Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Getting Into His Mind

Reading comprehension is an important skill in life, no?

I tend to think so, especially when one uses children's books to be an effective parent. One can choose great stories rich with application and relevance to things going on in his/her child's life, but if that child has no comprehension skills, said application and relevance are often missed.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a review of of Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie by Norman Juster that made me think, "Hmmmm.....sounds like a good one for the kids." So I reserved it from our library and when it came in, whilst we were off school for snow last week, I took it home and read it with both Punkinhead and LMNOB. As I was hoping to make an impression with this book (since both kiddos are prone to weird, 0-60 in no time flat, baby-anticipating mood swings right now), I did what any teacher worth their salt would do to boost comprehension: I asked a lot of questions and stimulated a lot of discussion with the kids about just what the meaning of the parts of the story entailed.

Later that night, when Daddy got home, we continued driving the lesson home at the dinner table. LMNOB gleefully gave Daddy the plot synopsis with an interjection here or there from Punkinhead with a missing detail.

Charlie Brown eventually asked, with the intent of some soulful introspection from the kids, "Well, who do you know that can be a real Sourpuss at times then?"

LMNOB began pointing to herself and Punkinhead with a sheepish frown on her face, while Punkinhead, disappointed, said, "Jay Cutler."

**ETA** Since writing this yesterday, the news broke a story about how the Bronco's QB was indeed a sourpuss and deals to trade him are now being officially negotiated. I thought it highly ironic that I posted this yesterday and later that night this was the top story.

Comprehension, check.

Self-awareness and/or personal responsibility? Still working on that.



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Monday, March 30, 2009

Resistance is Futile

Husbands everywhere ought to heed the following rule of life:

Moms (yes, that means your wives also if you have children) really do know best.

Case in point:

Yesterday after church we went out to eat with some friends and then the group proceeded to visit a couple who'd just had their first baby that morning at the nearby hospital. Neither LMNOB nor Punkinhead had used the restroom since church.

Following the hospital visit, Charlie Brown drove us over to a nearby motocross track where there were races going on. Motocross is the current love language between Charlie Brown and the kids, so a good time was had by all. Still no restroom breaks as there weren't any where we were at.

Of course, both kids fell asleep in the truck. LMNOB, however, woke when I opened my door and proceeded up to her bathroom. Punkinhead on the other hand, NEEDED a nap something fierce, and has recently become such a light sleeper that if transported, he will inevitably wake and say, "I'm not tired anymore!" I weighed all of this in the back of my mind against the possibility of him wetting himself and/or getting disoriented if left in the truck and crying, before asking if Charlie Brown was going to take him in. Rather, I suggested that he take him in.

Charlie Brown brushed me off and said "He needs to sleep." Which was true.

Ooooooooooo-kay, I said, then took off for a nap.

Shortly after I wake, Charlie Brown tells me, "So, I felt so bad for Punkinhead when he woke up."

"He came in crying didn't he?" I accuse.

Sheepishly Charlie Brown replies, "Yeah, and soaking wet. He felt horrible and said, 'But Daddy, it had been so wong!' and I told him I wasn't mad, that it had been a long time, and it was ok. But man, poor guy - he really took it to heart."

I huff and say, "Didn't I tell you this could happen?"

Seriously, guys why do you not listen to us?






© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

5 More Weeks....

Or less.....

Squeeeeeee!!!!

I've had a sneaking feeling that Easter weekend is going to be his time, so we shall see. Trying not to get "married" to that idea, but it's just a gut feeling I've had for a bit.

Today I went for my 35 wk check up (last one was 2 weeks ago), and I only measured 32 cm in fundal height, which is where I was at at 33 wks. Because there was no change AND because I was 3 cm behind (normal is +/- 2 cm), the doc wanted to schedule a u/s for next week. She thinks that he likely just dropped, which can mess up the fundal height measurement, but wants to ensure that he's still growing and/or that my amniotic fluid level is where it ought to be. So I get to see my boy again next Monday. I am looking forward to it as I never had an u/s past 20 wks before and think it will be neat to see him with more definition.

Charlie Brown was more worried about today's wonderings than I was - but that's because I thought the baby had dropped overnight as the pressure was more intense this morning when I woke up. Charlie Brown made me worry, though, after our visit as he was like, "What if they say we have to deliver on Monday because he's not growing or because the fluid is low?" I hadn't even gone there, despite the doc saying that either could possibly be a factor. I'm still not terribly concerned, but now there is that nagging doubt. Nevertheless, if we deliver next week, it's only 1 wk preterm and Punkinhead was born at 36 weeks, we know that drill. Not too scary.

