Girls are so very different from boys ... aside from the obvious. My soon-to-be 6-year-old is a girly girl through and through.
I don't know where she gets it. I grew up being a tomboy — always outside, in the dirt, being rough and playing with the guys. I never truly cared what I was wearing or how I looked ... until I was in high school. Not the case for my little girl.
My little princess acts ... well, like a princess. She loves to play dress-up and is constantly changing her clothes and shoes. It didn't strike me until the other day that she is getting a little too particular about how she is dressed. After she asked me, "Do you think (so-and-so) will think I'm pretty in this dress?", and then with a turn of her hip and pointing her foot to the tip of her toes ... it hit me! She is too infatuated with looks and at too early of an age.
As soon as she gets home from school — if I haven't already directed her toward the backyard — she runs to her room, changes into a pretty dress, puts on my heels and prances around the house. She does this so often that my 20-month-old son has started to put my shoes on and follow her. She even gathers up her play makeup and heads to the bathroom to do her own makeup. I try hard not to laugh each time she shows me her latest creation. I say, "That's nice. Now, do you want to go outside and play?"
She has even gone as far as saying that she didn't like her big, winter coat because it didn't look right with her backpack. WHAT!? She clearly didn't understand that it was to keep her warm. And, then the shoes. Oh, the shoes!
She has one pair of dress shoes that she wears with special occasion dresses. They have a little heel to them, too. She wants to wear them with everything. She told me just the other day that there are a lot of girls in her school that are wearing heeled shoes. So, now she is comparing what she has to what everyone else has.
I fear that this new-found fascination with clothing and makeup will take a turn for the worst if I don't curb her the right direction ... and fast. I just have to keep remembering to tell her that she is her own person and that being different is awesome. It's so boring to be like everyone else.
We have been slowly introducing our 20-month-old to the potty over the last few months. He was intrigued by the little one we got him and loved to sit on it and pretend to go potty. After a few tries, he was done with it. He wanted no part of the little potty when it came time to actually go to the bathroom.
So, Daddy started showing him how to go potty like a big boy. He knows to push a stool over to it, lift the lid and try to go. Now, every time we take his diaper off and ask him if he wants to go potty, he runs to the big potty.
Grant it, sometimes it's just to stand there and marvel at the fact that he is standing on a stool without a diaper on, but he has actually used the big potty a few times now. We praise him, do a happy dance and clap most uncontrollably to show him how proud we are of him.
It's sometimes funny to see him go to the bathroom, use the potty and start to get down off the stool. I'll ask him if he's done and he would say "no" and turn right back around and go again!
I am fearful that I am setting myself up for disaster though, because he skipped the little potty altogether. Or, am I just over-thinking it?
Whenever we ask him if he needs to go potty, he has replied several times with "no." So, I think he may be getting the hang of it. If he says "no," then there is no way I am taking him in there to try. That would just make him mad, which may undo all that he has already learned.
He also has learned to close the lid — slams it down is more like it — and then wash his hands. He loves to wash his hands and giggles at all the bubbles we make. Which could be an added bonus to him going to the bathroom. Making the entire routine fun is sure to get him to go more often. Now, if I can just get him to set the lid down softly, we will be on the right track to our little boy growing up into a big boy.
I had mentioned before that our 19-month-old was continuously getting into the refrigerator whenever he wanted. He would get something out to eat or drink, or put stuff in it that didn't belong. I reached out to our readers to see if anyone else was going through the same thing — finding out that I was not alone in this situation.
Many responded that a latch was the best way to go. So, my husband and I went to Target and started to look for this latch. We couldn't find anything at first and were talking about how it may not be with the baby section. Another customer overheard us and asked if he could help. SURE! We told him what we were looking for and, would you believe it, he and his wife and their 18-month-old were standing right in front of all the safety gear to toddlerize the house. They were looking for the same thing!
So, we talked and debated over a few of the products and we both left with the latch for the fridge.
It works GREAT! However, it took some getting used to with the adults because we would forget and yank it right off when we opened the door.
When our little guy went to open the fridge door and found that he no longer could, he looked astonished. He proceeded to cry and smack the fridge door. He even grabbed a hold of the handle, picked his feet up off the floor and was dangling by it crying and desperately trying to open it. He even tried pulling the latch itself off the door. But, after a few more days, he finally gave in and has become accustomed to it as if it was supposed to be there.
There you have it. Problem solved! Now, moving on to the dog bowls.
It was a sad day for Middle Tennessee families when Opryland Theme Park closed permanently on Dec. 31, 1997. Granted, there were some tacky aspects to Opryland, but that was part of the charm. At least there was a theme park here in town. A place fun for families to spend a day.
For years, a lot of folks in these parts, myself included, have whined, wailed, moaned and groaned about how this city needs another theme park ... not only for fun entertainment, but the economical advantages it would bring back to our city.
