Fifth Disease

Have you ever heard of Fifth Disease? Neither had I.

Apparently it's actually kind of a common virus, but because it can come and go with very mild symptoms, many people are not aware that they ever had it.

I am pretty sure that this is what our Little P had this past month.

So here's the scoop on classic Fifth symptoms:

1. It can start with mild cold-like symptoms or a fever. The low fever will often last 8-10 days. Little P spent a day throwing up and then had a 102 degree fever off and on for nine days. He also complained that his tummy hurt. We went to the doctor on the ninth day and they checked for a bladder infection (catheter...ouchie!), but the results came back negative. Everyone was puzzled as to why he had a fever. The very next day the fever broke, and...

2. When the fever has broken, or when the child's body has conquered the virus, he will break out in a lacy sort of rash. His cheeks might be flushed as if they had been slapped. The rash will appear on the torso and may spread outward to the extremities, but will not be present on the palms or soles.

Little P's rash was flat and not too red. His cheeks are always a bit flushed, but they took on a lumpy appearance.

Once the rash appears, the child feels fine and is no longer contagious. The rash can appear darker/redder when the child is in the sun. This was true for Little P.

3. The rash can fade a few days or weeks later. Little P's lasted only two days.



Fifth Disease got its name from long back - it was one of the common rashy childhood diseases along with measles, scarlet fever, rubella, and Fourth Disease. If this is truly what he had, then Little P is now immune for life!

Stranger Danger

Oh, this kind of thing makes me very sad. Here are two links to different entries on the Free Range Kids blog about the crazed nature of Stranger Danger parenting.

The first talks about how two different men felt they cannot help a lost/hurting child because of what could be said or done to them by people who think any man in a child's life is a pervert. This, in the midst of the tragic lack of responsible, loving father figures amongst American kids. Check out these statistics, in particular, scroll down to the part about boys and their fathers...or these stats on boys growing up without father figures. We need men in our children's lives, and we need to acknowledge that not all men whom we do not yet know have slimy intentions.

The first piece.

This other piece is from a woman's perspective, but it shows how some parents can go overboard in their fear-based parenting.  I don't understand this thinking because I value, I mean, really value community. I want to know my neighbors.  I want people to smile at my son at the park or the grocery store.  I want him to learn to be open and polite, to treat people with dignity and respect...not fear and rudeness. I believe, as the guest blogger in this piece shares, that it is indeed possible to teach a child safety without instilling fear and the tendency to overreact.

The second piece.

Your thoughts?

Start Saving Now!

Money matters. It would be nice to live in a world where it didn't, but that is not our reality. Financial responsibility is important to The Papa and me. So much so that we have put ourselves on a really strict budget for this coming year. We spent our twenties being free-wheeling do-gooders, volunteering as teachers in other countries and job hopping "for the experience." The Papa even spent way too much time in school earning a Master's degree.

We are now trying to make up for lost time - saving for retirement, saving for another adoption, saving for a new car (we avoid paying for our life on credit), saving for future college expenses for our future kids, saving for a trip to Spain that we'd like to take in two years for our tenth anniversary. That means A LOT of not-spending right now.

While we've managed to avoid being foolish with our money, we definitely have not been proactive about finances until the last few years. If we can, we'd like to impart our little bit of wisdom in this area to our children. So here's how we've begun...

Little P now has a piggy bank. Actually, his is a decoupaged Zoo News bank made out of an Ovaltine can. But whatever. We gave him some change found in the junk drawers and laundry cabinet. The Papa even donated a real paper dollar to the cause. He can now save for the lovely items he looks at in the Lakeshore catalog.

Yes. He loves to read through the Lakeshore catalog. He asks questions about the colorful objects that are found therein.

He can also learn the value of money. Here's a little conversation he had with The Papa tonight:

LP: picking up a dime to put in the bank

Papa: Benjamin, that's a dime.

LP: Nooooooo.

Papa: Yes, that's a dime. It's the same as ten pennies.

LP: No, Papa. It's a circle!

Little P was SUPER excited to put coins into the can. I mean, we are going to have to keep an eye on all the dumping of money that is likely to occur just so he can reinsert the coins. After the initial explanation and plunking of coins, I ran across a nickel in my pocket and called Little P to come get it. He came running, shouting with glee even, to take the nickel and go put it in his bank.

And on THAT note, we'll leave you with some photos.   

Parents, how are you teaching your kids about money management? Do share!

What We Do With Books

Our recent big trip to the library yielded a few cute books...at least Mama liked them. See, there has been this idea knocking around in Mama's head, this idea to start using books as a basis for activities. Teachers do it in school, why not start this cross curriculum thing at home?

Our first attempt involved the monsters. A month or so ago, Mama brought home a one-dollar cardboard monster. He had a blank face and body so that a child could design his appearance with stickers. Little P liked this for about three minutes. With such a cute book on hand, as well as the need to start truly pottying on the toilet, Mama thought it would be fun to revive the monster and try to potty train him.

