Look out, World!

Look who's got his Learner's Permit!

Right after he passed the test - don't you love those "fake smile" smiles that teenagers do so well?

Behind the wheel!

Monday Musings - Please Hang Up

Walking through a grocery store recently, my eyes landed on an adorable baby...gurgling and cooing and laughing up at its mother.  I immediately remembered all the trips to the grocery store that I took with my babies..."discussing" our grocery list, the quality of the produce, and making "conversation" during the entire trip.  It was a wonderful time with each of them.  The mother, unfortunately, never once even made eye contact with the baby, let alone responded to her baby.  Why?  She was on her blue tooth and carrying on an animated conversation with someone on the other end.  She was laughing and gesturing and her baby was trying to participate, but to no avail.  The mother was ignoring the baby in favor of her phone conversation.  It was so sad.  How long before the baby stops trying and just sits like a lump in a car seat?

This scene was not unique.  I see it all the time.  I see it when mothers are priding themselves on taking daily walks with their babies only to be on the phone during the entire outing and, again, not interacting with their baby at all.  Um, I don't think you really get kudos for that...it isn't really "quality time".  How are these babies going to be socialized properly?  How are they going to understand the give and take of communication?  The lack parental response to the baby's attempts to communicate with them has got to have a negative effect on these children.  This is when synapses and neurons are making those vital connections in the brain.  It is when attachment is formed and, yet, the baby is being ignored.   It used to be that mothers and babies babbled to each other all day long.  Cooking, cleaning, shopping, visiting other adults and children...verbal communication was a constant give and take, even though the baby wasn't very verbal.   In that way, children learn the give and take of communication, as well as the nuances of unspoken communication.  All this is lost when mothers don't recognize/notice and fail to respond to these emerging communicators.  And we're sacrificing this so we can be on the phone longer?  Seriously? 

Washington has a hands-free law, too, which means people are driving around with blue tooth devices in their ears all the time.  In theory, this is a great thing, right?  Their hands are on the wheels after all.  Unfortunately, their attention is still not on the road.  I've been cut off by people talking on their blue-tooth devices more times than I can even guess.  If you're focused on a phone conversation, you're not focused on the road.  It is just that simple.  Oh, and to the person in the blue sedan who turned into my lane in the parking lot without ever even looking my direction because your phone conversation was oh-so-important:  You're welcome.  I saw you walking to your car when I was walking to my car with my kids.  I heard you talking on the phone as you walked to the car, and noticed that you continued your conversation as you blithely pulled into the traffic lane without turning your head. I told my kids to keep an eye on you because you weren't paying attention to driving and I was correct.  It was fortunate for you that I was paying attention and realized that you weren't, because, in a contest between my big Suburban and your little sedan, there is no doubt who would have won.

Oh, and let's not forget the people who are chatting away on their cell phones as they go through check out lines, go through drive through, and are just walking through the aisles of a store.  Why don't you notice that it is absolutely the height of rudeness to continue speaking on the telephone when someone is serving you?  Do people not realize that the person ringing up their groceries, taking their order, or processing their prescriptions or dry-cleaning are people and, therefore, deserving the courtesy of attention for the 2 minutes they will serve them?

So, this is my question:  What will it take to get all of you to just please hang up?  Seriously.  You're on the phone all the time.  The people in your ear are far more important to you that the people standing (or sitting) in front of you.  The conversation you're having is far more important that the road and the cars you're sharing it with.  What can be so important?  Please hang up the phone.  Interact with the people you're actually with.  Your children will thank you.  The other drivers on the road will thank you.  The people who serve you daily will thank you.  Just think of all that positive energy that will be headed your way.

Shoot Me: 17 of 52 - My Window to the World

I've giving up on getting caught up these days, so I'm one week behind on Shoot Me! That's okay...for now, I'll just work on staying only one week behind and call that success.

I've been trying to figure out why I haven't thought of any picture taking opportunities and come up with the following excuses:
1) When I'm mowing the lawn and wrestling with the weed-whacker, no one is home to take a picture of me because they're all hiding, afraid that I will corral them into yard work...so, like little cockroaches, they scatter.

2) The kittens are just so much cuter than I am.

3) When I am stressing over weather-damage (ie. wind damage to the roof, freeze damage to my plants, etc.), I'm not thinking: Hey, I should run and get a picture of myself trying to stand upright in the blustery wind. Weird, I know.4) The kids are just so much cuter than I am.

5) When I headed over to my dad's new house with full intentions of getting a Shoot Me picture with my daddy (did I mention he and his wife just moved to our neck of the woods?), I forgot I had the camera with me until we were leaving and by that time, it was freezing and I thought his wife would cry if I kept them outside any longer. (Look, she's from So Cal; she thinks 48 is so-cold-you-could-perish cold. )
6) The kittens and the kids are so much cuter than I am.

7) Vacuuming and dusting just don't seem like worthwhile photo ops.

So, there you have it, my list of excuses for why my picture this week is so lame. I finally decided to show you what I've been doing a lot of. I'm hoping you won't remove me from your feed reader and understand that I just couldn't come up with something exciting. This is my life, I love it, but I'm not sure it makes awesome pictures!

It seems like I've been doing a lot of driving. Today I took the kids into town for their Adolescent Literature Seminar. (They read The Giver by Lois Lowry.) Then we headed home for a little while (long enough to transfer the laundry from washer to the dryer and pick up the dogs) and we headed to my dad and step-mom's new house for dinner 40 minutes away in a different direction. The dogs love going because he's got 10 acres for them to roam around on. 8:45 p.m, we arrived at home.


It occurred to me that this is a view I'm intimately familiar with. Whether I'm cruising along at 55 mph or stopped, it feels like a second skin. This window on the world is frequently the perspective from which my life occurs. It was an interesting thought. How many things have I observed from the windshield of my vehicle?

See the grievous wound on my right thumb? That is from that very first week I had to wrestle the horrible weed whacker. It still isn't completely healed. I'm obviously just so delicate... (wink, wink).

So, there you have it. My contribution for Shoot Me...I've managed to keep going for 17 weeks. I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Shoot Me! It's time to stop hiding behind that camera of yours. Your family is missing you in the picture. So it's time to post a picture of YOU (yes, you) every Thursday with your child, your spouse, your friend, your dog, or even by yourself. Just get in the picture, you'll be glad you did! And just jump in now with 1 of 52, you can do it!