Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Soy Vey! Soy Formula Frought with Dangers

One more thing before we head out. Soy milk (including soy formula) consumed in large amounts sounds like it can have some pretty scary and unknown affects on babies and children.

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HealthNutrition/dangers-of-soy/

Is there nothing left that is just plain safe to eat? For years we've been led to believe that soy is the ultimate health food, and now this...

I know a lot of people wean their babies off the breast and move towards soy milk. Based on what I've read, it seems like goat's milk or organic cow's milk would be a better bet.


Cross Country Tour

Tomorrow we are headed to the airport to embark on our grand cross country tour. We're going to see all 4 grandparents and travel through 4 time zones. I'm trying not to freak out about all the delayed and missed naps and night wakings. Focus on the positive: grandparents want to care or your kid all day while you go get pedicures or see your first movie in over a year with your husband!!

So, loyal reader, I'll be taking a little break from blogging over the next week. Will report back with traveling tips!

Happy holidays!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Voices From The Bitter Side

The checkout line at a supermarket always seems to turn up some kind of small talk, especially around the holiday season as it is now. At the Key Food store, I walked up to the checkout with a few small baking items. The little guy was in his stroller, bundled up in his snowsuit and adult-sized scarf.

The cashier - a woman in her mid-40s, I'd say - looked at me, said hi, then looked down at my year-old son. She made googley-eyes at him, and then, here it came.

"Oh, he's cute," she said. "That's the best age. It's downhill after that."

It occurred to me right there, that there is a reason mothers go gaga over babies of this age: THEY HATE THEIR OWN CHILDREN.

"My kid is 12 now, and all he does is talk back," she proceeded to inform me. That's nice, I thought, but having nothing else to say, I said, "so I have about 10 years?" To which she replied, "not even."

This is not a tirade against bitter mothers. But she was not the first to blurt out this pretty strong condemnation of her kid to a complete stranger.

The first time, Bad Mommy and I were standing in front of our local bodega. A woman walking with three children walked up to our baby - he was probably about six months old at the time - and began to ooh and aah, bending down to the stroller to get a closer look.

"He's so adorable," she said. "Enjoy him while they can. Cuz they turn into this - " at which point she turned and pointed at her teenage daughter. "They're angels at this age. Then they get an attitude," she informed me, who didn't particularly care.

Not exactly America's #1 Mom, this one. We just kind of ignored her and let her fawn for a minute, and then moved on.

But really: right in front of her daughter? This kind of comment is probably the exact reason the daughter is the way she is. Not to say I'm/we're going to be the perfect parents - we'll do the best we can. But I'd like to think that once the little guy starts to form opinions and starts to challenge me, this will be an exciting time. Perhaps I am naive; maybe I am stupid. But it was a harsh reality that these two women offered: after years of parenting, all these two had to show were strong, bitter remarks to strangers about their children.

I know this much: the day you catch me saying "and then they turn into this" as I point to my teenage son is the day that I need to have my Daddy License revoked.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Why Why Why?!

...when Junior spends the day w his nanny, does he sleep for 4 HOURS! straight?

Am I not good enough, not deserving enough of the luxury of a 4-hour nap?

Not only that, but word has it, just before he succumbed to this glorious state of uninterrupted shuteye, my son - the MANarexic - and I quote, "ate like a horse."

So many feelings I am feeling right now.

Since buddy's nanny IS teaching him Nepalise, and he LOVES her. maybe she should just raise him herself. He would probably just eat and sleep his way through a heavenly childhood.

(:)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Is That All There Is?

At the risk of sounding super depressing, Sunday was my BIG DAY OFF from junior and I WASTED it all away. Yes, these concepts deserve CAPITAL letters.

First (actually, the story is so lame, there is no "second"), first, second and last, the couch kidnapped me and FORCED me to rewatch for the 3rd time (the 3RD TIME!) a schlocky daytime movie that I've seen, well, 3 times!- and on a Sunday!

And it wasn't even true daytime television because it was the weekend. And that's just lame.

And it wasn't even on HBO!

Nor was it Lifetime channel, which I admit I LOVE because they are cheap Canadian-made productions starring washed-up Americans. And they are conceived, cast, shot, and edited in a matter of minutes in the dead of night in undisclosed locations so that no one discovers the shame that is the production and the forgotten celebrities featured in them.

My favorite so far is Road Rage: "2 housewives engage in deadly road rage that leaves one of them dead." OH-MY-GOD. It was incredible. I will not spoil the obvious end, BUT I will say the ENTIRE movie was just that - road rage. And a bunch of road rage acting. Grrr. I'm so mad while I'm driving. Amazing.

And it wasn't a bad channel, it wasn't a good channel, something innocuous and forgettable with lots of annoying commercials.

Normally, my excuse would be, I'm a "housewife", but on a weekend?

Even true housewives have enough of a life on their weekends to avoid mid-afternoon dramas (on tv, at least). There was just no excuse.

And I had HUGE plans - well, plans - that at least involved leaving the house.

But every time I made a move for the front door, visions of ME in a coffee shop, ME in a clothing store, ME on the street, ME anywhere, but on the couch looked - just - awful.

