Lara Bricker's Blog

I know the tough economy is impacting family travel plans this summer vacation season, but really can we find another term besides “Staycation” to use. I’m sick of hearing the term. It seems to be the marketing catch phrase this year from places hoping to entice families to spend a long weekend or day at any number of area hotels and resorts.

So did anyone see the segment on Good Morning America last week about how to trim child care costs? It got me wondering how other moms around here have gotten creative with daycare, babysitter or nanny costs.

For the past month the first words out of Will’s mouth have been “Where’s Uncle Wal?”

Uncle Wal isn’t exactly Will’s uncle, but rather my uncle, his great uncle, and Will absolutely adores him. Of course Will is lucky in that he’s gotten to spend all sorts of time with Uncle Wal during his short three years here.

Remember when you were a kid and could spend all day in the woods behind your house pretending to be cowboys or Indians or dragons? All you needed was a stick and a few rocks for an afternoon of fun? Well, I’ve been reading a lot lately about children with imaginary friends and children that tend to “tell stories” and children who engaging in imaginative play.

I know I’m not the only one out there who wants for their child a better upbringing then their own. Not that everyone had a tough childhood, but everyone can point to things and be cognizant of raising your child differently. Things that you went through that you don’t want your child to go through.

One of the things I’ve always been pretty adamant about is that I wouldn’t push Will to do any activity simply because it’s something I like. Both of my parents rode horses, we had a horse farm, and there was no real choice for me as a toddler Will’s age and even younger—I was going to learn to ride.

I got an email from one of the parenting websites I subscribe to last week with the question about “Does your house suffer from morning madness?”

Of course it does, but really doesn’t every house with children? I’m sure it will only get worse when Will gets older and there are three, not two people, fighting for the shower every morning.

My son ate chicken last week and though this may not sound like much, it’s a huge step forward in the wonderful world of Willie’s cuisine.

Will is what you might call a picky eater. He likes mac and cheese, grilled cheese, spaghetti and red sauce and taco meat. These are the staples of his diet at this point. I try to get him to eat vegetables, I do, but aside from the occasional bite he may take of a piece of lettuce or a cucumber, he announces, "I don’t like vegetables" and then tells me "yucky yucky" as he hands me whatever vegetable I have dared try to put on his plate.

This despite my best efforts to make him believe that broccoli is really little trees or that rabbits eat carrots and he too could be rabbit if he took just one bite. I’ve tried hiding the vegetables inside pasta or even a cheese sandwich, but for an almost three year old, he is pretty wise to mommy’s ways.

An annual Family Fun Festival, sponsored by the Faith Lutheran Church in Exeter, is set for this Saturday, May 9 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Talbot Gym on Linden Street. I've seen flyers for this all around town and was curious to find out more about the event.

According to the church website, it is an annual outreach event run by volunteers:

This wonderful event, founded in 2007, is a chance annually for us to get out into the community, meet our neighbors, and give them a taste of what Vacation Bible School is all about. Last year we were pleased to host 255 moms, dads, and kids at the Talbot Gym in Exeter. They were treated to an afternoon of games, crafts, face painting, a magician, a bouncy castle, balloon sculptures, yummy treats like popcorn and cotton candy, and live music by our very own FLC Praise Band. This is an outreach activity that absolutely depends on volunteers to make it happen!  

I think it may be time for a fence or perhaps just a giant bubble that could go over our house and keep Will safe inside. The terrible threes is only getting worse in terms of his new selective hearing issue. I know a lot of people say oh boys will be boys, but I’m starting to think that isn’t always the best excuse…

Willie has started his own version of a jail break in our house lately—he’s figured how to take down the safety gates.

There goes safety…

            For a few months now, he’s been very upset about the gates, which are usually up to contain him to the living room/playroom area.