Well, whine and cry no more! It was so exciting that the great Dolly Parton was in town last month during her 66th birthday, and spent a bit of it making headlines when she announced her Dollywood Company is teaming up with Gaylord Opryland to open a $50 million, 114-acre water and snow park — the first of its kind — here in Nashville, located adjacent to the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
Boasting high-energy water activities during the summer months, and snow activities during cold weather months, you can bet that with Dolly’s involvement, it’s gonna rock! She undoubtedly knows how to entertain like no one else. Now, the hard part is going to be exercising patience as the park’s opening is slated for spring 2014 (groundbreaking is due later this year or beginning of 2013), but it sure is nice to have something so great and exciting to look forward to.
What’s more, the two entities are putting their heads together to bring live entertainment to the fold. “I’m so excited about this opportunity,” says Dolly. “We’re all working on new types of entertainment to do in the daytime and nighttime for the whole family.”
So, thank you, Dolly for coming to the rescue and bringing something big and grand back to Nashville. We’ve all been desperately chomping at the bit since 1998!
Lately, our 5-year-old has been crying for either me or her daddy to come and "visit" with her when it's time for bed. This "visit" is her feeble attempt to get one of us to lie down with her until she goes to sleep. It is also AFTER we have done the entire bedtime routine: teeth brushing, cleaning up, jammies on and stories read.
We leave her room and find her crying her way back into our arms within just a few moments. She says, "My brain is making me think scary thoughts" or "I had a bad dream." OK, we have only been out of sight for no more than 10 minutes. She has not fallen asleep. I know what this is. It's me when I was little.
I remember that age. I always jumped onto my bed with no less than a foot of floor between my starting point and the edge of the bed, because, as we all know, monsters can't grab you if you are more than a foot away from your bed. I never looked under the bed, always had the door closed, but I slept in complete darkness. Any light coming through always bothered me and I couldn't sleep. But, aside from that, I always monster proofed my room.
So, this may be the start of that for my daughter. She has recently started asking me to close her closet door, leave the door wide open and the bathroom light on. We have convinced her that we can't have all the lights in the house on. We haven't been lying down with her, but we would go "visit" with her until she felt confident enough to go to sleep. But, it was last night that I made my stand.
She came running and screaming from her room like someone crawled out from under her bed. Daddy had already threatened to turn her night-light off the next time she got out of bed, so as soon as he stood up to see what was the matter, she ran back to her room screaming for him not to turn it off. I decided to go have a talk with her.
I calmed her down and asked her what was the matter. Same as the usual, scared of sleeping by herself and afraid of the dark. I explained to her that she has more light in her room than that of her baby brother and she had nothing to worry about. It was plenty bright in her room. Then a thought came to me. She loves princesses. So, here's what I said:
"Princesses are very brave. When they were little girls, they were afraid of the evil queens. But, they were strong and brave and grew up. How else do you think they were able to defeat the evil queens? You are going to grow up and be brave like a princess, right? So you can sleep in your own bed like the princesses did, right?"
She agreed. She rolled over and started to close her eyes to go to sleep.
So, the idea that finally came to me should have come a lot sooner. I now know that I need to take topics/items that she is accustomed to and use that to my advantage. It will help her understand things a little more clearly, too. I finally convinced her that bedtime needs bravery, and that's the stuff princesses are made of. Let us just hope that she can do the same hence forth.
I've been working on summer camp registrations for my five-year-old son recently, and it struck me how much more complicated summers are for children now than they used to be.
When I was a child, I went to sleepaway church camp for a week each summer. That was it. And that didn't even start until I was eight years old. Later, when I was a sophomore in high school, I also went to a summer scholars program at a college for two weeks.
But there weren't many other summer camp options when I was a child, so it wasn't like my parents were deliberately choosing to opt out of camps. We went to the swimming pool a lot, watched cartoons, rode bikes in the neighborhood, roller-skated in the garage, played a few Atari games. When my mom returned to work when I was nine, we did all those things with a babysitter on the days she wasn't home. Perhaps there were other camps out there, and we just didn't know about them. That's possible. A few of my friends did go to Scout camp, but it always seemed to overlap with either church camp or our family vacation, so it was a possibility...just not for me.
Fast-forward to now. My elder son is in kindergarten. He's only got about eight weeks of summer vacation this year, and I'm trying to fill some of those long empty weeks with fun stuff for him. I've already registered him for a week of gardening-themed day camp at Cheekwood in June and a week of Science Camp with Mr. Bond in July. I've got leads on a couple of sports-related day camps that I'm planning to pursue, and I'm wavering about whether to register him for Lego Camp.
