Reflections

It dawned on me while reading another friends blog, that I haven't updated on how Cody is doing in awhile. So I thought I should get right on that!

First check out my pumpkin. Three months old and four years old! I never thought I would say it, but BOY TIME FLIES!!!

For those of you who don't know yes this is a big, nasty bump on his head. His first real injury. I think that is pretty good at four! He was pushed on the playground. When ask why the kid pushed him Cody replied "I think maybe I was going to slow". Not a good reason to be pushed but a funny answer anyway.

So Cody has been receiving Occupational and Speech Therapy for about three months now. He goes to a wonderful school that is able to provide both.

These are things he has accomplished that he wasn't able or had a hard time doing before:

Occupational:
He can now zip his jackets/pants
He can now do buttons
Put on and secure shoes
Put on a jacket
write his name and a few other letters
Hold a pencil the right way
Hold a fork the right way
Make stick figures (this was my favorite!!)
Trace letters/numbers and shapes

Speech
Okay so with speech, he can speak just fine. Everyone can understand him. He has a hard time speaking which I know doesn't make sense, but its hard to explain. If you ask him how his day was he says "fine". No elaboration. No stories. Ask him what Toy Story is about...nada. Although, he can quote that and many other movies. Has no problem learning songs, phone numbers, address etc. Its getting the information from his brain to his mouth that seems to be the problem.

Anyway that being said Cody now:
Asks questions (never did before)
Elaborate on a story
Makes connections (i.e we were talking about fish and he made the connection that sea horses also lived underwater).
It may not seem like much but we defiantly notice a difference in his conversation skills.

Being at school is also helping with his social skills, which he was lacking too. I see it when I pick him up or drop him off. He says hi to his friends, and bye. Apparently he has a 'group' that he hangs with! :)

Now some Cody speak:
When I am 21 I'll drink soda. When I am 13 I'll do this dishes. When I am 14 I'll be the biggest
Daddy and I match, but you don't match. Nope Daddy and I have penis and you don't.
Daddy and I match, we have blue eyes, but you don't you have green.
One day I will be biggest and you be the littlest
I loved this one " You are going to take me a shower" Its so funny to hear them try to work out the language.
There are so many more, but I forget them :( I will have to try and write them down. He really comes up with some good ones. 

I was thinking back today about the 'early' years. (I know, I know WAY to early to be doing this) but I find my self doing it all the time. Missing stages already. But I was talking to a coworker and I was saying, I remember the endless nights, countless bottles, mounds of diapers, hours of screaming and calling my mom and crying saying this is horrid!! She would tell me, "Enjoy this time, savour every moment" Course I thought she was off her rocker. Now I know better. Just one more hour hold a newborn in my arms. Just one more toothless smile. One more baby giggle. Not to say that having a four year old isn't fun, because it is. I have learned, perhaps the hard way, to enjoy all the moments. Even the not so pleasant ones. Cody is an amazing son. I look at him, as I did tonight was he was getting ready for bed, and just say "I am so lucky." I get teary just thinking about how absolutely wonderful he is.

Its shocking to me what he has accomplished in four years. It may seem like he should be doing more. His peers can write sonnets and shoot hoops, and are black belts. Well, I think ANY child that can walk on their own after only being on this alien planet for four years is doing awesome. But not only can he walk, he goes to the bathroom, eats, dresses, writes, listens...and speaks! He picked up the language! Its amazing to me. Another friend of mine is pregnant. She just had her first ultrasound. The baby is the size of a grain of rice. They figure she is about 7 weeks along. The babies HEART BEAT is 130! 130!!! Its mind blowing and beautiful and just astounding. 7 weeks ago nothing, now there are cells forming, and a heart beating...in four years that year beat will be inside a beautiful boy or girl. Who will dress themselves/eat/talk/play. Wonders never cease. Life truly is amazing.

I feel, as a parent, that I am getting...a second life so to speak. I get to live all over again, watching my son. I get to experience his experiences, see through his eyes, listen through his ears. I never in a million years thought that I would be part of something so wonderful. But here I am. With this beautiful, intelligent, funny, amazing little boy. I honestly feel like a very lucky mommy.

