Alysa will join us for tick-or-treating this year and she is going to be a pink batgirl. We are going to be trick-or-treating in Mukilteo. I give the kids 23 minutes before they get too cold and want to go home...
So this year Madison is going to be a bumble bee, Camila will be a flower (get it?), and Emilee will be Spider Witch, lol.
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Camila reached her first big milestone last night at about 7pm. I was changing her diaper in her crib and she was considerably unhappy about the situation. I bent down to grab a clean diaper and came back up and said "Clean diaper to the rescue!" and she stopped crying and then started smiling at me. Jesse was standing next to me and I tapped him on the shoulder and told him that Camila was smiling. Then she started laughing! It was pretty great. And apparently she has a cheesy sense of humor because my antics weren't that awesome.
I have also been in touch with a woman who has pictures of my Italian side of my family. I noticed in a picture that she sent me that this "all girls" dilemma we have is probably my gene's fault:+is+to+the+far+left.+The+little+girl+standing+would.jpg)
I also found out that my great-great grandfather had a sweet 'stache in his time:
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Sometimes I look at my parenting tactics and values i try to instill on my children and I wonder... am I a weirdo?
This occurred to me when I suggested that Madison start writing letters to family members she
has never met. Ones she has heard of, of course, and has talked to on the phone. Why? No one
ever writes letters anymore, that's why!
I requested that she write them in cursive, in pen, and sign them properly with "Sincerely". I told her I wanted her to write about one a week and we would address the envelopes and send them via the obsolete SNAIL MAIL.
Then I thought about it. Does she really need to know how to do this? Probably not. Maybe. Who knows! But I don't want to surrender the little things in life like getting a hand written letter from a relative to electronic communication.
P.S. I also made her her own snazzy stationary! If you want to get a letter email me your mailing address at prettyinpretend@aol.com
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Yesterday I was at Target and I was looking at t-shirts for Madison. I debated on getting a shirt that says "Paris" on it and "Je Taime" because she is going to be taking French classes this year and she is really excited about it. Then I debated over a halloween t-shirt but the only remotely nice one said "I love vampires" and Madison has made is very apparent that she likes werewolves, lol. So I finally decided to get her two basic long sleeved shirts, one black and one white. While I was there I saw a t-shirt that says "Proud to be a NERD". My first thought was "Madison would be appaled if I got her that shirt" then I thought about it some more. 9 year olds are just coming into that age where they are ultra self conscious. I can not imagine many 9 year olds that would willingly wear a t-shirt that labels them a un-cool (even though being a nerd is awesome in my opinion).
Anyway, fast forward to me picking Madison up from school. We were leaving the parking lot and I told her "I got you a couple of shirts from Target today. They're long sleeved so you can wear them under your short sleeved shirts." She said "Okay." Then I thought about that NERD shirt and wanted to confirm that Madison indeed would not consider wearing a shirt like that. I did not take into consideration the context this was going to appear in, which warranted a very dramatic response from Madison (dramatic, yet hilarious!).
This is how the conversation went for Madison
Me: "I got you a couple of shirts from Target today. They're long sleeved so you can wear them under your short sleeved shirts"
Madison: "Okay."
Me: "Would you wear a shirt that says 'Proud to be a nerd?"
Madison: [insert horrified expression] "Nooo!!!"
To clarify, she thought I had bought her a t-shirt that said "Proud to be a nerd." It was pretty hilarious.
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I was just posting on Facebook about all of my rules that I have in my house and how there are a lot of them. I thought I would share.
No Disney Channel or Nickelodeon unless the show is preapproved by mom. And never EVER any cartoon network.
