wearing not one but two babies in a sling.

Tulip grabs a coloring book and a Fancy Nancy book and some generic princess book that comes with a locket and we get chocolate milk and a cookie and finish our date.

Inevitable it is bedtime and we read the whole Barbie book.  Well, further into the book we find that a new doctor needs Barbie and the nurse's help.  A mommy had a baby girl.  The nurse shows Barbie how to hold the baby.  The baby cries.  The baby is hungry.  Barbie brings the baby to her mom.  Then the book says, "Her mom will feed the baby."  There is no picture of a bottle.  It is completely implied that the mom will breastfeed the baby.

Yay.

Sorry, Barbie.  I'll give you the benefit of the doubt next time.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

My son

My son.  Here's what he's like right now:

Wolfie's giggle is so genuine and delightful.  

At exactly 5:59 this evening he said, "Well, it looks like we have 91 minutes until bedtime."

He had two chapters left in a book he's reading.  He read one before bed and then was strategizing how he could finish it in the morning.  I reminded him that tomorrow is late start Wednesday (implying that he would, in fact, have extra time in the morning) and his face lit up.  "Great!" he said, excited to have extra time to read.

We went to Key Lime Cove this weekend.  It was bananas.  I might blog about it another time but part of the kids' big treat was an arcade swipe card with 100 credits.  One card.  Three kids.  It turned out that Luna skipped the arcade so only Wolfie and Tulip had to share this card.  Without prompting from me, Wolfie turned to Tulip and said, "I know, I'll use the card to play three games, then I'll give it to and you can play three games and then you'll give it back to me and that's how we'll share it."  And that's exactly what they did. 

Finally, he made this puppet stage last week.  He just asked me if we had any boxes that he could turn into a stage.  A half hour later we were all handed "tickets" and invited into the living room.  
Ultrabot was at it again.


Monday, February 4, 2013

fascinating

Tonight I was coaxing Luna to the bathroom so she could do her business of getting ready for bed.  On our way down the hall, she told me to be the teacher.  I said, "Come on, student, let's go potty and brush your teeth."  Game is on.

"Okay, teacher," she says in her pretend voice.

While she was on the potty, she asked me if teachers wipe butts.  I figured this was the opportune time to tell her how it really is.  I was rambling on and on about how to go potty at school...

"Close the door for privacy."
"You can even lock it."
"The potty will be just your size."
"There's toilet paper right next to the toilet just for you, student." (the game was still on)
"You get to wipe yourself..."

She squeaks, "That's fascinating."  Then, in a whisper voice, "Mama, that means 'wow'."