The "kinda cute" baby

Picture A

Last week, I saw an ad in the local paper that Macey's was doing a cute baby picture contest.

I said out loud - "Oh look! Macey's is doing a cute baby picture contest. We should enter Matthew!"

Kristin said "Why?"

Me - "Because he is a cute baby. We have some cute pictures of him."

Kristin "Why would you enter him? He won't win. He's just not that cute. I mean he's fun and everything but he's just not, you know, very cute."

I had this little panic moment. Am I one of those parents who thinks my kid is cute and everyone else thinks "woah, that is just not a cute baby". You know the type. We've all run into them before. I might be one of those.

However, I'm going to enter his picture anyway. Just for fun. I just need some help picking a cute picture. I'll post a poll or you can just tell me which one you think is the best.

(Ryan and I love the picture I put at the top, but they have different categories and Matthew is in the 7 - 12 month category. Do you think I could still enter it, or do you think he looks too much like a baby? - it was taken last fall. I am supposed to enter a "recent" picture.)

Picture B

Picture C

Picture D

Picture E




Picture F



Picture G

Ode to Fat Cells

Ode to Fat Cells

Fat cells, you are not my friend,
You haunt me to the bitter end.
Someday I will make you see
that you should not be part of me.

Why do you fight to leave my tummy?
Staying there is just plain dummy.
I squish you into all my pants
and yet you stay and do a dance.

What do I have to say to you?
Your presence makes me oh so blue!
I drink water day and night.
No soda or sugary drinks I like.

I eat my fruits and whole grain wheat.
I like my carrots- apples are a treat!
Bananas, salad, berries rock!
Beans and peas I keep in stock.

Soy milk 'stead of juice from cow,
Give me Kashi cereals now!
Fish, chicken, low fat meat
are the staples that I eat.

Watching proteins, carbs, and dairy,
being balanced as a fairy.
Working out 5 days a week
for 90 minutes, can't be beat!

AND YET...

You stick to arms, thighs, hips, and chest.
On belly, buttocks, chin, you rest.
Thinking this is great vacation
Why can't you visit United Nations?

You must leave my body soon.
I will threaten night to noon!
You must not keep sneaking round.
Leave my torso pound by pound!

You think you win, but you will see -
the battle's just begun for me.
And with warning, I'll let you know-
you'd best pack up and get ready to GO!!!

The lone boy.

This week I was reminded of the importance of "the one".Our school does a little activity once or twice a year. This year it was called "Kick it with your kids". From 9:00 - 9:30 parents are invited to come to the elementary school and have a little breakfast with their kids while reading to them for that 30 minutes.

The intentions of this program are noble. You can imagine how excited the kids are to have their parent(s) come and read to them at their school. They get out of their classrooms and have a lot of fun.

One of the hardest things to me about this program is that there are probably close to half of the kids in the school whose parents are unable to come to the school. We live in a low income area with a few poverty areas in our school boundaries. In these areas are many single parents. There are a good number of Hispanic parents who are not fluent in any English at all. We have gangs in our area where a few of these kids parents are heavily involved in gang activity and therefore miss these opportunities.

So looking at our schools dynamics, it is easy to see how this activity is bittersweet. It is an exciting and fun time for many children at the school, and is a painful reminder to others of what they don't have. There isn't an organized place for the students left in the classrooms to go to. Some of them go with their friends to be with their friends parents, which I think is a great option. But there are some students who remain in the classrooms and quietly eat their snack at their desks.

Last year, my heart broke for the students left alone and so I went to my childrens' classrooms and gathered every kid who wanted to come to read stories with my husband and me. This year Ryan was unable to attend so I just could not go around finding children who had no where else to go, although I would grab anyone who we knew whose parents weren't there, and Rachael brought a friend from her class.

This year, sadly, at the end of a hallway, there was a little 1st grade boy. He sat with his little baggie of cereal, carton of milk, cup and spoon, in the hallway where he could see the front doors and waited for his Mom. When invited to join a group to eat and listen to a story, he refused, saying his Mom was coming and he wanted to wait for her. A few minutes later, he was asked again, and again refused. And there he sat, unopened food on his lap, watching the front door for the entire 30 minutes. When the time was up and kids started heading back to class he was still there - food unopened and untouched - looking at the front door.

