One of my favorite benefits of homeschooling is that B is able to ask all the questions he wants as he thinks of them. We've had a lot of rain and sunshine come and go throughout recent days and I told B to look out for rainbows. He asked, "Why do rainbows appear? I mean, I know HOW they happen; but WHY do they show up?" That was a great question that led to a science discussion as well as a Biblical one (God's promise to Noah).
Divorce is becoming more prevalent in B's life because of friends and family. A couple of weeks ago he asked the hubs if we were going to break up. Breaks my heart he is aware of the issue and worries about it, but thankful he comes to us with his questions and concerns, instead of continuing to worry about it.
I was watching the show "The Fabulous Beekman Boys" the other day. Josh and Brett were in NC on business and Josh wanted to stop and see Brett's family. Brett said no b/c his family does not accept Josh. B and I had a discussion on why Brett's family would not be happy for Brett and why they do not accept Brett for who he is nor Josh. That night was the hubs' turn to put down B and evidently B brought the subject up again with the hubs. My son mulls things over for a while and then comes back with more questions. Once again, so blessed that B feels comfortable talking to both of us and that both of us are made aware of what issues the other is talking about with him.
I teach 2nd grade Sunday school at my church once a month. My students informed me recently that they are taught cursive in 2nd grade. Ooops, haven't been teaching that at home. Oh, well, something to add to the list.
B's asthma flared up in February and he had to be put back on a sterroid daily. >:o( I have not given him sterroids in a couple of years b/c he had some roid rages when he was younger and attacked me. My only complaint with the insurance plan we've had for the last 7 yrs has been that B's primary physician does not believe roid rages even exist, in anyone. So he would not offer me any alternatives to a sterroid. This time I sent the hubs with B to the doctor when he got sick. Although the doc still held the position regarding roid rages, he did offer a different sterroid and a lower dose. How come that option was never offered to me?!
Anywho, sterroids can make my already "sensitive" boy more "intense" emotionally. I.e., crying more often over little things, his Irish temper flares more frequently and he is frustrated more often. Two other side effects, though, is that he is eating more and he is cold all the time. The thing I love about kids, including mine, is that they are born with the instinct to eat only when their bodies' NEED food and they listen to their bodies when they are full. I wish I was still like that...Anywho...the sterroid "provides" extra, nervous energy and increases his appetite. Luckily, the 2 cancel each other out, so there is no weight gain; just strategizing on mom & dad's part to funnel the energy into things that don't annoy the heck out of us! ;o) He is old enough now that he is aware of what is going on in his body and is taking control of his reactions instead of just letting his body take over. It is amazing the maturity and changes in him this year!
B has been showering himself completely without any help from us (not even to adjust the water temp or dry off), he now does his own laundry and finally goes in the basement alone to play. He wants to take on so much and be more independent that we are ready for. I came downstairs to find him heating something up in the microwave one day. Although he was smart enough not to overcook it (he only put it on for 9 seconds), he needs to ask me 1st, so I can tell him what to do and watch a time or 2 to make sure he's got it. He also pulled a santoku knife out of my knife block last week b/c he wanted to cut up some fruit for himself. It's hard for the hubs and I to switch gears so fast with B's new independence.
We had a Couples' Pampered Chef party last month. We did not have a big turnout, but I completely get that. If you are going to hire a babysitter to go out, chances are you want to be alone with your spouse. But I have a small house and an even smaller kitchen, so the turn out we had allowed all the husbands to participate in the cooking with the PC consultant. Us wives just sat back, learned all about the new tools and went through the new cookbooks. :o) We had such a great time together, we're entertaining the idea of a cooking club. Not a dinner club, where each family is responsible for a course, but a cooking club, where we all bring the ingredients for an assigned course and cook it together. It would be nice to start something like that with the warmer weather here. We'll see what happens!
Living on a prayer with love, laughter, faith and food.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
The "N" Word and KidzBop
In my state, homeschoolers need to provide evidence of progress at the end of the school year. I recently received the 2nd grade test I will give to B and found myself in a quandary as I reviewed it. The 1st section is on definitions and B may not know the definition of all the words. I don't think it is right to coach him on those words. The hubs reminded me that since "No Child Left Behind" doles out federal funding to public schools based on standardized test scores, our county's public school kids, at least, are taught to their tests and if we chose to do that, we would be doing nothing different/worse than our public school. Interesting POV...the hubs LOVES playing Devil's Advocate and always shows me a POV I had not thought of before. However, we both decided to NOT coach him on words that we may, wrongly, think he does not know. We want to gauge how much he has or has not learned this 1st year of HSing to assist us in our level of learning.
I have a part-time job at a local karate studio. I pick up elementary and middle school kids and bring them back to the studio for after-school care. I love listening to the conversations that occur in my vehicle each day. They make me cringe, cry, laugh and shock me. The mob mentality among such young people is especially scary but I am glad I get that insight to help with raising my son. I drive five days a week and my route changes daily.
I pick up kids at all elementary schools in my town except one and I pick up at one middle school. The students I pick up at one school in particular are very fond of "potty" words. In fact, when I pick up at this particular school, I actually time them to see how long they go before the potty talk starts. It usually occurs within one minute of pulling off. The shortest time was eleven seconds and the longest time was eleven minutes (that was a rare and true shocker!). The most popular potty words are butt, poop, pee and penis, in that order. However, occasionally there is the "bad word" discussion.
Recently, one of my 5th grade students was talking about another student who knew and used every bad word there was. The animated discussion began about which bad words the boy in question knew and were compared to what words the 1st - 5th graders in my vehicle knew. But none of my kids actually say any bad words; they just use the 1st letter of a word followed by the word "word". (If you are a parent of a school-aged child, I know you can keep up with that last sentence.) One 1st grader declared, "There is only ONE bad word that we cannot say and that is the 'F' word!" The 5th grader said, "There are plenty of bad words besides that one but the 'F' word is the WORST of the bad words!" An innocent 3rd grader said, "Why is the 'F' word the WORST word? It just means 'fart'!" Luckily I have trained myself to not burst out laughing at these kids; thank goodness they cannot see my facial expressions!
