Just finished making the kids’ lunch for Halloween. I told them it would be a “surprise.” I figure it might be the only non-candy meal they have all day. Happy Halloween! Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha
-Catherine Lo
Monthly Archives: October 2013
Breaking the Co-sleeping Habit
I have to confess. I still sleep with my daughter who is almost three years old. Every night, I lay down in bed with her until she falls asleep. She’ll wake up anywhere between 1 to 5 am and at the sound of her cry, I immediately go to her room and carry her back to my bed and we both fall fast asleep. It’s a bad habit.
I know she can fall asleep on her own. She does it everyday when she naps at school with no problems. One evening, my sister-in-law babysat the kids while we went to a concert. We’d be home late, and I wondered if my daughter would be able to fall asleep without me. We got home close to midnight and I was expecting my daughter to be awake waiting up for me. She was fast asleep in her own bed. She simply said she was tired, went to her room, climbed into her bed and asked for Mommy. Auntie told her that Mommy would come home later and the sooner she fell asleep, the sooner Mommy would be home. She fell for it and laid her head down and went to sleep on her own. Easy peasy. So why is it so hard for me to leave her side?
When I lay down and wait for her to fall asleep, which can sometimes take 20-30 minutes, I inevitably fall asleep too. This messes up the rest of my night. If I do manage to wake myself up, I sneak out of her bed and go about my evening tasks: making their school lunches, doing the dishes, folding laundry, checking email, etc. I usually can’t fall back asleep until after 3 am and then I wake up a few hours later to start the morning. This is not a healthy sleep schedule. Some nights, I stay asleep in my daughter’s bed the whole night, and I wake up the next morning feeling guilty and annoyed that I didn’t accomplish anything the night before.
I found myself feeling stressed about the insurmountable things I had to do. I wondered why can’t I get anything done? Why is the house always a mess? Why are there stacks of unread mail all over? How does everyone else get things done? I realized that I was losing crucial hours every night going to bed with my daughter. I decided right then that this had to stop. When it was time for my daughter to lay down in bed, I told her that she was a big girl now and could sleep on her own. She pleaded with me to stay with her, but I told her that I needed to make her lunch, and distracted her by asking what she wanted for lunch. She thought about it and said, “I want quesadillas.” “OK, then I need to go make quesadillas now.” “OK mommy. You go make quesadillas for my lunch.” I gave her a kiss on the nose, said good night and was out the door. I didn’t give her any time to protest. I think the novelty of it probably contented her. She didn’t fall asleep right away. For the next 30 minutes I heard giggling, singing, and whispering coming from the kids’ room. But I was able to pack their lunches instead of lying in her bed waiting for sleep to overcome her, and me as well.
My daughter has now been falling asleep on her own for the past two weeks. Every night when she lays down in bed, she will say, “Mommy, I want you to stay with me.” I ask her how many minutes she wants me to stay. She usually answers somewhere between 1-5 minutes. I set my phone’s timer and she gets to pick the sound of the alarm (she prefers the duck or robot) and presses the green button to start the countdown. She then holds my phone and watches the time tick away. By the time it gets to zero and the duck quacks, she says, “OK Mommy, you can go.” Kiss on the nose, good night and I’m out the door. And not another peep.
Was it really this easy? What had I been waiting for? I guess I thought she needed me more than she did. It’s nice to have my nights back. What should I do with all this extra time? Maybe go to bed early.
-Catherine Lo
My Love/Hate Relationship with the Japanese Dollar Store
Because my husband is a minimalist and hates stuff, I try not to buy anything. Actually, that’s not true. I need permission from my husband before I buy anything unless it’s a $3,000 bag. Then I would hide it from him.
There are some places where things are so cheap, it doesn’t matter if you buy anything because you can throw it out. One such place is the Japanese dollar store.
To be precise, everything at the Japanese dollar store is more than a dollar, like $1.50. And if you buy 30 of something, that’s more like $50 versus $30. But it’s still a good deal if you’re looking for kitsche nonsense like bento boxes, crayons and little boxes. There are things that cost more than $1.50, but these items are electronic items like rice cookers.
