It's here! Finally! After months of waiting, dozens of SSOs, 4982 PB&Js and about a million loads of laundry, the official day of my book release has arrived.
Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, my book has arrived in the middle of a RECESSION.
With that in mind, I wanted to do something fun for my faithful readers who can't afford to drive all the way to Chicago for my official book launch party.
This week, I'm offering two people the chance to win an exclusive, digital copy of the first chapter of my book, Because I Said So, signed by me and my kids.
To enter, all you need to do is sign up for my mailing list. I'll draw two names from the list this Friday, April 3rd.
So you'll actually have a signed, limited-edition, future collector's item. Even if I don't end up on the NYT bestseller list for all eternity, my kids will each be president or a nobel peace prize winner, or inventor of a cure for cancer so their signatures are and will always be priceless. (Just go with me on this one!)
Ready to enter?
Just fill out the form below: (If you've already subscribed, don't worry. You're automatically entered into the drawing.) And yes, I promise to keep your information strictly confidential. It will never be shared, used for spam, or even bartered for rum or chocolate. Honest.
My kids went back to school today! You'd think that things would've settled down here, huh? Notsomuch.
Here's my son Clayton. He's 5. I know, I know, he looks much older, no? Austin drew a beard and mustache on him with black Sharpie. You know, because Austin's 14. And he doesn't know any better. Because he's only 14. Ahem.
I made Austin scrub it off with baby oil and it worked fairly well. Clay only had a 5:00 shadow when he went to school this afternoon.
This is Brooklyn eating her breakfast. Clay made her breakfast. Wasn't that sweet of him? Cheerios and whipped cream. No, I don't worry about her growth being stunted. Why do you ask?
This is Clay's air force. He folds a dozen or so airplanes a day. I find them everywhere. For the price of a pack of cheap paper, he's had weeks of entertainment. I think he's planning an attack on Florida right now. (It's the only geographic area he's heard of.)
Brooklyn tried to fly today. I think Clay may have given her a little push. She did manage to get airborne for a few seconds. Unfortunately she landed face-first into the couch and got herself a black eye.
From Chicago, where it snows in the middle of a baseball game, it's Sunday Sound Out with Dawn Meehan! Tonight: answers to your questions and musical guests REO Speedwagon! And now, the woman responsible for bringing back parachute pants, leg warmers, and Clicker curling irons, it's Dawn Meehan!
Haven't you always wanted an awesome refrigerator blog button? Sure you have! And now you can have your very own Because I Said So blog button! Here it is:
Is that awesome or what?! You can just scroll down and take a peek on my left side bar to grab the code to install your very own! Thanks Pulsepoint! You guys ROCK!
If you haven't yet, you can order my book HERE! Order it, read it, love it, then email me and tell me how awesome I am. All the cool kids are doing it. Well, my kids have yet to tell me how awesome I am, but other cool kids are doing it! And thank you to the people who left such nice reviews about my book on Amazon!
Do you guys know Jenny from "Jenny On The Spot" fame? Well, you should! She's absolutely hilarious! She cracks me up! And she likes glitter. I like everything about her. Well, except the fact that she runs. That's just wrong. But she wrote up this great blog post about her, I mean, me! You have to check it out HERE!
If you left a comment to win a Peek, check back HERE to see if you were one of the winners.
And now, your questions answered...
You have such a gorgeous smile! How long did you wear braces as a kid? Thank you. I had seriously messed up teeth as a kid because I was a huge thumb sucker. Don't you remember this picture?
I don't really remember how many years I wore braces though.
My question is....would you still write your blog if you thought noone was reading? Absolutely! No one listens to me when I talk here at home yet I continue to blabber on and on. I'd continue to write even if no one read it. In fact, when I first started my blog, I only had like 5 readers and yet I continued to post every day.
PS: how was that Toast Brooklyn made you?? was she cooking it in the BBQ? Yummo!! Brooklyn and Lexi "cook" for me daily. I can't even tell you the amount of plastic food I've "eaten" in the past year. Let's just say that if it was real food, I'd weigh at least 600 pounds right now.
Austin had the best line in your video blog when he reported that he was "cooperating" and appearing in your video blog. Typical 14 yo response. HA! You should've seen the first take! Because of his less-than-wonderful attitude, we had a talk about cooperation before shooting again. He and Savannah don't really want to be featured on a video seen round the world. I have to respect that, but I asked them to cooperate for the intro video at least.
So...you are having a book signing, how exciting. I'm sure you have seen the write up on their site "Come meet the next Irma Bombeck, Dawn Meehan, mommy-blogger, as she talks about and signs her new book, "Because I Said So." the next Irma- yowza! Yeah, and you know the first thing that came to my mind? They spelled Erma incorrectly! LOL! Yes, I'm having a book signing at The Book Stall in Winnetka (north of Chicago). Anyone within, oh say, 6 hours, needs to come to the signing!!! I have this fear I'm going to be sitting there twiddling my thumbs for two hours. Please come out and say "hi"!!! It's Saturday, April 4th from 2:00 to 4:00! YOU CAN GET DETAILS HERE!
Should I just buy my book there so you can sign it? If I buy it from Amazon it may not arrive in time and then I'd have to stalk you for a signature - not cool. Tell me what to do. I think you should order at least 12 copies from Amazon to give to all your friends and if they don't arrive in time, you can buy another dozen or so from The Book Stall. What? I have 6 kids to put through college!
I also thought we were hearing from your hubby Joe! I was kind of excited! I mean your friend Joe is a great writer, but why not let hubby Joe say a few things one of these days? Sorry to disappoint you, but Joe's not much of a talker and he's definitely not a writer. He's never expressed an interest in saying anything on here either.
SSO- If asked, would you go on Dancing With the Stars?? ROFL! Ummm, no. I dance like Elaine. Only a little worse.
I know, I know I haven't been posting on here too much lately. I'm sorry, but I was trying to hang out with the kids more this past week since they were home for spring break. I've also had a sudden surge in email with people writing to tell me that they've read my book and love it. That is the awesome kind of mail I love to get! But that, in combination with some articles and such I've needed to write had me chained to my computer on Friday. I had to ignore the kids encourage the kids to play with each other while I plowed through some mail. When I finally looked up from my laptop several hours later, this is what I discovered.
Yeah, I guess they hadn't trashed the room too badly.
Let's take a closer look...
a sippy cup full of cottage cheese, dirty socks and some green Play Doh ground into the carpet.
Another cup with some nasty milk in it.
A glob of Play Doh on the couch because when I tell Brooklyn, "Keep the Play Doh at the kitchen table" she thinks it means, "Squish it into the couch, carpet, TV, her hair, the bathroom floor, her highchair, inside the Cars DVD case, and pretty much anywhere else she goes."
Yet more green Play Doh...
On the table we have dishes left out because my kids think the dish fairy puts them in the dishwasher for them. (By the way, in the red bowl is a piece of coconut cream pie that Austin made from scratch. I think he did something wrong though because it turned out pretty soupy, but I thought it was pretty cool that he took on a project like that. I'm still holding out hope that he'll make a good husband who can cook someday.)
On the kitchen counter, we have a package of waffles left thawing out and getting dry and gross. Clay made himself 4 waffles. You know, because we have a 4 slot toaster, so why not?
And let's not forget the glob of butter smeared on my kitchen floor.
Here we have the empty waffle box. The garbage can is about a foot away, but clearly, Clay was exhausted from smearing the butter around with diaper wipes so he didn't have the energy to open the cabinet door and throw it away.
