"Look out! It's TORTILLA SKULL!" she told us.

We've never been big on not playing with food—within reason. Throwing it? Making intentional messes? No way. But a little thing like this? I can deal. Everyone needs a little levity.

Switching gears completely: Can I tell you how sweet things are right at this moment?

I'm sitting on our bed, listening to the rain outside (rain! in the South! the grass may yet survive!) as Baby A and The Wonderful Husband finish the second book in the My Father's Dragon series. (It's awesome for early chapter-book readers...or listeners.)

Our next baby is tumbling around inside me, managing somehow to thump me hard in the back on my left and poke out on my right side at the same time. At just twenty-one weeks along, it has already been a big mover and shaker for quite some time; TWH jokes that he or she is going to roundhouse its way out of the womb.

I'm in the last stages of a big chunk of freelance work—an annual report for an institute within a major university nearby—and the deadlines have kept me from posting here much over the past week or two. I'm looking forward to finishing. Think it will be the last big project I take on before the baby arrives around the first of July. (And that, THAT, will be the big project for at least three or four months afterwards. That and the quest for sleep.)

TWH and Baby A have finished the book now and are talking about it. There's a map inside the cover, and she's telling him which islands are which. I know from reading the earlier chapters that she has them wrong, but what does it matter? TWH lets it go. Sunday night, when we started this book, Baby A nuzzled down into my side and turned to me with an unmatched look of excitement on her face. I recognized it and something inside my chest went all warm: She was incredibly excited to be on the verge of starting a new book.

I'm so grateful she feels that, too. We do get lucky and pass on some of the good stuff, don't we?

Posted by QSMama at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's amazing how many kid-development milestones just kind of happen on their own. Just when you're despairing, thinking you'll be changing diapers (or throwing away unsalvageable underwear) forever, they start using the toilet. Just when you think they'll be packing tubes of Little Bear toddler toothpaste for college, they learn to spit.

And just when you think your child won't ever lighten your day with some bathroom humor, you get a song like this: "I went some at school, and some at the Y, yeah,/ Poopy poopy, poopy, poopitypoopitypoopity POOP!" (copyright 2008, Baby A, just in case you were thinking of pirating that one).

Aaaaaaaanyway, seems it goes the same way with expanding their palates, too. Here's one writer, over at the lovely Babble site, who's taking that whole process in stride.

And that's cool. All things in time, right?

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When I tell you that A. really likes to get into character, I am serious. This is how deep it goes. Yesterday morning, she was Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" again. That means a jumper with buttons in the right places, a white shirt underneath, folded-down socks, ruby-red slippers, and not one but TWO braids in her hair. (Try putting two braids in that fine, short haircut, to her exacting Dorothy-matching standards. It's the perfect morning-tantrum storm.)

Then when we stopped for coffee, I let her have a hot chocolate in the hopes I could read a politics story in the newspaper. She went back to the counter, asked the barista if she could please borrow a pen, and came back and wrote her name on her paper cup.

Then, because she couldn't do the whole thing, she asked me to please complete her thought. Per her instructions, I had to turn what she had written into "NOT A. but DOROTHY." It turned out like this:

This kid.... Today, though, today has been maelstrom-free so far. It's been great.

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So last night we're making a forty-five-minute drive home during the second half of the Duke - Virginia Tech basketball game. I love me some Blue Devils, so I build it up really big with Baby A: "Guess what? You get to listen to the Duke game on the radio! With me! Like a big kid!"

She's all, "Mommy, you LOVE radio! Especially NPR! And you love Duke! Yay! This will be FUN!"

But here's how it actually goes, copied from a sympathy-pleading email to my husband, who often doesn't understand why I want to take a break from talking for a little while after he gets home in the evenings:

we missed the whole game, though, in no small part because a. WOULD NOT STOP TALKING as i tried to listen on the radio on the way home. here is a two-minute slice:

"he's dribbling? that means bouncing the ball, right? devils scored! did the other team loss, er, loser, um, not win yet? seventy is more than fifty-five, right? duke has seventy. that's more. the man said duke THREW THE BALL AWAY? so he put it in the trash can? why would he do that? how can they play the game if the ball is thrown away? OH NO! can someone get it back? do they have extra basketballs to use? just an expression? what means an expression? does duke have the ball now? what color is the other team? is it clemson? they're orange. or is it temple? is it the grey team we saw the other day, um, um, um, gorgetown? i'll be a cheerleader! goooooo, duke! dukedukedukedukeduke duuuuuuuuukkkkke!"

i swear i've never head a person so capable of keeping up a nonstop stream-of-consciousness chatter. so then i'm Mean Mom, punching off the radio and yelling, "SHUSH! just listen!" over and over but it's like she is on speed and can't stop her mouth.

la la la la la la....

