She’s Back!! It’s Dorothy 2 November 25, 2011

You remember Dorothy’s Tragic Tale right? The pet fish with the shortest life span ever…and how after Dorothy’s demise I said No More Pets [other than the 2 giant *cowdogs we already have]

She’s Back!!!! No, this isn’t the story of a flesh eating zombie fish coming back to haunt us for cutting her fish life short, and don’t worry no ones faces have been eaten off or anything crazy like that, we are all still one piece…But I have you’re attention now…right?? (Yes I am cracking myself up as I type this…humor me it’s early lol)

The other day my aunt surprised Ry with the coolest Dorothy replacement ever! Check this out, it’s awesome….A glass bowl with a screw on lid, color changing lights, real water, and a motion activated fish that looks almost lifelike.

The kids love our new fish and after a refresher course in Fish Parenting 101 we seem to be good to go.

Lesson 1 – We do not shake the Fish (haven’t you heard of Shaken Fish Syndrome)

Lesson 2 – Dorothy DOES NOT leave her home, in her fish house, which has now been moved to the kitchen table

Lesson 3 – We DO NOT open Dorothy’s lid

Lesson 4 – We Do NOT Shake the Fish….I may have mentioned this one before

I haven’t gotten into if Dorothy is real or not, he hasn’t asked, and for now we are treating her like a real fish in hopes of teaching pet parent responsibilities…Plus real or not I don’t want a giant bowl of water and broken glass everywhere lol….

So far Dorothy has survived 6 days, so we have the original Dorothy beat by 6 days…I’m loving this new pet! No messes to clean, and if God forbid Dorothy face an accident at least no actual life is lost:)

A *cowdog is a giant dog who shares certain traits with the cow IE- huge, butts you with it’s giant (cow-ish) head, regurgitates food, cow pattie size poop, etc…

Dorothy the Fish – Part 2 – Lessons Learned November 2, 2011

But Mom, Are sure Dorothy doesn't want more water?? It's fresh from the fridge 😉

Part 2 – You know what a rotten day it was for my cutie (6 year olds have it rough), and how I bribed him with a fish to rush our way out of a store…Now to catch you up on Dorothy’s Tragic Tale…the story of the shortest pets life EVER….RIP Dorothy

When we left off Ry had just finished his fish parenting lessons…a recap of Fish Parenting 101:

Lesson 1 – We do not shake the Fish (haven’t you heard of Shaken Fish Syndrome)

Lesson 2 – Even though mom poured bottled water into Dorothy’s house before we put her in, we are NOT allowed to take icy cold bottled water from the fridge to top off Dorothy’s jar

Lesson 3 – Dorothy DOES NOT leave her home, in her fish house, on the counter

Lesson 4 – We DO NOT open Dorothy’s lid

Lesson 5 – We Do NOT Shake the Fish….I may have mentioned this one before

 

So, here’s what happened next…. Ry was very mad to find out that Dorothy could not be moved from one container of water to another as he pleases.  After a long debate about how Dorothy could not leave her house to swim in other places, Dorothy was moved to a spot

Ry set this up so Dorothy could come play...I said no...what a mean mom!!

no child could reach and we all went about our nightly business. I figured Dorothy needed a chance to rest after a day of getting adjusted to being Ryan’s new friend. Turns out I’m not as sneaky as I think I am, and just because something is out of a child’s reach, does not mean it’s out of their reach when they really want whatever it may be, your back is turned, and they have a chair. Dinner was finished, all the kids were playing, the hubby and I were watching TV with Mason and in came Ryan. He looked at me and said ‘Help Please’.  Me ‘What do you need help with?’, Ry –‘Help with’.  I can see this conversation isn’t going anywhere productive and I will in fact have to pry my lazy rear up to see what my little man needs help with.  We all go into the kitchen, Ry takes me to the sink, and says ‘Dorothy, Help Please’….by now I see the chair next to the counter where Dorothy was, Dorothy’s lid removed from her house, a dumped out bucket of water in the sink, and a very concerned look on my little man’s face….nothing good can come of this….so of course I handle this the way any squeamish mom would and I took Ry to the side to tell him Dorothy needed water and to  needed stay in her house, and now Dorothy has gone good-bye; and let my honey deal with Dorothy.  Turns out we were too late. Poor Dorothy…may you RIP, your little fishy life was too short. This brings me to my lessons learned:

Lesson 1 – Never underestimate a determined child

Ry REALLY thinks Dorothy wants to come play

Lesson 2 – No more pets

Lesson 3 – I need to put more thought into purchases… using a .15 cent fish to bribe the little man to leave a store peacefully and attempt to make up for his crap day…maybe not my brightest idea…I really should have seen how many ways that could/would/did go wrong

Lesson 4 – While positive reinforces are a WONDERFUL thing when it comes to parenting (and can easily be confused with bribery)…bribery is not

 

I have to say, while I know a pet is a big responsibility, when going over all the things that could happen, this was a scenario that never crossed my mind.I really didn’t think Ry would want Dorothy to swim in all sorts of different places….in retrospect I probably should have seen it coming….