Its not what it seems.

Doesn't this look like fun?!

Okay its hard to tell from this box. This is the Gazillion Bubble Launcher. You stomp on the launch pad and swoosh up go the rocket with tons of bubbles trailing it. Yeah. You get this thing home and first of all, get it together. May not seem hard to some but I had a tad difficulty, of course it would have been easier if I hadn't misplaced the directions...moving on.

Finally you get this together, you get the bubble solution in, set the rocket in. Your anticipation is higher then your kids. You are expecting a gazillion bubbles to shoot out and fill the sky. Your son hovers over the launch pad, looks at you with big eyes and a wide smile. Three, two, one...nada. Nothing. Niente. Zip. Okay, so he didn't stomp hard enough, he is only 40ish pounds. "Try jumping sweetie". Three, two, one...okay up it goes. Wheres the bubbles? Oh of course, silly us, the solution came undone during the first try and were never set in again. Re-do rocket, make sure solution is all set...okay third time the charm. This time an adult is going to take over the launch. Watch this! Three, two, one....up ten maybe twelve feet, ten maybe twenty bubbles. Splat. Over. Done. How to explain it. Its like chocolate cake without sugar. Coffee without caffeine. I mean what is the point in a bubble launcher if...it doesn't launch. And if it doesn't spew bubbles that amaze you? Seriously. And lets talk about being cheaply made. Okay lets not because we will be here all night. Lets just say you are not getting your money worth.

This goes for a lot of kids toys though. Honestly. I can't think of how many things we have bought only to be broken not long after normal use. (by a toddler not an adult). For example, he got this flying disk thing last summer, you put the disk in push the button and wooo out flies this disk...yippee. Broke after a week. No joke. Lets see here, he had another bubble thing (kid likes bubbles), put the solution in like a water gun, and it shoots bubbles, lasted a month maybe. Piggy bank that counts, didn't last a day, though to be fair that could have been adult error.

On the other hand, he does have toys that he has literally had since he was a baby. He has this counting pig that he has had through three moves and since he was a baby. That not only still works, has never had batteries changed! Playschool I think. Good quality stuff. I think that is the trick. you have to find a company that builds quality affordable stuff.

But then, you get the 'some assembly required.' and a new parent thinks "No problem, we can do that." Ha yes you can...but you risk your marriage. In fact you risk your marriage, the potential safety of the product, and a few fingers. We tried putting a kitchen together for him one Christmas (oh did I mention you have to do this, at night, quietly, the day before holiday/birthday). It took four hours, and the damn thing was (ta da) cheaply made, not good quality at all, never quite worked right. Whether that was our poor putting together skills or because the product sucked, we will never know. The kids on the box seemed to enjoy it.

Tricycle...you know the plastic ones? Big Wheels or whatever? They don't come put together either, gotta put those together too. And if you are unfortunate enough to buy these things with your child. THEN get them home and have to have your child wait while you figure out how to put it together...God Help you! Honestly.

The worst thing about all this? After you have sliced your fingers getting the box open, after you have destroyed a pair of scissors on the plastic tie wraps. Once you have gotten blasted thing together, batteries in the right place, etc. Your child will play with it for all of ten minutes, and the grow tired of it. He/she might love it and play with it daily, or weekly or not at all. While you are left with cut fingers, broken tools, and  the promise that someday, they too will have children.

The awesomness of voice acting

What do,

All have in common? They were all voiced by one man. Peter Cullen to be exact. I find this amazing on so many levels that I had to share.

First lets start with Murky Dismal. For those of you who don't know (because you had a depraved childhood), he is the arch enemy of Rainbow Brite. His voice is whiny and extremely nervous sounding. A quote from Murky "I'll get that rainbow brat if its the last thing I do" In a nasty whiny voice.

Eeyore - okay if you don't know who Eeyore is I think you need help. BUT for the sake of argument, Eeyore is one of Winnie-the-Pooh's bests buddies. He is deeply depressed, always thinks the worst is happening. A quote from Eeyore "The sky is falling, always knew it would." in a very low downtrodden voice.