On another trip, a 3rd grade girl and a 1st grade boy got into an argument about who knew more bad words than the other. "I know what the 'F' words is!" said the boy. "So? I know what the 'N' word is!" countered the 3rd grader. "So do I," replied the 1st grader, "Nagina!" LOL!
I have not listened to pop or Top 40 music since grunge moved in in the early 90s. I switched over to Country music then, b/c "pop" had died, as far as I was concerned. In 2009, I dropped Country and started listening to a contemporary Christian station. We got our 1st taste of KidzBop when McDee's added mini disks to Happy Meals in 2009. Both B and I enjoyed them. We were both happy that we were finally listening to something (remotely) hip and I was pleased that there were no bad words. At the time, I could not understand all the "haters" of KidzBop.
Then my brother gave B KidzBop Gold and 80s KidzBop and I now understand the "haters". Whatever version of a song you hear 1st, most times that is the one you like the best and the rest will never measure up. B asked me to put the 80s KidzBop in my car's CD player. I had an Oprah light bulb moment. I cannot listen to KIDS singing Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi and The Go-Gos!
I have a part-time job at a local karate studio. I pick up elementary and middle school kids and bring them back to the studio for after-school care. I love listening to the conversations that occur in my vehicle each day. They make me cringe, cry, laugh and shock me. The mob mentality among such young people is especially scary but I am glad I get that insight to help with raising my son. I drive five days a week and my route changes daily.
I pick up kids at all elementary schools in my town except one and I pick up at one middle school. The students I pick up at one school in particular are very fond of "potty" words. In fact, when I pick up at this particular school, I actually time them to see how long they go before the potty talk starts. It usually occurs within one minute of pulling off. The shortest time was eleven seconds and the longest time was eleven minutes (that was a rare and true shocker!). The most popular potty words are butt, poop, pee and penis, in that order. However, occasionally there is the "bad word" discussion.
Recently, one of my 5th grade students was talking about another student who knew and used every bad word there was. The animated discussion began about which bad words the boy in question knew and were compared to what words the 1st - 5th graders in my vehicle knew. But none of my kids actually say any bad words; they just use the 1st letter of a word followed by the word "word". (If you are a parent of a school-aged child, I know you can keep up with that last sentence.) One 1st grader declared, "There is only ONE bad word that we cannot say and that is the 'F' word!" The 5th grader said, "There are plenty of bad words besides that one but the 'F' word is the WORST of the bad words!" An innocent 3rd grader said, "Why is the 'F' word the WORST word? It just means 'fart'!" Luckily I have trained myself to not burst out laughing at these kids; thank goodness they cannot see my facial expressions!
On another trip, a 3rd grade girl and a 1st grade boy got into an argument about who knew more bad words than the other. "I know what the 'F' words is!" said the boy. "So? I know what the 'N' word is!" countered the 3rd grader. "So do I," replied the 1st grader, "Nagina!" LOL!
I have not listened to pop or Top 40 music since grunge moved in in the early 90s. I switched over to Country music then, b/c "pop" had died, as far as I was concerned. In 2009, I dropped Country and started listening to a contemporary Christian station. We got our 1st taste of KidzBop when McDee's added mini disks to Happy Meals in 2009. Both B and I enjoyed them. We were both happy that we were finally listening to something (remotely) hip and I was pleased that there were no bad words. At the time, I could not understand all the "haters" of KidzBop.
Then my brother gave B KidzBop Gold and 80s KidzBop and I now understand the "haters". Whatever version of a song you hear 1st, most times that is the one you like the best and the rest will never measure up. B asked me to put the 80s KidzBop in my car's CD player. I had an Oprah light bulb moment. I cannot listen to KIDS singing Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi and The Go-Gos!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
How's the homeschooling going?
It's nice to have friends who are curious about and interested in how things are going at home. We get asked this question regularly. And although B and I can answer them, the hubs cannot. He asks B what he learned/did that day and B is NOT forthcoming with any information. He says "nothing" or "I don't know". That is frustrating the hubs. He not only feels on the outside but he, understandably, worries that B is either not retaining anything and can't share with him or is choosing to withhold info from him. Neither one is good, so we have been working on our communication skills.
In January, I blogged that B would not take the time to sound out new words and would only read a book on his own after it had been read to him. That way, he already knows all the words. The 1st issue is laziness. The 2nd one, though, had to do with not being about to pay attention to the plot while he was concentrating on pronouncing the words. But that has changed! He can now pick up a new book or magazine and read it himself while understanding and enjoying the plot. Yeah!
There is a series of biographies called Childhood of Famous Americans and we are currently reading about Harry Houdini. So now I am the mother of The Great B-dini. hehe He levitated a small piece of metal yesterday and I searched him to make sure he was not holding a magnet anywhere. I love his creativity. This is funny - B freaked out when he found out that Harry's (real name Ehrich Weiss) father was 25 years older than his mother. B - "WHAT?! I never HEARD of anyone being THAT much older than their spouse before!" Me - What about Jay and Gloria on Modern Family? Gloria is probably the same age as Jay's daughter, Claire, so that means Jay is probably 25 or more years older than Gloria." B - "It does NOT." Me - "Whatever." I won't harp on that life lesson right now.
We are at a slow point with our Math-U-See program. B is learning his math facts and we won't move on until he does. As adults, most of us know our math facts so if you have to add 4+5 or 9+7, you know the answer immediately; you don't have to count it out in your head or on your fingers. And that is where B will be after learning his math facts. We are doing addition facts right now. B doesn't mind b/c he can play with the MUS blocks (like LEGOS) and he's learning.
