Cool Mommy Product Reviews

Our family loves dogs. Last year, during the month leading up to my oldest son – Jordan’s birthday (he was turning 8), he was asking for a puppy. (Sounds familiar ?) Then, my daughter joined in & is constantly asking for one. I told my husband that when she turns 4 (don’t know why I chose this age), I will be ready to get a dog. Naturally, last year was a crucial year and my husband & I discussed about it many times privately.

It’s such a big responsibility & there is never the best time. In the fall when school starts – all hells break loose with open house, class parties, soccer practices etc etc. Then in the winter – we take 2 weeks vacation at Christmas & New Year. Then comes Spring, and a possible short vacation. How about Summer ? That’s worse – we return to my mom’s (in a faraway country) for 3 months.

In the last few months, I seriously considered the option as we got a babysitter who is working full time in the dog grooming salon. (I thought maybe she can also moonlight & groomed my dog for a smaller fee on weekends). Also, she will be able to help me teach the kids to handle the dog. We started researching on the internet and shortlisting names.

Then one day – I took my little girl to visit our babysitter at the dog grooming salon and she was of course excited. However, when we walked in – there was a strong odor – you know the kind of smell when you are bathing the dog. Anyway, in a confined environment, it is quite nauseating. My little girl immediately pinched her nose & said : “I don’t like the smell. I want to go now.” So, I promptly seized the opportunity & said : “if you want dog, our house might smell like that”. (Of course I am exaggerating). She replied : “I don’t want a dog now. Can we go now please?

Mission accomplished. She stopped bugging me for a dog. Strangely, I am the one who still wants a dog. Maybe it’s not the timing. It’s just that I haven’t found the right dog yet.

Kids

My 8 year old son is what you would call a “high maintenance” child. Alot of behaviorial issues, argumentative, competitive, you name it. Luckily for him, he is bright. He is very good with numbers, great chess player and musically talented. His biggest problem – comprehension. He can read extremely well (well above 5th grade) -good with phonics & but his level of comprehension is slightly below grade level. So, we have been striving to narrow the gap & it has been a big challenge. Thankfully, his homeroom teacher has been a great help & we are working closely to monitor his progress. I even hired a tutor 2 months ago. My husband and I are hoping that early intervention would help. I would like to share the tips & advice that were given to us :

1. Read aloud to him. Start with books that he likes – fiction or non fiction, it also has to be something easy for him to understand. In another words, start from the beginning. We actually started Harry Potter and he is now hooked onto reading.

2. Re-telling the story. Even if the words are simple for him to read, he tends to have difficulty re-telling the story. This is a crucial part of comprehension – if you can re-tell a story, you understand the story.

3. Creating pictures in your head. As you read, you have to start forming pictures in your head. If the picture becomes fuzzy, back up, read the last page or paragraph again.

4. For a comprehension assessment, read through the questions before you read the passage.
(For 1st graders, the teachers will do a “picture walk” before reading the words)

5. Always check your answers again when you finish the assessment.

6. The previous Instructional Support teacher also gave some daily exercises where he practice his listening & inferring skills. It’s important to do it daily as it helps to instill self-discipline.

7. Last but no least – I always have to resort to the “carrot & stick” style to get him to focus. I will take away his privileges (no Wii play on weekends) if I hear that he is having difficulty staying focus. Somehow, it always helps. I taught him that we should work hard & play even harder. Hopefully, he COMPREHENDS the meaning of my advice.

Kids

I admit I am not very clued in on the entertainment scene. I only heard about “High School Musical” when I was home last Summer & it was on TV at my mom’s. My nieces (whom I haven’t not seen for 2 years) were going ga-ga over it and I watched a little.

Recently, my daughter’s friends (4 year olds) were talking about it. At christmas, I was educated by my friends about this & the Hannah Montana craze that is sweeping Amercia. When we were at Disneyworld over the recent christmas & new year, I saw the commercial side of it. Luckily for me, my daughter only got into it after we returned from Disneyworld so we didn’t get caught up with the merchandise.