Optimus Fucking Prime. Okay sorry just Optimus Prime...leader of the Autobots. Very cool dude. Speaks with an commanding distinctive voice. Its deep, a little gargle, almost machine sounding. A quote from Optimist..."There's more to them, than meets the eye."

SO the same man did all three voices (and many others but those are the ones that jumped out at me). I think its is wonderful and amazing that he was able to convince the audience of three different characters. Three different personalities.

Ready for another mind blower?

Okay, so this is Splinter. He is the 'father' figure to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His voice is scratchy, old and wise sounding. Never guess who this man is really famous for voice acting?

That is right friends! Our furry little friend Elmo is voiced by Kevin Clash. He also did the voice of Splinter in TMT. No joke. He is most famous for the work he does done with Elmo though ranging over twenty years voicing the little red monster that has entertained preschoolers for years.


Okay one more. I could go on all night, but really what's the point.

So here we have The man in the Yellow hat!

This sweet man was voiced by the same actor who did Megamind!!!

Incredibly hansom criminal mastermind and master of all villainy. (his words not mine).

So in case you didn't know the man who voiced these guys is non other then....

 

WILL FERRELL!!! 

I know right? But very true...Although to his credit Will Ferrell plays many rolls. But that is another story. 

My whole point to this ramble is how amazing voice actor's really are. They say its easy (yes I watched the meet the cast of Kung Fu Panda). They get to come in wearing only their PJ's, not have makeup done blah blah. BUT they have to make us BELIEVE that the panda is talking, feeling, thinking. They give the charactor life. Through only their voice. I just find this so wonderful. Wonderful that one man can make us think he is a twenty foot robot and a depresed donkey. Amazing. 

One last thing. Have you ever watched a movie...sat there watching it and the whole time you are saying "I know that voice!" It bothers you so much that you can't really enjoy the show? 

Well those are the masters. They are the ones that can desguise their voices SO well, that when you find out who they are you say OMIGOSH NO WAY IS IT THEM!!! I leave you with one of those....

General from Planet 51. Okay if you haven't seen it, go see it, its cute. But this man is voiced by the amazing, talented, and heh hem...hansom....

GARY OLDMAN!!

What shall be our demise?

Is it going to be asteroid or global warming? WWIII or over population? Husband and I have a long going debate going on when it comes to the future and its technologies. Personally I think we are going to enter an I-Robot sort of world. Robots taking out the trash, doing deliveries etc. Husband seems to think that Star Trek is where its at. I am skeptical at best.

Robots - They are not okay!
I believe this is the closest to what will happen. Think of it we already have some of them in place! And what better place for robots...then...the military. I mean I don't want MY son dying in a pointless war, and I can just imagine the vote now Vote yes for robots going into combat Vote no and your children go instead! Yea even I would have to vote no on that. As I said we are already using them to some extent:

Know what this is? Its called a Drone. Its not manned. See there in the front where a person should be? Yeah no one is there. The guy driving this bad boy is miles and miles away sipping on a slippery looking at video screen. True facts look it up. Heck I will give the website: Drone Program. There you go!


Okay so we went from there to here:

This is the hummingbird drone. Again, controlled remotely while it goes off and does whatever the government can think up for it to do. Doesn't it look precious!! Imagine seeing in your backyard...

Okay so this is the military stuff we KNOW about. Let me repeat...that we KNOW about. God (and the military) alone know what they have come up with now.

Okay so now I jumped from Drones to insect drones. Now at what point do we get to this:

Yes laugh, but seriously remember at the beginning when I asked your son or this guy? This guy right! Who cares if he gets blown to bits. And you know what this thing probably wouldn't do anything it wasn't suppose to do. Its just parts. What you have to worry about it is where this is getting its commands from. And that my friends is the point. They can't all be Johny Fives and Wall-e's

Allow me a side jaunt here. I love Short Circuit I cried in the second one. Bawled. I still get teary. And I cried during Wall-E too and if we are honest, part of me feels bad for the 'old' robots that Will Smith's character is mean to in I-Robot. I am not heartless. I love a defected robot as much as the next person. That being said...I don't like AI....






