Regal Cinemas And Burger King Leave Me With Bad Taste In My Mouth
Jun 30, 2008 What's Going On
I just posted an Open Letter to Regal Cinemas over at NYC Moms Blog. In short, we went to see WALL*E yesterday, and while the movie was fantastic, the movie-going experience just gets more expensive and more annoying. But I daresay it’s worth it for this movie. Go see it as soon as you can. I’ll be posting a review later today tomorrow, hopefully.
After going overboard with popcorn and M&Ms at the movie yesterday, I vowed to get back on the wagon this morning with eating well. I lost 25 pounds last September and October, and would like to lose more. I do best with short-term goals, so I vowed to lose ten pounds in the month before BlogHer. With 2.5 weeks and six pounds to go, I’m a little behind schedule, so I was committed this morning…until after I dropped my son off for his first day of summer camp.
Burger King breakfasts are a huge temptation for me. Luckily, there’s no Burger King in my part of Brooklyn. The closest one is more than a mile away and doesn’t have a drive-thru, and is kind of dirty and unwelcoming. So I never go there. But there is a Burger King on my way back from summer camp. I had forgotten it was there. I pulled in, thinking I would just get a croissan’wich, 300 calories. I’d still be fine for the day. But then I impulsively ordered hash browns. When she asked what size, my brain said small, but medium came out of my mouth. And then, to top it all off, my daughter didn’t eat the last third of her sandwich, and I finished if off. My 300 calorie treat had become over 800 calories. On a whim. It was 9:30 in the morning and I had already had over 1,000 calories. Not a great way to start a Monday. Now I’m going to have to be extra careful all day, so that the day isn’t a complete disaster. The one good thing about fast food? It fills me up for far longer than healthy food, so I won’t even be thinking about eating for a long time.
Tags: Burger King, Regal Cinemas, review, WALL-E
When Is A Popsicle More Than Just A Popsicle?
Jun 28, 2008 What's Going On
No, I’m not talking about anything Freudian. For my husband and me, the Popsicles that I bought yesterday have become a source of contention.
My husband and I used to fight about one thing only: money. We’d have skirmishes here and there about other things, but if I were to list our top ten biggest fights, fights about money would be at least eight of the ten. But recently, for the past four months or so, we’ve been having huge fights about what the kids are eating.
I’ve had issues with my weight since I was about 18 or 19. For years it was just the same 20 pounds or so, but since I was trying to get jobs as an actress, that 20 pounds might as well have been 200. Then I had kids, and I just ballooned up. I’ve taken some off in the past year, but still have a ways to go. And I’ve been trying to pay close attention to why I eat too much. If I only ate when I was hungry, I think I could eat pretty much anything and be an OK weight. But I eat whether I’m hungry or not, and continue eating way past the point of being full. I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. When I was a kid it was OK because I was running around all the time. But in my late teens, it all started to catch up with me.
After much introspection and observation, I realized that I was mostly eating out of fear: fear that the food wouldn’t be there tomorrow. When I was little, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house. She would buy me any foods I wanted, and I lived on a diet of Jeno’s mini pizzas, ice cream, sugary cereals, and peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches on Wonder Bread (or so I’m told). I ate as much as I could, as often as I could, because I knew that when I went back to my parents house, it was going to be all carob and tofu and brown bread. It probably wasn’t as bleak as all that, but that’s how I saw it as a kid. I was insanely jealous of friends whose houses were packed with junk foods.
So, I would feast, in anticipation of the famine. And years later, when our house was filled with a bigger variety of foods, and I had control over what I was able to eat, I was still eating as though the “good stuff” was going to be taken away. And as I got older, and wasn’t on sports teams any more, and got a car, and money for eating out, the pounds starting coming on.
