That is a phrase that I use a lot when I get around animals…you should have heard me at Yellow River Game Ranch. I felt like Snow White surrounded by my small, cuddly woodland friends. I’m sure John tires of this at times. Thankfully, I get enough fulfillment from my friends’ pets to keep from “accidentally” visiting a PetsMart on a Sunday and bringing something home. When that doesn’t work, I appease my need to connect with non-human beings at various animal parks.

This is such a difference from pre-Charlie years. I’ve always owned animals and loved them like humans. Until right after Charlie was born I was the Mommy of one dog and two cats. Then we moved into a squashed townhouse. With a baby and no yard, my poor Zoe (world’s best Golden Retriever), was not getting enough exercise or attention that she needed. So we found her a new home. She now lives the dream life of all dogs – running around a 14-acre farm! My precious kitties went to my brother and have lived very happily with him and his fiance as well. Although finding new homes for my furry family was the best thing for them and for us, it still kills me. I MISS THEM!

Charlie has inherited my love of animals, so I see a point in our future where he will be begging for a pet and I will be bristling at the thought of going through all of that again. We’ll have to stick with pet rocks as long as possible.

Unless I can have one of these…

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Charlie may look just like his father, but today he showed yet another personality trait like mine! (Not that I want him to be like me…maybe just the good stuff.) We went to one of those bouncy funhouse places named Zamba Fun Land which is like Monkey Joe’s, but this place had other things to do like an arcade and cosmic putt-putt. I went with the Moms Club that I’m a member of and had a great time running around with them.

Charlie was quite terrified of all the different bouncy things, (I’m sure there is a better word for them, but I like saying bouncy things don’t know it.) (Okay, I looked it up. It’s an Inflatable Play Center, or IPC.) One of the bouncy things was themed after The Incredibles, with Mr. Incredible bursting from the top and looming over a big portion of the play area. I would think that would have been scary. But Charlie enjoyed yelling up at Mr. Incredible and waving to him every time we ran by.

Charlie’s favorite area was the back room where there was a cosmic miniature golf course. This place was serious – picture it: completely dark, black lights, disco ball spinning dots all around, cool firework lights bursting red and green on the ceiling, and a really neat putt-putt course. And it was completely silent, thus adding to the intensity. This room was magical. Again, I would think THAT would be much scarier than a bouncy thing for a toddler. Nope, not for Charlie! He was mesmerized, much like his mother who likes dark, mysterious places where things might be lurking around a corner to scare the bejesus out of you.

I believe his fear of the bouncy things comes from the lack of control you have when there are other kids jumping too. This will change as he gets older, but I think I’ll start a lot smaller to get him used to the idea of it.

We had lunch with a few other moms and kids after we left, and while the other moms ordered, I found myself alone with six children; four girls and two boys. Would you believe that they all sat there quietly and patiently? Okay, well four of them did. Can you guess which four? It was the girls, of course! Charlie and the other little boy enjoyed entertaining themselves by jumping in the booth, scooping ice out of cups, crawling under the table, knocking on the window, and dancing to the music. Although I stared longingly at the quiet, laid back, sweet little girls a couple of times, I could not imagine having anything but a rowdy and rough-and-tumble boy! I was meant for boys. I still want to have three of them. The only problem is that I can’t seem to come up with names I like for two more boys which drives me nuts.

Since we had such a great morning, I will (irrationally) hope that we will have a pleasant experience getting his hair cut this afternoon. I mean trimmed. Someone told me once that saying “cut” is such a negative word and that using something more positive might help. I think Charlie would rather get his immunization shots.

Playing Skee Ball

The REAL way to get the top score

Basketball with a friend

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This has been a long week – I was sick and then Charlie quickly followed suit – which has resulted in quick posts where I throw up a link or a couple of sentences. This post will be no exception. Since I have nothing amazing or funny to say, I’ll share some links to do it for me:

Introductory video to WolframAlpha (seriously, how did I find this before my husband?)

Helen Keller is using Twitter (Yeah, I already know I’m going to hell.)

I hope that everyone has a GREAT weekend! I’m very excited about a Sunday soiree with the Atlanta Objectivist Society. (I have enjoyed using the word *soiree* lately. It’s a great word.)

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I love visual aids. (Thanks for sharing with me, Wayne!)

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This is a great article by Dr. Jane Nelson.

