Tropic of Mom: Life at Latitude 26

National Wildlife Week: Looking for mammals

2010-03-16T07:16:00.002-04:00

Around 2 BC (two years before children), my husband and I went camping in northern Florida with a friend and her two kids. The first night, my husband and I woke up when we heard a clanging noise. It sounded like someone was going through our friend's cooler, which she had left on the picnic table. That someone was making some very guttural sounds -- kind of like a pig or wild boar. But do boars go through coolers? Hmm. We knew coyotes roamed the area. But this didn't sound like a coyote. My husband whispered maybe it was a bear. (Yes, there are bears in Florida!) I am not sure if I breathed at all, knowing there was only a bit of nylon fabric between us and the bear, until the animal realized the cooler was filled only with cooking pans, and moved along. It rained during the night, so the next morning there weren't any tracks. We'll never know for sure what it was. My friend and her boys? They slept through the whole thing.

If we'd been able to see some tracks, we'd know what visited our campsite. Theoretically. Assuming we could figure out the tracks. Or if the bear had left some scat (aka poop), we could have whipped out our field guide to, uh ... well, my husband could have used the guide to, you know, identify the maker of the poop.

Moving on.

This is National Wildlife Week, and because I'm a ~~nature nerd~~ ~~cool mom~~ fan of the planet, I've planned a week of nature outings with my mom posse and their broods.

Yesterday was Monday for Mammals, so we looked for them, along with their tracks.

Can you kinda sorta make it out? No? Use your imagination. Nevermind, it was probably a dog pawprint.

We also looked for places where mammals might live.

Hallo? (Get it? Hallo? Hallow? Hallow log? Ah well.)

Nobody home

After our nature walk, the kids made some mammal tracks of their own using some nifty homemade stamps.

Wouldn't want to run into the creature that left this track

Get some adhesive moleskin from your pharmacy, cut out a shape, and stick it on a block of wood. Voila! Instant stamp.

We didn't see any mammals, but the kids sure did get excited seeing a few anthills. And I guess that's the whole idea: just get kids out there and exploring.

Did they have fun?

Does a bear poop in the woods?

Dating my husband

2010-03-15T07:11:00.002-04:00

For my birthday in December, my family all went to Disney World.

For my husband's birthday last week, he and I went on two dates. Sort of. I mean, we went out twice, sans children, but only one was really for his birthday. It was all good, though, because a night out without kids? It totally counts as a date.

First, we got to go out to YOLO on Las Olas in downtown Ft. Lauderdale for the Sun-Sentinel Best of Blogs Awards ceremony.

I didn't win a BOB Award, but I wore a dress and heels and talked to a guy at the bar. (Conversation: "What do you do?" "I write." "About what?" "Oh, my kids and stuff." "Huh, are all bloggers as hot as you? Maybe I should start a blog too.") OK ... so maybe that's not exactly what he said. But I don't even remember the last time I did anything like that. It didn't matter that I was only at the bar talking to the guy long enough to get my husband something to drink. I was out on the town! Without my giant baby bag! My husband and I had to pay for parking! The car seats were empty! My husband and I felt like we were playing hooky, holding hands and giddily walking the streets like the sophisticated grown-ups we were clearly impersonating.

Then for my husband's real birthday date, we went out to J. Alexander's in Ft. Lauderdale. We waited for almost an hour for a table, something that is impossible to do with children. Now that's a date! Just when I thought my stomach was going to cave in on itself, we were seated near several tables of mature, distinguished gay guys. So you totally know I kidded my husband that he took me to a gay bar for his birthday. We had a $9 appetizer! Our server wore a tie! I actually had a glass of wine with dinner! I never once had to leave the table to wipe up a spill or refill a sippy cup. My husband and I couldn't believe our luck and were pinching each other ... ourselves ... well ... ahem.... And then we drove through the Krispy Kreme next door to get a dozen celebratory donuts to share with his parents, who were watching our boys.

