DC Metro Moms

The Tao of Scrapbooking

Tao: a way, path, route, doctrine, principle, philosophy

 

I’ve never… scrapbooked.  There, I said it.

I have lots of photo albums filled with pictures of my son.  I even have them organized into ‘just my son’s life’ albums and general family photo albums…

So now I’m going to further document my son’s life with scrapbooks- 

nursery school programs, a little artwork, the lock of hair from his first haircut, leftover pictures that I have in a box… 

and then it hit me as I was going through all this stuff- 

My Scrapbook is a Book of Scrap… or it will be-  because I haven’t done it yet…

Or will it?

The Wonderful World of Ketchup

It’s red, it’s gloopy, it tends to get on everything from kids’ faces to clothing, but I have gone from a ketchup hater... to lover. 

The smell of ketchup made me sick when I was pregnant- literally.  And even now, if I was ever captured by terrorists and locked in a cell, all they would have to do is put a big blob of ketchup very close to my nose for an extended amount of time and I would ‘sing like a canary’, not that I know any State secrets.

But now, I have come to love ketchup, and have it in my home at-all-times-

Why, you may ask…? 

Because my son will eat almost anything… if he can dip it in ketchup.

Why I Love Women

I love women… 

The other day I found myself in the rare situation of being childless, husbandless, and in the unfamiliar territory of being pretty-much-caught-up-with-stuff… baring laundry, coming up with a new kid craft, cleaning out my car…

And in my possession: a $25 gift card to a new favorite store of mine… 

So what to do?  Why, go shopping of course! 

I embarked on my shopping journey and found 2 pairs of summer crop pants, and $25 off- perfect!  I was leaving the store, when out of the corner of my left eye- a red sign caught my attention… 25% Off. 

And it was in front of another favorite store of mine… I timidly walked over to check it out, and then hesitantly, walked into the store.  I’d already dared to spend money on myself, let alone the time I’d spent ‘frivolously’, instead of cleaning, washing, cooking, or setting up playdates, don’t push it, I thought…

And then an older woman approached me, “Do you have the 20% card?”

The Birds and The Bees and 5-Year-Olds

It was a normal day, matchbox cars everywhere, a nice afternoon, and then my 5-year-old son got up to go to the bathroom.

While he was going to the bathroom, he asked me, completely out-of-the-blue, 

“Mom, why do girls sit down to go pee-pee?”

By the way, my son closes the bathroom door at friends’ houses, and out in public, but sometimes he ‘forgets’ at home… and I don’t make a big deal about this because I don’t want him to ‘feel embarrassed’ about his body, blah, blah, blah, psycho-babble, blah, blah, blah. 

So I very matter-of-factly told him,

“Because girls have vaginas.”

I’ve told him this before, but he forgot, probably because he just doesn’t care that much...

“Faginas?”  He asked with a funny look on his face.

“V-aginas.”  I answered. 

He started laughing,

Good Mom / Bad Mom

I have my good days… and I have my bad days.  

Don’t you love those days that are terrific?  When everything falls into place at just the right time: everyone is happy, the house is clean, the wash is done and folded, dinner is planned and you’re doing an educational art project with your son?  I have days like that… sometimes.  And on days like that I say to myself,

‘I have got this mom-thing down!’ 

Most days are pretty much like that, without the laundry getting done, and my son and I doing something together, although it is not always an educational art project…

And then there are days that are not-so-good...

My Mom Uniform

Do you wear a uniform?  I do. 

My uniform right now is jeans or khakis and long-sleeve t-shirts.  When the weather really starts warming up, my uniform is shorts and short-sleeve t-shirts.

And I’m cool with this…  But I’m wondering, ‘Is this a mom thing?’

‘Or is it just me?’

When My Husband Didn't Propose...

I was reading a terrific blogger buddy of mine the other day who also writes for one of our sister sites, Philly Moms, and lol laughed out loud.  She was talking about telling her husband exactly what to get her for her birthday, and if he didn’t have time to get it, she would get it- just let her know...  I do the same thing.  I never say, "Surprise me"… 

But maybe I come by this honestly… since that fateful birthday I thought I was getting a ring… and got a corner cabinet instead.

Yeah, you heard me right.  Not that the cabinet wasn’t nice, but what began as an honest, nice, birthday evening planned by now-husband, got caught up and tangled in miscommunication and misinterpreted cues and then misled expectations. 

It all started when he said he had a special surprise planned for my birthday, and that it was something that I had really been wanting…  Oh, and that he had to go by my parents’ house before he could give it to me…

 

My No-Bias Boy

My 5-year-old son LOVES cars… and trucks, and SUVs, and crossovers, and hybrids.  He loves buses too, any type of vehicle, really.

He knows all the different brand logos and names and points them out to me in traffic.  I honestly think this helped him learn to read.

"Look Mom, there’s a Honda."

"Mom, there’s a Chevy!"

And his favorite,

"Mom!  It’s a Toyota!"   

Both of his grandmothers have Toyotas, thus, it IS his favorite type of car.  And the topper this year: his preschool teacher drives a Toyota too- he’s over the moon!  Yes, 5-year-old boys care about this kind of stuff.

I’ve made a point to not talk about car prices with my son.  I don’t want to convey, even subconsciously, that when something is more expensive, it’s better.  Because, especially us moms know, that is just not true.    

He makes no judgment on how cool a car is in relation to its price.  

It’s so fun to look at the world through his eyes-  with no bias; if a car has a cool trunk, or headlights, or door handle, he points it out and he thinks it’s cool. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Honda or a Hyundai, a Volkswagen or a Volvo, a Fiat or a Ferrari.

But it really hit home the other day.

I took my car in to be serviced at the dealership and we had to wait for a few minutes until it was done.

I looked across the street and said, “I’m going to show you a car you’ve never seen up close before.”

We walked across the small street to the (very small) Bentley dealership.  The door was locked, but was opened for us.  I asked if we could look at the 3 Bentleys they had in the small showroom.  The guy at the desk said, "sure" and continued his phone conversation. We were the only ones in there.  There's a slowdown in the economy right now, but frankly, I don’t think the Bentley showroom is ever mobbed.

My Ectopic Pregnancy Gone Horribly Wrong

It was President’s Day Weekend…

I was pregnant!  We were thrilled… But my HCG levels were low, so something wasn’t quite right. 

I didn’t miscarry, as my doctor said I might, so I was hopeful that my pregnancy would get better.  Then, Sunday evening I was cramping up so much that I wanted to call the doctor… but didn’t, at first.

I’ve survived another medical trauma  at the start of my 20s, so I think of myself as tough. 

Then a started to get a sharp pain under my right breast… so I called the doctor.  I have since learned that this is, to quote reference books, ‘an ominous sign’ as it means blood is tracking up the abdominal cavity…  

The on-call doctor called me back and immediately apologized for being happily distracted- his sister was in labor at the hospital.  I told him about the pain, and he quickly suggested I send my husband out for Pepto-Bismol,  and to wink, wink, ‘toughen up’.

So I did.  And my husband did.  And I took the Pepto-Bismol…

 

School Starts at 8am ?!

Yesterday, filled with excitement and joy, I went to the open house at the school my son will be attending next year.  It’s a wonderful school and a great community and I am really looking forward to being a part of it for the next 9 years, from Kindergarten through 8^th grade.

The principal talked to us ‘new parents’ about curriculum and special projects and hot lunch, the usual… And then she went through a typical day for kindergartners- 

“Children can start arriving at 7:45am... and we officially start our day at 8am.”

I had seen the 8am on the sheet that was handed out, and hoped it had been a misprint…