Step2

Some summertime stories and a haiku…

Ok, so we had the double birthday party. One turned two and one turned five. It was our first birthday party not at Uncle Jims.  It was a bowling party and super fun!  I didn’t know this before the party but they have ramps you can put the ball down so even a two year old can bowl.  Grizz (Brady) put the ball down the ramp and would exclaim, “oh yeah.” It was a perfect party for kids and adults!  July weather outside can get hairy and being inside in air conditioning with a set activity and even some one to clean up was painless and smooth.

At the close of the party, I was packing up things to take to the car. Grizz looked at me, waved, and sang, “bye Mommy.” Not a minute later the boy’s nanny says “good-bye” and Grizz proceeds to throw a temper tantrum saying, “stay here.” Ho hum.  I’m still kind of depressed by that. To add salt to the wound there were about 25 family members to hear the exchange.

Moving on to other summer happenings – Grizz finally pulled what I knew he would pull, something I have been waiting (and dreading) him to try. He tried to crawl out the second story window. We have original windows that are now locked all the time. I have already called Pella for a quote on new windows. If I needed an excuse I have one. Of course our first born NEVER pulled a stunt like that.

Right or wrong we bought Ryan an iPod touch for his birthday. Grizz was pretty jealous and kept saying “download it, download it.” I told them that I’m pretty sure I didn’t say the word “download” until my twenties and even then I didn’t know the difference between “download” and “upload.” Not long after that Ryan informed me that the 1980’s were the “olden days.” Olden days?  The eighties? I didn’t exactly know what to do with that information but I didn’t take it well. I am almost 4 years older than my husband so he was no help.

The best thing about this summer is that Grizz told me he loved me for the first time – he redeemed himself from the nanny debacle. He chased after me when I was leaving for work and said “I wuv,”
“I wuv.”

I thought I’d end with a haiku – a seasonal haiku.

I love summertime

The Boys like to get dirty

Summer is stinky

About Sara S.

Sara is an on the go – down to earth Momma, married to a Marine and the mother of two get dirty wild and crazy, play in the mud boys.   She loves Michael Jackson, dancing and spending time with her family. She is honored to be able to teach her little guys about the world around them, about kindness love and the human spirit. For fun, she loves to make jewelry, shop, ski and spend time outdoors getting dirty with her boys. Sara is a Sr. Product Manager at Step2.

Written by Tena

Throughout my life my family has chosen to celebrate milestone events with music.  The technology used to serve up the music has changed through the years but I will always hold on to my tapes and CD’s that have been made with songs like, “Independent Women” and “I Hope You Dance.”

This tradition combined with my little guy’s love of music, it should be no surprise that I have made several play lists for him already.  What is surprising is the diversity in genres that we seem to come up with and how many songs I’ve heard over and over again that have so much more meaning now that I have my special boy.

I’m always looking for song ideas to inspire a slide show or a play list so I’m hopeful that by sharing my favorites, you will share some of your favorites with me.  Thanks YouTube for having all of these available!

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Glee Cast Version; obvious song choice but I really like this version
Amazed – Lonestar
Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
Fix You – Coldplay
We Found Love in a Hopeless Place – Rihanna; applicable to any parents out there who have spent a lot of time in the hospital with their precious baby
All of Me – Matt Hammitt
Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars; we adjust the words to “his eyes”, “he’s so beautiful”, etc.
A Thousand Years – Christina Perri
Made for Each Other – Emilie Mover
Good Life – OneRepublic

I’m looking forward to some of your suggestions and hopefully I’ll be able to borrow a few!

About Tena

Tena and her best friend (and hubby) had their first child in July, 2011.  Their little guy has a congenital heart defect and he is one tough little cookie; don’t ever think about calling him sick though – “his plumbing is just different.” Tena is an animal loving vegetarian and is excited to teach her son about compassion and the importance of volunteer work.  She secretly hopes her son will be left handed like his momma. She is the Online Marketing Director for Step2.

