100 Posts in One
OK, maybe not 100 posts, but quite a few random thoughts based on what's been going on around here:
Today a baby quail fell into one of our window wells. A family of them visit our backyard on occasion and apparently one little guy fell in as they were walking by. We first tried putting a board down in to see if he would walk up, but it was too steep and he kept falling off. I called the animal shelter to ask for advice, and they recommended using a net to catch him so our scent wouldn't rub off on him. Mr. Fob used our fish net to scoop him up into a bucket and I placed him in a shady corner of the backyard. When we checked a few hours later he was gone. I hope his parents came back and found him. I understand that nature is harsh and sometimes fragile baby birds don't make it, but I hate having to witness it up close.
Last night I was listening to NPR on the way to Target for some shopping. It was hard to go in and do my shopping after hearing a speech from the Bolivian ambassador reminding the UN that a child dies every five seconds, generally from poor sanitation. Some days I wish I could just magically change the world and make it so every child is as blessed as mine are.
For some reason lately I've been feeling kind of emotional about everything. I think it's just my hormones adjusting themselves. Plus I haven't been getting enough sleep, the lack of scheduling in the summer makes me stressed, and I've had two illnesses during the last two weeks. Life is on a bit of downturn around here lately but I have hope things will start looking up.
We got the information about Little Dude's preschool for this fall and he's really looking forward to it. I'm a little worried he'll get balky when the actual day arrives, but I think it will be good for him. We weren't sure if investing the money in school was worth it because he doesn't need it academically. Socially I think it will be a big help, and he will be so happy to finally go to school after watching his sister get to go for the last two years.
Next week is S-Boogie's birthday and I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that she is turning seven. She still can be a bit headstrong but generally is a really good kid. She is so friendly and is very excited to have a birthday party with all her friends and cousins. I love the fact that she wanted to invite everyone, boys and girls, and that she's totally happy with just playing slip-n-slide and eating cupcakes. I hope her lack of snobbishness persists. Especially because I'm a lazy party planner and am not great at doing elaborate things.
Speaking of headstrong children I had an epiphany the other day about the arguing. S-Boogie likes to argue with me a lot. It's been disconcerting because I honestly don't remember fighting with my mom very much and I generally avoid conflict as much as possible (and yes, Mom, I'm probably practicing selective memory here). The other day I realized that my reaction to this sort of conflict is probably just making it worse. We can have some sort of argument and I'll spend the rest of the day stewing over it and worrying about being an awful parent while physically feeling ill. S-Boogie will go on her merry way and forget about it ten minutes later. I need to remember that she's not me and conflict means different things to different people. Obviously I need to teach her how to discuss without anger and how to state her opinion positively and constructively. But I've also read things that point out that the ability of children to disagree with parents is often a sign of healthy attachment and adjustment. You can't argue with your parents if you are scared to death of them or if you have no opinions. And I don't want a spineless child. I do want a polite one who listens and speaks with respect, though. But I haven't done a good job teaching those skills because I tend to meet any sort of disagreement with a big reaction of fear. My attempts to shut down disagreement have just escalated the problem and I need to work on dealing with my own conflict issues in order to teach her healthy communication.
Two days after the birthday party we leave for our big week-long vacation. We're spending a few days at my parents' house in Vegas and then driving to California for some camping. I'm most excited because Mr. Fob gets actual vacation time and won't have to bring work along with him. The main thing I'm stressing about is the fact that I have no idea how to fit everything we need into our car. I'm toying with renting a trailer or getting some sort of cargo thing for the top of the car. The drive is also not going to be pleasant with three kids all squished in the back seat. I'm going to be reminding them not to bother the baby every ten minutes (I already do that on car trips, but this time it's going to be every ten minutes for about six hours).
I got an entire bottle of free laundry detergent in the mail the other day. It's from the company I fill out surveys with. My reaction was "Gee, I have to use this fancy detergent for a whole month. Throw me in the briar patch!"
Normally I'm a chocolate ice cream sort of person, but Breyer's vanilla ice cream is so delicious I could eat an entire carton by myself. I've recently developed a love of vanilla-flavored things like ice cream or yogurt, but still hate vanilla-scented things.