Posted by QSMama at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As a special treat, we stopped into a Great Amercian Cookie Company and got Baby A and, ahem, ourselves cookies. There was a giant floor poster depicting the company's partnership with Disney Princess characters, which are appearing on mini-buckets and kids' cups. The poster looked a lot like this, only even more enticing, if you can IMAGINE that:

[image thanks to the Great American Cookies site]

Do you know what that does to a kid who spends her days dressing like this? And rearranging furniture to build "carriages" to take herself to "the grand ball" where she can "find her prince and fall in love and get married"? * mom shakes fist angrily at Disney *

Oh YES YOU DO KNOW, if you've ever raised a two- or three-year-old.

So even though she got a cookie embedded with yummy colored chocolate drops (which we'd already handed her before she spotted the poster), do you know what kind of shape she was in when we left the store? This kind of shape:

In all fairness, that picture was taken a few weeks ago, but you get the idea.

Good thing there was a display of ginormous pumpkins nearby to distract her from her decidedly un-princess-like breakdown.

Posted by QSMama at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Today was Friday. Usually I like Fridays. They mean Saturday is coming, and with it family time, coffeehouse time with friends, and the remote possibility of having a babysitter for dinner and drinks out with The Wonderful Husband.

But Baby A and I had a tough time of it today. Not sure what it was. Could be that two days of misty rain have kept us from the hard playground play that keeps her a little more sane. She was literally climbing furniture today, not in that toddler way, but in a purposeful older-kid way. "But I'm making a bridge!" "But I climbed the mountain and my headboard is the peak!" "But I had to jump down with my parachute!" That last one from the dining room table, with her pink baby blanket as a 'chute....

More than a few times today, I had to ask her to stop and take a deep breath. At least that many times, I had to do the same thing myself. Basically we had trouble staying on the same page—almost literally.

True conversation: Baby A runs into the kitchen this afternoon clutching a Latin volume of Virgil's Aeneid, Books 7-12. (I'm a geek and proud of it. Little does she know she WILL be taking Latin by middle school. But I digress.)

I see the book and snap that it means she cliimbed three shelves of a (fortunately, built-in) bookshelf in the living room to grab it. WTF?

A: "Mommy, let's read this!"

Me: "Look inside. Are those English words? Do you recognize any of it?"

A: Hmmmmmmmm.....

Me: "That's a Latin book. You don't want to read that, I promise you."

A, eyes widening: "A Latin book? Oh, yes, I do! YES, I DO WANT TO READ IT! I love Aladdin!"

Commences floor-flopping meltdown. Her, not me. Continues:

Continue reading "Can I Do "Friday Whine and Moan" Instead of "Friday Fun"?" »

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I love my daughter deeply. Don't get me wrong. But our constant time together was making both of us a little loco. Baby A isn't one of those kids who play alone, nor is she content to sit down with a puzzle or some crayons. Like, EVER. Believe me, I've tried to help her learn to enjoy focused, quiet activities. She's not having it.

No, she's into elaborate make-believe scenes, requiring tons of dressing up (we're talking layers), long-spun storylines, and the construction of props—horse-drawn carriages, palaces, doctor's offices, you name it—using furniture and accessories from all around the house. Of course, all of these stories require additional characters, namely me and TWH if he's home, and extensive dialog. She is a creator, a collaborator. It's how she rolls.

And of course I love it. She awes me. But, good lord, it wears me out, if only from finding new ways to gently say no to my latest role in the latest story. There are things a mom's got to get done during the day.

So when the first days of school rolled around last week, I was a bit relieved—and I think she was, too. Her new preschool teaches through dance, chorus, drama, and art, and with all those props and plenty of kids and teachers into the same things she is, Baby A is very happy there:

** Excited? You think? **

Yes, those are sparkly silver slippers. She wears either those or soccer cleats every day. At least I'm saving money. Right?

** Check the upraised hand: "C'mon! Follow me!" **

Schoolday bonus: going to lunch afterwards with her friends and their mom. We hit a Brueggers for bagels, cream cheese, and delicious fruit cups, with grapes and balls of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. My sandwich didn't work out so well—chicken salad just doesn't stay between bagel slices. (Be warned.) But for a mom-and-kids afterschool adventure, it was yummy, easy, and a great experience.

