New Jersey Moms Blog

Some 5 year old girls love Barbie, mine loves Bret Michaels

A few weeks ago I caught my 5 year old daughter flipping through the pages of People Magazine.

"Mom, that's the guy from your show", she said - referring to Celebrity Apprentice. "You know, Bret, the boy with the long blonde hair - because he's a rocker.". 

Ah, yes, my daughter first noticed Bret when I was catching up on my DVR backlog and I thought she was playing with her gazillion barbie dolls. At the time she had commented that she liked his hair even if he had hair 'like a girl'.  I explained that he was a rock star and that I had listened to him when I was younger.

I watched her as she sat flipping through the pages of People looking at the pictures and pretending to read. When she saw the picture of him lying in a hospital bed she became very concerned. She asked me if he was going to go to heaven like Grandpa did after he went to the hospital. With every attempt to keep it age appropriate we had a very good conversation about how he was recovering and that he had been very sick.

She took it all in and went on to tell me,  "I like his blue eyes, Mama, but I think he's wearing eye make-up.. and he's a boy".  Not sure what to make of it, I decided to just let it be and used the rocker explanation again. 

Saying Goodbye to Peanut Butter

  

I got "the call" today from my son's pediatrician. I was expecting the phone call, with the results of last week's extensive blood work which was mostly routine. My son has autism and a list of food sensitivities including but not limited to wheat and milk. My husband is allergic to tree nuts, so we'd been playing it safe and avoiding tree nuts with my son as well. The pediatrician had added in RAST testing to the routine blood-work to test for the various nut allergies, including peanuts, and also pets - cats and dogs. Since our old dog had passed a few months ago I had noted improvement in his asthma symptoms and before adopting another dog I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the dog after all.

So, when the doctor told me my son had a lower, Class 1, reaction to dogs I wasn't real surprised given my own observations. I could handle that and made a note to call my friend who runs a dog rescue who was looking for a dog for us to call off the search. My doctor then went on to tell me that our fears and concerns about tree nuts were nothing to worry further about and that my son didn't carry the same allergy as his father. I breathed a sigh of relief, but only for a second.

She then floored me.

True Confessions and 3rd Grade Spelling Homework

My third grader loves homework. He thrives on completing his assignments perfectly and takes pride in his work. I'm very proud of him considering he has some special needs that make completing his homework take longer than 'the average child'.  And, though he has special needs - he is also a very typical 9 year old boy. He loves his video games, books, movies and the computer and tries to put off doing his homework until the last possible minute. In the beginning of the school year, we had a good routine established.

Snack, homework, playtime, dinner, playtime, bed. 

But, as the year unfolded - things relaxed and the routine shifted. 

Snack, playtime, dinner, homework, playtime, bed.

And here we are in April and the schedule somehow became

Snack, playtime, dinner, playtime, homework, bed.

Flood Warning

It's spring break on the Jersey Shore and so far pretty much all we've seen is rain. Most of the state has been in a perpetual state of Flood Warning, my coastal town included. My kids already lost half of their spring break due to the Snowmageddon and now they are unable to enjoy what little they have left of it due to the endless downpour of rain, rain, and more rain.

I'm dogsitting for several friends who did the wise thing and took vacation anyway, pulling their kids out of school and escaping this rain. The dogs are all on strike and don't want to go outside. One depressed pooch is hiding in a closet and trembling, barely eating. I know from past experience - he hates the rain. You know the days when it is grey, raining and you don't want to get out of bed? That's where he is. I feel his pain. If I could go and hide in a dark closet with just the radio on, I just might. I feel like the rain has sucked about every bit of motivation out of my body. I thought the snow was bad, the rain is worse.

A New Meaning to Fish on Friday

When my son graduated from Kindergarten his teacher gave him (and all the children) a betta fish.  My son named him Young and we set him up on my kitchen counter top. 

At the time, I worried that Young might not make it through the night let alone week after week, month after month, year after year.  Care and feeding of Young fell to yours truly, me. Sometimes I did better than others - like the time we went away to Disney and halfway through the trip I realized I had forgotten to put a feeder in his tank. Thankfully, Young survived that week.  He was a hearty fellow and lived an exceptionally long life for a Betta fish. Considering my son is now close to finishing 3rd grade - that is 3 years not counting the fact that Bettas are often a good year old when they hit the pet shops.

Tonight when I changed Young's water - it wasn't good. Young looked half dead. I changed his water and sadly Young passed.    It was in this moment of horror that I made the executive decision to manage death in my family. I took Young's death into my own hands. I didn't tell the children.

