My No-Bias Boy
My 5-year-old son LOVES cars… and trucks, and SUVs, and crossovers, and hybrids. He loves buses too, any type of vehicle, really.
He knows all the different brand logos and names and points them out to me in traffic. I honestly think this helped him learn to read.
“Look Mom, there’s a Honda.”
“Mom, there’s a Chevy!”
And his favorite,
“Mom! It’s a Toyota!”
Both of his grandmothers have Toyotas, thus, it IS his favorite type of car. And the topper this year: his preschool teacher drives a Toyota too- he’s over the moon! Yes, 5-year-old boys care about this kind of stuff.
I’ve made a point to not talk about car prices with my son. I don’t want to convey, even subconsciously, that when something is more expensive, it’s better. Because, especially us moms know, that is just not true.
He makes no judgment on how cool a car is in relation to its price.
It’s so fun to look at the world through his eyes- with no bias; if a car has a cool trunk, or headlights, or door handle, he points it out and he thinks it’s cool. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Honda or a Hyundai, a Volkswagen or a Volvo, a Fiat or a Ferrari.
But it really hit home the other day.
I took my car in to be serviced at the dealership and we had to wait for a few minutes until it was done.
I looked across the street and said, “I’m going to show you a car you’ve never seen up close before.”
We walked across the small street to the (very small) Bentley dealership. The door was locked, but was opened for us. I asked if we could look at the 3 Bentleys they had in the small showroom. The guy at the desk said, ‘sure’ and continued his phone conversation. We were the only ones in there. There’s a slowdown in the economy right now, but frankly, I don’t think the Bentley showroom is ever mobbed.
We looked at the cars… he especially liked the tires on one of the models.
We looked them all over, they are beautiful cars. And as we walked to the front of the showroom with all glass facing the street, my Little Guy exclaimed,
“Look Mom, a Toyota!”
My son saw a Toyota drive by and was thrilled. The guy at the desk almost laughed, and gave me a look like, “Are you kidding me?”
But I got it-
No one he knows has a Bentley. No one he loves drives a Bentley.
He appreciates ALL CARS; My son realizes that all cars are created equal and merely help people in their journey for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But, cars that mean the most to him are cars that belong to people he cares about.
Thanks for the reminder, my Little One…
So here’s to cars, big and small, fast and slow, bright and dull.
Here’s to little eyes who see their value for what they are,
A convenience, a help, and that is all.
By the way, if you are looking to buy a Bentley, first of all- good for you, congrats,
Click here for the Bethesda Bentley website; after a Google search, I believe it is the ONLY Bentley dealership in the DC area.
An abbreviated version of this can be read at DC Metro Moms.
Mommy likes Escargot… No, not like SpongeBob’s pet snail- Gary
So we’re in the car, talking about food- 1 of my favorite topics.
My husband starts listing ‘funny’ names for food, and brings up escargot, you know, snails.
“Guess who loves to eat escargot.”
“Who?” My Little Man asked.
“Mommy.”
Then there was a moment of silence…
“You mean like Gary, SpongeBob’s pet snail?”
My husband and I quickly exchanged looks and realized that we were in that little cloud in a 5-year-old’s world where reality and pretend sometimes collide…
“Oh no!” I quickly interjected. “Gary is SpongeBob’s pet.”
Then my husband adds, “Plus, he lives in the ocean.” Like he’s safe from your carnivore mother because there is no way a person could get to a snail, or a crab, or God forbid- a fish, in the water.
“… Oh, okay,” My Little Guy said, in a tone that seemed he was not quite convinced, yet, at the same time, completely satisfied with our answers.
Ah, another question answered… not an example of superior parenting, but answered, none the less.
Success in Life… It all comes down to not Peeing in Your Pants
How do we define success in life? Well, if you’re a mom, and you probably are if you are reading this: Successfully potty-training your child ranks up there with starting your own fortune 500 company. I’ve been through it and it is still something that is a source of pride for me. I think this and then I remind myself-
EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS POTTY-TRAINED.
It can’t be that hard…Duh!
