Mother's Day - Gone with the wind

This year's Mother's Day really flew by. My presents are still wrapped on the table in the dining room. After tornadoes ripped through Central Georgia I left the house at 6:30 a.m. Sunday with video camera in hand. I have only been home with my family in the light of day for a few brief minutes Monday morning. Without electricity, I've been fumbling around at night with little time for anything but getting ready for bed. Sunday night, with Faith already fast asleep, I noticed a card by my dresser. She wanted me to see it that night. With an emergency lantern in one hand and the card in the other, I read: "Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, You're the best Mom of all." It was pinwheel that dialed around to different pictures of us fashioned in brilliant crayons. It is my masterpiece. Mind you, I'm not complaining about missing out after what I've witnessed in the way of destruction. But I am extremely disappointed for my daughter who had a number of surprises in store for me. We have discussed taking a rain check and a special day will be on the horizon. Before the disaster I had planned to take Monday off to go on a field trip with her. Because school was closed it was canceled without the promise of a makeup day. I told Faith maybe I could make it if they rescheduled before Summer vacation. No such luck. When I got in bed last night and checked phone messages, I heard today was the makeup day so I missed that, too. Faith cried when her daddy told her they reset the field trip for today and I was at work. I called her and tried to explain that it was important for mommy to help the many people who were affected by the storms get information. When I get home tonight I'll tell her about the woman in Twiggs County whom I just interviewed. As the tornado ripped off her roof, she held on to the closet doorknob with all her might with a 2-year-old and 4-year-old with her. It's time to count our blessings.
- Liz

Six Flags offers a deal

Last week I found out Six Flags has dropped their prices for the 2008 season. Something about offsetting the price of gas, what my understanding. And with their debut of a "Thomas the Tank Engine Land," we had been planning to go for Daniel's birthday anyway. So imagine my happy when I went online to find an even better deal on tickets!
I don't know how long it's going to last, but Six Flags is offering all their tickets purchased online at $29.95. That's the price usually charged for kids, and about $20 cheaper than an adult ticket used to be. For roller coaster nuts like myself and Chris, that's too good to pass up. And for moms with little Thomas fans, it makes the trip a little more feasible. Thanks, Six Flags.
--Misty

Suitors already? "Get used to it"

The late afternoon and evening calm as been broken by the sound of the doorbell on recent nights. As our house is up a hill, it's rare someone other than the UPS man comes calling. But lately, the little boys from the next street have been coming to ask Faith to play with them. She eagerly changes out of her "girlie" clothes and scrambles out of the house to go play. It's an adjustment to go from a semi-quiet house to the commotion that naturally comes when three to four young men enter the picture. They are well-behaved boys, but they are still boys. Last night Faith caught me off guard. Because Daddy had meetings Monday and Tuesday, I decided to skip the gym and stay home with the family. Wednesdays are big nights at our house since we discovered "Big Valley" reruns on television. For some reason - likely the lovely Linda Evans in fancy dresses - Faith loves that show almost as much as her father did as a boy (for the same reason, I'm sure). Usually, we all gather around the television as a family to watch before I have to go to bed. Well, Faith made plans to rendezvous with her friends again after supper last night until I mentioned "Big Valley." "I'll have to go and tell them I have to cancel," she said. Later she reconsidered and asked if we could tape the program so that we can view it tonight. When the doorbell rang again, I looked at my husband who said: "Get used to it." I can only imagine how she's going to ditch us when the boys really come courting.
- Liz

Car safety

Maybe it's because Daniel and I spend so much time in the car, but I am rabid about car-seat safety. It's the one thing that's likely to make me honk at another parent - when I see those kids bouncing all over the car, hanging over the driver's shoulder, or leaning up against the dash IN A MOVING CAR.

So when ParentCenter.com sent me my daily bulletin and it was about car seat safety, I had to pass it along.