We're going over sentence structure and he is picking that up fast, as well. He retains the names and definitions of things. The only problem is, he doesn't like to work alone and takes forever when he does. We can do 1 page in 5 minutes together but if he does it on his own, he can take up to 90 minutes! And not just on new material; he'll take that long on review, too. He sings, he doodles, he taps his forehead with his pencil, he sucks on his pencil (even the lead end, ew!). *sigh* But we'll get there.
I am going to order the 2nd grade test for B this week. The results do not have to be turned into the county until August 1st. But I thought I'd look over it and see if there are things he needs to know that we have not covered yet. That will give me some time to go over them.
In January, I blogged that B would not take the time to sound out new words and would only read a book on his own after it had been read to him. That way, he already knows all the words. The 1st issue is laziness. The 2nd one, though, had to do with not being about to pay attention to the plot while he was concentrating on pronouncing the words. But that has changed! He can now pick up a new book or magazine and read it himself while understanding and enjoying the plot. Yeah!
There is a series of biographies called Childhood of Famous Americans and we are currently reading about Harry Houdini. So now I am the mother of The Great B-dini. hehe He levitated a small piece of metal yesterday and I searched him to make sure he was not holding a magnet anywhere. I love his creativity. This is funny - B freaked out when he found out that Harry's (real name Ehrich Weiss) father was 25 years older than his mother. B - "WHAT?! I never HEARD of anyone being THAT much older than their spouse before!" Me - What about Jay and Gloria on Modern Family? Gloria is probably the same age as Jay's daughter, Claire, so that means Jay is probably 25 or more years older than Gloria." B - "It does NOT." Me - "Whatever." I won't harp on that life lesson right now.
We are at a slow point with our Math-U-See program. B is learning his math facts and we won't move on until he does. As adults, most of us know our math facts so if you have to add 4+5 or 9+7, you know the answer immediately; you don't have to count it out in your head or on your fingers. And that is where B will be after learning his math facts. We are doing addition facts right now. B doesn't mind b/c he can play with the MUS blocks (like LEGOS) and he's learning.
We're going over sentence structure and he is picking that up fast, as well. He retains the names and definitions of things. The only problem is, he doesn't like to work alone and takes forever when he does. We can do 1 page in 5 minutes together but if he does it on his own, he can take up to 90 minutes! And not just on new material; he'll take that long on review, too. He sings, he doodles, he taps his forehead with his pencil, he sucks on his pencil (even the lead end, ew!). *sigh* But we'll get there.
I am going to order the 2nd grade test for B this week. The results do not have to be turned into the county until August 1st. But I thought I'd look over it and see if there are things he needs to know that we have not covered yet. That will give me some time to go over them.
Day Six at Disney – Leaving :o(
I forgot to tell you another thing we did at Epcot in my last post - Turtle Talk with Crush! We went into a small auditorium with the adults sitting on benches and the kids on the floor up front. The screen in the front of the room is supposed to be like the side of an aquarium and you can see the ocean. Then Crush from Finding Nemo swam up to the “glass” and had an interactive conversation with the kids! B was the 1st kid he talked to and he was so excited. It made up for Mike Wazowski not using B’s joke on the Laugh Floor in The Magic Kingdom. Back to day 6...
Our original return flight left Orlando at 8:40pm to allow us at least another half day in a park before leaving. The airline cancelled our flight and put us on one 3 hours earlier. Since we were taking the Disney Magical Express back to the airport, they told us we had to get on the 2:30pm bus. I guess we could have arisen at o-dark-thirty, packed and hightailed it out of there to a park, but we didn’t want to rush and be stressed. Flying out of a busy airport is stressful enough.
So we had breakfast, packed up everything, stored our bags in my parents’ van and checked out. I was worried about the amount we would owe at check-out. Although we had the meal plan, that does not include tip at your sit-down restaurants. Plus, we had charged our souvenirs to the room. We got 2 surprises at check-out. 1) We only had $86 and some change on the room and, 2) my dad had paid that amount for us. He also did the same for my brother. :o)
During the week we had been on all of WDW’s modes of transportation but one – boat. So we went down to the dock behind the resort and got on a boat. We rode to Magic Kingdom and then to The Floridian Resort. We got off there to explore and had lunch. It’s a very nice, resort, but not for me. I think it would be the perfect resort for my ILs to stay at – quiet, elegant. I encountered my one and only rude cast member at The Floridian – a senior citizen working in the gift shop. B was in the restroom with the hubs and I was browsing. I noticed she had a pin lanyard, but it was turned around so that I could not see her pins. B was looking to collect a specific series of pins and I wanted to see if she had any. If so, I would have brought B in there to trade with her. When I asked if I could please see her pins, she responded rudely, “No! Trading is only for CHILDREN!” OK, I did not have a child with me and some of these pins are collectible items and could be worth money, I guess. So, there are probably some adults out there who try to trade to get good ones for themselves or to sell on eBay. But that does not mean I deserved to have her opinion of such people unleashed on me. I told her that I was aware of that, but that my son, who was in another part of the resort, was looking for something specific so I wanted to just SEE what she had. “Oh,” she huffed. “Fine,” and she flipped her lanyard around. Walt would not be happy with her and I wish I had said that to her. I told the hubs about my encounter and he wanted to go in there and give HER a piece of HIS mind. I stopped him. I did not want our vaca to end like that.
We got back on the boat and headed to the Polynesian. Although there was no one on The Floridian’s beach, the Polynesian’s beach and pool area was full of people. We did not get off and explore. We had to get back for our bus. We said goodbye to my family and boarded the bus. The driver was even able to tell us which terminal our return flight would be located. Riding back to the airport was like walking the plank. All of our hearts were heavy b/c we did not want to go.
