So This Is What Happens....

When I don't listen!

Today while I was at work, I kept getting a feeling that I should call my friend who was picking up Mica from pre-school and make sure she knew where to take Mica after school.  I ignored it!  I thought, that is weird, Ted will have told her.  Mica knows where she is supposed to go.  The phone at my office rang at 3:45, the caller ID said it was my house.  I thought, that's weird, there isn't anyone at my house.  So I answered and a man was on the other end of the line.  He said Hello, This is officer Hagler, who am I speaking with?  I replied, This is Carolyn and you are calling from my house!  Why?  He explained that he had Mica with him.  My thought: That's weird, why does he have Mica at my house?  Where are the rest of my kids?  What is going on?!  He went on to tell me that Mica had been dropped off at my house, which just so happened to be empty.  She was at home for about 45 minutes.  She then decided she was scared!  She went to the neighbors house (which I thought was very brave, considering she doesn't know our neighbors) and no one was home.  So she came back home and called 911.  She said that she didn't know what to say so she hung up.  911 called right back.  They sent the police over to check out the house.  Mica was scared and wouldn't give them much information.  They finally found out that she had been dropped off after school.  They called her teacher, who told them how to get a hold of me.  I rushed home.  When I got here, Mica was hiding under her blanket on the couch, tears streaming down her cheeks.  My heart which had been pumped so full of adrenaline that I was shacking, broke.  My poor girl.  I swooped her up and held her.  After the police had told Mica, good job for calling 911, they left.  I just held her for a while.  She was still scared and didn't want to talk about what had happened.  So I gave her some time to just sit with me.  It was then that I thought...So this is what happens when I don't listen!  It just so happened that my friend who normally takes Mica to and from preschool had her husband take the kids that day.  He picked her up from my house.  Ted didn't tell him or Mica that she needed to be dropped off at her grandma's at not at our house.  So to save Mica from being frightened, Me from being scared silly and the policemen from having to see the piles of laundry left unfolded on my couch...I better learn to LISTEN!

Irritating Parenting Tips

I saw the funniest thing on Yahoo! today. I just thought I would share it:

"I have nothing against friends and family offering advice when you come to them with a dilemma. It's the people who pipe up, unbidden, because they see you with a child and assume you have no idea what you're doing. Too often these people are elderly great-aunts. Fortunately those ladies are afraid of the Internet, so I can rail against them and they'll be none the wiser! Thanks, ladies.

1. "Sleep now, because once that baby comes you'll never sleep again." Technically this is a pregnancy tip, of course, but I'm shoving it in here anyway. Yes, Great-Aunt Hildy, I will sleep throughout my entire third trimester. Because I am part bear.

2. "Sleep when the baby sleeps." Everyone gives you this one — annoying relatives, pediatricians, the cashier at the drugstore where you were buying newborn diapers. Are these people all robots, capable of instantly dropping off to sleep whenever their child is unconscious? Do they not have other things to do, like bathe, or simply relish the rare moments of silence you get when you have an infant?

3. "I think your baby's hungry." Whether you're nursing or bottle-feeding, everyone assumes you don't know how to feed your child. And every time your child cries, whines, grimaces, or squirms, they are going to assume you are starving your poor baby and you need reminders to feed it. Lest you forget! This advice is especially maddening when they turn out to be correct.

4. "Relish every moment of your baby's first years, because they'll be grown before you know it." You mean, time only moves forward? I had no idea! I thought we'd be like this forever and ever! This sort of advice, obvious and innocuous as it seems, always put me on the defensive, as if I had just been carrying my baby under my arm like a football, muttering, "Grow up already, why don't you. Just GROW UP."

5. "I hope you're sleep training that child. Do you WANT him to be spoiled?" Oh, distant relative/person whose aisle I shared at the supermarket, I'm so glad you know exactly my child needs. And that you know, from your years of scientific research, that any child not allowed to cry it out will be a horrible waste of flesh! (See #6 for this parenting tip's counterpart.)

6. "I hope you're not doing that 'crying it out' thing. It's so barbaric. Enjoy your baby all through the night!" Again, kudos to you, whoever you are, for knowing what's best for our unique family situation! I will be calling you at 4 a.m., so you can enjoy our baby as well.

7. "Why are you bringing your child outside when it's so cold out?" It never ceased to amaze me that, no matter what my child's age, total strangers will express alarm and revulsion that I dared expose him to the elements. "And WHY ISN'T HE WEARING MITTENS? He's going to get consumption!"

8. "Your child isn't really sad/angry/injured. He's just manipulating you." There's no doubt that children can push our buttons as if they've had professional training in it, but the notion that my kid's authentic feelings are in fact manufactured to elicit a reaction really chaps my hide. If that were always true, he'd be a pint-sized sociopath. I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

9. "Schools are just glorified prisons. If you loved your child, you'd homeschool." Oh, if only I loved my child enough to abandon my livelihood, tear him away from the community he so enjoys, separate him from the professionals who have dedicated their careers to childhood education, and forced him to stay home all day with me, where we'd be at each other's throats for hours! If only! Please note: I am not opposed to homeschooling, at all — in fact I wish it would work for us, but it would not.

10. "If I were you, I'd just—" OH NO YOU DON'T. I know where this is going. Listen, unnamed distant acquaintance who last parented in the 19th century (it's true — I often get my unwanted advice from ghosts) you don't know diddly about my kid, and our relationship, and what works for us.

From:Alice Bradley on << The Motherboard Blog >>
As publicated in Redbook

Charmed With Delight!

My friend Paige and I have been talking about making necklaces and watches, and about a million other things....

Yesterday we stopped talking and started shopping. After a long day and some astonishment at how much some stores charge for one bead:



Paige made this little delightful charm. Check out Charmed with Delight for more details. We are pretty excited for our new hobby!