Written by Ashley

As a woman, a positive self-image has never been one of my strong points. I’ve never been fond of anyone talking about my weight. Even a “have you lost weight?” comment makes me squirm as I feel as though people are paying too much attention to my yo-yoing appearance. So when I became pregnant, I was caught completely off guard by the slew of comments that started heading my way.

Maybe it’s my build, maybe it’s how the baby is growing, but I started looking obviously pregnant at about 8 weeks along. By 17 weeks, the “that’s going to be a 10-pounder!” and “you’re only how far along?” became repetitive in conversations. Even strangers felt the need to comment on my size.

At 31 weeks, it hasn’t stopped and I doubt it will until a couple months post-birth. At my doctor’s appointment last week, my doctor even said to me, “Wow! You’re looking big. Are you sure there aren’t twins in there?” I said, “You tell me!”

I just don’t understand how it’s suddenly okay to comment on someone’s weight just because they are pregnant. It’s such a touchy subject for many and when a woman has as many hormones rushing through her body as she does during those 9 months, it’s not a good idea to approach her with those types of comments.

I recently found an article listing the top 10 comebacks to “stupid pregnancy comments” that made me chuckle.

My favorites are:

You look like you’re about to explode! Really? I had no idea. I was feeling quite svelte today. Thanks for the earth shattering observation.

Are you sure you don’t have twins in there? Yes, I’m pretty sure I would be aware if I were carrying two babies. But, thanks for checking.

You can’t possibly have X months left! Wow! You know so much about this! I should just quit going to my OB and come straight to you!

I doubt I would ever use any of these, unless someone flat out said “you’re fat.”

About Ashley

Ashley is expecting her first child in early September 2012 with her high-school sweetheart turned husband 3 years ago. Together they have a lab named Peak whom they adopted during a ski trip in Denver. She loves all things fashion and has already filled her baby girl’s closet with enough clothes and accessories to outfit her until she’s 2. She is the Social Media Manager at Step2 and you may have recently communicated with her if you’ve chatted with Step2 on Facebook or Twitter.

Written by Sara R.

As children get older, get their driver’s license, move out,  and get married, family get-togethers are not as easy as they once were when all my children were younger and at home. It takes some planning, synchronizing of schedules and several weeks advance notice to get everyone in one place at the same time.

I’ve been very fortunate as we’ve already had three family gatherings so far this month. Our first get together was on June 1 in Columbus, Ohio at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at The Ohio State University to watch my 16-year-old daughter Taylor compete in the OHSAA State Track Meet. Her 4 x 400 meter girls relay team took 6^th  place in Division II for the State of Ohio. It was a very exciting time for all of us.  My husband and I along with her big brother, who made the trip from Cleveland to Columbus, and her big sister, who lives in Columbus were all there. Her Grandma & Grandpa R. from Michigan also made the long journey to Columbus to watch and cheer her on. We are so very proud of her and her teammates!

On June 9 we were all together again to help celebrate my oldest son’s 21^st birthday (hard to believe he’s 21!).  It doesn’t seem that long ago when he crawled up on my hospital bed to peek at his new baby sister who was just born.  He was really hoping for a baby brother.

I remember when he went back to pre-school the next day and his teacher said to him “I heard something exciting happened at your house yesterday, do you want to share it with the rest of the class?” “Yes,” Justin answered. “I threw up!” His teacher trying not to react to his statement said “I heard something really exciting happened yesterday.”  Justin said “Yeah, I threw up twice!”

We were all together again Father’s Day weekend. This time it was for a whole weekend! Besides our four children, joining us was my son-in-law, my darling grandson and my husband’s mother and father. It was great to get all the fathers together to celebrate Father’s Day.

We all met in Port Clinton, Ohio on Friday night for dinner and spent the night. The guys got up bright and early, 5:30am, and went fishing on a boat they had chartered for the day. My youngest son, Christopher, proved to be quite the fisherman.  He caught a 7lb, 24” Walleye. The ladies, along with my grandson, took the Jet Express to Put-in-Bay for some shopping, eating, good conversation and fun times.

