My baby is not a baby anymore.

This is post was inspired  by mama Kat's writing workshop and one of her prompts : A moment you realized your child was growing up.  I thought about this for days and I couldn't think of one single moment, but  few "little" moments came to mind.

 It all started with him wanting to hold his own bottle during feeding time, then he wanted to hold his own spoon .... I was proud and I thought.. My baby is growing up.

Then came the I- don't -want- to- be- carried  phase and I was a little sad because I no longer had a baby to hold and I thought ... My baby is growing up. Its part of life.

Then there was the I- want- to- dress- myself phase, the I- want- to- help - you with everything phase, the 'mommy I want to do everything  alone ' phase and again I thought .. my baby is growing up.

The biggest moment came when I went to Ralphy's  pre-school and the teacher said  that  Ralphy would be going on his first field trip and I  said " what do you mean field trip? he's only a baby! Ralphy, that was standing by, looked at me straight in the eyes and said  " mommy I'm not a baby anymore, I'm a big boy."

And there  it was, the moment I was afraid would come too soon came and went, to confirm what I already knew, he is growing up... FAST.

His obsession with Sprout TV

This post was once again inspired by Mama Kat's writing prompts. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to head on over to her site and get with it. Just kidding,not really, but you need to, its awesome. You sign up at her site and every Tuesday she will send you different prompts to blog about.  Once you get the prompt you want, you need to link to her site the following Thursday  and check out other awesome blogs, like this one and leave comments and as we all know the more love you give the more you will get in return,but I digress.

This week, one of the prompts was to  write a letter to  your  child's latest obsession and the reasons why you love or hate it.  So here it is a letter to my son's obsession: The Sprout channel.

Dear Sprout TV,

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the wonderful things you have taught Ralphy. He has learned to sing,dance and has even learned he's ABC's thanks to you. So I thank you.  I obviously love that your programming is geared to children, especially  to children he's age, so again I thank you.  There is really only one concern I have about this obsession and that is, when does it end? When do they move on? Please don't take this the wrong way,but if I hear the theme song to firemen Sam one more time, I think I will scream.

I must clarify that when I mean obsessed, I mean he is crazy-over the top -excited when he hears the theme songs for the wiggles or firemen Sam or Nina and star, Calliou, Angelina the ballerina ( or whatever her name is). As you can tell, he loves every show, at every minute of the day. In the mornings, he watches the Sunny side up show and  before bed time he watches Nina and Star. When does it stop? The other day I was at work and I had the  theme song to firemen Sam in my head! Seriously, I love you,but this needs to end. Thank God he goes to preschool because if not, I think I would have a real problem.

Oh and did  I mention, he can only watch it on the big TV of the house because that's where  we have the cable box, so hubby and I are stuck watching the smaller TV and no  we can't switch the box to the other TV, how dumb do I look? Don't answer that.

Sincerely,

Alex

Go ahead and tell me, what's your child's obsession?

My biggest pet peeve about parenting

This post was inspired by Mama Kat's writing work shop. She wanted us to "stir the pot" as she put it and write about our biggest pet peeve when it comes to other parents and their parenting. I thought " oh this is a good one."  So, I started thinking  about what really gets me mad or bothers me when it comes to other people and how they parent their kids. Mind you,  I know that every parent has the right to raise their kid as they see fit,  I mean it is their kid. I would never say anything to a parent about their parenting skills, unless you ask and believe me, if you ask I will give you my honest opinion, not just what you want to hear.

So, what is my biggest pet peeve about other parents and their parenting?  I don't understand and I don't think I will ever understand how there are parents and I know a few, that don't give kids a set bed time.  I mean, lets be real, What  could a preschooler be doing up at  10:30PM?  Please explain it to me, because I, for one, don't get get it.

To some of you , this might not be a big deal and I guess it depends on the age of the kids and other factors, for example, your own upbringing.  My mom, for example, had  us in bed by 9:00PM   on  school nights and on the weekends we could stay up a little later. That of course, changed as we got older, but I remember that on school nights, bed time was 9:00PM sharp.  I didn't understand it back then of course, but I sure understand it now.

My son, as many of you may know is 3 yrs old and he goes to preschool. He's bed time is 8:30P. On the weekends, I let him stay up until maybe 9:00P, no later. Now there may be some occasions, like new year's eve for example, that he could stay up later, if he wants to, but come on new year's  is only once a year.

What gets me even more mad, is that these are  the same parents that are complaining because the kids don't want to get  up in the morning or because they are sleepy, hmm I wonder why?

In conclusion, I personally think its important for kids to have a set routine, especially on the weeknights and part of that is having a set bed time. This is pretty big at our house. Ralphy knows everything that needs to be done before bed time and he does it. There might be a little whining or screaming on he's part, but hey, he is a kid. One thing I can assure you, when Ralphy hears mommy or daddy say its bed time,  he knows we mean business and he  knows exactly what to do.

Please share your opinion. Do you think its important for kids to have a set bed time?