in Memorial

We who are left how shall we look again

Happily on the sun or feel the rain

Without remembering how they who went

Ungrudgingly and spent

Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?

– Wilfred Wilson Gibson

There are quite a few people I know who are in the military. My husband and brother, my friends and brother in law, and possibly soon my youngest sister. Every one of them should know how deeply I respect them for their service to our country, how much I admire them for serving and how thankful I am for that service. For those who put their country before their lives there are never enough words...

Today, take a moment and remember. At 3pm (the national moment of remembrance) take a minute and honor those who have serve and those who have died for our freedom.

Birth order

I ran across an article the other day talking about how birth order can help determine who you will be most compatible with romantically. I read it with a grain of salt but found it funny/interesting anyway.

I am a twin, and more of a middle child "third" born,... But my personality and relationship result don't match with either.

The Man is first born, he matches his fine.

Funny enough I think I'm more "last born" personality wise... and if you read it as that then we match great *chuckle*

version 1.2

Todays Doug eat Dog strip. I always did think that song was a little less then positive. The second verse of the version I used to sing the Kiddo was better, it went like this:

When the bough breaks,
the cradle will rise,
and up will fly baby into the sky.

He still loves the song, he thinks it's great that the baby gets to fly at the end.

Brain dead

Lately I've been distracted. I feel like time for me to get certain things done is running out... So in the next few days I have set myself goals, things to get done prior to June 1st. I have two nook bags 90% complete, finishing them both shouldn't take more then a couple hours but I procrastinate doing it anyway. And I have a letter to write to my Grandma, I've been wanting to write it for weeks.

Speaking of June, next week is my birthday. I was so distracted with thinking of everybody else that I forgot about it; my father in laws birthday get together is this Sunday. The Man's birthday is the end of next month. The Kiddo has two doctor appointments in June (eye and teeth)... and the list goes on. I still can't believe I forgot though, how did I get to a place where I stopped thinking about myself so completely?

On a completely random tangent. We still have not found a dog that would be even close to good for the Kiddo. We knew it would take awhile though, and the Kiddo is amazingly understanding about how long things are taking. I've never met a five year old with more patience then he has. I saw a new listing for a Tibetan Spaniel on the Humane Societies web page. She's 4. She might be a little small for the kiddo but he says she is cute and she is the right age. I couldn't get the picture to link here (click the link above to go to the listing) so I went to the dog breed info web page and copied that picture for you* They are cute dogs, and it seems like one would be good for our living situation.
*click the picture to go to the page and read about the breed

tumble down

The Kiddo is kind of a klutz. More to the point he isn't where he should be physically for his age. That is probably because he isn't where he should be size wise for his age *chuckle*. So we've been thinking of putting him into a gym class. Last year we began the debate, but could not afford it so put the idea on a back burner. Then we went to his yearly pediatrician visit this year and (I believe I mentioned this) Doc made me feel guilty about him not being in some sort of class to help with his coordination etc. So we looked into it again.

The Little Gym 6 weeks of classes (one hour long class a week): $160.00 (27 bucks a class)

Tumbling classes for our five year old. Actually, I believe, a very good idea. Like most kids his age he loves to climb and roll around, he loves to try to jump. As you know from my post last week his growth hormone shots are working well, and classes to help with coordination and physical stability would probably be helpful to balance out that quick growth.

The summer session class starts on the 14th of June so I have to decide soon (and try to come up with the money if I do decide). If I did it I would really like to get him into the summer session because it would give him whatever benefits BEFORE the start of kindergarten. And then we would have to decide if we would be putting him into the fall session tumbling class as well.

In a perfect world we'd have cash laying around and we wouldn't even have to think about it, we'd just do it. The debate and the question I pose to all of you is... would you consider the cost to be worth the benefit? I know nobody can make the decision for us, but it never hurts to get input.

Weather or not

This is what I woke up too!! Not for the first time I had the thought that I really wish I could figure a way to move us back to Arizona. I browse the job listings for the Prescott or Mesa areas on a regular basis with the hope that maybe there will be a super high paying magical job out there that the Man or myself would qualify for. Not that I want to leave my friends or the Kiddo's doctors (a nightmare of mine is to move and not find a doctor that has the active experience and training that our current one does). Still I think the chance would be worth taking, and a move closer to my family would make me happy.
Then again this rash of cold/cool weather has really helped with the electric bill. May's bill was all of 33 bucks, June's bill is the same. Today of course the heater is on, but generally it's either an open or closed windows type decision and that type of thing takes no electric at all.