But maybe, just maybe… it is that big of a deal.
I got this in am email, I’m sure a mom wrote it:
SUCCESS IN LIFE
At age 4 success is . . . not piddling in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . having friends.
At age 17 success is … having a drivers license.
At age 35 success is . . having money.
At age 50 success is . . having money.
At age 70 success is . . .. having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . . having friends.
At age 80 success is . . not piddling in your pants.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
It’s Dr. Seuss’s Birthday! Well, it was yesterday, but since it was a ‘snow day’ from school, I didn’t get the chance to blog about it.
Dr. Suess’s birthday is a chance to celebrate! Make this hat with construction paper,
and click here for more craft projects you can do, inspired by Dr. Suess!
Or, just read a Dr. Seuss book, I’m sure you have one 
My Son Won’t Eat Mac n’ Cheese, But Olives- YES!
My son will not eat Mac n’ Cheese. He doesn’t like any kind of pasta…
I don’t know how he came from me. He doesn’t like a lot of icing on cake or cupcakes- that totally comes from me…
But yesterday was a new ‘You’ve got to be kidding me’ moment:
My son opened the fridge and saw black olives, “Mom, can I have a bowl of black olives for a snack?”
Ummm, okay. So I gave him a small bowl of olives, and he ate all of them. Then, as only a mother can do, I started thinking, ‘Are a lot of olives really good for a kid? Will it make his stomach upset?’
Stop it mom, he’s fine. A few olives never hurt anybody.
Avoid The Rush… Go Out The Night Before
It used to be pretty fun going out on special nights- New Year’s, Valentine’s Day; but as we all know: things change.
I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s Eve anyway, because it can rarely live up to the hype associated with it.
My answer: GO OUT THE NIGHT BEFORE.
I have now done this for New Year’s AND Valentine’s Day and it works great.
My husband and I now have a tradition of going out on December 30th- there aren’t the crazy crowds, babysitters are more readily available, and service isn’t rushed.
Fast forward to Valentine’s Day this year; we were planning on going out as a family for dinner to one of our favorite family restaurants on Saturday, February 14th…
then I got to thinking, ‘Everywhere is going to be packed, everybody’s going to be a little rushed’, and I quickly changed our plans-
We all went out to dinner on Friday, the 13th, had a wonderful dinner, the restaurant wasn’t very crowded
and then for Valentine’s Day we ordered chinese.
Moral of the story: Consider starting this tradition, it’s easier and then ‘ordering in’ the next night is a nice topper!
Thank You
Thank You to all the women out there who offered their kind words and thoughts and prayers to me after writing about my ectopic pregnancy (below). The wishes from near and far have helped me, whether you read it here or over at DC Metro Moms.
It was a hard post to write, but I felt I had to and it was time, because I see a lot of misinformation about ectopic pregnancy, OR NO information out there about ectopic pregnancy.
Once again, I want to inform and empower women and remind women to trust their instincts…
An ectopic pregnancy can go from bad to worse very quickly.
Please seek immediate medical attention if you are pregnant and in pain.
And THANK YOU AGAIN. Thank you for all your warm wishes.
My Ectopic Pregnancy Gone Horribly Wrong
It was President’s Day Weekend…
I was pregnant! We were thrilled… But my HCG levels were low, so something wasn’t quite right.
I didn’t miscarry, as my doctor said I might, so I was hopeful that my pregnancy would get better. Then, Sunday evening I was cramping up so much that I wanted to call the doctor… but didn’t, at first…
I survived another medical trauma at the start of my 20s, so I think of myself as tough.
Then a started to get a sharp pain under my right breast… so I called the doctor. I have since learned that this is, to quote reference books, ‘an ominous sign’ as it means blood is tracking up the abdominal cavity…
The on-call doctor called me back and immediately apologized for being happily distracted- his sister was in labor at the hospital. I told him about the pain, and he quickly suggested I send my husband out for Pepto-Bismol, and to wink, wink, ‘toughen up’.