One thing that is nice is that we'll get a definitive answer as to his position, too. He's kind of head-down, we think, but still quite sideways, so it will help to know if he needs any maneuvering before the birth.

I've started having some irregular contractions, just B-H, for sure, but they are working. I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced today!



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Friday, March 20, 2009

Hoping for a Better Day

It's the last day of Spring Break, ya'll.

And yesterday broke me.

LMNOB and Punkinhead do SO WELL when they are in school 8 hours a day and each doing their own thing. But when they are together 24/7, hoo boy, watch out.

I felt like all I did yesterday was yell, and put out fires, and yell, and send kids to time out, and, uh, yell. Oh wait, at one point I totally lost it and cried.

I do NOT like being the yelling mom. I do not like yelling in a car, I do not like yelling from afar. I dislike yelling about safety and I dislike yelling at kids because they are lazy. I especially most hate yelling as a follow-up to jillion reminders/warnings to do/not do something - like, seriously, have they not learned to obey me? Apparently not.

And then the stress of it all was pushed over the edge with this one little disparaging thought:

Wow, they are being really beastly - sure you can handle one more?

No, I wasn't sure I could handle one more. No, I all of a sudden was not looking forward to summer vacation, which I'd previously envisioned as an idyllic season of warmth, lounging in the backyard with the baby while LMNOB and Punkinhead rode bikes in the alley and played with the neighbor kids with not a care in the world. Now I saw power struggles and post-partum hormones peppering fights about how we would not be playing video games when it was so wonderfully nice outside. And I cringed inwardly.

What have I done? Who have I become?

I know that these thoughts, these anxieties are Satan trying to pull me from God and His purpose for me and my family. So I'm leaning on Jesus today and hoping that it makes all the parenting difference in the world.

Also? Calling on a few girlfriends for reinforcement.








© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Today I Discovered Dubya's Post-Presidential Vocation

At least, I thought so. Turns out the item on the label I was reading is a legitimate term, even if it sounded like a new Bush-inspired attempt at a neologism.

Sometime just before Her Bad Mother blogged about the latest and worst (sorry for the weird formatting, but the article is down a ways, scroll for the info) thing about HFCS (aside from all the previously bad correlations), I had decided to really start cutting it out of our diets as much as possible. When I heard mercury is also associated with HFCS, I began to even more seriously cut it out, given LMNOB's Sensory Integration Dysfunction and the tie between mercury and all things Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

It is hard to completely get HFCS out of your diet as basically all condiments have it, most store bought breads do (at the time I began scouring labels at the supermarket even the pricey Orowheat breads had it on their label; however, they have since eliminated it as an ingredient in the production of their bread. Also, I recommend Nature's Pride, it is HFCS free, cheaper than Orowheat on average and tastes much better than the Pepperidge Farms natural breads! No, not being paid by them to say so, just think that if people are serious it is helpful to know what's what out there.), etc., etc. So, I've honed in on the things we eat EVERY day, like breads and cereals, lunchbox items, "juices" and the main ingredients in my cooking staples. I have yet to buy organic ketchup for pure budgetary reasons, but in general we have really reduced this culinary evil's presence in our lives.

It takes time as one has to really read labels (and know HFCS's other names as some companies are pulling out the Canadian/European names for this bad boy) and it can cause a bit more strain on the pocket book, but not necessarily if you are a smart shopper (see that time thing above though).

Anyway, all of that to tell you that today while I was at the grocery store reading labels, I hit a new term....

Interesterified soy oil.

Firefox wants so badly for me to correct that sucker, because it doesn't recognize it as a word either.

My first thought was, "AHA! George W. has gotten himself a job as a food label writer." Then, "WTH does interesterified mean, anyway? That they've made boring oil more interesting? So ambiguous, these newfangled food terms."

We all know that trans-fats are bad because they are genetically modified fats that take an unsaturated fat (read: liquid) add hydrogen (hence hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated) and make it a saturated (read: crisco-like solid) fat that will clog your arteries much faster and more seriously than naturally saturated fats (i.e. butter and meat fats....mmmm...meat fat, lol. This prego is seriously craving one fine ribeye right now) will. Oh, wait, you didn't know that? Well now you know and "knowing is half the battle." (GI Joe! Sorry, it's that pop culture reference thing I do)

And since most of us know that trans-fats are bad and why, a lot of food companies have eliminated them....or just reduced them to 0.something grams in their serving sizes so that they can somewhat completely misleadingly boast "0g Trans-Fats in every serving!" Seriously, even with reading labels people miss this, because they read the "Nutrition Facts" rather than the ingredients. Be thorough, folks, be thorough, because somehow many of these food-producers are claiming no trans-fats in their products, yet "hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated" still shows on the ingredients. And they ain't natural.

