December 2008 - Posts

• Happy New Year!

  Ah…another year gone, and another to look forward to.  As the ball drops tonight, I hope everyone takes a few moments to reflect on this past year – your sad moments and your happy ones.  I pray that your joyful moments far outweigh any bad ones you experienced and that your worst times don’t really seem quite so awful when you look back on them.  This was the year when I became a paid writer.  No, I am not going to become rich writing this blog, but it is an important outlet for me.  By sharing our experiences here, I feel less alone.  When I am having one of those tantrum-filled days when I want to run away to anywhere without cell reception, I remember all of you, and I know that I am connected to people who care (or stalkers…but I choose to focus on the positive here). This was the year when Dom started to become more independent.  He is growing up way too quickly, and I miss my baby sometimes.  But I am also a little less paranoid about his safety these days.  I don’t know if that is because I burned out my worry gland, or if it is because I am finally starting to believe that he is really here to stay.  But it is nice that I can let him play on a playground without standing underneath him, that I can let him walk along a trail without holding his hand, that we can go to the mall without his backpack leash…However, I do reserve the right to douse him with antibacterial gel without notice, and I refuse to trust anyone else to baby-sit him (I am working on that – I promise).  All in all, we have had a wonderful year, filled with Dom moments that I will treasure forever.  May the next year bring more of the same for us all. Happy New Year! Posted Dec 31 2008, 12:10 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays [Edit Tags]

• A Few Observations about Christmas

  1.  In that classic Rudolph movie, the one in which Rudolph runs away to the Island of Misfit Toys, Santa comes across as a mean bully.  I mean, he actually joined in with the other reindeer to reject Rudolph because of his red nose.  I never noticed it as a kid, but it is kind of disturbing now.  And it makes me glad that Santa isn’t part of our Christmas celebrations – how do you explain to a kid that sometimes, Santa is an ass?  If I were Rudolph, I would have created a counter-Christmas organization and exposed Santa’s nasty behavior.  Where, oh where is the Enquirer when you need it? 2.  No matter how carefully you plan your Christmas visiting schedule, everybody is going to be unhappy.  The people you visit in the morning will get to see your kid in his best mood of the day, while the people you visit in the afternoon will be able to sit down and eat with you.  Alternatively, the people you visit in the morning won’t be able to share a meal with you, while the people you see in the afternoon will miss the morning excitement.  And everyone points this out to the parents.  Repeatedly. 3.  I wish we, as a society, still went Christmas caroling.  I would love to go, but I imagine my neighbors’ reactions to our showing up on their doorsteps singing would be to either ignore us entirely, or to open the door long enough to tell us to shut up before slamming it in our faces.  4.  Christmas ends too soon, and there is always that let-down feeling when it is over.  If only I had one room I could leave decorated. Posted Dec 29 2008, 02:18 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays [Edit Tags]

• The Book Corner…December 27, 2008

  Dom and I love to read together.  Rather, I read while he flips the pages so quickly that I can’t keep up.  Same difference. We check anywhere from 5 – 15 children’s books out of the library each week.  We also have an extensive children’s collection on our own bookshelves.  There are some books that Dom and I love so much that I want to share them with other parents.  So I figure that I’ll do that once a week or so.  Here is this week’s book corner… Close Your Eyes by Kate Banks, illus. Georg Hallensleben This is another masterpiece by the incredible team of Kate Banks (author) and Georg Hallensleben (illustrator).  We own many of their books, and the others are in a constant rotation on our library card.  The illustrations pop off of each page – brilliant colors grab the attention of even the antsiest toddler.  The basic text somehow manages to tell a beautifully layered story. This is the story of a little tiger who doesn’t want to go to sleep.  His mother urges him to use his imagination to dream the things he is afraid he will miss if he goes to sleep. When the little tiger says: “If I close my eyes,” he said, “I can’t see the sky.” His mother answers: “Yes you can,” said his mother, gently nudging him.  “You can even float among the clouds, and when night comes, the moon will hold you in its lap.” I love this story.  I love that it encourages dreams and adds a gentle reminder that Mommy will always be there when dreams end.  Dom loves the pictures in this book – in fact, he pauses long enough to look at them that I can finish reading the text before he moves on to the next page. I highly recommend any and all of the books by this team.  I have not been disappointed yet. Posted Dec 27 2008, 01:35 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, books, Book Corner [Edit Tags]

• Happy Birthday to Me!

