A Kerfuffle

Well, The Pop-Tart got into her first fight.  It was over a doll – Poppy's doll.  Some kid tried to steal Poppy's doll.  Poppy loves dolls; she calls them 'baby'.  'Baby'.  The other day she came into my room with one baby in each arm.  She has this strong maternal instinct that I thought was reserved for rural communities.  Poppy even goes so far as to feed her babies imaginary food and kiss them on the head.  

I only wish that I had been at MDO with a video camera to document said fight.  How did it all go down?  Both of these children are under 2 years of age and thus can't put a sentence together – ruling out the arrival of an unmediated verbal settlement.

I'm sure that this other kid had innocently assumed that the baby belongs to the establishment and is thus communal property to be shared amongst the children at Mother's Day Out (daycare).  Having said that, I don't really care what this other kid assumed...I'm on Poppy's side.  

The dolly incident at Mother's Day Out resulted in a permanent ban of Poppy's babies at school.  I hope that her maternal instinct isn't suppressed by this restriction.  

'baby?'

What Can I Do With This Toddler Today? Take it to Ikea.

The Ikea retail experience – at least from a maternal perspective – is under-appreciated.  

Up in the children's toys and furnishings section of Ikea, there are 9 child-sized tables on which the children can test out the toys before their bored, tired looking mommies purchase them.  


When my 2 year-old and I are there, at least as far as I can see, there's no call for this collective malaise.  I'm thinking 'this place is AMAZING!' the whole time*, and probably have more fun than the toddler.  Now, obviously, none of us caregivers are happy all the time.  But...here?  Why aren't these other moms similarly excited about all of these cheap toys?  And what about all these cute storage solutions?  

me:  'Hey Poppy, look.  This is what the inside of houses look like in Sweden.'

i point to this display

Poppy ignores me; she's busy helping Ikea get organized.    

i mean...look at this stuff.  you could put all kinds of things in these containers!

So, mommies and guardians of toddling children, let us go to Ikea; let us  go to Ikea if for no other reason than to simply watch our children's faces when they're test driving the imported goods.  The days of boisterous curiosity and enthusiasm for a $2 plastic hammer are numbered, and it's a refreshing thing to observe. 





http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/frisco 

'Bring the kids!  The IKEA store is family-friendly. your kids can test all the toys in the children's department or have fun in the free supervised playroom while you shop.'

http://frisco.bubblelife.com/community/frisco_reporter


* except during those 45 seconds that my kid was missing as the direct result of my shameless eyeing of a $9 pastel tea set.  Everything turned out alright though; I found her and she got a new tea set.  

Business In The Front, Party In The Back

Well, we're moving farther away from the mullet-inspired hairdo that resulted from the first haircut.  We have both Poppy's new hairstylist and the passage of time to thank for this improvement:  

We arrive for our appointment at Children's Hair Design to find Wendy Hart – children's hairstylist extraordinaire – still chatting with her last two customers.  I'm mighty encouraged when I see that these two adolescents are leaving with some lollipops and some nice hairdos.  

me: 'Hi, you must be Wendy.  I'm Paige, and this is Poppy.'

Poppy explores the spacious yet intimate salon.

Wendy: 'Yep.  What are we doin' today?'

me: 'We are just doing a bang trim.  We're still in recovery from her first haircut.'  

Wendy lures Poppy to the swivel chair with a pre-emptive lollipop.  I am impressed.

Wendy: 'I can see that.'

me: 'Right?!!  I had told the lady to just do a bang trim but she talked me into this nonsense.'

I show Wendy the after picture from 2 months ago.  

Wendy: 'Oh.  It's almost like a mullet.'

me: 'I know!  My husband was all like "business in the front, party in the back".  I didn't want this kind of party.'

Wendy: 'I can't believe they did this.  When a mom says "just the bangs", that's what you do.'

me: 'Well, I take responsibility for Poppy's Jonathan Taylor Thomas haircut debacle of 2013.  It was me who ultimately gave the go-ahead.  But we're moving forward now.'

Wendy: 'Yes, you can only move forward.'

Wendy proceeds to do a lovely little trim off the bangs; it was over so quickly that she refused to let me pay (despite my mild objection).  It suffices to say that headin' over to Children's Hair Design by Wendy Hart is likely to yield a lovely hairdo for your child.  No business or parties unless explicitly requested.

http://www.poppyadventures.com/2013/11/poppys-first-haircut.html

If You’re ’Appy and You Know It

Pamela Druckerman wrote a cute, light op-ed piece for The New York Times  last week.  It's about how she presented America to her daughter's second-grade class in a French public school.  Here are the bits that I found to be the most charming:

'There’s practically applause when I hold up a picture of a giant cheeseburger.'

'With 15 minutes left, I tell the class that it’s time to sing. I walk them through the lyrics to “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” while the teacher shouts, “What does it mean, ’appy?” '

'By the time the bell rings, the children probably think that the United States is populated mostly by superheroes and charismatic black men.' 

