La Famiglia D!

We've moved, baby!

Yep, we're gone for good. Check out our new family blog, La Famiglia D.

Web address: http://lafamigliad.blogspot.com

Nothing more to see here, folks. Move along.

Water Baby

Driving down the road, I saw two little girls sliding down a playset slide into a baby pool. Never thought of this (mostly because we use the baby pool out front, usually while Daddy is weeding the garden, and the playset is out back). I had to try this the very same day. Maddie went down the slide enthusiastically 3 or 4 times and loved the splash factor. I thought, "I'll go get the camera, now that she likes it!" Yeah, she never did it again once the camera came out. But we happily played until it was too dark to see the pattern at the bottom of the baby pool... and we were all dotted with nasty bug bites anyway.

Maddie In the Baby Pool (with a Slide!)

Then Friday we went to Brigantine. Must say, we LOOOOOVE Aunt Laura's choice of residence. Thank you for the use of your awesome beach house, Aunt Laura! Maddie and Aunt Laura got lots of frolic-on-the-beach time. There were those jellies that look like clear Nickelodeon slime, and moon jellies, so we didn't get in the water much. See, I scream like a banshee when I come in contact with these critters. I'd like to blame it on a traumatic tenticled-jelly wrapping around my leg and stinging me repeatedly when I was like 10...but I think I'd still be a sissy about them anyway. (Our first shore trip this summer makes up for dozens of jellyfish-infestations, though. Amazing beach day, that one.) Then we headed to Ocean City and hit the boards. Maddie was mesmerized by the lights and sounds of Wonderland, just like last year. But THIS year, she was big enough to go on the rides. Bob and I have been waiting to put her on the carousel all summer, and nobody was disappointed. She loved it. She rode the firetrucks - gripped the back of the seat with a "this is slightly scary but moreso cool, so I'm liking it" look on her face. She rode in the boats too, and the little boy who sat in the front seat (we said he was her driver) actually looked a bit like Bobby as a kid. She was ok with him (she likes the older men) and she drug her hands along the outside of the boat pond. Bobby even took her on the Elephants (and she liked this more than Bobby did).

Shore Trip

Gotta love a good shore trip:

We Are Family

Wordle is fun.

Rules of Etiquette?

I'm going to piggyback on a Parenting Hacks post (love them, see side bar) today. Here they've listed rules for children's behavior. Maddie's entering the age where we can't smile apologetically in and give the "well, she's just a baby" shrug when she has a tantrum or steals a toy from another kid. I'm not going to say that parents are actually supposed to be in complete control of of their toddler's behavior...but you can sure get the stink eye when they act up in the grocery store. And then there was that little puzzle-stealing incident in the library... Although we've still got a while before door-holding and not slurping soup, I'm sure it's good to know ahead of time the rules you'd like to have in place when your kids are older.

We're big about eating meals together, "please" and "thank you", and "excuse me", right now. We'd also like her to stop tormenting our poor dog. And of course there's the screeching-when-mad thing. But come on, she's 1.

My goal is for my kids is for them to be the kind of kids I love to teach. They don't have to wait to be spoken to to speak all the time, but when they talk to adults, they speak, well, like they're talking adults. There's definitely some etiquette I'd like my kids to have, ideally. I'm not sure how much of our house rules would include these antiquated rules from the 50's listed below... but you never know how rigid I'll get in my old age, as I edge towards 30.

Anybody have to follow these rules when they were kids?
What's your big house rule?

Here are some etiquette “rules” or “suggestions” addressed to children from the 1950s that I found on a loose sheet from an old handbook, I thought they were interesting to share.

Considering that these were standard expectations just 50 years ago, it’s a reminder of how fast things can change.

CHILDREN IN THE HOME

1. Always greet the members of your family when you enter and always bid them goodbye when you leave.
2. Always rise to a standing position when visitors enter, and greet them after your elders.
3. Never address a visitor until he has started the conversation unless he is a person of your own age or younger.
4. Never interrupt a conversation. Wait until the party talking has finished.
5. Always rise when your visitor or your elders stand.
6. Never let your mother or your father bring you a chair or get one for themselves. Wait on them instead of being waited on.
7. If you leave or cross the room you should say “Excuse me.”
8. If a visitor should say, “I am glad to have seen you,” you should say, “Thank you.”
9. Never run up and down the stairs or across the room.
10. Talk in a low, even voice. It denotes refinement.
11. Always give way to the younger child. It is your duty to look after them instead of fretting them.
12. Never retire without bidding the members of your family good night.

Follow these suggestions and you will assist in making the members of your family happy as well as in benefiting them in many other ways.

The next big toy craze ...or a sign of the apocalypse?

What, the Tickle Me Elmo Christmas riots weren't enough?

I can't decide if this is the awesomest toy that I absolutely will be getting for Maddie for her birthday (that will surely help her practice motor skills and speak clearly and enthusiastically to her, developing her verbal and listening skills)...

