Motherhood

I cannot believe it's May already. So we all know what that means, time for Mother's Day to roll around again. Buying a gift and sending a card to your own mother goes without saying. But how about sending cards to the other mother's you know? And should you send a card to your baby's momma? What if you have drama going on there? Let's take a brief look at how Mother's Day came to be. I figured this holiday was just another one drummed up by the greeting card and national restaurant industries, but there is a history behind this Sunday celebration. Worldwide it can be dated back as early as ancient Greece. It was celebrated with festivals in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods and Cybele the Earth Mother, in Greek mythology. Across the globe it is observed at different times of the year. In U.S. history, Mother's Day dates back to the 1870's when Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. In 1914, Presi...

Imagine it, No stinky diapers lounging in the trash. No wiggling child desperate to escape, whether cleaned or not. No weekly expense at the check out for diapers, wipes, ointments, etc. But then, reality sets in. How does one get to this pot of gold at the end of the potty training rainbow? The answer is as different as each child. First, you must make sure your child is even ready for this step. Regardless of what Great Grandma Grace says about training Uncle Archie at twelve months, almost every child-rearing book I have ever read says: don't even try until twenty-two months, as their bladders aren't mature enough to accomplish this difficult task. Then, there are some little signs that tell you that you are getting close. For example: staying dry for a couple of hours and/or waking from a nap dry, they want to start wearing underwear, they can understand 2-3 step directions, they have the verbal skills to tell you when they need to go, and the physical skill of pulling the...

Yesterday was a definite eye opening day. It was the first day back from summer of a mother's group I attend at church. You could sense the excitement in the air of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Then it hit me, this would be the first year I would be attending without my oldest daughter. For five years, we had attended together. There would be no more chasing my daughter up the lobby stairs to catch her before she independently went to her classroom. There would be no more midday surprise lunches after my group, or meeting up with friends at the park afterwards. It had all been replaced with growing up and pre-kindergarten. So I did what any other self respecting and grief stricken mother would do: I went and picked up my daughter early from school and took her out to lunch one final time! Sure, she missed some academics, but then it was only the letter M. And well, she already had a handle on that. We went to one of our favorite restaurants. We laughed and cha...

If you are pregnant, are you concerned that you are not going to know what to do with a boy? The good news is that you will learn these things along with him and you will become interested in whatever excites him. Read on to discover 10 things that you will learn as the mother of a boy. 1. You will learn the difference between a bulldozer and a backhoe Before I had a son, I did not know the difference between any construction vehicles. To me, they were all bulldozers. Now I can identify bulldozers, backhoes, road graders, front loaders and more. 2. You will learn to explain why you do not potty standing up. Regardless of the number of times that I have explained the anatomical differences between boys and girls, my three-year-old son still does not understand why I do not stand up to go potty. He encourages me just to try it. 3. You will know all the characters from Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine seems to have a universal appeal for children, especially boys. I did not e...