All I have to say is that after a very long, very stressful, and very chaotic weekend – for reasons that I cannot share at this time – I had to go and eff it all up even more.

How?

I freaking locked my keys in the car, with my baby girl in her car seat buckled up.

Yea. World’s worst mother right here.

Thankfully the husband was not too far and came to unlock the car. And baby girl is fine. Oh, but those 10 minutes…

And while I managed to “play cool” and not let her see me panicked, so as to not scare her, my baby girl is just too smart for all that.

She looked at my keys on the seat next to her and said, “What’s wrong mommy?”

“Nothing baby.”

“How you gonna get your keys to open the door?”

At which point, I just had to laugh. But, only a little. Right before I walked away…to cry hysterically and kick myself for locking the keys in the car!

This past weekend, I visited Walt Disney World as part of a group of Florida moms that were invited to visit and tour the facilities. We had a blast and our families got to enjoy the parks while we “worked.” I’ll go into more details of our trip and my baby girl’s first visit to Disney soon (maybe next post?). Right now, though, I wanted to share with you the moms I met and hung out with.

Disney Florida Magical Moms

• Shellie Ross of Blog 4 Mom
• Daisy Sutherland of Dr. Mommy LLC
• Leigh Caldwell of Theme Park Mom
• Shari Keating of Diary of a Crazed Mommy
• Stefanie Fauquet of Mommy Musings
• Cindy Schultz of The Mom Maven

I feel like we’ll be having a #magicalmoms mini-reunion, since most of us are going to be attending BlogHer in about three weeks.

They are all lovely ladies and I’m thrilled to have been a part of the #magicalmoms weekend. Check out their sites and get to know them as I did.

We are a tech-heavy household. That’s not to say that we don’t do any hands-on activities, such as crafts, coloring, and puzzles. It’s just that both my husband and I love technology and use it daily. So, it’s only natural that our baby girl will grow up in a technology-filled house and will learn to use it early on.

She already knows how to navigate our iPod touch, knows how to work a computer mouse, and knows many techy words. How many three year olds do you know that have words such as blog and email in their vocabulary?

Mine does.

The latest activity that she likes to do is play on the computer. Since she learned how to use the mouse, she likes to go on “the real computer” (our laptop) and play games online.

Of course, we limit how long she plays at any given time and we’re sitting right next to her when she plays. This way, she can still interact with us as she plays and we can guide and help her if she needs us to.

Where does she go to play online games? Here are some of her favorite places to visit:

• Noggin
• Sesame Street
• PBS Kids
• Nick Jr
• Playhouse Disney

Of particular interest to her are the Dora games and lately Special Agent Oso has been a hit as well.

Does your toddler or preschooler play computer games? What sites do they enjoy? Do they have a favorite game?

Michael Jackson is dead. Dead!

And while my three year old will not understand the relevance of that, my husband and I sat at home last night repeatedly saying to ourselves, “Wow!”

I’m not sure why it hit harder than when any other celebrity dies. These things don’t usually phase me. I mean, I don’t know these people personally. Though I can sympathize for the family, it usually never hits home for me.

But, this one did for some reason. It might be because he was actually a part of my childhood. I have plenty of Michael Jackson related memories.

So, we busted out the Guitar Hero and played Beat It as our small little way of holding a tribute. Baby girl rocked out on the drums and I couldn’t help but stare at her thinking, “She’ll never know of him.” Well, she’ll know of him through his music and such, but she’ll never really understand like we did. It’s just like how I don’t really relate to Elvis, though my parents can. Get it?

Then I got to more thinking. How in the world will I ever explain death to her? Obviously, this is a milestone we will reach one day. But, to be honest, I have no idea what I’ll say to her at that moment.

And under what circumstances will she first learn what death is? Will it be because our fish died? Or will it be because of a close family member? I shudder at the thought.

More so, if that were to be the case, how will I be acting? How horrible will it be for me to have to mourn and grieve and also have to provide her with this life lesson?

Where’s that freaking manual that tells you how to deal with all these situations???!!!

I feel like I need to arm myself with a list of standard responses for those hard questions.

I cannot wrap my head around it all just yet. I suppose that’s fine actually. I doubt you can ever truly prepare for these things.

Have you played Guitar Hero? I didn’t get into it at first; it was mostly my husband who played. But, then we bought Guitar Hero World Tour, which has not just guitars, but also a microphone and drums. Now we all get to play along.

