Parenting Tips

Poll of the Week

This week’s poll is up in the right sidebar- be sure and cast your vote.

Last week’s poll results can be found by clicking the polls tab above. Surprisingly, a good portion of voters are not sending out holiday cards this year.

Every year I am tempted to just skip the holiday card process as well - it would cut down on holiday stress. I still cannot believe how difficult it is to get 4 children to pose for a picture once a year. The arguments, the drama, the OPINIONS…. I am sure Santa didn’t envision this!

A Little Monday Inspiration

If music gives the heart wings, this will make your heart soar:

George of the Jungle

Is that a blast from the past? This weekend the kids and I watched the DVD’s of George of the Jungle and George of the Jungle 2.

Somehow we missed George of the Jungle in the theaters. Starring Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann this movie contained comedy for children and adults alike.

Produced by Disney, rated PG, and extremely corny.

We loved the first George of the Jungle. George of the Jungle 2, the sequel, didn’t have the same kitsch as the first one but it was entertaining just the same.

A Mom’s Letter to Santa

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Photo by Sophiea

No, I didn’t write this letter to Santa. Rather, this letter to Santa is one of those emails that gets passed around. I usually read, chuckle, and delete. But this one could actually be a letter from any one of us.

Despite all the stress, remember to enjoy the holidays!

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn’t broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a
refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mommy” to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting “Don’t eat in the living room” and “Take your hands off your brother,” because my voice seems to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable?
It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don’t catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet. (you promised me last year you would lose some weight with me so next year you and I could be a cute size two blonde…ok, some requests go too far, but none the less…..

Yours Always,

MOM…

P.S. One more thing…you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children, healthy, safe and of course, young enough to always believe in Santa.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mommies you know.

My Favorite Words

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Photo by ali edwards
Isabella at Change Therapy has asked me what my favorite words are.

And right away, I can tell you that my favorite words aren’t actually words at all.

  1. Lasterday - my all time favorite! My four year old daughter continues to use this word to refer to what is commonly known as “yesterday”. Do I correct her? Absolutely not! She can call it Lasterday as long as she wants and the day she says “yesterday” will be a sad one, indeed!
  2. Colorayons - same as lasterday, except this one refers to crayons.
  3. Dora Ek the Splorer - Explorer is a hard word, and Ek the Splorer is so much more unique.
  4. Lellow - this one is from years past. My second son said this in place of yellow until my oldest son set him straight.
  5. Aye - my oldest son said this instead of “yes”. Other people had some difficulty figuring this one out but we knew exactly what it meant.

What do these words tell you about me?

You could determine that my kids are a big part of my life and I cherish their childhood that is passing too quickly (and sometimes not fast enough). My favorite words don’t show you my incredibly practical side but rather a sentimental side that most people don’t see.

Is being a mom the most important thing in my life?

Aye.

Isabella has turned this question into a meme - here are the rules:

  • what are your favourite words, and why?
  • what does that tell us about you?
  • write about it on your blog and invite other bloggers to write about it.
  • link back to this blog (change therapy at http://moritherapy.org) and i’ll
    • gather the words and contributors in a list and publish it
    • stumble your “favourite word” post (as long as they meet my stumble criteria, which shouldn’t be difficult with a post like this)

Anyone is free to participate. But I will tag a few that may be interested.

Isabella hasn’t posted a deadline on her meme but since she will be posting a list of all the contributers, I would imagine participating sooner is better than later.