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Nov 13, 2007

Parenting Is A Full-Contact Sport

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And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I’m still finding it hard to focus too long on my computer screen today thanks to a sudden meeting of Cordy’s occipital bone with my nasal bone on Sunday.

We were up very early in the morning, thanks to her Houdini ability to open her bedroom door, even with a doorknob safety cover on it. (Note to safety device makers – this one DOES NOT WORK!) In my half-asleep state, I prepared breakfast, turned on the TV, and promptly found a pillow for my head on the couch. Soon, Cordy had eaten breakfast and came over to the couch, wanting to snuggle. She crawled up next to me, facing out with her head on the pillow. I pulled the blanket up to cover both of us and tried to return to my semi-asleep state.

I don’t know why she did it, but she suddenly jerked her head back quick and fast, sending the back of her (hard!) skull into the soft tender parts of my face. For a moment, I could actually “see” pain as everything looked brighter, then darker. White hot electric pain shot through my nose.

For her part, Cordy seemed unaffected, although she did climb off the couch, rub the back of her head, and say, “I have a boo-boo, mommy. Kiss it better?” Somehow, the last thing I wanted to do at that moment was kiss the sore spot on her head that resulted from her attempt to make my nose concave.

I don’t think my nose is broken, but it’s quite possible she cracked the bone. It did bleed, but no black eyes. (Although how can you tell if you have permanent dark circles under your eyes?) Two days later, and I can still feel the ache up into my forehead and eye sockets. But my nose isn’t crooked, so it just has to heal on its own.

Aaron told me the story of how he broke his mother’s nose as a toddler in a similar incident. All I can say is that I really didn’t want to be a part of this family tradition.

Never let your guard down, folks. There are no personal foul penalties in parenting. Investing in a helmet might be a good idea, too.

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Speaking of rough and tumble children, I just reviewed The Daring Book for Girls over at Mommy’s Must Haves. Somehow I think this will be Cordy’s favorite book when she’s older.

Filed Under: Cordy ·


Nov 10, 2007

All I Want For Christmas Is A Toy That Won’t Kill My Kids

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Is that too much to ask for?

Lead. Dangerous magnets. BPA and PVC plastic. And now Aqua Dots covered with a chemical that metabolizes the same as the date rape drug. It seems like this is a dangerous year for toys.

It’s hard enough to find toys that you feel at least have some educational component to them. But now parents are forced to consider if the newest shiny plastic toy is secretly a ticking time bomb slowly poisoning their children.

I think it will be tough to shop for my daughters this holiday season. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be closely examining labels for that “Made in China” small print, and then moving on to something with less chance of being recalled someday.

A new drug must go through rigorous testing before it can be released to the public. Our food undergoes strict testing for contaminants. So why are toys getting onto shelves in high numbers filled with lead paint and toxic chemicals? The CPSC has just one guy responsible for toy testing – one guy. And they don’t seem all that concerned with expanding their agency to improve safety standards for children’s products.

I’ve been lucky so far. Only one toy in our house has been in the recent round of recalls. But I’m not sure how lucky I am – for while some companies are voluntarily recalling their toys, it’s likely that others are not testing their toys at all, or hiding the information to avoid bad publicity. Who knows how many other toys in Cordy’s toy box aren’t safe?

The lead paint scare didn’t bother me at first. Cordy has never been one of those kids who puts things in her mouth. If it’s not food, it generally doesn’t get slobbered on. But now that Mira is with us, I’m scared. Mira, from the very beginning, has proven to be a very oral child. Anything she gets her hands on goes right to her mouth. It’s only a few months before she’ll be crawling, which means she’ll head directly to Cordy’s toys to savor the forbidden taste. (Come on, we all know younger siblings think their older sibling’s toys are the best!)

So what’s on my shopping list this year? I’m not sure yet. Toys ‘R Us has published a list of 500 toys that are not made in China. I also will be looking for more toys from smaller mom and pop companies that make their own products and stand behind their safety. I might even fall back on the family habit of buying books for the girls instead of toys.

You might say that our kids still have safer toys today than we did. That’s true, but it’s partially because we know more about what is safe and what isn’t, so we should hold the toys of today to that higher standard. And while I want the government to beef up its testing and safety guidelines for any product marketed to a child, I also know that the real responsibility lies in the hands of the parents. It’s up to us to be educated about what’s safe and make the best choices for our children.

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This post has been written in conjunction with the Parent Bloggers Network blog blast sponsored by Consumer’s Union, urging parents to “Get the Lead Out This Holiday Season”. Consumer’s Union is encouraging 12 Days of Safe Shopping (11/23 to 12/4) with parents sending letters to Congress and making their local stores aware of their concerns by becoming “safe shoppers.” .

Filed Under: big issues, rant ·


Nov 9, 2007

Haiku Friday: Toys and Villains

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Haiku Friday
Lead paint, toxic drugs
No toy is safe anymore
Wood blocks for Christmas?

First there was small magnets posing a danger, then lead paint, and now poisonous chemicals that can lead to a coma or death. Seems like every toy is a little death bomb waiting to pounce on our kids. I may be sticking to organic fabric and wood when shopping for gifts for the girls.

Ninth of November
Halloween is over now?
Tell that to my kid.

