2007 September | Mommy Points

September 30, 2007

Can I Make a Teeny Tiny Jack-o-lantern?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chris @ 9:41 am

Yesterday for our “day of play” we did what we usually do on the weekends. Played outside, listened to the father person complain about lawn maintenance, went to a baseball game, bought overpriced snack bar food, and oogled our teeny tiny pumpkins that we planted this spring.

We didn’t plant them intending to have teeny tiny pumpkins. We had high hopes for our pumpkins.

I think the problem we had was that when we planted the seeds in the spring the leaves were not all fully on the trees and the sun path was slightly different. Once summer arrived the little pumpkin plants got less and less sun. And now that Fall has arrived they spend their days mostly in the shade.

The pumpkin looks so impressive. It is nice and round and a vibrant orange color. Until I tell you that it can comfortably fit into my toddler son’s palm.

Oh well, given my gardening track record, I should be happy that I did not kill them. Maybe my thumb is turning slightly greener? Right?

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September 28, 2007

Day of Play

Filed under: On The Web, parenting — Chris @ 12:15 am

Did you read that Nikelodeon is having their fourth annual worldwide day of play?

Starting at noon there will be three hours of dead air time in which children will be encouraged to go outside and play, and not change the channel to one of the other hundred channels that are available. Call me jaded, but why won’t they just click to another channel?

While I think children should get up and go play outside, parents should be willing to step up and turn the television off themselves without a network telling them they should. It reminds me of tobacco companies telling people not to smoke.

And after the three hours of suffering through play, the children can tune in to Sponge Bob Square Pants.

So what do you think of it? Good idea? Silly?

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September 26, 2007

Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Thieves

Filed under: On The Web — Chris @ 11:02 pm

I remember when I was a child we used to listen to the radio, probably AM, in my mother’s VW Bug on the way to school every morning. And every day after that hard news there would be a segment about stupid thieves. The bank robber who wrote his hold up note on the back of his paycheck. The thief who robbed a jewelry store and left behind his wallet. That sort of thing. It always loved those news stories.

Now with the advent of the internet there are stories like those every where that you turn. But every once in awhile there is one that makes you gasp with disbelief at the sheer stupidity.

I had been following this story for a couple days. The short version of the story is that a company in Vancouver had 6 laptops stolen from their offices. One of the laptops had an application on it that downloaded photo booth photos right to a company flickr account.

Lo and behold the thief decided to use the photo booth to take photos of himself shirtless showing off his elaborate and easy to identify tatoos. And they popped up on the flickr stream for all the world to see.

Sometimes there is something to love about the internet.

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Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs

Filed under: Children, Ideas, Just For Fun — Chris @ 8:52 am

Long before children become adverse to bugs, insects, vermin of all kind, they are fascinated by them. Introducing them to the creatures of nature is a good way for them learn about their natural world. before thay get older and get dry heaves at the thought of touching a big leggy bug. Not that I do that, of course. Ahem.

This book, Pets in a Jar, is such a great book that talks about making pets (temporary ones!) out of small critters. It tells you how to make the critter comfortable in your jar so that you can best observe in a replica of their natural environment.

We have an assortment of bug, leaf, tree identification books that are referred to frequently. My 2 yr old son’s current pastime is to look intently through the insect one.

This is the time of year when the Monarch butterflies break free from their cocoons and fly away. Every year we try to gather a couple caterpillars and put them in a cage in a bunch of milkweed. We watch them weave their chrysalis and hopefully hatch into gorgeous butterflies. (If you haven’t done it before, here is a link to share with your children.)

Ours should be hatching soon. And, as luck would have it, my new camera is arriving today so I hope to some nice photos and the children make a monarch butterfly book of their own.

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September 23, 2007

Hand Washing the Gateway to Better Health

Filed under: Basics, Children, On The Web, parenting — Chris @ 11:14 am

I have finally recovered from the stomach ache I thought might kill me. After talking to several friends and the mothers of some of my children’s friends I discovered that it is some sort of weird “bug” going around. So just a heads up if you or your child have a horrible stabbing abdominal pain that even hurts to the touch. It probably isn’t an appendix ready to burst.

