Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Be specific.

We stopped by a friend's house today after dropping Jordan off at school and after picking beans, eating yogurt and chasing an unsuspecting pooch around the yard we ended up in the pool. I hadn't exactly planned to take Miles and Sedona (or myself for that matter) swimming today and was not adequately prepared.
So they skinny-dipped and I borrowed a suit. There was plenty of swimming fun and afterwards I realized that I had driven Jeremy's car not my own today. (Ask me about transmissions. . . I think they're swell). Hardly seems a problem, right?
Yeah, well, very much in the over-packed mom manner, my car is stocked with diapers, wipes, snacks, books, clothes, medicine, sunscreen - you name it. Jeremy's car, however, is not.

So there stood two wet, naked and chilly 2 yr olds without a dry diaper between them.

After a no-peeing-in-the-car pep talk, away we went (by this time it was time to pick Jordan up).
Well, we made it to his school ( I called him out 10 minutes early with two dry kids in tow, not wanting to press my luck any further. I saw how much pool water was consumed.)

All the way Sedona kept reminding me, "Dry, Mommy. No pee pee. Dry."

Then she peed in the driveway. The millisecond she disembarked.

So I guess the moral of the story is. . . . be specific. If you don't want her to pee until she is in a diaper or on a toilet - say that. Don't leave it at "don't pee in the car".

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Man of the house

Jordan informed me recently that when Jeremy isn't home, HE is the man of the house and not simply a child. Those of you aware of my own gender politics of course recognize the absurdity of this claim falling on my ears. I did my best to explain that simply being male does not grant you special status in our home. We talked about shared roles of the adults in this family and about the societal notion that male voice usurps female voice and the inherent injustice of this practice.
Just when I thought maybe some of it was ringing a bell (after all he's only been hearing this stuff most of his life) he responds, "Well, yeah, I know all that but when he isn't home then somebody has to be the man of the house."
sigh.
I gladly assume the role.

(how do you demonstrate equality and the importance of family as team, partners as equally involved, equally important and licensed members of said team etc etc when what you really want to say - just to avoid confusion - is "When Daddy isn't home, Mommy is in charge. When Daddy is home, Mommy is in charge. Any questions?" Ahh sweet hypocrisy.)