90% of you do not agree with the rather heavy-handed tactics planned by New York City to promote breastfeeding to new moms.  While I think we can all agree that it would be ideal if everybody could breastfeed, the harsh reality is that no, not every single mother can breastfeed.   Whether it be due to health conditions, failure to latch properly, failure to produce enough milk, or simply having to go back to work, breastfeeding is difficult for many.  To assume all mothers should breastfeed exclusively is to not live in reality.

Today I’m sort of excited about this.

Because I have a nine year old and a two year old, this summer we have often found ourselves spending countless hours seeking family activites that will be fun for everyone.

This is a lot harder than it sounds.

Usually my husband and I will talk about it the night before, and all will hinge on how the two year old sleeps.  Or doesn’t.

If things are going reasonably well when we all wake up in the morning, my husband and I will again debate the merits of the chosen activity, by which I mean we discuss the length of the car trip to get there, the price of admission, will there be something there to interest almost all parties.

Twice in the last week we decided to take some fairly involved trips with a specific pricey destination.

Bad, bad idea.

When at the aquarium, my daughter could have cared less about ANY of the varied animals.  She didn’t even care when a lorikeet landed right on my shoulder, right there for her to observe. She was momentarily entranced by the luminous jellyfish, but her interest in that waned sooner rather than later.  She was upset when we decided to move back inside the aquarium after spending quite a bit of time in an outdoor play area.  She was upset when I stood in line for us to touch some starfish, and she was upset when I left the line.

Let me also tell you that she was upset when everyone took turns with bathroom breaks, and as I was trying to physically contain a screeching, bucking child who was crying “Ouch, ouch!” even though nothing was hurting her whatsoever, a male passerby clucked his tongue and said, “Oh, poor thing.’

Um, hi, you mean me, right?

But in short, she acted like a typical two year old.

Of course I knew going into the trips that we could encounter problems, but we really wanted to see how much our daughter could handle.

Turns out, not too much.

Next time we will just have to split up, with one of us taking the older child to the “event” and the other one just taking the toddler to a park.

Just think of the money we’ll save!

These parents have put so much time and effort into training their Olympian children, can’t we give them a bit of a break when they get emotional?

If they sat there stone-faced, then they would be accused of being uncaring.

I come from a long and proud tradition of “parent heckling” during sporting events. My sister played basketball, and my dad was fond of screeching her name and clapping as she was preparing for a freethrow. With me, it was right as I was about to serve the ball during a volleyball match, which is a point in the game which requires quite a bit of concentration.

Huh, maybe that’s why I never made it to the Olympics.

Yep, it had nothing to do with the fact that I was much too short and much too slow.

Nope, I’m gonna blame it on my Dad.

That’s what parents are for.

Why, Dennis Rodman, of course!

I mean, he is really tall, right?

88% of you were not affected by the Aurora shooting in making your movie-going decisions.  Although from the comments, it just might be because you don’t really attend the movies a lot as a general rule.  8% said you were reluctant to attend a movie, and it made 4% of you hesitant to send your older kids.  I have to say that my  husband and I saw The Dark Knight Rises last Wednesday and I was definitely keeping a closer eye than normal on my fellow audience members.  Side note: babysitting is expensive!

Today I am all about the kerfuffle in New York over a supposedly well-meaning health initiative that treats bottles of baby formula like prescription medicine.

To not too many people’s surprise, Sting won out over Mick Jagger with quite the few more votes.  Although I do have to say that in looking at some very old pictures of young Mick Jagger, he was actually kind of beautiful in some of them.

Now, to fight silver fox with silver fox, I’ve got one of the current stars of Mad Men.

VERSUS 

Today my son and I visited this place, specifically to view this.  My son has a fascination for the Titanic, and has read every book in our local library about it, as well as many others I have bought for him.  I would say he has read at least twenty books to date, not including information from various websites.  So we decided to indulge him and journey a hundred miles or so to see actual artifacts salvaged from the wreckage.

Anyhoo, Balboa Park is an absolutely beautiful place, and it was his second time visiting, but I knew he remembered nothing from that last visit as he was too young.  As we were rushing across the park to make our appointed exhibit time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the Spanish-inspired Churrigueres architecture present in many of the building designs.  If there is one knock I have on Southern California, it is that we are fairly architecture-poor.  Which is a shame because I really love it.

So, hoping to inspire my own offspring with this admiration, I had us stop and examine the particular building in the photo above.

“What do you think about that building?” I asked in a non-threatening, open-ended sort of way meant to lead to deep discussion.

“What do I think about that building?” he replied.  “I think it looks really expensive, that’s what I think.”

Definitive answer, conversation over.  He was already moving on towards our ultimate destination.

OK, then.

Who knows, perhaps I at least planted a seed?

72% of you say that expensive is not necessarily the way to go when it comes to buying new children’s furnishings.  The rest are all for it, and I’m not against that either.  It’s just that I’ve seen my son’s casual disregard for anything that isn’t electronic, so I’m loathe to purchase something expensive. Because I’m pretty sure he will just do something dumb and ruin it. 

Heck, when I was his age I ruined the furniture in my room by neglecting to put a coaster under my glasses, and I was fairly conscientious.  There were dressers we could have gotten from family members, but I needed a tall chest of drawers rather than a long dresser, and all anybody had were the long dressers. So, cheap furniture it was!

Today I would like to know if the tragic shooting in Colorado has colored how you feel about attending the movies, at least for the short term.