It's still spring break here and I'm trying to stay away(ish) from the computer and hang out with the kids.
I've just got to say that although we're going through some tough times and changes, my kids have been AWESOME! I cannot say enough about Austin and Savannah right now. I've been so proud of both of them today! (Don't let it go to your heads, guys. I'm sure I'll be back to complaining about your teenage ways in another day or two.) ;)
Austin and Savannah sometimes use the expression "you got served!" As in: 1. A slang expression that is usually used when someone proves that they are better than someone else. 2. Another way of saying "You got burned!" For example: Those shoes are so ugly. Not as ugly as you are. Oooo, you just got served!
OK, well Clay has caught onto this. (You can always tell the little kids who have older brothers and sisters by their speech!) The only problem is, he doesn't know what he's saying. He says, "You just got deserved." For example: You can't throw. Oh yeah? Well you throw like a girl! Oooo, you just got deserved!
You have a problem. No, you don't have a problem. You have many problems. Oooo, you just got deserved!
Now, Austin and Savannah have adopted Clay's new saying into their vernacular. These guys just crack me up. Life would be so dull without them.
I'm trying to stay away from my computer a little more this week since it's spring break in my neck o' the woods. (I didn't say I was doing a good job at it; just that I was trying!) Anyway, tonight I have a guest post from a fellow writer, stay-at-home parent, and friend from high school. Meet Joe. Then check out his website!
My name is Joe Konrath, and I'm a stay at home dad.
I'm fortunate that my career--fiction writing--allows me to be home full-time with my son, whom I love dearly and whose name escapes me at the moment.
My wife (I think her name is Maria) owns her own dog walking business. That means she's out all day, leaving the household in my care. So I'm responsible for the cooking, the cleaning, and helping our child with his homework, while also working as a novelist with seven published books.
What's my secret? How can I balance being a good father and taking care of everything that needs to be done around the house with a lucrative career in the arts, while remaining happy, healthy, and stress-free?
The answer is simple: I cut corners, do a half-assed job, and let things work themselves out. Because unless someone is bleeding so badly it doesn't stop after forty minutes, chances are I'm not really needed.
Here are my tips on how you can shirk as much responsibility as I do and still have a happy, healthy, somewhat stable child.
Tip 1: Make the children become self-sufficient. One of my favorite photos of our son is from when he was three years old, making himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his face covered with a good amount of each. A close friend of mine, also male, told me, "How can you make him do that himself? Are you so lazy you can't make a sandwich for your kid?"
Yes. Yes I am that lazy. But that's not the point. Why should I make him lunch when he can do it himself? What is that teaching him? Especially when he can plainly see I'm checking my ranking on Amazon.com for the fifth time that day?
My son is now eleven. He gets up and ready for school by himself, and as been doing that since Kindergarten. He makes his own breakfast and lunch. He also makes dinner for the family once a week, without any help from me, though I am nearby shouting helpful advice such as, "Don't burn yourself" and "Get the steak away from the dog and rinse it off, Mom won't know."
Tip 2: If you're able to tune your children out, they quickly learn problem solving skills without you. These are skills that carry on into adult life. Skills such as putting on their own Band-Aids, basic grooming, laundry, and homework. Especially homework. I think I'm going to print up some T-Shirts that say, "I Am Not Google." I bet a lot of parents would buy them.
Some tricks for tuning your kids out include: feigning sleep, pretending not to hear them, typing something at your computer when they walk into the room (this only works if you're a writer), and turning the tables by asking them what time they're making dinner tonight.
Tip 3: Bribe them. Sure, learning responsibility helps build character and makes your kids into functional, well-rounded adults, but chances are they won't go for it unless they get an allowance. I currently pay my son nine-hundred and eighty dollars a week.
Tip 4: Show them and tell them you love them. The more my son is able to help himself and take care of things around the house, the more quality time I'm able to spend with him, because I'm not locked into doing all of these things myself.
For example, we just spent 18 hours together, father and son bonding while playing Resident Evil 5. Videogames gave us a chance to address some important family issues, such as: How many bullets to the head does it take to drop a zombified alligator, why we need to take turns holding the hand grenades, and how it was his fault, not mine, we lost that last boss fight because he was too busy opening crates to find extra health while I was getting chewed on.
But, Joe, you may ask, what about house cleaning? Didn't you say earlier that you're responsible for the house cleaning?
I am responsible for it, and it's totally my fault that the house cleaning doesn't get done. Usually my wife gets so sick of living in a pig sty that she spends her day off cleaning up. She's usually vocal about it, too, interrupting whatever videogame I'm playing with my son.
How rude.
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JA Konrath is the writer of the Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels series of thrillers, each named after a drink. The sixth, Cherry Bomb, comes out in July. The books are equal parts humor and suspense, sort of a cross between Janet Evanovich and James Patterson. He's also the author of the horror novel, Afraid, written under the pen name Jack Kilborn. Afraid comes out March 31, and Joe insists its the scariest book ever written. But if you're a parent, there probably isn't much left that can scare you, so you should check it out. You can visit Joe at his website,http://jakonrath.com/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And check out my review and giveaway for a Peek email/texting device HERE!
Well, it's official. I'm now a video-blogger for Guideposts! Check out the first episode HERE! There will be many more to come.
(Karen, you did an awesome job editing!)
And, no one got all the ingredients right on Clay's experiment. His experiment consisted of water, soft soap, cut-up banana peels, sliced bananas, mini pretzel twists, dirt, sand, rocks, grass, and sticks. he stirred it with a section of Hot Wheels race track. Yep, easy to see why he thought it would explode, huh? (I have no idea!)
Because no one got more than 4 (including the water) ingredients right, I randomly picked a winner for the $10 Dunkin Donuts card. Donna from PA who said.... "I love how you let us guess at these things! I'm going to say it's water, some sort of soap, mini marshmallows, rocks and some dirt? Whatever it is, it's pretty gross!Also, some advice if you're going to run away. . .try not to drive off of a cliff. We'd miss you waaaay too much! ;)Donna in PA :)"
Congrats! Email me at mom2my6pack@aol.com with your shipping address so I can pop the card in the mail to you. :)
We all survived the first day of spring break here. And it was a rainy day too! Pray we can make it another 6 days, 6 hours, and 50 minutes (not that I'm counting or anything.)
Check out my review and chance to win a Peek email/texting device HERE!
From Chicago, where the weather changes fourteen times in one day, it's Sunday Sound Out with Dawn Meehan! Tonight: answers to your questions and musical guests Audio Adrenaline! And now, the Queen of Procrastination, Dawn Meehan!
That shirt is awesome that your parents gave you. Do you know where they got it from? OK, my mom got the shirt from this place - http://www.fbcdesigns.com/. I know it doesn't look like she sells shirt, but my mom swears this is where she got it.
what is that box next to you on the floor. It look like a rubics cube. It's a box that looks like a Rubik's Cube.
LOVE this song,Dawn! Do you remember dancing to this song while pregnant with Austin at my wedding? Of course I remember! I looked like Shamu, all pregnant and huge, in a black and white dress at your wedding! LOL! (This is a picture from my friend, Jen's wedding.)
I hope you are kidding about Brooklyn pooping out the Indiana Jones figure?! Nah, I wouldn't kid about that. Now if I said she pooped out a lightsaber, you can be like 80% sure I'm kidding.
Uhhh stupid question but what's Ex Libris? You know those stickers you had as a kid that said, "This book belongs to...."? It's just a sticker I would autograph for you to put inside your book. You know, the book that you've all gone and ordered so I can put my 6 kids through college. That book. What? You haven't ordered it yet? What are waiting for??? Go HERE, HERE, or HERE and get your copy now! All the cool kids are doing it!
