Monroe Parenting

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

I took Caitlyn to her first-ever Easter egg hunt this morning at the Ida Branch Library. She was so excited! Her little friend Carolyn came with us, so she had someone to share all her excitement with.

The only bummer was that everyone was supposed to register for the event, but none of the advertisements I saw for it mentioned that little detail — so there were a TON of kids there and each was limited to finding 6 eggs. I think Caitlyn had her 6 eggs tucked in her basket in less than a minute. But she loved all the prizes she found inside them!

Kudos to the Ida library for doing such a fantastic job!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Our playdate was canceled at the last minute tonight, so we decided that we were going to go out for our Friday night pizza for a change instead of staying at home. Yeah, not the best idea I’ve had in a while ….

I had been to the new pizza buffet, Cici’s, with my parents the other day and it was really good, so we decided to go there. Fantastic food, great price. Obviously the rest of Monroe thought so, too, because the line was out the door by the time we pulled in. So we decided that might not be the best idea with a cranky infant and a starving toddler.

Still in the mood for pizza, we thought to try our luck at Pizza Hut. We figured they had a dining room so it would still give us pizza with a sit-down restaurant experience…….yeah, eating there didn’t work either. We got inside the door to discover a packed dining room and a small line inside. We then watched as the empty tables were never bussed and then as the people in front of us got tired of standing there without ever getting acknowledged by a hostess. Eventually, we also got tired of being ignored and hit the road.

So at this point, we already had struck out at two pizza joints and it was getting late — already close to 7:30 and Caitlyn was starting to get upset because she was seeing all the pizza but wasn’t getting fed. What to do???

Well, usually when we order pizza in, we just call Tiffany’s on Monroe St. (I’m sure they know our order by heart at this point — large pizza, half green peppers/half ham, and an order of cheese bread.) So we thought we might as well try the dine-in option over there — if they were busy, we would just order our food to go. But finally we were able to catch a break. We made it there just before a small rush came in and there were only a few people in the dining room. So by the time a line had formed, we had already ordered and found a nice quiet place to sit while still keeping the kids corralled and entertained.

It was good times. Caitlyn enjoyed her pizza while Keegan enjoyed gnawing a pizza crust to pieces. I just wish eating out on a Friday night wasn’t such a hassle. If it had been just Dave and I, we probably wouldn’t have minded waiting to get seated somewhere busy. But when you have kids along, it’s hard to keep them content for long, especially when they’re hungry and can smell the food.

Next time, I think we’ll just order in and stay home. That way we know for sure we’ll get to eat in 20 minutes or less.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Anybody else have their kids’ Easter baskets all done or am I the only crazy one around here? Wait, don’t answer that! haha

When Caitlyn was a baby, I had bought  her a purple Peeps bunny basket. Thinking ahead, I knew we wanted to have another baby someday, so when the baskets went on clearance after the holiday, I picked up a matching blue one. So now the kids both have the same basket but in different colors.

I’ve been picking things up to fill the baskets with here and there and yesterday I decided to get everything out to see if it would all fit. After a little creative manuevering, I managed to get everything in. The only problem now is that if I move the baskets, things will start falling out. So that means I can’t really hide them in a closet because things would just get lost (and in my closets, that means they would be gone FOREVER).

The baskets are currently sitting on my dining room table covered with one of Keegan’s blankets. Thank goodness we usually eat meals on the stools at the kitchen island, or else I’d really be in a pickle right about now!

With two kids, the table seems to be more of a dump-everything-here place rather than an eating place, so I’m not too worried about Caitlyn messing with them. Besides, she’d have to get over the coats on the chairs to get to the table and then she’d have to move the pile of mail and sift her way through the sea of toys that just keeps migrating back to my table top to even reach the baskets.

Funny — it’s the first time I’ve ever thought of my mess as camouflage!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Well, we’ve finally solved the tale of the two dogs — we’re going to keep Cody. If there’s anything that we’ve learned from all this, it’s that we’re actually small, lazy dog kind of people after all.

I brought the new dog home the other night and that’s all he lasted — one night — before I realized that it would never work in our current home. I felt awful because he’s a great dog and I really wanted to keep him, but he was just too big to stay. Well, that and he chewed some of Caitlyn’s toys during the night and left us “presents” in the kids’ play area.

Luckily, a friend of mine has a dad who was looking for another dog. He already has a labrador, but the dog is getting up there in years so he wanted to get a younger dog to add to the mix.

So, the big dog is now happy in his new home with a giant back yard, and Cody is happy that he gets to stay in our townhouse and sunbathe all day. The funny thing is that once we brought the lab into our home, Cody really warmed up to Dave. Let’s hope it stays that way.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

You may have noticed that the link to the kids’ photo site is no longer posted on this blog at the moment. Apparently, there were some photos of Caitlyn and her friends in the archives from about a year ago when she was attending day care and one of the parents objected to having her child’s picture posted. She even went so far as to say that the picture can’t be posted without her permission.

Understandable I suppose, but there are a few things I’d like to clear up.The major thing is my photo site is not owned or operated by the Monroe Evening News, and it is not for profit. It is my own personal photo album of my kids’ lives. To delete a single photo, or even a handful, wouldn’t just take them off of my site, it would forever erase them out of our album, and I’m not willing to do that.

So, for the moment, I’ve taken down the link until we can figure out a way around the issue. In the meantime, if you’d still like to see current photos, let me know and we can work something out.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Apparently, a friend of mine believes that because I have kids, I shouldn’t have A dog, let alone two dogs, because people with kids who also work just don’t have time to care for dogs. Oh, yes, that’s right…being a parent means that you are no longer able to do things that other people who don’t have kids can do. …… Perhaps I should just invest in a pet rock and be done with it.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

How do you tell your kids that their doggie has “gone away”? Let me explain….

I have been wanting to get another dog as a friend for Cody because, quite frankly, the dog has issues. He was rescued from an abused home and refuses to play and always slinks around the house. He was abused by a man, and therefore has never warmed up to Dave (even after 2 years). Actually, he’s scared to death of Dave and it gets really, really annoying at times (and I feel bad for both Dave and the dog).

The only bonus Cody has going for him is that he is good with the kids. But that’s about it.

Anyway, one of my library patrons is giving away a 1 1/2-year-old purebred yellow lab and after a quick phone call to Dave I said “I’ll take it!!!” I was thinking that perhaps the two dogs could just co-exist happily, but, to be honest, I would rather take this dog home and have him be the only family pet rather than keep Cody. After two years of trying to get him to warm up to us, he still is distant and aloof, unless company is present and then he acts all cute and cuddley. As soon as people leave, he slinks back under the table ….

So, we are thinking about taking Cody back to the shelter and giving up the battle. He’s a great cuddler (with me) but he really needs a home where there are no men and it feels unfair of us to keep him when he lives in constant terror.

But how do we tell Caitlyn that Cody had to go away when she notices he’s missing (which might be a while once the new dog comes into the picture.) I feel really bad about this, but I feel it is the right thing for the dog and the right decision for our family.

Any thoughts???

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Why is it that guys get so much more attention when they do things that women do everyday? Whenever Dave takes the kids to the park or the store, people fawn all over him trying to offer assistance. If he has his hands full, they will rush to open the door or help with his bags. If I take the kids somewhere, I get a smattering of “Oh, how cute” but no one thinks I’m doing something extraordinary simply because I’m out and about with my kids.

I just had a male patron come into the library and he was wearing one of those front-facing baby slings (obviously with a baby in it). I think this is probably the first time I’ve ever seen a guy wear one — and he’s much braver than I am because I was always too afraid to try it. If a woman had walked in wearing one, I probably would have cooed at the baby and not thought twice. But a guy wearing one gave me a pause.

I guess it’s just the mentality that women are more often thought of as the caretakers of children rather than men. Hmmm…..something to think about.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Yesterday, Caitlyn came storming into the bedroom and told me, “I’m so mad at Daddy. He is not cooperating with me!”

Whoa. When did she start using big words like “cooperating”??

I was impressed. So was Dave, who wasn’t even in the house at the time he supposedly “wasn’t cooperating” — he had been outside walking the dog.

So we never did figure out what her deal was, but hey, her vocabulary sure is expanding!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

It’s official — Caitlyn is now potty trained. Goodbye expensive pull-ups. We won’t miss you and the extra $15 you cost us every week. And we certainly won’t miss having to deal with two children in diapers. …
After making it an entire week with only three small accidents in the beginning, Caitlyn slept all night for the first time last night wearing “big girl panties.” And she had no accidents. She got up like it was a normal, everyday thing and sat on the potty. She knows that she is only three stickers away from reaching the first “big prize” on her potty chart, which is a Dancing Princess Barbie doll.
I think that we will finish out the chart just so that she can get the routine down, but as of now we are done with pull-ups! Mission accomplished.