My husband is a great guy to date, it turns out. I mean, I had forgotten. I don't know when we'll go out again, but this is what a mama needs.

Spanish moss

2010-03-10T07:22:00.000-05:00

I could swear this is turning into a train blog

2010-03-08T09:46:00.012-05:00

This weekend, my family went through a rite of passage for those with toddler and preschool boys.

And because I am an excellent photojournalist, I captured all the magic!

Day Out with Thomas at the Gold Coast Railway Museum in Miami let us meet Thomas in person!

The Man-cub was so excited that just the thought he might not actually get on the train for a ride pulled by Thomas, he got a bit ... unnerved ... while waiting in line.

His patience paid off, and we got to ride in a coach actually pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine himself!

Everyone at the museum was eager to pick up a souvenir, or five, at the largest ad hoc Thomas and Friends store ever!

All the children had fun meeting Sir Topham Hatt, watching Thomas videos, playing mini golf, digging in the sand pit and jumping in the bounce houses.

The best part was the Man-cub saying later, "Thank you for taking me to see Thomas The Friend!"

I don't have the heart to tell him it's "Thomas and Friends" -- and besides, Thomas is a friend to him.

Even if I didn't get a single damn picture of him!

Lifestyles of the bald and fabulous

2010-03-05T11:04:00.003-05:00

My little Junebug is now eight months old. And there is barely a hair on his head. He sort of reminds me of Charlie Brown except he's not a lonely, distraught loser kid.

The Man-cub didn't have much hair, either -- until he was six months old. Then he had a natural baby mohawk until he was about 16 months old and really started getting hair. He didn't have a full head of hair until he was about two years old.

Compared to his big brother, the Bug is behind in the hair department.

But what he lacks in hair, he makes up for in size (97th percentile for height and weight for his age) and smiles. With a happy, easygoing, handsome boy like this, who needs hair?

Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

Parenting mistakes I've made, part 1

2010-03-04T13:15:00.004-05:00

No one is born knowing how to be a good parent. And as I hear so many people say, you don't need a license to raise another human being, but you need a license to drive. (Heck, where I live, you need a license just to paint your house ... the same color!) I am closing in on four years of being a parent, and while I've learned a lot, I still make mistakes and need improvement.

For one thing, I haven't given my kids enough credit. I can no longer skip happily and proudly through motherhood thinking I've taught my kids everything they know. A couple days ago, I heard my preschooler say that somebody was graceful. Graceful? Where did the Man-cub learn that word? I don't go around saying "graceful" on a regular basis. He picked it up on his own. Also, I think the Man-cub understands more than he appears to. I mean, when you look at your kid with his finger in his nose or you have to pry a plastic block out of his mouth because it's stuck between his top and bottom teeth and he can't close his mouth (theoretically ... ahem), he doesn't look like he could understand much. But he comprehends more than he lets on.

Apparently, I have taught the Man-cub not to listen to me. When I tell him it's time to pick up his toys for the fourth time and he's still bucking around the room like a breakdancing capoeira-like rock 'em sock 'em robot that trips on its own feet and hits its head on the furniture, I can only think I have failed to impress on him that I mean for him to do something more or less right away. I think it started back when he was learning how to talk, and I would give him extra chances to understand what I was saying (just in case he didn't). But then if I look at that shortcoming I just mentioned of not giving him enough credit for understanding things, well, you can see how it was easy for me to make this mistake. Which my husband and I are trying to fix by retraining the Man-cub.

I am guilty of being impatient. I once read a parenting book that said if you get angry or impatient with your children, then you aren't loving them because love is patient and kind. Reading that hit me in the heart. Then I kinda rolled my eyes. But then it hit me in the heart again. Doing! I need to exercise more patience. The boys are young and still learning.

Since becoming a parent, I have been overly anxious. Even if you're not a parent, you would agree there's plenty for a mama to be anxious about for her kids in today's world. But I don't want my anxieties to show to my children. Except for the things you truly need to be cautious about, like, say, traffic and Amy Winehouse hairstyles, I don't want my boys living anxious or downright fearful lives. One neurotic person in the family is plenty.

