About Me

My photo
Pennsylvania, United States
What changes hath time wrought...mostly a different hair-color, a few wrinkles and loss of short-term memory.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

January Thoughts

It occurred to me yesterday how lovely it is to have children.

The past month has been such a busy time between decorating, cooking, and shopping. If I said, 'I hope Santa's not watching,' one more time I was going to explode. So it's wonderful when all the excitement has waned and it's back to normal life. Saturdays my husband, Tim, plays basketball at the local YMCA. So it's just the kids and I. After dinner it was bath time. For whatever reason my kids find bathtime great fun. Especially if I step out of the room. I needed to flat iron my hair, ("Need" probably isn't the right word but I'd taken a shower before Tim left and I looked a fright.) so I went to my bathroom to do it. I warned the kids I could hear them. Our bathrooms are back-to-back. I could hear the noise and splash level increasing so I pounded on the wall and yelled, "I hear you." My daughter pounds on her wall and yells back, "Who said that?" It's just the three of us in the house. I'm not sure if she was joking or serious. She's 7. But the real joy is at bedtime when we're sitting all together on the bed reading a book and they slip an arm through mine and lay their head against me. All stress and worry no longer exist. It's pure love like I never understood before children.


That said, someone needs to write a book for new parents of all the unforeseen, not-so-pleasant incidents that will probably happen with your children. Some examples should include:

1. You will not believe how concerned you become about your child's bowel movements.


2. The enormous amount of blood that flows from a small cut to the back of the head


3. Have kleenex available at all times.


4. Exercises to help control your heave reflex when cleaning up your child's vomit/poop.


5. Sometimes adult teeth come in BEFORE the baby teeth fall out. This happens ALL the time
according to my dentist.


6. How to get medicine in children who refuse to take medicine or throw it up once it gets in! (I was like this as a child. I sure miss my mom. I'm sure she would appreciate this.)


7. Don't forget to tell your child before that first restaurant visit NOT TO EAT ANY FOOD THAT FALLS ON THE FLOOR!


8. Just because YOU think the outfit you selected for your daughter is fabulous doesn't mean SHE will.


9. Your child will get some some strange illness that turns out to be "common" for babies, but you and anyone else you know has never heard of it.

10.



I have to comment on some movies we watched/rented this weekend. First, the kids wanted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. Tim bought Dr. Demento presents THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS NOVELTY CD OF ALL TIME. Of course The Chipmunk Song was first on it so we've been singing, "...me I want a hula hoop..." at the top of our lungs for weeks. This is the cutest movie I've seen in a long time. (And Jacob's been obsessed with Kung Fu Panda since he got it for Christmas.) It is funny and endearing without being overdone with the chipmunks. They are cute, but obnoxious in a good way. We're definitely going to need to purchase this one.

We also watched WALL*E. We all liked that, too. The end of the year Entertainment Weekly magazine had two writers (?) select their top 10 movies of the year. WALL*E was on both lists. On one list was Tropic Thunder. I'd heard about this movie and I think Tom Cruise was nominated for a Golden Globe. (I may be wrong.) This was supposed to be hilarious. I did laugh out loud in the first 5 minutes then, nothing. I like Ben Stiller. I like him on talk shows. His movies are all the same. And HE is the problem: he is the same character in every show with a different name and problem. He just never brings anything new to his roles! I'm very partial to Robert Downey, Jr. after seeing Iron Man and was impressed with his black man role. But then he was infected with the Ben Stiller acting disease near the end and the show was almost unwatchable. It BECAME unwatchable at the end with Tom Cruise (in the role of a nerdy-looking studio head) dancing/flopping around at the end of the movie. I kept hoping this movie would improve. Or at least let me in on the secret why anyone would put this on a top-ten list! I've seen Barbie movies I've liked better! (Barbie Princess and the Pauper has a great villain in it.) I'm off to watch Mamma Mia. It's bound to be fantastic because so many critics have trashed it! I still know a few ABBA songs by heart!

Mamma Mia- I LOVED it. Watching/listening to Pierce Brosnan sing was a hilarious! None of the major male characters were particularly good at singing. Meryl Streep's a very good singer! I was pleasantly surprised.