So, I have a 4 and a 1 year old, and a small dilemma regarding the big sister’s “need” for privacy. I am sure this is an issue we will revisit on this blog with greater seriousness in ten years, however, I am currently wondering about the validity of a child requesting privacy.
You know what I mean, she is hard at 4-yr.-0ld-work in her room — creating a My Little Pony corral or something — and in saunters her, newly walking, destructive one-year-old brother. She wails, “Mommmmy, can you get him out? I need privacy.” How she knows about the concept I have no idea, but that is beside my point right now. What I wrestle with is whether this is a legitimate request, or rather, whether this will ever be a legitimate request. I lean toward “no.” Isn’t privacy just an excuse for people to do immoral things? Perhaps it is innocent enough when she simply wants to create a project uninterrupted, but what kind of a premise am I establishing? Why can’t a person do whatever he/she needs to do in the light of day? I spent many a frustrating hour in college arguing against the “inherent right to privacy” supposedly found in the Constitution that abortion-advocates like to enlist as their legislative balast. If I don’t believe in the “right to privacy” outside my home, what does that mean here? Then I started thinking, Do I need “Mommy time” and isn’t that really a form of privacy? Or just sanity? Is that selfish?
Perhaps this rambled, but your thoughts on kiddie privacy and the ways in which you do or do not allow it in your homes would be much appreciated.

Last night I was preparing dinner and juggling the “crazies” of the evening hour–whiny children, a play doh extravaganza on the dinner table, food prep in full effect, a famished dog needing to be fed and watered. It was shaping up to be like many of the 5pm’s of days past.

But then in the middle of it all, amidst the chaos and confusion, we all heard the same thing and stopped.

It was a baby giggle coming from the Exersaucer wiggling in the middle of the kitchen. I must have done something humorous (comedian that I am! ha! to elicit the sweet, melodic laughs from our 6-month, J; and out they came in chorus.

Our 4-year-old M stopped his whining and began to laugh. T, 2, reverted from eating blue play-doh to partake in the moment. Soon we realized an easy peek-a-boo game was all it took to continue the baby’s happiness. And we all found ourselves grinning, appreciating, enjoying… and extremely happy. At 5 o’clock.

Hours later as the last plate found its way to the dishwasher and I dried the final pan to put away in the cupboard, I smiled. The evening had been one of the most enjoyable I can remember. At 5pm it had all the makings of disaster to come, and yet it wasn’t… and didn’t… and couldn’t…

All because of a baby.

Mercury.

Yup, it actually has mercury in it! Check out this Washington Post Article. A special thanks to Ellie and her new alternative cooking blog for the tip.

This is Dh’s last week of paternity leave, and I have decided to ease the transition by pretending, during the day, that he is not actually here. This has meant two days of “real” school work while he does errands or other work around the house in the mornings.

I am doing this trial run because Tex wrote that she needs to be aware of her “ups and downs.” and set herself up for success. I followed her advice and reflected on why I was so afraid of DH going back to work, and what I could do about it. Last February we totally fell apart when he went back to work, kids got sick and by Valentine’s Day baby and I were in the hospital and the grandmother reinforcements had to be called in on an emergency basis.

So far, easing into the reality has been helpful, I have learned that I need to go to bed earlier in order to get up on time, since so far we have not been ready for him to leave until about 8:30, we need to gradually move that up to 7:45. This morning I am at least awake and out of bed before 7, which is a good start. I find this hard when the baby is up during the night, this morning he woke at six for a feeding so I just stayed awake, but if he wakes at 5 it is impossible not to go back to sleep, and then too hard to get up when the alarm rings. Hopefully his sleep patterns will settle in over the next few weeks.

I must admit, however, that I am a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work it takes to keep our household functioning these days, so I am going to have to do a few more things to set myself up for success (or at least survival!). First, ask for help and set up a regular time for my mother in law to come over and give me a hand with kids and laundry, second, stock the freezer with casseroles (my mom helped me do this before the baby was born and we ate them all month, which was a wonderful help), third, learn to let go of certain things — the kitchen counter will not always get cleared before school starts in the morning, but school must start nevertheless, fourth, do not commit to outside activities that will exhaust me, especially because I can’t nurse discreetly and chase a toddler through a lobby at the same time, fifth, do not get distracted by the internet! I am hopeful that we will get it sorted out, but I know that it depends, in large part on my personal discipline. This may mean that you are hearing less from me, I just checked on the blog for the first time in two days and realized that I had missed several posts and comments, but for now I need to focus on first things.

Please pray for my family as we make this transition, our baby moon is coming to an end.

Could someone please explain to me why books have dust jackets? Are they, as the name implies, to keep dust off of the books? Or to make books look pretty?

I just don’t know what to do with the dust jackets. If I leave them on, they get torn and I feel badly, but now I have a stash of dust jackets and I have no idea what to do with them. Should I keep them? I am very clutter-phobic, so the thought of a big pile of paper that I will never use gives me chills. I know we have some librarians who comment regularly. Clearly, this is not the most substantial question asked on this blog, but thoughts?

I was surprised to learn of other food product recalls from stores around the country!
Be informed and aware…

My eyes are starting to fall out from staring at booster seat explanations and statistics and reviews online… I hope you don’t mind if I take a shortcut and ask for your advice.

I thought our readers might be interested in this article by my grandfather’s cousin, who is still an active journalist at 82 years of age. Interestingly, two New York City moms were mentioned for Clinton’s New York Senate seat, Caroline Kennedy, and a current congressional Rep, Caroline Maloney (a Princeton parent). Neither of them got it. Sometimes I wonder if I will re-enter the workforce one day, and how I will answer for the large “employment” gap on my resume, certainly our time is not spent being idle.

‘Mom’ on a resume should command respect