Toddler Property Laws

Last week I went through Big L's collection of 350 (not joking -long story) Hot Wheels and donated a measely 50 cars to his co-op preschool that he attends (ya- i'm a giver). In the bunch I included a couple of non Hot Wheel cars that he NEVER plays with. A Lego Happy Meal car and a black Bat Man car. In one swoop I was able to reduce some clutter in the kid's room (ha!)and appease a sometimes pissy preschool teacher.

Everything seemed OK- until today, my working parent day at school. I was 'inside parent' and while preparing snack in the kitchen I heard a scuffle brewing outside. Mommy instincts honed right in on the pitch and key of my Big L's screeches and I knew nothing good was going to happen next. I got outside in time to see Big L and an even bigger 4-year-old locked arm in arm, not unlike two rams with locked horns fighting over a mate, but these two little rams were fighting over the black Bat Man car.

"THAT'S MY CARRRRR!!!!!!!" screamed Big L at big 4-year-old. "IT'S MINE...LET GO!!!!!".

Oh boy.

The scuffle ended as quickly as it began, as most toddler run-ins do. But in that moment, and after speaking with Sometimes Pissy Preschool Teacher, I realized that Big L still felt ownership and recognized some of those 'special' cars as HIS, from HIS house! Seeing the scuffle play out in front of me reminded me of a few years previous when I was taking a Mommy and Me class at our local adult school. One of my favorite teachers, Kris, gave all of us new mommies a worksheet entitled Toddler Property Laws. I loved it so much I hung it on my refridgerator and that is where it has been ever since. I still read them sometimes while cooking dinner and they always give me a quick lil smile.

And so I've decided to share the Toddler Property Laws here with you.
Hope you like them and that they give you a smile and more importantly i hope they remind you that indeed, your child is normal! PS- #5 is my favorite.

Toddler Property Laws

1. If I like it, It's MINE

2. If It's in my hand, It's MINE.

3. If I can take it from you, It's MINE.

4. If I had it a little while ago, It's MINE.

5. If It's MINE, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I'm doing or building something All of the pieces are MINE.

7. If it looks just like MINE, it IS MINE.

Pacifier Mess

My Lil L is 2 years 3 months old now and her obsession with her paci seems only to be intensifing. It's kinda gettin' scary. Yes, I know all the rules about pacis and their cut-off point. I understand that we can let them satisify the urge to suck up to age 3 with no real lasting repucussions, however, my lil Lovey sucks on her paci ALL DAY LONG!

Here she is the morning after her 2nd bday celebration



And again whilst taking her 'babies' for a stroll



And even while playing dress-up!




When Lil L was born I forced the paci on her to keep her safe from all mother's worst nightmare: SIDS. On top of all the normal blinding, paralyzing fears parents have with their newborns, Lil L had thrown us a twist. She decided that if she just stopped breathing every once in a while her parents may dote on her a little bit more. and we did, but that in turn made me force the paci even more. At night she would sleep with me in my bed (while hubs slept on the couch)and I would pacify her to sleep with her lil green paci. Since Big L gave up his paci obsession on his own at 8 months (and also weaned himself from the breast at 10 months- much to my horrification), I just ASSumed it would be the same for her. Well, it wasn't.

I've gone thru periods where I've restricted paci usage to the bed, or strictly to the home, but somehow there seems to always be a reason and excuse to break my rule- primarily for my (our) own sanity. But, while some may nay-say about our (my) laziness in this case I stand firm and remind other mother's that sometimes it is ok to put ur sanity first. that's what MSN.com told me mere weeks before having Big L and it's how I rationalize crazy days to myself now. It was a new parent's top ten list for surviving the newborn period and it said, in just, above all else the experience will indeed be about survival - YOUR OWN! (and don't feel bad about it!)