  Happy Birthday to me!  Happy Birthday to me!  Happy Birthday dear me…Happy Birthday to me!  Today, I turn 35.  And, for me, this is the hardest birthday yet. “They” say that, at 35, my life begins to wind down.  My eggs are old, they say…as though my biological clock wasn’t already telling me that.  I only have a few years left to complete my family.  Although recent research shows that problems don’t really arise until after age 40, I picture all sorts of things that could mar an older Mommy’s birthing process – hips breaking during delivery, cataracts preventing that first look at a newborn’s face.  This is my most recent obsession. I always wanted a huge family.  When I got married at 22, we expected to start a family immediately, but it didn’t happen.  Instead, we fought infertility for eight years before we had Rivi.  We lost him and we found out that Dom was on his way one year later.  I fully expected to have a third baby by now, but it hasn’t happened. And, honestly, now I am getting worried…you can tell by the gray hairs.  Each month, I do the math to figure out how many more kids I can have before I turn 40.  Every few months, I realize that the number of potential children is dropping.  And, frankly, that sucks. I am so thankful for my boys.  I am blessed more than some women ever are.  But, darnit, I am not done yet.  And that big number – 35 – is scary.  It means that, not only are my childbearing years almost over, but that my life is roughly half over.  I realized last night that my Mom is nearly 70 and I could be an orphan at any time.  And I am not nearly grown up enough for that. So, do an old lady a favor.  If you are a bartender and see a nearly-middle-aged woman trying to drown her sorrows tonight, card her.  It will make her day!  And keep the drinks coming.  Posted Dec 27 2008, 05:09 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, mommy events [Edit Tags]

• Merry Christmas!

  Merry Christmas, everyone!  I am posting this on Christmas Eve, so I have no idea what Christmas Day will bring.  For all I know, Dom will use his new Tinkertoys as weapons against the cats.  That in itself may be a blog. But, tonight, the world is silent and still, just as it was on that night 2008 years ago (roughly).  People are feeling kinder and counting their nontangible blessings.  I hope all of you are doing the same. We just popped Dom into bed after our annual reading of the Christmas Story from the Bible.  We drank homemade eggnog and played several rounds of Hungry, Hungry Hippos (with M&Ms, of course).  We enjoyed the fact that this year, he doesn’t quite get it.  He doesn’t realize that tomorrow is the big day, the day when he will be allowed not only to touch those forbidden gifts under the tree, but also to tear them open. Next year, I am sure, will be completely different.  He will probably lie awake all night, waiting anxiously for morning.  The child of two creative sorts, he will most likely come up with a myriad of excuses to get out of bed and stare at the tree in awe.  I remember loudly going from bedroom to bedroom as a child, insisting that I had to dump everyone’s trash…they were all sleeping way too late for Christmas morning. So, for this year, we will enjoy a peaceful evening, setting up the last-minute gifts and getting a good night’s sleep in preparation for Christmas morning.  I pray for Christmas miracles for all who need them and peace for everyone else. Merry Christmas! Posted Dec 25 2008, 12:01 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays [Edit Tags]