The table tents will never be the same, though. Sorry, Brueggers.

** "I am Table Tent Monster!" **

How's your first week of back-to-school been? Anyone else secretly relieved, too?

Posted by QSMama at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh yes, well, let's just count them: twelve days since my last post. There are some technical changes in the works here—a switch to a new host and software—but I haven't finished those yet. Stay tuned. You will find an updated and expanded list of links. Look to the right-hand column for an array of wonderful parent bloggers and restaurant resources. Meanwhile, stopping at chain restaurants hasn't been a big part of our summer. There's probably meaning in that, but I'll leave that exploration for another post.

So here's what we have done, lately.

We went to my family's lake house on Lake Murray in South Carolina, a lovely place I've visited my whole life. I re-introduced Baby A to the culinary wonder of warm boiled peanuts. At three, she's able to open the shell and work out those salty, earthy treasures—and work it she did. (That's a peanut she's showing you in the picture above.) She bogarted almost the whole bag.

And we swam and skiied and floated and got ridiculously tan. No restaurant tie-ins here. We had local tomatoes, butter beans, barbecue, all consumed as quickly as possible so mom could get back into the lakewater I love so much. We did have one big Sunday dinner during which Baby A tore into a dinner roll like a Viking, as if she had never seen spherical bread before.

Which, dinner rolls? She really hadn't seen them much, so I hadn't had a chance to teach her the tear-butter-bite routine. I have a feeling adults would eat dinner rolls in a Viking way, too, given the chance. It would be a lot more fun.

We also spent a week with friends in a large house on the intracoastal waterway. Only-child Baby A swam and played happily with their four children, and we parents put them to bed early and pounded a night's worth of wine and poker into the two hours we could manage to stay awake ourselves.

We then followed The Wonderful Husband down to Greenville, South Carolina (yes, there's a theme here), where he was consulting on quality assurance for a manufacturer. ("Daddy helps make engines, only better!," Baby A will tell you.) What a great little city, Greenville, full of parks and fountains and a zoo and a river running down a rocky waterfall right there in the middle of it. Again, no chain restaurant tie-ins here. Main Street in Greenville is lined with little eateries, all with cafe-style streetside dining. Baby A and I had homemade Mexican one day for lunch. After forgoing it for more than a year, A. ate a whole bowl of salsa ("SHALSHAAAAA!" was actually one of her earliest words, she loved it that much early on) and made her own guacamole burrito. The next day, we shared red-curry beef in a lovely little Thai place. Simply awesome. Both of those days, I felt like I was hanging out with the Future A, getting glimpses into what it'll be like when she's five and eight and ten. She wasn't my little baby.

Until, of course, I looked over and saw she was pulling her underwear out from under her dress, right there in the street-facing picture window of the Port City Java we'd ducked into when a thunderstorm rolled up. "BUT I HAVE A WEDGIE!," she protested. Note to self: Wait until child has develped a sense of propriety before introducing words like "wedgie."

I'll have more posts soon, plus more good technical changes and podcasts and some really good reads—interviews, book reviews, that kind of stuff. But for today? I'll throw in another picture or two and call it a summer day.

Posted by QSMama at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of days ago, The Wonderful Husband took Baby A to see the new animated movie "Ratatouille." Afterwards, they went next door to an awesome little quick-serve BBQ place called The Q Shack. (She's had a thing for BBQ chicken lately.)

TWH is holding Baby A in his arms as they place their order. Baby A blurts out to the server,

"Have you got a bunch of rats cooking back there in the kitchen?"

Now, someone from Taco Bell or KFC might have taken that question a little hard. But the server laughed and said, "Let me guess—you just saw 'Ratatouille.' Am I right?"

To which Baby A just laughed, nodded, and hid her face in TWH's shoulder in true three-year-old fashion. Little jokester, she.

Q Shack has turned out to be one of our favorite options for quick and inexpensive family meals out. In spite of being Southern through and through, I don't care much for BBQ—I'm too picky about meat—but the generous veggie-based sides, like cole slaw, collards, and baked beans are perfect. I get a four-side plate (cheap! it's like $3.50), TWH gets a BBQ chicken sandwich, and we make a plate for Baby A with chicken, mac and cheese, and some veggies.

