Before beginning the new year tomorrow with a blog exchange post about change (defined as "starting over" or "moving on") I would like my last 2006 post to be a year in review through the lens of Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting.
As seen on Half Changed World, whose author in turn saw this on several other weblogs, I am conducting this review by repeating the first line of my blog from each month. Given that I created this blog in September, it should be no surprise that I don't have much to share from January to August. Therefore this review will only cover the fourth quarter of 2006, rather than a full year. I admit I cheated a little; since the first post of the month is usually a blog exchange, I am using my first post of each month (and skipping the first paragraph if the first paragraph is a reference to the blog exchange).
Here goes...
September: A smidge over 3 years ago as the nurse handed over my first child to me to breastfeed for the very first time, I really thought that breastfeeding would work.
November: This was the big moment that I had been planning for over a month.
December: I would also like to say "Merry Christmas" to the woman who yelled at my son yesterday.
Disturbingly enough, September through November actually flow together! Let me try the exercise again. This time, I am providing the first A. Elliot's lesson learned (or in the case of my first October post, which introduced Flexible Parenting: Crafts for the Clueless my first craft rating) from each month:
September: Leave some formula in the bottle so you don't give your baby (extra) gas.
October: Ease of setup/cleanup (1-10 with 1 being most difficult): 4 -- Attention Getting (1-10 with 1 generating least interest; this excludes dogs): 1
November: Your pediatrician may have free formula available...but only if you ask for it.
December: Beware of Grinches in family restaurants.
I tried to email you, but couldn't find an email on any of your blogs. As a fellow couldn't breastfeed, formula feeder, I love the blog title and concept.
Thanks for your comments on my blog exchange post!
Today we spent yet another day navigating the treacherous waters of car dealerships by test-driving minivans. While they have sailed far, some of their designs have many leagues to travel before driving them will no longer feel like steering a boat.
It's amazing how worn out I am from basically doing nothing today. While I may have spent 20 minutes on the road, at least 4 hours were spent sitting at various desks while car salesmen went back and forth trying to locate cars, moving cars out from behind countless other cars in which we had no interest, and going back and forth with various offers. It was kind of like playing automotive "Deal or No Deal" except that the salesmen weren't as funny as Howie Mandel or as pretty as the "models", we wished that the sales managers would have been as invisible as "the banker", and no one offered us a dime. Oh and even NBC's commercials are more entertaining than flipping through the same car brochure for the 3,000th time and confirming once more that seat belts are indeed a standard option for the driver and every passenger on all minivans.
The good news?
We decided on a car. However, we are going to wait until the spring to see if we can get a better deal.
Our teenage babysitter (returned from college for winter break) got no worse results than we have been getting during our week of potty-training our older son (OS). Unfortunately while that means she did not see any accidents, he also carefully held everything in until my husband dropped him into a bath this evening.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Leave a lot of time if you're going to test drive minivans.
Happy New Year! Also, I keep forgetting to ask you if you received a package from my mother-in-law. She sent some books and other stuff to you after Thanksgiving.
I have a 2000 Honda CRV that I love dearly. It's my first car. It's also green, which is my favorite color, and it has a standard transmission. Whenever I see my car in a parking lot, it makes me happy that it's mine. However, I have to admit that ever since my younger son (YS) was born, I haven't experienced that same thrill that I once had when getting into my car. In fact many times I feel pretty frustrated. Now that there are two carseats in there, the seats take up almost the entire backseat. Sure, the backseat technically seats 3 people, but with the carseats, all that can fit between them is a blanket and a couple of books. On top of that, there's something wrong with the seatbelts. Honda even replaced them for me for free, and although they say they're fine, there seems to be some sort of delay when they retract. I bring mycarseats into a free checkpoint at the hospital near us about every 6 months and every time I am told that some part of a carseat has come unlocked (no not unclipped, but unlocked!).
I should also mention that I always keep the stroller in the rear storage area, because I use it at least 5 times a week. We also have a large golden retriever and two cats who need to be taken to the vet occasionally. Not to mention carpools, visiting relatives (since both of our families live out of state), etc. With all of this in mind, we came to a horrible horrible realization: it's time to start considering a minivan.
I have to admit I was pretty terrified when we went to test drive our first minivan today. In my youth, I learned how to drive on a Plymouth Voyager, and I have very distinct memories of feeling like I was driving an out-of-control boat. I was pleasantly surprised today by how easy the first minivan was to drive. I hate to say it, but it was actually easier to drive than my CRV, although I think I would have to have a good couple of months of experience with it before I would even think about parallel parking. The second minivan we drove was nice, but it had a little bit of that boat-like feel to it. Tomorrow we're going to test drive two more. We're aiming to purchase one sometime this spring. I am coming to the end of my free-wheeling days of sporting an SUV and transitioning into, if not soccer mom-hood, at least swimmer mom-hood with a minivan.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Different times call for different measures.
I hear ya with the carseats taking up almost the entire backseat. I drive a 1998 Cherokee (I am a Jeep fanatic!) and that middle bench seat doesn't fit a third person with the two carseats on either side. Personally, I think that's a good thing - it keeps me from having a third child!
I am one of those people who has vowed never to get a minivan. My mom had one and I never liked it. My husband is a car enthusiast and is totally against driving one as well. So if we ever felt the need for more space - I think we'd go wagon.
For now, I'm happy with my Jeep and plan on being that way until my Jeep is no longer with us :)
I have to admit that in the 3 years I've been a mom, I have found myself saying things that I never thought I would say. Here's an example that happened today:
Me: Stop flinging pee on your brother!!!!!! Older Son (OS): (laughing) Younger Son (YS): (happily playing on the floor oblivous to the droplets of pee, but looking at his brother with a big smile on his face)
Scenario: OS has decided for whatever reason not to point himself down when using the potty chair which is located in our living room. Thus half of the pee has gone into the potty chair and half has formed a puddle on the floor. OS uses his underwear to try to wipe up the mess and in the meantime somehow decides it's funny to spin the sopping underwear around his brother's head.
