Hodgepodge of things to share…

First and foremost, there is a wonderful update by Peter Mayhew about Anissa – she is going home!  That totally made me cry big, fat tears of joy.  Please read the update and pass along the good news in any way you can – on your website, Twitter, Facebook, shouting from rooftops, etc.  We need to spread this – ANISSA IS GOING HOME!

The tweet announcing she’s left the hospital is here. RT that sucker!

Additionally, we need to do everything we can to  help them now, again.  The copays for her outpatient care are $100 a day.  Anything we can donate to The Mayhews right now will be of great help to them.  You can click here to access their Paypal donation page, or click the image below.

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Of much less importance, I have another two posts syndicated at Blogher: Falling Happens, But Jumping Takes Courage and The Not Good Enough Mother.  You may or may not have read them here, but if you have a chance, I’d love for you to check them out and leave me a comment over there.

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I’m also excited to share that I’ve started a new job as Nashville City Guide Editor at The Savvy Source. They are still looking for Editors for other City Guides (you’d provide regular info on preschool-age child-friendly activities in your town) for the following places: Berkeley, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Halifax, Honolulu, Houston, Indy, KC, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, Northern New Jersey, OKC, Pitt, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver. If you’re interested, Tweet @whithonea or email him

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I’m also contributing to Room 704 in its new, monthly format. (Officially, I’m Visual Editor/Cartoonist, but I’m submitting posts, as well.)  Check out the February issue!

Whew.  This really cramps my sitting-on-my-ass-doing-nothing style.

What have you been up to?

And the townspeople were safe once more.

Braden is sick again and that means he’s coughing in that special way that toddlers have which makes you clench up and wait for the inevitable choking sound every.single.time.  Over and over again, I listen to him gag and gasp and make the phlegmy struggling sounds for breath that keep my blood pressure just a little higher than it really ought to be.

Last night he couldn’t sleep, and was pulling out one excuse after another to climb from his bed and yell down the stairs to us.  His pleas for us to turn the music on, then off again, to find his toy car, and to turn on the light were all mingled with whimpers and punctuated by cries and sometimes soft, tired moans.  Every request was just code for, “I need you, please come be with me, I’m feeling poorly and I just can’t be alone tonight.”  Mommy is the ultimate translator – all those words and words and words, but a Mommy can see right through them.  They pour off either side of the real request like oil parting and running this way and that on the surface of turbulent water.

But this night it was not just Mommy to the rescue.  Often Mommy has to be the one who answers the call, who throws her hair over her shoulder and dashes off, valiantly. Mommy is so often the one who is here, so Mommy plays the heroine.  But sometimes I get to fold my cape up for a beat.  I write my story, I speak from my point of view.  But he cuts through my view, too.

Daddy.

He listened to the translation of messages Mommy could hear floating down the stairs.  When Mommy came down after a visit with the little sleep fighter, he heard all the things she said about little boys who are  terribly unable to fall asleep because ohhh, they are just in need of togetherness and tender closeness.  Mommy, who was distraught because of deadlines and projects.  Mommy, who felt torn between work commitments and life priorities.

Daddy saw the worry and frustration on her tired face, and even though he had already done the bath routine and the bedtime routine, he smiled kindly, then set his face and stood up.  He dashed off to go sit with the unwitting mini-villian upstairs, who was really just a little boy making too much noise for his tiny, tired body, until he could be tricked (loved) into falling comfortably asleep.  He went in search of hugs and cuddles that would be stronger and more fierce than coughs and sneezes.

He answered the needs of the boy and the needs of the Mommy, all in a single bound.

I briefly saw his brightly colored cape flap at the corner of the stairwell right before he disappeared from view and I continued to tap at the keys, only momentarily wondering who that masked man was.

Yeah, that’s my horn you’re hearing.

Essss-cuse me while I toot it.  I’m going to have some of my content syndicated at Blogher in the next couple months (SQUEEE!) and today I have a post up over there – if you’re interested in showing me/my piece some love with a comment, you can see it by clicking: My Child Wouldn’t Nap: The Day I Learned Perspective.  (You know you want to “show my piece some love.”)