So if you're a meat-eatin' family and your Quicksie is into some of those things, give a BBQ place a try. If you don't have a Q Shack, maybe look for Famous Dave's. One contact who knows the quick-serve industry inside and out told me last week that BBQ is the next big thing in fast food—so your options will probably only grow over the next few years.

Update: Read this food writer's heartfelt review of "Ratatouille."

Posted by QSMama at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We had waited our turn at the DMV, browsed the Grand Asia Market next door, and were on our way to Trader Joe's (love that place!) when Baby A said she really, really needed a drink of water, no, she needed a drink of milk. Pleeeease, Mommy, I really need it now.

I bit my lip to keep from saying, "See why I told you to take drink of water before we left?," and chided myself for not taking a bottle of water with us on this hot afternoon. McDonald's was the only place around with a drive-thru—important, because I didn't want to get Baby A in and out of the carseat again. I needed to get on to TJ's.

So we went to McDonald's for the first time, and Baby A pointed out "that clown man," which she knows from TV. More than that, she was mighty confused about the ordering process. It didn't help that there was one broken-down ordering place, then the working one, then two windows.

Baby A: "Mommy, why do we have to pay two times?"

Me: "We don't. We pay at this first window, then we pick up our order at the second one."

Baby A: "Oh. Why?"

Me: "The restaurant thinks that will make the line go faster. Do you think it's helping?"

Baby A, looking thoughtful: "Ummmm. Yes. Yes, I do."

This from a three-year-old's first impression. Want a more scientific view on this topic, and all things drive-thru? See the QSR Drive-Thru Study.

And isn't it nice I was able to get her a cold, fresh, kid-sized drink of milk, in two minutes, without getting out of my car, for 99 cents? Yes, I have my lazy moments. Would've been cool if it were organic milk, but on a hot afternoon I'll take what I can get.

UPDATE: (6/28/07) I remembered this morning that Baby A didn't learn about McDonald's and the Ronald McDonald character from PBS. That was Chuck E Cheese that sponsors a spot on PBS Kids in the morning. Ronald has ads on cable channels, where A. loves to watch "Little Einsteins" and "The Wonder Pets" (which, if you haven't seen it, is just about the most adorable show EVER).

So I've edited this post to take out the reference to McDonald's on PBS. My strong opinion remains that ads DO NOT belong on public television, and I won't vote for a candidate who wants to take public funding away from public TV and radio.

[Image courtesy of McDonald's media web page]

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I can't believe you're three.

Trying really hard to turn me into a toad:

More pics...

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Shrek is getting ready to shill for Happy Meals—but for the kind with apple slices and salads, not fries.

Read that whole link. This is an interesting development, the first of its kind, far as I know, where a major motion-picture tie-in promotes a healthier option. My favorite part? "While the apples, milk, salads and other featured products have been on McDonald's menu for more than a year, chief marketing officer Mary Dillon said the company still had 'opportunities to drive awareness both with parents and kids about these offerings.' "

Pssssst, Mary! Advertise here! We're driving awareness!

At any rate, there's no doubt about the selling power of Shrek. Just the other day, Baby A declared she wanted to take a mud bath and brush her teeth with worms—in homage (ograge?) to Shrek, of course. I am sure she'd eat what Shrek says he likes, in a heartbeat. What's your take? Is Shrek's repping happier Happy Meals acceptable? Or not?

Please comment and, er, weigh in.

[Shrek is a copyright of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. This might be a Reuters image, too, but it looks like thousands of others floating out there with no attribution.]

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Thanks to The Wonderful Husband's recent retail therapy, we have a fancy new digital cable system that lets us record programs automatically. So, like any decent parents would, we immediately filled the hard drive with children's programs—the gentle new "Curious George" on PBS, plenty of Sesame Street, and the one Disney show I like (really like): "Little Einsteins."

Trouble is, "Little Einsteins" comes on the Disney Channel, and there are commercials—or, as I'm sure Disney would prefer me to call them, "corporate mentions." This morning, I let her watch a new "Little Einsteins," and the introductory montage included a spot with the Chuck E Cheese mascot playing basketball with kids and encouraging exercise...because "it's not only fun, it's healthy, too!," or something to that effect.

That message, of course, is lost on a two-year-old. Her thinking went more like, "Chuck E Cheese! I went to a birthday party there a few months ago. There was pizza and candy and cake and games! I want to go again!" Which then became all she talked about for the next five minutes, until Leo and the rest of the Little Einsteins crew headed to Rocket and her mind moved on.