It's quite a logistical process, too. You practically need a spreadsheet to map out the options and figure out which camps are offered when. Because it wouldn't do to register your child for soccer camp during the only week that robotics camp is offered when soccer camp is offered for two other weeks, too. And you have to work around the school calendar. And you have to make sure you don't miss out on registering early for the most popular camps because there are always some that fill up.
I'm lucky. I am self-employed, so at least my schedule is relatively flexible. Parents who work full time have an even bigger challenge because they have to work around the day camp start-and-end times, which don't always match up with their work schedules.
Gah. And it's still winter while I'm having to figure this all out.
Whoa, there, I can hear some of you thinking. Why are you trying to fill up all his spare time? Why can't he have some down time, just to, you know, be a kid?
And you, my invisible friends, definitely have a point. Some of my best memories from childhood grew out of unstructured free time, time when I could explore or daydream or just make up something to do. I'm actually a big believer in boredom not being a bad thing for kids. Boredom builds character. It forces them to be creative and think of something to do. It teaches them that they have to be responsible for their own entertainment.
But as a freelance journalist, I really do need some quiet time during the week to work. My line of work allows me a fair degree of flexibility, which is why I chose it. I do want to spend some lazy summer days with my son at the pool or at the playground or the zoo or whatever. But I also have to have some time to get things done. It seems to be a better deal for my son to get the chance to attend a fun camp than to sit around and watch yet another series of episodes of "Sid the Science Kid." Besides, if he goes to day camp, I get to work while he's gone, and then we can have fun afterward together.
But the whole registration process? Crazy. Maybe I really will make a spreadsheet next year.
I know it is still January but I am beginning to hear that famous song in my head - you know the one about BASEBALL (which I sing loudly and WAY off key)! I am a Mom to two ENERGETIC boys who both have a love for the game - so in our house, January means it is time to begin thinking about baseball. Now I know many of you will roll your eyes and say "Ugh, baseball is so boring" but I disagree. To me there is nothing more exciting than to see the look on my son's face when he makes a catch or makes contact with the ball for a hit. WE LOVE BASEBALL!
Both of my boys play for the Grassland Baseball League here in Franklin. I am so thankful to have found an organization that believes in teaching children that playing sports is about more than just competition. It is about learning the game, being a contributing member of a team, and most of all - HAVING FUN!
SO what are you waiting for? Registrations are open now. In the Grassland Baseball League, boys and girls from age 5 - 17 (as of April 30th) are eligible to register but each league has their own age restrictions. Nashville is fortunate to have many wonderful baseball organizations throughout the city - so find one near you and sign those kids up. LET'S PLAY BALL!
My 5-year-old is doing well in Kindergarten. I couldn't be more proud of her. She loves to do homework and play little math and reading games. She is getting a good grasp on the sight words they have been working on as well as the sounds the letters make. It's when we start reading books that are sent home with her that she starts losing interest.
She loves her teacher and listens well. She loves to play "class" at home and pretend to teach her class of teddy bears, dolls and barbies. When it's time to read the kindergarten level books, she loses interest very quickly. She rolls her eyes and does not want to try. Oh, but if I say the teacher said I was supposed to work with her on this book, she is all for it. If she knows it's just me reading any other book just for fun, she wants to pick it out because she said the books from school are boring.
I did find a way to get her to read the books from school and like doing it — reading to her brother. I told her that her little brother wanted to hear a story and that he would love it if she read it to him. He does like to sit right beside her and see the pages, too. However, sometimes he likes to roam around the living room while she reads. There are some reasons why sometimes having her read to her 19-month-old brother is not a good idea. Case in point, see this video of her reading a book from school for only the second time. The video is funny, and I am so proud of her. I am just amazed at what she has learned so far from her teacher.
If siblings want to listen, it's good to have your child read to them. BUT, if all they want to do is joke around and play, I think it's best to just separate them while reading time is in progress. Looks like I am going to have to let the little guy pick out his own book for me to read to him while sister reads to herself. I just hope she can get through it without giving up and saying that it's boring. I remember having to read boring stories in elementary ... and I got in lots of trouble because I didn't read the books I was told to read. I now know the importance of the simple books, but I didn't when I was little. This is something I must have a little sit-down chat with my kindergartener about.
I tell her often that she is learning so much so fast with her teacher that when she reads a book by herself, it just shows how smart she is getting. That makes her happy. So, I praise and encourage ... very often. After she is done reading her school book, I tell her that she can pick out any book from our own little library and I will read it to her. Sometimes she likes to point out all the words that she knows from the lessons in school. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly and I thank her teacher for that, too!
When my daughter was little, I gave her baby dolls because I loved playing with dolls when I was a little. I'd play for hours with my "babies," then for hours with my Barbies when I got a little older, creating huge mansions for them throughout my entire room. If American Girl dolls had have been around when I was a little, I would have been thrilled to indulge in all of that primping and hugging, dressing and decorating.