Okay, I have to put my horn down for a little while now. It’s throwing me off while I do this here booty shakin’ dance.

our regularly scheduled program will return after this brief period of bliss

I got this tiny bell in the HerStory Workshop today, at Blissdom. Isn’t it cute? Thanks to Aliza and Maya. The exercises they offered were thought provoking. And I discovered that the story of my life is entitled, “I haven’t screwed up too bad, yet. But give me time.” You’d buy it, right?

I also want to give giant props to the ladies who paneled the Writer’s Craft Workshop. I *thoroughly* enjoyed myself – what a great discussion. I had the beginnings of what I think is going to be a very good post in my hands when I walked out of that room Thursday evening. Thank you so much, Megan, Arianne, Deb, and Amber.

I’ll be heading back to the Opryland Hotel (can you say “friggin’ gorgeous?”) tomorrow morning and staying until Sunday (Weekly Winners may post late this week, but it will be up by Sunday sometime.)  Thank you so much, Monica & Bridget, for letting me share your hotel room.

Gotta go pack a bag now and get a little sleep before I hurry back over there tomorrow to hug on some more beeshes.

I love seeing so many women that I think the world of in one place.

Every time I hear a squee, an angel gets her wings.

digital parenting. yes, it means more than just tweeting all day while your kid is locked in the closet. at least that’s what i’ve been told. (pffffft)

Disclosure: while I was not paid for this post specifically, I am compensated for my work on the Family Connections citizen journalism project. Seeing as how I invite you all to crawl up in my butt on a regular basis, I thought maybe I should tell you that.

For the past few months, I’ve been participating in BlogHer’s Family Connections citizen journalism project as a Momspotter. Basically that means I tweet a few times a day with the #momspotting hashtag about how I use technology in my day-to-day parenting life.  I also write forum posts on the Family Connections Group at Blogher about digital parenting topics.  I’ve had a lot of fun talking about this stuff, and it’s made me consider the impact of digital technology on my family in much more depth.  Seeing thoughts from other parents who have older kids has also made me realize what we might be facing in the years to come!  There’s a little meme associated with this project, and I’m going to answer the questions here, for your amusement and inspiration.

(More disclosure: I totally ripped off the “for your amusement and inspiration” phrase from an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, because that is the level of intelligence I strive to emulate.  When I was typing it, I heard his voice in my head.  At some point, I can promise you that I’m going to work the phrase “The official testament of how heartily we party… hearty?” into a post. Yes, I am a highly educated and classy sophisticate with incredibly literate and lofty aspirations.)

Anyway, If you like this meme, feel free to do one yourself and leave a link in the comments or tweet it with the #momspotting hashtag. (And if you hate the word “meme,” like I do, you can totally set a flaming bag of dog poo at its front door while we laugh and hide behind a tree.  And just call this a survey.  Or something.)

1. Which expensive electronic device do you most often let your older children abuse or your baby drool on?
   Braden is neither a baby nor an older child, so I guess it’s fitting that he alternately abuses and drools on my iPhone. I know. Even I think I’m a certified moron for letting him anywhere near such an expensive piece of technology, but he’s supervised (I don’t let him walk away with it) and he’s much more careful with it than you might think. Sometimes I let him play a game alone, sometimes we engage in an activity together. My favorite has been watching him create his own songs with layered tracks using the Zoozbeat App. And you can see from this photo how tickled he is by that. Totally worth letting him play with the expensive gadget. And I have those songs saved.  They go in my “Braden” file right along with all the digital photos and videos of him.




2. How many take-out restaurant numbers do you have programmed into your phone?
   I actually have absolutely none of these programmed into my phone. I do, however, have several apps that can tell me what the nearest places are where I can get all kinds of things, from free wifi, to coffee, to food, to a happy ending, I mean a massage. *cough* John, however, does have numbers programmed into his phone for take-out from restaurants… because I HATE calling and placing orders and, as such, I force him to do it. Because I’m a control freak a good delegator of tasks to those who are best suited to complete them most effectively. (I used to be in Retail Management, can you tell? Heh.)