So interesterified fats.... It's a whole new ball of wax. And also another seemingly unhealthy one. Makes me want to cook everything from scratch now. Which makes my head hurt. Can nothing be easy yet safe?


© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I Think I've Lost My Voice

Not physically, as in laryngitis, but as in my writing identity. Hence my absence.


And really, I hate to admit this because on thinking about just what my writing voice has been, it has kind of embraced the victim mentality for way longer than I'd care to own up to. Not the woe is me and life sucks victim, but the I've been wronged so I'm gonna be an angry advocate former victim voice. For so long my voice was that of THE (as in consummate) red-headed step-child, the outcast, a woman spurned; misunderstood and needs unmet. My writing was my way of seeking validation from others as I so desperately needed to be heeded, attended to, understood and well, HEARD.

But, what I'm finding is that my marriage is meeting more of those needs than it did before. As are my friendships as I now have time to invest in little mid-day rendezvous (I hope my memory of French plurals isn't failing me, as I REALLY wanted to tack on an es to that word) to cultivate face to face friendships.

I'm not as angry, don't feel like I have as much to prove as I used to, and also, the fodder in my brain makes me feel like I was turning into just another mommy-blogger. Not that there's anything wrong with mommy-blogging, but lately it just feels like I don't have anything new and fresh to add to the mommy-blogosphere.

Finally, there's also the fact that I'm suffering from severe placenta brain. My [big] words elude me with frustrating frequency.

Example: A month or so ago, Charlie Brown showed me a truck that had been customized with a hand-crafted tailgate, bumper, etc. One of his co-workers had designed and built these parts. A few days later, I met him while visiting Charlie Brown at work. My brilliant conversation with him?

"So you're the one who does....that...stuff! You know, custom stuff with metal?"

He looked at me with his brows raised and nodded slowly, like he was dealing with a mentally retarded woman.

"Oh, you know, that stuff - what do they call it? You know like on American Chopper?"

Charlie Brown stepped in with the missing word, "I believe you're thinking about fabrication, right?"

Bingo.

And that's just one time - it happens with alarming regularity and lends my writing to sounding like a 5th grade book report. Not exactly up to my normal snuff.

In the meantime - here are the things that have been happening at Casa del Meyer in my absence:

-Punkinhead's Parent/Teacher conference included School OT and a request to have him tested and evaluated as to whether a 504 plan is in need. Primarily they are concerned with his fine motor skills as pertains to handwriting, which is an issue. Punkinhead is very bright with letter recognition, phonics, and actual reading. But translating that knowledge via his hands just doesn't come easily for him and it does make him frustrated and say things like, "I'm just dumb!" I was all for the testing - until a comment was made about wanting to screen his attention issues too. My kiddo does not have ADHD, lol. He's a BOY, one of 14 boys out of the 18 total kids in his class, he's a SOCIAL kiddo, and he's a July birthday which means he is considerably younger than the rest of his class. His breaks in focus are likely more due to those issues than an organic one. But we'll see what the testing shows.

-LMNOB turned 8 last Sunday and suddenly the tween switch was flipped, in conjunction with some "OMG!ThebabyiscomingSOOON" anxiety and the results have been less than pretty. Tantrums and discord are back and I am NOT PLEASED with this.

- Charlie Brown continues to be the BEST HUSBAND/BFF ever to this pregnant mama. He has been so supportive and such a rock for me. I totally do not get his sexual attraction for me at this stage, as I am tired and therefore not taking great strides to care for my appearance, and uh, HUGE. But who am I to question it?


-We've all had a cruddy cold season. My last post was about kids taking cold medicine, and just 2 wks ago we had another bout of colds and ear infections here.
- As a result, I had protein in my urine 2x last week and the doc was concerned about pre-eclampsia, but happily everything was skewed because of my cold and all is well.
- We are on the countdown for the little dude's arrival. Only 7-ish (I am 32 wks 5 days) more weeks!
- Oh and the movie Fireproof? Totally worth seeing. The acting starts out a little B-movie quality, but it is the plot that makes the movie, not the acting. I also love the fact that Kirk Cameron's real wife came in as a double when there was a kissing scene. Charlie Brown and I both cried like babies watching this show.
I think that is a wrap. I'll try to be on more - it's just finding this new voice that I need to work on.



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved