At the Movies

Froggie has been dying to go see the movie Home.  We were supposed to go Friday but she was punished for not listening to me or her Daddy.  That's something for another blog post.  We went on Saturday because she was good the rest of the week.  The punishment occurred on Monday.

We went to a showing around Noon time.  We got our tickets and then made our way to the concession stand.  Twenty-four dollars later, we are going to get our seats.  Froggie wanted to sit at the tippy top.  So I agreed to this.  It wasn't so bad walking up 15 million stairs.  We got settled in and a minute or two later the trailers started.  Yes, I time it so we don't have to wait very long for a movie to start.

We were watching the trailers and all is well.  When the movie started she started talking.  I had to remind her that we're in the theater and to just sit and watch the movie quietly.  She says to me, "Mommy, can't we just whisper."  I told her we could not do that because we would disturb others around us.  She seemed to understand and was quiet for almost all the movie.

Immediately, I realized this movie is based off a teen novel called The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.  I read this book when it came out eight years ago.  (My day job is a Teen Librarian so I read a lot of teen novels).  I was now even more excited to see this film then I was from the previews.

It was a really good movie.  It was funny and it was touching.  I think it had something entertaining for adults and kids.  The best scene in my opinion was the pit stop at the restroom.  It was hilarious.  Jim Parson's has the perfect voice for the Boov Oh.  It's amazing how movie makers turned a wonderful teen novel into a really good movie for kids.  I give this a thumbs up.

Now Froggie goes around the house saying, "My hands are in the air like I just do not care."  She is also talking about seeing the live action Cinderella movie.  We are definitely going to see the minion movie when it comes out.  That looks hilarious.

I enjoy these days with Froggie and hope she will remember them when she's all grown up.  She'll look back and think about the great times she had with her Mom at the movies.  I know I think about the wonderful times I went to the movies with my Mom.  The last one we got to see at the theater together was Steel Magnolias.  I won't ever forget that.

The Business Trip

Recently hubby and I went on a business trip together and Froggie stayed with her Aunt.  This was the first time in 5 years that we have been away for more than a day or two together.  I had mixed feelings.  In one way, it was nice to be just the two of us again.  There was this worry of I'm leaving my little girl all alone in the big world.  How will I know she'll be alright.  What if she gets hurt or something and I'm not there?  What if she needs me to hug her tight after a bad dream?  What if she misses me too much?

All these things went through my mind and that was before we even left.  Grant it when I got there my worries eased a bit.  I knew she would be in Daycare most of the day.  My sister-in-law is a very capable person having raised two children and one grandchild.  So I started to enjoy my trip.  I loved taking a shower and not being interrupted.  I had a hot meal for the first time in I can't tell you when and I got to eat it all without having to get up for various reasons.  Another thing I did was engage in adult conversation.  Not once did I say, "I'm going to count to three then I'm going to take privileges away."  My husband and I sat at the bar and had an adult beverage and talked like we did before Froggie.

Things were fine until I talked to her that night.  She sounded like she was having a blast but three times she said, "I love you.  I miss you."  This liked to tea me apart.  I missed her so much.  I wanted all the hugs and kisses I was missing out on.  I was missing her and her quirky little personality.  I missed her running up to me and saying the line from the movie Home, "My hands are in the air like I just do not care."  I wanted to see her badly.  By the end of the trip I was so happy to just go home grab her, hug and kiss her.

I really don't know how parents do it that have to go out of town to work on a regular basis.  I guess you adapt.  I find it hard enough just leaving her to go to a full time job each and every day.  I'm working to get to a point where I can quit that.  Sometimes I feel that I'm missing out on so much by not being able to stay at home.

A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down

It's that time of year where people are getting sick.  First we had the dreaded stomach bug go through the house and now it's the common cold.  Froggie is coughing a bit and has a little runny nose.  I, however, will be down for three days or more feeling like a bus ran me over and then the driver backed up to see what he hit.  She's sick and wants to run and play.  I'm sick and want to lay down and loose consciousness for a few hours.  I'm truly miserable and she's blown it off.

So while I was making sure Froggie could be well enough to run and jump and play, I was also thinking about children's medicine now and children's medicine when I was a kid.  My mother told me that the favorite treatment for anything that was ailing you was castor oil when she was a kid.  I think she told me that as a child to try to make me feel better about taking the disgusting tasting medicine I had.

I remember watching Mary Poppins as a kid sing about taking a spoonful of sugar because this would make the medicine go down.  She was probably right about this.  I tried to convince my mother that this would be a good idea when I had to take medicine.  It didn't work.  Hey it was worth the try.

