Interview isn't just for the in-crowd

Reason #1045 why I hate Blogger: Because it eats my posts.

Yes yes, I know I should "Save As Draft" every six seconds but frig, that's what organized and thinking people do (she says while muttering and swearing under breath like a disorganized, non-thinking being).

I had this awesomely super long-winded post of answers to Mama Tulip's amazing interview questions and Blogger just up and ate it. I hope it tasted great you big bad blogging platform machine in the ether of the internet universe. I hope it tasted fan-freakin'-tastic.

What I want to know is where did it go???? Screw you blogger, I'm going home.

Now that I'm done throwing a hissy fit and cursing the day that I decided not to use Word to write my posts, I will attempt to recreate a better and heavily edited response to my interview questions.

I've been fussing over what to wear to my interview because we all now how important it is too look sane when talking to media (see picture left).

Should I go hip and cool and wear all black? Should I wear my funky new sneakers? Should I steal SB's glasses and try to look intelligent? Or should I just admit that I answered these questions while wearing my pjs. Yes, I'm still wearing my pjs. Big sigh.

I should just let the interview start and try not to fiddle too much with my mic or babble (too much) at to my gracious host, Mama Tulip. We are sitting down in my imaginary back garden, under the gazebo where the light makes me look less tired and the fresh air might help stimulate my brain into coming up with semi-intelligent answers.

Oh who am I kidding... the battles between my brain and tongue are constantly raging and the tongue is usually on the losing end so let's just getting gabbing.

Mama Tulip: What's the best live show you've ever been to?

Motherbumper: Oh Mama T, you know how indecisive I am... this is a hard one because I LOVE LIVE MUSIC. Whoops, sorry for the shouting but it's a horrid habit I developed from being up close at too many live shows and now I have this ringing in my ears because I ALWAYS CRANK THE MUSIC TOO LOUD. See, there I go again. I'm sure I'm not the only 30-something out there that has this problem but I figure it helps us block out that annoying whining that some of our children seem to perfect in their toddler years... oh yes, sorry, I'm getting off topic.

Best live show is a draw because I cannot make up my mind.

First, Radiohead's Kid A tour was amazing. I had heard an "advance" (ahem) copy of the album and it quickly stayed in permanent rotation on my discman.

Radiohead is amazing live because they are one of the few stadium-filling bands that sound the same live as on vinyl (just like The White Stripes and The Strokes). No theatrics or fancy stuff on stage happens, it's just a beautiful experience watching them create their music. It was absolute perfection. I just wish I had had better seats. Damn you Ticket-slave-master.

Second best live show was the Brotherly Love tour with Oasis, Spacehog and The Black Crowes (I missed Spacehog because of work - damn you work!). Oasis rocked of course, those arrogant but talented bastards. I wasn't a huge fan of The Black Crowes before this show but experiencing them live turned me into one fan filled with respect for their talent. THEY ROCKED LIVE.

It was piss pouring rain when I saw them at the Molson Amphitheater and it didn't matter that I nearly drowned, I had a rockin' good time even though I arrived late and couldn't find my friends. (Okay, I wasn't that wet, I had front row seats but I did get soaked waiting in the beer line).

It was one of those shows that I wish, at the time, that I had a boyfriend who would hoist me up on his shoulders so I could be one of those girls. But I'm not one of those girls, I'm the chick who watches the band like I'm in a trance and lets lose in my head, not with my body. Anyhow, it turns out my future husband was also in the audience but he was actually drowning in the back uncovered part of the amphitheater (sucker).

You know what Mama Tulip? That was a hard one to answer because I treated it like "best live show since moving to Toronto" and I have about a dozen other ones from my life pre-Toronto. I think I might have to use that question as a future blog post topic.

Moving right along....
Mama Tulip: If you could meet one famous person, dead or alive, who would you want to meet, and why?

Motherbumper: Oh thank goodness, an easy question.