I just got back from seeing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We had a great time. However, I found out that the days of lighting up lighters and swaying to the music are long gone. The new thing to do is to open up your cell phone and sway with it to the beat. We were asked to do that and I have to say it was really cool seeing all those little little lights in the stadium. So, if you're trying to look hip and trendy, make sure you bring your cell phone to the next concert you go to.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Bring your cell phone to a concert and sway to the beat with the light of your cell phone.
I LOVE the Trans Siberian Orchestra! And so does my four year old. The cellphone thing was weird for me the first time I saw it - I haven't yet been "hip" enough to pull out my own cell however. (Although I did send a text message during a Roger Waters show I saw this summer!)
I have always loved Christmas. I love the lights, the smell of pine, the music, the food and of course the presents. Plus, a couple weeks after Christmas is my birthday. I have to say I've never thought of Christmas as being exhausting until this year. That's because until this year, I haven't been up until the wee hours of the morning trying to put together Christmas presents for my older son (OS).
I'm not sure exactly what we paid for when we purchased a Little Tykes Kitchen set for OS because it certainly wasn't for labor. I believe I read somewhere that the writers/illustrators of instructions for toys for kids are blind; the crappy instructions certainly make me believe that. The plastic pieces didn't even have holes for the screws. Instead there were indentations that you needed to take a screwdriver and hit with a hammer to start a hole. They claim you don't need an electric screwdriver, but all I can say is that this Christmas in addition to being grateful for my husband, sons, pets, friends, and good health, I was also grateful for the Barbara Electric Screwdriver for Ladies that I happened to pick up when I was buying curtain rods last year (because it was really cheap, not because I thought my feminism extends to requiring gender-specific tools).
I was also convinced that the illustration for Step 10, was in fact from another toy. I couldn't figure out what they were talking about and as much as I gripe about toys, I'm usually pretty good at putting them together. At some point in the wee hours of the morning, I realized it was a sketch of the kitchen set upside-down and on its side. You would think somewhere in that set of directions they would have said "turn kitchen set upside down and on its side". Nope!
It took my husband and me many attempts to get this kitchen set together. We could not get the pieces to line up properly. I should have been susipicious when this somewhat large kitchen set was delivered in a fairly small box. We finally got it together, and I do have to say it looks pretty good. I even handled the finishing touches like mounting the included "wall paper" (which was a set of about 4 stickers). I also feel that succeful assembly of a toy kitchen set is a skill that should be put on my resume. I'll have to check with my college's alumni career services office.
The rest of the toys we put together were fairly easy. Fisher Price defintely shells out more money on their instructions and pictures, because they are a lot better.
I do have to say that it was all worth it Christmas morning when a very excited OS discovered that Santa had brought him a kitchen set. He didn't even finish opening his presents until this morning.
In spite of all the frustration, swearing and cuts on your finger from the Barbara Ladies Electric Screwdriver that may require you to wear a Sesame Street Band-Aid if that's all you have in your house, the expression on your child's face when he sees his brand-new kitchen set all assembled makes it worth it.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Get an electric screwdriver.
I'm taking a break from putting together toys and based on this experience I thought I would share what I would consider to be the perfect baby shower gift: an electric screwdriver and a box of AA batteries from BJs/Sams Club etc. Merry Christmas!
My friend Betty, as in Betty Crocker since she loves to bake, emailed me following story. I thought I would pass it along with her permission of course. Betty is an awesome friend. In addition to giving me homemade soups and baked zitti multiple times when I was pregnant with my younger son, a few weeks ago when both boys were sick she called me up to ask what I took in my coffee and dropped off a steaming hot cup of coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts along with a care package.
Today I had an experience that I thought you may want to help others out with. I had all my presents for the teachers, the new health form for my child, the registration forms for both boys for next year. I was early for the Christmas party ("A" refers to as the cookie party). However, as the mom who pulled up next to my minivan and took out her other kiddos out of the car. I noticed she had her camera. Yes I went to my child's first christmas party with cookies and singing without a camera. So i raced down to the local white hen. I walked around the store and could not find one. However, i noticed 2 behind the counter. Two ladies where in front of me and I prayed they both didn't need a camera. I noticed the line took alot longer that I wanted it too. Didn't the people in line realize that i was going to be late for the party. I bought one of the 2 cameras and raced back to the school just in time for cookies and juice. As all the other mothers and fathers had their video cameras and digital cameras taking pictures. I took out my disposable camera to record the moments that i almost forgot to get. My lesson ....carry a disposable camera in your bag for those mommy moments.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Carry a disposable camera or a camera cell phone in your purse/diaper bag.
Betty, Thanks for your contribution. Based on your writing skills, I would love to share your comments more often. Even people like me, who are too lazy to create an account, comment anonymously. :-)
My two cents...Carrying a digital camera is just as good. Unfortunately I am as irresponsible as I am lazy, and I always forget to bring batteries.
Calling all teenagers: I have the perfect job for you. Would you like to make some really last minute Christmas money? Do you like to stay up late? Are you half way decent at following directions? (I know that's a tough one for a lot of you.) Here's my advice for you:
Print out a business card with your cell phone number included
Go to the mall, grocery store, basically anywhere where you expect to find some tired, worn-out parents running errands with their screaming children
Explain to said parents that you would be willing to come over at midnight, 2 am etc. when they realize they have no idea how to put their kids Christmas toys together and frankly are too tired to care. As a bonus you'll also figure out the seemingly simple but yet very complicated software that goes with their child's FP3 player and download songs onto it
Keep your cell phone on extra loud on Christmas Eve so you'll be sure to hear when it rings
Rake in the big bucks as the parents began to call you for help
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: People will pay a lot for the perfect Christmas
You know the old saying "always wear clean underwear because you never know when you might be in an accident?" I would like to add the following line to it: "Always have a clean house because you never know when the fire department will come traipsing through it."