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This drives me crazy – security monitoring companies constantly leave notes hanging from our doorknob saying “Sorry we missed you.” It’s like advertising to the world that we’re not home. Do they want us to get burglarized so that we’ll be more inclined to purchase a security system???

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What is Positive Discipline? Like with Objectivism, it is hard for me to cram everything that it encompasses into one or two sentences, which is why I plan to spend time writing more than one post. Since everyone has their different ideologies and backgrounds, I can only tell you what it means to me and how I use it to raise my child.

Positive Discipline is a method of teaching that guides your children towards becoming independent and rational and instills self-worth. Discipline should be just that—teaching. It is a way to raise your children without punitive consequences, which can create doubt and shame. Although neither of us was raised by parents who knew about or used this form of parenting, it reflects the morals and values in which John and I believe.

A combination of several things gives me guidance. I try to look at everything from Charlie’s point of view. I remember being little and not understanding the reasoning of adults around me, or why I would get in trouble sometimes. It was rarely my intention to just be disagreeable or “bad.” That is why it is so important to do what Rational Jenn defines as Assuming Positive Intent, which is keeping in mind that little ones do not start off doing things to make your job more difficult. (I understand this will come later, but for Charlie, I’m still in the blissfully innocent stage.)

I also read a lot. A couple of resources I like are the Positive Discipline books by Jane Nelson, “What to Expect the Toddler Years” and my periodic email updates from babycenter.com.

Using Positive Discipline takes a ton of energy, patience and brain power. So much so that it has taken me days just to write this much!

So…time for an example.

One of Charlie’s traits that he’s shown since he first started to crawl is that he does not want anything near him that he is not interested in at the moment. When he crawled, he would knock everything out of his path with all his strength. When he started to feed himself, every bite of food he didn’t want was chucked as far as he could throw it. I really hate having spaghetti sauce on my walls, grapes turned to raisins behind my sofa, yogurt on the blinds, etc. But instead of losing my patience, I started saying, “Charlie, hand it to Mommy instead of throwing it.” I would end the meal by saying, “I can see that you are finished eating. Let’s get down.”

Now that he’s older and understands so much more, I still continue to say “Please hand it to Mommy instead of throwing it.” But now I also add, “You want to throw. Would you like to get down and throw your ball, or would you like another grape?” At the end of the meal, I get him out of his high chair and politely but firmly remind him that he has thrown food on the floor and now must help me pick it up. (And he does!)

As he continues to understand more, I will have to up my game as well. But the main points here are that I do not show impatience, I say things firmly yet gently, and I am consistent. (With many mistakes along the way, of course!)

More to come!

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via Flibbertigibbet

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Capitalism Day until reader Tod wrote me an email to inform me of it. Cool, right?

What’s cooler than that?

Ice cold? NOPE!

Capitalism Day Cards!!! Bad ass.

So, get your pocketbook out and buy a card and send me one for Capitalism Day!

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I just discovered ARI’s new monthly video section called “A Call to Action”. Here they are discussing the resurgence of Atlas Shrugged into the mainstream of our culture:

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We had a fantastic time with John’s parents this past weekend. Our trip to LaGrange got postponed because we weren’t feeling so hot last week, but we did get to spend some time with my parents and Radar too. And we had another awesome photo shoot with my great friend and fabulous photographer, Brooke! Click on her blog link to the right to see a few photos.

Some highlights were Charlie’s first boat ride, his new T-ball set that he l-o-v-e-s, and me getting assist Brooke with some prom photos. John and I grew up on West Point Lake and have spent many days over many summers out on his parents’ boat. We actually consider it our boat because we’ve used it the most by far. ) Now Charlie is old enough to go out with us and we plan on getting out on the lake as much as possible! I also plan on taking him out in my dad’s canoe once he’s more acclimated to being on the water. I was an outdoor girl growing up and was always in the woods and down at the water. I canoed by myself and had many close-hand experiences with nature that you can only see when your boat is silent. Ahhh, the good ol’ days…

Due to worries about the weather on Saturday afternoon, Brooke brought her prom session over to Doug and Sandy’s because they have great places that are covered. But the rain held out and she got some amazing stuff – and I got to assist with positioning and staging the shots. I had more fun than I’ve had in a long time with that and my own little photo shoot. There were three precious girls in the family that had come along, and I decided to get my camera out and have some fun with them when they started getting antsy. I had them act like models and then get silly and goofy – my specialty!

Now we’re home and back to reality. Slideshow time!

…and a video

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