I don’t want my kids to grow up with the same food issues that I have, but we’re sending them down the same path. I try to give them as much leeway as I can with what they eat, without totally going against what my husband wants them to eat. But as they get older, it’s becoming more of a problem. I can see them attacking food and eating and eating and eating, and not even paying attention to whether or not they’re full. My son craves white bread and pasta and chocolate all the time. I think he should get it all the time. Eventually, he’ll get sick of it. But The Ass (that’s how I’m going to refer to him from now on, since that’s what I usually call him at home) thinks that’s horrible, that I’m encouraging bad eating behaviors.
It’s not like I think eating white bread and pasta and chocolate all the time are good for Jake, but I also know that the more we try to get him to eat other foods, the more he’s going to want what he wants. My husband is a raging liberal, but in this case I think he’s using a very conservative kind of logic: do what you think is right, based on your principals, not what you think will get results. Just think teen pregnancy and condoms vs. abstinence, and you’ll get what I mean.
Fiona always wants ices and Fla-Vor-Ice pops and ice cream. So when she wanted Popsicles at the store yesterday, I picked out a big box of sugar-free, lo-cal ones. Personally, I believe in giving kids the real stuff, but I figured these would make The Ass happy and she wouldn’t have to beg and plead for them.
So today, she asked her Daddy for two, and he said no! And I was like “Really? The low-cal, sugar free Popsicles? She can’t have two?” And he said no, because that would be gluttony. Because she perceives it as a dessert, a treat, something to beg for and cherish. So letting her have two would send the wrong message.
I give up. The girl who loves broccoli and yogurt and baby carrots and fruit of all kinds can’t have two Popsicles, because that would be gluttony. But Jake the pasta boy had Oreos and chocolate chips, and that was OK. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Tags: carob, Eating, Food, gluttony, Kids, popsicles, tofu, Weight, wonder bread
The Sibling War Continues
Jun 28, 2008 What's Going On
It’s now been about three weeks of Jake and Fiona being at each other’s throats whenever they’re alone. They’ve been fine in public, but put them in a room alone together and Fiona will be crying within five minutes.
When the kids have dinner on weekdays, sometimes I eat with them, sometimes I stay in the kitchen cleaning up (where I can see them the whole time), or sometimes I use that time to relax or get a few minutes on the computer. Leaving them alone to eat a meal never used to be a big deal. They used to like each other’s company. But lately, I just don’t know what’s going on! I think Jake is realizing that Fiona’s not a delicate little thing any more, getting closer to being his equal, and he’s getting jealous. But it’s not all his fault: Fiona can drop to the ground in pain for no reason as convincingly as any Turkish soccer player (sorry, my husband’s been watching the games – he’s Turkish – and they’ve been taking some serious dives).
So, I got them their dinner, and settled in on the couch. Five minutes later, it started. Fiona screamed as though someone was pulling her hair, and Jake ran into the living room clutching the last piece of quesadilla. “Mommy, she’s trying to take the last piece but she hasn’t eaten any of the food on her plate yet!” Fiona was still screaming. I yelled at her to come in. When she finally did (after crying and screaming at Jake for a few more minutes), she collapsed on the floor, wailing that Jake was stealing her dinner. I tried to explain to her that she couldn’t take more until she had eaten what was on her plate, and if she was still hungry after that I would make her more. She finally dragged herself back to the table, but oh, the injustice!
Then, Jake kept putting his hands right near (but not on) her plate. (I can remember doing this kind of crap to my sisters.) I yelled again. Then Fiona ran into the living room again, because Jake had put cheese on her broccoli when she had wanted to do it (I think he was actually trying to be nice, after getting yelled at a couple of times). Then, Jake ran in saying that Fiona had told him to shut up. I had had enough. I sent them both upstairs to their room, dinners half eaten.
I let them come down about ten minutes later, and explained to them that from now on, anyone who tattled on the other (for something that was not dangerous or an emergency) was going to get punished. That they had to work this petty shit out for themselves. That I didn’t want to hear about anybody telling anybody else to shut up, or who was almost touching something, or who called whom stupid. I just don’t care. So whoever bothered me with that sort of stuff would get a punishment.