I tossed a bunch of onions and garlic into chicken broth as part of a homemade soup I was making for dinner tonight. The next step was to let the soup boil before adding the rest of the ingredients. Just as I was about to turn the burner on, I heard my two boys calling out from their naps upstairs. My younger son (YS) sounded pretty upset. Seeing as I had 9 cups of chicken broth and a cup of frozen onions in the pot, I figured it would take a while to start boiling, so I had time to run upstairs and bring the boys downstairs. However, both YS and my older son (OS) needed diaper changes.
After wrestling with boys, diapers, and wipes, I headed back down the stairs. I thought I smelled something burning. OS took this opportunity to start horsing around with the dog on the stairs, so that I practically had to leap over him. Sure enough, our living room was quickly filling with smoke which eventually spread throughout our whole house. A quick glance at our ceramic top stove showed that a peanut butter jar that I had left on the stove was on fire as well as the paper from the can of chicken broth. I turned off the stove and yelled at OS and the dog to get out in the backyard while pulling YS's highchair out to the deck and putting him in it. After grabbing my fire extinguisher and aiming it at the fire, I learned that it had apparently had expired. (Based on my experience, I recommend checking periodically so you can find out before you actually need it.) Fortunately the fire had pretty much died out, so pouring cups of water on it did the trick.
I called the non-emergency number of the fire department to ask them if there was anything I should do to get rid of the smoke beyond opening up the windows and doors. Turns out they have giant fans that they use to rid homes of smoke. They showed up a few minutes later and began sucking the smoke out the house with the giant fans. The fire that I thought was out actually wasn't. Although the plastic was no longer on fire, the peanut butter underneath still was.
So here's the part I didn't mention. Today happened to be the one day that my house happened to be an absolutely complete disaster - the type of mess that you would be humiliated for the rest of your life if anyone you ever knew showed up. There were presents, wrapping paper, holiday cards, left out toys, laundry that needed to put away, etc. everywhere when the fireman arrived. Yes, I'm grateful that the fire was so minor and no one was hurt, and the biggest damage was the $2.39 I paid for the basically brand-new jar of peanut butter. At the same time, though I'm still totally embarrassed because
Who puts things on their stove top, particularly while cooking?
My house was a mess.
However, if my house had been clean, then I would have never left the peanut butter out in the first place. Apparently fires caused by leaving random items on the stove aren't unusual. Using my previous logic, my fellow stove-burners probably also have messy houses which cause them to leave the stuff on the stove in the first place, so therefore I should not be the only one with a completely messy house, right? At least that's what I like to tell myself. And after all, my house isn't due to be that messy again for at least another decade.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Even if a kitchen fire has been put out, call the non-emergency number of the fire department to check-in with them.
all in all, i would have to say kudos on everything you did! the actual starting of the fire aside, it sounds to me like you could definitely pass emergency management training!
glad the fire is out and no injuries or major damage occurred! my house is a mess too and i don't even have kids. you have a good excuse. happy holidays!
Most important, I am glad that everything is OK. Second, many people leave things on the stove while they cook. This is how Brother in Law melted many platic lids during thanksgiving, although Husband told him 100 times to get them off the stove. Cooking is distracting. Third, I keep habing people over for dinner and forgetting that I meant to vaccum the floor 4 weeks ago. The dust bunnies are as big as Tycho. So don't worry.
My older son (OS) had a dentist appointment today. 6 months ago, at the last dentist appointment (when I was also a week away from having my second son and thus unable to hold OS down), the dentist said that at the next appointment they would be a little more aggressive about cleaning since OS would be 3. "Do you have any appointments that would accommodate my husband's work schedule?" was my immediate response. Sure, enough they had an 8 am appointment available. This morning OS and my husband headed off to the dentist. I wasn't real surprised when I saw my husband and OS walking up the driveway at 8:20 am. I figured it hadn't gone well. It turns out that it went really well. My response: "Great! You can take him again in June."
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: There's no sense fighting a battle that your spouse/partner can easily solve.
Yes, I know it sounds pathetic, but if I had a mail scale I would never have to go to the post office again. I could do everything off the post office's website until the day that they finally open up a drive through post office. I finally got all the holiday cards together and although I was told that sending out holiday cards that "look like no human has touched them" is bad by a couple friends last night, quite frankly if my husband hadn't printed out address labels for the envelopes, the cards would probably still be sitting on my kitchen table in July (of 2009). Yes, I like it when the envelope has been handwritten, but it's just an envelope. It's going in the recycling bin anyhow. The card is the important part.
I took my younger son (YS) to the post office to purchase holiday stamps. The line went remarkably fast (for the post office at least). After congratulating myself on making it through a trip to the post office without a meltdown, accidentally leaving my wallet behind because of said meltdown, etc., I realized that I had left my brother's Christmas gift on my kitchen counter (too bad I hadn't placed it next to the cards, because then I would have seen it when I picked up the cards!) This resulted in a second trip to the post office, except that I didn't have time to go before picking my older son (OS) up from preschool. Unfortunately this meant I had to have a mother-sons outing at my least favorite place.
OS apparently had concerns about being in the post office as well. In an effort to try and be nice, he was overly affectionate with YS who was sitting in his infant carrier. This lead to tears by YS, and tears by OS when I told him to leave his brother alone. This was not helped by the 20 year old looking guy behind me in-line who was laughing whenever OS would bother YS. Of course, as you may have guessed, there was also a meltdown in the parking lot just to complete this fantastic outing.
Here's my plan for next year (that my husband thinks is hilarious): starting in July, I'm going to address five business envelopes a day. This year, unbeknownst to us, we selected holiday cards without envelopes so we ended up using envelopes that we already owned. Basically our holiday card list stays the same every year. Even if we added a couple of people, writing out a couple of envelopes in December is no big deal. Then I could order stamps on-line. Of course, this would all mean that I would have to put the envelops in a location that I would remember. The only thing worse than addressing envelopes is having to do it twice!
I think my favorite childhood Christmas memory has to be the Christmas when I was two weeks away from turning 5. My whole extended family celebrated the start of the Christmas season each year by eating lunch under the giant Christmas tree at Marshall Field's Department Store in downtown Chicago. Afterwards, we would all go see Santa Claus.
