I have a neighbor who has a very interesting job. She has a masters degree in International Relations or something like that and she works for a company that monitors goods that are imported into our country. She has so much interesting information about products that I would have no idea about. This all came up yesterday when the guys who are finishing her basement installed some lumber on her stairs that was treated with formaldehyde. She called them and told them that she was not comfortable with that. They said it is used in all construction. She told them that with her job she has to make sure that the leather products that her company imports are not treated with formaldehyde because it is linked to cancer, asthma and upper respiratory problems. If it shouldn’t be in leather, then she doesn’t want an entire staircase treated with it. When she told him that he said he would fix it. Did you know there is lead on extension cords (especially the ones you use outside like for Christmas lights) and you should wash your hands after handling them? Also, if you see a message on a product that says something about California Proposition 79 (that might be the wrong number) that you should probably choose another product. That proposition is basically a warning telling consumers in California that is has cancer causing agents in it. I would assume that if the people of California have decided it could be unhealthy, then it might not be too good for me either. She said you will often see it on products at stores like Target or Walmart since they sell things nationally. Last, she was telling me she was investigating a factory in China for child labor and the person who was there investigating for her sent her a picture of an eight-year old girl working at a sewing machine. The girl’s mother said it was a school holiday and that is why she was at the factory sewing. Likely story. And the coolest thing about her job is that she does it all from home. She gets to be a stay-at-home mom and work because most of the business she does is done during the hours when her kids are sleeping since she is dealing with international stuff. Cool!
Archive for January 2007
Liam has always been a great sleeper. Even when he moved from his crib to his toddler bed he slept well and would not come out of his room even when he woke up. We would have to listen for him and when we heard him rummaging around in his room we would have to go get him. It never occurred to him that he could open the door and walk right out…until last week. That’s right-last week. For the past, almost five years, we have been getting plenty of zzz’s because our kids slept in their beds and didn’t wake us up. Well, Liam discovered that there is no magical forcefield holding him in his room, so he has been coming and going as he pleases. A few nights ago I heard him tiptoeing down the stairs at 3:30 in the morning. I didn’t get out of bed, but I listened to see what in the heck he was doing. When he came back up he told me there wasn’t any Kleenex in his bathroom, so he had to go get some downstairs. The next night he crawled into bed with us at 3:30. He was promptly sent back to his room. So now we have a deal…the deal is that you can wake up whenever you want to and turn on your light and read, but PLEASE don’t wake me up-especially at 3:30!!!
Somebody got big boy furniture today! Yep, that’s right! Colm is sleeping as I type in his big boy bed. He also got a new dresser and a new bedside table. He went right to sleep tonight. I have a feeling the novelty of the new bed will wear off, but so far it is smooth sailing. 
We have pretty much been inside the last few days because of the ice, sleet, snow and COLD! We have played endless games of tag and hide-and-go-seek. We also played a number of games today with a bouncy ball that Colm found. Yesterday we baked an apple cake which turned out super yummy. (It would have been even better if we had had some vanilla ice cream to go with it) and today the boys put on a finger puppet show.
(Thanks for the cool apron Uncle Patrick and Aunt Kate.)
There are days when I have to remind myself that I am an educated woman and that I have a brain and that someday I will be able to use it to its full capacity. I had a moment like that today when I said to Colm, ” Honey, we don’t color the dog. Please give Mommy the crayon. Thank you.”
Today Liam and I were playing a game he got for Christmas. You get a topic and then you have to come up with one thing for each letter of the alphabet that goes with that topic. For example, if the topic was fruit, then you would say apples, bananas, cantaloupe, etc. Well, one of our topics was Things that Stink. Of course, being a boy, his first instinct was to say poop, then diapers, then old poopy diapers and then old, poopy, stinky, moldy diapers. He then went on to pigs, pig poop…oh the hilarity. We definitely got sidetracked from the whole point of the game. It was hilarious watching his little brain work to come up with more stinky things that were even worse than the previous example he had come up with and the delight he was getting because he was being so clever..and because it was super stinky.
As kinder roundup draws nearer I have started to realize what a bubble my kids live in. They don’t play with anyone except my friends’ kids and the few other children that are in Liam’s preschool class. They don’t watch a show or a movie unless I know what it is about. What I am trying to say is that they are not exposed to much and they lead pretty…okay, very sheltered lives. Stupid, fat and hate are bad words in our house. Liam wouldn’t know a “real” bad word if he heard one. Liam didn’t know what a gun was until a few months ago when Sean was watching a show about WWII and Liam asked him what those things were on TV. I know Colm will grow up faster and be exposed to things sooner simply because he has an older brother. Kinder is a big, big leap into the “real” world. I hope I am ready. Yikes!
We went to Paradise Park today. We had never been there before and it was so much fun! My mom went with us and Grandmas get in free on Wednesdays, so lucky us. (Moms get in free on Mondays and they have coupons on their website.) Anyway, there was quite a bit to do. They have a water area, a play pizza restaurant, a dress up room, a toddler area, a pretend classroom, a climbing room, a building with blocks room, a paint your face area, an art area and a cooking class (where we made penguin cookies). There is also a restaurant in it so you can each lunch right there are keep on playing if you want. But they also have stuff outside that is open when it is warmer. There is an area to dig for dino bones, a fishing pond, a playground area, mini golf, go carts, bumper cars and probably a few other things I don’t know about. Another thing is that it is SUPER clean. Not only did it just look clean, but you could see people cleaning the whole time we were there AND there were very few people there. It was not crowded AT ALL and another mother there said it is always like that, at least on the weekdays. We will definitely be going back when it gets a little warmer so we can explore all of the outside attractions as well.
This is the foam fun area. It costs more and it scared the hooha out of Colm…tears. 🙁 These vacuum things suck up the balls and shoot them out somewhere else when you press a button, but it was LOUD! Liam thought it was okay. Next time we won’t go in this room.
Painting a penguin 
Liam the cat
My hubby is a techno-geek (love you, honey). He buys me a new computer when I don’t really feel like I need one. He got me an iPod. Why? Because he appreciates the technology and he wants me to have one. He insisted that I get a Palm when I was completely happy with my paper calendar. Now I am INSISTING that I get the new Apple phone. It is an iPod, phone and e-mail/Safari thing all wrapped up in one device and it is SOOOOOOO cool. It does the most amazing things. Sean and I watched Steve Jobs’ keynote address where he unveiled it, explained it and demonstrated how it works. It will blow you away. Start saving your dollars…it will be available in June.
It is that time of year again. The time of year when all moms start gearing up for the upcoming school year. Anyone who knows me at all knows I LOVE this time of year. When everyone starts calling, visiting, interviewing and checking out prospective schools for their little ones. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have run about twenty different scenarios for my own little ones for next year since Liam will be starting kinder and Colm will be starting school as well, but they can’t be enrolled at places that have pick up and drop off at similar times since there is only one of me and I can only be in one place at a time. Colm will be attending a Montessori that he has been on the waiting list for since October, so I am not too worried about him getting in and Liam will be at the local kinder in the afternoon while Colm is at home napping. I think it will work out great. While Colm is at school Liam and I can go to the library and he is going to take an art class and maybe a gymnastics class. It will also give him time to have his violin lesson so he won’t have to do it after school. Another part of this whole enrollment thing that I love (and it cracks me up, too) is the waiting game. Will they get in? How long is the waiting list? At some schools they make you wait in ridiculously long lines at crazy hours of the morning just to get on the waiting list…and then around late March/early April, everyone is breathing a collective sigh of relief. By that time everyone knows where they are going and we can all get on with our lives…until next year.