My sister LOVES the Japanese store – whenever she comes to visit, forget about nice restaurants and outlet shopping – she wants to go to the Japanese dollar store. She became obsessed with these small eyelash curlers and bought 20. She said they would be good for the car, her purses, her desk, the gym. Then she became obsessed with some apothecary jars, and for a fleeting moment thought about starting a whole online business selling herbs and healing potions, until she realized that she would need a lot more jars and that it would be a full-time job.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Japanese dollar store because I end up buying a bunch of stuff that doesn’t serve a purpose — and then I have to deal with my husband. The last time I went there, I told myself I wouldn’t return unless my sister came into again (she only comes once a year) because I bought a bunch of useless stuff such as a bunny lucky charm, a small wooden spoon and some scented Japanese erasers for my daughter. The erasers are whimsical, tiny, and fun to look at. My daughter thought so too because she started carrying them all over. She left them in their plastic packaging so they are noisy. Everywhere she goes, so do the erasers. In the middle of the night, when she’s half asleep, she calls out for them. If I’m sleeping in the same room with her, she wakes up and wakes me up crinkling the eraser packaging.
I know if I opened the package of erasers, they would lose their allure (and they would be a safety hazard because the baby would try and eat them). The erasers are driving me crazy – and I’m trying to think of a good replacement for them, like a teddy bear or a ball. Or I’m going to back to the Japanese dollar store and buy three more packages of them in case they get lost. Maybe I’ll buy some apothecary jars for my sister.
— Eunice Park
Mix & Match DIY Baby Room
My sister-in-law just moved from San Francisco to a house in our neighborhood in the Berkeley Hills. She has the cutest baby boy — I can say that because he looks exactly like my own son as a baby ;). It’s great having family nearby for casual weeknight dinners, date night swaps, and, in the future, kiddie carpool to the same school.
My sister-in-law has a great sense of style. She effortly mixes colors, styles & patterns and it always comes together looking really cute and original. Her son’s nursery perfectly reflects her individual style. She didn’t stick to a “theme” or color scheme, but the result is a cohesive room that looks fresh & happy and isn’t too matchy. She’s also really good at finding bargains. Can you believe that cool gray crib is from Walmart?
This is an easy DIY project she made to put her son’s name on the wall.
Here’s how she did it:
Pick an array of colored construction paper. Tear it into strips of varying widths. Arrange the strips in a diamond, criss-cross, or random pattern on top of a piece of paper or cardboard cut to the dimensions of the frame (the card that came in the photo frame is a good base). Glue the strips down to keep it all together. Cut out letters in construction paper and glue on top. Put in frame. Voila! Instant name frame for baby’s wall. You can do one letter per frame (as she did), or do the entire name in one big frame.
Another great project she did was repurposing a wood side table. She sanded it down and painted it bright glossy red. The table already had a glass top, and she found this awesome Star Wars and Superhero wrapping paper at Paper Source and inserted it under the glass. I can’t think of a better table for a boy’s room, or any room for that matter. It’s super cool!
I always find inspiration from my sister-in-law. I almost wish I had another baby so I can decorate a nursery again. But I’m content just visiting my nephew and hanging out in his cool digs.
-Catherine Lo
Kid-Friendly Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Ideas
It’s that time of year again – Halloween! It’s my favorite holiday after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love dressing up, trick-or-treating and getting bucket loads of candy! I also love all things pumpkin: pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, even pumpkin beer. Every year, I pick up the Halloween issue of Martha Stewart’s Living magazine to see what “good things” she (or her staff) comes up with. I’m not a big MS fan, (or rather, I’m a closeted MS fan), but there’s always something good in the Halloween issue. Here are some of her Halloween ideas that I like:
Here’s what our neighbor did with her homegrown pumpkins last year when the Giants won the World Series. Cool, huh?
I enjoy making jack o’lanterns, but carving pumpkins is no easy feat. It takes some muscle to cut through a pumpkin. As I stab away at the pumpkin, I’m always afraid I’m going to miss and cut myself. When the pumpkin is finally cracked open, there’s the messy task of pulling out the seeds and stringy pulp inside. If you want to roast the pumpkin seeds, it’s tedious sorting the seeds from the tangled mess. And once you’ve carved your jack o’lantern and light it up for Halloween night, it sits on your doorstep for a week max, before rotting away into a moldy mass. Last year, my trash was so heavy being full of rotten pumpkins, the garbage collector wouldn’t even take them. I had to hide a couple in my yard waste bucket every week to finally get rid of them.