I don't tell my boys often enough that I love them. I think my mind figures they will know I love them by my actions. Like kissing my baby every three minutes, slipping the Man-cub a chocolate milk and the mere fact that my daily life basically revolves around them. But people -- especially young, little people -- need to hear, "I love you," as a reminder. And I need to hug the Man-cub more, even if he thinks he's gotten too old to snuggle.

There are plenty more mistakes I've made with my boys (the Man-cub especially, as he was the first and therefore the "practice" child), but these are the ones that really stand out to me. I think it might be impossible to be a perfect parent, but as long as my boys don't end up in therapy, I guess I'm not doing a half-bad job.

Royal palm

2010-03-03T07:21:00.000-05:00

On safari

2010-02-26T23:57:00.018-05:00

The boys and I went on safari. We're so adventurous like that.

We went to Lion Country Safari in western Palm Beach County, where you drive for four miles through wild animal habitat. There are more than 900 animals there! You drive right alongside the wildlife.

Our trip was an invitation by Chevy to test drive their Equinox. The Man-cub wanted to drive the Corvette.

But a convertible around wild animals was deemed unsafe. Nevermind one driven by a three-year-old.

So then he asked to drive the Equinox.

But he's not really insured.

So he settled for helping me move in and make a mess of the vehicle as if it were our own.

He loved seeing the animals up close from the vehicle.

The ostrich got reallyreally close.

I could have sworn I saw her wearing a sign that said "Will bat eyelashes for food," but handouts aren't allowed.

True to its name, Lion Country Safari has lions!

I came here once as a teenager mumble mumble years ago, and I remember the lions being free-ranging like the other animals. But not so anymore.

They look just like my cats enjoying a sunny spot!

One of my favorites was the giraffe area. I heard the giraffes are in mating season, but we didn't see any action.

After the drive-through safari, there's a park with a petting zoo, splashpad, carousel and other rides. We didn't get a chance to go this time because the Man-cub got sick -- not in the Equinox, thank goodness.

I thought the Equinox was a very smooth ride! It handled really well over the dirt roads of the safari. It had loads of room, and if we ever have a third kid or a big dog (not that we currently have plans for either!), I would totally consider driving it. I also liked that the dashboard was laid out in a simple and logical way, so even though I wasn't familiar with the Equinox or Chevy vehicles in general, I was able to play with the satellite radio and other controls.

Chevy and Lion Country Safari provided us free admission and lunch. Thanks for a fun outing!

A Disney/Nickelodeon weekend

2010-02-24T15:09:00.017-05:00

The thing about living in Florida is that lots of conferences are held in Orlando, so it's almost inevitable that you end up there -- if not for fun, then for work. My husband had a conference there this past weekend. And while he was sitting in a large, cold room listening to someone drone, the guys and I had fun.

Honestly, though, mostly we waited for Dad to join in the fun.

Um. If you guys would slow down as you are supposed to come to a stop, a certain mom who has been waiting and inhaling two-stroke engine exhaust fumes for almost an hour could take a decent photo with her little point-and-shoot.

We had two days left on our Disney park passes from December, and we weren't about to let them go to waste. Even if this now means that our preschooler thinks it's normal to go to Disney World every two months.

Hmm. No glass slippers here.

The Man-cub even waited patiently in line to ride his first roller coaster with me:

During which he cried, but after which he said, "Wanna go again?"

There was the obligatory train ride:

Nicknamed the Little Red Engine by my son.

Two times, twice around.

And the next day in Downtown Disney, we had to ride another train.

Twice.

And build and race Lego cars.

While we were there, we stayed in the Nickelodeon Suites Resort for the first time because my husband reallyreally wanted the Man-cub to have his own room (even though it just had a curtain for a door, that was plenty):

Are these the Carpet Rodents or something? Rug Rats maybe?

