It’s Cold and I Wanna Lie on The Couch
It's been unseasonably warm here in New York City, up until now. It's like instant winter and all I wanna do is lie on the couch in a silent rebellion.In the spring and summer times, there are tons of things to do with kids. You can hit up the playgrounds, the botanical garden, go to free concerts, but in the winter it's so cold, all I wanna do is this:I've been to the library a zillion times, and I certainly don't feel like walking around in the cold. I need to find some indoor activities Ari and I can do that are free and allow us to be social. I'm also getting increasingly nervous about having a newborn in the winter. I need a full-proof plan so that I don't go crazy being indoors with a non-stop 2 1/2 year old and a needy newborn.So I'm asking you:1. What are some fun indoor winter activities you do?2. Who's had a baby in the winter? What did you do to avoid going insane?3. Do you also like your couch a lot right now?
No Mommy! We Not at The Grocery Store!
According to Ari, everything I say is a blatant lie. Or at least that's how it feels to me. I could be sitting on the couch, and say to him:"I'm sitting on the couch."He would reply:"No, you not sitting on the couch!"He loves to disagree with me. Here's another example:I mean, clearly we're at the grocery store and I am objectively right. Unfortunately, that doesn't matter to him. I just don't know how to respond without getting into a full on semantics argument.If I say "No, we're at the grocery store" he'll just argue that we're not. But I don't feel right about acquiescing and saying "You're right, we're not at the grocery store." Because we are!What is an effective way to deal with this dissenting behavior?
Francesca Selects The Winner of The Little One Books $25 Gift Certicate Giveaway!
Today I solicited the help of niece, Francesca, to randomly select the winner of the Little One Books $25 Gift Certificate Giveaway.Here is the incredibly scientific process we used to select the winner:1. Francesca read me the names of all the people who entered:2. Next she cut the names into individual tags:3. She mixed all the names up:4. She put them in an empty camera case and closed her eyes:5. Then she selected a winner!Congratulations Elaine! You won the Little One Books $25 Gift Certificate Giveaway. You can browse the site for quality kid's books, music and DVDs! Audra from Little One Books will be contacting you soon to send you your gift certificate!6. After Francesca randomly selected the winner, Wil left for work:7. And finally, with Francesca's help, I wrote this post:
I Have a Superpower
I've always wanted a superpower. Today I found out that I actually have one. It all started when I realized I was thirsty. I went into a local bakery and spotted an Honest Ade Cranberry Lemonade. Immediately, I started salivating. I knew I needed it. I hadn't even handed the money to the cashier. I couldn't wait. I cracked open the beverage and before I knew it it was gone in three sips. I have this to say about you, Honest Ade:Apparently I can destroy beverages. I'm a pregnant superhero. Now I wanna know, what superpower do you have?
Judgment
Something has been on my mind lately. It's been itching to come out. But I couldn't quite figure out how to say it. I finally have the words. It's about judgment.The truth is we all judge one another. I notice myself doing it. I see a mother on the street, and I don't agree with what she's feeding her kid, or the way she's talking to her child.Recently, I've been judged. And guess what? I didn't like it. Not one bit. In fact, I feel like I've had the wind knocked out of me. It wasn't from one source, but from multiple parties. Each time I was judged I got angrier and angrier. What does this person know about me or my life? They don't know what my experience is.I try as hard as I can to be the best mother that I can, to maintain order in my life, but not everyone will agree with my choices. Not every person is going to understand the way I parent, or the way I live my life for that matter.We don't know what other people go through in life. We can't know what it's like to be them or have their [...]
A Few Random Annoyances
I would like to express my dissatisfaction at the fact that all the maternity pants I own fall down constantly. I would also like to express my fear that the terrible twos will never end. Ari doesn't want to listen to me or do anything I tell him to do. That is all on this rainy Thursday. Wait, one more thing. Whatever you do, do not go to the grocery store hungry.
I Voted in My Pajamas
Despite my previously failed attempt to vote, I finally made it to the voting booth! Wil watched Ari, while my mom and I headed to the polls.After I voted, one of the women volunteering at the polls looked at my outfit (which consisted of black tank top, blue and white pajama pants and a black winter coat) and my large pregnant belly and said:"That baby is cold!""Actually, I'm always hot." I replied.She laughed.I'm so glad I got to vote! Thank you to everyone who harassed...I mean encouraged me to vote today!Did you vote?
I Tried to Vote But…(Warning: If You’re Gross Tolerance is Low Do Not Read)
Despite my level of extreme exhaustion, my mom convinced me to go out and vote today. We were all set to go. I managed to finagle Ari into the stroller after he danced around a tree that resides outside our building. We began to walk to the voting polls, and all at once I turned to my mom and said "Do you smell something?""No," she replied "Do you?""Yes, " I said tentatively "It smells like...dog shit!" I looked down at the stroller and my suspicions were confirmed. The area of the stroller where Ari rests his feet was covered in dog shit and so were the bottom of his sneakers as well as his jeans.I wanted to cry.So we did an immediate U-turn. I tried to come up with a plan for how to rectify this situation. First I called my dad to see if Ari had extra shoes downstairs. Hearing the urgency in my voice, he immediately came up stairs to see what was going on."I'll go hose down the shoe and the stroller." I said to my mom."No, no!" My mom said "Dad and I will deal with this. You're pregnant. You don't need to be touching dog [...]