Or if it pretty much goes against every fiber of my being.

OR if it's a sign that the robots are getting much too intelligent and will one day take over the earth, enslave all humans, and make us wear red fur suits.

Videos Here.

*sigh* ...I think Elmo had me at "Jazz Hands!"

Dad and Cait Visit

Maddie's Granddad (Meg's Dad), and her Aunt Cait paid us a visit this weekend. Below are two albums and some adorable pictures. The highlight of the weekend was our outing to a playground. Enjoy!

Dad and Cait's Visit

Playing at the Park with Dad and Cait

3 New Ones

Believe it or not, there is some sand still left in the sandbox.

Playtime Outside August 2008

Happy 1st Birthday, Lindsey!
(Sorry Maddie was more interested in your presents, cake, and trampoline than you.) The lovely little birthday girl had an awesome party on Saturday.

Lindsey's 1st Birthday Party

C. Shells in concert at Haddon Lake Park.
(Subtitle: More fun with the expensive, on-loan camera)

C. Shells Concert

Goodbye.

John A. Staub 1927 - 2008

Love to a wonderful grandfather.

Obituary

Title: "Shopping Cart Covers Are Not Just For Germaphobes" or "Why I Can't Drink Starbuck's Frappaccino For A While"

Yes, this stuff: And by "shopping cart cover", i mean this thing:
We went to Sam's Club, our fun monthly bulk-shopping that we so enjoy because somehow buying a giant box of rice or 10 cans of soup makes you feel rich and powerful. We grab a cart, and as Bob negotiates Maddie's shoes the the leg holes of the shopping cart cover - the one that I think we don't need anymore because she's getting towards 2 and we're not germaphobes anymore - I notice a large piece of broken glass in the basket of the cart. Disgusted, I throw it out of the cart, and I half-notice a broken Starbuck's Frappacino bottle on the ground next to the cart return. I don't think much of the bottle, because right then I get wolluped in the face by an foul odor. ("Even Stink would say that stinks!")
"Nice. Let's get another cart, " I say. Bob says he smelled it when he got out of the car and he thinks it's garbage water, not the cart, so we should just hurry inside to escape it. Ok, I'm all for no more stink. As we walk inside, we notice the smell is getting worse. "It smells more like somebody threw up, now." Bob says. EW.
We get inside and I notice a wet spot on Maddie's shirt. OH! She must have thrown up! Now I get it. A former refluxer, she still throws up every once in a great while for no reason, and walks away, usually without so much as an "uh-oh". So I of course torture the poor child, now on her 2nd store stop, by wiping her pants, shirt, arms, legs, face, (and hair) with Wet Ones. Ah, throw-up, bye-bye.
Something still stinks. Ok, Maddie, have some water. Still stinks. Have some goldfish, stinky-breath!
It's not so bad once we're shopping, but every time we get walking I notice I smell it again. "It's smelling more like spoiled milk." I say. EW! Did I give Maddie milk that was too old for breakfast? Trying to remember if I'd so much as sniffed the gallon before pouring it in her cup, I search again for throw-up all over my kid, this time thinking it would be resembling spoiled milk. And I'm expecting a call from DYFS on my cell. Nothing, but boy does it smell like something.
In the bakery section I re-torture my poor child with another Wet One. Poor kid. We've been shopping for maybe a half-hour. Then Bob puts dog food in the bottom of the cart and when I look down I (just then!) notice that the cart is very stained and splattered. With something murky-brown. I notice it's on the cart basket, handle, underneath all our stuff, my purse, etc. Lovely...
EW. I think of the one piece of broken glass in our cart, and the broken Frappaccino bottle in the hot parking lot. And it all comes together, and I about puke. EWWWWWWW! There's spoiled, rotting god-knows-how-old Starbucks Frappaccino (mocca flavor, I believe) all over our cart!
We quickly finished shopping, checked out, and put Maddie in the car. (With another once-over with the Wet Ones, because come on, now I'm just skeeved beyond belief. You should have smelled this, the smell itself was diseased.) Then we wiped down every item in our cart with wipes, because that smell was NOT coming into our car, thankyouverymuch! We undoubtedly got some looks; "what kind of clean-crazed freaks wipe down all their groceries with antibacterial wipes?". Side note: I have to say, I'm not a big fan of these wipes. I give the counters a once-over with them every night at home, and that's it. We use with the students at school constantly, but those little germ factories need to stop making me sick. I'm very cool with a decent amount of germs in my house, everybody needs antibodies. No, this is not just my excuse not to clean, but I digress. We were, again, NOT taking that odor home with us. So we scrubbed brown shmutz off our Sam's purchases and belongings, gagging from the smell of spoiled milk mixed with rancid coffee.
So I believe that little (STINKY) episode just talked me into using the shopping cart cover for a few more months, big girl or not. Cause...EW.
Oh, and I used to loooove that Frappaccino stuff. Used to.