Mommage

"Sunny days, sleeping the clouds away...

"On my way to where the air is clean...Can you tell me how to get, how to get to...."

If you have kids or have been a kid yourself these past nearly 40 years, then you know the rest. Sesame Street.

Every morning, the strains of this theme song greet my son and I as I put him in his Exer-saucer while I get ready for work. I'm not usually the type of mom that plops my son down in front of the television all day, but I need the time in the morning to prep for my day and his.

Let Freedom Ring!

If kids came with instructions, at what age would they recommend a child be allowed to ride public transportation alone?  According to Lenore Skenazy, writer of Free Range Kids and columnist for the New York Sun, her nine year old fourth grader was ready to test the waters on a New York City subway.  After writing about her son's experience, saying he was "ecstatic with independence", some parents accused her of child abuse while others praised her for bucking the helicopter parent trend. 

I think the real issue here is whether parents are unnecessarily overprotective, or if they are justified in thinking today's complicated world prohibits children from enjoying the freedom and independence of previous generations.

Let's examine the possibilities.

And The Great Debate Continues....

The other morning, while I had a rare hour to myself, I listened to a local radio show. They were having a listener call-in debate regarding stay-at-home moms versus working ones. Listening to each side argue their point made me all the more angry, first because I don't even think this should be a debate to begin with, and second because each side was so convinced their way was the best that they thought it was the only way.

Which side is correct?

I Choose...Both!

At 28, I'm a bit older than many of my fellow college students.  Since I plan to go to graduate school after completing my bachelor's, I will be in my early to mid 30s by the time I'm done with school.  Recently a woman I know made the comment that she didn't know why I was bothering to go to all this trouble, since of course when I have kids I'll have to choose:  being a good mom or being a good worker.  And of course since I'll be entering my field in my 30s, she reasoned, I'd be having kids almost immediately.  I've been thinking about this a lot recently, and I think I've made my choice.  I choose both.

Now Is Not The Time To Panic

I knew it was going to happen.  It was just a matter of time.  I've started this new job that I dearly dearly love.  Truth be told, I am a bit sensitive at times about making mistakes ~ especially after how I was treated at my last job.  I'm not sure which circle of Hell that place constitutes, but it's on there.

It didn't take too much time for people here to warn me that my boss has a bit of temper.  I'm still not sure if all the warnings were well-meaning or designed to frighten me.

(Almost) Back In the Saddle

Time flies.

I've been on maternity leave since mid-November, and next week Monday I go back to work. I've already gone back to work a couple of days in the past week, but next week I'm officially back all five days.

New Kid On The Block

You use a what?

A dictaphone?

Seriously? 

I have seen them in the black and white legal thrillers ~ you know, the ones with headphones, a microcassette recorder attached and foot pedals to play and rewind. I just never thought I'd be using one to transcribe my new boss' letters and thoughts.  Turns out, he doesn't know how to set up a letter on the computer because no one has ever taken the time to show him.  And apparently files open themselves too ~ he has not clue one how that's done either.  Bills?  Yep, you guessed it.

I'm officially in heaven.

Baby Einstein And Brainy Baby, Do They Help Or Hinder?

So you think you are doing a good thing.  You purchase Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby or similar DVD's to play for your children in the hope it will give them a jump start with their vocabulary and other skills.  Now the experts tell us that instead of helping them these DVDs may in fact be hindering their development.  I came across this article earlier this week when I was at Child Find with my son.  We were there to meet with a speech therapist, to try and determine the reason for my sons speech delay (luckily it just appears to be a small speech delay and his motor and cognitive skills are fine). 

I read this article in total disbelief.  I have done this, happily plunking down the rather high price for these videos hoping to help my son.  Now I read that this may actually have slowed him down somewhat.  I am still struggling with how to feel.  How much weight to give this study.  Wondering how when you truly have the best intentions, you can be doing it all wrong.  I wonder if this is like other studies, you know the ones I am talking about.  This year it is bad, next year it will be the best thing you can do for your child.  Ugh!  What is a parent to do?

--Contributed by Renee

MRSA--Methicillin-Resistant Staph Aureus

As some of you may know, my son was hospitalized in early September for four days.  He had Methicillin-Resistant Staph Aureus also known as MRSA.  This particular strain of staph infection used to only be found in hospitals and nursing homes, now it is being found in the community at an alarming rate.  Here in Virginia a 17 year old male athlete died from MRSA on October 15, and since then many, many cases have been reported all over the state. 

This hits particularly close to home for me because of the fact that my son was hospitalized with this.  Luckily my son is okay, but had to be hospitalized to receive intravenous antibiotics.  My son had a bump just under his nose, it looked sort of like a pimple.  I was not that alarmed until I came home from work the next night to find his lip red and swollen.  We took him to Urgent Care where they placed him on Rocephin by IV and told us to bring him back the next day for another dose.  The next day when I took him, the same doctor that he saw the first day, said that he needed to be admitted because the antibiotic given to him the day before was not working and in fact the infection was spreading.

"Lack of Sleep." It's Not Just For Parents of Newborns, Anymore!

As I sit here, typing my blog through the eyes of a 3-hour sleep, I'm reminded of the years that my kids were little.

I recently switched to second shift at work. I start at 3 p.m. and work until 1 a.m. most nights. Unfortuately when I get home, I'm so wired that I can't usually get to sleep until 4 or 5 a.m. Also unfortunate is the fact that I still wake up somewhat early. I'm told I'll get used to it eventually, but since I'm somewhat of an insomniac even under good conditions, I don't have particularly high hopes.

I was in my late-teens and very early-twenties when I had my kids. The nights of bottle-feedings and diaper changes and going on 1-2 hours of sleep are farther back in my memory than I care to admit. And I find myself wondering, could I do it all again at my age? I know alot of women in their mid-to-late thirties who are just starting out, and I can't even IMAGINE how difficult  it must be, from an energy-level standpoint. My teenage son woke me at 8:30 a.m. this morning, yammering to go to McDonalds to spend his gift-card that his grandfather sent him. That was frustrating enough after three hours of sleep, so I can't even fathom how I would feel if he was still a wailing infant with a dirty diaper or hungry for a bottle.

So how 'bout it, ladies? Are any of you just starting out in your 30s or 40s?  If so, how difficult are the 3 a.m. feedings?

~Contributed by Tracy