And also for this:

The zero-entry pool and water playgrounds have heated water. People were swimming and it was 60 degrees. Being South Floridians, though, of course, we waited for the weather to warm up to the 70s before venturing in.

[Photo of myself in a tankini withheld. You're welcome.]

The Nickelodeon hotel was great! I kind of felt like I was on a cruise ship and not in a hotel, though, because of all the fun things they had going on all the time. I just kept looking out the window to make sure we weren't moving across the ocean. Every day there are crafts, live shows, movies, appearances by characters like Dora the Explorer, karaoke and a "public sliming." The Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team was there last weekend, too. The "Mall" area has a restaurant, food court, arcade, 4-D theater, gift shops and WiFi. The only bad things I can say about the resort are that the elevator was slow and had a jerky landing, and that a housekeeping worker walked right into our suite while the guys and I were taking a nap and woke us all up. My husband got the separate room, so he was good.

Peace for my husband, trains for the Man-cub, splashing for the Junebug. And wouldn't you know the Downtown Disney hot-air balloon I wanted to go in was grounded. That's OK, though, if we keep up the pace of our visits, I'll be flying in April....

(Have you voted for me in the Sun-Sentinel Best of Blog Awards? You can vote every day!)

Anhinga

2010-02-24T07:20:00.002-05:00

(Have you voted for me in the Sun-Sentinel Best of Blog Awards? You can vote every day!)

Just kids playing in the street

2010-02-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

This is the stuff childhood is made of.

Not fancy. A tree-lined street that could be anywhere. A gaggle of children of all ages running and rolling from home to home. Getting dirty and sticky. Falling down, helping one another up and getting their boo-boos kissed. Making friends.

One of our favorite things to do in the afternoon is to hang out with the neighborhood kids in the street until the dads and moms start coming home for dinner. The kids swap bikes, trikes, scooters and other ride-ons while the parents talk and watch for cars. (It's not a busy street.)

Not only is it relaxing and fun for everyone, but it also qualifies as Green Hour time.

And the secret is? Watching the children play outside is also the stuff parenthood is made of.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Please vote for me in the Sun-Sentinel Best of Blog Awards!

On the other hand, is this blog worth $100?

2010-02-18T07:01:00.005-05:00

What would you do with a hundred bucks? A hundred free bucks?

If I had to spend it on myself, I'd probably just sit on it. Like the birthday money I haven't spent. Turns out I'm getting terrible at buying myself things.

However, if I won $100 in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper's Best of Blog awards, well then! Maybe I'd use the money to pay a real professional to update my blog. And that would be good for you if and when you ever come back to read my drivel.

So voting for me is really in your best interests. You can just click here every day for the next two weeks or so:

It's also over there on the right.

Thank you, kind and good-looking Sun-Sentinel people, for the nomination. I'm honored.

And, beautiful readers, if you'd vote for me, I'd really super appreciate it.

A way to hold your drink

2010-02-17T16:22:00.009-05:00

My little Junebug is a boob man. I exclusively breastfed him until a short time ago, when he started eating solids. When I feed him at the table, I like to give him a little liquid to help him wash down his meal -- 2 ounces or less. The bottles I was using, which were supposed to be more like a real breast, weren't cutting it with him. He just wanted to chew on the bottle.

But then Tommee Tippee sent me its Closer to Nature bottle to review.

The top is soft and it gives, like a breast. The nipple isn't crazy long. It fits well in your hand. And I love that it's BPA free, considering how that chemical has been bad news lately for baby bottles, sippy cups, canned foods and more. Phthalate free too. The Junebug actually drinks from this bottle! I thought it was generous that two extra nipple tops came with the bottle.

Tommee Tippee also sent me a pair of Explora sippy cups for the Man-cub. They have fun colors and designs, they're just the right size, and the spout is soft. The Man-cub usually likes cups that have a straw, but he also likes his Explora cups and even took one to preschool. The cups haven't leaked yet!