I’m not sure which is worse – listening to Cordy beg to watch Mickey’s House of Villains for the 78 gazillionth time, or having to sit through it again. Cordy will not accept that Halloween is over, and I’m slowly going insane from it. I think even at Christmas she’ll be walking up to Santa, saying “Look, mommy, a red monster! Happy Halloween!”

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your generic blog URL). We will delete your link if it doesn’t go to a haiku. If you need help with this, contact Jennifer or myself.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button above.

So flex those mental muscles and join Jennifer and I for Haiku Fridays!

Filed Under: Cordy, Haiku Fridays ·


Nov 7, 2007

Whatever Happened To…

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I’ve had a few questions lately from some of you, asking for updates on past posts. I feel like I needed to do a recap post – sort of like those “Where are they now?” shows that Maury Povich does every now and then, seeing how past guests are doing since the show.

So without further ado, let me bring back some of the past guests of this blog to see what they’re up to now.

The sentient trash can – Several people want to know what our trash can has been up to. I took the advice many of you offered and set up a Trashcam in the upstairs window for the last two weeks. However, I am sad to report that the trash can has lost its will to move. No movement at all in the past two weeks. Maybe it knew it was being watched, and like a ghost only performs when no one is looking? If it moves again, I may be calling in TAPS.

The surprise kittens – Our guest room is still overrun with a family of cats. Only they’re not so small now, and they’re getting into everything. It’s adoption week here, and I hope that by the end of the week, most of them will be gone. The good news is that four of five kittens have found homes, and the fifth may have a home. They’re all good matches, and I think they will all live spoiled lives. Which is better than how they started, out in Cordy’s play barn with an undernourished mama. Mama cat really doesn’t like being inside, and so next week she will be spayed and introduced to her new home on my mother’s farm.

A couple of recent photos:

Mira’s teeth – You’re all brilliant, you know that? Thanks to your advice and links and stories, I have survived two days with only a few minor bites. I now know I have to be vigilant to watch for signs she’s preparing to bite. No more commenting on posts while she nurses, I guess. Switching positions helped take the pressure off of the gashes, too. And I’ve been praising her when she lets go without biting. She likes the positive attention, although it isn’t as funny as mommy screaming. Dark days may be on the horizon, though – tonight she was inconsolable and rubbing her upper gums. I think her top teeth are starting their descent. My nipple may soon be surrounded by sharp spears.

Aunt Dot – She may be gone, but her crazy gifts live on. Cleaning out her apartment has been a monumental task for my family. The woman had a lot of junk. A lot. My mom says she found something so perfectly Aunt Dot that she plans to hide it away and bring it out at Christmas. I’m excited to see what it is, which is wrong on so many levels.

A huge number of you – To all of you participating in NaBloToGoSoBananaFanaFoMo or whatever it is, good luck! I will not be joining you, because I can’t even find time to shower daily. And if I have to choose between posting and showering, well… I know you’d appreciate my choice if you had to be near me. And please, for the love of those of us who have trouble keeping up with our reading this month, write at least a few short posts, OK?

I think that covers most of the updates. If there’s still something you must know more about, leave me a comment and I’ll give you the latest update. If there’s anything to update, of course. On the next show, we’ll have lie detector test results, guests’ best secrets revealed, and a few of the “I was a geek, but look at me now!” guests.

Filed Under: random ·


Nov 5, 2007

And Then She Bit My Nipple Off

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We have a slight situation here at Casa de Mommy Story. You already know Mira has teeth. Two sharp bottom ones, to be specific. She’s chewing on anything she can with those two new teeth. Including me.

I’ve been trying to use the advice people have given me. When she bites me while nursing, I yelp, hoping to startle her and make sure she doesn’t do it again. It’s a good theory, and it worked the first time, but now my screams of pain are countered with laughter. She thinks it’s funny. Not sure who she got that sense of humor from.

I also tried putting her down and stopping the feeding session when she bites. She gets mad and screams her head off, as expected, but it doesn’t seem to do much to discourage her from biting.

Another bit of advice was to push her head into my breast when she bites, making her unable to breathe and then she’ll let go and associate biting with an unpleasant experience. However, Mira is a bite-and-release girl, so it’s hard to catch her in the act. By the time I feel the bite, the damage is already done and she’s pulled off, smiling at me. (I told you she had a sick sense of humor.)

I even tried buying a nipple shield to give me a thin layer of silicone between us, but she refuses to nurse with it. Re-fus-es. Completely. Like it’s some kind of abomination of the natural order and using it would be akin to admitting there is no God.

We’ve come to a breaking point, though. Yesterday Fang (my new nickname for her) bit me hard enough to draw blood. I have three small gashes on my right nipple and one on my left. I tried to nurse her again overnight, and she bit me hard enough that I worried she bit through my nipple. (I checked, and she didn’t – but at 2am when you’re half-asleep, you jump to those conclusions from the pain.) I’m too sore to nurse on one side, and also too sore to pump.

To all of my hardcore lactation readers out there – I want to know how you survived biting? What did you do to discourage it? If we can’t stop this, I think weaning is in the near future. I don’t want to wean – bottles and formula are such a pain, plus formula is expensive. And when she’s not biting, I like having the ability to breastfeed her. But I can’t let her turn my nipples into hamburger.

Any advice is appreciated.

(And it’s not like Fang has a lack of teething toys. Anything is a teething toy to her.)

That’s one way to hold a spoon.
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Filed Under: breastfeeding, Mira ·