Why Little Boys Need Their Mothers but Prefer Their Dads

After Austin got his first pair of teeth in, it was off to the store to buy his first toothbrush and toothpaste. My jaw dropped as literally half of the "dental" aisle was full of kids stuff. My word!! Who knew little people toothbrush and toothpaste had so many options? Out of the hundreds of kinds of toothpaste, there was only one without fluoride so that made that decision easy. Not that I am against using fluoride toothpaste, in fact I am a fan, but at Austin's tender age I don't want him swallowing any. He will have to wait until he's older. So the toothpaste I got was apple/banana flavored. Honestly... that sounds disgusting!! But it's Austin's new favorite flavor. In fact, I think he would much prefer to skip his Chicken and Rice for dinner and just have his toothpaste.

The toothbrush was a much more difficult decision to make. There were lots on the shelf and it felt like the options were endless. After eliminating all of the girl toothbrushes, there were about a third of the options left. From there, the ease of the decision only improved slightly. After spending (literally) 15 minutes in the aisle, reading every label and warning label, I finally buckled down and made my final decision! I just held out some of the toothbrushes and Austin reached for the blue and green one in the middle. Problem solved.

After we continued shopping, I inspected the toothbrush further and realized Austin had made a fine choice!! The brush was "soft" which would come in handy for his gums. The handle was thick enough for little people fingers so he could hold it easily. And the best feature of the toothbrush is a little suction cup at the bottom. That way, you can stick the toothbrush to the bathroom counter and not get anything yucky on the bristles. Pure genius!!!

It was daddy's turn to brush Austin's teeth so the boys went into the bathroom and brushed their teeth while I relaxed for a few moments on the couch. I got off the couch and made my way to the bathroom for a shower. As soon as I walked into the bathroom I tried to keep my angry face on but even I had to admit, it was funny!!

I called Jeremy back in the bathroom and I pointed to the mirror above our sink and asked, "Is there any reason why Austin's toothbrush is stuck to the bathroom mirror?" Jeremy answered quickly, "Because it has a suction cup." And he turned and walked out. I yelled at him "I mean, is there a GOOD reason why?" No reply!

 

 

I guess there really are some things that moms just don't undestand about their sons; like the appeal of playing in the dirt, the fascination with guns and knives, the locic in playing practical jokes on your closest friends to show them that you care, or why it is necessary to stick your toothbrush on the bathroom mirror just because it has the capacity to. I am beginning to understand why little boys love their moms, but much prefer their dads. Moms may be better than dads, but I don't know if they are as much fun. (according to little boys that is) For example, I love to cuddle Austin and hold him and just love on him and smooch him and tell him how much I love him all day long. Jeremy, on the other hand, likes to hang Austin upside, wrestle him around, thrash him on the couch, and divebomb my head while I'm reading on the couch. To me, I seem like the better parent to hang out with. But do you think I am the one Austin prefers to play with? Nope! He prefers daddy! There was one point in my life when I actually wanted Austin and Jeremy to connect and be close and have a really good relationship and be really good friends. But now that their relationship is interfering with me being the favorite parent, I am beginning to reconsider.                                                                   

Sisters

I love being able to spend time with my sisters! Kea was the first friend I ever had, and then two more followed once Shayna and Paula were born. All four of us are so different, it is pretty remarkable that we all survived each other! Kea is the typical oldest child, very orderly, organized, responsible, and bossy. We all love to hate her because she set the bar pretty high for the rest of us. We also all secretly appreciate her because she pushes us to never settle for less and helps us work harder to get what we want out of life. Me, I'm perfect. Moving on to Shayna. She is the one who comes with the most surprises! She is a tiny little person who packs a powerful punch when it comes to working hard, proving herself, and being a mom. (Shayna is the modern day Mary Poppins with her own kids) Then there's Paula who is the girl who has two faces. What I mean is, in one instance she is this goofy kid with an amazing sense of humor and a talent for quoting movie lines. Then in the next, she is studying hard in school, working hard at her job, and figuring out life one day at a time. She goes from a goofy kid into an adult in the blink of an eye.

The one thing that drove Kea crazy is the same thing that I appreciated the most. (again, surprising we survived each other) Whenever we would get together, our maturity levels would drop. Kea would often times find it annoying, but we would find it entertaining! Although I must admit, when she gets around Kenna, Mari, Brason, and Austin she tends to find the joy in being silly and I daresay "immature."

We all got together for dinner and dancing on the Wii at Papa and Nana's house. At first, no one was really jumping up to play other than Kenna and Mari. But, cute little girls with big blue eyes and hearts of gold and sweet little voices are VERY persuasive. By the end of the night, we were ALL dancing! Those little girls even got Papa up and dancing! It was so much to dance and be goofy with my sisters, although Paula wasn't there! I couldn't remember a time I had laughed that hard. Actually, yes I could!

