It’s the end of the school year, and on Monday E had a pajama and movie party to celebrate. We signed up to bring in a movie, but it had to be rated G.

Earlier this spring we learned that some parents freak out over PG ratings. E had begged me for weeks to bring in her Happy Feet DVD, and I had finally relented. One of the teachers Mrs. L was excited, too, because she had never seen it and all the kids were talking about it.

While watching it during the evening pick up time, a parent came in, saw the movie and said, “That’s PG!” and huffed and puffed her way with her child out of the school and complained to the director.

What’s wrong with PG I thought? They are kid’s movies for crying out loud! Then I happened to watch This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a documentary on the film rating system and the MPAA. A great film! Go watch it!

So anyway, I was curious when I came home and looked at all my children’s movies. All of the Disney animated and CGI animated films were rated G. And all the Dreamworks, Fox, WB films? Rated PG for Parental Guidance suggested.

Example, Ice Age: rated PG “For Mild Peril.” None of that in Monsters, Inc, though. Flushed Away is PG “For Crude Humor and Some Language.” Other PG rated movies describe rude humor, crude humor and suggestive humor. So all the good stuff for us adults, that kids don’t get anyway, and the movie is rated PG.

What about Toy Story and the Little Bo Peep and Mrs. Potato Head lines? Oh no, apparently not suggestive at all.

And isn’t there “mild peril” in Finding Nemo, Aladdin and Little Mermaid among others? I know E freaks out at the shark scenes in both Nemo and Mermaid.

It just goes to show you that one person’s humor and peril can be rated inappropriate without parental guidance. Maybe E will become a juvenile delinquent someday since I allow her to watch PG-rated movies. Oh well, I’ll take my chances.

We brought in Curious George and Cinderella to appease the masses. I think being forced to clean, scrub the floor, make breakfast, laundry and general chore work is the scariest thing of all, but hey it’s Disney.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

When you get a phone call from your child’s school, your first thought is, is she OK? I had a message on my answering machine on Friday afternoon which arrived while I was in a meeting. The news: E was complaining of a tummy ache, was crying and inconsolable and would not take her daily nap. This is way outside of her normal behavior. Sometimes she will not nap, but at least she will be quiet and rest.

I called back right after I hung up from voice mail to speak to Mrs. P. E didn’t have a fever, but was not her normal happy self and all she wanted was Mommy. They wanted to make me aware, and asked if perhaps I could pick her up early. I said I’d call the doctor’s office to see if they would see her, or if they thought I should bring her in. The doctor’s office said 5pm, or wait and see. Since it was a Friday, I choose the wait and see plan.

I called back to her school and said I’d be there shortly. I go to pick her up and arrive as all the children are waking up from their naps. E is no longer crying, but she looks very sad. She says to me, “I need to go to the hospital.” I refrain from laughing and tell her I talked to the doctor and he said she needs to go home and get some rest.

Her best friend K stood right beside her with tears in her eyes, ready to cry. It was very tragic. A few other children gathered around her too, showing their concern. I told her to give her friends a hug goodbye and we left.

On the way out she repeated that we need to go to the hospital. “No,” I tell her, “We do not want to go to the hospital. It’s only for sick people.” I say we can go to the grocery store to get some ginger ale and crackers. We get there and she says, “Hold me!” She is way too heavy for holding, but since she is sick, I picked her up and carried her into the store.

She picked out her crackers and I got a liter of ginger ale. We proceeded to the checkout line where she spotted the candy. “I want some candy,” she said.

“You’re too sick for candy,” I replied.

“I feel better now,” she answered.

Of course! Candy always can make you feel better. I picked up a box of Nerds and told her she could have some later after she got all better.

We went home and had a snack of crackers and ginger ale, and then laid down for a nap. I don’t usually nap with her, but she was supposedly sick, so I gave in. She proceeded to hug me and cuddle, but no nap! She was too energized after the snack. It’s amazing what miracles ginger ale can perform.

And the hospital part? Well apparently another boy, A, told her since she was sick, she would have to go to the hospital. No wonder K was so upset when I arrived to pick up E. That about broke my heart more than my own daughter. If you could only have seen her poor face worried about her best friend!

