Wired For Noise

could a 19 year old college kid become mayor.

Tags: Oklahoma

Today bloggers allover the web are talking about Human Rights and contributing in their own ways to sparking discussion and understanding on the various human rights we are entitled to, rights that for some are never realized. There are so many great bloggers out there already speaking up on so many important issues. From the cyclone that struck Myanmar to the crisis in Darfur. Honor killings, children’s rights, and some human rights issues you probably never heard of, even if they happened in your own back yard.

How about starting the Human Rights movement at home by teaching our children to respect the rights of others?

I could go on listing every great post written today, but instead let me just link to the discussion on this topic so you can see what others are opening up about.

There are so many things I want to write about today, I just cannot narrow it down to one topic. Instead I’m just urging everyone to read what others are saying on the hundreds of important topics that desperately need to be seen and known.

“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

Tags: blogging, Blog Catalog, Bloggers United For human Rights, human rights

Trey is almost 2 years old, in three weeks and a day. It’s amazing how fast time flies. He’s so big, and getting bigger every day. The boy who would not talk is suddenly jumping up the ladder of vocabulary. Yesterday he said “Thank you”, and a couple days ago he caught me eating a snack and said “Share please”. Unfortunately he still calls everyone dadda, including me and his brother. But hopefully that will pass soon.

He’s so different from his brother, I was thinking about this the other day. Luckily I blog since I have the memory of a turnip, I can look back at Evan at this age. At 2 Evan was starting potty training, he was talking up a storm, and was full of personality. OK so Trey is pretty full of personality himself, but no where near ready for potty training and barely has 1/8 of the vocabulary that his brother did.

He’s also still breastfeeding, near constantly if I let him. I have to limit him to how much he nurses to get him to eat any solid foods. Evan was already weaned and had no problem eating anything I gave him. Though Trey is definitely more physically advanced than Evan was. Trey climbs fences, jumps from the top step of the porch, and goes down the big slide at the park all by himself.

I still can’t believe it’s been almost two years since a squeaky, red, 9 lb baby was handed to me.  Wow.

Tags: kids, life, toddlers

I feel a bit ashamed to admit it, but even after bragging on some awesome moms thinking about big things this year for Mother’s Day, my wishlist was still pretty shallow. I asked for a chocolate donut (mmmm, so bad), a gift card to get some more books (like I need more), and a nap. Oh, and I asked for a new tattoo also but I was already pretty sure we couldn’t afford the $200 I would need for what I want.

Of course the universe likes to teach lessons, so I got one on being materialistic and buying into the overcommercialized, HallMark sell out that Mother’s Day has become. I got a sink full of dishes, four loads of laundry (bedding and Dearest’s work clothes),  and a couple pair of Dearest’s work pants that needed new buttons sewed on.

Well then, next year I’ll ask for world peace.

Tags: Mother’s Day

Yesterday I noticed Evan was spending a long time in the bathroom, so I decided to investigate. I was almost fairly certain I would find him playing with the bubble bath or trying to stick a diaper down the toilet. Instead I found him at the sink washing his hands. He used to hate washing his hands, it was torture to get them a little wet and soapy after using the bathroom. So to see him suddenly past that phobia and actually doing it on his own was amazing. But still not as cool as our conversation.

Me: Hey, how did you get so big?

Evan: I ate my vegetables and did my exercise.

Me: Exercise huh?

Evan: Yeah, like running fast and riding my bike.

Me: That sounds fun.

Evan: Yeah, it is. You need to eat your vegetables and exercise too mommy. If you don’t you’ll stay little and I’ll have to carry you in my pocket when I get great big.

So there you have it, tel you kids they need to eat their veggies and exercise so they can get so big they can carry you in their pockets. I, for one, and looking forward to the ride.

We were given our washer and dryer about 5 years ago, and then they already had 6 years of use in them. So there are a few things that don’t always work right about them, but for free I’m not going to complain too much. One of the things wrong is the shut off switch. Most washers, if you leave the lid up when it is filling will automatically shut off when the tank gets full. Not mine, it just keep filling and filling and filling. Which is why I spent yesterday morning getting my cardio in by bending and scooping a couple inches of water off the kitchen floor with the dust pan.

I swear it never fails, as soon as I start laundry something distracts me. I remember starting the wash, stuffing in clothes,and pours on a scoop of the soap. Then Evan started yelling at me from the table that he needed this and that and I had to jump to it immediately, and Trey stood up under the table (again) and hit his head, and the cat knocked over the laundry basket, my phone started ringing. The next thing I know I’m sitting on the couch debating whether or not to get off my butt when I realized the cats were all sitting and staring at the kitchen doorway.

I spent almost an hour scooping water, sopping up the corners with towels, and trying to clean the floor so that you can’t tell what happened. Though that wasn’t the hard part. The real work is keeping Evan from telling Dearest what I did, sparing me from yet another lecture about wasting water and paying attention. Because being a SAHM is sooo easy, if I make mistakes it must be because I’m just not paying attention.

At least it was just a couple inches to deal with. I keep dreaming of flooding all the way up to the wood shutters before I notice it.

Tags: home, life

This morning was warm, cloudy, and had a cool breeze. Evan hopped on his bike, I loaded Trey into a stroller, and we took off across town to the park with the big train. Or “chooo-chooo” as Trey calls them. He’s a bit obsessed right now. As we made it across town I felt my heart leap into my throat at every intersection, every time Evan got more than a few feet in front of me, every time I saw a car coming and Evan didn’t immediately dive to the side. Yes, I’m one of those kinds of moms.

So this afternoon I watched a short, under 10 minute video that Kim linked to. 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do. Sheesh!

While I’m jumping every 2 minutes at the thought of Evan being run over I’m forgetting what being a kid means. When I was little I refused to learn to ride my bike. Nope, no way, not going to do it. Then one morning I woke up at the crack of dawn while all the adults were still sound asleep, I went out and jumped on my bike and was gone. For two hours I rode all over town, by myself, without anyone even knowing I was gone. Though i got in trouble for leaving so early without telling anyone once I had shown that I could ride I was free to travel as I wished, I just had to tell them I was taking off first.

Some of the things he talks about kids needing to do in the video really sits with me. Playing with fire for one. I think I would skin myself alive in terror at the idea of Evan playing with fire, yet at his age we had an open faced fireplace that we used daily to heat the front of the house. I spent hours a few inches in front of that thing stirring the wood, tossing in bits of this and that to see what would happen, and playing in the ashes. The idea of letting Evan have a screwdriver makes me tremble. But as his age my uncle had several old TV sets that I frequently took apart and put back together again, often in hopes of building a robot that would do my homework for me.

It reminded me of a book I read last year, Last Child In The Woods. Some of what Louv talked about was kids not being allowed to build treehouses, go fishing, and just enjoy nature. They are stuck in the house with video games to keep them company for fear that they might go outside and get hurt. Broken bones, scratches, dents, dings. All the things kids are supposed to be doing.

Sometimes I forget what it means to be a kid.

Tags: parenting, childhood, fun, danger