This particular year, we walked through the toy department on our way to the "North Pole". Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a display case with a beautiful Sleeping Beauty doll. I rushed over to look at her. I still remember her long blond hair, sparkling tiara and golden dress with sequins. I'm not sure how much time passed, in reality it was probably only a minute, but all of a sudden I realized that my parents weren't there which of course led to major tears. Luckily the display case was right by the cash register. A very nice salesclerk paged my parents for me. By that point I think I was near hysteria. My parents came rushing over to get me and we went to go see Santa. However, I was so upset that I forgot to tell Santa about the beautiful doll I had seen. That led to more tears on the way home.
On Christmas morning I walked down the stairs and there under the tree with the light shining on her sequins was the Sleeping Beauty doll. This is my favorite memory because I remember thinking that Santa had magically read my mind. Even though I forgot to tell him about the doll, he just knew that I wanted her. We have pictures where you can see how truly surprised I am to see her there. I was so excited, but also very exhausted and thus decided that in addition to the doll that Santa Claus had given me, I also needed the dog's box of biscuits that Santa had brought him. There are pictures of me holding the doll in one hand and the box of dog biscuits in the other. The dog is practically sitting on top of me. It's funny that I remember that too: the beautiful doll, the giant box of Alpo dog biscuits and the ensuing nap that followed.
Where to begin? After my older son's (OS) swim lesson yesterday we decided to go to the Yankee Candle Flagship Store. I had originally heard about it a few years ago when a newsradio station was doing a special on great family holiday escapes in MA. It looked like a lot of fun. I've been there two times previously and have liked going (although it's a little insane). If you're from MA, the madness reminds me of the Jordan's Furniture stores. The store itself has so many rooms, that I've never been able to make it through all of them (other than dashing through on my way out). There's a bakery, a candy place, a cafe, a restaurant, a room with Studio 56 houses, a room that snows from the ceiling, a market place, a place where you can dip your own candles, tons and tons of ornaments, alcoves with merchandise representing different countries, a toy store, and a "build-a-bear" type. Oh yeah. And a lot of rooms with just candles. Did I mention that there's also a candle museum?
So basically the place is nuts, but in a good way. Plus, I just happen to know that if your child (or your husband) breaks an ornament then you won't be charged for it. Apparently, lots of adults accidentally break things too including the giant housewarmers. They told me it's just figured into the cost of running the store. It doesn't get more child-friendly than that.
One of the things that is sold exclusively at their store is an Edelweiss scented candle. After eating at their fabulous restaurant, we headed over to pick up a couple of these candles for relatives. I couldn't find them anywhere! They were not in the usual nutcracker/Austria room (I am not kidding). We also really wanted to take the boys to see Santa and with time ticking we decided that it was best to head over to the Yankee Candle Employee Health Center to see Santa and peruse the shelves later. Yes, I said Employee Health Center. He hangs out in his workshop in the store most of the year, but during the holiday season that is apparently the only place with enough space for him to hold court. It was well festively decorated, and there wasn't a stairmaster to be seen.
Let's just say that Santa was extremely chatty. I have been visiting with the man since I was less than a year, and don't think I have ever seen him speak that much. I am all in favor of him getting to know what my sons want better, but we were in line for an hour and a half! And what exciting gift was OS discussing the entire time that we were waiting? Candy canes!
I think there were three parts to the problem (of the line, not the candy cane):
Very talkative Santa
Poorly run line
Parents who seemed to feel that if they waited in said line for 1.5 hours then they were going to make sure they got to take as many pictures as they wanted.
We finally made it through, and the boys got to see Santa. OS was finally handed a candy cane. After 1.5 hours he was more than a little excited when I unwrapped the candy cane and handed it to him. He was smiling and although the waiting was tiring it seemed worth it. He was happy...until he dropped the candy cane in the parking lot less than two minutes later, and it shattered. After bribing him with his choice of a treat from the cafe, OS calmed down and we went back inside. I did a thorough search of the nutcracker room and checked with the manager. Alas, all the Edelweiss candles had been sold. Apparently this is quite common. You would think that they would just order more. I mean they had a gazillion of the other candles there. I went and got a cup of coffee, and there's rumors that there may have been a cupcake, from the cafe and when I commented to the cashier about the long line, he informed me that last weekend the wait was 5 hours!!!! Next time I'm bringing my own chair.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Waiting in long lines for Santa is one of the many parenting rites of passage.
I still haven't been out to the Yankees Candle Flagship Store - I think I'm afraid of the crowds, 5 hours! - but I'll make it there someday. I mean, who doesn't want to be in a giant store surrounded by Yankee Candles?!
We made our pilgrimage to Santa on Friday, but in our case it was literally wait in line, oh, seven minutes, a quick chat with Santa and we were off! You're a trooper hanging in there so long :)
A friend of mine passed on this coupon tip to me today: check out ebay. There are a lot of people selling their formula coupons on ebay. You can also sell any formula coupons you have that you don't want. I wish I had known about this back in September. I had $33 worth of Nestle Supreme coupons that no one seemed to want so I recycled them. Just so you know, people sell all sorts of coupons on ebay, not just coupons for formula.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Check out ebay for formula coupons.
My younger son (YS) has been taking EnfamilLipil. However, after having bloody diarrhea (most likely brought on by the antibiotics he was taking for pneumonia), his pediatrician recommended switching him to soy formula as well as switching from oatmeal to rice cereal in order to "bind" him. Sure enough, the soy formula and bowls of rice cereal did the trick. She had said that as soon as the diarrhea stopped I could switch him back to his regular formula. However, we have quite a few members of our family who are lactose intolerant and even though I am not lactose intolerant I do have problems with milk for about a week after I have had an "intestinal disturbance". With that in mind, I decided to keep YS on the formula for a little bit longer.