We joked that perhaps we should look for a meteor laying around town somewhere.

This morning I was reading news online and came across this report that says hand washing in the U.S. is declining. Why? Why, people?

I have admitted before that I am something of a germophobe, but in a healthy way. No, really. I don’t have vats of Purell in my house, or antibacterial soap, nor to I keep my children in a plastic bubble, though I’d really like to for many reasons other than their likelihood to come across germs.

But I refuse to bring them to those McDonald’s or ChuckECheese indoor playgrounds ever since I saw a news expose showing how they were never cleaned and contaminated with e-coli and all sorts of flesh eating bacteria. Excuse me, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

“Fifteen to 20 seconds of friction and soap and water will remove so many germs from your hands and help with your wellbeing. That is a marvelous intervention that will work all over the world,” Judy Daly, director of the Microbiology Laboratories at the Primary Children’s Medical Center in told reporters.

Something as simple as hand washing could prevent the transfer of so many germs.

The article went on to say that only 77% of people washed their hands after using a public restroom, compared to 92% of people who SAID that they did. And men, they were by far the worst offenders. There was a huge discrepancy between the rates of hand washing between men and women. “[J]ust 66 percent of men [were] seen washing their hands in public bathrooms, compared with 88 percent of the women.”

Even 88% seems startling to me.

Your mission this week, should you chose to accept it, is to drill hand washing into your children. Make it a habit in the home so that it will become a habit out of the home as well. And you know what they say about children copying what you do and not what you say. Model the behavior for them.

I will thank you from the bottom of my germ phobic little heart. But even better, you can thank yourself when you are NOT cleaning up vomit from your child’s bedroom floor in the middle of the night. Yes, they will still get sick, but at least you can feel as though you were doing something proactive.

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September 21, 2007

The Modern Age

Filed under: Children, Humor Keeps Me Sane — Chris @ 7:23 pm

This afternoon my four year old daughter was looking through one of the many catalogs that come to our house unbidden. She calls them her “magazines” and really believes that they are subscriptions that come for her, much the same way her brothers get Big Back Yard or Calliope.

She found some some tacky doll thing that she began pestering me to buy. And I used my standard reply that I use 364 days out of the year, “Wow, you had better put that on your list to mail to Santa!”

“Email?” she asked.

“No, regular mail like at the post office!” I replied with an amount of enthusiasm that indicated this was something novel and unusual.

“I wonder why Santa doesn’t have email?” my 6 yr old mused out loud, to no one in particular.

“I bet they don’t have wireless up there in the North Pole.” my 8 yr old answered.

They both nodded in agreement.

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September 19, 2007

No rest for the weary, or the sick, or mothers in general

Filed under: Children, Keeping It Real, Making It Work, Work Ethic, parenting — Chris @ 3:50 pm

When you are a mother of small needy people, there is never a day off. No matter how crummy you feel. No matter how much you really just want to crawl under a big blanket and watch mindless television there is someone who wants to watch something else and climb on you, and most likely steal your blanket to make a fort.

And you will lay there on the couch, shivering, watching an episode of Dragon Tales that you can already recite by heart, because at least they are leaving you alone.
But you know what? Now that I have some older children and we have chores, those little people are much more self sufficient. Floor needs sweeping after dinner? Done. Dishes in the dishwasher? Done. Vacuuming the family room? Done. Toys picked up and put away? Done. All without me having to say a thing. They know what is expected of them and they behave accordingly.

Not that they are perfect angels who joyfully scrub toilets for fun, far from it. But they now recognize that there are jobs that need to be done in order for the house to run smoothly. I think before we had chores, when I did it all myself, they didn’t even realize what needed to be done. You mean the clothes don’t wash and fold themselves? The dish fairy doesn’t come and clean the dishes?

So last night when I was feeling under the weather, my children stepped up. Even going beyond what is normally expected of them. My 11 yr old went upstairs and got pajamas out for my youngest two children and brought them down to me. And then when it was time for them to go to bed he offered to read them their bedtime stories. My 12 yr old cleaned up the kitchen much more thoroughly than he ever does on a normal night.