It’s like our own little band. Me on vocals and baby girl on drums accompanying the husband on guitar. (Shhh…don’t tell her the drums aren’t actually connected!)

Last Thanksgiving, some extended family visited and we had a great big karaoke party playing Guitar Hero. It was probably the most fun Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. The kids were not just in a corner playing on their own while the adults talked. It was one big collaborative effort with the kids and adults actually engaging with each other.

But, then our family got to thinking. What if there was a Guitar Hero Latino version? How awesome would that be? We could sing and play along to some great Spanish songs.

You know how certain songs are introduced to the new generation either because an artist they know redoes the song or they hear the songs in video games or TV? For example, Guitar Hero World Tour has songs like Beat It and Livin’ on a Prayer. These are songs that I’m sure my 12 year old nephew or my own daughter would probably not know if it wasn’t for this game. I mean, she might hear the songs from us playing them around the house, but she wouldn’t know them. At the very least, they probably wouldn’t think it was cool since “the old people” listen to them.

The same could happen, but with Spanish songs. And it would be fun!

Of course, some modifications need to be made to the system. The drums would probably need to be more like bongos and you’d probably want the guitar to sound more like a Spanish guitar, not an electric guitar.

What do you guys think? Have you enjoyed Guitar Hero? Wouldn’t a Latino version be fun?

Any Guitar Hero folks out there? How about it?

After much time spent on attempting to potty train and many ups and downs, we have been having regular success this past week. Baby girl has actually used the potty at least once each day. She even went and sat down by herself without me or her dad having to make her sit. Major improvements, folks.

However, she has this little thing that she doesn’t want us to really celebrate it or tell her we’re proud of her. It’s the strangest thing. Here’s how it goes.

Me: Good job love! You did it!
Her: NOOOOOO! I DIDN’T WAAAANT TO DO IT!

Seriously, what in the world is that about?

My child has to be the only child who does NOT want to be praised when she’s done something good. I’ve read all the potty training tips out there. Believe me, if a link says “potty training” in it, I click it. And they all say the same thing.

Praise, praise, praise.

I get it. It makes sense. If I tell her she did something good and that I’m proud, then she’s more likely to do it again or want to do so.

But, apparently, that doesn’t fly with my daughter. I can’t make out why.

The important thing, though, is that she continue to use the potty on a daily basis so that eventually we can move on to always using it. So far this past week, even without too much praise, she’s shown that she’s getting the hang of it.

Perhaps she just likes to complain in the process of doing so.

As always, any input on past experiences are appreciated. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Wow! The next month is going to be so super busy, yet super fun too! Actually, the next couple of months…but when is it NOT busy?

I’m gearing up for BlogHer 09 and getting ready to meet many wonderful bloggers. It’s my first time at BlogHer and I’m looking forward to it, even if a bit nervous. So many people, so much to do, and so much to learn, that it might get a bit overwhelming. And have you seen how many parties there are to attend? Just look on the right bar for a few of them; I know that’s not even all of them either.

I still have a lot to do to prepare for it too. Like buy a plane ticket. That’s important. But, I do have the conference ticket and found a roommate with a little help from Shari. I’ll be sharing a room with Tina of sendchocolatenow.com, who has attended BlogHer before.

But, I did get myself one of these pretty little things:

Dell Inspiron Mini

Annnd, it’s purple! It’s adorable and functional. Now it’ll be easier to travel with a laptop and I can take notes during BlogHer sessions. Or be on twitter. One of those.

Speaking of conferences, have you heard of the Type-A Mom Conference? It’ll be in Asheville, North Carolina this September. I am honored to have been invited to speak at this conference. I mean, have you seen the speaker line up? There’s some awesome women (and man!) speaking. And there I am too!

I’m looking forward to both conferences and meeting many of you that will be attending.

Drop a line in the comments and let me know if you’re attending either one of these. It would be nice to keep track of everyone in one place and hopefully meet up!

Photo from ubergizmo.com

This will be the last post about our Puerto Rico vacation. With it, I share a few more photos from our trip.

Enjoy.

***All pictures taken by Justin Edwards.***

Before I left for our vacation, I shared with you which foods from Puerto Rico I was most looking forward to eating while on our trip.

I didn’t get to eat all of them, but did eat many and some that weren’t even on my list.

