...Ode to a laminator...

I apologize for being absent

my life has become "grab and go"

with one child beginning to homeschool

and the other just starting to grow

2 months of winter still waiting

and my printer is near out of ink

there must something to help simplify

if I could just sit down and think

I could use some glue, or a giant grater

I'd settle for an amicable alligator

I could use a heart, a hello or some help

but all I really need is a little laminator.

Doctor June and the Tales of Anatomy

My three year old daily inspires me with endless hours of blogging material.  Her latest obsession is the human body.  She's trying to decide whether she'd rather be a pediatrician or an internal medicine doctor when she grows up.  Last night when I was tucking her in I found myself describing the entire male and female reproductive systems (But why?  Mommy, why?).  Long story short, I've decided that even Anatomy and Physiology deserve a good story.  Finding the subject in the form of a teddy bear was a little unexpected, however.

Said daughter is fully knowledgeable about different types of cells in the body and what they do, but especially white blood cells (it is cold and flu season, after all).  As she puts it, "white blood cells find and gobble up things that don't belong."  An unfortunate accident with a friendly teddy bear led my daughter to discover that teddy bears only have white insides.  The following conversation ensued:

"Why are his insides white, Mommy?"
"Maybe it's his blood cells that make his insides look white.  But it's probably just his stuffing."
"Why doesn't he have red blood cells?"
"Maybe because he's not alive, so he doesn't need red blood cells to carry oxygen around his body."
"Oh.  Why does he need white blood cells?"
"Teddy bears are a great comfort when you're sick.  He wouldn't want to get stuck with a virus, would he?"
"Oh."

The discovery that teddy bears actually fight viral infections has yet to be published in a medical journal, but I'm sure the research is well underway.  Didn't they spend a bunch of research money on why chicken soup makes you feel better when you're sick?  Why not teddy bears?  In the meantime, I feel a story brewing about a heroic bear who assists children in fighting viral infections simply by being snuggly.

My Fairy-Tale Life...

I must start with a confession:  Last week we let our 3 year old daughter watch Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”  I normally don’t encourage such behavior, but it seemed like harmless fun at the time.  Family movie night quickly turned into a week-long obsession with Belle and Beast.  Being the non-conformist mama that I am, I wasn’t content to let her watch it over and over again, so we went to the library at checked out classic fairy tale versions of Beauty and Beast (of which there are many!).  We discussed the differences between the books, we looked at pictures, but mostly we acted out the story.  Storytelling can be a great way to infuse a little fun into your otherwise normal (read: boring) day- here’s what my day looked like, today:
 
7:00 am- My daughter tells me she is the Beast and I am Beauty.  Ok.  If that is any indication of how the day is going to go, at least I’m prepared.

7:30 am- Beast eats all his oatmeal (because Beasts need to be strong to be fierce).

8:00 am- Beauty helps Beast pick out some beautiful courtly clothes for the day.
 
8:30 am- Beauty vacuums while Beast begrudgingly dusts and helps vacuum (because a clean castle is a happy castle).  Singing helps us along.
 
9:30 am- My daughter tells me that I am now the Beast and she is Beauty.  Was it the vacuuming that turned me beastly?
 
10:00 am- Beast convinces Beauty that the castle is being attacked by dragons.  Beauty climbs into her chariot while the horses and Beast whisk her off on a nice 2 ½ mile jog through the forest.  Beast is happier with a little exercise.
 
10:30 am- Beauty runs with the horses then rides her bike (“it’s NOT a horse, Beast, it’s a bicycle!”) around the neighborhood with Beast in hot pursuit. 
 
11:00 am- Beauty finds a baby who needs a home and invites her to stay in the castle while Beast makes lunch and tidies up.
 
1:00 pm- As we settle down for naptime books, my daughter says, “I’m just June now and you‘re just Mommy.”   “Oh Good- I’ve kind of missed being Mommy.  But I had fun, too!”

Not every day will be the perfect pre-school day.  Neither of us were in the mood, today, for counting, letters or anything structured.  Besides, the house looks clean.  We got our exercise.  And we had fun. 

Mission accomplished. 
Maybe tomorrow I’ll get to be a dinosaur. 
I like dinosaur-days.

My Story... a work in progress

Blogging has forced me to be a little honest about myself: Apparently, I'm not perfect. Sad, but true. I'm not unique in this; I am a mom. Here are some of my top issues:

1) Parenting: I'm not a fan of being forced to parent someone else's kid because they don't feel like it (of course I don't mean you, silly!). I am, apparently, a big fan of standing on a soapbox and preaching about it.
2) Junk food and sugar: It's a special treat. That doesn't mean they should serve it at every event where children are welcome to attend. Would the world collapse if someone offered a 3 year old a carrot stick? If they're hungry enough... well, you know how that goes.
3) Commercialized toys and other junk: Don't we have enough to shield our children from without having to be worried about lead paint, choking hazards and commercialization? I say, let them play with blocks and read books. It won't kill them to be the last kid on the block to play Rock Band.

That's enough ranting for one day. I enjoy the simple things and I want my kids to enjoy them, too. Is that too much to ask? How about you? Is there something in your world that drives you to the edge of crazy? Or beyond? I'd love to hear about it!