We got into the long line for Security and slowly shuffled forward with the masses. Than it REALLY hit B that we were going home and he broke down! He started ugly crying and telling us, loudly, he didn’t want to go home and wanted to go back to the hotel. People were staring, but we didn’t care about that; people ALWAYS stare at my little performer. What we were worried about was him drawing Security’s attention and them not letting us through until they were certain we were not kidnapping him. But this was not one of his typical Drama King moments; his heart was genuinely breaking, the adrenaline was finally wearing off and the late nights and exercise was catching up with him. The hubs picked him up and held him while he cried. B just laid his head down on the hubs’ shoulder; my heart melts when any child does that and my boy looked so young and vulnerable just then. *sniff, sniff*
A snowstorm had hit home while we were gone but our friends had taken care of us. We got picked up at the airport and came home to a shoveled out house and the heat turned up!
As a Valentine’s Day surprise, the hubs created photo albums online and had them shipped to us, my parents and my brother. It is our 1st official coffee table book and that is where it will stay! When we get caught up in the hustle and bustle or are having a blah day, we stop, snuggle up on the couch and go through our book to relive the magical memories. And it WAS a magical trip. I will always be thankful for and grateful to the hubs for whatever sacrifices he made to take us to WDW. After B and himself, it was the best present I’ve ever received.
Our original return flight left Orlando at 8:40pm to allow us at least another half day in a park before leaving. The airline cancelled our flight and put us on one 3 hours earlier. Since we were taking the Disney Magical Express back to the airport, they told us we had to get on the 2:30pm bus. I guess we could have arisen at o-dark-thirty, packed and hightailed it out of there to a park, but we didn’t want to rush and be stressed. Flying out of a busy airport is stressful enough.
So we had breakfast, packed up everything, stored our bags in my parents’ van and checked out. I was worried about the amount we would owe at check-out. Although we had the meal plan, that does not include tip at your sit-down restaurants. Plus, we had charged our souvenirs to the room. We got 2 surprises at check-out. 1) We only had $86 and some change on the room and, 2) my dad had paid that amount for us. He also did the same for my brother. :o)
During the week we had been on all of WDW’s modes of transportation but one – boat. So we went down to the dock behind the resort and got on a boat. We rode to Magic Kingdom and then to The Floridian Resort. We got off there to explore and had lunch. It’s a very nice, resort, but not for me. I think it would be the perfect resort for my ILs to stay at – quiet, elegant. I encountered my one and only rude cast member at The Floridian – a senior citizen working in the gift shop. B was in the restroom with the hubs and I was browsing. I noticed she had a pin lanyard, but it was turned around so that I could not see her pins. B was looking to collect a specific series of pins and I wanted to see if she had any. If so, I would have brought B in there to trade with her. When I asked if I could please see her pins, she responded rudely, “No! Trading is only for CHILDREN!” OK, I did not have a child with me and some of these pins are collectible items and could be worth money, I guess. So, there are probably some adults out there who try to trade to get good ones for themselves or to sell on eBay. But that does not mean I deserved to have her opinion of such people unleashed on me. I told her that I was aware of that, but that my son, who was in another part of the resort, was looking for something specific so I wanted to just SEE what she had. “Oh,” she huffed. “Fine,” and she flipped her lanyard around. Walt would not be happy with her and I wish I had said that to her. I told the hubs about my encounter and he wanted to go in there and give HER a piece of HIS mind. I stopped him. I did not want our vaca to end like that.
We got back on the boat and headed to the Polynesian. Although there was no one on The Floridian’s beach, the Polynesian’s beach and pool area was full of people. We did not get off and explore. We had to get back for our bus. We said goodbye to my family and boarded the bus. The driver was even able to tell us which terminal our return flight would be located. Riding back to the airport was like walking the plank. All of our hearts were heavy b/c we did not want to go.
We got into the long line for Security and slowly shuffled forward with the masses. Than it REALLY hit B that we were going home and he broke down! He started ugly crying and telling us, loudly, he didn’t want to go home and wanted to go back to the hotel. People were staring, but we didn’t care about that; people ALWAYS stare at my little performer. What we were worried about was him drawing Security’s attention and them not letting us through until they were certain we were not kidnapping him. But this was not one of his typical Drama King moments; his heart was genuinely breaking, the adrenaline was finally wearing off and the late nights and exercise was catching up with him. The hubs picked him up and held him while he cried. B just laid his head down on the hubs’ shoulder; my heart melts when any child does that and my boy looked so young and vulnerable just then. *sniff, sniff*
A snowstorm had hit home while we were gone but our friends had taken care of us. We got picked up at the airport and came home to a shoveled out house and the heat turned up!
As a Valentine’s Day surprise, the hubs created photo albums online and had them shipped to us, my parents and my brother. It is our 1st official coffee table book and that is where it will stay! When we get caught up in the hustle and bustle or are having a blah day, we stop, snuggle up on the couch and go through our book to relive the magical memories. And it WAS a magical trip. I will always be thankful for and grateful to the hubs for whatever sacrifices he made to take us to WDW. After B and himself, it was the best present I’ve ever received.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Day Five at Disney - Epcot
When we got home from The Magic Kingdom the night before, I had a voice mail at the lodge that made me VERY happy. My dad got us reservations for the character dinner at Chef Mickey’s!!! I had tried before we left and while in WDW to no avail. It’s a very popular experience, evidently. But my dad got us 6:35pm dinner reservations on our 5th day in WDW.
I’m sad to say that Epcot did not get the attention it deserved. In my defense, I did not know it needed said attention until it was too late to do anything about it. From my perspective, Epcot did not offer too much to interest my 8 yr old, just a ton of walking and things for adults to look at.
After breakfast, I took our clothes to the laundromat in the lodge and washed some things we needed for our last 2 days (the things we’d been wearing everyday). Since World Showcase in Epcot did not open until 11am, I knew the front part of the park was going to be crowded in the morning, so I was in no rush to get to the park first thing.