Obsessed

you may not know this about me but i'm an obsessive person. it's true, it runs in my family. i get easily obsessed with things: neighbors, boys, dentists. it's a bad habit but it's part of my nature genitically and hormonally.

right now my newest obsession is my advancement in, or shall i say, my catching up of technology. recently we got ourselves a laptop, which just opens up so much freedom that I never really expected and as of yesterday jay and i are the proud owners of the newest blackberry curve. i'm not boasting- this was a huge step for us. jay is almost technoligically challenged, and i can't ever stand the thought of spending money on upgrading and advancements. but, alas, we did.

so here i am a full 24 hours after i received the phone and i have been ignoring children, animals, laundry, mothers and husbands for the sake of checking on the newest red dot (msg recv'd). it's insane. i have not left the side of this laptop nor let the bb slip from my palm for more than a few min. at a time.

And then it happened. in the morning the husband, with smirk on face, read aloud from the daily news. the story was about teenagers and their over-usage of smartphones, texting and laptops and i realized in that moment while staring at said smirk that it really did sound like me!

the article describes 13 year old, Samantha, who is obsessed with facebook, texting and her laptop. sometimes falling asleep in her clothes clutching her phone. When her texts exceeded 2000 a day her parents shut off her phone functions from 9pm to 6 am which drove Samantha "nuts". WOW. that could very well be me. 13 to 35? what drives us?

The Snuggie and Me

Southern California has received quite a bit of, dare I call it, weather, these last few days and all the reality of mother nature has made me come to truly appreciate my Snuggie. While I'm a huge fan of the As Seen On TV genre, I never got overly excited about the Snuggie. Show me a commercial for the Bumpit however and you got a whole 'nother story.




Anywhoo, I 'won' the Snuggie at a White Elephant gift exchange. I was the host and I came away with the best gift. ha. Fast forward to the last two days. The Snuggie and I have been best friends along w/ my couch/window seat and my faithful lover, aka, my laptop.

Phone Me

Your attention please. Jay and I have joined the Smartphone generation! I am so excited about it!!! We both got the new Blackberry Curve, his in black and mine in this cool royal purple. I'll admit I'm a little sad that I couldn't be a complete sheeple and have gone with the masses and just got the damn iphone but I think i'm going to survive just fine w/ the little purple beast. yahooo!

Pardon Me...

For 2 days i've been planning on making shepherd's pie for dinner. i've gathered the ingredients, even having to borrow some Grey Poupon from neighbor Beth, and tonight I finally dragged myself into the kitchen and made the meat and potato pie. It's surprisingly easy and it's usually the kind of thing I totally go for but tonight I just wasn't feeling ground beef tonight. I couldn't bring myself to eat my own dinner. Thankfully J and the kids liked it and ate happily away whilst i kept myself busy tidying up in the kitchen and of course facebooking, when low and behold Neighbor Elena has posted a picture of a scrumptious looking lasagna. After I comment on her drool enducing masterpiece she invites me down for dessert- cannolis, not usually my thing, but I grabbed big L as swiftly as possible and headed out the door.

I took a nice hunk of the shepherd's pie for Elena, Big L grabbed his Buzz Lightyear flashlight and we were off. I think L was a little uncomfortable in the dark because he insisted we hold hands the whole way to E's house. I SO relished holding his small, soft, warm little hand.

We got in the door at E's and I swear I didn't see L the rest of the time, he was lost with R in the playroom while E and I sat around the kitchen table. Mind you I hadn't eaten dinner yet and Elena's lasagna was calling my name.....she gave a little sliver and i was in heaven! I scarfed my piece down and demanded another. Husband schmusband. Gimme another piece of lasagna!! She then casually mentions that she painstakingly made the lasagna pasta from SCRATCH! Who does that??? Well, I don't care who does that, whoever it is, please let it be my neighbor who loves to share. And boy, does E love to share, i'm lucky with that one. Beth came over too and we all had fun sitting around the kitchen table together. I wish we did that sort of thing more often and that our relationship resembled more of the shit i see on tv and am brianwashed to believe is how life should be.