Yesterday I switched him back to his regular formula. I had heard that the Journal of the American Medicine Association (JAMA) had found a correlation between infants who had early exposure to soy and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Since my older son (OS) never took soy formula and YS was just recently on it and only for about 10 days, I didn't ever research it. I do have to say I was surprised in the changes in his bowel movement. This next part is probably way more than you want to know about this poop, but I'm writing about it in case someone is concerned about their baby being on soy formula.
While YS was on the soy formula, his poops were on the very well formed/almost hard side. It also seemed like the poop amount was smaller than usual, but I thought it was possibly due to the fact they were harder. While he was pretty regular, he did have a couple days where he did get backed up. Yesterday when I switched him back to his formula, it was like the pipes were suddenly cleaned out. The first diaper was the typical soy formula diaper that I had come to expect, but by the 4th dirty diaper the poop was back to looking like his regular pre-soy poop.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a direct link to the article in JAMA, but I did find a press release that cites the JAMA article. So what's my point about soy formula? If you're concerned I would ask your child's pediatrician about it. As you can see if you click on the press release, there has already been evidence to dispute JAMA's finding. However, there are formulas out there that are lactose free if your baby can tolerate milk, but the lactose is the problem. Lactose is the natural sugar that is in milk. People who are lactose intolerant lack the enzyme called lactase which is used to digest the lactose. Enfamil makes one called LactoFreeLipil.Similac also makes one called Lactose Free.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: If you're concerned about your baby being on soy formula, talk to your baby's pediatrician about switching to a lactose free formula.
My son was just disgnosed with reflux and milk protein sensitivity. My ped does not recommend soy formuls, so we went right to the hypoallergenic stuff. Nutramigen, otherwise known as liquid gold, sue to it's 3x more expensive price!! Son is also on Axid twice a day now for reflux. He is still colicky and screaming for 2-3 hours a night, but at least now he eats!!
That's for commenting! I did a little research for the post I did on Nutramigen a few weeks ago and you're right that it is expensive! I think it's interesting that your doctor put your son on on Nutramigen. I think if my son had a milk protein sensitivity I would seriously inquire about using Nutramigen instead of soy. I'm just surprised how common soy formulas are. I mean even the generic formulas have a soy version.
First of all, I would like to announce a new blog that I am part of called People Under the Stairmasters. Be sure to check it out.
When I was a new parent, I couldn't wait for my older son (OS) to start talking (unlike now when I wish for a few minutes of silence particularly after I have just woken up in the morning). I'm from Chicago and my husband is from New York City. However, since we live in the fine state of Massachusetts, we figured that OS would have a MA accent. I was a psych major in college, and I learned all about how kids pick up the accent where they live, not their parents' accent. Imagine our surprise when OS began to speak, and he used a British accent for every 5th word. There are three logical conclusions:
We must have been hanging around a lot of people from England
The accents of the pilgrims had lingered on in MA causing OS to pick them up.
We have been cleverly duped into believing we live in New England, instead of (Old) England.
However, there was no evidence to support any of these conclusions. Around this time, OS began working with a speech therapist for a slight speech delay. The speech therapist noticed the accent too and was also baffled by it. After a couple of years of speaking, most of the accent has gone away, also without explanation. Now he pretty much sounds like he's from MA (much to my husband's chagrin) and says the typical "cah" instead of "car" and puts "r" on things that end in "a". He does have a sentence or two that sounds completely British, such as "Mummy, I don't want that." You would swear that he grew up in London.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Your child may have the accent of your community or apparently of another country far away from where you live.
The time has come where once again I'm in uncharted territory. There is the clear potential to screw up big time and thus mess up my child's life forever and ever. It all centers around this critical question: what should I get my older son's (OS) preschool teachers for the holidays? While I personally think that they should all get a 2 week cruise or some sort of other relaxing vacation, I'm a little worried it's out of the price range for a class gift. So that leaves me with my big question: What can I (notice it's all about me and not my son!) get that will both show my appreciation for his teachers and be something that they will enjoy? More importantly, will someone just tell me what to get? Seriously, I don't want to look like a jerk. When I posed the question to my moms group listserve (which has a lot of teachers and former teachers), I got some wishwashy answers and some good ones. Here are the rules that I learned:
Teachers have more coffee mugs and candles than they know what to do with.
Don't give things that collect dust.
If it's appropriate (you're 100% positive that your child's teacher celebrates Christmas) an ornament is a really great gift. Every year the teacher will enjoy it and think of your child, which will hopefully offer constant, happy associations because your child is so angelic in school.
Gift certificates (GC) are greatly appreciated ($20 or whatever you can afford.)
GC for places like Staples are really good because the teacher can get things for the classroom (which doesn't sound like much of a gift to me, but at least she/he doesn't have to pay for it)
Restaurant certificates are also good, although they have less educational value to your child.
Barnes and Nobles or Borders GC seem to be the best options based on rigorous data collection from the list serve (which means "kind of / seems like a good idea)
If your child has a main teacher and teacher assistants like OS does, it seems to be more common to give the main teacher a larger gift certificate than the assistants. Some parents will give them the same amount. Do what you feel is right.
If you can make something homemade like a French Memo board (which I actually know how to do!) or something else crafty or that tastes good you are golden.
Make sure to include a homemade card.
The most important thing is a personal message expressing gratitude. This can be done either in person by taking a few minutes to express this or in writing through the above mentioned homemade card. Either way a gift isn't necessary.
If there is someone else that your child mentions frequently like a gym teacher etc, you should ask your child if they would like to make that person a card/get them a small gift.
Check out your child's school to see if there's a classroom/school wish list. Apparently if you donate to this you are "covered" and need not get a teacher gift.
Hope that the room parents organize a class gift/gift certificate. Highly important: if you are organizing this, you ask each parent to contribute what they feel comfortable with and not a specific amount like for example $5 per student.
If you are a homeroom parent and want to do a class gift, any letters or phone calls should be made well in advance, so not for example on December 14th, because many parents will have already bought a gift for the teacher (note: I am not one of these parents.)
Who knew that there were so many rules about this?
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Choose gifts for teachers with great care.
