why I won’t watch the news

I used to love the news. Looked forward to 6pm so I could get all caught up on what was going on.  When I was a kid, I remember watching the local and world news almost every weeknight.  Always ABC.  World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.  His death in 2005 made me sadder than I would have expected, but it’s because I associated his voice with a part of my youth.

As an adult, the local news became more interesting to me.  I wanted to know what was going on in my community. I follow the local ABC news station on Facebook and receive notifications of breaking news from their app on my phone.  But I don’t watch the news anymore.  I’m more than a little embarrassed to admit that I don’t know what’s going on in the world.  I don’t much care to listen to politicians arguing. Truthfully, I just can’t do it. Not when the kids are awake.  Theo especially is to a point where he is really, really listening.  Questioning.  Thinking.  I choose to preserve his (and Dexter’s) innocence and faith in people for a while longer.  I don’t want to answer their inquiries about why someone shot his wife or what rape means.  Why someone would kill a baby or rob a bank.

A snippet of today’s local headlines?
 – Vandals topple headstones in Southern Indiana
 – Police say man drilled into his own head
 – Truck crashes into home, driver flees
 – PD: 2 escape juvenile detention center; armed and dangerous

No. Thank. You.

The boys understand that there are “bad guys” and police are here to help us if we are in trouble.  For now, that’s all they need to know.  Can we please have a kid-friendly newscast?  Like positive things people are doing for each other and fun events going on around the city?  Yeah…I’m sure someone’s gonna get right on that.

Do you watch the news with your kids?

xo,
~C~

these last two weekends

This past weekend, my mom visited for a few days. It was so, so nice to have her here and not really have anything planned to do. She read lots of “Cat in the Hat” and “Sam I Am” (like both books, every night… and she was here 4 nights) and made lots of no-bake cookies.  Yumm – best thing ever. We ate pizza and visited bookstores and chatted about finances and childcare and how this parenting business is harder than I expected on all kinds of levels.  Grown up business.  Oh, mama.  Then after those wonderful 4 days, she packed back up and went back to Tennessee.  The next time we see her will be in October when we all meet up in Florida for vacation.  Wee!!

The weekend before last, my best friend and her girlfriend came for a visit.  My best friend and I decided about a year ago that too much time was slipping by between our visits.  There’s nothing I’d love more than to have her living down the street.  I long for the kind of friendship here where my friend loves my kids (almost) as much as I do and I wouldn’t hesitate for one second to ask them to watch the boys.  Even better, if she lived here, I know she would ask me when she could watch the boys. Alas, she lives 4 hours away so we have to settle for occasional visits.  For the past year, we’ve set up quarterly visits and it’s working.  She comes here in Jan, Feb, or March.  I go there in April, May, or June.  And so on… so far, so good.  I love seeing my best friend but even more, I love seeing her with my boys and seeing how much they love her.

It was bittersweet watching them leave. Theo and I were outside playing in the sandbox and when they backed out, Theo watched them until their car disappeared down the road with a sad little frown on his face.  I asked him what was wrong and thought his eyes would well up with tears.  It was oddly sad to see how much he loves someone that is not family – but the beauty of it is that he doesn’t even realize that.  The strengths and weaknesses in relationships are magnified with the addition of children.  It’s true – kids change EVERY thing. Every single thing.  Some friendships I had before have all but gone away while others have blossomed.  Priorities change.  A real friend realizes that and accepts it for what it is.  Might not be late night 3 hour long phone calls anymore.  Might be a text at 6:30 am just to say hello.

My friends planned their visit – okay, I planned their visit – around an annual festival here called WAMMfest (Wine, Art, Microbrews, and Music).  My favorite thing is shopping all the local artisans’ booths for one-of-a-kind treasures.

We all got mugs from one of the local pottery artists, Fatty Frogs Pots (please support local businesses and check out her etsy page).
Emily, the bff, enlightened me that this year marks 20 years since we met. Doesn’t seem like either of us should be old enough to have had a friend for that long because one thing’s for sure, we weren’t in diapers when we met.  
We discovered that an abandoned wagon (the boys and Ryan went home for a nap) makes the perfect coffee table. 

20 years in the making and still going strong!

The day was gorgeous. Perfect. No other way to describe it. 

We ran into a friend of mine and her family and spent the last hour or so hanging out with them.  And you know, snapped this pic before I realized it looked like I was nursing my friend’s baby.  He was actually just passed out asleep…but yeah.  AWK-WARD.  P.S. The observant reader might notice that I changed clothes mid-festival.  Yes. That’s because I dumped a bucket of parmesan garlic butter down the front of that pink & blue striped dress, which, coincidentally belongs to the friend pictured here (holding Dexter).  Luckily Ryan came back with the boys – and a dress. 
All in all, our weekends have been pretty fantastic lately.
Now if I could just figure out a way to get my mom AND my bff a lil’ closer….
xo,
~C~

a blast from the past: things Theo said

Woweeee, I just looked at my drafts and found this list of cute things Theo was saying…in February 2012, just before his second birthday. I’d forgotten about a lot of them and it’s remarkable to realize how much his vocabulary and ability to pronounce things has grown in the last year and a half.  He talks like a 6 year old now and rarely mispronounces things.  When he does, I savor it.  The only things I can think of right now, off the top of my head, are “bane-dane” (band-aid) and “read the constructions” (instead of instructions).  I’m sure there are others, but I’ll have to think about it and make a list. Need to make a list for Dexter too!

As a refresher, here’s how Theo looked a year and a half ago…

versus today (literally today…he’s sick with a fever)

And here are a few cute things Theo was saying a year and a half ago…

“Whoozat name?” (whenever he wanted to know what something was or what someone’s name was).

“I hit mommy in the face.  Agaiiiiin.”  (NICE, son.)

“Go to Angie’s house? I so happy!”
“Go to playground? I so happy!”
“Get a new toy? I so happy!”
“Go to store? I so happy!”

Kanket. Two kankets.  Cars Blankie. Too. (I remember him adding “too” as a separate sentence to MANY things that he said).

Mommy do it.

Talkin’ bout

How bout?

E-O’s room

Be right back.

I’ll cwean it up.

daddy wook. mommy here. desser here. (Daddy at work, mommy here, and Dexter here… clearly when I worked third shift, this is kind of sad! I miss our together days).

What cute things are your toddlers saying these days?

xo,
~C~