Tag Archives: parenting

TV

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Kate Gosselin Dear Kate Gosselin,

Listen, girlfriend, I know we cannot get enough of you lately, but, seriously, you are taking up way too prime celebrity space and I would like you to stop it. Please? Like, immediately? I cannot pick up any gossip magazine without you being on it and frankly it’s starting to bug me. I mean, I’m spending good money because I want to read about Jennifer’s attempts to get Brad back or Angelina’s attempts to get Brad back or how Elizabeth Banks really is not very nice or how Sandra Bullock really is. I don’t want to read about you. And let’s be clear: I’m not being critical of you. In fact, I’m sort of envious. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a famous multi-millionaire with nannies, bodyguards and Emeril  as a personal chef? Sign me up, and I’ll take the hair stylist, personal trainer and free tummy tuck, too. I do not begrudge you fame and fortune. I say good for you. It shows initiative and determination on your part and really, if I’d known having eight children was a key to success I’d have rethought stopping at two. The thing is, however, you are not a celebrity. You are just a regular person who yells at her husband and yells at her kids and makes bad choices. You are, sad to say, just like us. We don’t want our celebrities to be just like us. Oh, it’s true we want our celebrities to pretend they’re just like us. We want to see them buying toliet paper at Costco and slurping down frapps at Starbucks and playing with their kids at the park, but we know and they know and they know we know that they aren’t like us at all. You, however, are just like us but you don’t know it. You are — and I say this with all due respect — sort of boring. We don’t care about your free trips and your free vacations and the TV “stars” who keep popping up in your driveway to install solar panels or take you on motorcycle rides. It’s just … oh, I don’t know … uninteresting. And this whole marriage breakup thing? Please! I can get five women together at a moment’s notice who have marriage-breakup stories that would curl … uh, straighten … your hair. I’m sorry you have problems, but put your big-girl panties on and deal with it. In private, please. I look forward to the day when — just like the rest of us — the only connection you have to gossip magazines is picking one up at the grocery and reading it in the express lane while the person in front of you has 37 items and doesn’t know how to use the debit-card machine. Thank you.

Grocery Stores

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Fresh bulk spicesHere’s another guess-that-store quiz. Okay, actually it’s just Nolan Thomas Behelanother excuse to squeeze in a photo of grandson Capt. Adorable, but I can’t resist. My husband John Pitts cautions against overwhelming you all with pics of the Captain but we’re all friends here and I know you forgive me and besides everybody I meet in person is tired of me waving my digital keychain in their faces. Anyway, can you identify this upscale grocery? Usually we keep Capt. Adorable in the cart but he couldn’t stand it this time so we allowed some supervised leg-stretching and he immediately headed to the produce section, where he started squeezing the fruit, eating the lettuce and checking out the fresh pistachios. Smart boy.

Shopping

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ShoppingOne more name-that-store shopping quiz. And this one is easy — plus you get bonus Cute Baby pics! Okay, maybe this was just an excuse to sneak in more photos of my grandson, Capt. Adorable. We were shopping at a national retailer that’s maybe not known for low, low prices but sure is a fun place to stylish and fun budget-friendly basics. And you know that Capt. Adorable’s mommy had scrubbed and sanitized practically the whole cart before we let him in it.Nolan Thomas Behel 

Gold Medals

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Capt. AdorableCapt. AdorableMichael Phelps, are you ready for the next generation of gold-medal winners? My grandson, Capt. Adorable, has started his own collection with this gold medal he won from an unanimous panel of awestruck judges got at the end of spring classes at Baby Gym. He probably is the most skilled and talented baby ever — ever! — to go Capt. Adorablethrough Baby Gym. That’s what I think, anyway. His skills at running under the parachute, playing with bubbles and refusing to give up the blue ball already are legendary. And these medals sure do come in handy — they also double as a snack. So convenient! But sometimes, you know, you just need to lay down on the mat and take a break from all the excitement and fan admiration.

Moving

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Moving out of dorm roomIf you’ve got a college student, you immediately recognize this scene: Moving out of the dormMoving out of the dorm room. Seems as if this weekend everybody’s doing it. Including us. My younger daughter had lived in this room on campus for two years — and I think she’ll admit that she’s not the most organized of housekeepers. This is the girl to whom the floor is New apartmentmerely another place to store clothes. (Plus, her room inspections are the only tests in college she’s ever failed — but you didn’t hear that from me.)  Luckily she didn’t wait for the last minute to get started. Her advance efforts plus helpful friends turned a monumental job into a doable project. It only took four carloads to empty the room — plus three bags of trash, five bags of recyclables and several items donated to charity — and only one day and a few aspirin for me to recover. And the cool part? She moved into an off-campus apartment in an older house that is so cute and in a fun and funky part of town. Well, it really is more like a studio apartment with a tiny kitchen and bathroom attached, but we love with the fireplace, the hardwood floor and the black-and-white tiles. And I promise that this photo was taken immediately after moving in and it will never ever look this way again.

Family

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BellydancingToday is the 25th birthday of my older daughter, Lizzy Jane. Brushing teethShe had the bad luck to be born first, so I got to practice all my non-maternal skills on her. Luckily, she proved to be resilient, smart and independent and thrived no matter how many stupid mistakes I made. (Who knew rocking babies to sleep every night — three Playgroundsor four times every night — and letting them drink apple juice all day was bad for them???) Today, she is such a loving mom to my 13-month-old grandson, Capt. Adorable, that I constantly am in awe of her parenting skills. No protracted, drawn-out, miserable bedtimes for her! She also is a talented dancer and performer, as well as a teacher and budding choreographer. Plus, she’s the best money-manager I know — she can come out of a grocery store with a week’s worth of tasty and nutritious meals on less money than most people spend on a pair of new shoes. (Not that I myself have any personal knowledge of blowing the budget on gotta-have shoes, you understand. Because that would be wrong.)  I have no idea where she learned all this — books? magazines? Dave Ramsey? — but I do know that I am incredibly proud to be her mom. Happy 25th birthday, Lizzy Jane!