Did you find out why Indy was in Brooklyn's mouth to begin with? Because she couldn't find the marble-sized crystal skull.
Wait - didn't Brooklyn just turn 3? Are you telling me that magic fairies don't come in the night to sprinkle no-more-choking dust on sleeping children on their 3rd birthdays?! Uhhh, yeah, sure. That's exactly what happens. (I didn't want to spoil this reader's fantasy.)
Are you going to send the figurine to Harrison Ford? Let him know what fans the Meehan children are? Hmmm, do you think that would result in a restraining order?
Has anyone contacted you to submit a story and/or be a permanent writer for ABC's new show "In the Motherhood"? Nope. I think it would pretty fun to work on my own sitcom! I'd love to see some family-friendly sitcoms out there. What ever happened to stuff like The Cosby Show and Full House and all those shows we used to watch? There's not a whole lot of kid-friendly programming out there today.
The novelty of childrearing sort of wears off after 13 years, doesn't it? That's what I find, anyway. LOL!!! You crack me up, Suburban Correspondent!
Have you ever posted your birth stories? I'd love to hear them. Nope. Thanks to pregnancy amnesia, it was hard enough remembering them for my second book which is about pregnancy!
Here's a question for Sunday: at what age did your kids stop napping? I think all but Savannah gave up naps the day they turned 2. I cried each time. Seriously, naps are so wasted on the young.
And to everyone who got my Pretty Woman reference in my "I'm Running Away" post, you're my best friends forever.
And to all my high school friends who met me Friday for a fun night out reminiscing and having a great time, THANK YOU!!!
This afternoon I decided I was going to run away from home. Brooklyn doesn't nap anymore and hasn't for a long time. However, she sometimes falls asleep in the early evening before bedtime. Then she'll wake up around 10:00 PM and be wide awake party-girl for hours. She did this last night. She finally fell asleep at 2:00 AM. No problem except I didn't get any work done last night, so I attempted to do it today. Big mistake. Big. Huge. Brooklyn was stroppy (I was talking to friend from across the pond last night. I'm being British today.) because she didn't get enough sleep last night so she spent the morning whining. I mean, more than usual. Clay saw this as an opportunity to make me insane bug her and make her scream all day. Those two usually get along smashingly.
Because I was trying to work, Clay decided to do a 'speriment. This experiment of his consisted of filling a huge bowl with water.
He did this in his bedroom.
Let's take a closer look, shall we?
To this bowl, he added a variety of things. I was going to list them all, but I think it'll be more fun to make a contest out of it. I haven't done a gross food find contest in a while. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think he put in this 'speriment of his to win a $10 Dunkin' Donuts card. The first person to guess all the ingredients will win. Or if no one gets it right, the first person to guess the most ingredients will win. I'll announce the winner on Monday.
When I saw it, I calmly asked, "CLAYTON!!! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?!!! I THOUGHT YOU AND BROOKLYN WERE PLAYING IN THERE! WHAT IS THIS??? WHY, WHY WHYYYYYY???!!!!"
He looked at me, taken aback, then he proudly announced, "It's my 'speriment!"
"Your 'speriment? What kind of experiment is this? Why did you do this?"
"I wanted to see it explode," came his simple answer.
"You wanted to see it explode? Did you think a bowl of [these ingredients] would explode???"
"Yes."
"Brilliant." sigh "Clayton, what am I going to do with you? Take this outside please. Now."
I basically accomplished nothing all day other than baking 50,000 cookies for Lexi's Brownie meeting tonight. It's International Night which means every troop selects a country and brings food to represent their country. At least I don't have to cook dinner tonight. Actually, scratch that. It was my goal to bake 50,000 cookies, but I only made about 50 because I had to stop too many times to yell at talk to the kids.
I left Austin and Savannah in charge of the two little ones for ten minutes while I picked the middle kids up from school. I got two phone calls from Savannah while I was gone. Two calls in ten minutes. Two calls complaining that Austin was being mean to Clay and that Austin was hitting her.
When I got home, both she and Austin were in tears. I learned my lesson years ago about trying to figure out who started it and who did what to whom. They were both sent to their rooms. On the bright side, I can count on one hand the times that those two have fought. They actually get along swimmingly. Unfortunately, the few times they have fought have been brutal. I may have to ground them until next year.
When Lex got home from school and took off her coat, I saw that she was wearing a sundress. It was 40 here today. How did I not notice that this morning??? Oh yeah, I hadn't had my coffee yet. Her teacher must think I'm an idiot.
Jackson had the orchestra presentation at school yesterday. You know, the one where they come in and let the kids try out the instruments and then say stuff like, "Don't you want to join orchestra? Tell your parents you want to join orchestra. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it. If your parents love you, they'll let you join." So Jackson's been badgering me non-stop about letting him join orchestra. I don't, quite frankly, have the money to put out on yet another instrument right now. Plus, I know Jackson and I know he'll get bored with it in a couple weeks. None of his friends are doing it and I know Jackson will be bummed about that. In order to join orchestra, you need to sign up for summer school. I don't like putting the kids in summer school. I like having free time over the summer. I like being able to pick up and go to the zoo, camping, vacation, field trips, picnics, parks, whatever. I know Jackson will be mad come this summer when he has to go to school, whether he admits it or not. And I know the other kids would be resentful that we couldn't take off and do anything because Jackson has to stay and go to school.
Anyway, because I told him, "Not this year," he started throwing things around the house while telling me how much he hated me and what a bad mother I am.
"You're the worst mom ever!"
"Really? You think I'm the WORST? Yes! Woo Hoo!!! I'm the worst mother EVER!" (Cheering like that really ticks them off.)
When Joe got home, I told him, "Have fun with YOUR children. I'm running away." Then I made a quick escape. Of course, a few minutes after I left, I got the text that Savannah's softball bag was in my van. She was on her way to practice. "I give up," I muttered to myself. I can't even run away for 10 minutes.
Some of you may have wondered in the past, just how my kids got their wonderful artistic abilities. Well, look no more! I found these papers from when I was in kindergarten. I think they explain a lot. Let's take a look...
The first page - "All About Me" As you can see, when I was in kindergarten, I had short black hair. And I bet you never knew I have one black eye and one purple eye. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I had a chicken foot for a nose. Thank God for plastic surgery! Yes, I know I have a freakish joker-looking smile there. I think it's just because I was having so much fun drawing my self-portrait.
page two - "My House" Yep, back in those days, I lived in a teepee. With a chimney. And a giant letter "E" on the roof. And two windows. And a door that didn't go down to the ground. You had to kind of hop up into the teepee-house. I have no idea what the red thing is on the right. Maybe one of my giant red teeth fell out.
page three - "My Hand" Yep, it's my hand all right. Right after it was squished in a farming accident. And check out the nail polish job. Niiiice. If you look closely you can see rings on every finger. Or maybe those aren't rings. Hmmmm, it looks a little bit like I've drawn hair on my knuckles. Oh yeah, there's nothing quite so attractive as a 5 year old girl with knuckle hair.
page four - "My Feet" Yes, they're dirty. Even back then I liked to go barefoot. And they appear to be fused at the heel. I'm either about to step on some eyeballs or a caterpillar with a water spout on its head. Maybe my feet are supposed to be a butterfly in which case the clouds are a nice touch.