This annoyance isn't limited to Disney. Even PBS, sadly, has corporate mentions—again, Chuck E Cheese, for our local PBS channel. I hate that.

So what's to do?

Last month Elaine Kolish, pictured here, became director of the Council of Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. She will monitor and enforce the pledges made last November by 11 major food advertisers to devote half their advertising aimed at kids to the promotion of healthy diet and fitness choices.

Those advertisers include quick-serve companies and suppliers like McDonald's, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg, Kraft, Masterfoods, and Unilever.
All have pledged to reduce their use of licensed characters, product placement, and advertising in schools, and to follow the existing guidelines of the BBB's Children's Advertising Review Unit.

As this interview makes clear, though, the pledges are just that right now. Kolish will spend this spring and summer encouraging those advertisers to put some teeth in those promises. Here's an exceprt:

"[...] We're planning on announcing pledges between May and August this year. I'm not saying everything's going to be implemented between May and August—the pledges are supposed to explain how the company is going to meet the principles they signed onto last fall, to devote at least 50% of their advertising aimed directly at children 12-and-under to healthier diet choices and healthier lifestyles.

That all sounds good—really good, and best of luck to you, Elaine—but I keep thinking back to that Chuck E Cheese spot from this morning: just the mention of the name is annoying enough.

What's your take? Do you mind when your kids are exposed to advertising? Do you intentionally shield them from it? Or do you take it all in stride? Comment and let me know.

Posted by QSMama at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...if you can call less than an inch "snow." We got nothing last year, though, so this is the first snow Baby A might remember.

We made a very petite (petit?) snowman and threw a few snowballs.

Baby A's preschool was closed this morning (I know, I know, the roads are safe, but that's the South for you) so it's nearly impossible to get work done. As I type this I am being wrapped up in a scarf as Baby A makes me into Leo from the "Little Einsteins" series.

"Leo! June! Come right now! Jump into Rocket so we can fly away from the dragon!" Etc., etc.

Posted by QSMama at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our Halloween morning conversation:

Baby A: "Mom, will you make me some oatmeal?"
Me: "Sure. I'll do it in just a moment."
A, feeling emboldened: "Okay. Can I have some Chick-fil-A?"
Me: "Uh, no."
A: "Okay, how about some ice cream?"

Posted by QSMama at 06:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tip: Try carrying a set of chopsticks with you when you need your young child to focus on eating. Yesterday I took her to lunch at a Vietnamese noodle house—and it worked!

It seems my child will eat anything if it's delivered to her mouth by chopsticks. Twice now she's eaten mountains of chicken, broccoli, and other veggies—things she usually takes only a few bites of—when I've fed them to her with chopsticks. She thinks it's so cool. I'm going to stow a set in my bag for those restaurant situations when we need her to be quiet and pay attention to the meal.

Last night, in fact, she asked me to switch places with her so she could finish my noodle bowl with chicken, broccoli, and orange peppers. I'd had enough, so I agreed. Wonder if she actually thought I was cool with finishing her meal, which you can see in the foreground of this video?

(I'm in the market for a new camera...sorry for the darkness and pixelation.)

Of course, she can't really use the sticks, so she eventually gives up and uses her fingers. Which is fine by me if it means I get to eat in peace. Mama Fu's, Pei Wei, Panda Express—plus mom and pop noodle houses—here we come!

Posted by QSMama at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday afternoon Baby A. and I made a emergency potty-training stop into Starbucks. (For her, not me. Just to be clear.) Out of guilt I bought a cookie on the way out.

We sat on a park bench to share the cookie. Baby A. took the bag, removed the cookie, and handed the bag back to me.

Me: "All right, let's stop here and share some cookie."

A. : "Okay, here, Mommy. I'll hold the cookie, and you can hold the bag."

Question for readers: When you take your kids into restaurants just to use their bathroom, do you buy something as a "potty fee"?

Posted by QSMama at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

You know when your kid says something so funny or cute that you decide maybe—just maybe—you'll let them live in your house a while longer? This in spite of their, say, horrid two-year-old tantrums and waking three times a night?

I've decided to start recording a few of those moments here. For starters, this morning, The Wonderful Husband (TWH) got dressed and walked into the kitchen where Baby A was eating breakfast. A said, a propos of nothing,

"Daddy, you look like a circus man."

I think TWH was a little surprised by how hard I laughed. He might even have taken it a bit personally.

Posted by QSMama at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)