The only 2 things the hubs wanted to do in WDW was to get on Test Track and Soarin’ in Epcot. We went straight to Soarin’ upon entering the park and got Fast Passes that were not good for another 2 ¼ hours. So we went and stood in line for Test Track for 45 minutes. That was a cool ride. We ate lunch afterwards, road through the Disney greenhouse and then went on Soarin’. That was a little too realistic for me and I was scared a couple of times but it is a fabulous ride (I tried not to say amazing again).
The only other thing we wanted to do in Epcot was for B to go on a Kim Possible Mission. The hubs’ knees were hurting from all the walking that week, so he decided to rest in the UK’s pub while B, my brother and I went in search of a Kim Possible station. We only had time for him to do 2 missions – one in the UK and the other in France – but they were so much fun! B got a cell phone from the KP station and that was his “communicator”. He received his missions via videos and text messages on that phone and went all over each “country” doing little missions and gathering clues to help Kim catch the bad guys.
For example, B went into a phone booth in the UK, entered a code and a golf ball came rolling out. He had to find the right store to take that golf ball to, find the ball washer and put it inside to be “analyzed”. Turns out the ball contained GPS info on the bad guy to help us track him to his lair. In France, B and I had to find and then position ourselves in front of a particular awning, look up at the Eiffel Tower and enter a code into the communicator. Evidently there was a camera on top of the tower that took our picture and sent it to the communicator for us to view. B was so funny as a spy, ducking here and there, hiding behind things, pressing himself up against walls and peeking around corners. At one point, we could not find a street we needed and he had to ask a cast member for directions. Oh, the story he made up for why he needed to find that street so they didn’t figure out that he was on a secret mission was hysterical! He took his missions VERY seriously. LOL! The hubs was very sorry he missed these missions after B described in painstaking detail everything he did.
That was all we got to do before it was time to leave Epcot and head to the Contemporary Resort for our Chef Mickey dinner. But we will definitely plan more time for Epcot if we get back. We took the famous WDW monorail to the Contemporary Resort! :o) We checked in and they called us back to the inner-waiting area where we got some family pictures taken with a Chef Mickey statue. Later we were taken to our table, our waiter took our drink order and we were free to help ourselves to the buffet. Preparing for this trip, I was looking forward to eating WDW’s world-renowned food. Then we got there and I found that everything is cooked with a soybean/olive oil combination and I am allergic to olive oil! :o( I had been eating plain meat without any fat or seasonings and plain, steamed veggies all week. The food at the Chef Mickey buffet looked so good and I’d had enough suffering. I decided I was going to eat everything I wanted to on that buffet just as it was. Oh, it was so good! When I went back up for my 2nd helping, I realized my face felt awfully hot. When I got back to the table I whispered to the hubs, “I think an allergic reaction had started to the food. Can you get me the allergy meds from our bag, please?” While he is digging, my mom looks over at me and yells, “Oh my God! Your face is COVERED in hives! What’s wrong with you?!” *sigh* Luckily it was pretty noisy in that place and I don’t think it drew too much attention. Plus, the allergy meds worked pretty fast. Don’t know why I did not think to take them on the monorail ride over…
Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy stop by every table while you are there and will sign autographs and pose for pictures with you. We had gotten signatures from all of them at parks earlier in the week, so we just concentrated on getting pictures. When my dad got his picture taken with Minnie, he was so excited! He even kissed her! The staff sung songs while we all waved our napkins in the air and lots of the guests knew the words. While we were eating, we noticed that a cast member went to the tables on either side of us to show them the pictures taken with the Mickey statue when they arrived and discussed the prices if they wanted to buy any. I thought the price for each picture was steep and was pretty sure we would not buy ours, but I did want to see them. By the time we were done the picture guy still had not visited us. The waiter went in search of our pix and came back empty-handed. It was almost 8:30pm by now. My brother, the hubs, B and I had planned to go back to Epcot to catch their night show, but the hubs changed his mind. He did not want to be out in the cold again, like the night before, and wanted to get B in bed. So my brother and I headed to Epcot and my parents decided to stay at Chef Mickey’s and find out what happened to our pix. They were finally found and my dad was given all of them for free b/c of the mix-up. World-class customer service in WDW, I tell ya!
My brother and I had our coats with us this night, b/c our parents had brought them to us at Chef Mickey’s. We were nice and warm with the coats but also since there was no wind on this night like there was at TMK. There is a lot more spread out space to watch the evening show in Epcot, so we got right up front. I liked the show. My favorite part was the projection of movies on the continents of the globe in the middle of the lake. But I liked TMK’s night show better.
On the way out, I stopped at a vendor cart full of all the light up things that kids want after dark. B had been eyeing a rainbow lightsaber with Mickey’s head on it and I wanted to see how much it cost. Things like this are always expensive at fairs and amusement parks. It was only $7!! That thing would have cost at least $15 in Kings Dominion. So I got it for my B. The hubs and I were pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced most things were in WDW. Leaving Epcot was the 1st time we were not able to get on the 1st bus to our lodge. But that’s OK; people watching is fun, especially when you have such a variety of people from all over the world to observe.
Oh, I wanted to tell something I left out on my Day One post. I believe that the slight majority of people at the parks when we were there we from outside of the US. That is just another testament to how awesome WDW is! People from around the world spend their hard-earned money to come to the US and experience WDW. Anywho, as we were waiting for the Fantasmic! show at Hollywood Studios to begin, we the crowd entertained ourselves by doing the wave back and forth! Isn’t that awesome? No matter what country you were from, your race, religion or language, we all not only KNEW the wave, but did it. Together. And laughed. Together. That’s something. That’s hope.
I’m sad to say that Epcot did not get the attention it deserved. In my defense, I did not know it needed said attention until it was too late to do anything about it. From my perspective, Epcot did not offer too much to interest my 8 yr old, just a ton of walking and things for adults to look at.
