Parental Frustrations...

1. Finding sippy cups around the house that once held milk, now hold cheese.
2. White clothing for small children.
3. Neighbor kids that come over too early.
4. Having to repeat yourself 10 times and then ending with "you need to listen!"
5. Bargaining.
6. Finding out that your youngest can undress themselves, in the middle of the night.
7. Kids that are morning people. Wake up sleepy head!
8. Having to do a diorama for Kindergarten, and not finding out that it needed to be done for Monday morning until 8:30pm Sunday night.
9. Being paranoid that your kid will fall down the stairs and then actually watching it happen.
10. Not being able to help your kids when they are sick, because kids always get the sickest on holidays or weekends when the doctors are not working.
11. Infomercials for Aquadots, Mighty Putty and Blendy Pens.
12. Parents that think their kids are smarter than yours.

This kid is killin' me...

Paul, who is 4, not 3, like I thought, came over at 7:38 this morning. Once again, Alex told him not to come over in the morning anymore. Hopefully he doesn't come over tomorrow morning or I'll walk him back to his house and tell his mother to keep an eye on her kid. -- Yesterday my good neighbor informed me that the Russian kids mom will not let her boys play with my neighbors boys, because one of her kids said "Oh my God." This is really hard for Rowan. She loves to play with all the boys, but my neighbors boys aren't allowed at the Russians house, and vice versa. So this morning when Paul came over, the neighbors boys were at our door too. I told Paul that they should all play in my backyard but he said "No, my mom will not let. Only my yard." (in his broken English) I had to tell Rowan that she needed to go play at Paul's for a bit, then she needed to come home and play with our neighbors. I hope Paul's mom lightens up soon. I would rather have Rowan play with our neighbors because they never seem to get into fights. It's just that she is best friends with Paul's 7 year old brother Dema (Demitri). Grr! Why can't they all just get along!?

If I thought 9 was early...

This morning Rowan's little friend Paul, who is 3, came to ring our doorbell at 7:45am. Yeah, that is much worse than 9. Alex answered the door, and I'm not sure what was said, but Paul hasn't been back this morning to see if Rowan could play. Yesterday he came over at 8:15, and the day before that it was 8:30. He's getting earlier and earlier! I swear, if he comes over earlier than 7:45 tomorrow, I'll teach him a couple of choice English words to tell his parents.

Totally random thoughts, by Mel...

About being a parent and kids tv...
Why is it, that the days that you wake up early, for no reason, the kids sleep in? Why is it that kids seem to only want to talk to me when I'm trying to talk on the phone? Why is it that every time I go shopping, Merrick develops Tourette's Syndrome, and as soon as we get to the back of the store, Rowan has to go potty, which is at the front of the store? Why is it that I can talk to the kids all day, but it's only the swear words that get repeated back to me? Why is it that when you're potty training a kid, they use too much toilet paper, but for some reason now, they decide it's just better to not use any at all? Why is it that kids can go outside for 30 seconds and get dirty? -- As for kids tv...No matter how you look at it, the shows "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Teletubies" were made just for unemployed stoners, not for kids. Those shows really creep me out! Why is it that Goofy can talk, but Pluto can't? They are both dogs. Why is it that a pantless character like Donald Duck, wears a towel when he gets out of the shower/tub? Why does Swiper the Fox, from Dora, take her stuff, and throw it? Why doesn't he run off with it? He is the worst thief ever. When was the last time you told someone to not steal something 3 times, and they decided not to? If only it were that easy in real life (Swiper, nooo swiping!) Why is Caillou bald? He's really bald. He doesn't even have that little swirl line on his head that suggests he might have hair. I will never know what possessed Rowan to cut a chunk of her hair out on Sunday. I still think that some of the faces they put on the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine, are really scary. And lastly, I would love to thank the writers of shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents, and Catscratch, for including adult humor in their shows, because they know that parents are watching. I love Spongebob, and I don't care who knows. --- If anyone has anything to add to this, I would love to hear it!

The neighbors kids...

There is a family that lives kiddie corner from us, that has 3 boys that Rowan likes to play with. The youngest boy is 3 and he's out trying to see if Rowan can play. I think 9 is to early for a 3 year old to be out roaming the streets seeing if someone can play. Or am I oldfashioned? And the worst part is that he doesn't speak the greatest english. They're Russian. I try to tell him to go home and come back later but he looks at me with a glazed over look. Does anyone else have the earlybird-wants-to-play problem?