Hands down it would be Edie Sedgewick. I became completely entranced by The Factory and all things Pop Art in high school. Andy Warhol fascinated me and Edie spoke to me when I discovered the whole Youthquake movement.

I wore black tights, striped shirts, huge earrings, and tried to be as free a spirit as much as an uptight and neurotic Catholic school girl could be. I ate up anything related to the New York scene: the music, the books, the people, and the art work.

My best friend in high school was the reason I got hooked on this movement and I'm proud to say that she successfully translated her shared fascination into a career. She now runs an art gallery dedicated to Pop Surrealism and is a published author on the subject. I'm so damn proud of her (and if you are reading this, I'm sorry I haven't written lately - must write email now, must write email now).

So why would I want to meet Edie? Well for the good drugs of course! Oh relax folks, I'm kidding.

Edie had an infectious spirit according to many who met her, she was a talented artist in her own right, she knew how to throw a party, knew how to dress, and her aura was like an orbit that sucked everyone in.

If I was only allowed to party for one night EVER in my life, one night of partying with Edie would be enough for me.

Now in case anyone has heard of the recently released movie, Factory Girl with Guy Pearce (as Warhol) and Sienna Miller (as Edie) I've heard that it was a poorly made film. I was shocked when I heard Sienna Miller had been cast because in my opinion she has always been just a "warm body" in any film I've seen her in (Layer Cake - hello?). Apparently Katie Holmes was the original choice (still a poor one in my humble opinion) but rumor has it that Tommy pulled her out because playing a drug addict would have a negative impact on her acting career (what-ev-er).

My art gallery friend and I have traded some funny emails regarding our disgust over the casting but I don't think we need to worry, the movie is apparently a flop and Edie's story won't be ruined by some crappy film.

And in case you were wondering if she is related to Kyra Sedgwick, Edie was her aunt, once again proving that everyone really is six degrees from Kevin Bacon.

Wow, I certainly got off on a tangent. You know what Mama Tulip? I'm talking WAY too much so I'm going to save the next couple of questions for my next post. M'kay? Damn this is fun.

Stay tuned for Part Deux in my next post.

oh la la dora

Wow, everyone has a story or good and solid advice regarding what I now like to call Milkgate*.

Some people don't like to hear advice and on occasion, I can be one of them BUT listening to advice is relative for me.

* no particular reason, I just like how those media news folk like to append "gate" to everything and make it work.

If I'm in, for example, swim class with my daughter and another mom comes up to me and tells me that if their child had a bruise like the fresh one Bumper is sporting on her forehead, she would have a doctor look at it because concussions aren't like they used to be and my baby could just die in her sleep if I don't have something done, NOW. Well in that example, I would call her statement assvice.

But if I write a post (which I did and often do) about my parenting frustration, I welcome all the opinions and learned experiences from fellow bloggers. These comments that kind folks have taken the time and effort to leave, I call advice.

Now back to that swim class example. That happened to me a couple of months back. I've paraphrased the whole story to spare you all the long boring details but suffice to say: I wanted to simultaneously bitch-slap that woman and burst into tears of shame. I ended up leaving the class early because I felt like one bad mom. Sigh. I'm so hypersensitive some times. I'm not a bad mom. A sometimes lazy mom? Yes. But not a bad mom.

All this blabbering is my way of saying: thank you for all your advice and I'm going to try some of the suggestions out. All I wanted was support and support is what I got.

Moving right along...

In a recent post by the wonderful Mama Tulip, she invited readers to request interview questions from her and then post their answers on their blog. I bit and she sent me some amazing questions that I'm chompin' to answer.

I started to compose my answers last night and some of them inspired me to write essays that seemed like complete posts. So needless to say I'm still editing like crazy and not ready to publish. I might just have to break this one up unless I become more strict on what constitutes a good answer. I promise to have them out this week once I get over my work load (more on that in another post).