Because really its AI that causes all the problems. (Artificial Intelligence to you non-techies) If said Terminator was ALWAYS being run by a guy then there probably wouldn't be an issue. It would be game over for the robot, but not the end of the world. Maybe kid gets demotion if he destroys too many. IF, however, we have an AI running them, (think I-robot and Skynet), then we are screwed. I will tell you why. In the case of I-Robot at least, AI  is right. We suck. We are rotten to our plant, ourselves, etc. They would eventually come to that conclusion. Skynet scenario um, why take orders from weaklings? And the winner is...ROBOTS every time. Less you have John Conner around. Then we might stand a chance.

Space - The final frontier

Okay so husbands. "To infinity and beyond!" He is convinced that we are running out of natural resources and we have to find other worlds or we are screwed. Okay. I'll buy that to a point. He thinks now that NASA isn't running the shuttle program, that its all being privatized, things are going to start happening real fast. We are going to see some major advancements in space travel.

 

Yeah I gotta say bull on this. He went on and on and on about some space bubble. If we could bend space then we could just shoot from one place to another....and I was all huh?!

  

So pretending for a moment that space warping is possible, what new terrors does this yield? Let me start off by saying I am live let live kind of person. Now, if we found a planet that was not inhabited by ANYTHING. Fine. Go there, make home whatever. BUT if the planet we find is like our beautiful Earth, then there is a good chance there would be some form of life on it. NOW how would we feel if people from another planet came down here to mess with us? Take over our planet and all? "Hi sorry we destroyed our planet can we come share yours?" Yeah...and they say "sorry guys we like clean water/air". What do we do? Leave? Go find another Earth like planet? Yeah...right. We take over! 

Of course, its the only way. Disgusting. See this might not be the 'demise' of our planet or human race but our morals? Oh yeah! Defiantly! 

Thankfully, well hopefully, we don't have this technology. Either of them. I pray that we never do. I know, I know we want the latest thing, the greatest whatever. But there is a time to say stop, and I think before we hand over the military to A.I. or start doing space bubbles and taking over planets, we should ask ourselves, why don't we fix the root of the problem? We want to flee like rats leaving a ship because our lands are spoiled...start cleaning them. We want to have robots/drones what have you fighting our wars, stop having them. I may be stupid, I might not know politics, or environmental issues, but I do know that fighting doesn't have to be the answer. Fleeing isn't the answer. Change. That is the only answer. And not a change in technology, a change with ourselves and towards our Earth, and our fellow man!

Mr. Brown can Moo...

Great book if you are learning to read. Let it be said that I love Dr. Seuss. He is one of my favorite authors. That being said, his early reading books can wear on a parent when you read them over, and over, and over....

At some point every parent has a fantasy about what they would like to do to certain books....



Unfortunately not only is destroying a book a crime (morally at least), I do believe it is probably some form of child abuse.

It is kind of amusing to me really. My son has these two books. Mr. Brown can Moo can You. By Dr. Seuss and The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. The Dr. Seuss book is meant for early readers, so the words are simple one - two syllable at most. It's mainly sounds..."Mr Brown can sound like a clock he can TICK he can TOCK" The Gingerbread Man has an actual story line and each page has many, many words. Granted, there is rhyming so it makes it easier to read. That being said, I would rather read this more 'difficult' story over and over then read Mr. Brown one more time. No joke. Its not just that book, I hate reading Goodnight Moon (yes I do). I know grandparents and mothers of older children all go 'aww I love goodnight moon...I remember reading it to my children..." yeah do you remember reading it over and over and over? How about The hungry hungry caterpillar? Yeah? These books are enriching in their colors, shapes, words and the worlds created by very talented children's authors. They are repetitive, boring, and down right mind numbing to a parent. Well to this parent. Does this make me a bad parent? Does it make any parent bad if they hate something their kid likes? I mean if you are a Uber girl and you have a son, does it make your horrid if you hate cars and trucks? I don't think so. No where is it written that being a parent means you automatically love what your children do. In fact I would say it is perfectly okay to down right loath certain things. (think teen years with music and clothing....)  Being a parent means you put your kids first.