Halloween in D.C.!
Over Halloween weekend, we visited Wil's brother, his wife and their baby in Washington D.C. We drove down with Wil's parents, and as we passed through different cities, I made Ari repeat the names of each of them."Ari, we're in Philadelphia. Can you say it?""Phil-delfff-eee--uh!""Ari, we're in North Bethesda, can you say it?""Norfff Beffesssa!""Ari, We're in Washington, can you say it?""WASH---ton!""Good job!"By the way, for those of you that are curious, Ari decided to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.Here are some things we saw:Ari did pretty well on the car ride, but when there was traffic he got restless. I wish I'd had some distracting car toys. He was uninterested in books or drawing.Have you been on any trips with your kids lately? What do you find to be the ultimate travel toy(s)?
Box Art Courtesy of Fresh Direct
I previously wrote about what fun Ari and I had painting cardboard boxes with water colors.Ari just wanted to share with you all the box gallery we've created courtesy of our used Fresh Direct boxes. For those of you that don't live on in the NYC area, Fresh Direct is an online grocery service where one can order his/her groceries to be delivered to your home. Now you may be thinking, "is Fresh Direct paying you to write this?" No, I just want to inform the people who don't live in New York what I'm talking about so they're not confused.The Fresh Direct groceries arrive in cardboard boxes. Needless to say, we have a ton of empty cardboard boxes lying around that eventually make it to recycling. In the mean time, we've decided to make them look pretty. Ari wants you to take a look:Now, you also may be thinking "Hey! That looks like a lot of fun! Why don't you send those pictures to Fresh Direct?"Well, my great friend Josina suggested the same thing. I'm going to follow her advice and send these along. Let's see what Fresh Direct has to say...
“I’m a Big Brother” Review – From Little One Books
As my birth approaches (well, let's not get too hasty I have a few more months to go being "preg-neat-o") I've looked around for books to read to Ari about becoming a big brother. I took a book out from the library that was all about introducing the idea of pregnancy to toddlers, i.e. a"what's in mommy's belly" sort of thing, but he was totally uninterested.That's why when Little One Books allowed me the opportunity to review a couple of their products, one of the key items on the list for me was a book about Ari's impending big brother role. I wanted the book in question to be age appropriate, so I searched the 2 year old section on their site.In the process of my search I found this book:I decided to read it to him first thing in the morning. I figured he would be too out of it to protest. I was right. He agreed to listen to the book, and actually became excited about it.The author of this book is quite clever, because she mixes in pictures of things that 2 year old books care for, like trucks for example.Ari was also happy to point out [...]
Little One Books $25 Gift Certificate Giveaway!
I've mentioned time and time again how Ari (my energetic 2 1/2 year old) is a terrible sleeper. Well, I finally decided to take matters into my own hands, with the help of Little One Books. Little One Books is a company based in Seattle founded by two grandparents who sought to provide parents, family members and caregivers access to quality children's books, music and videos.If you go to amazon.com, for example, and search for a lullaby CD the results you find are overwhelming. Barney Cohen and Joan McCoy have done the research and have provided us parents with a easily search-able website containing products that they personally recommend for children.Little One Books was generous enough to allow me the opportunity to review a couple of their products. The first thing that came to mind was a lullaby CD for Ari to combat his bad sleeping habits. I chose this particular CD, which has a combination of traditional and original lullabies.Now, I have to admit, I was skeptical for several reasons.1. Ari has never much been into music before bed.2. Often children's music can be irritating3. Would this put the perpetual non-sleeper to bed?My mom and I introduced the CD [...]
Camera Phone Pictures From Coney Island
Today Ari and I met up with our new friends Liz and her son Shaylem. We took a trip to The Coney Island Aquarium. When we got to the aquarium, I realized that alas, I'd forgotten my camera. I really wanted to take pictures of Ari and "the fishes," as he calls them, so I used the camera on my phone and hoped for the best. Here's were the results:
Peeing on The Bathroom Floor: Slightly NSFW
I'm now six months pregnant. A couple of days ago, a humiliating thing happened to me. I was getting ready to take a shower, and I had the sudden urge to pee. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the toilet and I peed all over the bathroom rug. It's ironic that I have a 2 year old and I'm the one peeing on the rug.Though I was thoroughly humiliated, I decided to cut myself some slack, and chalk it up to a one time fluke pregnancy induced occurrence.Today I was, once again, getting ready to get into the shower and I felt the overwhelming urge to pee and all at once it was all over the floor.I've determined a couple of things based on these concurrent events:1. The baby is most likely sitting directly on my bladder and laughing at me.2. Ari and I should be toilet trained at the same time.3. I've just had a preview to 50 years from now when this may be a daily occurrence.I wonder if I'll ever have my bladder control back. Should I stock up on adult diapers now?