Here's the link, and the topics.

http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/0_car-seat-safety-the-biggest-mistakes-parents-make-and-how-to_64875.pc?pe=2dT6sB&scid=pcbulletin:20080505:0:0:0

Not using a safety seat consistently
Using an old or secondhand seat
Turning your child to face forward too soon
Moving your child out of his car seat or booster too soon
Not installing a safety seat correctly
Not using a locking clip or using it incorrectly
Not securing your child in the seat
Not buckling a car seat into the car
Holding your child on your lap
Letting two kids share one seat belt
Letting your child ride in the front seat

To the lady in the red Blazer I pass every morning - I don't care if you're just driving in the neighborhood, those kids need to sit down and buckle up! A huge percentage of accidents happen within five miles of home.

--Misty

Goodbye Rainy and Sparkles

We've had a death in the family - make that two deaths. Our 7-month run with goldfish is over. At our friends' fall festival, we were the lucky recipients of three goldfish that we put in a small aquarium near the kitchen sink. Goldie, the first to go swimming down the porcelain grave in our bathroom, died a few weeks after the homecoming. We were never quite sure what happened. This time, we were having a horrible time keeping the tank clean as Rainy and Sparkles grew bigger and bigger. On the way out for our family reunion, my husband changed out a bunch of water and vacuumed the gravel but it was still pretty murky. We hoped the water would settle and clear, but by the time our house-sitter arrived a couple of hours later, the fish were floating. We've concluded our small tank and filter were no match for hungry-all-the-time growing goldfish. These were Faith's fish but we're all a little blue. Coming into the kitchen, there are no little fins wagging hello and orange mouths opening and closing as if they were saying, "Hello, now feed me some more." We're still not sure where Rainy and Sparkles are in the garden, but Faith wants to know. Our friend promises to take us graveside the next time she visits. We're not giving up and hope to adopt some new fishies soon. This time we'll try some tiny neons or fancy guppies for our own little home school.

- Liz

Tooth Fairy - boy or girl?

Just when I thought I dodged the tough questions about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, Faith lost her first tooth. The lower left tooth she yanked out in Spanish class was closely followed by the lower right she snatched out of its socket when she got home. As she was the last first grader in her class to lose a tooth, she started with a double whammy. I suppose the fact that a classmate lost a tooth that morning spurred her to take matters into her own hands and top his conquest. The time for wiggling had ceased. I started to squirm when Faith started firing off questions. One of the first inquiries was: "Is the Tooth Fairy a boy or a girl?" To be honest, as a child I never considered the Tooth Fairy was anything but a girl. In these days of equal opportunity, the question begs to be asked but I'm not sure how it's answered. Faith wanted to leave a note for the fairy asking him/her to check a box stating whether he/she was a boy or girl. But it was late when we went to bed that night, so that question will have to wait. Weeks ago at the Cherry Blossom Gift Shop, we had found little "Tooth Fairy" dolls - a blue boy and a pink girl which probably sparked her curiousity. The little fairy has a bag in which to deposit the tooth and also contains a cardboard registry book to record the tooth and the reward received. I thought it was a great idea as the doll makes it easier for the Tooth Fairy to retrieve those tiny little teethies. Faith got a pink girl fairy in her Easter basket. (When I bought a blue boy fairy for her male cousin, he quickly rejected it and refused to accept the doll.) Well, after tucking Faith in with her doll and teeth, sometime between lights out and morning she decided to take back one of her teeth. She wanted to hold onto it to show her cousins. Needless to say, the Tooth Fairy - who happened to be male that night - couldn't find the second tooth in the pouch. He left the reward for two teeth anyway. When Faith woke, she didn't understand why she got two dollars if there was just one tooth. Well, obviously the Tooth Fairy checks the mouth for verification, I told her, because otherwise kids who swallow or lose their teeth would be cheated. Plus, I had already recorded which teeth were missing on the card so the Tooth Fairy could read for herself/himself. As to the gender dilemma, I told Faith that I figured there must be numerous fairies who cruise the skies and get some sort of page when there is a tooth to recover. Depending on who is on call, it could be a boy or a girl. Of course this whole quest for the truth started when her teeth first became loose. Then came the big question, "Is the tooth fairy real?" I told her I didn't know for sure but that when I was little, I always got money under my pillow when I lost a tooth. My parents told me it was from the "Tooth Fairy" but since they were both dead I couldn't ask them if they were the ones loading coins under my pillow. Looks like I escaped the interrogation by the skin of my teeth and I left myself some wiggle-room for later!
-Liz

