Feelings

Right now I feel about my 2 year old son about the same as I feel about our hyperactive dog.  You're cute as hell and I love you to death, but some days I think it'd be quite nice if you'd just run away from home because you drive me insane.

Love you buddy. 

Pass the germs, please

Ok, I won't go on a rant about how I'm a germaphobe after ripping on another blogger for being a germaphobe. I am SO not worried about germs. I don't use those retarted grocery cart or high chair covers, I don't get grossed out if my teething baby gnaws on the nasty cart handle, I don't freak if my kids eat food off the floor or sand out of the sandbox. I'm pretty laid back on that aspect.

However, when it comes to intentionally passing around germs... ie.... exposing your sick child to other healthy children.... that just pisses me off.

My mom watches my niece occasionally, and this week she was also watching my boys. My niece threw up in the car on the way to my mom's that day and my sister still left her there to be watched by my mom who also had my two boys. Which is so irritating. She does this all the time- instead of being a parent and taking off work and staying home with her sick kid, she leaves her with other people. I guess it wouldn't be such a big deal but it seems to always happen when my kids are being watched by those same people.

So... today Rory started barfing. Lovely. I'm crossing my fingers that Beck doesn't get sick as well. A sick infant isn't something I want to deal with.

I guess I should also put some of the blame on myself as I could have not left the boys with my mom. I offered to find someone else to watch them so they weren't around my niece, but my mom insisted that she wasn't sick, that she was probably just rushed and upset that morning. Grr.

Stupid Safety

We recently spent some time at the lake and took a boat ride with Rory. I took some pictures and posted them on my regular blog. There was a picture of Rory on the boat without a life jacket (there were life jackets on the boat, but we don't typically wear them on rides. Its a pontoon boat, for petes sake). My MIL harped on my husband about why didn't Rory have a life jacket on?! They, too, have a pontoon and kids have to wear a life jacket on any boat ride. That's fine. Their boat, their rules. I totally agree that every child and person should have a life jacket on the boat, but seriously its not like a pontoon is going to go too fast and flip over or something. Yes, a rare tragic event could happen and another boat could crash into it but that would typically be VERY rare.

Anyhow... why does this bother me? Why does it irritate me (and Max) that she even had the balls to question why we didn't make him wear a life jacket? Well, let me explain a recent situation that just irks the hell out of me and then you tell me if she even had the right to mutter a word about OUR parental safety...

Recently Rory went with my inlaws out of town. They went to see fireworks with my SIL and her family and they ended up being cancelled because of a storm. There were a lot of people at the park and a lot of traffic and it was pouring down rain. Everyone piled into my inlaws van and my BIL ran through the storm to get to the other vehicle (sil and bil's van). Well, since there was so much traffic and the vehicles were so far away from eachother they figured it'd take forever to meet up.

So what did they do? They put my niece in the carseat that Rory rode in, and my other two nieces on the floor of the van and my SIL buckled my son in on her lap. My 2 year old son, riding on the freeway on her lap in an adult belt. Why even buckle him up because if they were in an accident I can guarantee the adult belt would kill him regardless. Why the hell wouldn't you use the cell phone and if needed, drive to a nearby place in the park to meet rather than drive 15 miles with my kid in an adult belt? And, why did my niece get the carseat when her mother was there to give permission for the other 2 kids to not be buckled and they didn't have permission to drive with Rory out of a carseat?

If you knew me in person you'd know how anal I am about carseats and my kids. I rarely allow him to ride in anyone else's carseats unless I've checked how it is installed and checked that the harness is adjusted correctly for my son. I don't assume and leave it up to others to make sure my son is buckled in correctly.

I was happy when Max told me that when MIL harped on him about the life vest that he said to her "Oh, and this is coming from the grandma who drove her grandkids around not in carseats?"

'Nuff said.

Are you serious?

Mom opinions kill me sometimes. I realize I'm opinionated on many parenting fronts.... and I'm sure many mom's think my opinions suck. There is a blog I read occasionally and every time this blogger posts a "My Opinion" post I always find myself thinking.... Are you kidding me? You seriously are that uptight? Like this one. This part, in particular, kills me....

"Gina and I went to Arby’s for lunch and the lady working at the register put her finger in Will’s hand. Gina walked calmly back to our table holding Will’s hand out like he touched rat poison, sat down, adeptly grabbed the antibacterial gel out of her bag and rubbed it all over his little hand. That is what I do when people do this to Preston and especially during cold season."

Serious... like RAT POISON? OMG. I hate to think what will happen with their kids are in school HAHA!

And then this recent post. Here are my thoughts on these topics.

1. I find this part a bit, offensive, I suppose:

"I'm sure those who allow regular television viewing of younger kids will say they spend plenty of quality time interacting with their children and that their kids are totally fine. I’ve been bothered by this because I don’t know how much clearer the message from the American Academy of Pediatrics could be."

I want to write "So, you're saying those of us who let their kids watch tv and think that they are totally fine are delusional and wrong and that our kids in reality are NOT fine?" My 2 year old son started watching Baby Einstein at about 3 months old. He watches age appropriate television (Little Bear, Dora, Curious George etc) nearly every morning. He has always had a great vocabulary... he said about 15 words by 11 months old and over 40 words by 14 months old. At 2 years old he can speak in complete sentences and tell stories and retell events and hold conversations with adults. He is in no way behind on vocabulary or verbal expression.

2. Staying at home... so basically she's saying that if you work in order to live in a decent sized home and drive a nice car and eat steak that you're selfish? Some people just aren't cut out to be SAHM's. Some people actually LIKE their jobs and want to still be a woman AND a mother, and believe me it IS possible.

3. I am secretly hoping Perfect Preston turns into a Terrible Eater very soon. There are many children who have always been exposed to many types of foods and still refuse to eat whats good for them. What if her child ends up like that? I wouldn't doubt that she'll be the first one to run and buy one of those books so that her germ-free-tv-free child ingests something healthy other than mac and cheese and goldish. Oh, wait, that's what they eat so that she can stay home.