The kids were home sick with me the past few days and to occupy their time, we decorated Halloween pumpkins. First they painted the pumpkins. Then we had to wait for the paint to dry, which is the hardest part for my kids. I’m teaching them patience. Once the paint is all dry, the kids stick on self-adhesive foam eyes and teeth, making funny faces on the pumpkin. Now comes the adult part. Using an awl, I poke holes at the base of the pumpkin and insert pipe cleaners for legs: 8 for spiders, 6 for beetles. It’s a good lesson in numbers and entomology too.
Voila! Creepy bugs and spiders ready to scare away trick-or-treaters at our doorstep. Can you tell which ones the kids made? My daughter’s has a tail and my son’s pumpkin is “on fire.”
The best part is that there’s no knife, cutting, glue or messiness to deal with. It’s an easy way for kids to decorate pumpkins and they turn out pretty darn cute too. And that’s a very good thing!
-Catherine Lo
Making Friends With Succulents
I did not inherit my father’s green thumb. He can take a standard two-foot tall rubber tree houseplant and make it grow over 20 feet. He had to move the plant outside to rival the towering pine in front of their house. What’s his secret? He’s been juicing all these years. His drug of choice: Miracle-Gro. On my last visit to LA in August, my dad sent me home with a pile of clippings from his succulent plants. My mom was just happy to see my dad trimming down the gargantuan plants.
Succulents are my kind of plants. Just stick ‘em in the ground and they take root and grow. They don’t need water or even good soil. Actually they do better with less of both. They are the most forgiving of plants which suits my forgetfulness perfectly. Not only are they easy to care for, they are the most striking of plants, to me. They resemble sea creatures in vibrant colors. The more weird and odd-looking, the more captivating.
This past Sunday, a friend called to see what I was doing. I told her nothing in particular. She had the same plans, so I invited her and her kids over so we could do nothing in particular together. The kids played in the front yard while I swept up tents and tarps from our summer camping trips. My friend, a high-functioning surgical resident, was itching to occupy her hands and asked for something to do. Hmm….let me see. I looked at the pile of succulent buds sitting in the corner of my yard for over a month, which were already starting to take root. I told her she could have a go at planting them, if she liked. She went to town. She created these beautiful succulent mixes in empty pots I had laying around. The terracotta piggy pot was left by the prior homeowner and we found it hiding in the ivy when hunting for more succulent stems to break off. To show my appreciation, I gave her a couple of the succulent pots to take home with her. She should enjoy her beautiful handiwork too.
What a great friend! She inspired me to go to the garden store and fill a planter that once contained my dead tomato and carrot plants.
-Catherine Lo
TSA Scrutinizing Baby Food and Breast Milk?
A few months ago, I flew from the Minneapolis airport (MSP) to San Francisco (SFO) with my two young kids and my sister to help. We had a stroller, six carry-ons that included a diaper bag, laptop and breast pump not to mention baby food and breast milk. No one wanted to wait in line behind us near security because they knew, as well as us, that it would be time-consuming to have all our stuff go through the conveyer belt.
I’m hyper-conscious, especially when it comes to travel. While we may appear crazy and disorganized with so much mismatched stuff, when it comes to things that I need to take out of my bag, I’m pretty organized. I pulled out all the liquids, including six pouches of new baby food and 4 bottles of breast milk. The baby food was unopened and in a bag that included an ice pack. I didn’t think I would have a problem with anything because I had brought the same baby food pouches and breast milk on the trip to Minneapolis without a hitch. The thing I worried most was getting an Elmo ice pack that my daughter had become attached to. I didn’t want the Elmo ice pack to get confiscated – my daughter carried it everywhere and if Elmo wasn’t around, she asked for it until Elmo was found. I tucked it the ice pack in my daughter’s Dora the Explorer backpack which I stuck in my carry-on.
I explained all the liquids to the Transportation Security Authorities (TSA) people and just expected someone to test the milk to make sure it wasn’t explosive. As we broke down the stroller and put our bags one by one on the conveyer belt, a TSA officer waved me down.
As I started to put the carrier so I could hold onto the baby, the TSA officer waved me over and told me not to put the carrier on. Meanwhile, my daughter had started to get restless and was wandering around as my sister had just put her baggage through the X-ray machine.
