Ridiculous

I know that I've griped about this before. But, it's bugging me again since I've been trying to find something for Mikey for his birthday.

It's about toys and how their manufacturers have to make sure that you know that they are somehow, someway going to make your kid smarter.

Here's an example from the Fisher-Price website in regards to the Rock-A-Stack......

Developmental Benefits for Baby

Stimulating the Senses

• Bright colors, shiny reflections & swirling beads stimulate visual development.
• Hands-on activities strengthen baby’s sense of touch.

Developing Motor Skills

• Placing rings on post strengthens eye-hand coordination.
• Grasping & sorting rings develops fine motor skills.
• Enhances gross motor skills as baby bats and rocks the toy.

Encouraging Cognitive Abilities

• Fosters problem-solving skills as baby figures out which ring comes next.
• Helps baby learn to differentiate among colors and sizes of rings.

Really? Come on now.

I seriously doubt that Mikey and Katie are destined to be accepted into Ivy league schools because they played with a damn Rock-A-Stack. Do you know what Katie did with them? She threw them around like frisbees and sometimes tried to wear them as bracelets. Do you know what Mikey does with them? He tries to eat them like doughnuts.

Well, ladies and germs, I've found something even MORE ridiculous.

Food companies trying to make each and every food sound like it's healthy in some way.

Here are some examples from things I have around the house:

Honey Maid Graham Crackers - "Made with Real Honey and 5g. of Whole Grain"

Teddy Grahams - "A good source of Calcium, Iron, Zinc to Help Support Kids' Growth and Development"

Whole Grain Goldfish - "Natural. No artificial preservatives. 0g. Trans fat."

Wheat Thins - "With 11g. Whole Grain. No High Fructose Corn Syrup. Always toasted, never fried."

COME ON. Ugh.

There is all this talk nowadays of childhood obesity. This could be a contributing factor. Maybe.

Or maybe this could be....

Nearly 44,900 pacifiers were recalled after discovering that the pacifier does not meet federal safety standards. According to the CPSC, “The nipple can separate from the base easily, the pacifier handle is too long, the mouth guard is too small and there are no ventilation holes on the mouth guard. The pacifier could pose a choking and aspiration hazard to young children.”

The pacifiers have a ring-shaped handle with a round-shaped mouth guard. The word “Kariño” is printed on the handle side of the mouth guard, and “Mygra” is printed on one side of the handle. The pacifier’s nipple is filled with corn syrup.

The recalled baby pacifiers were sold at independent grocery stores across California and Texas from October 2009 to March 2010. The pacifiers sold for about 25 cents.

Letting Go

I swear.

We are even busier during the summer than we were during the preschool year.

Hmmmm. Or maybe it's the whole two kid thing. I'm not sure.

Sheesh.

Anyways, I haven't posted anything in a long time.

Here's an update.....

Katie has soccer every Friday afternoon. It's hell getting her out of the house, but once we get there she has fun.

Huzbend had a birthday. I didn't get him a present and felt like a jerk. I had no idea what to get him. I guess this stuff happens when you become parents. You have no time to talk about anything except your kids, fixing up your house and the Tour de France. Sigh.

Huzbend also rode his bike down to Portland, something like 206 miles. He did it in 12 hours. He is awesome. We met him there and pulled an overnight in a hotel and stopped by their Science museum. We had a good time.

Mikey is doing fine. He's working on standing without support and loves to walk holding on to just about anything. He is also eating us out of house and home. Damn, that kid can eat.

Mikey's birthday is coming up next week. Wha-wha-wha-what??!

Katie has discovered the Wonder Pets. It was my fault really. If you don't know the Wonder Pets - YouTube 'em. It's a duck, a turtle and a hamster that travel the world saving animals while using sing-song operatic voices. Yeah. Preschool opera. It's pretty strange, but Katie loves it.

Me? What about me? I'm trying to focus on what I call "Letting Go." Huzbend has helped me realize that I get too worked up about all sorts of ridiculous stuff. I have to relax a bit more. It's a very hard thing to do for a control freak. "Letting Go" means I lose control. But, really I am delusional thinking that I can control all that happens in this house. Just when I think things are going smoothly, Mikey will crap out the side of his diaper and start crawling toward the carpet and Katie will spill an entire bowl of cereal and milk onto the floor, chair and herself and then start to scream and cry because she is all wet.

These things happen.

Don't they?

Our Camping Trip

Remember how I talked about our camping trip?

Well, here's a little video for ya'll.

Enjoy.

EEEEEEEEEEEE-leven

I got an owee.

Right there. Underneath my nose.

You shoulda seen it when it was bright red. I looked like I had a Charlie Chaplin mustache.

I woulda laughed, if it didn't hurt so much. Jeez.

Who woulda thunk that this standing up thing was so dangerous? Yikes.

I pull up to standing now. All the time. On everything. Freaks my Mommy out something serious. It might be because I frequently pick things that move to practice pulling up on....toy shopping carts, ride-on cars...stuff like that. I pull up. They roll out from under me. I get owees. Such is life.

I'm working hard at figuring out how to get these feet of mine moving. Here. Check it out....

I've also figured out that if I point at stuff, I get it! That is, like, TOTALLY awesome.

I went camping for the first time this past month. It was just okay. I got told "Mikey, no eat." just about a million times. Meanwhile, everyone got to eat marshmallows and I got NADA. Totally unfair.

I did get to play on the beach though. I liked pushing the sand around. And just so you know, sand doesn't taste very good. Also, the rocks at the beach are pretty salty.

Here's a picture of me 'crankin' out'. I do this when I don't get my way. I like to make it easy for people to see that I am not happy. If Mikey is not in a happy place, the world cannot be in a happy place.

Other than moving and grooving, screaming and gabbing, I love to eat.

My favorite thing right now is pasta. I can eat bowls and bowls of the stuff.

The part I don't like about eating pasta....

The clean up.

I also frequently indulge in WAYYYYYY too many cherries. UGH.

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture or not, but I am very proud of this little gem.

Burpie. All over the sliding door screen.

I've got talent.

I like to keep myself busy. There's always something to do around here.

Here I am arranging my baby food jars. I'm pretty sure Mommy is impressed with my organizational skill since she keeps taking pictures of me doing this type of stuff.

I tell ya, being eleven months old is exhausting. But, man, I've got energy to spare. Sometimes, it feels like I could just keep going and going and.....

............Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......