self-loathing

i see your beautiful daughter
her teeth in a metal cage
because her smile was too bright
and that bump on her nose
you'll have to get that fixed
and you should know how it feels
because it was done to you too

why would we send our precious children to school?

it never fails to impress me just how much children learn when they aren't shackled to a school desk all day long busy not learning

there is nothing more necessary to a healthy society than raising children. this society, being unfriendly towards the work that mothers do, keeps itself sick by raising children in sick institutions instead of at home. just because we were all sent to school and institutionalized at a very young age, doesn't mean we should do that to our own kids. we know better, we can do better. they deserve better than that. the future of our world depends on it.

unless, of course, you are okay with raising yet another generation of brainwashed thugs. i'm not.

my newest apron

my apologies for the very hasty blog entry, and the lame description of how i make these aprons. here's how it turned out. i used denim from worn out bluejeans to make a wide waistband, and then a very long tie from bias tape that goes all the way around and ties in the front (my hair has grown too long and gets stuck in the bow when it ties in the back). :-) yes, the kids took this picture, and they were fighting over my camera, hence the growly look on my face. hahahaha

this about sums it all up

from my other blog:
http://mamaboogie.gaia.com/blog/2009/9/what-experiences-do-you-think-are-important-for-children-to-have#comments

What experiences do you think are important for children to have?

Posted on Sep 19th, 2009 by boogie

This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for September 18, 2009:

to play in the rain and the mud.
icecream for breakfast.
pony rides.
going to art museums.
the companionship of animals.
putting their feet in the ocean.

the poem aside, there is only one thing children need, and that is to make their own decisions. we maybe can guide them and help them figure out what is best, but we can't make their decisions for them. what children need is for grownups to realize this simple fact. if we set the children free, the entire world will follow. this i believe with all my heart. every mother knows good and well that babies are not born evil, they have to be taught how to do evil things. children know the difference between right and wrong, they don't need us to tell them what to do. they really don't. it's the ones who have been abused, never allowed their own choices to make, that don't know the difference between right and wrong. if we don't allow them to ever follow their heart, they will grow into adults who are unable to hear the truth their heart speaks to them.

the most important lesson i learned from my childhood was that when the pain gets too much, that's when the angels come. the most important lesson i learned as a parent was that it's the same abuse that causes the pain that makes them go away in the first place.

friends

introducing george and ned...

aren't kids just so clever? :-)

question...

if an orange is orange
and amber is amber


what is a purple?

Sammy the Dragon

a nice little coloring page created by my oldest daughter.

things kids say

oldest daughter: "if we try to go normal, we'll go crazy instead"

younger daughter: "if I'm a fairy, that makes you an angel, Mommy!"

weaned?

Youngest child has suddenly stopped nursing. Her big sister weaned very very gradually, slowly cutting back a little at a time. Littlest one had never gone an entire 24 hours without nursing, not once. If she doesn't nurse today, it will be three days. Many mixed emotions, I realize some of it (most of it perhaps) is hormonal. Elated at the prospect of bras without flaps. Proud of myself for allowing her to decide when she was ready to wean, because it's important to me that my children listen to what their bodies are telling them. And there's a melancholy feeling I just can't shake. My babies are growing up so fast.

it's that time of year again

*sigh* No matter how many wonderful things are happening in my life right now, I feel like I'm drowning sometimes. And it looks like we'll have to use plastic to pay for the kids to have a nice Christmas. It goes against everything I believe in, but I don't want to disappoint the children. Our grocery bill has gotten simply outrageous lately! Hamburger, the cheap stuff, is up to $3 a pound. WHAT??! yeah, wasn't that long ago you could find it for less than $1/lb on sale. We gotta eat. And we can't eat just anything, it has to be gluten-free, so there's another added expense.