The day before, Shayna and I met up with Paula. We all rode together and it was like we were back in high school. We played our music too loud, sang way off key, made up stupid dances and hand gestures, and laughed so hard I cried!! We started talking about song lyrics and poor Shayna is ALWAYS the brunt end of those jokes. She is notoriously infamous for getting lyrics wrong. Sometimes I have to admit, she does come up with some pretty good stuff! For example, in the hit song by ABBA "Mama Mia" the words go:

Mama Mia... here I go again...
My My... How can I resist ya

Well Shayna sings them like this:

Mama Mia... here I go again,,,
My My... Honkin' at your sista

(I am laughing while typing)

Shayna is the best!! And she is a very good sport to our teasing!!

One of the best moments during that outing came when Paula decided we should all get together and take a picture. With Paula in the driver's seat, I in the front seat, and Shayna in the back, we all jammed our heads together to get close enough for a picture. Paula was the one holding the camera (which was actually her iPhone) and I noticed on the screen that there was ALL of Paula's face and two little slivers for Shayan and I's face. I grabbed her hand to help her "center" the photo so the rest of us could be in the picture too!! Typical Paula I guess!

As you can see though, we did eventually get a picture that is worth saving and sharing! I LOVE my sisters!! I wish I got to see them more and I wish that I had the courage and the words to say to express to them how much I love them. I don't do "mushy" very well, but I do hope they know it anyways!

Car Seat Faux Pas

It has recently come to my attention of how inadequate I am when it comes to things concerning little people. This past weekend, we packed up and went to Grand Junction to visit all of our extended family. We have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, and even long lost high school enemies that live there. We love to visit and see everybody, but it sure is nice to come home and have our quiet little lives back too.

Aunt Shayna had noticed that since Austin was getting so big, it was time for him to move up to a bigger size carseat. I was telling my dad that we were going to go to Target later to pick one out (Secretly I wasn't sure why because I knew that whichever one we picked out was going to be the wrong one and Aunt Shayna would get us the one we needed anyhow) and he tells me he has an extra one he could give us. I look at it, and it seems perfect!! I was sort of worried because the first two grandkids were girls, but this one seemed to have passed the "unisex" test.

All weekend long we kept forgetting to try the new-to-us carseat out but it was just so crazy going from place to place. We would never think of it until we had already left the house. So finally the time came that we were heading home and were forced to change out Austin's carseat. I have to admit, that I got a little bit choked up. I couldn't believe my little peanut from the hospital was now in a big carseat! Not only that, but that he didn't even look small in the big boy carseat! As I stood there watching Jeremy install the carseat I was taking a stroll down memory lane, trying to remember what life was like before diapers, carseats, and twenty pounds of formula. It was in vain because once you are mother, or rather a parent, there is no turning back!

We had so much stuff to bring home, we had to put Austin's carseat by the side door and lay the backseat all the way down. He was completely surrounded by stuff that it made me a little bit nervous. But come to find out, he had so much stuff to look at that it actually entertained him for a little while. So, I guess it worked out for everyone.

The day after we got home and got the car unloaded, I moved Austin's carseat over to the middle. It seemed.... odd. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something about it just seemed weird. I didn't think too much of it, so I went and got Austin and strapped him in. After seeing him in the carseat, I realized what was so odd about it. He seemed like he was leaning too far towards the backseat. His carseat was really off balance. I tried just about everything I could think of to fix it before I texted Aunt Shayna. I asked her about the carseat going from the side to the middle, and how his carseat seemed off balance. After sending a horrible description through a text message, I decided to take a picture and send it to her. Afterall, it was worth a thousand words. And apparently a thousand laughs too. Shayna called me with a little chuckle in her voice. I knew she was trying to be gracious in not laughing directly at me, but was waiting for me to laugh at myself first and then she would chime in. She told me that underneath the carseat are legs, or little stands. They are only supposed to be out when the carseat is facing forward. Since Austin is still in the phase of rear-facing, the legs were supposed to be tucked in.

I tried her theory and sure enough! The carseat leveled out and Austin didn't look like he would face plant against the back seat anymore. All I can say is, thank goodness for a sister and an aunt like Shayna who knows everything there is to know about little people and little people things. Otherwise, I just don't think Austin would make it!

I don't know how many people keep up with the news and what is going on around the world, in their own country, and in their communities. I am not really one of those people but my youngest sister happens to be. She posted a link on my mom's facebook page. I clicked on the link and it was a video segment of a news anchor from Lacrosse, Wisconsin named Jennifer Livingston. For those of you who don't know the story, let me give you the Reader's Digest version. The news anchor, Jennifer, had received an email from a local man complaining to her of her being over-weight and how she should be ashamed of herself for allowing herself to be that way while yet remaining in the eye of a public as a news anchor and as an example to young girls of letting them think it is okay to be over-weight.