After breakfast, I took our clothes to the laundromat in the lodge and washed some things we needed for our last 2 days (the things we’d been wearing everyday). Since World Showcase in Epcot did not open until 11am, I knew the front part of the park was going to be crowded in the morning, so I was in no rush to get to the park first thing.
The only 2 things the hubs wanted to do in WDW was to get on Test Track and Soarin’ in Epcot. We went straight to Soarin’ upon entering the park and got Fast Passes that were not good for another 2 ¼ hours. So we went and stood in line for Test Track for 45 minutes. That was a cool ride. We ate lunch afterwards, road through the Disney greenhouse and then went on Soarin’. That was a little too realistic for me and I was scared a couple of times but it is a fabulous ride (I tried not to say amazing again).
The only other thing we wanted to do in Epcot was for B to go on a Kim Possible Mission. The hubs’ knees were hurting from all the walking that week, so he decided to rest in the UK’s pub while B, my brother and I went in search of a Kim Possible station. We only had time for him to do 2 missions – one in the UK and the other in France – but they were so much fun! B got a cell phone from the KP station and that was his “communicator”. He received his missions via videos and text messages on that phone and went all over each “country” doing little missions and gathering clues to help Kim catch the bad guys.
For example, B went into a phone booth in the UK, entered a code and a golf ball came rolling out. He had to find the right store to take that golf ball to, find the ball washer and put it inside to be “analyzed”. Turns out the ball contained GPS info on the bad guy to help us track him to his lair. In France, B and I had to find and then position ourselves in front of a particular awning, look up at the Eiffel Tower and enter a code into the communicator. Evidently there was a camera on top of the tower that took our picture and sent it to the communicator for us to view. B was so funny as a spy, ducking here and there, hiding behind things, pressing himself up against walls and peeking around corners. At one point, we could not find a street we needed and he had to ask a cast member for directions. Oh, the story he made up for why he needed to find that street so they didn’t figure out that he was on a secret mission was hysterical! He took his missions VERY seriously. LOL! The hubs was very sorry he missed these missions after B described in painstaking detail everything he did.
That was all we got to do before it was time to leave Epcot and head to the Contemporary Resort for our Chef Mickey dinner. But we will definitely plan more time for Epcot if we get back. We took the famous WDW monorail to the Contemporary Resort! :o) We checked in and they called us back to the inner-waiting area where we got some family pictures taken with a Chef Mickey statue. Later we were taken to our table, our waiter took our drink order and we were free to help ourselves to the buffet. Preparing for this trip, I was looking forward to eating WDW’s world-renowned food. Then we got there and I found that everything is cooked with a soybean/olive oil combination and I am allergic to olive oil! :o( I had been eating plain meat without any fat or seasonings and plain, steamed veggies all week. The food at the Chef Mickey buffet looked so good and I’d had enough suffering. I decided I was going to eat everything I wanted to on that buffet just as it was. Oh, it was so good! When I went back up for my 2nd helping, I realized my face felt awfully hot. When I got back to the table I whispered to the hubs, “I think an allergic reaction had started to the food. Can you get me the allergy meds from our bag, please?” While he is digging, my mom looks over at me and yells, “Oh my God! Your face is COVERED in hives! What’s wrong with you?!” *sigh* Luckily it was pretty noisy in that place and I don’t think it drew too much attention. Plus, the allergy meds worked pretty fast. Don’t know why I did not think to take them on the monorail ride over…
Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy stop by every table while you are there and will sign autographs and pose for pictures with you. We had gotten signatures from all of them at parks earlier in the week, so we just concentrated on getting pictures. When my dad got his picture taken with Minnie, he was so excited! He even kissed her! The staff sung songs while we all waved our napkins in the air and lots of the guests knew the words. While we were eating, we noticed that a cast member went to the tables on either side of us to show them the pictures taken with the Mickey statue when they arrived and discussed the prices if they wanted to buy any. I thought the price for each picture was steep and was pretty sure we would not buy ours, but I did want to see them. By the time we were done the picture guy still had not visited us. The waiter went in search of our pix and came back empty-handed. It was almost 8:30pm by now. My brother, the hubs, B and I had planned to go back to Epcot to catch their night show, but the hubs changed his mind. He did not want to be out in the cold again, like the night before, and wanted to get B in bed. So my brother and I headed to Epcot and my parents decided to stay at Chef Mickey’s and find out what happened to our pix. They were finally found and my dad was given all of them for free b/c of the mix-up. World-class customer service in WDW, I tell ya!
My brother and I had our coats with us this night, b/c our parents had brought them to us at Chef Mickey’s. We were nice and warm with the coats but also since there was no wind on this night like there was at TMK. There is a lot more spread out space to watch the evening show in Epcot, so we got right up front. I liked the show. My favorite part was the projection of movies on the continents of the globe in the middle of the lake. But I liked TMK’s night show better.
On the way out, I stopped at a vendor cart full of all the light up things that kids want after dark. B had been eyeing a rainbow lightsaber with Mickey’s head on it and I wanted to see how much it cost. Things like this are always expensive at fairs and amusement parks. It was only $7!! That thing would have cost at least $15 in Kings Dominion. So I got it for my B. The hubs and I were pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced most things were in WDW. Leaving Epcot was the 1st time we were not able to get on the 1st bus to our lodge. But that’s OK; people watching is fun, especially when you have such a variety of people from all over the world to observe.
Oh, I wanted to tell something I left out on my Day One post. I believe that the slight majority of people at the parks when we were there we from outside of the US. That is just another testament to how awesome WDW is! People from around the world spend their hard-earned money to come to the US and experience WDW. Anywho, as we were waiting for the Fantasmic! show at Hollywood Studios to begin, we the crowd entertained ourselves by doing the wave back and forth! Isn’t that awesome? No matter what country you were from, your race, religion or language, we all not only KNEW the wave, but did it. Together. And laughed. Together. That’s something. That’s hope.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Am I gay?
