Occupational Hazard #14 - Kids will think "When Mom was young..... she wasn't as cool as she thought she was."

Recently, KT has added the following phrases (and others like it) to her vocabulary:

• "That's so cool"
• "That's so awesome"

At first, I chuckled and thought that it was "so cool" to hear her saying these things.   Usually, she's talking about a toy she saw on tv or in a store.   Sometimes, she is referring to an app on my iPad or her iPod touch.   Other times, it's can be referring to clothes or makeup or shoes..... she's pretty girly.   

A few occasions recently, I have pointed out something that I thought was "so cool" and quickly found out that she didn't have the same feelings.   She may say, "that's not cool, that's for babies" or "that's not cool, that's for boys."  Clearly defining that she knows what's cool and mom does not.  

This made me think about me as a pre-teen (I know KT is only almost 4, but seriously, she may as well be pre-teen).   The other day, KT asked me if she could shave her legs and arms because there's hair on them.  I told her to "wait till she was in kindergarten."  She promptly told my mother that I said she could shave her legs in kindergarten...which sparked a NOT cool conversation with my own mother.

Anyway, I can remember being a kid and when my mom mentioned things that she did as a kid that were "cool" or boys that were actors that the girls thought were "cool."  In most cases, I couldn't imagine that these things or those people could EVER be seen as "cool."   That was never going to happen with Katie.  Obviously, I'm awesome and I exude "cool."

I thought about actors that were "cool" when my mom was a kid or young adult...  then I thought about the actors/athletes that I used to think were "cool."  For the most part here, "cool" describes guys that I found to be attractive as a preteen/teenager and beyond...

Here are a few that came to mind:

My daughter is going to tell all of her friends that I'm DEFINITELY not "cool" and that I was once obsessed with mullets.

Perhaps, that's what inspired my all-time best Halloween Costume ever: Joan Dirt

Occupational Hazard #13 - 20 Questions

Since my last blog post was kind of a downer, kind of a cry for help and sort of a gut wrenching hazard of being a parent, it's time to get back to the funny side of being a mom.  I appreciate everyone's help and input regarding BG's torticollis. Her Hershey Med appt never happened thanks to a scheduling error, but another friend has reached out and got me in touch with an awesome Occupational Therapist.  Please continue to keep BG in your thoughts and hope (as hard as you can hope) that we may be on the right path to getting her help.  We have her Botox consultation tomorrow @ Hershey Med so I am hoping that good things can come from that.

Anyhow....  we all have things that we stress about as parents.  Maybe one of your kids has some medical issues, maybe you have to be "creative" while figuring out how to pay bills, maybe you or your spouse recently was in need of back surgery and was out of work for a few months, maybe things around the house need to be done, maybe your job is stressful, maybe you have 10 loads of laundry that need to be folded, maybe you're just craving some adult time with your friends.......   we all have stress.

Maybe you have a 3 or 4 year older that just wants to find out about the world.  They don't understand the stress that you're dealing with each day.  They don't get the fact that there are other things in this world other than them.   They are the center of their own universe and believe that they are also the center of your universe.  When they were 2, they didn't "get" it all, and that was ok.  Whatever....   their brains were so completely impulsive and ADD that they didn't waste a single moment on something they didn't really understand.   They just moved to the next shiny, interesting thing and focused their attention to that.

Our 3 1/2 year old has quite an imagination.   She is starting to want to know how things work.  She is starting to put things together and isn't easily "tricked" or "diverted" as she was in days gone by.  Instead, the most simple, non-compelling moment from your typical day can turn into an interrogation and bombarding of a million questions of things that pop into her head while she goes through this interrogation.

EXHAUSTING.

For the most part, you have to appreciate the fact that they have enough brain activity to wonder about such things.  However, throw in an almost 1 year old and any number of the aforementioned stressors (and any other stressors that were not listed), and it's enough to make even the strongest nerves crack.

I would rather that she's inquisitive instead of a lump, but omg...

Here is a list of things that I've been asked in the past week.   I've been trying to keep them in my head, but shit, I'm too stressed to remember all of these stressing questions.

• What is inside our walls?
• What is inside the floor?
• When I flush my toilet, does the poop go in the floor?
• What does a sewer do (follow up to the last question)
• Is this the sewer; I don't see any poop? (standing on the grate in the street during our walk the next day).
• What is that fan made of?
• Answer - wood metal and a motor
• How do you make a motor?
• What color is a motor?
• How does your car run?
• Why do you need gas?
• How do you make plastic?
• How does the postal system work?
• ME:How do you think it works?
• KT:I think you write a zip code on a mail and you send it in the mailbox.
• Why does your shampoo hurt my eyes, but my shampoo doesn't?
• Why can't babies talk?
• When is my sister going to talk?
• Mommy can you download this onto your phone?
• Mommy, does this app cost money?
• Mommy, is my phone dead?
• Mommy, how do you charge it?
• Mommy, how do you make an apple?
• How do I touch the moon?
• Why can't I touch a rainbow?
• Where is the thunder?

I am sure that I'll think of 300 other questions as soon as I hit publish, but frankly, I'm going to sit and detox my brain from the day's interrogations and bury my face in some yahtzee.  :-)