“This baby food exceeds the 3 ounce limitation,” she said. “ You will either have to let me open all of the baby food or I have to give you a patdown and go through your bags.”
I told the TSA officer that if she opened them up they would all be ruined. Then I told her that I’ve been traveling with baby pouch food for years and have never been required to stop.
I let her pat me down – good thing my sister was with me – how else could I have been given a patdown with an 8-month-old and toddler? Then the TSA officer proceeded to dig through my bag, which was fine, but I knew somewhere in that bag was a dirty diaper.
I wondered if someone who was more suspicious, more incriminating than a mother bogged down with baby stuff was breezing through the security right now without any scrutiny. Why would a haggard mother with baby toys and a breast pump board carry baby food that could be a threat? If I were a terrorist or displayed any suspicious activity, would I have blatantly shown my baby food and breast milk? No, I would not be forthcoming of anything.
As the TSA officer looked through my carry-on (I was disappointed she missed the dirty diaper), I spotted my daughter’s Dora the explorer backpack where the Elmo ice pack was. I was hoping she wouldn’t open the backpack, but sure enough she did. As she examined Elmo and pushed and prodded his face, I braced for the worse.
The TSA officer put Elmo back in the backpack and zipped it up. “You’re all done,” she said.
As my sister, the two kids, stroller, six carry-ons, Elmo and I walked through the airport, my sister told me that she too had baby food pouches, liquids, and gel products and wasn’t questioned.
“I always forget to bring out my liquids,” she said. “But if you bring your stuff out, they have to examine it. That’s protocol.”
–Eunice Park
Oregon Road Trip: Day 6 The Long Road Home
The rain has returned and isn’t going away. It looks like it will follow us all the way back home.
We stayed the night in Gold Beach at the Turtle Rock Resort, named after the nearby large rock formation that resembles a turtle, of course. This is the nicest of all the RV parks we’ve stayed at with our own private hot tub at our site. We took a nice soak at night while polishing off our last bottle of Oregon Pinot. In the morning, the kids jumped into the “hot pool” not minding the rain at all.
More big lava rock formations dot the oceanside, but there are too many scenic vistas to stop at each one and the rain clouds don’t make for good photos, so we keep on driving. Forty-five minutes south of Gold Beach, we cross the California border. We’re back! Things immediately feel more familiar after crossing the state line.
We enter the majestic redwood territory of Northern California and head to Jedediah Smith State Park. A friend of mine recommended this park, otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it. When we turn onto the road toward Jed Smith, it’s like entering a magical forest. It’s a small park, mostly undeveloped with old-growth redwoods. There isn’t an easily accessible route into the center of the park to see the trees. We’ll have to hike it in to get to the real giants. We try to get to Stout Grove, a short .6 mile trail that the kids and grandparents could probably handle. To get to the trailhead, it’s a 1.5 mile drive on a dirt road. It’s still raining and our better judgment tells us to turnaround and not risk getting the RV stuck in the mud. We pullover to the side of the road and just let the kids run into the forest a few yards to get up close to the tall trees.
There’s not much else to do because of the rain. We could hit the KOA and sit in the RV or high tail it back to Berkeley in 7 hours. We decide to head home and get back a day earlier than scheduled. We buckle down and prepare for the long road ahead. The kids both fall asleep and take nice long naps which makes for a parent’s dream road trip. When my son wakes up, the first thing he says to me is, “I liked being in the forest.” He must have been dreaming about trees.
An hour south of Eureka, we drive along old Highway 101, the Avenue of the Giants, to see more giant redwoods out of our windows. I can never see enough of these magnificent trees. After a dinner stop in Willits, just north of Ukiah, we get home at 11 pm and carry our sleeping children into their bedroom. Our trip has come to an end and we made it back safely, snuggled up in our comfy beds. It’s good to be home.
Overall it was a very successful trip. There weren’t any breakdowns and we all survived being in an RV for a week without killing each other. We came home with great memories of our new experiences riding the Amtrak and discovering the beauty of the Oregon Coast. The kids went back to school excited to tell their friends and teachers that they rode on a train, met a llama and slept in an RV.
We’ll have to do it again.
-Catherine Lo
poche de maman 