Toys, Cartoons, and Dookie Water – Influences in Media August 19, 2011

Funny how all it takes is 1…1 person saying the wrong thing, 1 screw up, 1 wrong turn, 1 choice, 1 decision…

The ‘1’ in this post isn’t nearly as serious….but, all it takes is 1 thing on TV to totally change the way we see something.

3 Examples of how media screws with our my head.

Exhibit A – The Toy Phone

Thank s to Toy Story 3 every time I see this little guy on the floor I want to yell Traitor!!  Our toy phone never did anything to anyone [it doesn’t even have feelings like in the movie 😉 ]. If Toy Story, a child’s cartoon, can make one look at a toy differently, what else that we watch has the ability to do the same? More than we’d like to admit if I had to guess.

Exhibit B – Behind the scenes clips

I know I’m not the only one! I can’t be! Every time they show a behind the scenes clip of a movie or TV show, it ruins the show for me. The worst are the behind the scenes for action clips….I’ll never be able to watch The Matrix or Pirates of the Caribbean again without picturing it all being filmed on a blue screen, everyone with ropes and pulleys attached to them. Talk about ruining the movie magic! Cartoons are the same way…Once I see the face behind the animated voice it kills it! Especially if the cartoon character looks nothing like the voice actor. Perspective changes everything.

Exhibit C – Oprah and the Dookie Water – Oprah could really have a whole post done just about her influence on her viewers, and it’s ridiculousness, but not today…lol

I really wanted a bag of ice the other day (our ice makers broken, and I’m lazy, and forget to fill the ice trays), the boys and I were at McD’s for fries & pies and there was a sign ‘Bags of Ice’. Sounds like a win, right? Not for me…thanks Oprah! My brain flashed back to a special she did on fast food restaurants having ice that is dirtier than their toilet water. The episode was filmed years ago, it didn’t test any Texas fast food establishments, I don’t even know if McDonald’s was included in the testing. I have no idea what the water quality was where they tested, or how many establishments were included in testing. So why can’t I stomach the ice, even though the logical part of my brain knows that, not only is the previous true, but we have superior rated water quality here….Because the rest of my brain can only imagine that with every sip I’ll be drinking butt particles. Thanks Oprah!

Point of the post…other than to ramble away? TV/Media affects our views probably a lot more than we’d like to give it credit for. Whether it’s not drinking a drink because of a fear of butt particles, not liking someone (or a toy –hey don’t laugh) [possibly without even realizing why or that you don’t]  because of something you’ve seen but not experienced yourself, or just changing your perspective and seeing things a little differently; we need to be aware that what we watch, read, hear, surround ourselves with, all influence us (and our kids!!!!) in one way or another. Especially with kids, you never know what they are and aren’t picking up from the TV. Heck, I’m sure Oprah didn’t intend to ruin drinks from restaurants for me for life, but she did, with one 45 minute show, that’s all it took. That’s the power of media…and that power is so much scarier when it’s applied to subjects more serious than toys, cartoons, and dookie water. It’s so important to research things for yourself and form your own views, guide your kids in forming their views, and most of all just be aware that the media does influence us.

-Archer & Shrek images downloaded from Yahoo images

Stimming and Swimming August 7, 2011

Mr. Colin

Colin learned to swim! Not swim like you or I, but swim nonetheless! He can be in water over his head, he’s comfortable holding his breath under water, it’s awesome! How’d he learn to swim you ask…and what does Colin’s Custom Swim Method entail?

Stimming. Yes, Stimming….Colin is a big time flapper. His arms go a mile a minute when he gets excited. You should see him read a book or watch YouTube. His face lights up, his arms flap away, he taps his legs up and down. I’ve had days that I’ll beg him to stop. He’ll get so caught up in the stimming you can’t get him to focus.

Stick Colin in the pool and he’ll bounce up and down in the water, jumping around, and the more excited he gets the faster those little arms start flapping, and before you know it he’s treading water! In the deep end!! And somehow he makes it from one end of the pool to the other this way. His feet never lift up in the water level with his body, but this works for him. He can make it anywhere he wants in the pool this way. He taught himself, and can safely swim, with minor supervisor, it’s amazing!! What a smartie!!

Moral of the story – Everyone learns in their way …And I guess there really is a time and a place for everything…even wild crazy

Swimming and Stimming

stimming

~~~By minor supervision I mean still being outside by the pool at all times, just not having monsters climb all over me in the water….Don’t be a dumb dumb-NEVER let your kids play in a pool, even a little one, without being close enough to grab them at any moment.