page five - "My Favorite Color" Any guesses as to what my favorite color was? Anyone? Anyone? As you can see, I was highly creative back in the day. Assorted checkerboards, an asterisk, and um, hmmm, fluffy clouds? Sheep? Flowers? Purple popcorn?
page six - "My Family" Let me introduce you to my family. From left to right, we have my dad, Nick (yes, it's a very original Greek name, I know.) In reality he is not a foot shorter than my mom who is standing next to him. I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure my mom, Diana, never wore her lipstick like Bozo the Clown. And check out those earrings! Those babies defy gravity! And yes, her arms are coming out of her cheeks. I know, I know, you probably missed that little tidbit because you were too busy looking at her deformed hands. Next to my mom, is my sister Deb. Now Deb IS almost 2 years younger than I am (despite the fact that I had my kids snowed into thinking I was the younger sister. Hee hee shhhhh!), however, when I was in kindergarten, she did not come up to my knee caps. And finally, there I am. No, I'm not wearing any pants. Perhaps I thought that snazzy little patchwork number would blind people and they wouldn't notice the lack of pants. If people made fun of the fact I wasn't wearing any pants, I guess I could've just hit them with my club-for-an-arm.
So, there you have it. Creativity abounds in me and I'm certain I'm responsible for passing these awesome genes down to my kids.
Indiana Jones just went on the greatest adventure of his life. If you thought searching for the ark of the covenant, the temple of doom, or the holy grail was intense, you should read about his latest escapades...
While I was getting ready to go onstage for the matinee on Saturday, I suddenly had a bad feeling. I thought something bad had happened to one of my friends. This isn't unusual for me; I can sometimes just kinda tell when something bad has happened to someone close to me. It doesn't always work, but occasionally I can intuit these things. Anyway, I just got this bad feeling so I texted my friend to see if they were ok. They replied that all was fine. Not two seconds after I had texted them, Joe called me to say that Brooklyn was choking on a Lego Indiana Jones figure. She'd turned purple and was choking. Savannah smacked her on the back and Brooklyn ended up swallowing Indy.
We'd already experienced the fun of seeing staples pass through Brooklyn's digestive system via xrays, so I figured we probably didn't need a repeat this time around. I told Joe to make sure she was breathing ok and rush her to the hospital if she started having problems. And then I just started digging around in her poop checking her diapers carefully to make sure, um, everything came out ok. Pun intended.
Today, Indy completed his latest adventure and made a great escape. Thankfully, the kids were wrong and it wasn't a Lego figure after all. This Indy was a bit smaller. Not much, but a little bit...
Yep, who else would clean off a poop-covered Indy and take a picture for you guys to see? Oh stop complaining! At least I washed him off first!
And for those of you keeping track - this is the third emergency-type situation where Indiana Jones was involved. First Lex was smashed under the garage door while trying to save Clay from the claws of death while playing Indiana Jones. Then, Lex fell off the bunk bed when she lost her balance dropping pillow boulders onto Clay while playing Indiana Jones. Now this. I'm sensing a pattern here. I'm about ready to break out the light sabers and encourage them to start playing Star Wars. It couldn't be much worse, could it? Wait, don't answer that.
From Chicago, where the river looks looks like lime Jello, it's Sunday Sound Out with Dawn Meehan! Tonight: answers to your questions and musical guest Toad the Wet Sprocket! And now, skydiving legend, Dawn Meehan!
I'm so sorry... I saw the first picture [of the play rehearsal] and immediately went 'huh?' I mean, what's that lady behind you doing with her leg up on the couch. Is that really what I see?Is it some kind of psuedo ballet dancer warming up for her part? LOL! Yes, she plays the part of a woman who wants to be a dancer, but isn't very good at it.
Thanks for the info on Spanx. I also have a class reunion this summer (my husband's) to attend and this will hopefully help lots. Any recommendations on which size to pick so I do not pick the wrong one? It really doesn't matter what size is on the package label because they're all the same - XXS. You will need the jaws of life to get out of them.
I realize I'm one of your older readers, and I'm not familiar with these spanx thingies. So I have a question - If they are snug enough to defy the work of gravity, can you still breathe well enough to say your lines and get the necessary projection for stage work? You know that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Elizabeth passes out from the too-tight corset? Yeah, that's what it feels like.
On a different matter:Would you ever consider getting some Ex Libris stickers to personalize(briefly) and mail out to those of us who were here at the start of all of this? Sure, I would! I'll speak with my publisher about it.
I directed this play [You Can't it With You] a few years ago, and it's really a blast. So... what song did you have to sing, and will there be a video posted of you warbling? I sang I'm in the Mood For Love as I threw myself at the poor Gman, lost my balance, and fell over the back of the couch. As far as video, I know the whole show was recorded. I'm not sure how to put a section from the DVD on here though. Hmmm, I'll have to look into it. It was so much fun! I always have a blast doing shows. We had a great, fun bunch of people to work with and I haven't laughed so hard in a really long time, but I've got to admit that I'm glad it's over. Now things can get a little more back to normal around here.
I have a huge bruise on my leg today, not from falling over the couch, but from walking into the couch as I exited the stage in the dark. Duh.
So now I'm confused, the diamond shaped building is not really the Prudential building? I grew up in Chicago and that has ALWAYS been the Prudential building. I dunno. That's what I always thought too! I guess that building is the Smurfit-Stone building. The Prudential building is across the street.
We need you to go back downtown and get a picture of you or some of your kids standing next the the American Gothic statue so we can see just how ginormous it is! Please? :-) How 'bout I just photoshop us next to it?
What, no pictures of the "Willis" Tower? Willis Tower! Snort. It's the Sears Tower, it's Comiskey Park, and it's The Rosemont Horizon. Who are these people who think they can just change names like that? Grrr!
So how did you feel about the interview in general? I think it went well! I forgot all about it and missed it this morning though. Did anyone listen to my interview on the MIX this morning? How was it?
It just occurred to me that it was you birthday on Tuesday, wasn't it? Did you intentionally not mention it? Or do you just intentionally ignore birthdays? Eh, it was just another day. I learned something about my age this week: it stinks to be 39. No one believes you when you tell them you're 39!!! I might as well just skip ahead and tell people I'm 40.
the shirt my parents gave me
the card my kids made me
the card Brooklyn made me
My publisher wants to know if you belong to any book clubs so they can be sure to include those in an author-chat promotion next month. If you belong to a book club, leave me a comment and let me know which one! Thanks!
Today I went downtown for an interview with Susan from the MIX. Because I'm not so much a morning person, I turned off my alarm and promptly fell back asleep. Unfortunately, because of that, I missed the train and had to drive downtown. No problem. I just stopped by the bank, took out a second mortgage so I could pay for parking and headed into the city.
I hate driving in the city because I can't stand inching along in traffic, I don't understand all the one-way streets, and I have a habit of getting lost. A lot. I hadn't looked up directions ahead of time because I was planning on taking the train, so I turned on my GPS and it worked like a charm until I got in the Loop at which point it started going all bonkers. "In 2.7 miles, turn left on Michigan Ave."
OK, looking for Michigan Ave
"In 4.6 miles, turn left on Michigan Ave."
How did Michigan Ave. suddenly get farther away???
"Find the nearest road."
I'm ON the nearest road!!!
"In .5 miles, turn left on Michigan Ave."
OK, there we go, Michigan Ave. must be coming up soon
"In 4.3 miles, turn left on Michigan Ave.
What??? Now it's 4.3 miles???
"Off course. Recalculating."
Recalculating? Yeah, you do that!