Food Tour of our Trip to Puerto Rico

Alcapurrias

I ate these twice on our trip. The first time was at a little kiosk in La Parguera after our boat ride. It wasn’t very good, though.

The second time was actually at a restaurant in El Yunque. Though a bit overpriced, it was really good that time.

Pastelillos

We ate these a couple of times as well in several places. Some places call them empanadillas, others pastelillos.

Chicharron y Pan de Cachete

Although it was on the last day of our trip, we did get some chicharron from Bayamon. We had plenty leftover, so it came back to Florida with us.

Coco Frio

I caught one of these in El Yunque on the way back down before heading back to Cabo Rojo. After having hiked all day, it was definitely refreshing to drink some cold coconut water.

Limber

I used to run to the house behind ours when I was little to buy some of these. The lady who lived there ran a little store from her marquesina. Much in the same fashion, we got some limbers from a lady selling food in her marquesina just up the street from the house we rented.

Piragua

After having walked all of El Morro in the very hot sun, the strategically-placed cart outside selling piraguas was definitely welcomed. Talk about great marketing. At $2 each, I’m sure that man is making a killing. (By the way, these used to be A LOT cheaper back in the day.)

Helados

And right next to the piragua cart, was another cart selling helados. Pineapple, coconut, and passion fruit. It was hard to pick just one flavor.

Pinchos

“Meat on a stick,” as my husband calls them. He was in search of these since the first day there when he saw them in Aguadilla. We didn’t stop to buy them that day due to rain, so of course, it was his mission to find some after that. And he did. In both chicken and pork.

Got any favorite foods from Puerto Rico? Or maybe you see some you’d like to try? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

***No photos in this post are my own. Click on each image for original source of photo.***

Our week in Puerto Rico consisted of sightseeing, some family time, and a lot of driving back and forth from one spot to another. But, we had a great time and the kids were wonderful. Considering we were dragging them around with no regard for their normal routines and schedules, they behaved really well.

And my daughter? She’s the awesomest explorer ever. She was a real trooper and was up for all our “adventures,” as she called them. She was like our own little Dora and even made up her own song as we hiked in El Yunque.

So, what did we see and visit? It was a mix of must-see tourist spots, some nostalgic visits to towns dear to my family, and a couple of new places we’d never visited.

Places to Visit in Puerto Rico

West Coast of Puerto Rico

We took a little ride up the west coast from the southwest corner where we stayed in Cabo Rojo, up to the northwest corner and into Isabela. Along the way, we made a few stops.

Cabo Rojo Lighthouse & Cliffs

Rincon Lighthouse

Aguadilla

This is the birthplace of my parents and where they grew up. We had to visit with them and hear the stories of “I used to play there” and “If you look up that mountain, our house used to be up there.” Highlights in Aguadilla include:

• Crash Boat Beach – Where it was way too busy both times we passed by for us to find parking and actually stop. I did get a shot of the sign before we left though.
  
• Parque de Colón
  
• El Parterre
• La Plaza

Isabela

We only made one stop in Isabela as we passed through. And that was to take a picture of the Taíno face sculpture on the side of the road.

La Parguera Bioluminescent Bay

This was a first for us and we took the boat ride at night to see the bio bay. Somewhere in this water there are sparkles.

Visits On the Western Half of the Island

Moving more inland, we made sure to make our way to these landmarks.

Cavernas de Camuy

Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Caguana in Utuado

Lago Dos Bocas

Mountain Scenic Route

East Side of Puerto Rico

Of course, we made our way back towards the east side of the island.

El Yunque – Caribbean National Rain Forest

La Coca Falls

La Mina Falls

Viejo San Juan (Old San Juan)

Amazingly, we did not get many pictures as we walked through San Juan. Probably because we had lots of us to keep track of, including small children, and the streets are narrow and were crowded. It was pretty hard to do anything but just walk. We did get this shot of what I think is a house (can’t remember).

Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park)

That's me fearing for my life trying to feed the pigeons.

El Morro

Levittown

After visiting the birthplace of my parents, I made everyone take a drive through the neighborhood where I lived for the first 8 years of my life. I was able to show my husband the house where we lived, though it and the neighborhood looked very different. And with all the excitement over seeing my old house, friends’ houses, and even my old school, I did not take any pictures.

***All pictures taken by Justin Edwards or Melanie Edwards.***