• Merry Christmas...er, weirdness

  I don’t do a lot of decorating for Christmas.  I never got around to hanging the lights in the windows, for instance, and I am not very concerned about it.  The tree is up, even if it is midget-sized.  Our favorite ornaments are on it…well, except for the breakable ones, which will wait a few more years to join our celebrations.  Unless we have another kid, which will restart the clock for the use of the “nice” ornaments.  My favorite part of Christmas, though, is this…my nutcrackers are arranged around the tree.  I have a bit of a nutcracker obsession.  I must see the ballet every year.  I must get a new nutcracker for my collection every year (although I usually end up with two or three of them).  I even have a set of Nutcracker Ballet nutcracker ornaments on the tree. Since we put out the nutcrackers a few weeks ago, they have been disappearing and then reappearing in bizarre places.  The bottom of a closet, the bathroom cabinet, a kitchen drawer, behind the TV…I never knew where I would find them.  Finally, I explained to Dom that he can look at them, he can even play with them, but they have to stay with the other nutcrackers.  The next day, I found the entire collection under our bed.  I had no idea why he was insisting on hiding the nutcrackers.  Until a few moments ago.  I went into the living room to put a few more presents under the tree, and I noticed that all of the nutcrackers were turned around, facing the wall.  I froze for a second, and then I turned to Dom.  “Why are the nutcrackers turned around, baby?” “Mommy, they keep looking at me.” Ah…that explains it all. Posted Dec 23 2008, 05:58 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays [Edit Tags]

• Elmo is sick

  For the past few hours, I have been hard at work writing.  Well, actually, I have been surfing the internet and chatting with friends via various IM programs to avoid writing.  But I am supposed to be working, so I will stick with that story. While I surfed…er, worked, Dom was quietly playing in the living room about 20 feet away.  He just came over to me to say, “Elmo is sick.  He has a fever.  He needs soup.”  He then wandered into the kitchen and pulled his stool over to the counter.  He climbed up onto the counter, opened the cabinet where the soup is stored, grabbed a can, and then carefully climbed back down.  Then he “poured” the soup into one of his play kitchen bowls and took it into the living room.  I followed him just in time to see him feeding Elmo the soup.  Elmo was completely covered by a blanket with only his nose and mouth showing.  He was surrounded by Dom’s favorite stuffed creatures, and he even had a cup of “orange juice” next to him.  As I was patting myself on the back for teaching my boy to be such a loving friend…picturing the times I have brought him soup and juice when he was sick… he looked at me and said, “Dora says you need soup and juice when you’re sick.” That was when I vaguely remembered an episode of Dora in which Dora visited her sick Grandma.  Ah, well.  The important thing is that he is learning to be kind and loving.  I will try to push aside the fact that he is learning it from a half-sized, big-headed cartoon character.  And I will try to push aside the jealousy I immediately felt when he gave her credit.  Because, after all, I get the cuddles. Posted Dec 21 2008, 05:50 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland [Edit Tags]

• The Book Corner…December 20, 2008

  Dom and I love to read together.  Rather, I read while he flips the pages so quickly that I can’t keep up.  Same difference. We check anywhere from 5 – 15 children’s books out of the library each week.  We also have an extensive children’s collection on our own bookshelves.  There are some books that Dom and I love so much that I want to share them with other parents.  So I figure that I’ll do that once a week or so.  Here is this week’s book corner… If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff If you are a parent and you haven’t yet read one of Laura Numeroff’s “If” books, where exactly have you been?  This is the first book in the series that includes “If you Give a Moose a Muffin” and “If you Give a Pig a Party.”  Numeroff has also written a few other books about the mouse in this book. Basically, these books all share the same premise.  You give the little critter what he asks for and he begins asking for more and more.  In this one, Mouse wants a cookie, and when he wants it, he then asks for a glass of milk. If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he’ll probably ask you for a straw. When he’s finished, he’ll ask for a napkin. I like the fact that the book plays on relationships between objects and events.  Cookies and milk go together.  If you make a mess, you clean it up.  Dom enjoys the ever-crazier demands, too. The character’s cute, too, which doesn’t hurt! Posted Dec 20 2008, 01:33 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, books, Book Corner [Edit Tags]

• Everything I ever need to know...