"in 800 yards, turn right."
Right? I'm supposed to turn right now???
"In 680 yards, turn left on Michigan Ave."
Now we're back to Michigan Ave???
I took the GPS and chucked it out the window.
Amazingly, I made it downtown, found a garage, and headed to the Prudential building where WTMX is located. You know that diamond shaped building featured in Adventures in Babysitting? Across from the library? The Prudential Building?
Yeah, that building there. I walked in and told the gentleman at the front desk that I had an appointment with Susan at the MIX.
He said, "Who? Where?"
I repeated it for him. He looked at me like I'd just stepped off a bus from the middle of Kansas and had never seen a city before.
"Isn't this 130 E. Randolph?" I inquired.
"No, that's the Prudential building!" he said as if I was completely daft.
"You mean, this ISN'T the Prudential building?" I asked just to confirm his suspicions that I was indeed daft.
"That's across the street!" He pointed out the window. I followed his gaze and lo and behold right across the street was a building with a big sign that read "PRUDENTIAL". Yeah, note to self: read the signs on the buildings!
I signed in at the real Prudential building and was directed to the elevators. "The MIX is on the 27th floor," the gentleman directed me.
I walked over to a bank of elevators, got in, and noticed that they only went to the 15th floor. I pushed 15 and thought maybe there were elevators that went up higher from that point. Nope. I went back down and asked someone how to get to the 27th floor.
She gave me the same "You're An Idiot" look that the guy in the other building had given me and then she pointed out that there were 3 separate banks of elevators and each section was labeled with the floors they went to. Who knew?
So, I did my interview with Susan who was lovely and nice and I think it went fairly well. You can catch it on Mix Matters this Sunday at 7:00 AM on the Mix 101.9. I believe you can listen to it live Sunday morning by going HERE and clicking on the tab labeled "listen live".
When I was done with the interview, I walked across the river to the PR agency that's working with me where I met a nice, interesting guy named Frank who taught me a few things about handling media appearances. That was a fun and informative meeting. He even had coffee waiting for me which was really nice considering my legs had gone completely numb by the time I got there. Crazy weather. It was 60 degrees a couple days ago and only 20 today.
I was a couple days too early to see the river dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.
The Tribune Tower - a bad picture of one of the coolest looking buildings in the city.
The ginormous American Gothic statue
When I left the city, my GPS was still doing that funky thing so I ended up at Navy Pier. I guess only folks from Chicago would understand that only an idiot could leave Ontario and manage to get to Navy Pier before hitting 90. Then I took a fun-filled drive on Lower Wacker. This really shouldn't surprise anyone though. In fact, when I walked out of both the office at the MIX and the PR agency, I got turned around and started going down the wrong hallway. Yep, that's me.
Tomorrow I'm not doing anything but playing with the kids until I have to leave for the play I'm in. I've been too busy lately.
I had rehearsal again tonight and need to get up early because I'm taping an interview in the morning for a show called Mix Matters on WTMX in Chicago. I hate to post another rerun because the kids have been acting especially crazy and getting into mischief and cracking me up lately, but I just don't have time to write about their goofiness tonight. So, here's another rerun from 12/07. Enjoy!
I was making some pumpkin bread today because I'm such an awesome homemaker and that's just the kind of thing I do. No? Would you believe that I was making it because I had a sweet tooth attack and there was nothing good to eat in the house despite the fact that I'd gone to the grocery store just last night? I knew I should've saved some cookies for today! So I was making pumpkin bread when my three year old wandered into the kitchen.
CLAY: Whatcha doing, Mommy? Are you making a birthday cake for me? ME: Is it your birthday? CLAY: Yes! ME: Really? (in case you're wondering, it is not his birthday) How old are you now? CLAY: One, two, three, five, six, eleven! ME: Eleven? Wow! You're getting pretty old. CLAY: You're really old Mom. ME: Gee thanks, hon. Well, I'm not making a birthday cake today. I'm making pumpkin bread. CLAY: Can I help you? ME: Oh please no! Don't you want to go watch something stupid on television instead. Sure!
So I measured the ingredients and Clay poured them into my mixer. I let him smell the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves before spooning them out. He thought they smelled so good that he shared with Brooklyn and let her smell the container of nutmeg too. She took a nice big sniff, inhaled 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg, proceeded to cry, rub her nose and sneeze out brownish, nutmeg-colored snot. Note to self - next time no sniffing the ingredients before measuring and pouring.
So far, so good. He's actually doing a good job and is getting the ingredients mostly IN the bowl. I showed him how to turn my mixer on low speed and he had fun watching the bread dough combine. I added the last two cups of flour and turned around to put the measuring cup in the sink when Clay turned my mixer on. High speed. The highest speed ever. It looked like it was snowing in my kitchen. Flour poofed out everywhere. Have you ever had improvements that required drywall done in your house? You know that drywall dust that clings to everything for months? Flour might just be worse. I, of course, used the utmost calm as I called to Clay to turn off the mixer while I ran across the kitchen.
ME: Turn it off! OFF! Clay! TURN OFF THE MIXER!!! CLAY TURN IT OFF! OFF! OFF!!!!!! CLAAAAAY!!!! TURN IT OFF!!!!
Because I maintained such a serene disposition, Clay freaked out and turned the mixer up even higher. Boy, it was fun times around here. After I got the flour explosion cleaned up, I got to clean up Brooklyn who was playing in the flour and licking it up off the counters. Mmmm, who needs butter, pumpkin, spices, or eggs when you've got delicious plain ole flour.
I can't wait til we start making Christmas cookies! I make a LOT of Christmas cookies. Cookies are the best food group, after all.
Because I'm crazy-busy this week with the play and everything, I'm posting a rerun tonight. Enjoy!
I'm presenting you with a short tutorial on art through the years.
STAGE ONE: The Body Art Phase This involves using anything (i.e. yogurt, marker, diaper cream) as your medium and your body as the canvas.
STAGE TWO: The Spaghetti Phase This involves random scribbling and can take place on paper or walls or furniture.
STAGE THREE: The Potato People Phase The child draws people that basically look like potatoes with arms and legs coming out of the body. Eyes and a mouth are added at this time.
STAGE FOUR: The Stick Figure Phase Now people have distinctly separate heads and bodies. Hair (sometimes really, really long hair), noses, fingers, and shoes are added. Girls may add, rainbows, stars, and hearts to their drawings at this time. Boys may add cartoon characters, blood and guts, or cars to their drawings at this time.
STAGE FIVE: The Macaroni Phase This is where macaroni, sometimes colored, sometimes plain, is glued to various pieces of construction paper. If you're extra lucky, you'll get a necklace made of macaroni for Mother's Day. If you're not so lucky, yours will be the kid who likes to eat the glued macaroni off the page.
STAGE SIX: The Book Phase At this stage, your child is excited that they're learning to read and write and they must make everything into a book. This is the second page in the famous book, The Friendly Ghost written by my son. This is where you have to really stretch your literacy skills and learn to read "kindergartenese". This says, " The ghost plays with his friends like the mummy."
STAGE SEVEN: The Picasso Stage The pictures and color choices don't make a lot of sense, but they sure are fun to look at.
STAGE EIGHT: The Almost Realistic Portrait Phase Here, the child starts getting some realistic elements into their drawings. This is a picture my daughter drew of me after I had collagen lip augmentation.
Here's something from the Pokemon Phase my son went through.
Here's something from the Star Wars Phase my son went through. Again, note the realism.
STAGE NINE: The Three Dimensional Phase Here is a candle holder made for me by my daughter.
