It will be a light posting week here, but I wanted to wish everyone who celebrates getting presents a Merry Xmas! Or a Happy Festivus, since that’s today. If anyone has some tales of the Airing of Grievances or the Feats of Strength, please share! Oh, and to bring teh cute, here’s Baby Grrl getting really excited over presents and sitting on Santa’s lap.

During the 4th of July weekend, we met David and his daughter at the Sam Noble Museum to see all the dinosaur bones and their Supercroc exhibit. It was very cool to finally go to that museum since I’ve never been there. Baby Grrl loved everything, especially if she could get her hands on it. So when we hit the Discovery Room, that was oh so cool to her. She played with bones, got to watch the turtles and salamanders feed, and even got to “dig” in the excavation dig area. Lots of pictures were taken, but here are just a few. (David also has quite a bit at Flikr.)

I love that she’s a curious kid and likes to see how things work. I’m definitely bringing her back to the museum again.

This is how dinosaurs chew

What a big bone!

I want one on my hand

My little excavator

Baby Grrl will be two (already!) in a couple of weeks or so, and we took her to get pictures made. The place we take her is awesome, there are always so many to choose from, it’s hard not to walk out of there with a ton of pictures. Family and friends get as many as they want and we still have some to spare. So for those of you who want to see what Baby Grrl looks like, here are just a few of the many that turned out very well. Click a picture to embiggen.

All of us in the Middle Raged Punk house have the flu. Started with Baby Grrl on Friday, with what we thought was just another cold, but by Monday morning, her fever was back. Her doc verified it was the flu with a test, and by last night both hubby & I had the textbook flu symptoms. We all stayed home from work today, and our doc called in some Tamiflu for us. But even after being home all day, drinking fluids, and taking my medicine, I still feel like crap. I’ve got a couple of posts I want to work on, but they’ll have to wait until I can focus on more than how achy, chilled/fever, and tired I am.

Sucky part? Baby Grrl and I both got the flu shot this year! I get it free at work, since I work in a hospital setting. But even with all my hand cleaning, and trying to avoid getting Baby Grrl’s runny nose on me, here I am. Anyone who has had a kid will tell you it’s nigh impossible to avoid your own kid’s germs. I knew I’d get sick when she turned into my face when she sneezed and I felt it all over my face, including my mouth. Hope you weren’t eating when you read that.

Anyway, that’s enough whining on my end. I’m off to catch up on my RSS feeds then veg out with some junk TV for the night.

Today, hubby and I took Baby Grrl down the road to Pauls Valley, home to the Toy and Action Figure Museum. We got some free passes a few months ago when we went to SoonerCon, and heard from our friend David that it was a pretty good place. (Click on any picture to embiggen and check out more not shown here.)

The curator was just opening up the place when we got there, and hubby talked to him for a few while I shuttled Baby Grrl inside. She was excited and loved seeing all the toys! She really wanted to get into The Adult Collector’s Bedroom:

We walked around, amazed at the variety and quality of some of the toys. There had to be a million dollars worth of collectables there. From classic, mint in box Star Wars, to collectors models, to a life size Spider-Man:

Baby Grrl had a blast, and really enjoyed the playroom (where kids and adults could actually play with toys) and where she could get dressed in her own Spider-Man costume:

Although it’s a tough call when you bring in a rideable Batmobile. That plays the classic TV show theme. She went through three rides.

We’ll have to go back there again, maybe when she’s a little older. Or maybe do one of her birthday’s there, since they host parties. Wait, why do just her party? They’ll do it for hubby’s or mine!

If you’ve ever got a couple of hours to kill, head on down to Pauls Valley and check them out!

I took off Monday and Tuesday of this week, giving me 5 days off in a row. Spent some good time with hubby and baby grrl, running around at the zoo, the park, visiting family, watching movies, playing video games. I’m wiped!

Oh, and I got a new job working for the feds. Yep, this super-liberal punk is going to be doing IT work for The Man. Great benefits, more money. And it’s not like I’m working for this administration or supporting the war or anything like that. My views are still as liberal and strong as ever.

Anyway, wish me luck at my new digs! I’ll try to have some kind of regular Middle Raged Punk programming back at you guys soon.

Last week, a news article quoted a study saying 40% of three month olds watch television. The image that immediately came into my mind was a baby in their diaper, remote in one hand, bottle in the other, zoned out in front of Spongebob Squarepants.

But you know what? I’m included in the 40%.