My heart breaks. Maybe his Mom forgot, or wasn't able to get off work. Maybe she was sick or got tied up somewhere else. But we can imagine this little 1st graders emotion as he waited patiently and faithfully for something that did not happen. How do these poor children feel as they look around and see the lucky children happily listening to their parents or friends parents read?

Are the cons of this activity enough to outweigh the pros? Even if this affected only a handful of kids, is the negative emotion and effects of the event enough to change how this activity is done?

I believe as our society changes with poor economic times, more broken homes, more families struggling, we need to remember the few and adjust to meet the needs of all the children around us. If we continue to have these wonderful activities, we need to find a way and make an extra effort to help the children whose parents aren't there feel welcome in other group(s). To a child, this is by no way as good as having your own parent there, but it is a way to help them feel involved.

I may be over thinking all this and these children will adapt and thrive in this environment. But I, personally, wish to never see the lone child again, sitting at the end of the hallway, eyes filled with hope while he waits. Patiently.

"Copy-catting"

Oh why do they torture me so?

Here are a couple lines from Cameron from the past couple weeks. (He and Jacob are very competitive with each other and Cameron ends up being the one to tattle tale while Jacob continues to quietly bug.)

"Maa-uuum (you know, Mom said really long and whiny like), Jacob's copy-catting himself!"

"Maa-uum, Jacob's eating his cereal without stirring in the sugar!"
I should call Ryan and say :

"Ryan, I'm copy-catting myself!" when

1. I have to repeat things over and over to remember them (which I have to do sometimes),
   
2. repeat because no one's listening the first time - or second, or third, etc (the most common reason),
   
3. or repeat something because I forgot I already said it (I hope this happens rarely).

Then the kids could call Ryan and say "Daa-uud, Mom's copy-catting herself again!" And Ryan would say - "She just does that sometimes. Don't worry it eventually stops."

Someday you may be able to find me rocking in a corner in a padded cell, sucking my thumb, saying "they won't listen, they won't listen, copy-catting myself, copy-catting myself, tattle telling, tattle telling, they won't listen, they won't listen..."

hmmm... I think I am going to start making a list of all the things I copycat myself on -

• put away your clothes
• brush your teeth
• get in the suburban
  
• did you do your chore?
• HURRY! HURRY! Go FASTER! Walk in FAST MOTION! RUN!
  

I'm going to think of some other ones.

My attention span.

This morning, Matthew woke up before everyone so I sat and played with him in his room. It was funny watching him go from one toy to another one, getting distracted at the tiniest thing. It reminded me of someone...

Oh yeah, me at Walmart.

That's why Walmart can be such a dangerous store for me. It has too many things to look at, compare, try to find, on clearance, etc. Our Walmart here in Tooele is a smaller Super Walmart than most, but that almost makes it harder in ways. I know I have found a particular item at Walmart before, but can't figure out where or if our Walmart has it.

Here is a true life example of the dangers of Walmart. I have a short list- lets say bandaids, diapers, babyfood, milk, and bananas. I usually park on the drug side of Walmart, which is convenient because bandaids are on my list first. So, I head over towards the bandaid section.

Oh, look! Protein shakes in the aisle. I have looked at them at GNC and some other store so I decide to stop and compare the information, serving price, sugar and calories. I look at the different flavors. Hmmm. I think I'll keep looking around. Protein shakes reminds me of...

Deoderant. Did I write that on my list? Nope, but I am almost out and better head over and get that before I forget. I get lost for a couple minutes deciding whether to go with the traditional or something new. Why am I over in this section anyway? I look at my list. Oh yeah, bandaids. Dang, I passed it up. Gotta go back.