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (3) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

I suffer from mini-van and SUV envy due to E’s school. Whenever I pull into the parking lot I’m among the minority with my little four door compact. I want a larger car. We are running out of space in my tiny car.

We are also running out of space in our town home, but that’s another issue. We are saving all of E’s baby stuff in case of another kid, and our small storage closet is packed and we’ve been putting bags and containers of clothes and toys up in the attic.

But back to the car issue. I know we will get a bigger car when we have another child. What I’m waiting for is the hybrid minivan. Toyota is supposedly coming out with one in 2008. I don’t know why they haven’t created one before now. Moms are some of the heaviest drivers, carting kids around here and there.

One of my mom friends had a Prius and one car seat fit in it ok. Then she had another baby within 20 months, and 2 car seats were a little too tight. She is also shorter than me, so could have the drivers seat pushed up further than I can with my long legs.

Too bad they don’t make station wagons like they used too. Big boats with large backseats and buckets in the back. I never thought I’d be a mini van mom, but they are practical and spacious. I borrowed my sister’s when I watched her 3 kids, and it held 2 car seats, plus a booster seat. That was 4 children total and 2 adults, but we could have squeezed another in. Some mini vans even seat 8.

Back in the day, my parents had one of those huge Dodge Ram vans with three seats in the back. Each one of my sisters and me got our very own seat. My older sister sat in the long seat in the back, I got the middle seat, and my younger sister got the front one. It kept us from arguing. Oh, the good ole days.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (3) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

This week I’m getting ready to celebrate my birthday and it’s a big one. The old three zero, 30! I think the majority of readers here are under 30, so you know what I mean. Remember when 30 seemed so old? The number sounds old, but I don’t really feel that old. I sometimes still feel like a college student; well actually I am.

Anyway, last year was a pretty lousy birthday overall as I turned 29 (which actually marks the end of my 29th year and beginning of my 30th). What’s memorable about last year is that after working all day and putting E to bed, I went out by myself and ventured to Best Buy to buy myself a b-day present.

I browsed the music CDs and purchased a Hoobastank album (so I could feel young, hip and with it musically) and then a Pearl Jam best of set to relive memories of my youth (high school and college years).

See, I don’t even own an iPod yet. Another sign of aging and having kids is that your purchasing habits drop sharply for yourself, especially in the musical area.

I’ve probably bought less than a dozen CDs in the past 3 years. As far as “hip” music goes, may 3-4 CDs. Those would be Pink, Hoobastank and Blue October. Would you count Madonna in there?

So I only have a few new CDs for myself, but E has a monopoly on our radios these days anyway. It started when she was over a year old. We had bought her a Wiggles CD for car rides to school. One CD turned into 4 Wiggles CDs and now we’ve expanded our collection of children’s music because frankly we were sick of the Wiggles!

Now E’s become fixated on the Disney’s Best of 1&2 CD’s which we’ve been listening to for several months (ever since I had the bright idea to buy them after our ice skating show trip). E liked the show, but I only have a few of the movies she has never seen, and since Disney has that stupid vault deal, she may not get to see them until her teenage years. But at least we can have the music!

This b-day should be much better than last year. We are taking a little trip to Williamsburg for a week and then my mom is taking E for the weekend.

My husband, A, may even buy me an iPod for my birthday. What should I load it up with first, Pink or Pearl Jam?

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (5) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

My life is very boring. Busy, but boring. If I were to have my own reality show, no one would watch. But I do have an active imagination.

After being married for seven years and only one man for over eight, you have to have some sort of escape. My fantasy world, which I only allow myself to escape to one every blue moon, fills in the gaps of my boring existence.

“Sex in the city for moms,” doesn’t sound very sexy, eh? I feel very unsexy as a mom, yet I still feel young and sometimes have a surge of creative hormones. I know it works differently for us women compared to men, and since I don’t watch porn, my readings of Anita Blake vampire novels come the closest to getting me in the mood.

My own most detailed fantasy happened with a previous co-worker. Read more…

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (5) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink