Bad Ass Bitches.

First of all I would like to thank the Academy.  And of course, Mollie over at OK in UK for passing this on to me about 3 months ago (it's been a rough few months, okay?).

Since there are no rules to this one, I am going to simply pass it on to a couple of people and leave it at that.

Kid Id

 Ixy

Eejaye

Yvonne

And now, after using a bunch of words, here is my Wordless Wednesday:

My kid with the hair hat.  She's thrilled.

Attack of the Killer Commercials!

Remember when I was all pissed off and irritated because of the Pillow Pets?

(If not go here and read about how the Pillow Pets Commercials temporarily ruined my life)

Well folks, I am here to tell you about a new evil that threatens to disrupt the fabric of life with small children as we know it.  No, I'm not talking about the overblown "arsenic in apple juice" debacle (which, by the way is stupid.  I learned in 7th grade that apple seeds have small amounts of arsenic in them which is why you aren't supposed to eat them).  I am talking about this crap seen below.  Stay in it for about 20 seconds.  The song will drive you to insanity.

Every time my kid sees this and hears the song, all I hear for the rest of the day is "I want the ladybug! She lives in a house! And you ring the doorbell!  And WOOOOOOW there's a UNICORN!  OH MY GOD I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THIS BECAUSE IT WAS ON TV AND EVERYTHING ON TV IS OBVIOUSLY AWESOME! Especially with such a catchy song!"

(The last couple of lines was my commercial induced insanity taking over)

Granted, my kid probably watches too much TV.  But what the hell else are kids supposed to do when they get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and Mommy is still partially in a coma because she hasn't had her requisite 4 cups of coffee yet? 

For my kid, seeing this commercial is like a crack head being show commercials for crack.  SHE MUST HAVE IT. To her it's the most wonderful and urgent need in the world.  These things are the pinnacle of ecstasy and completely thrilling (I mean, look at how absolutely thrilled the kids in the commercial are). And it's all she can think about.  She will beg, borrow and steal (but mostly just whine) for the chance to have one. 

Seriously, this cutesy stuffed pet / pillow friend trend needs to be stopped.  Because before we know it, our preschoolers will form an army of commercial-jingle-induced zombies who threaten all out anarchy unless they get their nappy friends. 

Seriously, is this what we parents want?
source: http://www.cosplay.com

This is not a future that I want to have to envision.

Where I'm From

I am from Tupperware bowls , from Wonder bread, the brown striped metal swingset in the back yard.  From windows that had to be ROLLED down and standing up in the back seat without a seat belt.

Yup.  That's me. 
What do you think I was about to say?

I am from the snow piled 5 feet high, bleak dreary winters, too cold to leave the house.

I am from the bleeding hearts in my front yard, discovering the lilies of the valley hiding in the shade in April and the yellow roses that my mother always pruned at the wrong time of the year.

I am from Christmas around the table at Grandma Virgies, and drunken slurred arguments late into the night, and from Uncle Ray and Aunt Nancy and Great-Aunt Angie.

Grandma Virge, me, Grandma G

I am from the smoke-filled rooms where children's birthday parties were held and being pressured to eat something-ANYTHING when the piles of italian cookies are stacked high on glass plates on the table.

From "if you don't behave the MAN will come and steal you"and "You don't have a tumor/cancer/heart disease/polio/tapeworm.  Stop being a hypochondriac."

I am from Sister Celestine explaining that if I don't have a prayer corner in my bedroom then I cannot make my first communion and my mother telling me that I don't need a prayer corner to go to heaven.

Holy Trinity Church

I’m from the North Side and the foot of the boot and Poland/Russia/Germany, depending on when the land changed hands, from my mother's Golabki and my aunt's Spaghetti with Calamari.

From the baby who cried non-stop for six months and only stopped when she was placed in an open dresser drawer, the uncle who almost died when he tried to quit drinking who was lucky that they chose to put him on life support because he woke up 4 days later, and the lady who was only 4 months old when her mother brought her on the journey to America.