If we’re awake, the TV is on. It’s always been that way for me. Even if I’m not actively watching it, I’ll have something on for background noise, even if it’s one of the digital music channels. But here’s the thing. Even when we have on cartoons, (Which is likely in our house. Hey, we love cartoons!) Baby Grrl doesn’t really pay much attention. She has specific things that she likes, like the opening song to Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, which she will literally come in from another room just to watch. But when the song is over and the show starts, she will go back to playing. For the most part, she will prefer to play with her toys or play with me and her dad, over watching TV. Even with Sesame Street she doesn’t watch more than a few minutes at a time. Mostly when she hears Elmo or another character she will look up, then turn back to what she was doing. My theory is that because it’s on all the time, and we keep her entertained with playing and reading with her, TV isn’t seen as anything special.

The one exception is before her bath time at night. We will put her in her swing/chair and put on a Baby Einstein video. They last no longer than 30 minutes, and she loves watching them. It gives us a chance to clean up from dinner, wash her cups and bottles from the day, and get small things done around the house. But even during this time, we will interact with her, saying things like “Look, there’s a cow! How does that cow go?”. The videos do a decent job with teaching some things, but they can’t be the sole source of her learning even basics like animal noises. (And no, I don’t think that just because she watches them she will turn into a genius, artist, musician, etc.)

I would hope that we don’t turn into one of the parents who Wil Wheaton recently talked about. As nice as it is to have those 30 min to get things done, I don’t want the TV to turn into the babysitter. I certainly don’t see that we’re using it like that right now, but it will probably come a time that we will need to ration her television watching. Or computer usage. Or video game playing. It’s hard enough to compete with hubby for XBox 360 time!

Technorati tags: parenting, television

I don’t want any sappy Hallmark cards, diamonds, or perfume today. (Although I won’t turn down Godiva chocolate…just kidding…) Instead, I want what Mom’s Rising is fighting for. From their site:

These are the core issues that are at the base of our grassroots movement and are taken directly from the book, The Motherhood Manifesto.

M - Maternity/Paternity Leave: Paid family leave for all parents after a new child comes into the family.

O - Open Flexible Work: Give parents the ability to structure their work hours and careers in a way that allows them to meet both business and family needs. This includes flexible work hours and locations, part-time work options, as well as the ability to move in and out of the labor force to raise young children without penalties.

T - TV We Choose and Other After-School Programs: Give families safe, educational opportunities for children after the school doors close for the day, including: Create a clear and independent universal television rating system for parents with technology that allows them to choose what is showing in their own homes; support quality educational programming for kids; increase access to, and funding, for after school programs.

H - Healthcare for All Kids: Provide quality, universal healthcare to all children.

E - Excellent Childcare: Quality, affordable childcare should be available to all parents who need it. Childcare providers should be paid at least a living wage and healthcare benefits.

R - Realistic and Fair Wages: Two full-time working parents should be able to earn enough to adequately care for their family. In addition, working mothers must receive equal pay for equal work.

I also want to spread the Mother’s Day Proclamation, one of the early calls to celebrate Mother’s Day, written by Julia Ward Howe in response to the carnage of the American Civil War. I want what she wanted also. Peace.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Technorati tags: Mothers Day, Moms Rising, peace

Go to my website and see pictures they took. After you read my Christmas day story.

I sit in a dress on the floor, enduring all the calls of my name to look their way. Lights flash as the large people take pictures. I’m bored, and look around at the tree and brightly colored paper on the floor. Eventually they tire of taking pictures, and I’m on the floor. They put several of the colored boxes around me, and are encouraging me to rip the paper. I like playing with paper, and have fun. The large people take the rest of the paper off the boxes, and put them in front of me. The items bombarding me with sounds and lights, my tiny eyes and ears can’t take so much. I turn away, and the large person called “mama” comforts me, giving me plastic blocks. I bang them together and put them in my mouth. It’s much better than the baby I had just escaped. She was trapped in a plastic box, and I helped to get her out. Her voice…it haunts me. Something about it bothered me to hear it, I couldn’t help but squint up my face when she talked. Her mouth didn’t move when she talked, and it all made sense. Especially when I saw the next gift.

The fuzzy red thing isn’t as tall as I am. Its large white eyes stare straight ahead, unblinking as it stood motionless just over an arm’s length away. I curiously reached towards it but my fingers jerked back as it began to move and make noise. Terror began to swell as it lurched towards me, laughing. I began to cry as it was swept away, and I was picked up and brought to safety. The larger people who feed and care for me kept calling it “Elmo”, but I know better. I now know what the robots will look like when the Robot Apocalypse comes, like my daddy has warned me. They will come as Elmo and plastic dolls, in homes all over the world, under the tree at Christmas.

Technorati tags: baby grrl, roboapocalypse, spawn site

A big shout out to my good friend David over at The Last Exit to Babylon for photoshopping my baby grrl…geek style:

Technorati tags: baby grrl, geek, star wars