Alas, my girl didn't play with dolls! I gave her one of those newborn ones ... but it might as well have been mine. I gave her that uber popular Amazing Ally one year (searched everywhere, desperate for it one Christmas), but she was quickly abandoned. I gave her American Girls dolls, but they would sit there in my daughter's room, often tossed aside, faces down, dresses off. At some point, unable to bear it, I'd set them right again, dressing and setting them up just so in their American Girl scenes, hoping it would catch on for my girl, but it never did. Today that delightful collection of dolls, furniture, clothing and accessories are stored in our attic ... waiting ... for the next girl who comes one day ... who loves dolls ... or doesn't.
Was something wrong with my daughter? No.
Was I making the mistake of thinking that because I loved dolls she would too? Yes.
Is there a correlation between a mom who loved to play with dolls and the daughter she raises up? Maybe.
Is there a correlation between NOT playing with dolls and growing up into a sweet, nurturing and loving girl? No.
Playing with or not playing with dolls has nothing to do with it. My did-not-play-with-dolls daughter is a rubgy player. She's also the sweetest, kindest and most loving girl I know.
Raising her, all we did was to support the things she was interested in and provide her unconditional love. I helped her navigate the prickly patch of adolescence that included questionable boyfriends, mean girls and an attempt to abandon her integrity, but we faced off enough to get her flying straight again. She would hole up in her room just like I did when things got difficult with my parents, and her room became her haven. Remembering how much I had loved my room, we told her she could do anything she wanted with her space, decorating wise, to express herself.
Now comes a new book calledGirl Land by Caitlin Flanagan (Reagan Arthur; $25.99) which delves into the miraculous way in which girls become women; the intense period of adolescence when girls begin experimenting with their independence, who they are exactly and their burgeoning sexuality. The need girls have to figure out who they are, on their own, in their own private way.
As a teen, I wrote my way to who I am. I'd hole up to scribble down the things I was thinking, make sense of the hard stuff I was going through with my parents, siblings, boyfriends and girlfriends, and always, always what I was feeling about everything. My bedroom was my sanctuary and it is absolutely there, in that private personal place, where I learned who I was. I too was allowed to make my room my own and I did so, with posters on the wall, the curtains I wanted, a special vanity I received one Christmas. I'd play the music I wanted, sing into a pretend mic, watch myself dance. It was here where I became an individual.
In Girl Land, Flanagan says parents would do well to preserve their daughter's bedrooms WITHOUT the Internet, so girls can do the necessary growing up and self realizing without all of that outside noise and imagery the Internet brings. Girls today may not like that idea, but try letting them have their own space to decorate, try putting a diary in there, music ... just not their Smart phone or Internet access.
The walls of my daughter's room are an art piece in and of themselves. There is hardly an inch of wall space that shows between all of the things she expressed herself with as she created it. It is one gigantic 3 dimensional collage of what she loves ... posters and photos, yes, but also letters, candy wrappers, framed art, flags, momentos, funny emails, giant letters spelling words made out of tin foil ... it gives her tremendous pride and joy ... and I think that's where she came from.
Give girls a place of their own to grow in ... even if it's just a tiny closet ... especially as adolescence approaches. Parents can do them a marvelous favor by insisting that space be unplugged. It should be meant for the necessary, individual work that becoming a unique, caring and wonderful young woman entails.
I know that I get frustrated really easy. So, it has been a very hard journey for me to learn how to control that frustration when reading with my 5-year-old. Don't get me wrong, it's great that we do this. It's when she decides to just give up when she gets to a word she doesn't know that I start to get frustrated.
Case in point. The other day, she wanted me to read her a few books. Something we do nearly every day with her — being myself or her father. So, I decided to change it up. I told her that I was so excited for reading time that day because I wanted her to read to me. I was very enthusiastic about it and she went along with it ... at first. I chose a very simple and easy-to-read book and asked her to please read it to me. She read the cover, then the title page — even telling me that it was the title page and that her teacher had taught her that — but it was at the first full page when she gave up. She is good about sounding out the letters until she gets the word out, but the word "snowflakes" was really long and she said she was done and that it was time to play "class." She didn't even try to sound it out. I told her I would say the word and she could continue. Nope! That's not gonna work this time.
Frustration sets in with myself and her. I asked her to please try to read the book to me and that I would help her with any of the words she has trouble with. That did not even come close to making her change her mind. She didn't even want to try to read another book. I don't know what I did wrong that day, but she wanted no part in reading a book by herself. She just kept changing the subject. Every time I asked her to just try again, she told me that I never do anything she wants to do. What!? Really!? I did not show her how frustrated I was, I simply told her that when she decided to play nice, I would come back and play with her. Then Daddy steps up and goes to have a talk with her.
