Pee-in-my-pants Parenting

So I was thinking about blogging about this…but then thought I better not…but a good friend said I should, so it is HIS fault if you are offended!

So Eddie, our dog, has this stuffed Octopus. It’s small and pink and has a little squeaker. I picked up one at Target for $1 and he liked it so much that I went back and got 4 more after I had to sew up the seems once. Eddie LOVES his little octopus! You squeak it from the other room and Eddie is sure to come running! He's a chihuahua, so to find a toy that was just his size was hard. The octopus is perfect! And he REALLY loves it!

So here’s the deal…when you play with your dog you kinda use “baby talk” and so one day I was talking to Eddie and playing and saying “Hey, Eddie come get your Octopus…get your Octopussy.” Well, the kids heard it. Liked it. And for the past few weeks have been calling Eddie’s toy “Pussy”. What is it about that word that kids so enjoy?

Being the bad parents we are. Jay and I just laughed whenever they said it…it was just so hilariously cute. They liked the word and had NO IDEA of it's other connotations. (I felt like we were a couple of Jr. High boys cracking jokes in the locker room during gym class.) And besides, our kids are home-schooled…so what harm could be done? They are never around other kids to corrupt unknowingly! Well, yesterday my mom was over and it was ALL THINGS PUSSY! I died! “Eddie, get your pussy!” “Pussy! Pussy! Pussy!” “Eddie, jump for your pussy!” “Squeaky pussy!” “Big pussy!”

Again…hilarious…but mortifying in front of the mother!

So this morning I had to have “the talk” with them to tell them they couldn’t call him "Pussy" any more. His new name was “Octy”…frankly they could call it anything other than “pussy!” They didn’t understand why, so I had to pull the parent card and say “because I said so”…still didn’t work…so I told them it was “kinda a bad word”…

Well, we’ll see where they take that one! YIKES!!! I’m worried!

I mean for a kid it makes sense "Bunny's" nickname is "Bun"..."Monkey's" nickname is "Monk"...So why can't "Octapus" be called "Puss"...or "Pussy" as it were.

So here I am parenting and protecting...setting the standard but trying not to divulge too much information.

I still remember sitting in class in grade school the day we were going to read the story "Puss in Boots" (classic, right?) and some boys were snickering, kids were laughing and the teacher started scolding. For years, I could never understand what was so funny and I never seemed to get the joke.

Hopefully, I can get by with my kids just thinking that it is a funny sounding name and not learn the "alternative meaning" until much later on...still, it makes for interesting parenting.

Things you may not have known about me.....

A friend sent me this, this week...so I though I'd post my responses...kinda funny.

Some jobs I have had in my life:

1. Girl’s Staff Supervisor – White Sulpher Springs, Officer’s Christian Fellowship Retreat Center, Bedford PA

2. The Sport’s Authority, Footwear Specialist, Boston, Mass.

3. Abercrombie & Fitch – Boston, Mass.

4. Office Assistant – Norman Howarth Financial, Boston, Mass.

5. Cartoonist – Pro-tax, Charlottesville, VA (Just had to add that in for my C'ville friends!)

6. Field Hockey Coach - Beverly High School, Beverly, MA.


Movies I would watch over and over:

1. Lord of the Rings (does that count as three or one?)

2. Walk the Line

3. The Jerk (I'm picking out a Thermos for you!)

4. Legally Blonde

5. Saved


Places I have lived:

1. Washington, D.C.

2. Boston, MA

3. Chicago, IL

4. Honolulu, HI

5. Naples, Italy

6. Los Angeles, CA

7. Charlottesville, VA

(One of these things is not like the other…)


Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Alias (Boo-hoo, it’s over)

2. Grey’s Anatomy

3. Desperate Housewives

4. The Office


Four places I've been on vacation:

1. Disneyland (last week)

2. Grand Canyon (while moving across the country)

3. Europe (while living there)

4. Russia (during college, well…it wasn’t really vacation.)


Web sites I visit often:

1. Karyn and Malia’s blog

1 ½. My friend Nathan’s blog.

2. California Virtual Academy (home-school, schmoam-school)

3. American Girl

4. Gap

5. Banana Republic

6. I’m thinking about starting to buy my groceries online.

7. One.org



Some of my favorite foods:
(some I never get to eat…which is a good thing!)

1. Candy

2. Chicken

3. Avocados

4. Fruit Smoothies

5. Donuts

6. Salads with lots of fresh stuff!

7. Guacamole


Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Hanging out with my girlfriends in C’ville.

2. Ludington, Michigan with my friend the Bean

3. At an outdoor café in Italy sipping a cappuccino.

4. Naples American High School 1990.

5. At the births of each of my kids.
Not to re-experience birth (God no!) but to know what I know now and be around my newborn babies!

Blogging Hiatus

Ok...so I'm back (for today) after a few weeks of nothing but the start of school and a family vacation...and frankly no time of my own to hit the keys...

so hopefully more will come in the next few days as I settle back in to life as I know it and get reajusted back into the real world of my home...

Man...recovering from "vacation" just sucks! As a mom it's more work to GO on vacation than just stay home. I am recovering, but in the constant state of "I could use a nap."

For the Love of Middle-Earth!

So my life is now encompassed around all things Middle-Earth. My sons have re-invented their love and passion for "All things Tolkein". We are currently reading "The Simarillion" (Man, talk about a HARD book to read aloud to little kids - trying to pronounce ALL THOSE NAMES!!! Unless you've tried to read it, you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about!) But we are having a blast.

The kids wake up in the morning and "play LOTR" then we usually have "Lembas Bread" for breakfast (some version of toast - or waffles) Then more playing. Today the boys recreated the entire cast of LOTR with their Lego guys. Very Cute...and creative! Then Lunch comes after second breakfast and a snack at "Elevensies". (I swear my kids eat like Hobbits!)

Then on to LOTR video games in the afternoon, or coloring all sorts of battle scenes. (No one can draw thousands of Orcs like Carty). Then more playing. Then sword weilding practice (with sticks of course...what kind of mother do you think I am?) Then for Dinner we had "Lord Denethor Chicken" (chicken legs) "Hobbitton Mashed Po-Tay-Toes," "Pureed Rivendell Apples" (Applesauce) and of course, more "Lembas Bread". Oh and of course, "Ale from the Green Dragon" (Lemonade). All this to watching their Disc of choice from the Extended Editions of course!

The kids have LOVED it. They themselves dived in deep, but now that we "play along" - they LOVE it all the more! (We are even trying to talk daddy into being Gollum for Halloween!)

It is a beautiful thing to see your kids so "into" something. I love the creativity and the joy!

And the spiritual discussions we have had through reading The Simarillion has been amazing. My kids are seeing God through The Lord of the Rings...pretty cool.

The Simarillion is a tough book, granted. But, I think everyone should AT LEAST read the first chapter (it's short) where the "God character" Iluvitar, begins a tune that will in turn birth into reality all of creation. It is utterly beautiful. Unbelievable. And you see a new perspective of the mind of God and quite possibly what he was thinking when he was in the heavens with the angels (good and bad) looking out into the void knowing what would happen and yet CREATING.

Amazing.


...I think our next step is to learn Tengwar.

What a mother does...ahhh...it's unending! (But I love it!)

Ouch!

I heard these lyrics today from the new Derek Webb album...ohimigosh! The truth hurts! Why is it that this kind of Christian scares the church? Isn't this what church SHOULD be about? The whole album is about social justice and joining in the fight to end extreme poverty.

But here's a little tickler:

There are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican,
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him.

Chew on that today.