My eight year old son asked me that question last month in front of my mom. Kuddos to my mom for keeping silent, even though she froze, and looked at me as if to say, "Holy crap, am I glad I am not in YOUR shoes right now!" My mom, just like me and the hubs, does not care one way or the other what B's sexual orientation is. I just think she, like me, felt that was a loaded question from any 8 yr old, but especially from mine.
You see, I am a firm believer that your sexual orientation is not a choice, not nurture, but you are born that way; it's nature. And with the preferences and personality B has exhibited from the beginning, it would not surprise me if he was gay. However, it also would not surprise me if he is not. I can't wait to find out who he will grow up to be.
B has a very important couple in his life (Person 1 and Person 2) that he loves very much. He talks about them all the time; he wants to do everything just as well as they do and always wants to know when he can see them again. They happen to be a legally married homosexual couple. I'm proud of the way we have raised B. To him, it is a given that families come in all combos - man and woman; man and man; woman and woman; single; widowed; divorced; parent; childless. We've never talked to him about growing up and having a "wife"; we always use the terms "spouse" and "partner" and he likes to talk being a daddy someday. He has even asked us if "gender marriages" (his term for same-sex couples) can have babies. We have been open with him that they can be, and many are, parents, and the options for either adopting or getting donations and help from a member of the opposite sex in order to have their own biological children.
However, when he asked this question of me, I did not only think to myself, "Is he asking for help sorting out his inner feelings?" What also went through my mind was, "Did someone use this word around him and he is asking what it means? Or...did someone, perhaps, CALL HIM this name and he is asking me what it means and if it's true?" So, I answered his question with questions.
Me: Did someone call you "gay"?
B: No
Me: Did someone call someone else gay while around you?
B: No
Me: Do you know what "gay" means?
B: No
I did not push him further to find out why he was asking nor from where he heard it. He could have heard it from a conversation between the hubs and me, for all I know. But I did not want to make him feel like he was being interrogated for being curious and, thus, make him think twice before bringing his questions to his parents next time.
I said, "Being gay means that you love someone who is the same gender as you. (Person 1 and Person 2) are the same gender so they are a homosexual couple and daddy and I are the opposite gender so we are a heterosexual couple. Daddy and I are not gay or homosexual and (Person 1 and Person 2) are gay or homosexual." I paused to let that sink in, then I continued with, "B, I can't tell you if you are gay or not. Only you can decide that for yourself." "That's right," my mom interjected. "Do you understand what I've said?" "Yes," he said, with a big smile. "Do you have any other questions about this or anything else?" "Nope," he said.
My parents raised two kids who graduated from high school without smoking, drinking, doing drugs, having pre-marital sex, sneaking out of the house nor lying to them. My parents knew our friends, knew where were going, what we were doing and created an environment where we could ask them anything or talk to them about anything while still maintaining the boundaries of parent/child instead of trying to be our best friends. Our family was the exception, not the rule, in the schools I went to. From the moment I became a parent, I agonized over how they did it and worried that I would not be able to. But looking at the face of my son at the end of that conversation, as well as looking at the face of my mom, I know we're going to be OK. I can do what she did; in fact, I just did.
You see, I am a firm believer that your sexual orientation is not a choice, not nurture, but you are born that way; it's nature. And with the preferences and personality B has exhibited from the beginning, it would not surprise me if he was gay. However, it also would not surprise me if he is not. I can't wait to find out who he will grow up to be.
B has a very important couple in his life (Person 1 and Person 2) that he loves very much. He talks about them all the time; he wants to do everything just as well as they do and always wants to know when he can see them again. They happen to be a legally married homosexual couple. I'm proud of the way we have raised B. To him, it is a given that families come in all combos - man and woman; man and man; woman and woman; single; widowed; divorced; parent; childless. We've never talked to him about growing up and having a "wife"; we always use the terms "spouse" and "partner" and he likes to talk being a daddy someday. He has even asked us if "gender marriages" (his term for same-sex couples) can have babies. We have been open with him that they can be, and many are, parents, and the options for either adopting or getting donations and help from a member of the opposite sex in order to have their own biological children.
However, when he asked this question of me, I did not only think to myself, "Is he asking for help sorting out his inner feelings?" What also went through my mind was, "Did someone use this word around him and he is asking what it means? Or...did someone, perhaps, CALL HIM this name and he is asking me what it means and if it's true?" So, I answered his question with questions.
Me: Did someone call you "gay"?
B: No
Me: Did someone call someone else gay while around you?
B: No
Me: Do you know what "gay" means?
B: No
I did not push him further to find out why he was asking nor from where he heard it. He could have heard it from a conversation between the hubs and me, for all I know. But I did not want to make him feel like he was being interrogated for being curious and, thus, make him think twice before bringing his questions to his parents next time.
I said, "Being gay means that you love someone who is the same gender as you. (Person 1 and Person 2) are the same gender so they are a homosexual couple and daddy and I are the opposite gender so we are a heterosexual couple. Daddy and I are not gay or homosexual and (Person 1 and Person 2) are gay or homosexual." I paused to let that sink in, then I continued with, "B, I can't tell you if you are gay or not. Only you can decide that for yourself." "That's right," my mom interjected. "Do you understand what I've said?" "Yes," he said, with a big smile. "Do you have any other questions about this or anything else?" "Nope," he said.
My parents raised two kids who graduated from high school without smoking, drinking, doing drugs, having pre-marital sex, sneaking out of the house nor lying to them. My parents knew our friends, knew where were going, what we were doing and created an environment where we could ask them anything or talk to them about anything while still maintaining the boundaries of parent/child instead of trying to be our best friends. Our family was the exception, not the rule, in the schools I went to. From the moment I became a parent, I agonized over how they did it and worried that I would not be able to. But looking at the face of my son at the end of that conversation, as well as looking at the face of my mom, I know we're going to be OK. I can do what she did; in fact, I just did.