Baby in Drawer

I am from the black and white photographs in a yellowed manilla envelope in my mother's closet and the momentos and papers tucked away in Aunt Mary's basement, and collecting them all to create my own broken understanding of where I am from.

..........................................................................

This was a prompt found at Mama Kat's

Battlefield: Dinner

I am a firm believer in family dinner times. And experts seem to agree that family dinner time, where the ENTIRE family sits around a table for dinner and communicates and enjoys themselves is essential for a happy, functioning family.

This is how I imagine dinner time should be.

But what do you do when no one enjoys it?  My kid has turned dinner time into this drama-filled temper tantrum and by the end of it, her dinner is not eaten and Ben and I are the ones flailing on the floor kicking and screaming.

Lila does not like to eat.  At least not actual food.  I refuse to call her a picky eater because it doesn't really matter if we serve her the one food she is willing to eat this week (which is usually either mac and cheese or chicken nuggets) she still refuses it.  She's more like a non-eater.  Not that she isn't hungry.  As soon as dinner is cleared from the table she asks for ice cream or cake or cookies and cries because she's "starving".  We offer to heat up her chicken nuggets or mac and cheese and she cries and goes to bed hungry.  We don't give in.  But for some reason she STILL doesn't get that eating crap like ice cream and gummy fruit snacks are not acceptable dinner time foods. 

This is what I actually see at dinner time.

And this is almost entirely a dinner time problem, when we are all sitting down at the table.  At lunch time, when it's just her and I, she usually eats with no problem (although she isn't a big eater and has never finished an entire meal) and at breakfast, when she is usually eating alone, it is no problem at all.   It's as if she is completely against it, which I don't understand because this is what we have always done, and it's always been a problem for her.

In addition to refusing to eat and generally being totally bitchy about it, she also has to go to the bathroom as soon as the food is set on the table and has hundreds of excuses to get up every 45 seconds.  Even when we order pizza and eat in front of the TV, something about sitting together with us at dinner time causes her to not be able to sit still or concentrate on the task at hand, even though when there's no food in front of her she can sit catatonic for an hour and a half watching Alvin and the Chipmunks.

For me, not having dinner together isn't an option.  This is important to me.  My parents made every effort to have dinner at the table whenever they could and as an adult I really appreciate those times where no one was too busy or preoccupied with work and we got to just sit and focus on chatting. 

There is one train of thought that says that you should never force your kid to eat and should just let them do what they want and eat when and what they want and they will come around.  But honestly, I don't believe that we should work around her and her whims.  She's FOUR.  If it were up to her she'd want nothing but Lucky Charms and Popsicles and would eat dinner just after brushing her teeth, hearing a story and turning out the light at bedtime.  She refuses to "snack" when I just leave decent foods like carrot sticks out for her to nibble on and seems to only want to eat something when I am in the middle of a task that I cannot drop to prepare something for her. 

There is the other faction that says that the eating habits they learn early such as eating a variety of foods (my kid doesn't) and viewing eating in a healthy way (she obviously finds it stressful) will be carried on for life.  If this is the case, my kid is going to be either a "food is comfort" over eater or processed food junky.  Perhaps she will develop an eating disorder since her entire goal in life seems to be to use what little control she has to refuse to put healthy food into her mouth.

What do you guys think.  Should I just stop with the family dinner times? 

I aim for some kind of middle ground and it just isn't working.  I fear that my kid is going to have some serious food issues if I don't get this under control.

Trying Something Out

I have started another blog to talk about my depression and the progress and issues and other things that come with it. (Quick, guess what it's called!)

Because although I am sure that motherhood and depression are somehow linked in my mind, the truth is that this blog here is my "Mommy Blog" and I need to stick to "Mommy things" here.  So I have created a special little home on the interwebs for journaling and complaining and working shit out so that I can become a better, less deranged human being.

Go check it out, and let me know what you think.  You guys have (unwillingly?) been a huge support for me through all this and so it is important that you give me feedback (in the form of comments over there), good, bad or ugly.

Oh, and Follow.  Because I don't want to be that blogger who has 0 followers.

Go Here:

Because Depression Sucks