Thursday, May 22, 2008
Why tantrum should be a verb
I named my blog after a conversation I had with my husband about my youngest son, who is really good at throwing what I call "silent tantrums." At age two, I guess I should be grateful they are silent. J had thrown himself down on the floor in protest over not being able to do something his older brother, age 6, was allowed to do. My husband said, " What's J doing?" And I replied, "He's tantrumming on the floor." Of course, tantrumming isn't actually a word, but it seemed to fit perfectly with what J was doing at the time.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The First One's a Gripe
This is my very first blog, and I am ashamed it took me this long. I have considered myself a writer for almost all of my life, but I have never put it into practice on anything other than my own private paper. I was inspired to give it a try by one of my very best friends who has her own blog. When she and her husband and first child moved overseas several years ago, she would write me the funniest, wittiest emails, and I told her she should try to get them published as a travel writing book-- an American mom's perspective on living in a foreign country. And now she has a great blog about life as a woman, wife, and mother of four kids that makes me laugh everytime I read it. My blog will be my perspective on life, stories about my kids, mom-isms, etc. It's not great literature; it's just the musings of a suburban wife and mother. I can only hope that anyone who takes the time to read this gets as much enjoyment and interest out of it as I have gotten from her blog.
Okay, let's get to the reason I chose today to start blogging. It's a situation that I am sure moms everywhere have experienced. Anyone who has tried to strap a squirming toddler into a five-point harness knows that it is not something one can do in under ten seconds. (Well, maybe a few supermoms out there can.) When my two boys and I were getting into my car in the parking lot of a store today, my six-year-old, B, jumped in quickly on his side, and I struggled with my two-year-old, J, trying to make sure he didn't dart away. The man and woman who were parked next me came up as I was trying to help J into his seat. He was trying to climb up all by himself, and I was trying to just get him strapped in quickly. I smiled and said, "I'm almost done. Give me just a minute." The man waited for three whole seconds before he pushed past me with his large body to squeeze into his over-sized truck. Right as he came up behind me, I fastened the last clip and stepped sideways to shut the door, almost impaling my backside on his door edge because he was parked backwards. Why is it that people are so impatient? Is it a general impatience, or is it directed at people with kids? I wanted to tell him off, but B is a very good listener (when it's something I'm not asking him to do). If the guy had waited two more seconds, I would have been out of his way. And not be petty, but I was there FIRST!!
On the way home, we stopped at Sonic for grilled cheese sandwiches. Apparently that old adage about nothing tasting better than Mom's cooking doesn't apply to my kids. (And I make a mean grilled cheese!) My oldest, B, likes orange soda, but they don't have orange soda, so I always ask them to put orange syrup in his Sprite. It's worked great so far, but today B refused to drink it, saying it tasted "funny." I had a sip, and it actually did taste strange, so I asked the carhop to bring us a plain Sprite. We were sitting at the outside tables, and the food had just been deleivered, so I was taken aback when the voice on the speaker said in a snotty voice, "Only if he hasn't drunken most of it," making him both rude and grammar-challenged. I replied as stiff and controlled as I could, "It is full all the way to the top. It was just delivered." I used to work in restaurants, so I understand where he was coming from, but his attitude was very discourteous, something you don't want to be when you work in customer service. The boy who delivered the new drink was very nice, so that helped a little.
It sure is nice to have adult conversation, even if it is a bit one-sided at this point.
Okay, let's get to the reason I chose today to start blogging. It's a situation that I am sure moms everywhere have experienced. Anyone who has tried to strap a squirming toddler into a five-point harness knows that it is not something one can do in under ten seconds. (Well, maybe a few supermoms out there can.) When my two boys and I were getting into my car in the parking lot of a store today, my six-year-old, B, jumped in quickly on his side, and I struggled with my two-year-old, J, trying to make sure he didn't dart away. The man and woman who were parked next me came up as I was trying to help J into his seat. He was trying to climb up all by himself, and I was trying to just get him strapped in quickly. I smiled and said, "I'm almost done. Give me just a minute." The man waited for three whole seconds before he pushed past me with his large body to squeeze into his over-sized truck. Right as he came up behind me, I fastened the last clip and stepped sideways to shut the door, almost impaling my backside on his door edge because he was parked backwards. Why is it that people are so impatient? Is it a general impatience, or is it directed at people with kids? I wanted to tell him off, but B is a very good listener (when it's something I'm not asking him to do). If the guy had waited two more seconds, I would have been out of his way. And not be petty, but I was there FIRST!!
On the way home, we stopped at Sonic for grilled cheese sandwiches. Apparently that old adage about nothing tasting better than Mom's cooking doesn't apply to my kids. (And I make a mean grilled cheese!) My oldest, B, likes orange soda, but they don't have orange soda, so I always ask them to put orange syrup in his Sprite. It's worked great so far, but today B refused to drink it, saying it tasted "funny." I had a sip, and it actually did taste strange, so I asked the carhop to bring us a plain Sprite. We were sitting at the outside tables, and the food had just been deleivered, so I was taken aback when the voice on the speaker said in a snotty voice, "Only if he hasn't drunken most of it," making him both rude and grammar-challenged. I replied as stiff and controlled as I could, "It is full all the way to the top. It was just delivered." I used to work in restaurants, so I understand where he was coming from, but his attitude was very discourteous, something you don't want to be when you work in customer service. The boy who delivered the new drink was very nice, so that helped a little.
It sure is nice to have adult conversation, even if it is a bit one-sided at this point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