So I did. And my husband did. And I took the Pepto-Bismol…
That night pain kept waking me up… and at about 6 in the morning my husband was jolted awake by a thud on the floor of our bathroom. He looked around and didn’t see me. He ran into the bathroom and I lay unconscious on the floor.
He called the doctor and got me to the nearest hospital. I was quickly wheeled into the sonogram room and after numerous attempts to find a baby, a doctor was called in and he said, and I quote,
“All I can see is blood.”
Everything went quickly then. Orderlies were running with my stretcher. I was prepped in a hallway awaiting surgery, all the while, nurses covering me with heated blankets, because I was shivering so much from the loss of blood… 1,2,3,4,5 blankets were covering me and still I shook.
Ectopic means “out of place.” In an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg has implanted outside the uterus. The egg settles in the fallopian tubes in more than 95% of ectopic pregnancies, as was my case. The fallopian tube does not have space or nurturing tissue as a uterus does, for a pregnancy. As the fetus grows, it will eventually burst the tube, which causes internal bleeding and eventually, if not treated, death. A classical ectopic pregnancy cannot develop into a live birth.
So there I was, bleeding internally, being wheeled into the OR. My husband had tears in his eyes and said only 3 words,
“DON’T LEAVE ME.”
I didn’t want to, but I was SO TIRED… not the kind of tired you feel when you need a good night’s sleep; I was exhausted. I felt like all the systems in my body were slowing down,
slowly, slowing down…
And then I had a moment of clarity and it hit me, ‘This is BAD. I’m bleeding to death.’
They put me on the operating table, I remember HOW COLD I was. The nurse looked down at me and told me they would help me; she had beautiful blue eyes and the light was coming down around her face and I thought she looked like Mary. And I was comforted.
The anesthesiologist told me to count backward from 100, and I almost did. Then I stopped myself for only a moment, took all the strength I had left, and screamed inside my head,
“Please God, do not let me go out this way. I have fought too hard for life. Please, not this way.”
And I started counting- 100, 99, 98… fade to black.
A few days later, a few more little scares, and I was feeling pretty good- believe it or not.
I was at home and relaxing, because I couldn’t do much else… and I was so grateful to be okay!
A couple more days went by and just for a moment I thought back to that ultrasound…
‘All I can see is blood’. And I started crying.
Then I wept. And I wept… for my baby, for my baby that never got a chance…
Almost 2 years later I delivered my healthy and happy son. He gives us such joy and he makes me laugh,
and sometimes I’m amazed by how wise he is beyond his years…
And on those occasions, I allow myself to believe that he is blessed with an extra little angel who is always looking out for him.
* Trust your instincts. If you think something is wrong, consult a doctor.
* Sometimes women don’t even know they have miscarried… A miscarriage should not be extremely painful. If you do experience extreme pain and/or a sharp pain, please seek immediate medical help.
* Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of death for a mother in her first trimester of pregnancy.
An abbreviated version of this can be read at DC Metro Moms.
Truths Of Motherhood
I got this in an email and edited it a bit:
Great Truths of Motherhood:
1) Wrinkles don’t hurt.
2) Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.
3) Laughing is good exercise. It’s like jogging on the inside.
4) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
Good Plumbers are hard to find…
I am happy to say that I now have a new dishwasher.
The hard part was not finding the dishwasher, but having it installed.
After dealing with a not-so-honest plumbing firm that quoted me an astronomically ($455) high rate to install my dishwasher, I took matters into my own hands… (I nicely told this plumber to leave my home, after all, BananaBlueberry concentrates on the good stuff).
I called the firm that had come out to look at my old dishwasher and asked them who THEY recommended.
They gave me the names of 2 firms and 1 is located about a mile from my house, so I called them-
Leahy Plumbing and Heating is a great, honest, plumbing company. John Leahy, the owner, always tries to answer the phone. He did when I called. He’s been around for years and gave me a very reasonable price.
Leahy Plumbing will come to your home and give you a FREE ESTIMATE. If you don’t like it, tell them to leave, that’s it. No service call charge, done.
The Moral of the Story:
Ask other businesses their recommendations. I went with the first company from word-of-mouth.
And pass on GOOD experiences with service companies
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