One Thousand Words

Here are five totally ridiculous things my 2 1/2 year old says, that wouldn’t sound ridiculous coming from an adult, but seriously, he’s 2 1/2.

• Surely not!
• Can you come here for a minute?
• Good bye! Have a good day!
• Despicable!
• I’ll be riiiiiiiiight back!

Now, those of you with young kids might recognize “despicable” as something James says on “Thomas and Friends.” The rest? Apparently stuff he hears us say a lot. Luckily for us he’s picked up on adult-sounding conversational phrases and not cusses. I have no idea how we dodged that bullet.

Mirrored from Now Showing!.

I was going to do 5 parenting blogs that I read regularly, but as I was combing through my fairly large list I felt bad about stopping at just 5. So here’s 10 for you, which is twice the work I was originally going to do, but I love you, so enjoy. This… is how I cater parties I throw, too. It’s why my fridge is full of leftovers. Why just make a cake when I can also make cupcakes (in a different flavor), and a pie, and some apples with caramel dip, oh and I haven’t made brownies in a while! What I’m saying is, I like to feed people both food and weblinks. So enjoy.

• Bebehblog is a supercute blog crammed full of parenting stuff, adorable toddler/baby antics (oh crap! she has two babies! SHE IS OUTNUMBERED), craft stuff, recipes, and joyful celebrations of veggies and how awesome they taste. She is a superstar who, unlike SOME PEOPLE (coughmecough) updates really regularly and consistently and has a general high level of quality.
• Blue Milk is blogging from Australia, someplace I’d LOVE to return to someday. She’s a feminist parent of two who talks about not being married to her partner, child raising, feminist issues, social justice stuff, and Australian politics. Not in that order. In addition to sharp, incisive writing she also posts photos of going to the beach when it’s cold as fuck and winter where I’m at, so that’s a nice break in the day and a reminder that the sun will eventually return.
• BabyBabyLemon is pretty much always entertaining. A bonus puller-inner for me is the fact that her kid is about the same age as my kid. Also, they live someplace warm so I get total envy in the winter and then get smug in the summer when it’s not as hot here as it is there (except for this summer which sucked several kinds of ass, what the hell Chicago). She posts a lot and somehow manages to make them all quality. HOW DO THESE PEOPLE DO IT. I have no idea.
• Tiffany Ard is an artist who is married to an artist (silversmith) who is homeschooling two of the most awesome kids on the planet. Also: they have a dog. She’s smart and funny and super creative and I want to sit in on the classes she teaches. She and her husband sell a lot of prints and posters suitable for both kids AND adults if you are kind of nerdy and like science.
• Love That Max is primarily about celebrating Max, who has cerebral palsy and likes spaghetti and car washes and the color purple, but also is about celebrating his sister Sabrina and about navigating the world of having a kid with special needs… AND about navigating the world of having a kid WITHOUT special needs. This is one of those blogs that is virtually always thought provoking and often helpful, and has really great writing. Check it out!
• Mutant Supermodel is a single parent raising 3 kids while working a full time job and crocheting and promoting community among single moms online and wow, the list just doesn’t stop, does it? Check out her long, insightful posts about parenting, singleparenting, finance, and crafting. And other things.
• Swistle gave me the most genius idea ever, involving birthday parties and how to limit them. She’s actually full of a lot of ideas, especially about baby names.
• Tin Roof, Rusted is a blog by another Chicagoan, which alone should be enough to recommend it. One of the saddest points in my life was when I realized Leah lived like a handful of blocks from me… and was moving north. BOO. Well. She probably would have found me boring or outre or something anyway. Maybe it’s just as well. I can confine my social ineptness to the internet and she’ll never see that sometimes I wear pants with giant holes in the backpockets like it ain’t no thing. Except now I’ve mentioned it and she reads my blog so she knows. Let me dig this hole a little bit deeper. Anyway, she has a gorgeous toddler and an adorable infant and she works full time, which most parent bloggers I read don’t. So where does she find time to blog also? I have no idea, but possibly gnomes are involved somehow. She’s also very crafty and clever and funny and OH GOD WHY DID YOU MOVE WE COULD HAVE BEEN BFFS FOREVER. (probably a lie) (oh god how desperate am I)
• Uppercase Woman is possibly the most popular blog I’m mentioning here, and also is like weirdly super hated on the internet a lot, which is super weird. SUPER. WEIRD. Like, I can kind of see backlash against Dooce because she makes more money than god, and against the Pioneer Woman because she was an affluent woman who married Wealth and paid a bunch of people to get her bloggery off the ground and her recipes are kind of mediocre and her photos suck but hey! But Cecily? She’s just a woman with opinions, who used to be a drug addict… oh. I see. She’s not perfect. Well! She’s an entertaining and thought provoking writer and I often disagree very much with what she says… but I also agree with other stuff she says. You might like her! Give her a try! She has a cute kid.
• When The Flames Go Up is a parenting blog written by two people who used to be married and then got divorced and now are co-parenting as divorced people. Does that sound potentially awkward to you? It sure does to me! It’s really interesting to see how two people who had a fairly rancorous divorce are handling co-parenting their kids in the most healthy way they can. Moxie and Laid Off Dad are both really fantastic writers who care a lot about their kids, and are living proof that you don’t have to put your kids into the middle of arguments with your ex.

What parenting blogs do YOU read? Drop me some links! If you WRITE a parenting blog, comment and let me know where you are so I can read you.

Mirrored from Now Showing!.

thefridayfive

1) What is your favorite mode of travel? (Car, train, plane, etc).

Oh man, I love trains so much. I have a serious THING for trains. My current temp job involves riding around Metra (long distance commuter) trains and counting passengers who get on/off at stations and it is SO EFFING COOL.

2) Where is the northernmost place you've traveled? The southernmost?

Northernmost is Toronto, southernmost is Florida Melbourne, Australia.

3) What is the last place you visited for the first time?

Nesko (my husband) and I drove to Dallas/Fort Worth during January about five years ago. Other than that I've been to some distant suburbs of Chicago (where I live) recently, but haven't had very long stopovers.

4) Of all the places you've traveled, which is your favorite?

Melbourne, Australia. Absolutely and definitely. I would love to go back. Maine was really nice, too.

5) Where would you most like to travel to next?

I have several places, actually! Within the US I'd like to visit friends in Boston,MA; Philly,PA; San Diego,CA; Seattle,WA; and Eugene, OR. Oh, and Fort Wayne,IN. Other than that, I'd love to return to Oz, visit New Zealand again, and travel through Montenegro which is the country my husband's family is from.