Kids

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Little GymSince I’m hanging out here on my daughter’s desktop while my beloved laptop is in Computer Hospital (but we’re expecting a full and quick recovery), I started thinking about all the things young families such as my daughter and son-in-law — parents to grandson Capt. Adorable — have that we didn’t have 25 years or so ago. Like Little Gym. Does everybody else know about this place? It’s my new favorite spot. Little Gym is a franchised gym for all ages children. Capt. Adorable (above on the left) goes to the Birds class for 10 to 19 month-olds. He loves it! The children run around exploring and also do “group” activities as well as a bunch of around 1-year-olds can. It’s also great for my daughter to meet other young moms, and the instructors are so fun and enthusiastic. Even 51-year-old grandmas are welcome, although when our instructor was explaining how to do a backwards whoop-dee-doop with our little Birds, I’m pretty sure she looked at me when she said, “And if for some reason your back won’t take this, don’t worry about trying it.” I think she envisioned having a medical emergency right there on the red mat, but I can whoop-dee-doop with folks half my age. So there. Check out Little Gym at http://thelittlegym.com

 

Snack TrapI’m also loving these Snack Traps that keep No-spill sippy cupssnacks in securely and lets babies reach in and get what they want without muss or fuss. Capt. Adorable carries one everywhere — so much better than the sandwich bags and empty margarine tubs I used for his mommy. And then there are these incredibly no-spill cups by Gerber. I’ve seen these thrown, dropped, tilted, turned upside down and rolled around in purses and diaper bags without a single drop. Amazing! When I think of all the spillage and dribbles and puddles my two left behind, this advancement seems nothing short of miraculous. I never tire of pointing out to my daughter how good she has it now. “Back when you were a baby, I had to …” I’m sure she appreciates me sharing.

Photography and Writing

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Photo by Mark Wood, Chattanooga, TennesseeMy four-years-younger brother, Mark Wood, of Chattanooga, Photo by Mark Wood, Chattanooga, TennesseeTennessee, is an awesome photographer. He teaches photography and art at Chattanooga (Tennessee) State College and recently was invited to exhibit with the Appalachian Photographers Project, http://appalachianphoto.org. I love that his photos reflect exactly the sort of person he is: A lover of nature and all things outdoors coupled with a belief that people basically are good — sort of. He also has a wry sense of humor and a wonderful eye for detail and line. I wish I could say I taught him everything he knows, but actually the opposite is true — although he probably would not want me to credit him for my photography (non)skills.

Since photography isn’t my forte, it’s a good thing I can at least string a few words together to make at least some sense. Here’s my weekly newspaper column from this past week on how my 1-year-old grandson is all boy, despite my attempts to encourage his inner girly side: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090410/ARTICLES/904105006. Friends who had both girls and boys say there’s an inherent difference and I’m seeing that in Capt. Adorable. However, there’s a great discussion on this topic at blogher — http://www.blogher.com/your-son-acting-boy-your-daughter-acting-girl — about what “acting like a boy” and “acting like a girl” really means and how this gender stereotyping may be harmful. Check it out and see what you think.

Birthday Parties

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Nolan Behel birthdayGrandson Capt. Adorable celebrated his first Dragon birthday cakebirthday in style, with even his Grandad John taking a break from sports news to wish him a happy one. In keeping with the whole dragon and little prince theme, the birthday boy got crowns on his T-shirt and bib, a dragon cake and a soft purple crown for his Nolan Behel first birthdayprecious baby head. The hit of the party, however, was Capt. Adorable’s discovery of balloons — or “oons” as we had to call them to avoid Nolan Behel first birthdaysetting off a frenzy. To celebrate the first-birthday occasion, balloons were everywhere — even festively tied on to his high chair. It was the first time he’d ever seen balloons close up and he was fascinated. When his mommy gave him one to hold, he clutched the ribbon tightly and would not turn loose as he spent almost a half hour tracing a joyous route from room to room. The joy stopped, however, when the balloon would drift up to the ceiling and the Capt.’s desperate wails brought the nearest tallest adult running over for retrieval. His smart mommy realized that getting him into his high chair for lunch amidst all the balloon decorations would not work at all, so she took him into another room while the co-conspirators removed all “oons”  and when he came back in distracted him with — what else? — cake. Success! “Oons” forgotten — for the time being, at least.

First Birthday

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Baby gymWork by Jason BehelHappy first birthday, Capt. Adorable! My grandson, Nolan, is 1 today. Everybody told me how much I would love being a grandmother and what a precious gift grandchildren are and I said, “Oh, yes. I know!” but it takes being a grandma to really know and now I can say with all the conviction in the world: Being a grandparent is the best thing ever! We’re partying all weekend, but Nolan already got his best present: A rocking dragon his daddy made him from a rocking-horse pattern. As always, I am overwhelmed by my son-in-law’s talent. He put a “B” on the seatback, handtooled the leather trim and made a lightweight sword to complete the ensemble. Nolan loves it. It was Jason’s first woodworking attempt, and now I’m making up my own want list: coffee table, bench, barstools …