Child Obesity

Lately I've been noticing a disturbing trend. Not that the trend started recently, but I haven't paid much attention to it until now.

The trend I'm referring to is groups, watchdog or otherwise, parenting our children for us. When did it become desirable to have somebody else make decisions on how we feed our children? More scary still, when did it become "needed".

I'm talking about the happy meal toy ban I read about last month. In Santa Clara County California (where else)

The proposed ban, which may be the first of its kind in the US. The proposal states that the use of toys in happy meals could actually encourage children to put a link between high calorie foods and enjoyment. The proposal makes a strict guideline on the number of calories, the amount of fats, the amount of sodium, and the amount of sugar that can be in the foods inside of these childhood favorites that carry the toys. The measure was proposed by a county supervisor.

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager happily endorses the measure. Yeager believes that adding a toy in a happy meal that’s high in fats, sugars, and sodium is like giving a child positive reinforcement to children to do things which will affect them negatively throughout the remainder of their lives.

Wait what? I mean yeah taking your kid to McDonald's five days a week is going to lead to some really bad health problems and eating habits. But how is that McDonald's fault? What happened to parents having a little common sense? The Kiddo gets a kids meal MAYBE twice a month IF that, so what if I want to let him have a toy and eat crazy high calories and fat in a burger and fries. How sad that the government feels like it needs to restrict how that happens, how sad that they probably DO need to restrict how that happens. How many parents do you know that take their kids out for fast food more then is reasonably healthy? I know a couple. Then again, who am I to judge them on what they think is good for their kids.

I mention McDonald's specifically (even though, *shudder*, I never eat there... not since the chicken nuggets incident when I was pregnant with the Kiddo) because today I read another news story about protecting our young ones against the evil manipulations of the devil fast food corporations.
Regardless of all, it is the parents job to raise their kids. To feed them healthy food, and to teach them how to eat properly. I admit it I DO judge people on how well they raise their kids. I know some kids are better then others, easier to handle and easier to "train". But when you make the choice to have kids you make the choice to put in the work to be a good parent. That's nieve to believe that people do that (I know they don't) and so I judge. How well do you parent? How healthy and well adjusted is your kid? How well adjusted is mine? I judge myself more harshly then I'll ever judge you, but I will judge you. Hopefully that doesn't make me too bad of a person.

one point five

It's been a month. Well a day shy of four weeks, or 28 days. I distinctly remember asking the nurse, when she was here, how soon we'd see growth. I believe she said 6-8 weeks or so at the earliest. But, because it's been a month, and because I have a slightly ocd issue with keeping medical notes and records for everything involving the Kiddo, I went ahead and stood him against our measuring chart.

I think I squealed. I'm not really a squealer but can you blame me?? Check it out!
If I did that right (and I did it twice!!) the Kiddo has grown 1 and a 1/2 inches!!! In a MONTH. That's amazing, jaw dropping, I can't quite wrap my head around it. I took a picture to prove it*

Then of course I came off my happy dance high and had the "shoot now I really DO have to buy him new cloths" *grumble*

I'm going to have him stand there again for the Man this evening. To make sure I didn't somehow screw it up. But .... I don't think I did. I think my wee little kiddo is actually growing. Wonders will never cease.

*ignore how cheesy the kiddo is in the picture. He thought I was being crazy, AND he'd only been awake for 20 minutes or so so he was still doing the squinty eye wake up face.

count...

Randomly from the Kiddo's room I hear him:

One plus one makes TWO... two plus one makes THREE... three plus one makes FOUR (all the way up to eleven)

then I hear

eleven minus one makes TEN... ten minus one makes NINE... nine minus one makes EIGHT... (all the way down to zero)

Of course I'm wondering what the heck is going on so I tip toed down the hall to see, he was reading a counting book, but rather then reading the words he was doing the math. He makes me happy :)