P. Druck

http://www.poppyadventures.com/2012/06/bringing-up-bebe-reviewed.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/opinion/druckerman-an-american-story.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

'Shhh...daddy's sleeping!'

I've never said 'shhh...daddy's sleeping!'.  But my husband has certainly said 'shhh...mommy's sleeping!' whilst tip-toeing around.  In fact, I'd say that he's pretty much always taking care to not disturb my slumber.  If and when daddy wakes up before mommy on the weekends, he slips quietly out the bedroom door and coordinates the party from Poppy's room.  

Unfortunately for them, daddies are not granted this same courtesy.  When mommy wakes up life stampedes noisily into the bedroom in the form of Meet The Press, the dog, and, before you know it, the baby is in the matrimonial bed too.  

Meanwhile daddy has burrowed his head under the comforter to nurse his vain hope that he'll be able to continue sleeping with a dog and a baby crawling on him.  And it certainly doesn't help matters that mommy keeps requesting that daddy's bagel delivery service be expedited this morning:  

'I'll take my usual, honey lamb: cranberry with low-fat almond cream cheese, please'.  

Poor daddies.  

Well, Pam Allyn does what she said she would do – she tells us what to read and when.  She also tells us why we should read these books and gives us some suggestions about how we should read them.  It’s like she’s helping us to cultivate our own little familial book clubs*.   


So yea, here are my big takeaways from the book:

1) Why is ‘the read-aloud’ so important?  
-It’s the most effective way to inspire your kid to establish the lifelong habit of reading early and often (plus reading aloud is nurturing and shows that you care).  


2) How should we, logistically, go about all this reading?  Where should we read?
-One of my biggest takeaways is that I should keep baskets of books everywhere: in the kitchen, on the dining table, next to Poppy’s bathtub, next to my bed, etc..  You can categorize these baskets by author, by genre, by language, by interest, etc..  Pam’s main point on this front: books belong everywhere because lifelong readers read everywhere.

-Pam suggests that we not rush the read-aloud.  Let's take some time here, make ourselves comfortable, and savor the read-aloud.  Having said that, if you've had a long day and you’re tired, it’s totally okay to consolidate bath time and read-aloud time.  I’ve already ordered some of Pam's suggested bath time reads, including  Do Pirates Take Baths? (when I read her description of this book as a ‘bouncy jaunt through the daily activities of pirates’, I was like 'Sold!').
   

3) What should we read and when?
-Reading from a diverse variety of genres is good for everyone involved; Pam describes genres as ‘containers for thinking’.

-I enjoyed her discussion of the kinds of books we should read with 2-3 year olds.  This is the time to integrate ‘interest development’ books and to ‘be on the lookout this early for your child’s passions and interests.  They are there, and can be nurtured through your connections with your child through literature.’  


Last night, when Poppy's twitchiness was confined to the lobster**, Matt and I read Madeline to her (actually, I was the only one doing any reading).  Pam Allyn considers this to be a 'landmark book'.  She mentions Madeline  again later in her list of kids books that address the theme of 'Being Yourself'.

'something is not right!' -miss clavell

So basically, if we read these stories to our kids, we will arm them with ideas, values, and perspective – they will never be alone, and neither will we.





*Oh man, book clubs.  I’ve never done the book club thing, but I’ve always sort of wanted to.  Whenever I sign up for one I just end up canceling (ah...the canceling of plans; now there's a pastime that never ceases to provide instant gratification). 

**see  http://www.poppyadventures.com/2013/03/plugging-in-pop-tart.html 


https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1356759.Pam_Allyn

'It's Not Fitness, It's Life' (and can provide you with diversified, beautiful solitude)

Q: What is literally the best thing ever?  
A: gym childcare

they're getting ready to go to the gym

Equinox, in particular, has an excellent thing going on.  It's got everything: beautiful and inspiring internet billboards, healthy food, an excellent shop (called 'The Shop') in which you can purchase leisurewear and sportswear, ambient lighting, a treadmill, gossipy commercial real estate guys – you name it.  

They've even got a little childcare nook.  It has sparkly blue floors and costs $10 per day.  Now...there's probably some sort of time constraint on that, but I can't speak to it personally.  Here's what we have to work with: 

KIDS' CLUB HOURS
MON - FRI = 8:00am - 2:00pm; 4:00pm - 7:30pm
SAT & SUN = 8:00am - 1:00pm

they just got back from the gym

When you sign your kid in they give you this beeper thing and tell you that it's for contacting you 'in the event that there's some sort of emergency with your child'.  Despite the benign nature of this claim, when they first handed me that beeper I couldn't help but think that it had an undisclosed function – perhaps the ability to detect you leaving the building?  Hence the following experiment: an illicit errand...outside the gym.  

Yep, I did a non-exercise-related errand – I drove the 2 miles back down to our lovely apartment and basked in beautiful silence for 15 minutes.

So, now we know.  Now we know the answer: the gym childcare pager thingy is a one-dimensional communication device, not a tattle tale GPS.

Ladies (those of you who have some offspring on your hands), here we have yet another reason to work out.  It's not fitness, it's liberation.  

don't you love Equinox's steamy ads?