Dr. Phil (yes, I watch him!) talks about bad situations needing a hero. I tried to explain to them (Jake especially) that somebody can decide, at the beginning of an argument, to be the hero and end it right there, by walking away or ignoring the other person. That even though that doesn’t get you immediate attention, and it’s harder for someone to notice when you do something right, that I would notice and remember. We’ll see how it goes.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Dr. Phil, Fighting, Sibling Rivalry
My Son Loves Baby Books
Jun 26, 2008 What's Going On
My son Jake is six. He’s reading way above grade level in school, top of his class. And yet, when he’s home, he always picks picture-laden books from his sister’s shelf. Granted, most of them used to belong to him, so they’re familiar and comforting. He’s read them so many times he has them memorized. (I’ve read Little Women about two dozen times, so I can relate.) But I know that he would enjoy chapter books if he gave them a chance.
He just may the the only kid I know his age who isn’t reading chapter books. I’ve tried! He loves the cartoon movie version of Charlotte’s Web, so I thought the E.B. White book would be a good start. He refused to even pick it up. So then I thought I’d try something more adventurous, and I picked him up the first book in The Spiderwick Chronicles, and he had no interest in that either. I even tried reading it to him, but he kept asking for his favorites, Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day and his sister’s alphabet book.
Today I came across an interesting list of age-appropriate books on Tech Savvy Mama. The Encyclopedia Brown books look promising. I haven’t offered him any chapter books in a few months, so I think I’m going to get him the first one in that series and see what happens. With summer here, and more time to read, I’m hopeful.
BTW, Tech Savvy Mama is running a contest on her blog right now, giving away 10 sets of books from Scholastic. You can read about how to enter here. Good luck!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: books, chapter books, Charlotte's Web, Encyclopedia Brown, Little Women, Spiderwick Chronicles, What Do People Do All Day
My Kids Are Beating The Crap Out Of Each Other
Jun 23, 2008 What's Going On
Have you ever wanted to knock your kids’ heads together? I’m talking pick them up by the scruff of the neck, bonk their heads together, and say (in a heavily-accented Goodfella’s voice), “What’s the matter with you?”
My kids have always had their little scuffles. They’re siblings, I get it, I expect it. But for the past two weeks, something has been going on. Whenever they are alone together (and that includes in the back seat of the car with my attention and eyes on the road) they’re at each other’s throats. He hit me! She’s on my side! I got it first! And this has led to hits, punches, twisted arms, kicks, and one scratch.
Today I was in the kitchen washing dishes (OMG, I miss having a dishwasher!) when I heard Fiona crying. Not her annoyed cry, not her whining cry, but her seriously hurt cry. I ran in to the living room to find her clutching her eye and Jake rubbing his forehead. They had been fighting over who was going to sit on which part of the couch. Fiona had staked her claim, and Jake had sat down on top of her. In the scuffle that followed, they had rammed heads hard. Fiona had gotten the worst of it, and has the beginnings of what may be a black eye by tomorrow.
I couldn’t believe it. The fighting had been escalating at a steady pace, and I had warned them just yesterday that someone was going to get seriously hurt. I just lost it, yelling and lecturing. At one point during my tirade my son, with a look of cool defiance on his face, reached for a toy. I grabbed it and smashed it to the floor (a stupid move for a couple of reasons, the first being that’s not the behavior that I want to model, and second, I almost hit the remote). I sent them to their rooms until dinner (another hour), and then after dinner, instead of TV or playing, I made them clean until bedtime.
On the one hand, they need to learn to get along, because they’re driving me crazy. But on the other, when I think back to how my sisters and I used to fight, my kids are doing OK! One house that we lived in had those big old-fashioned keyholes in all of the doors. My sisters used to try to spy on me in my room, and when I saw an eyeball in the keyhole, I would jam a pencil through it. Amazingly, never poked out a single eye, but man did I try.
I don’t expect them to get along all the time, but I don’t want one of them to end up in the emergency room either.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Parenting, Sibling Rivalry