Think I'll give etsy another try. At least sewing will keep me busy, it's lots of fun for me, and that's one hobby I have plenty of supplies without going out and spending any money we don't have on it.

diapers and potties and such

it's simply amazing to me, how different my girls are, them having the same parents and same environment and all. Littlest one is no longer wearing diapers during the day. Unlike big sister, though, she's been having accidents sometimes. When my oldest daughter stopped wearing diapers, that was it, no accidents, she was totally ready. Little one is doing things her own unique way, and Mommy is cleaning up the mess. But at least I'm not washing those dirty diapers every day and maybe, just maybe, I will soon eliminate that mountain of laundry that never seems to go away.

rules

ya know, we do actually have some rules in our house. Not exactly the same rules other people have in their homes, but rules nonetheless. One of these rules I been thinkin about lots lately. It's the one says that if you aren't having fun, find something else to do. We all agreed that was a pretty good rule to have. It works, too. Just sometimes we all need the reminder, probably me more than anyone else.

Flimix

Flimix, my children tell me, is a talking spider who lives in our trash can (much like Oscar the Grouch). He has a pet dung beetle that eats the stinky stuff. I decided to move Flimix and his dung beetle outside to the larger trash can. When we saw this spider web on the eave of our house, with rainbows in it (the photo really doesn't do it justice) the girls said that maybe Flimix was responsible..

holding my breath

we might actually be done with diapers!! Little sister has been wearing "grown-up underwear" for two and a half days now. One accident, she fell asleep and when she woke up from her nap, she forgot she didn't have a diaper on. But she has decided she's ready, and does not need to be reminded to go to the bathroom. hip-hip-hoooray!

Osprey

I would like to share with y'all this drawing of an osprey by my six-year-old daughter.



thank you

ponies and mice

Fun with polymer clay!

chicken pox

so far, it's just one bump on littlest kid, but nothing else looks quite like chicken pox, at least nothing I can think of anyway. No clue where they might have picked them up, maybe when big sister had her teeth cleaned? Who knows. I'll be busy trying to make this as fun as possible for them. I remember how miserable I was with cp and couldn't go anywhere.

edit to add: Paul doesn't think it's chicken pox. I was 15 when I had them, I remember it quite well. We'll just have to wait and see... both girls were complaining of having a scratchy throat last night.

unschooling

Just now, I was trying to explain to my daughter what Tai Chi is.
She said, "I know."
Anyway, the conversation continued, and she somewhat reluctantly agreed to let me pretend to teach her. :-)

cloth diapers

my babies, when they were infants up until they learned to walk, each went through about a dozen diapers every day. Both children were much too sensitive to leave them sitting around in their own waste, even if the diaper could easily absorb more, it would cause a horrible rash. The Huggies I used on big sister contained chemicals that irritated her skin far worse than the urine or feces did. It was the only brand we could use, though, the others were even worse. Even so, I had to open the package and let the diapers outgas for about a week before I could use them. Is it any wonder that when I first met Heather who was using cloth diapers, I started thinking about making the switch? Sure, I had thought about it before, looking at the mountains of trash we were setting out to the curb each week. But it always seemed too much effort, too much time, too much work. What convinced me, finally, was when I added up how much we were spending on things that were only meant to be disposed! We had to buy the most expensive wipes on the market, because they were the only fragrance-free option. It was really adding up. What I spent in one month on disposables for J is not much less than what I've spent on all cloth diapers and wipes for both children combined, even considering the high dollar fancy pocket diapers I bought after joining a certain cloth diaper online message forum. And then I resold many of the diapers and covers, after my children had used them and outgrown them, for a PROFIT! As for the time and effort, it's about the same either way to carry a garbage bag outside and put it in the bin as it is to carry a laundry basket downstairs and load the washer. Someone has to put the diapers in the dryer or hang them on the clothesline and fold them when they are dry, but with a baby in the house, the washing machine runs pretty much constantly anyway, and I see doing laundry as a welcome escape from dishes and other much less pleasant chores. Though I must add that without my husband's help, none of us would ever have had any clean clothes to wear or clean dishes to eat with.