He brings up an example of not giving up: Soul Surfer. She has seen the commercials for it so many times that she pretty much knew what it was about. The little girl surfer was attacked by a shark and she lost her entire arm. He told her that she never gave up and for that reason, she was still surfing today. That is why she is to never give up on anything ... even reading. After that little talk, she came back to me and just asked that we play "class" and not read books. I told her that was fine, but we will try again.
I will try again. TRY, try and try until she begins to understand that it's fun to read, not just being read to.
Spring Consignment Season is right around the corner and now is the time to start preparing. Here are some tips to help get you ready!
Register for sales early!Each sale states when they open registration on their sale website.Make a note of registration dates and plan to register early.Many sales will fill up in the first day due to limited space and then go to a waiting list.
Sign Up for a New Sale! If you have only done one sale before, why not sign up for a second sale later in the season? This is a great way to sell more of your items and an opportunity to see how different sales are run. Ask your friends what sales they participate in or see if there is a new sale being held in your area. You can see a list of sales organized by area of town on Consigning Time (www.consigningtime.com) - THE Place To Find Consignment Sales in Middle Tennessee.
Sign Up to Volunteer! The best way to find the best items is to be a volunteer. Each sale offers perks for consignors who volunteer to help with the sale. The shifts range from 4 to 8 hours depending on the sale. In exchange for your time, you will get to shop before the sale opens to the public in addition to other perks that vary with each sale. Shopping early is particularly helpful if you are looking for a specific in demand item - like outdoor play items etc.
Begin Gathering Your Sale Items! Grab a rubbermaid bin and start to gather items to sell. It really helps to get your children involved and have them "buy in" to the process. I ask my children what toys they would like to sell. If they do not produce enough toys, I then hold up two items and tell them they have to choose which one to keep. The trick with this is that I rig the choices so one item is one I know they will never want to sell so they have to choose the item that I want to go. It hasn't backfired on me yet!
Create a Consignment Box! I like to keep all of my supplies together in a plastic school box. Inside I keep - White Index Cards, Sharpies (Black and Red), Scissors, Safety Pins, Rubber Bands, Hole Puncher, Plastic Ties, Ribbon and clear packing tape.
Gather Your Supplies! I always think it is funny that before consignment season I become obsessed with wire hangers. "Where are my wire hangers? I need more wire hangers? Does anyone have any wire hangers?" The first thing I do is scour the closets and exchange wire hangers for plastic ones. (You can buy the plastic ones at Dollar Tree to replace any wire ones you have.) If I don't find enough I begin to beg. I beg my friends and local dry cleaners. This usually brings forth a bounty of wire hangers and all is right with the world. After the hangers are taken care of - I move on to safety pins. Dollar Tree is a great source for these but many people know that so they sell out right before sales begin so you need to pick them up early or you will end up paying $4 at Walgreens - Ugh!
Invite Your Friends To Participate! Part of the fun of consignment is sharing your great finds with a friend. I rely on my friends to give me the appropriate "oohs and aahs" about items like the Little Tykes playset in mint condition that I found for $30. My hubby just does not seem to provide me the level of excitement I require at such an accomplishment so I rely on my girlfriends. It is also wise to have another set of eyes with you when you shop so they will tell you the truth "No, your sweet girl will not look good in the orange and purple polka dotted, ruffled shirt with bows all over it". That's what friends are for so ask a friend to sign up for a sale with you so you can enjoy the experience together.
Get on the Mailing List! Sign up for the each sale’s mailing list so you will be notified of all of their registration dates for future sales. Many sales add an extra sale during the year to raise money for charity. Don’t be left out because you did not see the e-mail.
Make a Plan! Don’t wait until the last minute to get everything together and begin tagging. If you are unsure what to price something, check online pricing resources like ebay. If in doubt, just think what you would be willing to pay for the item at a sale and go with your instinct.
Prepare Your Shopping Lists! Walking into a consignment sale can be quite overwhelming. There is so much stuff that all of the sudden you forget what you need and end up searching through all of the great books for hours. Trust me -been there and done that. The best way to fight against this is to prepare a list. Keep it short and simple. I usually do it on an index card so I can keep it in my pocket. (I do not carry a purse when I shop at consignment sales). Write down the items AND SIZES for each of your children. Organize your list by sex because that is how sales are organized. On one side write the "Needs" and the other side write your "Wants". If you start your list now you should have a really comprehensive list by the time the sales begin.
Have fun and remember that you are saving lots of money by shopping consignment sales but it is even more fun to MAKE money at consignment sales! HAPPY SHOPPING!
While enjoying a wonderful evening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center last night during the Nashville Symphony's Wicked Divas pops series concert, I was greatly reminded of the magic that music possesses. Whether it's a beautiful classical piece, a bouncy pop ditty or an emotional torch song, is there anything else really except for music that wields such emotional power?