So instead I give you this:

If you have ever had to endure watch Dora the Explorer, you will probably enjoy this:
I especially like the last challenging question for the children in the viewing audience.

mommybumper dearest

Maybe I should just call this "the post where I admit that I'm channeling uber mom, Ms. Joan Crawford".

Or how does a working title of "NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!" sound?

Bad humor aside, I couldn't help but think of Joan after a discussion with Bumper's doctor yesterday.

Perhaps discussion isn't the word - directive might be more suitable. It went something like this:

Doctor Goodintentions: "You must get Bumper drinking milk or else" (waves hand in air, I believe for emphasis. Or maybe to swat at a bug, honestly I wasn't exactly sure.)

We have had this conversation before but I block it out each time. So I sat there and looked at her, waiting for the end of the "or else" sentence.

Motherbumper: "Or else what? Ninjas will show up at my door?"
Doctor Goodintentions: "Ummm.. not exactly..." (looks confused by my lame-ass attempt to be funny)

I'm used to my jokes falling flat so I let her off the hook.

Motherbumper: "Or else she will develop rickets or early osteoporosis, or something equally as horrid, right?"
Doctor Goodintentions: "Rickets is more likely than the ninjas showing up at your door"

I like the fact that she tried to play along.

So this "drink milk or die" edict has been a recurring theme for the past six months and I haven't taken the "suggestion" lightly. I've grilled peppered sauted quizzed almost every parent I've met (and some I've just accosted in passing) about how they made the transition to milk or the milk-equivalent, their ease in making this change, and their success rate.

I know I'm not the first to post about this and I doubt the last but it is something at the forefront of my current parenting battles and it's difficult to concentrate on anything else Bumper-related.

Bumper loves her (my) boobie. Bumper loves water. She loves apple juice. She likes a cold Stella Artois - wait - scratch that last one and make it, Motherbumper likes an occasional cold Stella in the evening before bed.

Anyhow, Bumper loves to drink boobie, water and juice. But the minute, the mere second, I try to slip milk into her routine, she calls me on it. She calls me by whipping the cup of offensive brew across the room. She makes a face that always makes me retest the milk to make sure it didn't sour between the fridge and her hands (always tastes fine to me). It's weird.

Before you ask: she is not allergic. She will sometimes tease me and drink an ounce or two before dropping the cup on my foot and she has no ill-effects from the experience.

I love milk. So does her Dad. During pregnancy I put back enough milk to warrant the purchase of our own cow (sadly the landlord made us give her up, something about city zoning bylaws and manure on the balcony - whatever). So this rejection of all lactose-based liquids confounds me. It's so damn yummy kid, you don't know what you're missing.

So here is how it stands - I've tried:

• Warm milk
• Cold milk
• Lukewarm milk
• Chocolate milk
• Ovaltine milk
• Milk in a sippy cup
• Milk in a plastic cup
• Milk in a straw cup
• Various formula mixes
• Various premixed formulas
• All of the above in a bottle
• A zillion different nipples on those bottles
• Singing and dancing while offering milk
• Silence while offering milk
• Peer-pressure from milk-drinking toddler friends
  
• Begging
• Bribery
  

But the one thing I haven't tried and I suspect will work (with considerable pain on both our parts) is the Joan Crawford method. I must withhold boobie, water and juice and only offer her that blasted milk. This makes me think of that part of Mommie Dearest where little Christina rejects her rare steak and is served this same steak, meal after meal for days on end as punishment for defiance and wasting good food.

Okay, so it's nothing like that scene but I can't help but feel like "meany mommy" by doing this. I know that everyone in my same situation had to use a similar method to make the leap but it doesn't make it any easier.

I plan on starting the campaign this Saturday so I will have the full support of SB and I will be able to escape with my boobies if need be.

If she is as stubborn as me or her Dad, we are screwed. Please folks, wish me luck.

Dallas Update 2007

I'm overwhelmed at the wonderful outpouring of well wishes for my "first born" Dallas, all generated by the last post. He is recovering (we hope) here at home, surrounded by his loving family.

Based on the experience of that last few days, I have two words for all pet owners out there: Pet Insurance.

Get ye to an insurer and get ye all important coverage so you do not have to sell your kidney to save your furry babies. 'Nuff said.

Okay, not enough said. Ned Flanders once said that he thought insurance was gambling against God but if I learned anything from that particular episode, it was that Ned was wrong and beatniks make lousy parents.

So to counteract my beatnik heritage, here are some informative Canadian Pet Insurance links (I don't endorse any of them but good golly I wish I had looked into it sooner).

• PetCare Insurance Brokers Ltd. (has a Quick Care for Indoor Cats only)
• President's Choice Financial
• Vet Insurance
• PetPlan Insurance

Honestly, look at Dallas up there in his early days - a never-seen-before shoot for PlayCat. It breaks my heart that I can't give him the world.

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Also, I joined a cool blog roll this week so if you are looking for a ring to join and you are a chick who blogs and doesn't swear too much (yet for some f**king reason they still accepted me), check out Blogging Chicks.

Seven songs for seven sisters

I have been tagged and not because I've been paroled for my continuous fashion violations.

No, no, I haven't been fitted for an ankle tag (as much as many people would agree I should be jailed for those serious fashion infractions). I've been tagged by Mrs. Chicky for a meme.

This meme asked me to "list seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to".

Yes, I'm too lazy to rewrite the meme in my own words so I'm just cut and pasting like the lazy ass I am.

But I will not be too lazy to think about my musical choices because music is one of the most serious thing in my life, right up there with... uh... (trying to think of important things in my life that do not involve chocolate) with... parenting, yes that's it, really important stuff right up there with parenting.

So yes, music is very important to me. I grew up with headphones on (long before portable cassette players - oh golly, am I showing my age by just saying that?) and I usually scored at least one new album a week once I discovered the magical shops like that one above Backstreet Imports, Days of Wine and Vinyl and Taz. Just ask my Dad - he has many incriminating and goofy pictures of me just wired to the stereo with huge headphones on, blasting anything from Adam and the Ants to Yazoo. But I must stop showing my age and stop babbling... so on with the meme.

Here are my seven current songs - most were recently played on iTunes for the dancing pleasure of Bumper, Wonderbay and a couple of over-caffeinated Moms:

1. Love Will Keep Us Together: Captain & Tennille - Damn you Telus for bring this song back into my life. I remember listening to this one with my sister and I do believe it was on one of our K-Tel presents albums (yikes).
   
2. Hot Topic: Le Tigre - Again with the Telus advertisement induced musical selection. How dare that evil corporation makes me legally download music by using these tunes in their ads along with cute monkeys and bunny-rabbits.
3. When You Were Young: The Killers - I just.can't.stop.listening to this song - I can't explain. I just keep pressing repeat. I'm weird like that.
4. Where's Your Head At: Basement Jaxx - I first heard this song in a really groddy pub full of good looking boys in Brixton a few years back. It made me dance like a fool and the video has monkeys in it. 'Nuff said. Monkeys rule.
5. Digital Love: Daft Punk - Makes me feel all shiny, happy and loving. I can't begrudge a song like that.
6. Senses Working Overtime: XTC - Hello 80s! Hello skipping class and watching poorly taped episodes of Friday Night Videos over at G's house. This song taught me to count to five (or maybe that was my nursery school teacher, but I'm sure this song taught me something besides how to successfully skip school).
7. Surrender: Cheap Trick - I don't have to explain this one: this song RULES and always will RULE! Because your Mommy's alright, your Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird. Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away (AYYYYYYYYYYY!).