Those all sound pretty sensible to me, although I agree with you that the Staples gift is not really a gift. I like the idea of gift cards, even though they are a bit impersonal, because they really let someone get the perfect gift for herself. And it can easily be personalized by writing a really nice message. People never forget those.
And the Award For Worst Mother of the Day Goes to A. Elliot
Thank you, thank you. Yes, I A. Elliot have won the award for Worst Mother of the Day (WMD). How did I win such a distinguished, or I should say undistinguished, honor? It was very challenging. I had to work hard. Yes, that's right, my day was challenging and I had to work hard to try and keep calm, but despite that I still won the award.
The first nomination came when the preschool teacher took my older son (OS) out of the car and began looking for his backpack. Unfortunately, the backpack (which I had packed the previous night) was sitting smack dab in the middle of my table. Yeah, not much help. At this point I was tied for WMD with the parent in the car ahead of me who also forgot their child's backpack. Fortunately, there were plenty of grocery store bags to go around and so OS's Christmas wreath,Menorah and cookie that he all made in school were protected.
The nomination was seconded by the next act: younger son (YS) falling when OS let go of him on cement stoop as I was attempting to take a holiday card picture. I know, my procrastination in the holiday card photo should have gotten me a nomination on its own. I had both boys outside and had carefully explained to OS (IE bribed) that he needed to keep his arms around his brother at all times so he wouldn't fall. Seeing as we had done this about three hundred times before I thought everything would be fine. Unfortunately OS decided it would be fun to flail his arms and legs at the camera while making odd facial expressions and in doing so let go of YS. Fortunately, I caught him but it was a close call.
The act that secured the WMD title though is forgetting to tell the babysitter that YS uses a binky. He had fallen asleep in his crib before I left, but apparently he woke up and had lost his pacifier (he's only 5 months.) The babysitter never knew he took one in the first place, but after a failed bottle attempt she somehow figured out that the missing binky might be the problem.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: You may try your best, but some days you just might find yourself as a nominee for the WMD (Worst Mother of the Day) award.
Yea, after my son hurt himself in an accident I kept him home from school for a day but sent him back the day after. He later tells me that the school nurse saw him twice because his face was still swollen. I wondered if they were planning on nominating me for the award.
It's 11 pm and you might think I'm heading off to bed. Yes, most people would be putting on their pjs and brushing their teeth. Visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads... okay maybe not. However, I am very far from doing this. I have something very important tomorrow night that involves me staying up late. Tomorrow night we're having a babysitter. That's right, a friend from the babysitting co-op I'm in is coming over to watch my two kiddos and of course my house looks like a tornado went through it. Thus, the cleaning spree in order to give the illusion that my house is always clean and that I of course am the perfect mom. (Because clearly the perfect mom has a clean house.) Ahhh...images. I've had more than one mom confess to me in a whisper so others can not overhear, when I've commented on the cleanliness of their homes, that they were up until 2 am. So I'll be cleaning until I either get everything straightened up or until it's fairly decent and I'm too tired to continue. Then when she comes over tomorrow I can say, "The house is a complete disaster. I haven't been able to clean it in 8 months." I have to say I love going over to other people's houses when they're a complete mess. First of all, I feel relieved that I'm not the only one whose home is a disaster and second, I feel at home.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Appearances can be deceiving.
I just got back from a great weekend in NYC with Suzanne and Super Des. I had a great time filled with great friends, great conversations and great food...except for the apple and granola bar I had on Friday for dinner. And now that I think about it, my sandwich that I bought at 4 pm to eat at 5 pm on the train, but ended up eating at 6 pm was the slightest bit soggy. Why was this? It never occurred to me to call Amtrak to make sure that the train was on-time. So the train I was supposed to take to NYC was cancelled and my return train was an hour late (apparently it's always an hour late on Sundays). While I had a great time with Suzanne and her husband shopping for slippers at Macy's to kill the time waiting for the train, I definitely could have done without all my luggage (not that I can complain to much because Suzanne carried my tote bag filled with 22 LaffyTaffys and her husband carried the giant Toys 'R Us bag.)
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Make sure your train is on time before you leave to get to the station.
I did lighten the load by eating a Laffy Taffy and bringing 3 home with me. And I selfishly enjoyed the extra time with you. Still, I felt very bad that you got delayed because I know how much you were looking forward to seeing YS.
A while back a friend of mine sent out an email saying that her daughters were selling Girl Scout Cookies (it was a very nice email.) I'll admit that if someone were to twist my arm I would eat a cookie or two...all right the entire box. Thus, I was quite excited to be able to get tasty cookies and support a good cause at the same time. I quickly emailed her and gave her my order: 3 boxes of cookies. Well, that was the problem right there. While I was very pleased with my purchase, apparently I had broken some big code of honor when buying cookies (or other fundraisers) from siblings who are selling them: I bought an odd number. Yes, I was the schmuck who couldn't fork over the extra 4 bucks to make sure that I bought the same amount of boxes from each girl. How did I come to learn this lesson? When I was with a group of moms and we were discussing who had bought cookies from G.'s daughter. Other Moms: "I bought 2 boxes," "I bought 8 boxes", "I bought 10 boxes". A.E.: "I bought 3 boxes". O.M.: "You bought an ODD number?" Yes, not only did I completely mess up, but now all my friends knew it.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: When buying fundraiser items from siblings, make sure you buy an even number.
For my older son's first Christmas he received the traditional toys of stacking rings and shape sorters. I put them away until he was the age listed on the packaging (I think it was 6 months) and then promptly pulled them out for him. I had visions in my head of OS spending many happy hours (which should have shown I was delusional; even TV doesn't occupy him for more than an hour or two. Not that I would know) stacking the rings and putting the shapes in the sorter. Except that, he didn't play with them like that. Sure, he enjoyed his toys, but he derived his enjoyment from chewing on them or watching them bounce on the floor when he threw them. "Maybe he just doesn't like them," I thought to myself. For his first birthday he received a lot of Fisher-Price Little People. I am pleased to say that one individual in our household loved them: our dog! After spending way too much time retrieving Little People from our dog's mouth, I packed them away.
