Janeen Brady is my HERO!

I am one of those moms who cant control my kids in public. You know the type; the lady in the store with all three of her kids screaming at the same time, while she either ignores them completely, or publicly threatens to strangle them if they don't "SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" (and yes, I do use the word shut-up - immature of me, I know) Yup, that'd be me. It really is embarrassing, but I'm at a loss for what to do with them when we are in public, where there isn't really a time out spot to stick them in and let them scream it out. (Which is my usual method at home, unhealthy though it may be). They know it too, which I believe is exactly why they act up in public - they are testing me, I'm not sure what they want to prove by making me crazy, they are both obviously aware of the outcome if they act up in public... but that is the game I have to play. So ya. Even at home, they will behave like little angels all day, and then someone will come over, and that's the end of it. It doesn't matter if its my visiting teacher, my sister, a friend, neighbor, even my mom, they instantly act like wild animals on some sort of speed. When its just me at home and they act up, I stick them in time-out until they decide to "be happy and cheerful, and apologize for________." I try to be very consistent about this, but it is really time consuming sometimes, and I cant possibly leave guests sitting in the living room while I stick a kicking screaming child in time out over and over for an hour or so until they decide to comply! So ya, I'm going to have to quarantine myself in my house with my kids simply because being around anyone who doesn't know me REALLY WELL is just too embarrassing!
Today, I had an idea. I needed to go to Walmart for diapers, Walgreen's to pick up pictures and krispie kreams to get doughnuts for Brain's work party. So, I made a preemptive strike, I told Zoe if she could be happy and cheerful and NICE and not sassy on ALL of our errands we would do some fun things at home when we got back. She's a little skeptical of doing fun things, since I usually try to convince her that it will be fun to clean her room, or organize the toys in the play room (which usually ends up with her in time out at least once). Anyway, I have these Janeen Brady activity books that have all kinds of pre-school appropriate activities in them, you know like make a bag puppet, or an animal with brads for hinges on their arms and legs. I'm usually just too dang lazy to dig out supplies to do these sorts of things, so I haven't even pulled them out for a year or so. I forgot how cute they are! If you are not familiar with Janeen Brady and you need something to keep your toddlers busy, you should check out her materials here (she is the one behind the safety kids, if you've heard of that program) my personal favorite is the I have a song for you series - so FUN. Bottom line - Zoe almost forgot a couple of times and started being sassy, but when I reminded her that we would make turkey puppets if she kept being good, she remembered how excited she was, and quit. Liam pretty much follows her lead, so as long as she was good, he was good too. We made it through two stores without anyone staring at me like they were contemplating turning me in for child abuse, so the mission was a complete success! So we came home and made little turkey finger puppets, which they thought was awesome, and it was pretty easy for me to throw together, even while I was holding Finn. Only problem is, I think it worked so well because it was a new kind of thing, so what happens after I've exhausted every activity in the books? Oh well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

YAY for babywearing!!

So Ive felt like an invalid lately, this new baby Finn at our house is a high maintenance baby, compared to my other two... He is sweet as sugar - as long as someone is holding him, which can be SO annoying if you ever have to do anything else... like pee, for example.
I must have known he would be this way while I was pregnant (either that, or I jinxed myself), because at about 8 months along, I made myself a baby sling. Today was our first try using it, and I'm ready to call it a success! Its only mildly uncomfortable (I think the positioning will take a little more practice), and makes me a little paranoid to move too fast - but all in all, it works beautifully! I managed to clean my kitchen BEFORE Brian came home to take him off my hands for a few minutes! I'm pretty excited about that. Finn thought I was just rocking him the whole time. I did jiggle him a little while scrubbing dried up junk off the stovetop, but he didn't even seem to mind that at all. And right now, I am typing with BOTH of my hands! I was getting pretty good at one handed typing though, I might still do that anyway, just because I can!
I found the pattern for my sling online, and purchased rings from a company that makes them especially for this purpose. (You don't want to use craft rings, because they aren't made to hold the weight) - Anyway, while I was researching the different types of slings and rings, and positions and such, I came across a whole underworld of parents who "wear" their babies because they believe in a parenting style called "attachment parenting". This is where you wear your baby all day every day, and sleep with them at night, and pretty much never make them do anything on their own until they are pretty big kids, because you want your child to form a secure emotional attachment to you (which is apparently accomplished through constant physical presence).
The theory was developed by Dr Sears, who is well known and respected as far as I can tell, but most of the actual parents I was able to blog-stalk came off as total hippies - almost to the point that it was a little creepy (one mom nursing a 5 year old, another still co-sleeping with an 8 year old boy so he could "feel her presence" - not that I can judge, but that seems a little much, ya know?)
So I googled attachment parenting - to see what Dr Sears really intended, and from what I could gather without purchasing books or programs, it seems like a decent idea of a way to raise kids - albeit a little unconventional.
Then I came across the Wikipedia article, and I'm starting to think I must be a hippie... I'll paste the portion that made me laugh out loud:
"Many attachment parents also choose to live a natural family living (NFL) lifestyle, such as natural childbirth, home birth, stay-at-home parenting, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, homeschooling, unschooling, the anti-circumcision movement, the anti-vaccination movement, natural health, cooperative movements, and support of organic food."
Lets see, natural childbirth? Nope, I'm a wuss, I like epidurals :) Home birth? Again, wuss. Unschooling? I would like to know about Unschooling, I think... well, no, I would have liked for my parents to believe in unschooling- I can hardly wait to have 5 hours or so to myself 5 days a week! Natural Health? If refusing to get antibiotics for every little cold falls under the natural health category, then ya, I believe in that. What do you suppose they mean by cooperative movements? Politically? Ok... BUT I am anti circumcision, anti-vaccination. And I co-sleep with my kids as long as they are nursing (only because I'm lazy though). You might say I'm an advocate for breastfeeding, since I'm going to be a lactation consultant, but am I really over the hippie line?
The point of this whole thing was that it seems to me that spending that kind of time with each kid would be next to impossible when your kids are all about 2 years apart like mine are. What if I were still baby-wearing Liam when Finn was born? How would I be able to juggle the both of them without crushing Liams little heart, if I had not encouraged him to be a little bit independent beforehand? Not only that, but isn't the whole point of parenting to teach your kids to eventually be independent and self motivated? Dont we all want our kids to be self-driven and know that they can think and choose and live without our constant presence? Just a thought. Maybe the parents I was reading about took the idea to extremes, but it seems like they ended up being too attached to their kids, instead of giving them a healthy sense of what a secure relationship is like, they are using their kids as a security blanket for themselves. That being said, my reason for "attaching" (lol- i mean wearing) my kid, is also totally selfish. But at least I admit it right? Hey anything that enables me to use both hands without listening to a screaming kid! :)
Ok, I'm done ranting now. Maybe I'll get my kids vaccinated so somebody wont write a blog about this crazy hippie lady who doesn't vaccinate her kids! ;)