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Morning After
We had originally planned to come home at Super Bowl half-time to get B in bed and because the hubs gets up for work at 4am. But the half-time show was actually good this year, IMO, so we stayed for that and then decided to stay for the whole game. B was in bed by 10:30pm and awake at 6am this morning. By 7:04am the tears had started and he hadn't even got out of bed yet! He got out of bed at 7:30am and came downstairs to fix his own breakfast. I love that he has finally taken the initiative to do more things for himself this past year but they don't always work out.
B does not like cold beverages. He prefers his water and milk to be at room temperature. Evidently he poured himself a bowl of cereal, poured the rest of the gallon of milk into a glass pitcher and stuck it in the microwave to “warm”. He came back upstairs and told me, "Mama? I have a problem. I tried to heat up my milk but I think I did it too long because it's really hot and it sticks to my finger." Yup. The milk had been heated so much it had thickened! LOL! Luckily we had another gallon out in the garage.
We have an old wipe-off board on the fridge that B likes to draw on. The frame broke yesterday and instead of throwing the whole thing out, the hubs decides to throw out the frame and let B have the thin sheet to color on. I want the record to show that I told the hubs to throw it all out. After breakfast, B was drawing on this sheet that I just assumed was vinyl. Turns out it's a sheet of thin METAL. "Mama? I think there is something wrong with my finger." I go over and see he has sliced his finger with this metal and it is bleeding! *sigh* I threw that damn thing away, to the protests and tears of my son, and administered First Aid.
Not only am I mad at the hubs for keeping that metal (he handled the broken pieces yesterday so he knew it was metal) I decided to also get mad at him because I am administering First Aid. ;o) We each have duties to perform as parents and I am the one who assigned them based on my comfort level. :o) He handles all First Aid (injuries, bleeding, bones, etc.) and vomiting. I handle colds, the flu and asthma related illnesses. I go up my tree when B bleeds and the hubs goes up his tree when B can’t breathe. That's the deal! But my tree was not an option this morning because I was the only one here to deal with the husband-kept metal weapon!
B woke up wheezy this morning so I gave him a nebulizer treatment around 9am. Usually the medication makes him hyper, but by 10:15am, he asked if he could lie down in his bed and play his DS b/c he was tired. He was off his game today from the start and who am I to deny a child who wants to lie down? Even if it is with a gaming system.
At work this afternoon, I had the same argument with the same kids I have every week. I am so tired of it. I don’t care how old you are, nor what happens in your parents’ cars; if you are not tall enough to prevent the shoulder strap of the seat belt from laying across your neck, you need to be in a booster seat! When I drive you around, you are the responsibility of my employer and me. We take that responsibility seriously and I’m not starting the car unless you follow my rules. Phew. I needed to get that out. Thanks!
I went back to kickboxing class this evening and I was smart this time – I wore a Poise pad! I jumped those jacks like nobody’s business and without a care in the world. :o) When I headed out for class, B was getting another nebulizer treatment because he was still wheezy. When I got home the hubs informed why it was that B asked to lie down this morning. He’s getting the shakes and feeling sick after the treatment and he does not like it. “OK,” I said, “We won’t give it to him anymore.” The hubs did not like that. And they say women are hard to please…
B does not like cold beverages. He prefers his water and milk to be at room temperature. Evidently he poured himself a bowl of cereal, poured the rest of the gallon of milk into a glass pitcher and stuck it in the microwave to “warm”. He came back upstairs and told me, "Mama? I have a problem. I tried to heat up my milk but I think I did it too long because it's really hot and it sticks to my finger." Yup. The milk had been heated so much it had thickened! LOL! Luckily we had another gallon out in the garage.
We have an old wipe-off board on the fridge that B likes to draw on. The frame broke yesterday and instead of throwing the whole thing out, the hubs decides to throw out the frame and let B have the thin sheet to color on. I want the record to show that I told the hubs to throw it all out. After breakfast, B was drawing on this sheet that I just assumed was vinyl. Turns out it's a sheet of thin METAL. "Mama? I think there is something wrong with my finger." I go over and see he has sliced his finger with this metal and it is bleeding! *sigh* I threw that damn thing away, to the protests and tears of my son, and administered First Aid.
Not only am I mad at the hubs for keeping that metal (he handled the broken pieces yesterday so he knew it was metal) I decided to also get mad at him because I am administering First Aid. ;o) We each have duties to perform as parents and I am the one who assigned them based on my comfort level. :o) He handles all First Aid (injuries, bleeding, bones, etc.) and vomiting. I handle colds, the flu and asthma related illnesses. I go up my tree when B bleeds and the hubs goes up his tree when B can’t breathe. That's the deal! But my tree was not an option this morning because I was the only one here to deal with the husband-kept metal weapon!
B woke up wheezy this morning so I gave him a nebulizer treatment around 9am. Usually the medication makes him hyper, but by 10:15am, he asked if he could lie down in his bed and play his DS b/c he was tired. He was off his game today from the start and who am I to deny a child who wants to lie down? Even if it is with a gaming system.
At work this afternoon, I had the same argument with the same kids I have every week. I am so tired of it. I don’t care how old you are, nor what happens in your parents’ cars; if you are not tall enough to prevent the shoulder strap of the seat belt from laying across your neck, you need to be in a booster seat! When I drive you around, you are the responsibility of my employer and me. We take that responsibility seriously and I’m not starting the car unless you follow my rules. Phew. I needed to get that out. Thanks!
I went back to kickboxing class this evening and I was smart this time – I wore a Poise pad! I jumped those jacks like nobody’s business and without a care in the world. :o) When I headed out for class, B was getting another nebulizer treatment because he was still wheezy. When I got home the hubs informed why it was that B asked to lie down this morning. He’s getting the shakes and feeling sick after the treatment and he does not like it. “OK,” I said, “We won’t give it to him anymore.” The hubs did not like that. And they say women are hard to please…
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