Her response to the horrible email was beautiful and modest. She admitted that she was over-weight, which I thought took a lot of courage to say in front of a camera in front of hundreds and possibly thousands of people. But give me one woman who doesn't think she is over-weight and is happy with her body and I will give you a pet Griffin. They both exist in Fantasy Land so you should be able to pick them both up at once. Maybe even get a BOGO.

The part about her monologue on live tv that struck me the most was one line that she sent out as a message to people all around the world who are bullied, made fun of, picked on, ridiculed, and excluded from main stream socialization. She said, "The cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many." I find that statement to be very profound! It is so true how we hang everything (especially our self worth) on the criticisms we receive, and we laugh with disgust at the compliments.

Bullying is one of those things that has been around for generations, but yet has proven to be more and more destructive over the years. Bullying has gone to the extent where kids don't feel "safe" anymore. Safety isn't just about being physically safe, but there are many aspects to safety that we often over-look. Emotional, spiritual, intellectual, psycological, and some others that are very important too but I just can't seem to put my finger on them.

I remember being bullied in school for being different from my classmates. Some of my classmates and I are still friends because they loved me for who I am. Others disconnected themselves from me and even had some hateful names they used to call me that over 20 years later I still remember. However, bullying when I was a kid was just part of the growing pains. Everybody went through it, and everybody was affected differently from it as well.

October is anti-bullying month, which I am glad that we have. It creates an awareness of our own words and actions to others and it hopefully helps improves the way we treat each other. There is a difference between liking someone and respecting someone. You don't have to like someone, but you do have to respect them. For example, I don't like cell phone companies. I think they are awful and retched!!! They freely take your money and then when you have a problem with your phone or service, all of a sudden they can't help you and they transfer you seventeen times before you end up with the original person you talked to who still insists they can't help you. However, just because I don't LIKE cell phone companies doesn't mean that when I go into a cell phone store that I have a "right" to tell them what I think and how I feel.

I know there are much worse examples than the one I just gave, but I don't want to get TOO deep with my blog posts. I would hate for there to be some kind of expectation to my brain barfs because then I would have to actually think about and prepare for my blogs. Rather than just diving in and seeing what my brain wants to say and what my fingers want to type.

Let us ALL remember October for being anti-bullying month and let us all be more aware of our actions and their consequences. Together, we can kill all of the bullies with kindness!! Wait a minute... was that a bad analogy?

I am AMAZED at the growth and progress of an eight month old boy. Recently, Jeremy and I have discovered how time consuming it is to baby-proof a house. My word!! We started first with plugs for all of the outlets. Who knew there were so many outlets allowed in a house?! I can't imagine how people with bigger houses baby-proof. After plugging in plastic caps into all of my outlets, I decided to celebrate my good efforts with something to eat.

After eating some pieces of dried mango, I began to notice an eerie silence. It's like that moment in a movie where the music gets loud and intense to suggest that something scary is about to happen. I noticed that I didn't hear Austin making noises anymore. My heart felt at ease knowing that the silence had nothing to do with any electrical outlets since I had just plugged them all with plastic.

After searching around I found Austin in his room, which is a safe and logical place for him to be. So of course I searched there last. I found Austin on the floor playing with a little fan that I had unplugged in order to baby-proof the outlet. Austin was smiling away with the end of the plug to the fan sticking out of his mouth. He could not have been more happy! When he smiled, he showed his little nubs for teeth on the bottom and drool ran down all over himself and all over the cord.

I learned two things that day. #1- Crawling is a much faster and efficient way of transportation than I had ever imagined. I had always assumed that an adult with a walking leg span could be faster than a little tot on all fours scooting across the floor, but this is simply not the case!! He has learned to not only shift into higher gears, but he has also learned how to steer. Life was much quieter when he only knew first gear. And if something got in his way, he would stop and roll over onto his back and look up at the ceiling and stare at something for hours to keep his attention. Oh the good ol' days!

Lesson #2- There is no such as baby-proofing a house! If it's not an outlet, then it's the cord that used to be in the outlet. If it's not the top shelf of your best China, it is the crumb of who-knows-what that looks like has been on the floor since before you lived there. If it isn't the cupboards with the child-proof lock then it's the bottle laying wide open with the child-proof cap!

I'm not saying that I don't think it's a good idea to take precautions to keeping your kids out of trouble and out of things they shouldn't be in to. What I AM saying is that there is not enough time in the day to properly and efficiently take all precautions before the little squirt finds the one you missed.