Prelude to a tantrum

Much like learning to distinguish between your newborn's cries, learning to 'read' your toddlers non-verbal cues is an essential skill for preventing monster meltdowns. I've learned to pay attention to Liam's expressions, they say it all...

"This sucks, pay attention to me"

"This sucks, get out of my face"

And my personal favorite: "aww mom, you're a bitch!"

I love presents.

This is a Terramundi Pot. Its easily one of the coolest presents I have ever received (another being this baby shower gift). The idea behind it goes beyond just your traditional piggy bank. Once the first coin is dropped the money pot must be fed until full upon which time it must be smashed whilst making a wish. Then you spend the money on 'good things' which brings good fortune.

My closest friend, Tracy, gave this to me on my 32nd birthday and finally its full (It took me so long to fill it because staying at home with your son doesn't pay in legal U.S. tender).

For the past two years every time I added money to the pot I would think about what the coins in this pot would one day buy... A romantic dinner? A new pair of jeans? Diapers? The day I opened this gift, I did not yet know I was pregnant. It would be two more days before this wonderfully frightening information became known. I suppose it was rather serendipitous that my birthday dinner consisted of bottles of wine and piles of sushi.

Totally full the pot holds up to 500 bucks in quarters and dimes! And best of all, at least for me, Miss impatient and impulsive, you can't cheat and pull the quarters out for a paper or laundry (or a 24 ounce bud light). Its a wonderful gift for little and big kids, alike!
Mine held just shy of two hundred dollars in quarters nickels and dimes.
And what did I spend the money on? A mini family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark!

Double trouble.

I'm the kind of mom that doesn't really care if her kid drinks juice on the couch or runs around sans diaper and wees accidentally on the floor. I didn't always take this approach to parenting but once Liam became mobile I found it exhausting (not to mention annoying) to try and micro-mother him. When little accidents happen I just clean it up. The 15 minutes of peace I get from not chasing him around nagging is totally worth the 15 minutes it will take to clean the pee out of the rug.

Its All About Balance.

So naturally when I presented Liam with crayons and a coloring book at the kitchen table I didn't pay any mind when he climbed off the chair and toddled off crayons in tow.

On this particular day Chris was outside mowing the lawn. I was in the kitchen making a batch of mac & cheese cupcakes.

It should be noted that when I am cooking I spend a good amount of time shooing Liam out from under my feet so when he's quietly playing in the other room-well, I don't go looking for trouble.

The next thing I know Chris is standing at the fridge looking at me in disbelief as he asks: " Do you know what your son is doing?" Quickly noting that he is not at the table I reply "Judging from the look on your face I assume he is drawing on something you disapprove of."

I was not wrong.

I can say, for the record, that crayola washables are, indeed, washable.

Toxins among us...

Ok, I'll tell you right now, you're going to think I've gone off the deep end; that I'm paranoid because I lost one sister to cancer while the other continues to fight her own battle with it. And I wont disagree with you, maybe I am paranoid. But I'll tell you what, if that's the cost to keep my sister, myself and our families healthy, then let me reach for my wallet. I NEVER expected the implications to be so far reaching. It started out innocent enough, an overhaul of the kitchen to "clean" up what we are putting into our bodies. We joined a CSA to ensure our fruits and veggies would be organic and local-in season, gave up on factory farmed meats and tossed out* anything with High fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and loads of preservatives... and man, did we have a lot: ketchup, maple syrup, BBQ sauce, salad dressings, canned goods like Chef Boyardee and Campbell's tomato soup, the list went on and on! I had a grocery bag full of opened items and one half full of non perishables. And we've been feeling really great about the movement in our home. But then, oh but then I read an article about a small study in the UK that found parabens in breast cancer tissue in 18 out of 20 tumors. I thought what are parabens? so I look it up: Parabens are a class of chemicals widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. So of course I drop everything and dash to the bathroom, gather my lotions, line them up on the counter and quickly scan the list of ingredients. Methylparaben. Then I grab the sunscreen, toothpaste and diaper cream: ethylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben, isopropyl and isobutylparaben, parahydroxybenzoate. I noticed other ingredients showing up in many of our everyday products as well: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Propylene glycol. These two are popular in shampoos, shaving creams and toothpastes. It was precisely that moment that I decided to research the safety of the ingredients in the products we slather on our skin and let absorb into our bodies. This of course ends with me sitting on the bathroom floor with with piles of beauty products and a garbage bag.

What I have found so far is that companies use these chemicals in their products because they are an effective, cheap means to an end. The FDA claims they are safe (although, after working in a tox-path lab I've come to learn what a flawed and potentially corrupt system that is). And truth be told none of these chemicals on their own are considered carcinogens. But, BIG BUT here: what happens when they are combined with other chemicals? The average adult is exposed to 126 different chemicals daily, couple that with the widespread exposure through different personal care products and whats the risk now? Unfortunately the research hasn't been conducted to state conclusively that such combined, prolonged chemical use is safe.
So until there is, I'll err on the side of caution.

