MISSING SOME THINGS

As I sit here, tickled to death watching Isaiah's complete re-enactment of winning his first touch down yesterday, I am also a little sad and feeling a touch guilty.  I missed it.  I missed the football game for a bloggers conference I attended this weekend (Blogalicious '09).  It was a fabulous conference.  I learned a lot about social media and now have a very long to-do list.  The wealth of conference swag and the parties (especially the one put on by the Blog Rollers) was awesome, haven't danced like that in a while. And India Arie made a very quick cameo appearance at the party--SO COOL.  And I met Denene Miller and Nelson George--two writers whose work I deeply admire.  Wait...what was I saying? Oh yeah....my wonderful, amazing son ran his very first touch down and his mommy wasn't there.  I know that there will be many other firsts but I really hated that I missed this one. 

I am a working mother.  I have to work. I am single so of course mine is the only income coming into this house.  (So unless you want to share with me next week's Mega Millions numbers--don't judge me okay?)  I was working when he took his very first steps (again gleefully re-enacted when I picked him up from day care.)  I cried of course, cause I'm a sappy mom who tears up over things like that.  I know it seems strange, but in a way, being a working mother makes me more conscience of the time I spend with him and making it count.  I can't always volunteer for all the school trips or serve on the PTA board but I can and do make his Halloween costumes, his birthday cakes, and am there for many, many other firsts.  Now I have to go.  Isaiah's having a fake wrestling match with some pillows and I have to play the "announcer". 

TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS

Okay so that’s the second time in a week that another adult has had to gently pull my son away from me; this morning it was his teacher and then this past Saturday at his football game. I will state in a completely honest assessment of my parenting style that I don’t attempt to “baby” him (well not too much). But sometimes the comfort of your mother’s arms is just where you want to be. I’m 30-ish (smile) and I still feel that way sometimes. At times you have to give them a gentle nudge back out in the game. “You gotta suck it up son, football is tough,” I said. But then the next play he falls down and a couple of kids step on his hand—in cleats! That would make me cry for my mother too. I was frozen actually, not sure exactly what to do. He's screaming and holding his hand, do I rush out onto the field?  Just then he breaks free of the crowd of coaches examining the hand and comes over to me.  So as he’s sitting on my lap on the sidelines while I try to determine how much soothing is necessary, a coach, in all his mercy senses my cluelessness with just how much tenderness to show a boy, comes and takes Isaiah by the hand, tells him he’ll be okay and promptly puts him back in the game.


I was relieved of course, but there was that instinct, that voice that screams I NEED TO GO GET MY BABY! And there’s the other voice that says mishandling moments like these are how 40 year-olds end up living in their mother’s basements. As a woman raising a man it’s so hard to tell sometimes when to apply the tenderness and when to get tough. So please tell me, how do you know how much comforting is too much and when to take a hard line and send them back out into the game?

Old School Kids

I lament often about how much better life seemed when I was a kid. Life was simpler, play was safer and more imaginative. When I was a kid playing (way back in the 1980s) we learned how to fill in the blanks where technology had left off. It made us smarter and more creative. But by the 1990s much of that was out the window. Everything was more sophisticated—from video games to dollhouses. My little cousin’s dollhouse was so fancy it came with a remote control that operated the lights and a doorbell. We had to make all that kind of stuff up.

So now when I tell my son these tales of yesteryear when I was his age in 1981, how we had to get up and change the channel on the cable box and no one had the Internet, he stares in disbelief unable to imagine such hardships. We may tend to think of our children’s generation as a bunch of lazy, spoiled kids who don’t know how good they have it. And while to some degree that might be true, there are still lots of kids out there who want to play outside until the street lights come on and use their imaginations.

Case in point is the Speed Racer 1000. That’s the name of my son Isaiah’s box car. And by box I mean an actual box. He came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know what got into him other than maybe spending a week with me at Georgia Tech this summer must have inspired him. So he came up to me one day and said,

“Mama, I want to build a car.”

“Okay,” I replied and went back to watching T.V. as I was sure that he meant a tiny toy car.

He comes back requesting a cardboard box and tape. Then he comes back a little while later wanting to know if I have any wheels. That’s when I realize he wanted to build a—CAR, one that he can actually ride in. I explained to him that those were called go carts. So we went online, just out of curiosity, to see what it takes to make one. Now let me just stop right here and say that my mechanical skills extend to just shortly beyond hammering a nail and bookcase assembly. So needless to say that we quickly discovered go cart construction was too sophisticated.

Then I had an idea. I had just purchased a bookcase from IKEA whose packaging was perfect. I reinforced the rectangular box with tape and Isaiah cut a big hole in the top to sit down in. He then taped the bottom of the box to his skateboard and viola…we have a box car.

Now let me just say that I had absolutely no faith that this would actually work, but off to the park we went. After we got there and got set up a small crowd of about five curious kids and a couple of parents had gathered. Isaiah, so proud, announced the take off of the aptly named Speed Racer 1000. I could only laugh. But he positioned himself at the top of a slight incline and as one of the dad’s gave him a good push, off he went down and around. I’ll be dog gone it worked!

After that, several of the kids wanted to try it and so they took turns riding in the box car. I couldn’t help but appreciate that even with all of the technology available that there were still some kids who do still appreciate the simple pleasure of pretend play. Thanks to the Speed Racer 1000 (which after all the rides has finally fallen apart and had to be retired to the dumpster). Ahh, but it was fun while it lasted.

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DOUGHNUTS & DINOSAURS

I woke Isaiah up early Saturday morning. He was cranky since he’d stayed up late the night before.

“Why do we have to go to this thing Mommy?” he whined.

“Because,” I said, “it’s going to be really cool and you’ll have lots of fun.”

“No I won’t,” he replied. “It’s going to be boring.” Then I played my last card.

“There’ll be doughnuts.” I said.

He reluctantly got up and dressed and off we went to the Georgia Public Broadcasting studios in Midtown Atlanta to preview the new show DINOSAUR TRAIN. When we first arrived we immediately spotted the balloons and the welcome sign.

“See I told you this is going to be a lot of fun,” I said. Mr. Cranky Pants Isaiah finally perked up.

When we got inside the lobby was filled with fun activities such as face painting, balloon animals, and arts and crafts. And there were of course, the doughnuts. After quickly munching down our breakfast treats we headed inside the auditorium for the preview.

Dinosaur Train is a show about character “Buddy”, a T-rex who is adopted by a family of Pteranodons who take him on all kinds of adventures through different eras learning all kinds of cool facts about the animals they meet.

Though Buddy is a pre-school aged dinosaur, the educational aspects and cool factor of the dinos themselves was enough to keep my seven year-old interested in the show.

On September 13-18 GPB will kick off Dinosaur Week with the launch of Dinosaur Train on September 13 with two special episodes at 9a.m. and 10:30 a.m. (regular time slot weekdays at 8:30 a.m.)

PBS Kids favorites like Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Barney and Friends and Sid The Science Kid will run special dinosaur-themed episodes throughout the week. Primetime shows begin September 13 with David Attenborough's "Living with Dinosaurs" at 8 p.m. The popular IMAX attraction, "Dinosaurs Alive!" will air on Wednesday, September 16 at 8 p.m.

Check out www.gpb.org/dinosaur-train and www.gpb.org/dinosaur-week

Needless to say, by the end of the event Isaiah had had an absolute ball. He got his face painted, made a paper dinosaur, rode the train, and got a balloon animal. He even got to eat a couple more doughnuts. Proclaiming as he always does when he’s having a really good time,

“This is the best day of my life!”