  I learned in the mall play area.  A list from Dom’s perspective. 1.  If you lay on the floor at the bottom of the slide, people will step on you.  In fact, many, many short little people will stomp on you while laughing gleefully.  So, it is best to get up, dust yourself off, and then climb back up for another try. 2.  Shoving a bigger kid out of your way while screaming, “Move!” will only upset them.  And the end result isn’t a happy one.  Mommy says one of them may be my boss one day, and I will be stuck in a dead-end job forever. 3.  Shoving a smaller kid out of the play car you are driving doesn’t get a good reaction from Mommy, either.  In fact, it will mean an immediate end to your fun.  Being nice is much more productive. 4.  If you stand up on the seats at the edge of the play area and lean over far enough, you will fall down and hit your head on the tile floor.  The outside of the play area isn’t padded…Mommy says this is a lesson learned about the real world. 5.  If you start to strip while you stand on top of the turtle, nobody will laugh.  No life lesson there – but I thought it was funny.  Mommy didn’t. 6.  People get cranky when you jump into the coin-operated car they are driving.  You would think that, if there is a spare seat, they would share. 7. Girls are mean.  They won’t play with you. 8.  Boys are not mean.  They will not only play with you, they will teach you to do all sorts of cool things, like shoving bigger kids out of your way and shoving smaller kids out of the play car. Posted Dec 19 2008, 06:26 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, playgrounds, education [Edit Tags]

• It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

  It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!  Monday night, despite the warm weather and drizzly rain, we decided to go visit the Annual Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival.  This is the 13th year that the Festival has run at Seneca Creek State Park (11950 Clopper Road in Gaithersburg, MD).  Lately, Dom has shown an insane interest in Christmas lights and anything that even vaguely resembles Christmas lights, like, say…traffic signals.  If he sees any brightly colored light, he immediately starts screaming, “Christmas lights!  Christmas tree lights!”  So, when I heard about the drive-through Christmas light display in Gaithersburg, I knew it was a must-do.  The Festival runs nightly from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and it costs $12 per car on Friday and Saturdays, $10 per car from Sunday through Thursday (if you go to Lakeforest Mall’s customer service kiosk, you can get an additional $2 off coupon for Monday through Thursday).  Cash only…proceeds benefit local charities.  It winds through the park along a few trails for about 3.5 miles and includes 380 displays.  Runs through January 3 (closed December 25 and January 1). We had an amazing time, although I was initially turned off by the sponsor displays at the beginning (none after the pay point).  We saw an amazing array of Christmas scenes, from ice skaters to reindeer practicing flying.  Dom screamed out the names of everything he saw…“Train!”  “Boat!”  “Presents!”  “Candy cane!”  The display ended with a ride through Teddy Bear Land.  Our only unhappy moment occurred when Dom realized the light show was over.  I can’t blame the Festival planners for that, and I have no idea how they could prevent this sort of meltdown, anyway (maybe allow parents to travel around in an endless route until the overexcited kids crash?).  Next year, we will go twice – once early in the season for the trolley rides (no longer running for this year), then once more in our car.  Ah, whom am I kidding?  We will be back this year! Posted Dec 17 2008, 08:06 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, holidays, fun stuff to do [Edit Tags]

• When Daddies Screw Up

  Okay, first, let me explain the title of this blog, lest Better Off Dad and his legion of Daddies swarm my apartment.  It is not that Mommies don’t screw up…on the contrary, I screw up several times a day.  It is just that, because Mommy is always screwing up, my screw-ups don’t hurt nearly as much as Daddy’s. Daddy is a superhero in our home.  He swoops in at the end of a long day and saves Dom from my endless Nos.  They wrestle on the sofa, throwing pillows in every direction, not caring that someone (ahem…that would be me) will have to put them back again.  Here, Daddy is the one who can do no wrong.  He is more than a role model to Dom – he is his idol.  Jumping in puddles, rolling in leaves…my OCD kicks in at the thought (my eye just started twitching – seriously).  Those are Daddy jobs, and he does them perfectly.  He is the one entrusted with Dom’s most precious items…rocks, leaves and sticks (Probably because I only hold onto any of the above until Dom loses interest, then I drop them).  And that leads us to the entire point of this blog entry.  We went to Harris Teeter tonight, and Dom got a balloon.  Daddy held it all the way to the car.  He held it as he put groceries in the trunk and I returned the cart.  He held it as he buckled Dom into his carseat (And that is why he is entrusted with the important stuff…he is that trustworthy). Somehow, once Dom was in his carseat and Daddy let go of the balloon, a gust of wind grabbed it, pulled it out of the car, and sent it twirling into the sky.  Let me interject here for a moment – Dom has lost balloons before.  On at least every other Trader Joe’s visit, a balloon escapes in the parking lot.  We released balloons on Rivi’s birthday with no problem.  Yet this time, it was apparently the most horrific experience of his life.  Dom looked at Daddy and said, “You lost my balloon!  BALLOON!  Oh, no!  My balloon!”  The sobs, tears and snot started as he looked at us, heartbroken.  “No, Daddy!  My balloon!  You lost my balloon!”  I have no idea how long Daddy and I spent looking up at the sky, watching the balloon disappear into the night and listening to Dom cry.  But an employee, noticing our dilemma, ran back into the store and brought out another balloon.  He handed it to Dom, who immediately stopped crying.  He looked at us appraisingly, and then he said, “Here, Mommy.  Hold balloon.” Posted Dec 15 2008, 11:13 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland [Edit Tags]

• The Book Corner…December 13, 2008

  Dom and I love to read together.  Rather, I read while he flips the pages so quickly that I can’t keep up.  Same difference. We check anywhere from 5 – 15 children’s books out of the library each week.  We also have an extensive children’s collection on our own bookshelves.  There are some books that Dom and I love so much that I want to share them with other parents.  So I figure that I’ll do that once a week or so.  Here is this week’s book corner… And If the Moon Could Talk by Kate Banks, illus. Georg Hallensleben This book is another of our favorites.  The illustrations are brightly colored and eye-catching…reds, blues, yellows and greens dance across each page.  The text is simple, yet it describes each scene beautifully. This is the story of a little girl getting ready for her bedtime.  In her house, a clock ticks, a book is read, and many other ordinary bedtime events happen.  Interspersed, though, is a larger story, of what the moon sees from its vantage point…and what it would say if the moon could talk. The story begins: Somewhere a pair of shoes lies under a chair. A window yawns open.  Twilight blazes a trail across the wall. And if the moon could talk, It would tell of evening Stealing through the woods And a lizard scurrying home to supper. I love the text in this book.  Kate Banks never lets me down – in each of her books, I find a story we can both enjoy, and Georg Hallensleben always comes through with gorgeous illustrations. Posted Dec 13 2008, 01:32 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, books, Book Corner [Edit Tags]

• Blue Binky! I love you!

  There are few certainties in life.  But you will eventually die.  You will have heartbreaks along the way that make you feel as though you want to die.  And you will at some point break your child’s heart.  Over the past week, we have broken Dom’s heart repeatedly. We are trying to ditch Binky.  Blue Binky, Dom’s favorite, has been carefully packed away for posterity (I see myself pulling it out when girlfriends come to visit, saying, “You used to be so attached to nipples!”).  One of our two Red Binkies has disappeared.  I believe that it will make a reappearance at some point, forcing us to restart the entire Binky deprogramming.  The other Red Binky, though, is currently the only Binky in circulation.  Every few days, I cut another 1/8” off of the nipple.  Yeah, I know that it is supposedly dangerous, but cold turkey isn’t working here…and Dom only has it in his mouth until he falls asleep, at which point I remove it for the night.  The first snip wasn’t that bad.  Dom popped Binky into his mouth, pulled it out with a puzzled expression, and said, “Oh, no!  Binky’s broken!”  Then he popped it back into his mouth and went to sleep.  The second, third, and fourth snips, however, didn’t go so smoothly.  Each time Dom noticed the Binky mutilation, he threw a tantrum.  Throughout those tantrums, he screamed for Blue Binky.  My worst moments throughout this ordeal weren’t dealing with the tantrums…they were listening to Dom cry “Blue Binky!  I love you!  Come back!” After a week and a half of a gradually shortening Binky, we are currently down to a ½” stub that Dom can no longer hold in his mouth.  Instead, he holds it in his hand and presses it into his mouth.  Each time, he whimpers a little and says, “I miss Blue Binky.”  And each time I hear that, I remember Blue Binky, safely packed away in Dom’s memory box, and I have to hold myself down.  Because, when you are breaking your child’s heart, you are also breaking your own. Posted Dec 12 2008, 10:51 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, binkies [Edit Tags]

• No Diaper!

  One day last week, I took off Dom’s overnight diaper and started to put a clean one on him.  He said, “No diaper!”  I told him that if he didn’t wear a diaper, he had to use his potty.  He said okay.  We shall see…maybe he’s really ready this time! Here is how our day went (added to/edited with each potty incident, since I know you all live and die over my kids poops). 8:45 – woke up (we had a rough night). 9:52 – pee incident on the sofa.  Dom immediately ran to his potty and sat on it, although nothing was left to come out. 11:06 – pee puddle on the floor, and Dom freaked out. 1:00 – diaper put on for naptime. 3:45 – Woke up and removed naptime diaper (woohoo – poop!  You knew I had to go there as many times as possible in a potty training blog, right?).  Went barebutt again. 6:30 (approximately) – pee incident in the bathtub (thank God he pooped earlier). 8:00 – diaper put on for bedtime. Please note that, all day, there was no pee in the potty.  Also please note that there are several gaps between potty-type incidents.  During those gaps in time, Dom was holding his pee and poop so he wouldn’t have to use the potty.  Yes, that’s right.  He doesn’t want to wear a diaper, and he can hold his pee and poop (#4 usage).  But he won’t sit on the potty chair.  He won’t sit on the big potty…er, toilet.  My guess is that he is still not quite ready, but he is insanely fascinated with bodily eliminations.  I can only hope that he doesn’t go to preschool in diapers (since that would mean they wouldn’t allow him in the door).  As far as kindergarten, I don’t know…does that whole “You have to give your kid an education” thing mean that they can worry about potty training when we get there?  Now there’s a plan! Posted Dec 09 2008, 10:08 AM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, potty training [Edit Tags]

• The Book Corner…December 6, 2008 (sorry I slacked off)

  Dom and I love to read together.  Rather, I read while he flips the pages so quickly that I can’t keep up.  Same difference. We check anywhere from 5 – 15 children’s books out of the library each week.  We also have an extensive children’s collection on our own bookshelves.  There are some books that Dom and I love so much that I want to share them with other parents.  So I figure that I’ll do that once a week or so.  Here is this week’s book corner… Rainbow Fish series by Marcus Pfister Yep…I am once again lumping an entire series into one book review.  But it would be slightly redundant to review each book in this series (The Rainbow Fish, Rainbow Fish finds his Way, Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale, Rainbow Fish and the Sea Monster’s Cave…and the DVDs and learning books).  Basically, each book follows the same format:  Rainbow Fish and his friends learn a valuable lesson. I am not knocking the value of these books at all – Dom adores them.  The shiny fish scales in the pictures grab his attention, and he easily memorizes the simple plots.  The lessons learned are important ones – sharing, making friends, and overcoming fears.  I’m just saying that, if you read one, you will know exactly what to expect from the others.  Which is great for toddlers, but kind of boring for parents. The Rainbow Fish (first book) starts out: A long way out in the deep blue sea there lived a fish.  Not just an ordinary fish, but the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean.  His scales were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them. Dom loves the pictures in these, so we reread every book in the series on a regular basis.  But, honestly – I kind of wish I had just stopped with the first book. Posted Dec 06 2008, 01:29 PM by marylandmom with no comments Filed under: maryland, books, Book Corner [Edit Tags]