One afternoon (2 weeks ago) – my little princess came home from her playdate & exclaimed : “Mommy – I saw High School Musical 2 & I looooove it ! Please please can you get me the DVD ?” She is only 4 & a half ! The next few days, she kept humming the songs & when her best friend comes over – she too was singing & oh you should see her expression ! She closed her eyes, all mesmerized as she is singing away. My daughter even teaches me a “new kiss”. Put your index finger on your tongue & let both your index fingers touch. Honestly, I was so stunned and I am wondering how this will impact her “growing up”. God help us !

Here is the real shocker : 9 months ago, we were just sitting in front of the TV after lunch. I usually fold the laundry while watching reruns of Matlock. She turned to me & said :”Mommy. If Daddy loves you very much this is how he kisses you”. She proceeded to kiss me very hard on my lips. I was hysterical. Did anyone do it to you ? I was shocked & questioned her thinking that some pervert got to her. She said : “no – I saw it on TV”. She doesn’t get alot of TV time, usually Angelina Ballerina & there is definitely not alot of kissing on Matlock. I asked her to show me the kiss again. She said I didn’t do it properly. I have to move my head from side to side ! My goodness gracious – she has not even turn 4 yet. I stopped watching those reruns.

My husband & I shared this incident with many of our close friends for a good laugh. Then one parent told me that he thinks girls are so aggressive nowadays & they start young. His kindergartener who is a boy will come home & tell them that girls are chasing him around the playground wanting to kiss him ! What has the world become ?

Kids

I love taking my little princess to her ballet lessons every Saturday mornings. After drop off, me & a few other moms will go to Wawa – 1 block away, get coffee & return to the studio and chat. It’s one of the highlights of my week. We will talk about the behavior of our girls, share our joys & frustrations, discuss school stuff, etc etc.

Mom K, Mom A & Mom S are all working moms. Mom A is a speech therapist, Mom S is a scientist & adopted a chinese girl. Their girls are in the ballet/tap dance class so they stay a little longer while mine just do ballet. There are a other moms too – but they are not as regular as us.

Mom S has been struggling with her daughter for a while now – and I remember her saying 2 weeks ago that she is that close to seeing a shrink. This morning, Mom K shared her experience of seeing a psychiatrist when she needed help with her oldest child who is eight a while ago. She found it very helpful & Mom S is interested to visit the same psychiatrist.

What I like about this group is we’re not afraid of sharing our troubles & frustrations. We are all just trying to be a good mom & impart the best values to our kids. We only know each other by names but the other 3 moms are closer. However, there is special kind of friendship among us and meeting them every Saturday is such a great start to my weekend !

Kids

I was very excited when I bought Wii without any difficulty in October 2007. We gave it to the kids at Thanksgiving because we were going away for xmas. They were thrilled of course & agreed to abide by my conditions – they can only play on Friday after school & Saturday & Sunday.

Due to a busy weekend schedule, they become “very focused” on the games when they play. However, my oldest son – who is 8 is very competitive & a perfectionist. So, he gets upset about losing, anxious about beating the level and he gets all upset whenever I ask him to stop. He will argue, whine, blame his brother & everybody for distracting and it drove me insane.

I thought buying Wii will make everyone very happy – my husband & I will get some peace on weekends, the kids get to enjoy it (our 1st electronic game device, we don’t even have DS lite). But it turned out the other way for me. My middle child is so normal & he will never kick up a big fuss over Wii and it is so unfair for me to sell it away because my 8 yr old messes all of us up.

It became too much of a pain for me that I had to ban my oldest son from playing it because I don’t even want to deal with him whining. I don’t even want to hear him ask “can I play Wii ? ” I sometimes dread weekends because I know he is going to start his nonsense & I just don’t want to deal with it.

Kids