The Queen's Rambles

Will we ever get back on schedule? I guess we were an hour better today so we’ll be back to normal by Thursday. Maybe?

For some reason it always looks overcast and glum here so I think it’s a nice, cool day. I decide to do something, then open the door and the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks.

After spending a good hour getting both kids ready for a walk, the heat just about defeated me. I decided that it would be ok since we were going to walk around a lake and it should be shady, but I hadn’t been around this particular lake since Erik was a baby. There was no shade.

By the time we made it all the way around Erik and I were both lobster red and he was literally drenched. He looked like he’d jumped in the lake.

Perhaps I need to wait on this walking plan a few more weeks, or at least go to the lake that I know is shady.

While in Oregon Erik became very Oregon-ized. My dad. Grrrr. He taught Erik all kinds of wonderful things, the current fave being “Look up, look down, look at my thumb, gee you’re dumb.” So guess what I hear all day? “You’re dumb!”

We’ve had talks. Oh lordy have we had talks. It’s hard for him to understand the problem since he was taught this lovely little saying by an adult.

Did our parents just not care if we used ugly words like dumb, stupid, shut-up, ugly and fat? Are your kids allowed to use those words? Is it part of the culture? I live in a very educated, sort of up-scalish sort of place. I grew up in a poor as rocks sort of place. I don’t know if it is a difference in time or place, but things that were appropriate in my youth are certainly not appropriate today.

I must admit I let Erik go hog wild in Oregon. Everyone there is so rough, my dad and his buddies especially. They tease the kids really hard and my nephews and niece all run away and hide. Erik? Not so much. He gets right in their face and tries to tease back, or he starts hitting. I told him he is never allowed to hit anyone except my dad and his drunk friend. That sounds so awful, doesn’t it? My dad and his friend think it’s hilarious and Erik has a lot of pent up aggressions. My sister thought it was horrible that I let him hit dad, but you know what? If my dad is going to wind him all up and push the limits of acceptable behavior? He can reap the consequences. I don’t want a violent son, but I do want him to be able to stand up for himself. I know what it’s like to grow up in that house with drunks going too far with the teasing. My son is going to know that he has power and he doesn’t have to take that crap.

Raising strong, healthy, happy, aggressive-appropriate boys. It’s a puzzle. I wish I could have a long chat with Mike’s mother about how to raise a wonderful son. He is everything a man should be.

Totally off-topic: have any of you tried thredUP.com or swapmamas.com? They are swap sites for children’s clothing and other things. I’ve signed up for thredUP and think it could be really neat. I wasn’t nearly as impressed with swapmamas. I don’t think the giver should have to pay shipping.

Do you know of any other swap sites? I would like to do a review of them in my upcoming newsletter. Gotta figure out something to write about. Any other writing topics? I should post my list of 31 things to do. Most of them aren’t all that creative, but there were a few gems.