Today a baby quail fell into one of our window wells. A family of them visit our backyard on occasion and apparently one little guy fell in as they were walking by. We first tried putting a board down in to see if he would walk up, but it was too steep and he kept falling off. I called the animal shelter to ask for advice, and they recommended using a net to catch him so our scent wouldn't rub off on him. Mr. Fob used our fish net to scoop him up into a bucket and I placed him in a shady corner of the backyard. When we checked a few hours later he was gone. I hope his parents came back and found him. I understand that nature is harsh and sometimes fragile baby birds don't make it, but I hate having to witness it up close.
Last night I was listening to NPR on the way to Target for some shopping. It was hard to go in and do my shopping after hearing a speech from the Bolivian ambassador reminding the UN that a child dies every five seconds, generally from poor sanitation. Some days I wish I could just magically change the world and make it so every child is as blessed as mine are.
For some reason lately I've been feeling kind of emotional about everything. I think it's just my hormones adjusting themselves. Plus I haven't been getting enough sleep, the lack of scheduling in the summer makes me stressed, and I've had two illnesses during the last two weeks. Life is on a bit of downturn around here lately but I have hope things will start looking up.
We got the information about Little Dude's preschool for this fall and he's really looking forward to it. I'm a little worried he'll get balky when the actual day arrives, but I think it will be good for him. We weren't sure if investing the money in school was worth it because he doesn't need it academically. Socially I think it will be a big help, and he will be so happy to finally go to school after watching his sister get to go for the last two years.
Next week is S-Boogie's birthday and I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that she is turning seven. She still can be a bit headstrong but generally is a really good kid. She is so friendly and is very excited to have a birthday party with all her friends and cousins. I love the fact that she wanted to invite everyone, boys and girls, and that she's totally happy with just playing slip-n-slide and eating cupcakes. I hope her lack of snobbishness persists. Especially because I'm a lazy party planner and am not great at doing elaborate things.
Speaking of headstrong children I had an epiphany the other day about the arguing. S-Boogie likes to argue with me a lot. It's been disconcerting because I honestly don't remember fighting with my mom very much and I generally avoid conflict as much as possible (and yes, Mom, I'm probably practicing selective memory here). The other day I realized that my reaction to this sort of conflict is probably just making it worse. We can have some sort of argument and I'll spend the rest of the day stewing over it and worrying about being an awful parent while physically feeling ill. S-Boogie will go on her merry way and forget about it ten minutes later. I need to remember that she's not me and conflict means different things to different people. Obviously I need to teach her how to discuss without anger and how to state her opinion positively and constructively. But I've also read things that point out that the ability of children to disagree with parents is often a sign of healthy attachment and adjustment. You can't argue with your parents if you are scared to death of them or if you have no opinions. And I don't want a spineless child. I do want a polite one who listens and speaks with respect, though. But I haven't done a good job teaching those skills because I tend to meet any sort of disagreement with a big reaction of fear. My attempts to shut down disagreement have just escalated the problem and I need to work on dealing with my own conflict issues in order to teach her healthy communication.
Two days after the birthday party we leave for our big week-long vacation. We're spending a few days at my parents' house in Vegas and then driving to California for some camping. I'm most excited because Mr. Fob gets actual vacation time and won't have to bring work along with him. The main thing I'm stressing about is the fact that I have no idea how to fit everything we need into our car. I'm toying with renting a trailer or getting some sort of cargo thing for the top of the car. The drive is also not going to be pleasant with three kids all squished in the back seat. I'm going to be reminding them not to bother the baby every ten minutes (I already do that on car trips, but this time it's going to be every ten minutes for about six hours).
I got an entire bottle of free laundry detergent in the mail the other day. It's from the company I fill out surveys with. My reaction was "Gee, I have to use this fancy detergent for a whole month. Throw me in the briar patch!"
Normally I'm a chocolate ice cream sort of person, but Breyer's vanilla ice cream is so delicious I could eat an entire carton by myself. I've recently developed a love of vanilla-flavored things like ice cream or yogurt, but still hate vanilla-scented things.
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