I've always loved music of most genres (not a fan of metal, rap or hip hop), but everything else I connect to one way or another. It's funny how my mood dictates what I will listen to at any given moment, whether driving in the car running errands or out at the park doing my daily running routine. And I can always find just the right thing to sate my emotional state of mind. If I'm in a really great mood, I know the roster of happy music that I will enjoy the most, and if I'm angst ridden for any reason, I know what I'll reach for just the same.
At the Wicked Divas show, though, it really struck me as to why I've always loved theater songs. They tell stories, and some pretty amazing ones at that. It was a great treat to hear two wonderful Broadway veterans belting memorable songs from a collection of shows — both classic and contemporary — that stand the test of time. Even the tunes the symphony played without singers struck emotional chords just because of the sheer majesty of a live orchestra. And that's something that anyone of any age can enjoy and experience in his own way on his own journey.
Although the symphony does offer its Pied Piper series for kids a few times a year, and those are WONDERFUL events, especially for the littlest ones in your clan, taking children to the "adult" shows so to speak is, in my opinion, an even greater, grander experience. Music knows no age boundaries, and giving kids opportunities to experience it live can only enrich their overall sense of being.
I remember the first time I heard the name "Potter." I was living in Lesotho, a small country in the middle of South Africa that most of my friends had always thought was a lake. (It's not.) I was reading a comic in some American news magazine about the then-upcoming presidential elections and one character was saying to another. "How about this Potter fellow?" Potter, I remember thinking. I don't think I know him. I took from the tone of the cartoon (and the field of candidates at the time) that the author was simply saying he didn't like the current candidates, but I had no idea he was proposing a boy wizard...as popular as Harry Potter got and as quickly as he got there, he hadn't made it to the middle of my plateaued country at that time.
Fast-forward to today, long after I've read each and every brilliant Potter story, long after I've sat entranced through every minute of all the movies, to my recent Christmas present from my parents I received with no less excitement than my first bike, a shiny red one that waited for me at the bottom of the stairs one glorious Christmas morning. I now own (and have already shipped across the country, lugged up a flight of stairs, and stuffed into an already too-small condo) the complete Harry Potter. I've already opened the first book (and read it and closed it again). The second one will come soon...my husband was a little worried he wouldn't see me until all seven had been thoroughly devoured. It's an obsession I feel good about: it's one my kids can mimic to their hearts content.
I know the future is here and that it doesn't involve hardcover books, at least not in the mainstream. And I know that the people in the beach chairs next to me can fit thousands of books on their slim electronic devices. And I have nothing against that. But on my latest vacation, my oversized suitcase had two giant hardcover books (Ann Patchett's State of Wonder and Chad Harbach's Art of Fielding). Both of them were absolutely gorgeous, exquisite, fantastic novels. I lugged them around in my beach bag and I enjoyed every pound of paper I leafed through. I gained arm muscles holding the epic stories in the air over my lounge chair, changing the angle of my arms to match the sun.
And now I hold my new Potter books. I love the brilliant covers. I love the weight in my hands. I imagine the world will move one. I imagine hardcover books will be a collectible item one day. But that's okay. I'm already collecting them.
What about you? Are you for books or e-readers or both? And what about for your kids? Will you be getting them kindles or i-pads? Or sticking to the trees?
Maybe I've landed on that million dollar idea. I can see the cameras already! Arriving at my home to see just how many pounds I've lost thanks to my new and highly creative diet I happened upon quite by accident.
I'm a busy, busy mom. I'm a writer and editor, hockey mom, soccer mom, rugby mom, head chef, grocery shopper and YES sole housekeeper extraordinaire. Well yes, my kids have to share in the work, but I'm the only one in our household who uses industrial strength when it comes to cleaning our home. That's the reality TV show part: The Extreme Housework Clean-Off!
In this corner: Susan Day, mom of four from Tennessee, packing her favorite hot pink pair of rubber gloves! And in this corner: Jane Doe from down the street, ready with her scrub brush and Soft Scrub! It's time, folks! Get ready for EXTREME HOUSEWORK CLEAN-OFF!
When I say it happened by accident, I mean it.
Tired of being late for work (again), and having just completed the morning scuttle to get my four off to school (home-packed lunches for all since those school lunches are so ... well ... school lunch-y, not to mention expensive), my kitchen is a disaster. I've been a fastidious one since I was a little girl. Heck, I once drew a line down the middle of a bedroom I shared with my little sister because I liked my side to be nice and she couldn't care less. I also subscribe to the Martin Scorcese school of creativity: If my environment's a mess, I absolutely cannot be creative! That's not to say that I can't make a gigantic mess; that's the fun part (you should have seen my kitchen after our Christmas cookie bake-off this past holiday), but I ALWAYS strive to leave my home in order when I head off for work, and often I'll get the crock pot going too since the afternoons and evenings are so busy for my family.