Here is vessel made by my son. It's perfect for holding cookies, pencils, or organs from mummified people.
I can't remember if I talked about the play I'm in on my blog. I may have just mentioned it on Facebook. In any case, I'm in the play You Can't Take it With You right now. The performances are this weekend so I have rehearsal every night this week. (In other words, I'm going to be posting a couple reruns this week.)
I've been in a play once a year for more than 10 years. This has been my one outlet throughout the years, where I've been able to do something for me; something that I enjoy; something for Dawn the person, not Dawn the mom or Dawn the wife. Of course, now my life is a little different and over the past year and a half I've had the chance to do many things for myself. But in the past especially, this has been the one thing I've taken time to do for myself simply because I enjoy it.
This year I'm playing the part of Gay Wellington, a drunk actress. I go on stage, get drunk, and pass out. So easy a caveman can do it. It's actually a really fun part to play. At one point, I have to flip over the back of the couch. I'm afraid I'm going to tumble head-over-heels one of these times. It hasn't been a big deal, however, because I've just been wearing jeans at rehearsals. Today, I had to do it in my costume (which is a dress.) Because I had this overwhelming tiny little fear of flipping over the couch a little too energetically and ending up with my dress over my head, I made sure I put on a pair of Spanx under my dress. For those of you who don't know, Spanx are a type of undergarment that takes me 25 minutes to put on because I have to hold my breath and inch these up over my hips that have given birth to 6 kids. It's not an easy task. The wet suit I wore while swimming with the dolphins was easier to put on than these Spanx.
So, after 25 minutes of wrestling with these things, holding my breath, sucking in all my fat, and struggling to pull these stupid things up over my butt, I got them on. Then I remembered that Spanx just happen to be crotchless which, of course, makes sense because who wants to go through that routine every time they have to pee, right? Not that I've ever peed while still wearing my Spanx, come to think of it. I take them off anyway which pretty much defeats the whole crotchless idea. Anyway, as I was saying, after going through that whole routine, I remembered that they were crotchless which pretty much defeats my whole reason for wearing them to begin with. I think I'll be wearing shorts under my dress tomorrow. Just in case. Don't want to scare anyone in the front row, you know.
From Hollywood, the Sunday Sound Out Show starring Dawn Meehan. This is Ed McMahon along with Doc Severinsen and the NBC orchestra inviting you to join Dawn as she answers your questions!
Hey Dawn! I have three kids (ages 6, 4, and 1) and am scared to death to get pregnant again! Seriously.... SCARED! Like, I'd rather give an alligator a root canal than have another baby! Have you ever felt that way? Thanks to a healthy dose of pregnancy amnesia, no. I am a little scared of teenagers though.
So any more details about the launch party yet?? Yep, yep, yep! It's at the Book Stallin Winnetka on April 4th at 2:00! You're all invited!!!
My son is 11 and his pediatrician just recently suggested that he might have ADHD... he derived this after a 5 minute consultation in his office when we were there for a physical and every question he asked my son was followed by "huh?" He gave me a booklet, told me to consider it, and to come back next month for a consultation and to start meds. I did read the book and he matches about 75% of the signs/symptoms. Now I am torn between is he just a completely normal 11-year-old boy who is goofy, forgetful, and sometimes hyper -OR- is this a side effect of his meds (he takes Lamictal for absence seizures) - OR- did the Dr. REALLY notice something in those 5 minutes that I have been missing all along!? I'm sorry, what was the question? I was distracted for a moment there. Just kidding. I couldn't resist. Although your pediatrician may have seen some symptoms that suggest ADHD, I don't think most pediatricians are really trained in this area and no doctor can accurately diagnose your child with ADHD simply from a 5 minute observation. Jackson's pediatrician suggested the possibility to me at a regular visit when he was jumping off the table and running around the room being crazy. However, he had multiple visits to a psychologist and several tests filled out by him, me, his pediatrician, and his teacher before he was diagnosed. I would not jump into medication until doing some further research. Perhaps medication would be helpful. Maybe not. I just personally don't think you should make that decision based on a pediatrician's hunch.
Were you ever worried about posting your kids pictures/names on the internet with all the creepy people that can lurk? I've looked to see if anyone else has asked that, but cannot find anything. I've seen interviews with families like Jon & Kate Plus 8 and they talk about being worried in crowds because so many people know their kids' names/faces. Sure, that's always a concern, but I'm not going to live in fear. (And I avoid taking my kids out in public!)
As an aside, how do you cross out words in your post titles and text? I guess I haven't answered this one for a while. I do it like this - If I want to write: My kids always behave do interesting things. I would write it like this: My kids always <> behave < / del > do interesting things. Just don't put the spaces between these < > and the "d e l".
So, I've been wondering this for a while now. Why isn't one of your kids (or all of your kids) on the cover of the book? Considering your book is based on your kids. The author doesn't pick out the book cover. The publisher comes up with ideas and shows them around to the book buyers. And they don't just randomly pick pictures, fonts and colors either. It's a whole process. They take a lot of things into consideration including what other titles are going to be on the shelf next to your book. I personally like the way it turned out even if isn't one of my kids on the cover. All 6 of the kids are on the back cover though! :)
when will the book be available on amazon? It's available now on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Borders.com. It won't ship until the first week of April, but you can order it now.
We have four kids but they're fairly close together in age, and although I'm part of a large extended family, we don't get invited round much! I think I only notice because my brother and his wife have two perfectly behaved girls and are always getting invited to go away for weekends with other family members and things like that. I try not to dwell on it too much - we made a decision to have a larger family and I'm happy with that, but sometimes it bugs me. Do you ever struggle with that too? I'll let you in on my secret. Here's what you do - hang out with people who have more kids than you do! Voila! Suddenly, your family will look small and quiet in comparison.
Is there a way to search your blog? Once upon a time, I think you linked to kids medical ID bracelets. I can't find that..but maybe it wasn't you...hmmmm I wrote about SafetyTats a while back HERE. Maybe that's what you're thinking of? Those things are awesome!!!
Did you pick winners for the goat milk soap? Did I miss it? Yup. HERE.
You can follow my auction for the first, signed copy of my book HERE.
And now, let's hear it for our musical guest, Dean Martin!!! (Yes, I have eclectic taste in music.)
As I drove to my friend's house yesterday, I had the following conversation with Clay.
"Mom, are you driving fast? Why are you driving fast? You go more faster than Dad."
"I'm going close to the speed limit, Clay."
"Mom, why is there traffic?"
"I don't know, Clay."
"Mom, can I have a hot rod airplane?"
"What's a hot rod airplane, Clay?"
"It's a little airplane that I can fly a little bit high."
"Oh, would you fly it down by the ground?"
"No, it goes above the trees and cars!" Duh
"That sounds pretty cool, Clay. I think I'd like a hot rod airplane too!"
Then Brooklyn added her 2 cents. "Hot rod airplanes are for boys, Mama. I want a Barbie airplane."
"Is it far away, Mom?"
"Is what far away? Is Jenny's house far away?"
"Yeah."
"No, it's pretty close, Clay," I answered.
"No, it isn't. It's far," Clay corrected me.
"If you know everything, then why did you ask me?" I wondered.
"Mom, do you even know where you're going?" Clay asked, concerned with my directional abilities.
"Yes, Clay, " I sighed.
"Are you sure, Mom?"
"Yes, Clay. I'm sure."
Then Brooklyn demanded, "Louder! Mama, I want Caribbean loud!"
"You want to listen to The Pirates of the Caribbean?"