I hardly ever like to do reviews unless there's a giveaway involved, but I really wanted to try out these cups from Tommee Tippee, a popular company in the United Kingdom that is now here in the states. But, if you become a fan of Tommee Tippee on Facebook by March 25, you might win a big gift card to Babies R Us!

The only thing that would make these bottles and cups better is a beacon that helps you find them when they get left here and there.... Yes, we are still playing the Find The Drink game.

(Tommee Tippee provided these items for me to review as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club.)

Panther crossing

2010-02-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Love is still in the air

2010-02-15T11:10:00.003-05:00

It's not Valentine's Day anymore, but bloggy friend Madeline at Barefoot Childhood is having a week of posts about love -- and today I'm guest posting. Madeline is getting married! So pleaseprettyplease stop by and say hi and congrats to her.

Baking some love

2010-02-12T14:57:00.004-05:00

My stepmother taught me to bake when I was 7 years old.

So I really should be a better baker by now.

Anyway, I may not be the best, but I enjoy mixing sugar, fat and flour together and putting the mixture in the oven for something extraordinary, like these Valentine sugar cookies I made for a party the boys are going to.

(If you want some great hard cookie icing, check out Bake at 350's recipe. A great improvement over the birthday train cookies.)

The kids had darn well better eat these cookies and like them, because my kitchen now qualifies as a Superfund site.

If I could send you all a cookie, I would. Mwah! Have a happy Valentine's Day and a great long weekend.

Sorry for the mush.

Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

I hate glitter

2010-02-11T01:12:00.003-05:00

There is glitter on my pants.

I hate glitter.

Actually, I like looking at glitter. But I hate using it. Because it gets on your pants and -- somehow -- your eyelashes, and three days later you still find a speck of glitter somewhere on yourself or your baby or cat, and your husband has to point it out and you get annoyed and then he says you're cranky.

Maybe I'm just inept with glitter.

The reason there's glitter on me is that I felt I had to make my son's preschool Valentine's cards myself.

So typical.

And I'm planning on making Valentine sugar cookies from scratch for another party on Friday.

Then there are the cupcakes for Saturday.

And Sunday, of course, is Valentine's Day, and I have plans to surprise my family to tell them how much I love them, including making a book.

All of this is in addition to regular household duties, playing with trains, singing "Old MacDonald," taking the boys to play outings, checking e-mail and doing Internety stuff, downloading pan flute music for my husband to use as a joke on a friend (I am not making this up), reading parenting books to figure out how to get my preschooler to pay attention and stop hitting classmates, dealing with concrete dust from the bathroom reno, and showering once in a while. All mostly with a baby on my hip. And no surprise that I'm not doing any of it very well.

Except downloading the pan flute music. That was hard to mess up.

It's become normal for me to get to bed around 2 or 2:30.

Yeah, I know.

Have I ever mentioned that my Junebug still wakes up every two or three hours?

I've discovered something about those Women Who Do Too Much -- or maybe it's just about myself. The only way to do the things I enjoy is to do them after everyone is in bed. The only way for me to have my own life, so to speak, is to wait until everyone else is taken care of.

I admit, I do too much. I have a husband, and children who need to be educated and stimulated. I blog. I volunteer. I enjoy doing design projects and things that generally involve ovens and sewing machines. I have a garden that misses me. I should get in a workout, but I don't. Most of the things I like doing aren't activities the kids can participate in, so it's hard to do them when they are awake. Which is a good bit of the day.

Part of me says I should put a lot of my projects aside until the boys are older. But which projects should I give up -- which of my interests do I kill off? Besides, now that I've had a taste of preschool and Soccer Tots, I am not sure children become any less time-consuming as they get older.

Yet sleep is calling me.

Even if I scale back the DIYness in me (I picked up a free children's couch at a swap today with the thought to recover it for the boys), there are a lot of things left on the to-do list.

