I'm a mean mom and proud

I’m a mean mom!

I have decided against elaborate birthday parties for Molly. Birthday parties for children are getting out of control, in my opinion. At about a year old Molly was invited to a birthday party for one of the kids in her class – I don’t know the child or even the parents and I really doubt they knew Molly. Why did they invite her? Because they invited everyone! They even spelled her name wrong! Why did this irritate me so much? I have seen too many friends who spend their weekends shuffling their kids back and forth to birthday parties (sometimes several in a day!) I have been even told that sometimes there is even a gift $ limit, not on the most the gift is to be, but the cheapest it can be. If your gift isn’t good enough, then your child won’t be invited to another party!! I hope to keep Molly’s birthday parties to a minimum and very special, close friends and family only – and I prefer the gifts be made to a charity. I also plan to have Molly attend only parties for children she actually knows!! My strong belief that children’s birthday parties should be a “non competitive” sport (i.e not about who gives or gets the best gifts) has made me quite unpopular. I can live with that. I do regret that Molly will be shunned because she will not be attending every party she is invited to (only attending those where we actually know the child, not every child in her daycare) and she will not be bringing a $50 to $100 gift! I saw this posted on a yahoo site – it will be my birthday bible: http://www.birthdayswithoutpressure.com/ I am not anti-birthday - I am only against lavish, age inappropriate birthdays, and inviting everyone the child has ever met (in my opinion, in order to get more gifts!) Molly is very active in her playgroup and I will invite most of the children, but there are a few I have never met and a few that I have seen once or twice. While they might be perfectly nice children, but we don't know them. I look forward to attending the birthday parties of the children Molly knows (I just wish we could attend the parties for her friends she left behind in FL) - I'm sure that she will have a blast, especially since she will know the child!

La, la, la, la, la - I can sing again!

La, la, la, la la: I’m allowed to sing again!

In a previous post, I mentioned that Molly did not like (or should I say hated) for me to sing. It really upset her. Well, now I am allowed to sing again. One problem…she wants me to sing in Chinese. I know, you are wondering, does Anna speak Chinese? The answer would be no (with the exception of hello, hi, and thank you). However, Molly does have some Chinese language CDs (thanks to my father and his associate in China, Haiping) that she listens to all the time in the car. We sing along to the songs in the car (as soon as Molly gets in the car, she says “listen to Chinese) – I have no idea what I am saying (although I do recognize the tune of many of the songs: “It’s a Small World” “Do your Ears Hang Low,” etc.). I can really only sing the refrain of the songs (and badly at that) because I really have trouble pronouncing the words. However, Molly wants me to constantly be singing – in Chinese only! I make stuff up (if I don’t know how to say something, I just say it louder with more confidence!) So if you are ever in the Dallas area and see a crazy blonde singing mutilated Chinese at the top of her lungs, there is a good chance that that is me! And if so, I apologize in advance and hope the sheer terror you experience does not cause an accident!

Pictures: Molly, Jordan and Elli (with Elli's mom) enjoying playing together. Molly telling secrets to Jordan and Elli - I have no idea what Molly was saying, but she was very serious and Jordan and Elli listened closely and nodded several times. Molly in her fairy wings riding a horse.