There's a friend! We chat for a moment. She tells me she is planting bulbs in her garden. I long to have an entire day to plant. And sew. And make cards. Man, I never have time for anything I want to do. Which reminds me, a lady in my ward said Walmart had a good price on scrapbook paper. Maybe I should go run and check it out. I'll make a mental note of that. It would be interesting to see what kinds they had, but it is on the other side of the store.

Oh, and look! There's flossers. My kids keep stealing mine so I'll grab them a package for their bathroom. I need flossers everywhere so my kids will see them and decide to floss and it will save me money in the long run.

Lets see, what else was I coming to Walmart to get? Stay on task, stay on task. Where's my list - hmmm.... Well, I remember I needed diapers. So, I go up the aisle, past the crafty section, lightbulbs (are we out anywhere?), car cleaning supplies (when's the last time Ryan had his oil changed in his truck?), camping stuff (I wonder where we should go camping this year.), exercise equipment. Stop. I would like to have a personal heart rate monitor when I work out since the ones on the machines at the Gym are wacked out sometimes and I am trying to stay in my "fat burning zone". As II look down the aisle, I notice I am standing next to the office supplies.

Oh that reminds me. Kids said their pencils at school need more lead. Back track. Find the lead. Guess on the size by looking for other pencils that look like theirs and figuring out what size those have. Do they need erasers too? I grab some just in case.

Back on track. Diapers. I walk past the toys aisle (stay on target. stay on target.) and just glance to see what movie is playing in the electronic aisle, to the baby section. To get to the diapers I walk past a clearance rack of clothes. Hmmm. Pj's. Matthew needs some long legged PJ's. Find his size (ooh and aah at the other cute clothes for babies - especially the preemie ones that I wish I needed to buy), put it in the cart. $2.00! What a great deal! I wonder if they have PJ's for my girls or Brandon on clearance too. They need some more. I head over to the kids clothing clearance racks. None for the girls that don't have High School Musical or Hannah Montana on them. Oh well. What was I doing? Oh yeah, the boys clearance aisle. There is some clearance PJ's but not in the right size. Dang.

Okay, back on track, what was I going to do? Oh yeah, Diapers. I go over grab the right size, remember that I Cameron ate all of Matthew's baby crackers and go grab some more. Oh. Easter. That's coming up. Do I have another paycheck before Easter or do I need to fit it in this one? I'd better go over and get a few things.

After going through the Easter candy section, I feel totally overwhelmed. What was I needing here? Where is that darn list? Oh wait! Here it is. Oh MAN! BANDAIDS! I forgot twice! Oh, and baby food. I was right there and forgot. Okay. Bandaids are on the opposite end of the store so I better get the other things first and I'll grab them as I head to the check stand.

I go back, grab some baby food, go get some milk, and head up to the bananas. I walk past the Easter candy aisle again and see some candy I couldn't find before. I trade some candy out, count my bags and analyze how much I have. Oh no! Matthew can't eat candy yet. I'll have to get him a little toy or something. Well, I better do that next time. I've been in Walmart already for 45 minutes and I gotta get out.

Now, what was that last thing on my list? I look for my list. And look and look. Can't find it. I look some more. Darn! I sit and think. Oh yeah, bananas. I head up, get a bunch. I am racking my brain - I know there was something else on there. I am trying really hard to remember. Oh! Scrapbook paper. I was going to check that out. I go a few aisles back and look through the section. No paper really catches my eye. But I like that glue stick. Maybe that will actually stick. I'll try that. Okay. What else did I need here today? Come on! What else was on my list? I think back through the store and I can't remember anything else so I head up to buy my stuff.

I empty my cart. I have like 35 things on there and am kicking myself for not sticking to my list (where is that darn thing?). I can't remember the last thing on my list and it is driving me nuts....

It comes to $85.00!!! UG!!! I pay, and load my bags up in the cart and head out of the store. Man, 1 1/2 hours, and $85.00 later, I get home, I unload stuff and - hey! My shopping list. It must have been stuck to the side of the milk carton. I look at the list to see what I missed...

Bandaids. It was even first! I remembered like 22 times to get them! DANG!!!

I start a new Walmart list and put bandaids on the top. I'll have to grab them another day.