3. How many hours of television do you so totally not let your kids watch a week?
   Hahaha, well, Braden used to watch several hours of cartoons on PBS every morning, and sometimes in the afternoons, as well. Some days, there would be no TV. Most days, there was a lot of PBS (we only get limited basic, so there’s literally no other children’s programming for him to watch on TV). Various DVDs were in the mix, too (kiddie music, Thomas, etc). Over time, I decided he’d behave better if I limited his TV exposure. So now he watches at most 2-3 hours of something – that includes DVD watching. At least a couple days a week, we call “NO TV” all day. For the most part, he’s okay with it. Sometimes he LOSES HIS MIND. For all of 5 minutes. Then he gives up and moves on. And his behavior is much better with less television viewing. We have a motto: “Too much TV is bad for your brain!” He says it now. (I’m trying to get him to stop saying, “No, Mommy, no, not the closet again!” because that’s going to get me in trouble eventually.)




4. Do you think people who say “we don’t watch television” at playdates but really mean “we just watch DVDs” are lying liars from Liarville?
   I don’t know – I guess it’s possible that they are TOTALLY from Liarville. But if it’s anything like Margaritaville and they’re willing to share the yummy drinks, I’m okay with that.  Seriously, though, it doesn’t really matter whether the program is on a TV channel, streaming live on the Internet, or running off a DVD, it’s all media viewing, right?  So, yeah, it seems dumb to say “we don’t watch TV” if you mean “we only watch DVDs.”  But overall, I don’t care what other people do or don’t do.  Not my kid, not my business.




5. How many miles have you driven with your child and not one device of electronic entertainment in a single car trip?
   Well, when he was an infant we made 12 hour car trips, but he was technically asleep during most of them. Why? Because we were FRIGHTENED FOR OUR VERY LIVES. So we traveled overnight. We didn’t have a DVD player then, or smart phones, so we decided our best shot was driving all night to avoid the demon wailing. Later we got the portable DVD player and that became the primary method of calming the insane toddler during long rides. Because, GOOD LORD.  Sometimes you just want to jump out the window of a moving vehicle if you have to hear “WANT OUT, GO PLAYGROUND, SEE SEE SEE!!!” one.more.time.




6. What’s your record for calls to the pediatrician or Ask-a-Nurse in a single day?
   Um. One. Is this abnormal? I do admit that I’ve hit up Drs. Google and Twitter quite a bit. I recently learned all you’d ever want to know about Croup from Ye Olde Internet. Didn’t call the Ped once.




7. What’s the sexiest thing your husband/partner could text you after a hard day?
   “I know I am still on the road and won’t be home for another week, and you’re tired, so I hired a nanny and Keifer Sutherland is going to be over in about 2 hours. Have fun!”
   What? Ok, fine:
   “I miss you and I’m bringing home dinner so that you don’t have to make it or clean up afterwards.” RAWR, BABY.




8. What’s your favorite iPad joke?
   This entire post: The iPad Made Me Poop Bricks is my favorite iPad Joke. Also? The iPad itself is my favorite iPad joke.




9. What’s the dumbest parenting tool, gear, gadget or device you ever bought?
   ?? I honestly can’t think of a single one that we purchased that we thought was dumb. I even asked John, because I thought, “Surely there was something we bought that we later threw across the room, screaming, ‘WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT!’ because it was worthless.”  But no, he couldn’t think of anything.  Uh, we’re wise consumers who conduct effective research before making purchases?




10. How many years will it take for your child to become more tech-savvy than you?
    Hahaha, he may already be. He’s figured out how to do things on my iPhone in less than 10 seconds that I STILL don’t know how to do. He really needs to get a job soon and start pulling his own weight around here.  Stinkin’ free-loader.

Your turn, beeshes!