Posted on August 21, 2009
Sometimes, things just hit a little too close to home. One of my relatives posted a status message on facebook with:
AMBER ALERT IN OSHWA NY-3 YEAR OLD GIRL TAKEN BY A MAN DRIVING SILVER TRUCK Ontario PLATE # 728 381. If all of you reading my status would copy and paste into your status, it could potentially save a little girls life.
Like any mother, I reacted emotionally, and posted it as my own status. If, (and I have such a hard time even thinking about this) Chloe were missing, I wouldn’t care who, what or how the message got out. I would want everyone looking for her. Then, one of my friends explained that this was a hoax, and posted this link:
snopes.com
if you go to “what’s new” you’ll find that this is all a hoax.
I was pissed. I am sure that somewhere, there are some idiotic and inconsiderate teenagers that think this if funny. I hate that anyone would take advantage of a program whose primary function is to find lost children. This is not funny. It is not clever. It is criminal. I don’t think that they will ever actually get this message. Whoever started this created a viral message, and those of us that understand that a child’s safety is at stake, reacted. And now, when there is a child that is missing, and someone is trying to find them, people with think twice about sending out the message. Or believing the one they see.
There are some things you just don’t mess with. The safety of children is one of them. Whomever sent this out probably thought nothing of it. “I know, lets see how many people we can make take up the party line.” There are consequences for sending out false messages. You may not see them, you may not feel them, but they are there.
Sadly, the next time I see a message like that, I won’t act instinctively. I will check for its validity before I pass it on. Anybody who knows anything about missing children knows that every second counts. And the fact that I will take a few extra seconds to decide whether or not I can trust the message…well, who knows.
Posted on August 20, 2009
A F…F…Fairy F..F..Festival!!
Starring, F…F…Fabulous Chloe Fairy!
Making f…f…flower cookies…
with f…f…fabulous fairy f…f…frosting!
Then we played festival games. We played “Fairy Find” where I wrapped up all of her toys that start with “F” and hid them around the room and she had to find them. And “Fairy Ball” where we used her Tinker Bell beach ball and a bat.
We also made a Fairy F…F…Friend:
A Fairy Wand:
And we made a Fairy Fish. (Okay, I really made the fish. She tried, but the glue wouldn’t dry, so I finally had to pull out the hot glue gun.)
Here’s my favorite picture from yesterdays f…f…festivities:
My Fabulous fairy putting her f..f..frog in her f…f…farm.
Posted on August 18, 2009
Beach Action Shots.
When we participated in the kazoo band on the 4th of July, they gave Ellen some free passes for the Ocean Grove Beach (we would have gotten some as well, but we forgot to pick them up.) So, off we went, with Ellen and her crew, to Ocean Grove Beach.
I really liked this beach, it was much cleaner than both Avon and Manasquan. I am not sure why, but it was practically empty today, so we didn’t have to deal with a lot of beach traffic. And we were able to find a location that was relatively close to the bathrooms (good for our newly potty trained munchkins. Okay, Seth has been potty trained for awhile now.)
The only complaint the kids had was the waves were very mellow. Of course, us Mommy’s were just fine with that! There was only one mishap when Chloe and I were out in the ocean. I misjudged the strength of a wave and it knocked me over while I was holding Chloe. In my attempt to keep Chloe’s head above water, and try to get myself back to a standing position, I wrenched my shoulder and inhaled some sea water. (I can actually still taste it in my mouth, I should go brush my teeth!) Luckily, Chloe thought it was funny and it didn’t scare her at all.
She is getting a little too brave for my comfort, though. Granted, the ocean was extremely calm today, but she wanted to go off by herself (The big kids were doing it!) and was upset that I told her I needed to keep ahold of her. I guess in some ways I am glad she is challenging herself more. But, that’s my baby, there is no way in HELL I am letting her go in the ocean. Sorry, not gonna do it!
Posted on August 15, 2009
John, Chloe and I went to the beach today. Its the first time we have all three gone together, and actually, its the first time John has spent any time on the beach since we moved here. We had a blast. Every time we go, Chloe gets a little bit braver. This time she even let John carry her out into the deeper part of the ocean so she could practice swimming. Although, she spent most of the day moving sand around. She picked the sand up, and put it in a bucket in the morning. In the afternoon, she picked the sand up and threw it back into the ocean. I felt it was kind of poetic.