Fighting over the oxygen mask

Before the attendant started her spiel on a recent flight, my daughter, Faith, leaned over and asked me a question. "Do you mind, if that thing falls down," she said pointing up to the compartment overhead, "Can I try to put it on myself?" In the many times we have been on the plane to grandpa's, she has always been a serious student of flight safety instruction. As a toddler, she took out the laminated card and looked intently at all the pictures, stopping especially at the giant slide coming out of the open door in the fuselage. She knows it's protocol for "adults traveling with children to put the mask on themselves before helping the children." That always seemed so selfish to me, but I guess they don't want the adult croaking just as she pulls that elastic out to stretch over her head. Faith isn't worried about dying, I don't think. She wants to put it on herself because she wants so much to be independent and she's only seven! I'm still walking the tightrope of wanting to encourage her confidence but not wanting her to fly before her wings are strong enough.
This airplane memory and the parenting lesson behind hit came to mind when I got an e-mail news release from a colleague at Macon State College. I thought you might enjoy this:

"Putting On Your Oxygen Mask First: Contemporary Narratives of Motherhood" will be the topic of a lecture by Dr. Lisa Hammond, associate professor of English at University of South Carolina-Lancaster, at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Macon State College Theater. This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Women’s Studies Association and the Office of Student Life.

For more information, contact Dr. Monica Young-Zook (471-5735) or Dr. Heather Braun (471- 5774).

"Putting On Your Oxygen Mask First: Contemporary Narratives of Motherhood"

Isn't it always mom's fault? Mothers are consistently blamed in contemporary media and politics for a wide range of troubles in American culture, at the same time that they are held up as romanticized angels in the house. When contemporary women write their experiences of motherhood, they face many preconceived notions of their roles, both with their readers and with their own lives. Negotiating those varied roles and staying true to their own experiences is almost as challenging as comforting a toddler who's fallen off the swingset or a middle-schooler who asked a girl out and got turned down... maybe more, because first Mom has to find out who she is herself.

Lisa Hammond earned her BA from Francis Marion University and an MA and a PhD from the University of Alabama. Dr. Hammond’s scholarly research focuses on American women writers, composition and technology, and gender issues in culture. Her work on parenting rhetoric has appeared in the National Women’s Studies Association Journal; and her latest article, “Revisioning Gender: Inventing Women in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Nonfiction” appeared in Biography. Dr. Hammond, who is also a poet, won the 2006 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize, for her collection Moving House, which was published by Texas Review Press in 2007. She is currently on sabbatical working on her book, Books, Babies, and Blogs: Contemporary American Women Writing Motherhood.

-Liz

Financing parenthood

When Daniel was little, his biggest expense was diapers. I think that's the case for a lot of new parents - we all go through a little sticker shock over the cost of diapers and formula. But the phrase "bigger boys have bigger toys" is coming into play now. And what's a mom on a budget to do?

Do we keep up with his frieds and enroll him in some sort of sports program? (Keeping in mind the kid's a klutz - he gets that from me) What about summer camps and programs? He's too old for basic daycare; it's no longer the educational experience it once was. What about music lessons? Pick an instrument - anything but the drums, please.

And then there are the TOY toys. Bikes, scooters, soccer balls. Everyone who knows Daniel knows he loves Thomas the Tank Engine. He's expanded his interests to include anything with wheels - and yes, he can tell HotWheels from the knockoffs. Dad and boy spend hours creating the most amazing things out of Legos - trains, biplanes, big rigs, pirate ships... And let's not forget the movies and cartoons. We're on his second DVD plaver, and it's a little wonky. But hey, we travel a LOT, so I consider that an investment in sanity. Plus, it's a good way for me to watch "Buffy" without exposing Daniel to strange things he won't understand.

But everything is getting more expensive, and between the prices of milk and gas, there's a lot less left over for toys. So at what point do we say "I don't care if all your classmates have a Wii - you're not getting one?"

--Misty