No more boob tube

Recently my husband and I decided that our TV was distracting ourselves from each other and it was not okay for our son to watch. Our son is now 4. We started to notice that when he'd watch TV he'd act out more and constantly talk very loud, he wouldn't listen to the rules of the house or eat. It was getting really bad and my husband and I started to lose our patience with him. So this year we've decided that the boob tube must go, or at least the cable. Our son, Roman, still watches DVDs and sometimes he plays X BOX but usually he gets bored with it after 15 minutes.
So far no TV has been really hard but, I'm noticing that there's less yelling, we are helping each other out more and sometimes when I can not sleep at 2am its easier to read a book instead of turn on the TV.
Happy New year!

When you thought I wasn't looking

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang up my first painting on the refrigerator,
and I wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat,
and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you make a cake for me,
and I knew the little things are special things.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight, and I felt loved.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared,
and wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I LOOKED....
and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

Connie Back

My sister and I saw this on a window of a store called, Peek...aren't you curious?, while we were holiday shopping for our boys last week. When we went into the shop we couldn't stop smiling. It was a really cute store and it appealed to both of us. My sister and I are both very different, so for us to find a children's store that both of us like is a huge deal. Hopefully there is a store near you so can check it out and see for yourselves!

http://peekarentyoucurious.com

Move! Why?

About every two months my husband and I have a very intense conversation about moving to Seattle. I love to enjoy the outdoors and just be outside doing nothing while in good company. I adore Southern California and love where I live. I think its perfect for an indecisive person of my nature. I will never be able to choose between surfing at the beach and snow boarding in the mountains, so its a good thing that I'm only 2 minutes away from the beach and 2 hours from the mountains. My wonderful husband is from Seattle, WA and would like to move back up there. His father lives there so it could be good for our son. And because our son is not really attached to anything here, it could work. This brings me to my next question: Why are we as women so attached to things like this, where we live? Is it because this is what we know and what we are accustomed to? Or maybe it is because moving is such hard work, especially if you have children. Or maybe its just fear that holds us back. But I will tell you something, if your marriage or relationship isn't strong the move will test it. Moving is such a hard thing, but trusting your patner isn't hard. Trust yourself, your children and your partner, always. I think that is why I don't want to leave Southern CA because my marriage isn't strong enough yet.

If you've got it, don't flaunt it!

So recently the motto, 'If you've got it, flaunt it', has really been tugging on my heart. This really began in September when I cut all my hairs off. Now please understand that I am young african american women living in a very white community. Once I cut my hairs I began to see the light, sort of. I noticed how much I was spending on my hairs both time and money, and I couldn't believe it!! People started noticing me more too amd since they had nothing else to look at besides my actual face, I couldn't blame them. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is be humble, embrace change and be slow to judge and quick to smile. And lastly if you've got please be humble about it. Just because I am not dressed head to toe in brand name everything doesn't mean I'm any less of a person. I think Dr. Seuss said it best, 'A person's a person, no matter how small.'

Nameste,

Allegra

Marriage

So recently my 4 year old son has become completely obsessed with marriage. I love it because he says things like, "Mama why did you marriaged my dad??" Or my personal favorite, " When I'm big I want to get married into you Mama." But this morning he said to me,"Mama why didn't you marriaged into yoga, you really love yoga. I know this because you read about and you always do it and you're a really good Mama when you do it." And I replied,"Honey, we can't get married to an action, like yoga because yoga is something I do to relax, so I can't marry it. You marry someone you really love a whole bunch." So he replied," So I can marry into Coraline?" I then said,"maybe if you find someone who looks like Coraline and you really LOVE her then you can marry her.". I think he liked this answer because afterwards he kept pointing out girls who looked similar to Coraline.

All vaginas are not created equal!

So I often undress and dress in front of my 4 year old son with the hopes that he will see me do this so one day he won't be overly grossed out. Anyways my son recently was at school and a girl wanted to change into her bathing suit but, she needed help doing so my son went over to help her but she did not need his help so she asked a teacher instead. So my son then followed her but, stood back to watch her undress. As soon as her bathing suit was on my son came over and whispered in my ear, "Mama, her vagina looks much much different than yours". I could not hold in my laughter but I did try so hard! I had to then let my son know that every vagina is different just like ever person is different. What a funny conversation to have with a four year old!

Really!! Are you kidding me honey?

Today my wonderful husband has a Mixed Martial Arts competition and that will occupy his evening. So it's just me and a few friends and Roman, my monster of a child, and of course my toilet overflows!!!! Really, are you kidding me??! So what am I to do? I shoved everyone out the door and tried to clean it up myself but, honestly I'd rather go to the bathroom outside all night than deal with an overflowing toilet. So for the first time ever I call the maitence man. AND HE REALLY CAME!!!!! He even unflooded the bathroom and cleaned up after himself. Then I woke up and really unflooded my toilet by myself. The End!