So now I need to tag seven sister friends. Here it goes:

1. kgirl at The Kids are Alright
   
2. Metro Mama
3. lil'debbie at i.obsess
4. Jezer at JezeWhiz
5. Something Baby Blue
6. Gabriella at Our little funny bunny
7. Tania at Baby in the City

I'll be sending out a shout to those lovely ladies tomorrow. When, hopefully, I will have recovered from the shock of finding my cat horrifically sick, taking it to emerg vet clinic, no guarantee of good news and having to leave my "first born" overnight with strange barking dogs and the like. I did this post to get my mind off that. Please send my little boy Dallas all your positive loving vibes.
And if you didn't get an email from me about the Candy Club today and you want to join, please send me an email at motherbumper at gmail dot com. Peace out. I've got to go get lost in my music.

I want candy

I've been obsessively talking about candy lately and I've also been talking about starting a candy club for fellow candy-lovin' bloggers.

So I said to myself

"self, get off the pot and put that them there candy club together"

and self said to me

"stop talking like you've got MPD because we both know that the existence of such a diagnosis is debatable and it's also really annoying for other folks to read such nonsensical type gibberish from a fellow blogger"

So to be more succinct, if you are interested in joining my candy club drop me a line at motherbumper at gmail dot com with the subject: Candy Club Baby! (or something like that). I will send you a confirmation email and within the next week, will try to match up a Canadian with an American blogger (if I've got the numbers). Then we can spread the sugar joy across our great lands!

Oh yah, this is my first embedded video and somehow I knew in the short 11.5 months since I started blogging that this particular video would be my first selection. I have so many freakin' fond memories of this song and the album cover and lead singer introduced me to the concept of girl power.

Your Baby Can Read!

Reading is something both my husband and I love to do in our down time. Each of us is a ravenous bookworm and some of the first items we purchased when we found out we were expecting included a pile of children’s books. I often dream about the day when Bumper and I can cuddle up together with that pile of books and take turns reading stories to each other.

I firmly believe that early reading skills instill confidence, inspire the imagination, and provide the building blocks for a child's success. Who wouldn't want their child to read before hitting the school grade years? So when the Parent Blogger Network put out a call to review the DVD series "Your Baby Can Read!" we volunteered to try it out. We received the first two DVDs in the series, the Starter video and Volume one, in addition to the five Learn to Read Word Cards plus one Wipe-Clean card with erasable pen.

While skeptical of a DVD’s ability to teach Bumper to read, curiosity overrode our hesitation. As parents, we severely limit Bumper's TV exposure, reserving it for times of illness or absolute desperation. Since she has shown little interest in watching any program for longer than 10 minutes, I wasn't sure how we would make it through the Starter DVD (22 minutes). At first Bumper would humour us with about nine minutes of viewing but by the third sitting, she was watching the entire video. And dancing along with the music. And OMG! She is pointing to her nose, eyes, ears, and head. Well I'll be damned.

But was she reading the words or imitating the actors? It definitely was imitation but it was a great start. We've been trying to teach her body parts for a while and apparently watching others reinforced our attempts.

Dr. Titzer, creator of the Your Baby Can Read program, believes that babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers can achieve a strong reading skill foundation by practicing "multi-sensory" reading as demonstrated in this DVD series. Multi-sensory reading means the child sees, hears, and performs the physical action (when applicable) of the word. For example, the child is shown the word "clap", hears it pronounced multiple times, and then sees the action the word symbolizes - all while being encouraged to do the action for his or herself.

As instructed, I watched the video with Bumper and danced along to the familiar "Head and shoulders" and "If you're happy" songs. I also spent time repeating the words as shown on the screen and encouraged Bumper to repeat what she heard. It was fun and I noticed how much Bumper loved seeing the other children and babies on the screen. The voice-overs switched between adult and children and the variety of voices captured B's attention. More than once I heard her perfectly pronounce words like "hippopotamus" and "bucket".

I initially wondered about the word selections - the Starter Volume includes 22 and Volume One includes over 50 - but I quickly realized when I opened many of Bumper's books that many of the same words were featured prominently. The vocabulary includes animals, body parts, and common actions (for example: hi, wave, and kick). For older children, interesting facts are stated with some of the words, like how many species of monkeys exist and how to tell the difference between Asian and African elephants.

