Culver's...

...sweet, sweet Culver's.  Do you live in the Midwest?  Do you have a Culver's?  Yes?  I hate you.  For the uninitiated, Culver's is the home of the Butter Burger and the best custard out there (sorry Rochester, Abbot's just doesn't cut it).  Anytime we are close to a Culver's I have to eat there.  Repeatedly. 

Because I am a good mother and abide the principles of Super Baby Food* (which tells us that it would be best to never introduce our children to chocolate, HA!), I fed my 7-month old chocolate custard.

Yup, definitely my daughter.

*This is actually an AWESOME book if you're making your own baby food.  The author is just a bit...orthodox.

Traverse City Children's Museum

The last time we went to visit my Mom was about a year and a half ago.  Adam was 2 1/2 years old.  Despite his youth and the long time in between visits, he still remembered "the red museum".  The Traverse City Children's Museum is red on the outside and Adam has been talking about it for over a year. It's small.  It is basically one large room sectioned off for the separate exhibits.  The champion of the exhibits is the modular water table.  It has a current going through it.  You can move the walls to manipulate the current.

Jane was soaked from head to toe and I had to use the hand dryer in the bathroom (twice!) to make her clothes wearable again.

Adam loved playing with the walls and then sending boats down the river to see what changed.  He really is our little science nerd.

I wonder here he gets that from...

"Where are We Going?"

"Grandma's House!"  Don't know Dora?  Then I guess you can't appreciate that Jane recited this phrase repeatedly during our 9 hour drive (13 hours total travel time).  Lucky for us there was a children's museum in Ontario, just about halfway.  We have a membership at our local museum and this one was reciprocal.  Free = Awesome.

It was no Strong Museum, but it met my kids' needs just fine.  There were dinosaur costumes,

and rockets,

and a space exhibit,

and a snowmobile (only in Canada, right?)

and a slide.  Thank goodness there was a slide.

We left our house in Rochester at 8am and arrived at my Mom's around 9pm.  Let the festivities begin!

4. Four!

Let me just do that annoying-disbelieving-mother-thing and say that my baby is four.  Four is one year from five which is kindergarten!  I am not ready.  I am NOT ready.

Okay, now that I have that off my chest.  We celebrated Adam's 4th birthday in March.  There were balloons,

and a tower of cookies (for the kid who doesn't like cake or frosting, weird I know),

and presents ripped open with glee,

and, finally, a trip to Jump Club.  He had to choose 4 friends.  It wasn't easy for me to let him make this decision on his own since his friends are the children of my friends.

He was one happy boy.  Here is what he's been doing:
-Wearing his glasses willingly and consistently
-Patching his eye only 2 hours a day (down from 6) because he is now 20/30 instead of 20/50 (yay!)
-Wearing underpants to bed at night with no accidents
-Keeping us all safe and in line by reminding us regularly of the rules in any given situation
-Buckling his own seat belt (can I get a hallelujah?)
-Turning into a nerd (and I honestly and truly could not be happier about this) with his request for magnifying glasses for his birthday.

We love our boy and the ways he makes us laugh daily.

6 Months

Okay, so she's actually 7 months now.  But this picture was taken when she was six months!  Are you so proud of me for doing her six month cake?  I have missed all of her others.  Anyway, our baby turned half a year in March.  

Here's what she's doing:
-Weighing in at over 20lbs
-Eating solids (finally)
-Sleeping 8-12 hours at a stretch (finally)
-Sitting up
-Spitting up (still)
-Not rolling over (anyone else's children completely skip this milestone?)
-Laughing (those awesome belly laughs)
-Babbling (lots of "dada", no "mama", video will be forthcoming)
-Traveling internationally (That's right, we drove through Canada on our way to visit my Mom in MI, jealous?)
-Coming into her own sweet little personality
-Making us all fall in love with her a little bit more everyday.

What Exactly is Going to Happen?

I'm going to throw a hypothetical out here and see what you wise and wonderful people have to say about it.  What exactly is the big deal with leaving your kids in the car?  Let me start by saying, that I know some stupid parents have actually killed their kids by leaving them unattended on a too-hot day.  But, that kind of irresponsibility aside, what's the big deal?

If my children are buckled in their carseats, the weather is temperate and my car is off with the doors locked, what catastrophe is going to befall them while I run into the bank or the post office?  Are they going to get kidnapped?  Is someone going to break my windows, unbuckle my kids, and run off with them in the five minutes I'm gone?  All without raising any eyebrows?  If that's the case, I guess I should keep them away from the windows at home as well.  Are they going to spontaneously combust?  Go blind?  Lose a limb?

I just fail to see the harm.  A friend of mine from high school wrote this in her status on Facebook:

"So we went out to eat for lunch and when we were walking out there was a car next to us that was on and a baby inside, no parents in site (sic). I stood there and watched and the mother came over check on the baby and went back to sit down to eat....without the baby.  My husband went to talk to him knowing the guy was Military and told him he wasn't leaving until they left or got the baby out of the car. Then the manager called the cops. WHO DOES THAT??????"

There were tons of comments like, "You saved that baby's life!" and "I hope they go to jail!"  Not one person stuck up for the parents and said, "The baby was probably sleeping and, if the car was locked, no harm done."  


So, educate me friends.  Apart from the media hype about babies dying in cars, what is the big deal?  Why can't I, as an intelligent and responsible parent (don't question this, just go with it), evaluate a situation and say, "My children are safe."  Why is it anyone else's business?  Why do people stake out other people's cars and call the cops?  

I welcome your comments.  I think.  I'm actually a little afraid.

Who is the "Big" Sister?

I know, trick question.