What did I do? I started running. That's right, rubber gloves on, sick of not having time for a decent work out, I started jogging in place while I did the dishes. And then I didn't stop running. If I wasn't running from sink to table, I was running in place. I ran to put away misplaced items, I ran to clean the guest bathroom (scrubbing and running is the ultimate in multi-tasking), I ran up the stairs to turn off the lights the kids left on and do a quick once over, I ran to throw out the trash, ran while throwing a load in the dryer, making my bed, getting dinner started in the crockpot, yes, I actually cut carrots while jogging in place.
I kid you not. After awhile, I was working up a sweat, so off came my top layer! Then it hit me: this could be my answer! Clean my house and get fit, too for absolutely no cost whatsoever. Not whistle while you work but RUN WHILE YOU WORK.
Now I sit at my desk at the magazine, feeling better than I have all week. Call me crazy, but hey, you've gotta do what works for you. That's the only kind of working out that will yield results!
But don't you think Hollywood should come to call? Wanna have a HOUSEWORK-OFF? Race to see who can clean a kitchen faster?
The biggest thing I look forward to during the month of January is getting to marvel at the amazing works of art on display at Cheekwood during the Scholastic Art Competition exhibit. Running Jan. 27 - Feb. 19, the artwork is part of the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the oldest (and one of the most prestigious) student art competitions in the country — the likes of Red Grooms and Andy Warhol were past winners.
More than 77,000 students in grades 7 - 12 participate in the competition each year, and this is the 20th year that Cheekwood serves as a regional affiliate representing Middle Tennessee. More than 800 works of art submitted by local students include paintings, drawings, photography, digital art, ceramics and sculpture.
A panel of judges select “Gold Key” level works, which are the ones you can see on display in the exhibit. After the exhibit closes next month, the Gold Key pieces will go to New York to be judged in the national competition. Trust me and do yourself and your kids a big favor — see the exhibit! Every year I leave mesmerized and inspired by the high-caliber work of art by young kids. If you didn’t walk in already knowing that the works on display were by the hands of junior high and high school students, you’d easily assume that much older, well-seasoned, professional artists created them ... which makes the viewing experience extra awe-inspiring.
The wonderful thing about art is how something so still in its frame can grip you emotionally whether it’s good or bad, whimsical or terrible. Taking children, even young children, to art galleries is a great way to engage their imaginations. For you, moms and dads, it can become an interesting journey — and sometimes a comical one — to discover what your kids are really processing when asked what they think about a work of art. And the same piece of visual art can mean something different to everyone. Go explore and discover with your kids!
Pardon me while I step upon my soap box... MANNERS STILL MATTER! I am thinking of putting that on a t-shirt (if someone hasn't already). It seems that good manners are becoming as obsolete and hard to find as 8-track players. I will admit that I am a bit old-fashioned when it comes to this but I think the world would still be a little bit better off if people would remember to say please and thank you.
As a parent, I am trying to teach my boys that using good manners should be a part of who they are. I don't mind reminding them now because I hope that when they are grown it will be as natural as breathing for them to hold open a door or ask someone if they need help when carrying something. I can't tell you how many times I have walked behind someone and had the door slam in my face. Really? Is it that hard to hold the door for someone? What about just smiling and saying thank you when someone provides a service for you? I was recently at the drive-thru of McDonald's and I smiled and asked the person taking my money if they were having a good day. They looked at me like I was completely crazy. Apparently, people just don't do that very often anymore but they should. MANNERS STILL MATTER!
So, I will admit that I am going to be THAT mother. I am going to correct my sons when they forget to say please. I am going to remind them to hold open a door and i am going to request that they always ask me if I need any help before they walk out of the house before we get in the car. They may not appreciate it now but I bet their future wives will!
Well, I finally gave in and moved our 19-month-old into a toddler bed. There were a few reasons to me doing this. One, I was getting tired of him leaping from the top of the crib like he's Tarzan. Two, I did not like the way the crib mattress was so hard to get out when it came time to change the sheets.
Changing his sheets was happening more and more often — like nearly every day — because he had learned to strip himself bare and THEN use the bathroom all over his bed. Laughing at it, no doubt! I have even had to put a huge rug down in front of his bed because I was getting tired of having to clean the carpet of his mess! It's a lot easier to wash a rug, let me tell you. LOL!
The main reason, though, was because I thought it was time.
Yeah! Time to get up and play! Which is all he does when you put him down for a nap. He quietly gets out of bed and rummages around in his room. Each time I go to check on him, he is in a different part of the room playing … super quietly. I don't even have to say anything, but point to his bed and he goes right back. He knows what he's doing.