I was able to reinforce much of the vocabulary with little effort. The introduction recommends visiting the local library and getting a variety of books (something we already do) and pointing to the words while reading (an excellent idea - it reinforces the association between the written word and reading).

In addition to the DVDs, the program includes pullout word cards that display the words to help with reinforcement. Each card displays a word, and then you pull a tab to reveal a corresponding photo. At first Bumper just liked to grab at the cards but eventually she wanted to see what picture Mommy would reveal.


We found the program fun and it quickly became a part of our morning routine. For active play in the afternoon, the songs and poems provide great entertainment and active participation for Bumper.

What I liked best about the program:

• Segments had babies and children only - no adults or commercial characters. I love that Dr. Titzer discourages other TV watching and there is no cross marketing of characters.
• Gentle voice-overs and a variety of images to reinforce the words were pleasant and kept B’s interest.
• Good mixture and timing of songs, poems and word display.
• Simple and clean production values. The volumes are not too flashy and had a refreshing homemade family quality.
• The word cards included a write-on/wipe-off card and pen for personalized words.
• The Kids Club option on the Main Menu of each DVD allows you to jump right to the poems and songs. This was great when B had already watched the video but wanted some more songs and dancing.
• The Parents options on the Main Menu includes very interesting information about Dr. Titzer's research and helpful hints for parents using the system

Things that could be improved:

• Word games at the end of Volume One moved too quickly. Perhaps recommending the parent to pause on the word display to give a child a chance to select the right answer would be helpful.
• It recommends that you make your child look at the words on the screen, not just the actions and this was a request that I found nearly impossible to do. Bumper tended to maintain eye-contact with the screen when there was activity and demonstration but stand-alone word display with the reading arrow did not engage her and I found it impossible to encourage. Perhaps that will come with time.

Since we started watching weeks ago, Bumper now "asks" for it each morning and sometimes "demands" it during the day. I've created a Your Baby Can Read monster.

So did my 17 month old learn to read in the time we had for the review? No. Do I think she could learn from watching these DVDs? Yes. I am going to keep watching them with her because it's fun. And learning should be fun.

miscellaneous stuff

So I'm totally up for creating a candy club north but I'm still trying to figure out how to organize this thing so that I don't end up supplying candy to most of the free world all by myself. When I figure out the details, I'll put up a post but for now, I will be sending out some virtual Smarties to Kyla:

and some Godiva's to LisaB:

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Today was the last day of gymnastics until April.

It was a sad day for me because this means for the next four weeks my wonderful Wednesday haven of a solid, deep-sleep nap is no longer guaranteed.

It was sad day for Bumper because she loved the class and when the instructor would tell the toddlers to line up for their stickers, they actually did. And Bumper would always, ALWAYS, get her sticker and then run to the back of the line to get another. And this always meant that she would get an extra hug (and sticker) from the instructor. How freakin' mind blowing cute is that?

Yesterday was registration day for the next round of Recreation programs and to my disappointment all the classes filled up in record time. Instead of having four days of planned activities, we have only one. This makes me sad because Bumper is happy being busy, I'm sane being busy and we all sleep better.

Why can't Toronto Rec meet the demands of the public? I spoke with three parents this morning alone who were waited listed like me for the same activities. And some of the activities already had full wait lists so they didn't even make those lists. If the department has full wait lists I wonder if Toronto Rec look into holding another class. I know that there is more to having a class than just students but I wonder if they even consider it. I must find someone to contact and ask.

I leave you with this: Nothing should come between a girl and her hoola hoop.

Bumper exactly one year ago today posing for her five month photo:

Bumper today not* posing for her 17 month photo:

* does anyone know how to get a toddler to pose for a photo? Please, please I need to know because I have far too many photos of the back of her head and her little hands grabbing for the lens. It's driving me nuts!

gonzo weekend

Fear and Loathing in North Toronto

I feel better. Wonderful friends came out to listen and support and it made me feel so much better. I wish I could implement some of the hilarious and diabolic suggestions that some friends offered but alas, I'm too demure (HA! - more like too much of a wuss).