Honey, I flushed the Android

It was a regular weekend morning. I was getting ready to shuttle my daughter over to the ice hockey rink and looking forward to stopping for a cup of hot coffee at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. As much as my daughter loves to ice skate - I find that hour and a half in the sub-zero ice palace almost torturous. While my daughter was yelling at me that "we were going to be late", I made a last minute decision that I better run to the bathroom.  It went something like this:

Daughter:  Mo--o-o-m we are going to be late for MY hockey. Will you hurry it up, Please!

Me:  Just one second, Mommy is going to the bathroom and then we'll go.

Daughter:  Go bathroom at hockey. They have a bathroom there you know.

Me: That bathroom is cold, I'll be just a minute.

And in that moment - it happened.  My most prized possession, my Android phone jumped from the pocket of my favorite jeans and plummeted to its death. It was as if time stood still for that moment. Did my life-blood know as my cellphone really just fall into the toilet?  In those seconds as I watched it sink, I didn't even think. I pushed the sleeve of my sweater up and I reached in and grabbed (thinking it was a good thing this happened before I actually relieved myself).

Of course, it was too late.  The damage was done. My phone which was previously on...was lights off.

Losing Spring Break because of The New Ice Age

The view out my front door as the snow came down last Tuesday had "doom" written all over it.  By 6PM the Township had updated their facebook page to state that school was closed for Wednesday. Wednesday morning brought rain, that froze and turned to snow and then blizzard. Power flickered and trees went down. By dinner time, the facebook page for the Township indicated school was closed for Thursday as well.  The natives became restless but the plows and salt trucks were doing the best job they can. Thursday afternoon came a robocall message stating that school would be on a 90 minute delay for Friday.  But, once again the facebook page for the Township indicated that some schools were experiencing power issues.  I knew in my gut that this meant one thing.

School could be closed on Friday.

And it was. The robocall came within the 5AM hour - school closed.  No Valentines Parties for the kids, this year - well at least not until after they return back to school on Tuesday after Monday's day off for President's day. 

Congratulations kids, you just earned yourself a six day weekend.

From a Real Housewife of the Jersey Shore

MTV's Jersey Shore reality show has the locals all a-flutter. I heard on the radio how a lot of advertisers were pulling out because of the "Italian-American" controversy and the whole guido issue. I also heard that many of these same advertisers didn't stay out for very long when they saw how the ratings picked up. It also seems the advertisers aren't the only ones who can't agree about Jersey Shore.  

At least that is how it looks from my facebook friends news-feed and recent invitations. First,  I got invited to become a fan of the pages  Boycott MTVs Jersey Shore, Cuz REAL Jersey isnt guido!!!!  and People from New Jersey DO NOT act like " MTV's Jersey Shore" cast!!! Clicking over to my "live feed" news-feed I  read a newsbreaking must-read very important "story" that my best friend's Jersey Shore Nickname is The Paris Hilton of Trenton with an invitation for me to try the What is Your Jersey Shore Nickname? generator and to become a fan of the same.  Either way, pledging my allegiance to the first camp of anti-Jersey Shore or claiming a Jersey Shore Name of My Own would be published to however hundred FB "friends" I have and all the world to see including my mother. Ah, the joy of Facebook.

Raising a Jersey Girl

On Thursday my daughter went to the Tropical Nightclub and on Friday she went to the Diva Spa. Such is the life of a four year old at the Jersey Shore. And, that is how we roll around here.

When my daughter, the social butterfly that she is,  was invited to attend a party at the Tropical Nightclub for Kids I did a double take. I mean, I didn't get to see the inside of a nightclub until I was in high school and some friends and I chalked our drivers license so we could get inside for an over/under night.  So, while a part of me felt that the whole "nightclub" thing was inappropriate for kids - I had to check this out.  Friends of mine had just talked about taking their toddlers to Baby Loves Disco which is held in an actual club in Philly.  And now, my 4 year old was invited to a nightclub (for kids). I let her go, I went with her, and she had a blast.  The place looks kind of like a mix between popular Jersey Shore hot spots Jenks Club and Martell's Tiki Bar - except the patrons are all under 4 foot tall and are dancing to kids music.

The Cheese Stands Alone

Well, summer is over and the kids are back in school, mine included. That first day of school is always so bittersweet. Per tradition my kids had their obligatory (celebratory) pictures taken with their prizey new backpacks. My son entered 3rd grade and rides the bus and my daughter is in preschool so I'm her bus-driver. I am not sure if it is blessing or a curse, because the bus-stop for our neighborhood is at the corner right beside our home. This will be convenient when it comes time for my daughter to enter elementary school, but for my son - it has been curse.

And so it goes, day after day I'll watch the cars line up and the kids pour out. I'll hear them get yelled at to not run in the street and watch all the mothers stand around with their coffee and chit chat. We have lived in this house with this same bus stop on the corner for 5 years now, and I've never been a part of "this club". I know that my time will come when my daughter enters kindergarten next year, I'll wait. But it isn't my membership that I am upset about - it is my sons.