Little P was NOT into this book. Granted, as cute as it was, it really seemed laid out for a much older child. It has talking and thought bubbles, text scattered around the page...stuff that is tied in graphically, but does not make a lot of sense to a toddler.

Attempt #1: Not very good.



So here is Mama's next attempt. Baghead. A story about a little boy who decides to wear a bag on his head all day. No one knows why until the end of the day when he reveals that he had cut a chunk of his hair and was embarrassed.



Mama thought it would be terribly fun to make our own bagheads.



Little P did NOT concur. These shots document the one and only time he even tried to put the bag on his head. He got it on and then freaked out. No way. He was not having it.



As it turns out, Little P is a big fan of the familiar. He likes to read books he has seen hanging out on his shelf. He is not interested in finding a new book at the library, and he seems to have this same aversion to library books brought home. Perhaps a phase?

Attempt #2: Even worse.

We'll try again next month.

Eight years!

Today The Papa and I mark our 8th wedding anniversary. We celebrated last night by reading through some of our letters from the one and a half years of our courtship that occurred while living on the other side of the world from each other. There are hundreds of letters, some being 30+ pages in length, a few being postcards. We only got through a handful of them, but we have pledged to continue the experiment throughout the year. We leave you with this photo, taken at some point during our unofficial engagement.

Why and Why Not?

Until this week, Little P's favorite questions have included: "Wha's dat, Mama?" and "Wha's dat sound, Mama?"

A few days ago he asked me, "Why the sand in the shoes, Mama? Why?"  I was wondering when the "why" questions would surface. And now they have.  Just that once, but he knows what it means to ask why. It's not long now.

So, overheard in the bathtub tonight:


Why not, dinosaur? Why not?  Dinosaur, why not?
Do you want to swim with Benjamin? 
Do you want to swim, dinosaur?


Nope. (He spoke for the dinosaur.)



Why not, dinosaur? Why not want to swim?

The dinosaur had no further response.

Baby Face

Benjamin likes to watch videos of himself. What kid doesn't?!

One of the things he came up with was a baby face, based on this video. He squints his eyes and looks off to the side. He especially likes to do the baby face when I wrap him up in a towel after the bath and carry him in my arms like a baby. Hilarious.

Books and Art

June marked the month when Little P got his first library card. Our library likes for kids to have their own cards, so voila! He got one.



One of the neat things about Escondido's attempts to beautify its public buildings is that children's art has been incorporated around town. These tiles were painted by students in the various schools.



Look closely and you'll notice the impact the San Diego County fires have had on our children. Surely some of the teachers suggested honoring the firefighters who are real heroes in our area. Still, some of the depictions are pretty touching.



The tiles line the walls of the staircase leading to the children's section.



What is up with the expression on his face here?! He looks like trouble, but I've never noticed this look before. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.



Please pardon the blurriness of this photo. I almost missed him running in altogether; he's so fast these days.



The children's section has this beautiful African savannah theme.



Of course I love it.



Little P always spends some of his time there playing with other kids. The Jeep is his favorite thing.



Fearsome and beautiful, no?







Little P is learning to check out his own books. He carries them in a bag given to us by a friend in Albany - a special bag to be used for library trips, she said.



More blurry shots - sorry! Ready to go home!

Chores

I am a mama who believes in the value of chores. Anyone who has been around teenagers lately will agree that something has to be done to weed out the natural inclination toward a sense of entitlement. Chores are one of the ways parents can bring some intentionality to child-rearing and instill a sense of community and responsibility in a child.

So how does Little P help out around the house?



He puts away silverware, of course!



The wonderful thing about this is that he thinks it's fun to sort. He also gets to practice skills like paying attention to the similarities and differences of what he's sorting. Once he became frustrated as he attempted to stuff a big spoon in a little spoon's place. We talked about size and compared it to the other spoons. Little P figured out that it was actually a big spoon, and he did it mostly on his own!



He also assists with watering the potted plants outside. He tries to sweep with the hand-held broom when I use the big broom, and he has a child-sized pretend vacuum which he uses when I vacuum.

We also work on him cleaning up his own messes (in his room, at the dinner table, any accidents or spills) as much as possible.

Mamas...what do you expect of your toddlers? I'm curious about other ways you have incorporated your little people into care for the household!

Potty Training Editorial

This is a good little reminder of an alternative perspective. I think, as a mama in the throes of potty training a two-and-a-half year old, I would like to work on having child #2 using a toilet much earlier. I did not get really serious until a month or two ago, and I am so over poopy diapers.

THE ARTICLE

10 Facts About a Boy...at two-and-a-half

1. Benjamin's favorite bedtime story (for now) is The Tale of Peter Rabbit. He asks for it every night. (Such a naughty little bunny...)

