Friday, January 26, 2007

Do Veggies Rock?

Ok, I like Rebecca St. James. She's a great singer, a Christian singer. With names I like, such as Rebecca, Saint and James in her name.

And I like Veggie Tales.

But I do not like "Veggie Tales Theme" by Rebecca St. James on the "Veggie Rocks" album.

Sounds stupid. Cadence is all wrong. Way too much guitar. She sings "prah-duce" and "brah-colli" and "Veggie Tales" instead of "veggietales!" (If you know the theme, you know what I mean by "veggietales!")

Just listening to it made me angry and agitated.

So I guess I wouldn't recommend the album as a future gift for Rachel.

Unless the rest of the album does, as per its namesake, in fact rock.

After rating the "Theme" a do-not-play, I rated the rest of the album high so that I'll hear other songs.

RSJ will get to keep her 70 rating for now, but she best not do more stuff like that. I'm just saying...

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Everyone Poops

It's difficult trying to figure out what to post and what will get me in lots of trouble when she's older. So maybe I ought to start by admitting that I was once in diapers and mom and dad are still happy to tell stories about it. And I did have to have a timeout recently, if that counts for anything.

Anyway, all this to say that we've started a new program. The health insurance provider sent a cheesy calendar for the new year, with reminders about being safe and stuff like that. I had no use for it, but it had nice big squares. So, I hung it over the towel rack in the hall bath. And every time the little one asks to use the potty seat, she gets a sticker. And she can get one or two other stickers, respectively.

The calendar is really starting to fill up with stickers.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Time-Out

Last night Rachel was in our room. We were all laying on the bed hanging out. Lori finished a magazine and handed it to me. I gave it an off-handed toss to the floor on my side of the bed.

Rachel's eyes widened and she said "Daddy, did you throw that magazine? Do you need a time-out."

Instantly I thought "Dang it!" and looked at Lori. We knew what had to be done. I went to the wall, put my hands on the wall and stood there staring at the wall until Lori played the part of the timer singing "beep beep beep."

I wasn't too thrilled about it, but a small price to pay for showing Rachel consistency and that actions have consequences.

Consumer Reports Retracts Car Seat Story

MSNBC.COM -- Consumer Reports recently published a study saying that most of the car seats it crash tested failed with disastrous results. Now it's saying that they were not tested at the speeds they reported, but at much higher speeds. I'm still waiting to hear what they say in the next magazine for a full explanation, but the speeds of the actual test were still speeds you might travel (approx. 70) and the most of the seats did fail. So while the conditions were extreme, we can still take away from this article the information that the seats that passed the tests are really the only ones you should consider. More...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Breakfast with Rachel

This morning I was about to head down for breakfast and I heard a knocking at Rachel's door. I opened it and there she stood, with her pillow, blanket and Aaron, her stuffed leopard, and Benny, her stuffed bear, in her arms. She said she wanted to go and lay on mommy's bed, which is apparently part of the morning routine.

I explained that mommy was still sleeping, but would she like to have breakfast with me? That was acceptable, provided I changed her diaper first. Very adamant about that. I tossed the pillow, blanket and Aaron back onto her bed and then scooped her up and took her downstairs. After dispatching the dirty diaper and thoroughly washing my hands, we went into the kitchen. I cut up a banana for her and poured myself a bowl of cereal. We had a nice time together.

Then I set her in front of Sesame Street (ugh! TV! I'm a horrible parent!) and prepared to leave for work. Lori didn't think that was a good idea and roused herself to come and hang out with Rachel. So I got to see my whole family before work which was a real bonus, compared to the one or two cats I typically see before heading out the door.

Single Sex Classrooms?

MSNBC.COM -- Here's an interesting one, out of Virginia... they're considering separating kids out at a middle school by sex. They cite differences in temperature preferences, inequality of test scores, differences in learning styles, the idea that girls are less likely to engage in a co-ed classroom, things like that. I think it's rather interesting and will be curious to see where they go with this and if it works out for them. More...

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Scratchy

Rachel has gotten a cold. Don't know if she caught it from someone at church or if taking her sledding was enough to bring down her defenses and allow her to catch something. But now she has a scratchy "cold" voice and she's had poor sleep the last few nights.

But, that's not stopped her from completely resisting naps. She seems to be saying that's she with daytime naps. Nothing's working, she'll cry ferociously and play and talk and sing, but she won't sleep. Even with new blackout curtains hung, she just won't sleep.

And I spoke too soon about the toddler bed -- she will now hop out seconds after we put her in bed and the door knob is rattling, or the door is opening. If there's a gate up, she'll stand at the door calling out, and if there's no gate, she'll wander around until she finds us and tells us she's done sleeping. She's probably getting 9-11 hours of sleep total these days. That will make Lori's life more crazy if the naps are truly done. I'm sure for the short-term she'll continue putting Rachel down for naps, hoping she'll give in.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Another Baby

I've stumbled across another baby website tonight, this one for a 1-year-old (in China?) named Hazel. Very beautiful little baby. Will have to check out her site from time-to-time. Also makes me feel guilty that I haven't posted more pictures of Rachel, or talked much about her development lately.

Rotten Awful

Stumbled across this blog, tonight, the short story of a young baby whose parents have been told she won't live long, that her brain stopped developing early and isn't formed enough for her to survive.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Baby On The Way!!!

Friend J is in labor as we speak with little L. L will need to have surgery soon after birth to correct something in his heart. Please keep J, R and L in your prayers!