Selfishness isn't part of being a parent. So if your kid wants to read Goodnight Moon....again...you read it. You muster up the enthusiasm even though you can recite it in your sleep. You build city's and train tracks when you would rather play with dolls, you watch Little Bear when you would much rather watch Dexter.

And you pray...you pray that someday your child will want to read something with a plot....like Horton Hears a Who....









As a final note, am I the only parent who rather spend an extra fifteen minutes reading a 'real' story to my child then reading a quick nonsense story? I'd like to think that I am not alone.

This is why I don't like roller coasters....

Its because one minute everything is fine, world is stable beneath your feet and then next...whoosh...flip...spin....breathtaking heart stopping, stomach flipping downward spiral. Wham!! Nothing is what you thought, you are left with a shocked expression, funny tingling in your stomach and a bad hair do. That night what? Can you sleep? No. Why? Because you are thinking about that roller coaster. You might still be feeling it. You might still be a little sick.

This is life though. This is how life works. Its always been that way. Sometimes the roller coaster is awesome. Best ride of your life. Sometimes its scary, and you want nothing more then to get off. Sometimes, there is a dark tunnel and you can't see the end. Then when you think all hope is lost, the light shines through and you see it was worth it.

So what ride are you on this week, month, year? The kind where you are happy and having a great time? Or the one where you are begging the attendant to let you off? Just remember, my fellow riders, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. It may be hard to see now sure, it may be very distant, and it might not make up for all the pain and fright and anxiety you had during the ride, but it will make the ride worth it. I can say that, even though I am currently on a very strange ride. One I never thought to be on, one I hoped to leave behind.

Addiction

There are many, many forms. Some are good for you. Being addicted to running for example.

Some are awful for your health, drugs come to mind!











And some are awful the people around you. Like gaming addictions....

I have been addicted to things in my day. Like smoking, big one there, and coffee. So I am no stranger to the pull that addictions can have one you...

Come here, I will make life all better!!

That all being said, I thinking gaming addiction is the dumbest. Perhaps that is because I have a loved one who has one. "Yes my name is M I am the spouse of a gamer.? "Hi M!"

So in true therapy fashion how does this make me feel. Well, I feel angry, a lot. I have come to despise his computer in ways I have never despised an inanimate object before. (were are not going to talk about a missing Cowboy Junkies CD that was accidentally maliciously destroyed).

I get angry at him for not wanting to spend his free time with his family. Now I understand that you, want some you time after work. I get that. Gosh I would like it to. Now GROW UP!! For Gosh sakes we have a four year old!! And every single day he is just getting older! Why isn't that the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your whole life? That is what kills me. If it was just me, whatever. But having this amazing wonderful person to play with and enjoy and not WANTING to? Just PISSES ME OFF!!! I can't even handle it.

And yes, we have talked. There have been many, many talks! Nothing. I promise I will cut down, I promise this I promise that. Instead I am left to have these wild fantasies about what I would like to do with his computer. Like this one for example.

Pretty good huh? Totally made that myself!! But honestly this is a mild one. Others have included acid, fire, burying ashes, oh car tires. Many many more wonderful ways of destruction, and I am open to more ideas.

I just don't understand the addiction I guess. In ways I am sure some people will never understand why I spent so many years smoking. But to me, this is just stupid. I mean down right, loser stupid. Its like Dungeons and Dragons for losers. You have to play and get good or whatever and then interview to join the best guilds!! Lame! Is this a job? Are they paying you? Oh and apparently if you aren't on raids enough, your percent goes down and they can kick your butt out!? What is this survivor? Honestly!! This is the stupidest waste of time. Read your kid a story, play some go fish. Some day he is going to be a man and you are going to say...what the heck happened?

Here are some fun links for you:

Everquest - not just for kids for anymore
Gaming Addiction - where to get help 
Addictions - again, where to get help 
Being the loved on of an addict