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I think I eat too much chocolate.

OMG - is that the first step? Admitting I have a problem?

Naaaah. No Way.

Is there such a thing as too much chocolate? Just because I prefer to eat Cadbury Easter Cream Eggs over real eggs, that doesn't make me a chocoholic, right?

So what if I can't go to the food shop without loading up on Reese peanut butter cups, Jos Louis (moon pies to my American readers), or anything bearing the Cadbury seal of goodness.

BTW - I sometimes see posts by bloggers who participate in candy exchanges. Does anyone know how to hook me up in that circle because I need to join. Seriously - if anyone in the US or Canada wants to do an exchange of confectionery, I'm totally up for it. EMAIL ME NOW at motherbumper at gmail dot com. No seriously, you won't be disappointed. I'll hook you up with some primo shit man.

Chocolate makes these winter weeks much more tolerable.

SHHHHHHHHHH - I don't want to hear how I should be eating veggies and healthy stuff to bring me out of my funk. I want carbs, I want sweets, I need chocolate.....

Hi, my name is Motherbumper and I'm a chocoholic.

Share you legal addictions with me folks, I'm all ears.

Friday: crap on a stick served cold

It's Friday and I'm still tired and frustrated but posting about it did make me feel a bit of release. Mind you, the news has helped pour on my pity parade but more on that further down the post.

It's been a boring and quiet week and my mood is a smudge better since I have such wonderful friends (bloggy and IRL). My friends didn't scream "stop bobbing for pity apples" or "get your head out of your ass" or the always eloquent "get a life" or classic "there are people worse off in the world". Apparently all the folks who would have said those things couldn't be bothered to leave a comment or flame me an email. Thanks for sparing me the carnage folks.

But back to the wonderful people who sent me strength to keep posting my nonsense. My hat and keyboard strokes tipped to you. I love you all.

Wait, was that too creepy? Maybe so but I'm kinda mushy these days.

Moving right along...

My kid has been amazingly cute this week (yours too? - well that's just sweet).

Bumper does amazingly well considering I spend most of my day lying on her foam floor tiles, staring at the ceiling, surrounded by her toys, puzzles, books and assorted snacks. I occasionally find the energy to say "stop putting corn puffs up my nose, pleeeeeeeze" and she does(n't). She steps around and over me and every so often demands food. It's working well for us.

Speaking of "pleeeeeeeeeze", all manners she had picked up, the tank u and 'elcome, have been lost, hopefully to be found by the time she goes to nursery school.

All of the sudden everything is demanded by grunts, points, clicks and whistles (okay, maybe not the last two) and a face that just screams "NOW".

I find it all fascinating. It's not like we, the parents, stopped being well-mannered. It's like she decided manners are for chumps. Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back. Or is that one step forward, two steps back? Whatever. We're stepping and hopefully not regressing.

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I read this article today that made me angry, anxious, and sad all at the same time. It is so infuriating that this is happening right under our noses, in our neighbour's yard, and we seem unable to do anything about it. It scares me to think what direction we are heading in and where this will take us. Bottom line, a little Canadian boy is sitting in a Texas detention centre and Canada doesn't seem to be doing anything about it.

And to think, this is one of the US detention camps that we know about... I wonder how many other kids are kept in the ones we don't know about.

The last paragraph really socked me in the gut:

"Families get 15 minutes to eat and then the food is thrown out," Hines said. "Have you tried to feed a child and then yourself in 15 minutes?"

It makes me sick to think about it.

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Did I depress or piss off anyone? I hope so because apathy is scary. We need to keep our pulse people. Even if you think that I'm a nutbag for believing there are many secret detention centres run by the democratic nations and those places have innocent children in the cells, at least you are thinking one way or the other.

TGIF.

Dammit... I can't leave on a depressing note. This is what keeps me going on days like this:

Suck it up lady, we've got some playing to do!