“I am a princess, and this is my castle”
See the gallery for more pics.
Posted on August 13, 2009
I kind of struggled with this one. My intention with this project is to not only teach Chloe the sounds of the letters, but I wanted, with each letter, for her to get an opportunity to build the letter out of some kind of food. (Its a pre-writing skill.) The only thing I could come up with was “donuts.” And trust me, we did eat some this week. But I was afraid of making them, only because I also wanted her to be involved with the food preparation. And, frying dough doesn’t seem like the best idea for a three year old. I mean, sure, we could make a D out of pre-made donuts, but where’s the fun in that? So, I was discussing my plight with one of my friends and she told me about “dirt.” Made with oreo cookies, chocolate pudding, and gummy worms. I was like, “AWESOME.” And here you go:
Step 1: Make pudding. (Make sure you designate someone as “quality control.” She tested the ingredients as we went.)
Step 2: Pour pudding into a flat dish.
Step 3: crush oreo cookies with a hammer. I also put the cookies in a ziploc bag to minimize the mess!
Step 4: Scoop the cookies onto the pudding.
Step 5 and 6: Draw an “D” using chocolate syrup, then have child put gummy bugs onto the outline.
The finished “Dirt”:
We did several other “D” related projects this week, including making d..d..dog puppets, coloring wooden d..d..dolphins, and d..d..decorating d’s with d..d..dots (pictures in the gallery.) My favorite (and Chloe’s) was I pulled out Tabitha’s dinosaur costume (she wore it when she was Chloe’s age for Halloween. My mom sent it to us last year for Halloween, but Chloe was WAY to small for it, so we lent it to a friend. She is finally big enough for it!) She has worn it for an hour or two EVERY day this week. So, I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if she is a dinosaur for Halloween! We will let her decide, but Daddy and I may encourage her to be one. I mean, how cute is this?
Posted on August 11, 2009
Chloe started the second session of swimming lessons yesterday.
And yes, for this session, I had to sit on the sidelines and watch as somebody else taught my child in the pool. Now, for many people, the relief of being “off the hook” so to speak, is well worth the cost of the class. I, on the other hand, had a terrible time sitting quietly while my child was misbehaving. Not that Chloe was horrible, she was doing what all the other kids in the class were doing, mainly disregarding the instructor’s directions and playing around. I try to embrace the following: 1) She’s three, and prone to follow the shiny object even though she knows she is supposed to do something else. 2) It’s difficult to be the only child behaving when everyone else in the class is playing around. 3) Its the instructor’s responsibility to keep the students, whether they be 3 or 30, involved and engaged in a class so that they don’t feel the need to misbehave.
However, what I ended up doing instead is yelling at Chloe from the benches:
“Chloe, your teacher said to hold onto the wall!”
“Chloe, stop drinking the water!”
“Chloe, hold on to the side of the pool!”
“Chloe, you’re supposed to be on the stairs!”
“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe!”
After a while, and I am embarrassed to say this was probably after more than half the class was over, I realized I was the only parent saying anything. Chloe, like I said, was doing the same thing the other kids were doing, but she was the only one getting in trouble. Suddenly, I felt bad, and a little guilty. I also realized that because of me, the lifeguard knew Chloe by name. When the instructor took the kids one at a time to swim with the kick board, the lifeguard try to get them involved in a game to keep them out of trouble, and she also started admonishing Chloe, mostly because she knew her name!
So, I stopped. By this time, the instructor was back in the shallow end of the pool, and was able to keep more control over the kids, so Chloe started listening.
My plan for tomorrow is to ask the instructor if she would LIKE me to say anything if I see Chloe not following directions. She may prefer if I keep my mouth shut, and allow her to manage her class (duh.) But, I have to think that if they require the parents to be present for the class, than they would appreciate the help? But, maybe not. Especially if there is that one helicopter mom in the side lines (covering my face in shame and shaking my head) yelling at one poor kid.
After the class, I talked with Chloe about listening better to her teacher and the lifeguard, and following their directions. And I plan to remind her of that again tomorrow before class. Here’s to hoping I don’t embarrass us both again! (sigh)
Her turn with the kick board, Playing “Ring Around the Rosie” with her classmates
Misbehaving-She was supposed to be on the wall. (Note, NONE of the kids are on the wall!)
After I yelled at her to get back on the wall.
Next Page »