I was watching a music video by Vanessa Hudgens a while back on Disney Channel and the lyrics were "Last night you were calling me, telling me how you want me." What the heck?! What ever happened to Even Stevens and Lizzy Maguire? Funny, campy TV shows. SO we nixed those channels from the approved list. Cartoon Network has never been allowed because it is too violent. In a general sense it is not violent, but I am not raising the general population in my household. I am raising CHILDREN. Since when is it funny to hurt people? When did it become funny to lose control of your temper? When did killing your friends become humorous? Those things are not funny or lightly taken in real life. We are not going to pretend like they are. What my kids CAN watch is Food Network, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and Animal Planet. They actually absorb new information that I cannot even teach them. I don't think media is a good medium for teaching, but I can't ignore it's presence; so we make the best of it! It never replaces family time or traditional learning, though.
Read for 20 minutes before you get to play a 30 minute game on the computer. The Sims. Even if you've already read for 20 minutes that day for homework. And that is only after you've done everything else (clean room, eat, homework, etc)
I justify this by telling my children "If you are going to do something that is unhealthy
for your brain, we are going to do something good for it first." Granted, they read for 10
minutes less than they play the game, but they don't get to play very often. And The Sims is a
life simulator. There is no violence and it is rated E.
No inappropriate music, as defined by language and content of lyrics.
Madison and Emilee listen to my favorite bands, MUSE and Paramore. No Justin Beiber. Why??
Justin Beiber has artists on his album that are notorious for bad language and sexual content,
not to mention drug references in their music. I have no doubt that Justin Beiber is headed in that
direction if those are his musical influences. I can't think of any blatant drug or sex references in
any of their albums. Nor can I think of a song that has a curse word in it. They are free to explore
other music, they just haven't.
Share everything.
An example: We were going to Jetty Island and the kids asked if I could get them shovels and
I went to the grocery store and got one shovel, one pail, and an inflatable ring. When we got to
the beach the kids were forced to figure out who gets to play with what, when, and for how long?
They used their problem solving skills. Madison played with the shovel and pail first while Emilee
played in the water with the ring. They asked me if I could tell them when 10 minutes was up so
that they could trade. This encourages problem solving and social skills that are important both
when they go to school and when they grow up to be adults.
Be helpful.
Who has heard this: "But I didn't make the mess!" I still hear it, but the fact is, we all live in
this house. We all make messes. And we all clean up. Everyone will be helpful, within their
capacity, because we are all equal parts of the household. If Madison left her shirt on the
living room floor but she is still eating and Emilee is finished, I am going to ask Emilee "Emilee,
can you be helpful and pick up Madison's shirt since she is still eating dinner?" and she will do it.
If I just ask "Emilee, pick up that shirt in the living room." I will get a response such as "But I
didn't make the mess!" It's all in your intention.
Be respectful and demand it back... even from adults.
Madison often remarks on other people's parent skills and most of the time it is about the
dynamic of the relationship between the child and their parent. In our house, I am respectful
to Madison, Emilee, and Jesse. Simply because there is no reason not to be respectful. I
always use respectful words and I never use a condescending tone. Jesse and I use sarcasm
with each other, but not with the kids. In return, the children treat us the same way.
Sometimes they slip but a simple "Do I treat you like that?" quashes the attitude and warrants
an apology. I have seen Madison stand up to other adults that have disrespected her and she
does it in a very grown up way, She talks to them about what they did and lets them know
that she did not like it. Sometimes the adults respond well and sometimes they don't. But I
talk to my children and tell them that I am proud of them and the important thing is that they
let the person know that what they did was not acceptable - not that they have a bad attitude.
We are not going to have friends who make poor choices.
Like the neighbor kids who ride their bikes in the middle of the road, unsupervised by an adult
(even the 3 year old!) without helmets and light off fireworks by themselves. I do not blame
these children but I am not going to encourage my kids to play with them if they are being left
to make choices between good and bad by themselves. A 7 year old does not have that
capacity to make those decisions 100 percent on their own. I like my kids in one piece, not
kidnapped, not hit by a car, not bleeding from the head on the sidewalk because they fell off
their bike, and not with first degree burns from fireworks. We'll pass. We will, however, hang out
with children whose parents are going to supervise us when we're playing and make sure
we are safe.
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