OS then joined a playgroup that integrated special needs kids with other "community kids." It's staffed by OTs, PTs, speech therapists, social workers etc. When OS was about 20 months old, lo and behold he started playing with the shape sorters properly and stacking the rings in the correct order. "He's regressed!" I thought to myself in panic. I blurted my concern to the OT running his playgroup. She told me it wasn't that he had regressed, but rather that those toys are really for 2 year olds. He was the perfect age to be playing with them! As for the Little People that were marketed for 1 year-olds? Suddenly at 2 1/2 he loved them.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Don't trust the packaging info on toys.
A ha! I've found you. 1) now I read these tips so they are in the back of my mind for when I have my own mini-desssss. 2) I am linking to you so that other people may learn the same lessons (though with less mini-dessss).
Here's a little tip for staying in a hotel with kids in diapers: bring a garbage bag. Yes, you did read that right! I know that sounds weird but those little hotel garbage cans only hold about 2 diapers. I tried using Target bags for the additional used diapers but those quickly filled as well. Since they didn't fit in the garbage can obviously, I ended up placing them next to the garbage can. With two kids in diapers and all the other trash from used Kleenexes to snack wrappers, we went through a lot of the Target bags. I started to feel like we were living in a garbage can. No wonder Oscar is so grouchy! The next time I stay in a hotel, I'm planning on bringing a regular kitchen garbage bag. That way all the trash can be kept together.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: If your kids are in diapers and you're planning on staying in a hotel, bring a kitchen garbage bag with you.
It seems like diapers are a common topic of conversation among parents. What kind? What size? Why are they leaking? etc. My older son (OS) went through many types of diapers (and obviously many diapers over all!) Sometimes Huggies worked best and sometimes it was Pampers but it was never the Target brand. It seemed like there was a correlation between his age, growth spurts, and what was NOT on sale at BJs.
Very early into OS's diaper-wearing career, I realized that the weight guidelines on the packages are a little misleading. The package might claim that a certain size went to a certain weight, but then the next size up would overlap with the previous size. That's when I developed my motto "When in doubt, go up a size". Yes, it means that there are less diapers per pack, but on the other hand you're not changing your baby every 15 minutes. (Plus less leaks means less laundry.) In fact I have a friend whose kids are 15 months apart, and she had them both in the same stage diaper for convenience; she only had to buy one type.
There are products called diaper doublers that are like sanitary napkins without the sticky backing. They can be a little hard to find, but oddly enough random grocery stores sell them, as well as places like Babies R US. There was a time when a certain baby that I did not know, I'll call him Not Older Son (NOS) was leaking through diapers at night. His mom tried the Huggies Overnights which had worked well in the past. She even went up a size just at night as was recommended by her friends who have boys. That worked for a while, but then he started leaking again. NOS's mom couldn't find diaper doublers but had heard of moms sticking sanitary pads in the diaper instead. Unfortunately, NOS ended up with the pad stuck to a very personal area. Although he did not seem to care, it was very traumatizing to his mother and I, I mean she, had a flash of the years of therapy that this would cause. Luvs in a larger size at night solved the problem.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: 1) When in doubt go up a size 2) Don't be loyal to diaper companies: switch back and forth as needed.
We use the grocery store brand diapers when my kids got older - and recently my baby was in size 4 of this said grocery store brand. They really were OK, and still had the stretchy flaps, and were $5 cheaper than Huggies. Then he outgrew the 4s, and now we're back to Huggies, size 5. We flip flop back and forth all the time.
Here's a quick tip that I unfortunately learned today: even if your baby drinks milk-based formula, save the soy samples that formula companies send you. If your child has diarrhea, like unfortunately my younger son (YS) has, your pediatrician may advise you to temporarily switch to soy to "bind up" your baby. Apparently soy-based formula along with a bowl of rice cereal work very nicely. With the exception of one sample of soy formula, I had given the rest away. When you have a sick baby, the last thing you want to have to do is drag him, and your 3 year old who wants a PB&J sandwich because it is lunchtime, into Target to buy soy formula. Thankfully I had that one remaining can. Unfortunately, the above requested sandwich did not fare well and was exchanged for turkey bologna which I caught my older son (OS) wiping with a dishtowel before eating ( I have no idea why!) while I was preparing said soy formula for YS.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Even if your baby is on milk-based formula, save a free sample of soy formula just in case.
Back in the days before I had kids when my body was thinner and my hair was thicker and had less gray and I didn't have any weird pregnancy induced eczema on my eyelids, I learned a valuable parenting lesson. However, since I wasn't a parent yet, I put the lesson in the back of my mind and proceeded to forgot about it. And had I had two girls instead of two boys, I probably would have never remembered this important lesson. By the time I had my first son, I had completely forgotten about it until...one day when he was, oh I don't know, about an hour old and my husband and I were surprised to notice his shirt was wet, but oddly enough his diaper was dry. Being totally exhausted we did what we had been doing naturally with this particular lesson learned for years and proceeded to forget about it. And then it happened again. And again. Something flickered in the back of my mind. Wasn't there something about "pointing down", making sure he was "headed south"? Yes, with little boys you have to make sure that "all parties are headed downstairs" if you catch my drift. Otherwise, they spray their shirt instead of their diaper.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: When changing a boy's diaper, make sure he's pointing south.
I will never forget this lesson because I learned it when OS peed on me. :)
Speaking of penises, there's a crazy discussion going on at blogher about circumcision. Several people are insisting that anyone who circumcizes their son is a horrible genital mutilator. Because I am overtired, this is making laugh a lot now, but earlier this week it was pissing me off. Anyway, just thought I would share.
i learned this also when i was about 5 and my brother was born. my mom had to put down paper towels next to him and then lay him on his side before taking off the diaper b/c he would pee as soon as it came off. the best was when my mom forgot and he peed on the wall... i swear it was 5 feet away...