Thank goodness it is only during the nap times that he has the urge to get up and play. When it is actually time for bed, I say, "Let's go night, night." He then goes to his Daddy and says "night, night" and then to his sister and tries to give her a hug. He even walks to the room all by himself and gets right into his bed. I only have to tell him once that it's night, night time and he goes right to sleep. Wish it was that easy for his naps.
We are on day FIVE of my 1-and-a-half-year-old not having a pacifier! We are so super proud of him. I thought at first there was no way he was going to be as easy as our daughter was, but he proved me wrong ... so far.
My husband and I have been talking about getting him to stop using one for some time now, but it wasn't until his 18 month checkup and the doctor asked if he still used one that I then decided, YEP, he needs to stop or we may never get it away from him.
He was doing really good and only having it at bedtime for some time now. When it was time to get up, we would pick him up out of his crib and tell him to toss the paci back into the bed. He would do it so willingly and then clap. We would praise him and give him high fives, which he loves to do.
During the daytime, while he's at Nana's, he never got the paci from her. With only getting it at nighttime, this was the best chance we had at getting him to break from it.
So, one night, I just put him to bed — without the paci — and handed him his little blue teddy bear and said goodnight to him. He started to cry once, but I bet he didn't really even know why. So, when I went to check on him, I told him it was night-night time and to lay back down — and he DID!
So far, so good and we are hoping he continues to keep up the good work!
Now ... if we can just get him to stop taking his diaper off and running through the house in his birthday suit laughing about it ... it would all be complete! Next up, potty training.
OKAY! There is absolutely NO reason your child should be wearing his pants down around his thighs! For one, I think it is very disrespectful to show your underwear. It's as if you are mooning that person, which is an insult. Some may think it as being a fashion statement.
Over the years, many schools have changed their dress code policy to include a no sagging rule. Others in more recent news have started lending belts to those who choose to defy the rules.
I think that is kind of them to lend a belt, but those students are breaking the rules. My answer to the solution: twine. Yep, I said it! If seen at school with their pants down, they should be allowed to then wear a fashionable set of twine suspenders made to fit just their size. It's easy to do really. Just two straps over the shoulder and voila! Their pants are being held up!
You might say, "Oh, they will just let them hang down their side anyway," but if you lend them a belt, they could just do the same. I've seen severely sagging britches WITH a belt around them!
What we need is for the parents to be notified by a phone call to let them know that their child is disobeying school rules. So, maybe, just maybe, that parent might take it in their own hands and at least TRY to convince their unwilling child to obey the rules and PULL THEIR PANTS UP!
There are even adults who don't care to show their underwear! COME ON! You need to pull them up, too! Try to set a good example, please. Is that too much to ask?
I mean, unless you really don't want to. It's actually quite funny to see one trying to run with their pants sagging and then see them hit the ground because their feet are all tangled up in their pants! So, I guess they can just keep us laughing, because nothing has really been done about it in many areas and lots of parents just don't care how silly their child looks with poop-filled-looking pants.
Music is perhaps the most powerful of all art forms in the way it connects us to ourselves, to each other and to the world around us ... how it strikes deep emotional cords within us, be they happy or sad. We’re lucky to live in a city with so much music filling the air, and we’re especially fortunate to have the Nashville Symphony and the world-class Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
I have always appreciated the symphony’s emphasis on music education for kids, but have never been as impressed as I was this past October when I attended my first Pied Piper Series concert. The Pied Piper Series is specifically intended for children. Conductor Kelly Corcoran says ages 3 - 8 is the target range, though all ages can enjoy the shows. Each performance lasts one hour or less — perfect considering short attention spans — and there is a huge emphasis on making the performances fun.
“We want to make the shows both educational and entertaining,” Corcoran says. The show I saw was definitely both. Not only do kids learn about different instruments and sections in the orchestra, but there’s also a huge visual component on stage, too (the day I was there, dancers from the School of Nashville Ballet were on stage). “The visual aspect is an important part,” Corcoran says, adding, “whether there are actors, dancers, projections on a screen ... it ties the music together. We want kids to experience music and let their imaginations take them on an amazing adventure.”
The pre-concert activities that take place an hour prior to the concerts add even more fun to the overall experience. All throughout the wings of the Schermerhorn, kids can find a plethora of things to entertain themselves. A hands-on instrument petting zoo where kids can get their fingers on a variety of instruments is always on tap, and they can also participate in arts and crafts, games and more, all connected to the theme of the concert they will see.
The fun isn’t just for the kids. I can attest that adults have just as much fun during the Pied Piper experience as their little ones do. If you’ve yet to take your kids, I encourage you to do so this month with the next installment, Pied Piper Holiday, taking place on Saturday, Dec. 17, which Corcoran describes as a “holiday instrument workshop.” The gift of music is a tremendous one, and no one does it better than the Nashville Symphony!