"Yes! Louder!" Brooklyn confirmed.
"How do you even know this music of from Pirates of the Caribbean? How did you learn the word "Caribbean"?
"Louder!" she repeated.
That child is going to suffer significant hearing loss before she's even a teenager with the way she likes music to be "louder" all the time.
"Mom, can we go swimming when we get home?" Clay asked.
"No! It's way too cold to swim, silly!"
"No, it's not! It's hot out! I kinda don't like summer 'cause it's so hot,"Clay informed me.
"Clayton, it's 60 degrees. It's nice and sunny today, but it isn't summer! It isn't hot outside."
"Yes it is, Mom!" Clay argued.
"OK, Clay. It's hot. You know everything."
I wish I was as smart as my 5 year old.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can check out my auction for the first, signed copy of Because I Said So HERE! Half the proceeds go to CureSearch! Please take a look and pass it on! Thank you! :)
I just listed an auction on eBay for the first, hot-off-the-presses copy of my book signed by me and the kids! I'm donating half the proceeds to CureSearch. Check it out HERE! :) I thought it was fitting to auction the first book on eBay since that's kinda how this book came about. If it hadn't been for that Pokemon card auction and the attention it brought, I wouldn't even have a book!
A lot of you have asked me questions regarding my book tour and such. Here is what I know.
WILL YOUR BOOK BE AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND, ETC?
According to my editor - "Theoretically, the book should be available everywhere in the world. How likely it is to be stocked in bookstores around the world is another story, but any bookstore should be able to order it, even if it’s not on their shelf (or readers can just use Amazon). "
WILL YOUR BOOK BE AVAILABLE ON KINDLE?
Again, my editor said, "The book is not yet available in Kindle, but we’re looking into getting this set up for it and all of our books. I’ll let you know when we have more info about when this is going to happen."
ARE YOU COMING TO MY TOWN ON YOUR TOUR?
Since I have 6 kids, my publisher figured it would be a lot easier on everyone if I did a virtual tour instead of taking off to city after city. Bookstores will be having Moms-Night-Out themed events with prizes and goody bags. They'll have signed books and I'll talk via speaker-phone. I don't have time and location details yet, but will keep you posted.
WHEN IS YOUR LAUNCH PARTY?
There will be a launch event/book signing on Sat., April 4 @ 2:00PM at the Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka. (Winnetka is a suburb of Chicago.) I hope to see you there!
I had an exciting, fun-filled day today! First, the FedEx guy stopped by to bring me a copy of the April Guideposts Magazine! My article is in there! Yahoo! I look hideously fat in the pictures that were taken last summer, but other than that, it's awesome!
After that, the UPS guy stopped by to bring me a box of :::::::drumroll::::::: my books! My actual, real, honest-to-goodness book! It isn't a dream after all!
After I rolled around in the pile of books for a while, Karen from Guideposts stopped by. Because I'm going to begin videoblogging for the Guideposts website, Karen, videoqueen extraordinaire, flew in from New York today to teach me how to shoot a video, how to hold the camera steady, how to shoot a "B roll", and how to keep a log of the footage I've shot.
Karen suggested getting some footage of the kids playing outside. I suggested getting some footage of the muddy footprints they tracked inside. She suggested getting shots of Brooklyn playing with her dolls. I suggested getting shots of Clayton taking her dolls away from her just to hear her scream. She suggested getting Savannah cooking dinner. I suggested getting Savannah dropping the entire bottle of bay leaves in the stew.
Karen has 2 kids. On her way home this evening, she made an appointment to get her tubes tied. OK, I'm just kidding. She actually had the same ideas (and way more!) that I had. We both thought of filming me blogging my idea at the beginning of the episode a la Carrie Bradshaw. Except without the sex. And the city. And the shoes.
I'm totally looking forward to doing this! We're going to have so much fun making these videos! And I really think you guys are going enjoy them too!
How To Tell If You Watch A Bit Too Much Children's Television
You're sitting here watching a Friends rerun and it's the episode where Ross gives Marcel away. You hear Ross say, "The San Diego Zoo!" repeatedly and you look up at the tv expecting to see a talking giraffe.
Thank you to my readers who alerted me to the fact that I put the wrong link in my post last night. I'm sorry about that. HERE'S the link to my interview on CafeMom! Enjoy!
I don't usually talk about controversial stuff on my blog mainly because I don't have really strong opinions on many topics. Call me wishy-washy, but I can generally see issues from different sides. I would be horrible on a jury. I'd be the one holding up a verdict with my, "But I can see the defendant's point. Oh wait, the prosecution has a good point too! Then again, the defendant makes sense...."
Anyway, because I just got back from the Baby Einstein headquarters where I was introduced to a couple new products coming out (I'm going to have a giveaway for some awesome Baby Einstein products on my review blog soon, btw) these headlines caught my attention. This is one topic on which I do have a definite opinion.
Basically this study says nothing. It says that TV viewing (an average of an hour a day was spent viewing TV in this study) from children 2 and under does no harm. Still, headlines surrounding the study make it out to sound bad. Well, guess what! We moms don't need any more guilt. We have enough guilt over every other aspect of parenting. We don't need some researcher telling us that if we dare to put our child in front of a Baby Einstein video or an episode of Sesame Street or Blue's Clues, that we're damaging them for life. What's more detrimental to our child's well-being is if we are focusing 100% on them 24 hours a day. Sometimes mom needs a break! It ticks me off when some researcher tells me that I'm neglecting my child if I opt to put a video on for them while I take a shower or cook dinner or make a phone call.
And Baby Einstein videos seem to take an awful lot of bashing when it comes to this subject. Have you ever seen a Baby Einstein video? The soundtrack is classical music. The visuals are pictures of real-world objects; simple, large, slow-moving, brightly colored objects that your baby sees in your house and while out and about in their world. Yeah, that's crazy! That'll sure damage a kid for life, won't it - exposing them to classical music (because we all know how evil that is) is sure to stunt a child's learning. :::rolling eyes::: Puh-lease. When Julie Clark, a SAHM, started the Baby Einstein company 10 years ago, she called her videos, "Digital Board Books". She wanted to bring the arts and humanities to little children in a way that would be enjoyable on their level. She intended for parents to use these videos to relate to and share with their child. At the end of her videos, she even speaks to parents, telling them to talk to their children about what they're seeing on the TV. She encourages parents to interact with their child while watching the video together.
And really, let's face it, although we may watch these videos (and other children's television shows) with our children sometimes, other times, we just need the little break that comes from putting a video on for our kids while we hop in the shower. As long as you're not ignoring your child while they watch TV nonstop all day long; as long as you're reading to your child regularly; as long as your child gets up and outside for exercise regularly, then I say, put the video on! Let them watch! Let them have a break from you! Take a break from them! It does NOT mean you're a bad parent or a neglectful parent if you let your child watch TV. It does NOT mean that you don't love your kids if you let them watch TV. How are your children going to learn to play by themselves and use their imaginations, if you're next to them every minute of the day? How will they learn that the whole world does not revolve around them every minute of the day? Sometimes mom needs to take care of something other than the kiddos.
Heck, I learned half of what I know from Sesame Street! And if it weren't for TV, I wouldn't talk in Seinfeld and Friends and movie quotes! How boring! Moderation, my friends, moderation. And Baby Einstein? Give me a break! That was the first thing I let my kids watch! I love those videos! There is nothing wrong with them! Exposure to classical music can only do good things, so relax, you crazy non-TV watching fanatics!