My husband and I were trying to figure out just which medicine tasted worse.  Triaminic was the cough medicine we had to take.  It came in three colors, yellow, orange and red.  Each color treated different symptoms so it depended on what you had as to what color you had to take.  We both agreed that the orange was the least offensive flavor.  While it was sickening sweet, you could drink it down rather quickly.  I think the yellow was the worse.  Red was tolerable.  Not the best tasting medicine in the world but not the worst.  I do remember as a child holding my nose hoping that would help.  It didn't.  The yellow was just terrible and made me want to throw up when I had to take it.  I can't even describe what it tasted like to you today but I remember it.  I can taste that nasty tasting stuff at this very moment.

So when I was directed by the doctor to give Froggie some cough medicine, I was reluctant.  Not because I didn't think it was alright to do it.  It was because I was dreading having to give her nasty tasting medicine.  Oh I was in for a shock.  They still sell Triaminic today.  I'm not advertising for them since I actually bought the drugstore version of it.  I was surprised to see it is still made.  It comes in a Daytime and Nighttime version.  The Daytime is a nice cherry flavored medicine while the Nighttime is grape.  Where the hell was this when I was a kid.  No disgusting tasting medicine that would leave an after taste in your mouth.  Oh my daughter gets the stuff that tastes so good she's more than willing to take it.

The good thing about medicine tasting the way it does is unlike my mother, I will never have to fight with Froggie to take it so she'll feel better.  The bad thing is she'll never have to take a spoonful of sugar to make it go down.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...Or Maybe Not

My gripe today is about Christmas.  Please don't shoot me.  I love Christmas since my daughter was born it's great.  However, it seems that Christmas is getting earlier an earlier each year.  No, I don't mean that anyone has changed the date.  I mean in terms of stores and advertising.  I swear I saw Christmas decorations out in September.

I know the older Moms out there can relate.  Once upon a time you didn't see Christmas items until after Thanksgiving.  There was Halloween, then after that we all concentrated on Thanksgiving.  Finally we celebrated Christmas.  I remember my Mom thinking it was crazy that her friend was putting up her Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  It was just too early in her eyes.  Now I bet there are some out there that put up a tree right after Halloween.

One of my favorite radio stations started playing all Christmas music the second week of November.  I'm thinking, "You're kidding me right."  I like Christmas music but there is only so much of it that I can take.  I know I will be burned out on it way before Christmas gets here.

This is not to mention that we have practically excluded Thanksgiving from the holiday celebrations.  We're so focused on Christmas that stores are opening Thanksgiving Day to sell you stuff for Christmas.  I must admit I will be shopping Thanksgiving because, as much as I don't want to, I can't pass up the great deal on the Elsa doll that Froggie is asking Santa for Christmas.  I don't really want to go but at the same time the thought of getting something she wants at a great deal is hard to pass up.

I have been asked if I'm decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  I might put up the lights because last year my husband waited and waited and we had them up for maybe a week.  Putting up the lights always reminds me of the good times I had as a child.  We will probably wait until the first weekend in December to put up the tree.  Froggie likes to help with the decorations.

So tomorrow when you're gathered around the table with family and maybe even friends, think about Thanksgiving. Put Christmas out of your mind for just a moment.  Think about what you are truly thankful for.

Are you a friend or are you a mom?

Every so often I come across a really great article.  This one was due to the fact one of my Facebook friends had read it and thought it was good.  So I looked it up and read it for myself.  She was right.

Kelly Ripa was talking about discipline and her 13 year old daughter.  She mentioned in an interview that her daughter didn't like her right about now because she had taken away the computer and phone privileges.  Her daughter broke the rules and she was punished.  She also mentioned that she is not her daughter's friend she's her Mom.

Bravo, Ms. Ripa.  I know that there are people out there that are gasping right now and feeling faint.  I believe this way too.  My four year old, light of my life, told me that she hated me and she didn't love me anymore.  She had a major temper tantrum and wasn't listening to me and wanted things her way.  I'm sorry that's not going to happen.  She got mad and told me mean things.  I don't know if it's the way I was raised or because I'm an older Mom but I believe that you can't be friends with your child.

As much as teens say they want freedom, independence and to be grown up, they secretly desire structure and rules.  It's scary being on your own.  Sometimes those rules you have in the house, even the ones that they break, is a security blanket.  I could give Froggie everything she wants at 4 and then she can be a total nightmare at 14.  I won't do it.  I'm sorry.  She needs to know that there are consequences to her actions.

I am not a super strict Mom.  Yes I do give in to somethings.  I do believe in picking your battles.  But  I also am not the carefree, I don't give a damn what my child does parent either.  I am hoping to raise a well adjusted child all the way into being a well adjusted, successful adult.  If that means being the bad guy sometimes then so be it.

I'm not my child's friend.  I'm her Mom.  I'm her caretaker.  I'm her teacher.  I'm her nurse.  Most of all I'm the one that is responsible for the way she behaves for the rest of her life.