This morning was exciting. My older son (OS) awoke to find the Christmas tree had been set up in the living room. My husband and I charged the video camera battery, hoping to capture in his reaction the same level of excitement that he had when he realized that there was a number called 19. (Prior to that realization he thought that 13 was the highest number presumably because we have 13 steps going up to our second floor that we used to count each time we used them with him). Although the tree was a notch or two below that previous peak (I would rate it a 17 at best), he still was pretty pleased. Even better than the tree, and perhaps on the same level as the number 19, were the candy canes we let him put on the tree and, during a break from tree trimming, eat as second breakfast. Both the putting and the eating looked absolutely adorable on camera.
However, after a long while (which in the toddler universe converts to 10 minutes) all the excitement became too much for him and culminated in a temper tantrum. That's when I, the videographer, made an amazing discovery: the pause button. Yes, thanks to the pause button I was able to stop filming and pick up as if OS had never stopped playing with the train around the Christmas tree. There is no record of a 3 minute timeout in the blue time-out chair in our sunroom. Isn't technology amazing?
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Use the pause button on your video camera.
P.S. There actually is a record. I do have to confess that I mentioned the timeout when I restarted the camera because surely there will come a time when I look back on Christmas temper tantrums as fond memories. Failing that, the video will offer me a chance at payback I can embarrass him in front of a significant other in future decades to come.
I would like to say thank you to Nancy my blog exchange partner. It was an honor to have you here yesterday. Thanks to Nancy, I know about Holidailies and I will now be participating.
I would also like to say "Merry Christmas" to the woman who yelled at my son yesterday. He always does like attention when he acts up. I can certainly understand your outrage; after all you were in family restaurant. Obviously if you splurge to spend time with families, it is completely unreasonable for some of those families to bring kids. You must have been further outraged by the false advertising offered by the restaurant which describes itself as follows: "Gregg's remains dedicated to the concept which made it a Rhode Island tradition -- a comfortable, family-style restaurant with delicious quality homestyle food and desserts and affordable prices". Obviously this means it's a 5 star restaurant. What were my husband and I thinking? We should have never brought our kids with us. Next time we'll have a nice picnic in the parking lot.
I also wanted to express my gratitude for teaching us such innovative and effective discipline techniques. Cursing at him caused him to wait almost fifteen full seconds before shrieking again, which is a 50% improvement in efficiency over our least effective techniques. Clearly the best way for a woman in her 40's to deal with a 3 year old she doesn't know is to yell at him. Finally, my husband and I thought we were being considerate by taking our son out of the restaurant and into the vestibule to have a time out. Clearly we were being rude. Perhaps you would have been happier had we stayed at our table, so that you would not have been disrupted on your way out of the restaurant, but rather could have had his mellow tones accompany your feast. (Despite what may be implied by the description, Gregg's does not provide live jazz, or at least not last night.) I'm just glad that my husband was the one who got the pleasure of dealing with you. If it would have been me, you just might have gotten a "season's greeting" from me in the symbolic form of a certain finger.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Beware of Grinches in family restaurants.
I think most of us would like to be more environmentally aware - as long as we can fit it in between soccer practices, dance lessons, homework, careers, "me-time," relationships, oh, and eating and sleeping.
I've got a solution! It's called Campaign Earth and it's got lots of easy to read information about global warming and renewable energy - two things we all need to learn more about - and it provides real-life solutions for how you and I, as ordinary individuals without access to wealth or politicians, can help change the destructive course our Earth is currently on.
My favorite part of the website is the Monthly Challenge where Campaign Earth puts forth a challenge that isn't difficult to complete, but can have great impact on the health of the environment. Background information is provided about why the month's challenge is important and it also provides the astounding result that will occur if we choose to accept the task.
Here is this month's challenge. I hope you give it a try. After all, what have you got to lose?
From the Campaign Earth website Lessen the junk mail and catalogs coming to your house!
Did you know that more than 17 billion catalogs were distributed in the United States in 2001 - that's more than sixty-four for every man, woman, and child. Not surprisingly, this requires a lot of paper, the fourth most energy-intensive of all manufacturing industries and one of the most polluting. The average American uses over 700 pounds of paper per year. The good news is we've got some simple steps for you to take to greatly reduce that number.
If we successfully reduced the number of catalogs produced in this country by 30% we would:
preserve 16.6 billion gallons of water each year = the amount of water used by 172,333 households.*
conserve over 100 barrels of oil.
keep 3.5 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere = the amount of CO2 produced by 570,000 cars driven 200 miles/ week annually.
Listed below are three actions you can take to lessen the mail you receive. Take a look at the list and do what you can. Remember, every action counts.
Stop Those Unwanted Catalogs! Now, with the internet, we can do most of our mail order shopping online. Stack your unwanted catalogs in a pile and spend ten minutes a week calling to request that your name be removed from their mailing list.
Receive Less Junk Mail! Send a short letter to: The Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service P.O. Box 9008 Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008. List your name, in all its infinite variations, and request that all of these names be removed from their national database. This removal lasts five years, so keep this address handy. For more information contact the DMA at 212-768-7277.
Keep Your Catalogs and Magazines out of the Landfill! Many municipalities don't accept catalogs as part of their recycling program so find a second home for them. Keep them out of the landfill by dropping them off at a local hospital, assisted living home, senior residence facility or school (they use them for art classes and other projects). It's the next best thing.
Nancy is a writer and married mother of two young children and blogs about everything from the personal to the political over at Just Thinking . . . Feel free to drop by and weigh in.
Nancy, Thanks for the tips! The junk mail and catalogs become so overwhelming that they are a "local" issue in terms of their ability to disrupt our own lifestyles as well as a "global" issue in terms of environmental impact. -J
This is great information. I've tried and failed to have the spam catologs that multiply in my mailbox stopped in the past but it doesn't work. It seems every time you use your credit card online you get even more of the little suckers. I'll try this.
There are so many days that every single thing in my mailbox goes directly into the recycling bin. This is a great reminder to focus a little more on the "reduce" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle."
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
Happy New Year to you, Alex!! I'm so glad we met through the blog exchange. I love your everyday "lessons" - Here's to a great 2007!!