So there I lay, feet up, several pillows squeezed behind my lazy head with the beautiful day's sunlight blasting through the window, bouncing off the tv screen and smashing me in the face with its satisfied sunny self.

And as guilty and self hating and crappy as I felt, I had a REALLY GOOD TIME!

I laughed I cried. I was entertained. And I swear, next time I get this baby-free opportunity, it'll be different. Yes, it will. I will take that day and seize it!

Yeah, right.

Dare to dream.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Little Girls in Big, Mean Packs

Today I took the l'il fella over to Mamalu's. This was our second choice, as the car wouldn't start, so the Children's Museum was out. Incidentally, I was curious why it's called a museum, but a quick trip to their Web site told me that their permanent collection has over 30,000 "cultural" objects and natural history specimens. So, as most of us probably think of it as a playspace first - Totally Tots friggin' rocks - and a museum second, rest assured, it is a real, collecting museum. But I digress.

The l'il guy was interacting with most of the kids. He bounced balls around, stood around the four-legged playbox thing - what's it called? - banging the little plastic squares and all the twirling plastic things, and partied in the soft, purple and yellow spaceship-like object. This is when our troubles began.

About halfway through our visit, the spaceship was empty and l'il man decided to crawl on inside. Almost immediately, a little girl appeared - about four years old - and said he wasn't allowed in there. I asked why, and she said it was just for her, and her friend. I asked where her friend was, and she said, she's coming. And then I said, well, until she comes, my l'il man's going to be in here. And she said, no.

It's funny with little people because you can't really argue with them. I didn't say anything else, and my son played in the ship for a few minutes until her friend came. I took him out, but only because the two girls were climbing up the sides of the ship and jumping through the top hole. Which, I admit, looked hysterically fun. But they would've landed right on little man's head which would not have been cool.

After this, I became aware that the play area on this day was pretty much being run by a group of four or five little girls, I'd say from the ages of 4-6. They had built some type of mat/ball object in the corner of the space and no one was allowed inside. Then, later, they made some kind of house out of the spaceship and some oval cushions, with a door and and a roof. You had to knock to get in. My lil guy just kind of looked in from the outside, not really pressing the issue, but I could tell that he wanted to know why he couldn't get into the spaceship.

A mom joined the play area with her son and her kid wanted one of the star-shaped cushions that acted as the roof of the house. But the same girl who commandered the spaceship for her friend told this mom that she couldn't have the cushion. The mom said, we have to share, and the girl said, no. She then took the cushions and put them back on the roof. The mom looked at me, asked 'are these your kids?' and after I said no, she just shook her head.

After this, the girls roamed around with a Martian raygun. I can't tell you the number of times they pointed it at my guy and pulled the trigger, after which a whir of lights and noises came out of the barrel end of the gun. Really, it was kind of funny, but still, a gun.

There is strength in numbers, and there's even more strength in a number of girls. The mom said to me, aren't we lucky? and I said, why? and she said, because we have boys. I didn't really answer - boy or girl, I'm just happy to have a child - but then looking at how the girls were acting as a pack was sort of creepy. Not in an evil sort of way, though. But one could tell that their good time was enhanced by the fact that they were a pack.

I think we stayed as long as we could, but when one of the little girls, in her haste to jump back into the hole in the top of the spaceship, tripped right over my lil man, which made him wail, I knew it was time to pack him up and leave. Another Mamalu's adventure comes to an end...

Monday, December 8, 2008

Greenpoint: It's not just oil spills anymore!

File under: "GREAT!"

We already knew the nabe is home to an underground oil spill at least 3 times larger than Exxon Valdez. Then there are the giant glowing metal stomachs looming ominously over our horizon, reminding us of our proximity to a huge sewage treatment plant. Add to that reports of mystery goop oozing to the surface at various construction sites. And now this: chemicals from contaminated soil and groundwater that become airborne, entering buildings through pores and cracks.

What next? Radioactive scorpions that nibble at your eyeballs when you're sleeping? Well, at least they'd give the bedbugs a run for their money.

Remind me, why am I raising my kid in this part of Brooklyn?

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Goat's Milk for Cheap(er)

Now that Junior's switched to goat's milk, I've been on the prowl for lower prices. At our local health food store, the 12oz can of Meyenberg powdered milk is about $12. I just found that Amazon.com (through the Vitamin Shoppe) has the same cans for $7. If you buy $49 worth of products from Vitamin Shoppe (why is it a shoppe? why not just a shop? or a store?), you get free shipping). I just bought 7 cans to qualify for the free shipping. Had I bought the same amount at The Garden on Manhattan Ave, I would have spent $28 more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00014G43W

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Melamine in Formula, Great!

I just finished reading the FDA website notices regarding their testing of formula and the melamine and related chemicals which have shown up in major brands.

Yay, another thing to be freaked out about. GREAT!

I've been feeding Junior Enfamil Lipil since he was born, in addition to nursing. I wish that I had nursed exclusively but things didn't get off to a good start for us.

Now that he is 11 months, I've started phasing out formula and replacing it with whole milk. He just finished his first bottle of all goat's milk and seems to like it a lot. I hope to be totally off formula soon.

I think while I'm turning his world upside down, I'm going to see if he can drink more milk out of cups instead of bottles.