I don't have any answers right now, but at least I recognize the problem. I'm no longer in denial.

But I am in glitter. There's a start:

How do you get red glitter glue out of denim and carpet?

El Lagarto

2010-02-10T13:53:00.002-05:00

aka American alligator

Sweet sleeping angel perfection beauty

2010-02-05T00:06:00.005-05:00

I know every mother believes her baby is the most beautiful, most perfect creature who ever existed.*

But, really. Have you seen my baby?

*(I also know this belief about the child's perfection might last only about two years in some cases. Give or take.)

Hosted by Cecily and Robyn

Celebrating 15 years of wedded bliss

2010-02-04T10:49:00.004-05:00

I got my man! And he's still here! Amazing.

(Yes, I'm peeking. The photographer was taking a long time to click already. I think he did it on purpose.)

This one's for the Man-cub

2010-02-03T17:37:00.004-05:00

When he's not playing with trains or watching a show about trains, my son pretends to be a train. A line of grout or crack in the sidewalk is actually a track. When he spontaneously shouts, "OOOOOOO!" it's not because he has a mental deficiency; that's his train whistle. And every third weekend of the month, we visit a park where live steam trains run so he can live out his dream.

Being a mom is hazardous to your ears

2010-02-01T11:57:00.006-05:00

Besides the ear-piercing squealing, whiny tantrum yelling and general uproarious play noise, parents also have to put up with the toys.

Just add fairy

2010-01-27T06:54:00.000-05:00

Tropic of tropicalness

2010-01-25T16:13:00.005-05:00

I love baby clothes. I call myself a babyclothesaholic.

I enjoy dressing my kids in cute outfits -- even though they're boys. In fact, it's a good thing I don't have a girl, or my family could very well be in debt. I know at some point, my guys won't want me to pick out their clothes and will cringe at the sight of anything I even hint at them wearing. So I'm taking full advantage now.

It was just luck that I recently found a couple of tropical-looking outfits for the boys on super-sale. (That's like "on sale," but reallyreally reduced in price. As in, super-way-on-sale.) Yesterday, I wiggled the Junebug into his romper and then helped the Man-cub into his shirt.

So naturally, I had to wear something tropical too.

"What is this, Hawaiian Day?" my husband asked when he saw us.

Should be.

I'll call it Tropic of Mom Tropicalness Day!

Miami moms-to-be and new moms, win a ticket to Happy and Healthy Mom Day

2010-01-21T07:59:00.012-05:00

Miami moms are lucky to have a fun wellness event coming up Feb. 22 -- Happy and Healthy Mom Day. It's a spa/shopping day designed for expectant moms and new moms. If you're pregnant or just had a baby, treat yourself or drop some not-so-subtle hints that this is what you want for a belated Valentine's Day gift. It all takes place at Cool-de-Sac Play Cafe. HappyAndHealthyMom.com is generously offering one commenter the chance to win a free ticket!

This is a unique event focused on pampering pregnant women and new moms -- not an event that just pushes a bunch of baby gear. Nope, this event is all for you, mama. It's also great to know that the vendors at the event are all moms too, and that you'll meet other women whose back and hips ache and who have trouble sleeping just like you.

Depending on the kind of ticket you get (one of the pampering tickets or the shopping ticket), moms will start their day with a healthy breakfast and yoga class, then it's time for a massage. Lunch and some classes are covered. Then get ready to shop the "momvendors" at the event. Every mom goes home with a Glam Bag and gets a raffle ticket that could win her one of two gift certificates ($150 or $75) toward a store of choice. There are door prizes too.

There are only 25 VIP "Pamper Me" spots available, and 100 shopping spots available, so get your ticket now.

For a chance to win a Shopper's Delight Ticket to the Happy and Healthy Mom Day, please leave a comment with a story about your pregnancy. Be sure to leave a way to contact you in case you win. I'll randomly pick a winner on Feb. 1. Good luck! And congrats on your new baby.