OK, I'm off my soapbox. Ooooo, ooooo, ooooo!!!! I almost forgot! Check this out! There's an interview with me on CafeMom! Do you guys go to CafeMom? Check it out! It's a website that really has something for everyone! You'll love it! And you can read my interview HERE.
Live from New York, it's Sunday Sound Out with your host, Dawn Meehan, and musical guests, The Newsboys!
Is Jackson your child with ADHD? I am the mother of THREE boys with ADHD.....I found that the amount of days he was grounded or given some punishment was endless. He wouldn't have even finished one gounding before he'd get another punishment. It just kept snowballing. I was given a piece of advice that seemed to work for us. When he did something wrong, he was given a punishment for that day only and then the next day we started over fresh. This gave him at least some chance of having a good day now and then..... THANK YOU for the reminder! That is so true. That works so, so, so much better for him. I'd gotten away from that. Thank you!
Can we please see a video of you rocking out on Guitar Hero / Rock Band drums please???? You are my hero. I can barely do easy on drums and you're on expert level. OK, but just remember - you asked for it. I'm kind of a spaz when I play. I'll do it this week.
Wow! Those photos are stunning!! Who took them? I don't see a photo credit anywhere. Thanks. My bad. Jessica from Jessica's Visions took them.
Which is meaner, alligators or crocodiles? Baby kitties are meaner.
I always wondered if the SSO was a pain. I was right. I think that came out wrong. It isn't really a pain. I do enjoy going back over everyone's comments. It's just time consuming. For example, I'll look for pictures of alligators and crocodiles for a while. Then I'll decide to go with a cute, furry animal instead because that's funnier. Then I'll browse pictures of cute, furry animals for a while. When I find one, I'll contemplate asking the owner if I can use their picture on my blog. Then I'll realize I don't want to mess around with that and I'll remember that I probably have a picture of my little kitty from 19 years ago, so I'll search through a big box of old photos and every 5th picture or so, I'll stop and reminisce. After screwing around for like an hour with old photos, I'll scan a handful that I found. Then I'll spend 20 minutes trying to figure out why I can't find the scanned pictures on my computer. After that, I'll accidentally delete 2463 photos from my computer. I'll freak out and say, "Oh crap!" a lot. I'll find my pictures in the recycling bin and restore them all. Then I'll go back to trying to locate the scanned pictures. Once I retrieve them, I'll try to change the picture with Photoshop, but I'll realize it isn't working. Then I'll play around with Paint for a while until I realize you can't do much with Paint. Next, I'll go to Picnik.com and try to transform Kitty into an evil dude with weapons. At some point, I'll give up and just give him red eyes, a beret, and an evil-looking mustache. Then I'll insert the picture into my blog post. Then I'll spend another 10 minutes rearranging the text, trying to get the picture where I want it so everything lines up and makes sense. Finally, I'll come to the conclusion that the whole thing is stupid and I won't believe I wasted way so much time on something so stupid. Whew. Onto the next question...
Hey Dawn -- Just FYI, I linked to you today... nytimes.com/parenting. Thanks Lisa! You guys have to check out Lisa Belkin's column, Motherlode, HERE. She's great!
But working from home is lonely - there's no coworkers to chat with, and I may go for many hours without speaking to anyone else, and there's no tech department down the hall to fix my computer when it breaks or store room full of office supplies to raid. I miss the social side of working in an office. True, true. That's why we have blogs, Facebook, and Twitter - to connect to other SAHMs!
How do you get marker off your walls/counters/cabinets? I have seen a blog or two with one of your kids writing on a surface they shouldn't have been. Well I've had that too. I usually scrub until it's smeared and/or faded. Do you any advice for getting it completely off? Yes, repaint your walls. Or move to a different house. Honestly, I love Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They work better than anything else I've ever tried. Still, there are times when even those don't work or when they work a little too well and they take off the paint along with the marker.
So did your luggage finally arrive, or are you going nekkid today? My luggage made it to my hotel about 8 hours after I did. If airline personnel ever tags your suitcase with a cocktail napkin, kiss your bag goodbye.
Incidentally, if you fly out of MidWay you can take Southwest Airlines and you don't pay for checked luggage and you can check TWO pieces...yes that's right two and they're free! I don't fly anywhere Southwest doesn't go!!! I love them! And they have never lost any of my luggage in the 30-some years of flying with them! Yeah, but I'd have to fly out of MIDWAY! Ewww! That's on the southside - Sox territory.
SSO?-Are you at all afraid of flying? Nope. The woman who sat next to me on the way to San Francisco sure was though. She had a death grip on the arm rests and absolutely freaked out over every little noise. There was a good deal of turbulence until we got out of the bad weather in Chicago too. I felt so bad for her. I asked her a couple times, "Can I buy you a drink? Please?"
SSO question - I'm still new to Twitter and I just have to ask, why do your Twitter posts talk about you in the third person? Does everyone do that on Twitter? I just find it a little strange when you say "She has a middle seat." rather than "I have a middle seat." LOL! He kept referring to himself in the third person. "Jimmy's under the boards. Jimmy's in the open. Jimmy makes the shot." I speak in third person a lot with Twitter/Facebook because it prompts me with "Dawn is..." and then I fill in the blank. It makes more sense if I write "Dawn is tired because she didn't get enough sleep" as opposed to "Dawn is I'm tired because I didn't get enough sleep."
Maybe you've posted it in the past and I don't remember, but what on earth is the Easter Monkey?! LOL! When my grandma moved up here from Florida, she had a box labeled Easter Monkey. It contained her Easter decorations and some sock monkeys she had made. It just struck me as funny though and we started talking about the Easter Monkey. I made everyone in my family an Easter Monkey a few years back. I'll take a picture of it when I drag out my Easter decorations.
So uhm. i thought you were Greek. How can you consider anything but lamb for Easter dinner? He don't eat no meat? What do you mean he don't eat no meat? That's ok; I make lamb.
I absolutely love your idea for the act of kindness! May I use it in my post today? Please do! Spread it around. And here's a resource from a reader that gives you ideas for random acts of kindness... http://www.doonenicething.com/index.php. Here's another place where you can make a donation to help fight breast cancer if you're looking for another way to do a little act of kindness - HERE.
Ok what in the world is an easter monkey, and what happened at the ham saga of 98???? I had to call my sister to refresh my memory about this. Neither of us could totally remember the ham story! Our conversation went something like this: "Hey Deb, do you remember the ham story from when Mom and Dad lived in the old house?" My sister said, "You went to pick up the ham, but Mom had ordered it from another place, I think." "Oh yeah! Wait, I think that was cake." "Cake?" my sister asked. "Yeah, remember when she insisted she ordered a birthday cake from Jarosch and they didn't have it. She went all ninja-like on them and left the bakery." "Oh yeah, that sounds familiar," Deb said. "And then the Jarosch people called around and found that she'd ordered it from another bakery!" "Oh yeah! Hee hee" I continued, "I think they even picked it up and brought it to their bakery for Mom." "So what was the ham story?" Deb asked. "I don't remember. All I know is I had to pick up a ham at the butcher down the street. I think she called them while I was there, but I don't remember why." "You should call Mom and ask her," Deb suggested. "Oh yeah, she's going to be mad enough that I'm writing this on my blog. I think I'll pass." "Hmmm, yeah I don't really remember the ham story," Deb said. "Me neither. I just remember that I can never set foot in that store every again." So, there you have it. Although the ham story is funny enough to remember there IS a ham story, apparently it isn't funny enough to remember what the ham story is actually about.
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