Beware the SNOWPOCLYPSE!

Apparently it might snow around here sometime this weekend. The radio, TV and facebook are all aflutter at the revelation. Much like the San Francisco area gets at the mere hint of real weather.

Clearly, we live in a climate that doesn't see much but 2 seasons. Spring/Fall and Summer. I call it Spring/Fall because it is essentially the same. Rain (but not too much), intermixed with some colder days (40F, brrr cold) and some days when the sun breaks through and warms us to almost 80F. Spring/Fall starts in Oct-Nov and goes until April-May. Then there is the sunny, warm period with no rain.

Whenever real weather threatens to come to town, the airwaves go crazy with speculation about how we will survive. Lightning in the forecast? We better watch "Storm Tracker 2011" to see if we all might burn to the ground. A few frozen flakes falling from the sky that have not a chance in hell of sticking to anything and the SNOWPOCLYPSE is upon us. Of course this is all about global warming too. Which ramps up the discussion about how we are all going to DIE.

I find myself in danger of straining myself from rolling my eyes so hard. It is amazing to me that in an area with so many transplants (many from places with true weather) can freak out so badly about a small meteorological blip. Now, if we were planning on seeing something that would stick, I could see where this would be a major deal. Logistically we are ill prepared as a region to deal with snow. No one would have a snow shovel, and you would have to drive 3 hours to get somewhere you could pick one up. But the thought of a handful of snow falling (most likely in the dead of night) and melting before I can even get my jacket on fills me neither with amazement or dread.

But, I will keep all you far-flung folk appraised of our situation. For now the death toll is zero, but we expect that to skyrocket any moment.

Parenting: UR Doin it WRONG

Parenting may be the hardest gig ever. Everyone has an opinion on how your kids should be raised. Just ask them, they will tell you. Sometimes you don't even need to ask. And there will never be a time when all the opinions are in agreement. Of course, you never get any objective feedback. Your kids can't tell you if you are doing a great job. (With the exception of occasionally doing something that makes you realize you are getting through, like saying "please" and "thank you".) You basically have to wait until they are around 25-30 for the final verdict to be in. Even longer if you are waiting to see what kind of parent you turned them into.

I am not cut out for this sort of duty. I like to be good at things. Really good. How am I supposed to know if I am good at this. It is definitely NOT. COOL. to compare your kid to other people's kids. So there is no way to know if you are doing a decent job. Besides, a certain level of stuff is just innate. My kid learned her letters early, she liked them and asked what they were. It certainly had very little to do with my parenting, because I never worked with her on flashcards or pushed her to learn these things. In fact, much like her current obsession with asking how everything is spelled, it was a little time consuming and annoying to answer all the questions. (You spell TABLE fourteen times in 15 mins and see how excited you are about children's neurodevelopment.) So I can't decide if this is a win for me, or just for biology. (Her father learned to site read words at 3 too.)

And then there are the things that you are definitely behind on. My kid has very infrequently slept all the way through the night. She usually wakes up at least once a night. Not for long anymore. Just long enough to join me in my bed if she is in her bed, or to speak a couple sentences at my semi-comatose body if she is already in my bed. I am lucky if this is skipped once a week. But even that has a price, because she certainly wakes earlier on the days when she doesn't follow her normal routine.

Sharing a bed is something that I struggle with making a decision on ALL. THE. TIME. It is a struggle to get her into her own bed at the beginning of the night. She would much rather just stay in my bed all night long. And on a daily basis, I am pretty ambivalent about it. She goes to sleep without me being next to her, so what does it matter which bed she is sleeping in when she does? The proponents of co-sleeping say that no kid has ever left for college still sleeping in their parents bed. However, I do know a 13 year old who is still uncomfortable sleeping in a room alone. And I don't want that for A. Plus, there would be the bonus of being able to leave her somewhere else overnight if I could feel relatively comfortable with the notion that she wouldn't cause dramatics in the middle of the night when she realized she was alone in her bed.

So along with thousands of other parents I am trying to feel my way through the dark to the best way to raise a kid. And sometimes failing. So if you figure out the perfect way to to it, drop me a line. Or don't, because chances are I will find you to be an insufferable know-it-all and end up being defensive about taking the easy way out on occasion. And now I have to go join my kid in my bed for a night of being kicked black and blue because she is always restless when she is sick and it is the time when I am most likely to bend the rules.

In the Kingdom of the Mouse

Yesterday we set out on our trip to the Kingdom of the Mouse with my In-laws.

It took less than an hour for me to realize that I had forgotten something. 3 hours into the trip the list was growing exponentially and the replacement costs for necessary items was threatening to make this trip MUCH more expensive than I had originally intended. (Leaving Disneyland tickets at home = an expensive kind of bad)

By hour 6 we had achieved nap failure and hit enough traffic to ensure bedtime would not be maintained. Things were not looking good for us around here.

When this morning dawned, bleak and sprinkle filled, I was hoping for some redemption. Instead I got a kid begging for Disney 4 hours before the park opens. Luckily, the day turned around a bit from there. Some TV shows kept us going until we could savor our 1st breakfast. (Necessity, since Character breakfasts don't start until 9:40 and can you imagine trying not to feed your kid who wakes at 6AM until then?) Then came the hour of running up and down the hotel corridors, threatening the life and limb of other weary looking parents pushing much more compliant children in strollers. But sunshine was achieved in spirit if not in reality when we got to meet the princesses at our second breakfast.

A throughly enjoyed the few rides we went on, and mostly enjoyed running as fast as she could around the park, particularly when her second cousin showed up to chase with her. Despite the serious over-tired nature of a kid who didn't get enough sleep the day before, she (sort of) behaved, needing only a handful of half-hearted threats of dire consequences from her mother.

However, I do think that Disney could benefit from some parental input. When you cater to the under 10 crowd, opening at 10AM is ridiculous. In fact, it would be SO much better if they opened at 8AM and closed down the little kids rides between 1 and 3. Parents would breathe a sigh of relief that nap time (or quiet time, or down time, or whatever you want to call your version of an afternoon calm) could be achieved without being the MEANEST. PARENT. IN. THE. WORLD. Just, "Sorry Johnny, Mickey takes a nap at this time. So maybe we should go back to the room and watch a video."

Although, I have to say that Disney has mastered the art of exiting a ride DIRECTLY into a souvenir shop. For maximum begging and serious parent fleecing.

All in all, Disneyland is much more fun with a kid than I remember it being the last time I was here. (Um, 16 years ago.) Watching A light up at the "Magic" of it and have a great time is wonderful. But, I can't say I will be sad if she turns 10 and decides (like her mother) that Six Flags parks have more, better rides with shorter lines.