To minimize my risk, I'm pitching the products that are considered "leave on." Products that through their application give the chemicals ample time absorb into the bloodstream and replacing them with paraben, SLS and sulfate free organic products. Its a work in progress by priority because the good stuff isn't cheap.

What am I going to do with it all? I don't know yet. I can't, in good conscience, give it away or donate it. Although I'm sure most, those of you who think I'm being paranoid, would totally take a free bottle of of cucumber-melon lotion.

I suppose I will just end up dumping the product and recycling the bottle.

I'm open to better suggestions!

*I do plan to donate the non-perishables.

Resources:

Skin deep

SLS

Parabens

Mired in Stalemate.

Liam, now 19 months, is displaying all the endearing qualities of a caged hyena. When he gets frustrated (which is all the time!)he totally loses it. He'll bang his head on the wall or floor, shout, cry, kick his feet... you get the idea. I'd like to be able to say I have no idea where he gets it from. But that would be a lie. I'll admit he gets his temper from me. My fuse is so short you'll likely lose your hand just lighting it.
As penance I spend my waking hours simultaneously feigning a grin and taking deep breaths. See, Liam will not sit in grocery cart for more than 30 seconds, and the belt is useless, he can slip right out of it. Same thing with those nasty wooden high chairs all restaurants have. I have a sneaking suspicion that the brains behind that design were from a childless twenty-something male. Had a woman been assigned to that project the end result would be stylish and self-cleaning with a straight jacket style restraint to ensure your lovable little Houdini stays put until your finished eating your meal. Fine dining establishments might sport the "The Luxury Edition" A highchair fully enclosed in sound proof Plexiglass so that you aren't riddled with guilt over ruining every other diners experience.


I really miss dining out.

Anyway...

Here are a few fun things that happened today.

I'm watching a re-run of Greys on lifetime. Its the episode where Denny dies. I cant believe I'm watching it again because it was heart wrenching the first time. So we are at the part where the interns rush to Denny's room to find Izzy laying in the hospital bed with him. She's calm until her friends tell her they need to move him to the morgue, then she breaks down. And I'm sobbing right along with her. I'm sitting there folding the laundry crying at the TV when I hear a slight chuckle. I look over to see Liam staring squarely at me, laughing. HE IS LAUGHING AT ME! No lie.

I gave Liam a water bottle about a quarter full of water. He's at that phase where he wants to be a big boy and drink out of the same containers we do, without help. So I let him, you know, every once in a while. Its what a good mother does right? I'm supporting his independence. So he's traipsing around the dining room holding that water bottle practically parallel to the ground but so what. Its only water. Then I hear: splat, splash, trickle, drip. I look over and he's dumping the water onto the power supply cord to my laptop. I race over yelling, NO, LIAM, NO. CRAP! I take the bottle from him, and shoo him into the other room. He's looking back at me as he toddles off. As I attempt to unplug the cord sitting in a puddle of water I assume he's out of earshot and I drop an F bomb under my breath. No sooner does that word leave my lips and Liam is right next to me, shaking his hands in front of him in mock frustration. And then he says it, just as I did. Somewhere between a groan and a whisper: "Faaah." Nice mommy, nice.

I had to pick up a few things at the market so I put Liam in the cart and gave him a dumb dumb lollipop. But Liam doesn't just lick the lollipop, he makes love to it. He wont just keep in in his mouth he's got to take it out every few seconds and handle it. He sticks in on his arm, neck, cheek and then he takes it one step too far and puts it in his hair. It gets stuck. We are in the store, I'm trying to pick out a proper pineapple and Liam has a lollipop stuck to his head. Whats worse is that this totally pisses him off. So he pitches the mother of all fits because he was really enjoying that lollipop and now... not so much.

I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, Liam was playing with the farm magnets on the fridge and making cow sounds over and over. I glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already 8:00 pm, so I casually said "wow Liam, its already bedtime." Without missing a beat he put the magnets back on the fridge and headed for the stairs saying "nigh-nigh." This is the first time he had said "nite-nite" to me and I was overjoyed! Not only because he's using a new word but because he listened to what I said and responded. Amazing.


That, right there, makes all the other struggles, SO worth it.

5 things I learned on my Summer Vacation

1. The weeks leading up to your vacation will move at a snails pace while your vacation days will go whizzing by you so fast your skirt will fly up.

2. I don't hate the south. I just really love the north. More specifically: the mountains in autumn, snow in the winter, being able to spend most of the day outdoors in the summer. For all of these I will sacrifice spring and endure mud season.

3. My skinny jeans and I are thankful that Freihofers Sourdough bread and chocolate chip cookies ARE NOT available in the south. Man did I stuff my face with Freihofers on vacation.

4. I really don't enjoy traveling by car as much as I thought I did. We spent 5 of the the ten vacation days in the car for 5 hours or more. It just feels like a waste of time especially with a bored to screaming with tears toddler in the backseat. From now on I'm flying. Chris and Liam can meet me there.

5. Being with family is salubrious. I NEED these people in my day to day life.

Goodbye at Bog River Falls

"We only part to meet again."