OneUrbanMom
You: Where have you been?
Me: Mothering. Loving. Working. Laboring. Traveling. Living.
You: What brings you back?
Me: Mothering. Loving. Working. Laboring. Traveling. Living.
You: Huh?
Me: You’ll see.
~S
In Memorium
Marcus’ grandfather passed away three weeks ago today. The last time we visited him, I managed to capture a photo with all of the boys looking at the same time.
We’ll miss you great-grandpa.
~S
OLG2
We drove to Manhattan Beach to take pictures of OLG2 on Saturday. It was terribly hot where we live, but it was overcast, cold and dark at the beach. We didn’t get the photo we wanted, but I couldn’t leave without trying. Here’s the best shot from our short walk on the strand.
~S
Sunday Photo
I often find myself behind the camera instead of in front of it, so I’ve asked my sisters to try to snap a shot on Sundays when we’re all together. Here’s the first shot from our Sunday Shoot.
~S
This is What Peanut Allergies Look Like
OLG1 is allergic to peanuts. He is not only unable to ingest them, he can’t have contact with them. We recently removed him from a school that didn’t understand how serious the issue is for him. There are some simple things his school could have done that would have protected him. Honoring their no peanut policy would work. Washing tables with soap and water would work. Having a peanut free table would work. There are matters of cleanliness that also keep children with allergies safe: hand-washing, mouth-rinsing, and a no food sharing policy also help keep children safe. These practices can be life-saving for children with severe food allergies, but they are also good practices for all children. Cleanliness can keep children from spreading diseases, colds, viruses, ring-worm and the like. I know that there are parents who protest strict rules that help keep children with allergies safe and would rather children with allergies not attend school at all, but I think the policies parents of children with allergies support are reasonable and that it is unreasonable to deny children with allergies access to quality public education.
The picture below shows what an anaphylactic response to contact with peanuts looks like. I am grateful to God that OLG1 did not ingest peanuts that day, the same swelling in his mouth or throat could have been fatal. I hope that parents who think children with allergies should be excluded from school, can learn to develop compassion. Regardless of their ability to develop such compassion, it is the responsibility of public schools to provide a safe place for children with allergies.
~S
The Successful Urban Mom Survey
I am really interested in what other urban moms think about managing the craziness that is being an urban mom. In order to find out more about this and to be able share this information with others wondering the same thing I’ve created a survey that I hope you’ll take, if you’re an urban mom. It is 10 questions long and your responses can be as long or short as you choose them to be. If you think I should ask additional questions please don’t hesitate to write your questions in the comments for this post. Thank you in advance for taking my survey!
~S
Ughh!! What do you do with your toddler the morning after a sleepless night?
Last night I was up with my 8 month old from 2 – 4:30am . . . then, my 2 year-old got up 6:30am. Marcus tried to convince him not to wake me and to let me rest, but as soon as he left, OLG1 started his usual morning routine. I’m hungry, I want to play, when will you get up, I don’t want to play in my room, I don’t wan to get my own snack. I don’t want to rest with you . . . he climbed on me and rather than cuddling as I described in a previous post, tossed and turned and yelled in my ear . . . It was horrible. The only reason why I have the clarity of thought to consider writing about it is because help is on the way. My sister is coming to help, to play with OLG1 so I can sleep and recover my patient, calm approach to parenting. I searched online for thoughts about how to manage a morning like this and didn’t find anything. So, here’s my question, what would you do if this happened to you? What is your go to strategy for managing a toddler after a night with very little sleep? By the way, I nurse the little one, so caffeine is not the best solution . . . if that weren’t the case, I would certainly have made myself a cup of coffee.
Here are some of the ideas I tried without much success:
1. Encourage the toddler to watch television while mom gets enough sleep to be able to think clearly. By this I mean 45 minutes to an hour more . . . I’m not an advocate of television for small children .
2. Mom rests in his room while he plays close by.
3. Mom rests in bed while the baby nurses and the toddler eats cereal in her bed.
The solution I ultimately settled on was calling for help . . . first a friend . . . she recommended I call someone who might be able to play with my toddler long enough for me to get in a good nap.
~S