They were proud of themselves for contributing.
So while mothers may never get a day off for being sick, I have realized that I can now be partially off. Some of it because of the ages of my children, but most of it because they know what they should do. And I’d like to think that it has given them a greater awareness of all that I do.

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September 18, 2007

The Rituals of Fall

Filed under: Children, Just For Fun, parenting — Chris @ 11:07 pm

The weather in my neck of the woods has suddenly turned cool. The inside of my house is downright cold, because I refuse to turn on the heat already. REFUSE. There will plenty of month to bleed money in the future, not to mention the fact that come February I will wish it were this warm in my house.

Having said that, I love Fall. It is by far my favorite season.

I love wearing sweaters, going apple picking, hay rides at the pumpkin patch, the colors, the cool crisp mornings that give way to warm afternoons, the way the sky is always a bright blue. I only wish it stayed like this and didn’t turn into winter.

This year for the first time we are going to a corn maze. I have never been to one. I’ll admit I have this irrational fear of mazes, partially leftover from watching The Shining at a far too young age. But also the idea of being lost, even in a self contained corn maze, makes me feel slightly claustrophobic.

So what are your favorite parts of Fall? Do you have any fun and interesting traditions to share?

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September 15, 2007

A Book of Healthy Food

Filed under: Ages 2-4 years, Humor Keeps Me Sane — Chris @ 1:37 pm

On Saturday mornings my husband usually makes big breakfasts for the kids. Eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad, pancakes…all the stuff that I am too busy to make during the week.

This morning while he was busy doing all his prep work, my daughter got out her pad of paper and began making what she called “A Healthy Food Book”

It was too good to keep to myself.

This drawing is of me. Recognize me? The resemblance is uncanny really. And I am posing with a healthy loaf of bread. I hope it is a wheat free loaf of bread.

Oh, here I am again posing with my healthy pineapple. Apparently ditching my arms and nose and shaving my head a la Britney Spears. I also seem to be lacking clothes. But then again without a body finding clothing that fits is difficult.

Oh yes, here I am once again posing with my salad and “very, very big tomato.” I appear to have gotten some bad hair extensions and had a nose job. My eyes still have a crazed looked about them, but that is no doubt due in part to the trauma of losing body parts.

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September 14, 2007

Too Clean?

Filed under: Chores, On The Web — Chris @ 9:46 am

I read this article, Fight Against germs Fuels Allergy Increase, last night.

While I highly doubt this is an issue at my house, I think some valid concerns are raised.

How many of us are self described “germ freaks?” How many of us carry little bottles of Purell in our bags? Or have antibacterial everything in our homes? Does everything you use promise to kill germs and disinfect? Do you wear the Lysol in a hip holster?

From the constant use of anti-bacterial soap for dish- and to air-tight seals around doors and windows, some modern homes have become shrines to hygiene. Add vaccinations and antibiotics to the mix and the body’s immune system can get too much artificial reprieve from nature.

“The natural immune system does not have as much to do as it did 50 years ago, because we’ve increased our efforts to protect our children from dirt and germs,” McMorris said in a statement released this month.

I imagine it is sort like running a marathon. Without working out out and training in small doses you would never be able to handle the marathon itself. So if you shield your immune system from every little innocuous germ, it won’t be able to effectively fight off the bigger things, since it will be out of shape.

We’ve developed a cleanlier lifestyle, and our bodies no longer need to fight germs as much as they did in the past,” said Marc McMorris, a pediatric allergist at the University of Michigan Health System. “As a result, the immune system has shifted away from fighting infection to developing more allergic tendencies.

So, basically your immune system gets bored and has to find something to do. Interesting.

I am interested to see how these studies pan out over the long term. I wonder if there really is an increase in allergies or if it is just a perception of increase. Minor non threatening allergies were probably ignored. I can’t imagine people of my mother’s generation running to the doctor because they had a constant running nose or itching eyes. It was the depression era and they were more concerned with putting food on the table and surviving.

A few months ago I read an article that said scientists had determined that NOT making your bed was more healthy. Something about the lack of air circulation contributing to growth of germs or whatever.

Not sure I am going to let my children in on these studies. That would be all the incentive they would need to suddenly start telling me that they were doing our family a favor by not doing chores!

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