2. Rockets are his most recent obsession. It all started with a video from the library.

3. One moment, he's all snuggly. The next, he's running completely in the other direction because you said you want to hug him.

4. He has great aim.

5. He no longer wants Mama to sing to him before bed. Kisses are also usually refused.

6. He can potty on the toilet when he feels like it. He always feels like "watering" the plants.

7. A favorite expression of his is, "You're kidding me!"

8. He likes to climb the spiral staircase to the loft so he can just hang out on the guest bed.

9. Mama bought him an elementary science book that appears to have been published in the '70's at a garage sale for 25 cents. We keep it in the car. He will read that thing the entire time we are driving - studying the picture of a skunk or a frog for 20 minutes.

10. He still puts everything in his mouth: chalk, paint, paint chips, rocks, dirt, stickers, soap, small bugs, dog food, the coffee table, the window sill, the wooden stool, toilet paper, scissors, pens, crayons, and hot dogs found on the ground.

BenTV 012: Del Mar Sunset

On the evening of July 3rd, we headed out to the beach for some family time, totally forgetting that the San Diego Fair would be shooting off fireworks that night. Fortunately we were able to get out of the traffic and find parking on a side street. We spent an hour just enjoying the beauty of the sunset and letting the dog run around.




Note: I have been trying to figure out the best way to post videos, and I think I finally found it. From now on I will be using YouTube rather than Vimeo because it gives you the option to view it in full screen. That beats the little tiny player on the blog. Enjoy!

Note #2: Duh. Vimeo gives you that option, too. I just didn't see it.

Sleepyhead

And this is how we ALL felt following a lovely Fourth of July afternoon at the Bouris Ranch. More photos to come. Mama is hitting the hay, right no...

Can't help himself...

Mama had baked brownies for a party hosted by The P-Pod this evening. The brownies were cut and sitting on a nice platter on the counter.
Little P got up from his nap. He entered the kitchen, spied the brownies, and immediately decided to sit on the stool adjacent to the platter.

LP:  Mama, what are these?

Mama: Those are brownies.

LP:  Mama, I just gonna smell the brownies. (big sniff, millimeters away from the brownies' edge)

Mama continues chopping vegetables.

LP: Mama, these smell delicious. (pointing at the brownies, then touching the brownies)

Mama: Benjamin, you can smell the brownies, but please don't touch them.

LP: (inhaling) Mmmm, Mama, these smell DELICIOUS.

Mama: Yes, Benjamin, they smell like chocolate.

LP: (nose is touching the brownies as he inhales) Mmmmm, the brownies smell like chocolate CAKE!

Mama: Please don't touch the brownies, even with your nose.

LP: (leans forward to smell again, nose and lips are now touching the brownies)

Mama: OK, that's enough. You need to move. Either get down or sit on the other stool.

LP moves to the other stool further away from the platter of brownies.

LP: Mmmm, I smell the chocolate brownies. (he leans toward the platter of brownies) They smell GOOD.

Of Course!

Little P picks up the rod that is in the track of the sliding glass door of Mama's bedroom. He then holds it up to the hanging plant in the corner. He starts waving it around amongst the leaves.

Mama: Hey, you can put the pole up there, but please don't hit the plant.

LP:  I not hitting the plant.

Mama:   Oh. What are you doing, then?

LP:  I picking adocados.

Note: Grandma has avocado trees on her property. One of their favorite pastimes is to go out with the picker (a wire basket on the end of a long expandable pole) and pick avocados.  Sometimes he brings home adocados that he has picked for Mama.

BenTV 011: Dancin' Man

Check out our boy's SA-WEET moves!

Comparisons

Benjamin is really into comparing things.  You can see him processing the characteristics of things, which he then likes to discuss. Some examples:

• Papa is big, and Benjamin is little. (pronounced li-doe)
• Benjamin is crying like a baby.
• That police car has a siren like a ambulance.
• The giraffe has a long neck. The elephant doesn't have a long neck. 
•  The cactus is sharp like a scissors.
• The blender is loud like a airplane!
• Benjamin has a penis like Buckley.

We'll stop there...

A Typical Conversation - #1

Benjamin is climbing the stairs. Mama is not worried. Benjamin begins to hang out through the bars. This worries Mama a bit.

Mama: Benjamin, you can keep climbing, but please don't hang your body out between the bars.

LP: (hangs just his head out between the bars)

Mama: Not even your head. Not any part of your body.

LP: (hangs just part of his head out between the bars)

Mama: Oh, dear. I'm afraid you need to come down from there.

LP: No way, Mama! No way!   (sits down on the step stubbornly)

Mama: Hmm...how sad. It looks like you might need a spanking to help you remember how to obey Mama.

LP: No way, Mama!   (rapidly scoots his way to the bottom of the stairs)

Grapes on a Summer Eve