Friday Night with the Girls

It’s been a while since I just told a funny story so I thought I’d share my Friday night with you guys.

 

I have been annoying ill for the last 6-8 weeks on and off. But Thursday through Sunday was exceptionally rough for me. I had promised Lily and Dolly’s parents that I would baby-sit for them all day Friday since their friends were in town. So from 9am until midnight I was there as promised. Coughing my brains out. So by the time their friends showed up at 6pm I was ready to get out of the house. I, in my disillusioned mind, asked to take the girls out for dinner. Lily is almost 3 and Dolly is 4 months. Lily kept saying she wanted to go to “The Dolphin” so her father gave me directions. After prying Lily away from every toy in the house we were finally in the car and on our way. We pulled up to “The Dolphin” which is actually the Bluewater Grill, a nice restaurant on the water in the South Bay. I almost choked. Me and 2 babies, at nice restaurant, during feeding time. Dear Lord. As I was getting the girls out of the car, my favorite work jeans split. Ok. Well, that seems about right. I called my boyfriend and begged him to drive as fast as humanly possible to the restaurant with jeans and save me. We had a 3o minute wait and by the time he got there we were all at our ends. Dolly had been given her bottle but had no desire to take her nap and Lily was hungry and seriously tempted by the elevator in the corner. After a quick change we were led to our table. Waitresses crowded around, telling us how beautiful "our" babies were asking questions like, “What’s their sign?” J had no idea what to do with himself. He was nervous and shocked by the amount of attention two pretty little girls can get. Literal crowds were forming as we ordered as quickly as possible and shuffled the girls back and forth, keeping the peace. And then my favorite onlooker came. The hostess came up to tell us that her brother was sitting near by with his two little boys that she was now marrying our girls off to. J was floored. Why in the world do people feel so comfortable talking to people with babies?? I had to explain to him that it’s always better to nod and smile. (See The Awkwardness) And then in the middle of our dinner the sister-in-law actually came over to meet our two little babies to see who her future daughters would be. We smiled and made light conversation. All the while realizing this night was the best form of birth control either one of us could have brought to the table. After our meal, J helped me put Lily in the car as I secured an exhausted Dolly. I kissed him goodbye and we all went on our way. The girls were in PJs and asleep within 15 minutes of getting home. All in all the night was a success and eventually J and I would love to have healthy pretty little girls of our own… but for now... we’re good.

Tiger Mom.. I'm with you.

What I’m about to say may be taken wrong, but before everyone clicks the X at the top of your screen, have patience and hear me out.

I was catching up on my Real Time with Bill Maher episodes this weekend, and I saw a brief but enlightening interview with Tiger Momma Amy Chua. I have only heard horrible things about her. Things like she calls her children garbage. Which is a lie. In fact, Kevin’s mom released a fiction novel into the Asian community at the same time that the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom was released. Majority of her press revolved around Amy Chua questions in which she hated and ran from. In my opinion she probably would have sold more books if she answered those questions and maybe it was even a cosmic way of the world telling her she needed to read that book.  ANYWAYS… There is something to be said about her outlook on raising a child. I’m not saying it’s “right” or the “only way” but I’m saying that I agree with her in the aspect that children of this generation seem to have an unwarranted amount of self-confidence and self-esteem. They are beyond proud of themselves before they even accomplish something. That is assuming they actually find it necessary to accomplish something at all. Achievement needs to come before self-esteem. I’m not sure if it’s the guilt of a dual working parent situation or if it’s just people afraid of their kids crying but it’s a freaking mess. Yes, a FREAKING MESS! Her point was eloquently put when she said something along the lines of “you can’t play Mozart if you can’t play in tune”. There has to be a balance between letting your children be creative and “who they are meant to be” and be disciplined. They have to learn respect, manners, and work ethic. Otherwise what kind of world will we have in 30 years? Not one that I want to live in.

As you all may know, I spend my mornings with a 5 year old, and every day before 8am I “hate” at least 4-5 things. Today I couldn’t even bare to speak in the child’s home because I was nauseated by how the mother was allowing her daughter to treat me. When she finally got to school she was rude to the teacher, who was trying to be as nice as possible. I took Catherine aside and said “Look, that was mean. You can’t ignore people. If you want to be known as the sweet, nice, polite girl you actually have to act sweet, nice, and polite. You can’t ignore people and be rude.” I told her to spend the day working on saying please, thank you, and no thank you and to think about treating people the way she wants to be treated. I really wanted to walk out of the job and never ever come back. In fact even my beloved Lily will say "Look KiKi! I'm so good at this! I'm so good!" all day regardless of what she is doing or how she is doing it.

My mother used to say things like “I love you but that doesn’t mean I have to like you.” and “If you don’t like me it means I’m doing my job.” I HATED her for those comments but now I see how right she is. I’m picking up a copy of Amy Chua’s book this week.

I included the interview below in case any of you are curious. ☺

Mabel's Labels

I was watching The View today and they did a little segment on what’s hot for the summer. One of the things caught my attention: Mabel’s Labels. Mabel’s Labels sells personalized wristbands that look similar to hospital bracelets or bar bands (What?! They do!).  They website lists several other types of labels available, as well. But the wristbands are water proof and can be designed to list allergies, phone numbers, and more. These are great for field trips, beach days, days at Disney World, and summer camp. I highly recommend you check it out!