Mom's Don't Get Sick Days

This is the new slogan for Dayquil.  The commercial shows a woman that opens the door to a room and tells someone that she needs to take a sick day tomorrow.  The next shot is of a little girl playing dress up in her room.  The announcer says "Mom's don't take sick days."

Never has there been a truer statement said.  Recently a stomach bug went around our house.  When Froggie got it I had to explain it wasn't an actual bug in her stomach but a virus.  That was fun in itself.  She got it first then it passed to my husband.  I went three days and figured I was fine.  Oh how wrong I was.  Wednesday afternoon I was sick at work.  I couldn't leave due to the fact we were short handed.  Luckily, hubby was already taking Froggie to dance class.  I told him I was very sick and to just pick up something for the both of them to eat I was going to bed when I got home.

These are the times I am very thankful for daycare.  Even though I still got up the next morning after a sleepless night due to spending most of it in the bathroom, I didn't have to take care of her the whole day.  However, hubby had a very important meeting after work.  So he took off early and picked up Froggie then told her what was going on.  He told her that I was sick and he had to go to a meeting.  She asked if she would go to the meeting and he told her that she had to take care of me.  She said, "Why don't I go to the meeting and you take care of Mommy."  He told her she couldn't because she couldn't drive.  Though I do think his meeting with the board would have been much more fun and memorable if Froggie would have attended in his place.

I will say that my daughter is very caring and loving and a good nurse.  But she still relies on me for a lot.  I had to get her dinner.  Thank goodness for Ravioli and a microwave.  It wasn't the best meal but I got my child fed.  We did a lot of snuggling but I still had to get up to get her something to drink.  She gave me lots of hugs and kisses to make me feel better.

I am lucky that my husband is good.  He took care of the dishes and put Froggie to bed when he got home.  Not all Moms have someone that can or is willing to help out when you aren't feeling real well.  I remember the last time the stomach bug hit me, Froggie was just a baby and it was over the weekend and my husband was working that Saturday so I had to take care of her.  Let me tell you the last thing you want to do with a queasy stomach is change a poopy diaper.  But I sucked it up and I did it.  Just like the other night.  I had to suck it up and take care of her.  She's my baby and Mom's don't get sick days.

The Woes of Raising a Girl

My niece and I were pregnant at the same time.  Yes I said my niece because there are only 6 years difference between us.  She was pregnant with her second child while I was with my first.  We got to talking after we found out the gender of our unborn children.

I am going to interject a funny story hear before I get back to the main topic of my post.  My great-nephew had so wanted his Mom to have a little girl.  He was quite disappointed that he was getting a brother and not a sister.  So one day my niece let it slip that I was having a girl.  Her son asked, "Aunt Stacie is having a girl?"  She told him that I was.  He paused for a moment and suggested to her that we could just switch babies.  That way he could have a sister and his aunt and uncle could still have a baby they would just have a boy.  I asked her why he wanted a sister so badly.  She looked at me and said, "He wants his own personal cheerleader."  I had to giggle.  My great nephew was playing football at the time.  So I explained to him that we couldn't switch babies but he could still have his own personal cheerleader.  She would just live with  us.  My daughter has gone to his games.  How effective a cheerleader she is remains to be seen.

Late that same day is when the topic of gender came up.  I remember my niece saying she was so glad to be having a boy that girls are so difficult to raise.  Probably not those exact words but something like it.  She went on to explain about girls getting all emotional and having to go through puberty.  Not to mention all the drama that comes with a girl.  Boys were generally easier because they didn't have all this.

I started to panic.  She wasn't even born yet and already people were telling me how difficult it was.  I had heard this from friends too.  I don't necessarily think that boys are less difficult then girls.  I just think it's different.  Girls do have their issues and so do boys.

One of the major things I'm thinking of is body image.  I want to promote good bod image to her when she's four so maybe it won't be so bad when she's fourteen.  Everywhere I took they're talking about how Barbie is a bad roll model because she's out of proportion.  When did a doll become a role model for kids?  I read about all the celebrities that have been photoshopped to look the most appealing to the audience of readers out there.  Then there is the notion that thin is pretty and if you don't look a certain way you are ugly.

Not only am I dealing with all that, I'm dealing with being an older Mom.  Am I going to understand my daughter's woes when she is 14 and I am 55?  Will I be able to relate to her?  Will I be able to help her past this time in her life?

I don't know right now.  Maybe I'll just have to wait until we get there.  I try not to worry about what will happen ten years from now, but sometimes it just creeps into my mind.  I just have to remember to try to be the best Mom I can possibly be.  I must be doing something right because the other day I had put on some lipstick and she said, "Mommy, don't color your lips."  I said, "Too late I already did it."  She said, "You don't have to do that.  You are pretty without it."  I smiled the rest of the day and prayed she'll keep thinking like that as she gets older.