Saturday evening we all drove back to Cleveland, Ohio and gathered again for dinner. As all eleven of us sat at the big round table. I remembered the days when my children were young and we would sit at the dinner table and just talk about anything and everything. Sometimes it would turn into a battle zone because one child was making a funny face at another, or  someone was  upset because “he was interrupting me when I’m trying to talk” or someone was spilling their milk or dropping food on the floor for the dogs to eat.

Sunday we enjoyed Marine Week in Cleveland. If you get the chance to attend one of these events I would highly recommend it. It’s a very moving experience.

It is so true when you hear someone say “enjoy your children when they’re young because before you know it they will be grown and gone.”

I feel very blessed each and every time we can all get together.

About Sara R.

Sara is a mother of four. She has two daughters – Jamie age 35 and Taylor age 16 – and two sons – Justin age 20 and Christopher age 14. She is also a grandmother of one – Andrew age 3. She lives in Mantua, Ohio with her husband Bill. She has worked at Step2 for the past 12 years (before that she was a stay at home mom for 9 years). Sara is the Operations Manager for Step2 Direct internet sales.

Written by Tiffany

As my parents guided my brother and I toward adulthood, one of the lessons they taught us was the power of decision making.  They taught us the importance of weighing the choices, considering the consequences and making the best decision possible given the available facts.  The understanding was that once the choice was made, my brother and I were responsible for dealing with the consequences.  There would be no drama or the decision making power we had been granted would be revoked.

This is a lesson I am trying to teach my six year old Alex.   I gave him the option of deciding if he wanted to play outside with his friends before his homework or to do his homework first and play.

We talked through the options.  He decided to play first.  I gently suggested that maybe he should do his homework first so that he didn’t have to worry about it.  He told me that he wanted to play and would do his homework afterward.

I firmly reminded him that I wanted no argument when it was time for homework.  He smiled and agreed.  Choice made.

Homework time arrived and Alex came in from play.  His assignment was to take the week’s spelling words and write each of them in a sentence.  The words were bucket, milk and problem.

We reviewed the assignment and I began dinner preparations .  I looked over and saw Alex staring at his paper.  His jaw firmly set.

“What’s up?”  I asked casually.

“I can’t think of anything!”  he remarked.

“How about writing that you like chocolate milk?”  I asked.  He looked at me like I had four heads. “ I don’t know how to spell chocolate” he panicked.  Translation – chocolate is too long of a word and I don’t want to write it.  I felt my eyebrow inch upward.

Pressing on I said, “How about writing there’s a hole in my bucket?”  Yes, I did mutter “Dear Liza, Dear Liza” after saying this.

“I don’t like that!”  Alex stated his voice rising into what I refer to as the “whiny octave.”  “I can’t think of anything!”  he pouted.  My eyebrow inched further upward.

“Look, buddy” I stated “You agreed to do homework with no drama tonight.  Are you going to freak out about this assignment and throw a fit?”

“Well, yes!”  He yelled “I am!”

Eyebrow firmly arched, I debated my options.  We were entering the “danger zone.”   I could make him sit there and do the homework or I could send him to his room.

I pointed toward his room.  This gesture means go to your room and don’t even think about coming out until you have given yourself an attitude adjustment.

Alex glared at me for a moment and then stalked away stomping upstairs.  I was in the middle of shouting “And don’t even think about . . .”  When boom the door slammed.  “Slamming the door!” I finished.

I followed him upstairs, chastised him for slamming the door (I might have said something about doors being a privilege and how I could remove it from the hinges) , told him to never look at me that way again (I might have asked him if he had any clue what his Grandma and Papa would have done if I had dared given them that look) and reminded him to stay in his room until he could act properly.

Several minutes later he came downstairs contritely and sat quietly at the table.  He began writing.  I wandered over to look at his paper and saw that he had written a sentence for the word “problem.”  The sentence read, “I had a problem with my mom.”

It was written beautifully.  The letters were formed perfectly and there were no spelling errors.

He looked at me (I think rather smugly) with a sly smile.

“Well, buddy”  I replied.  “I guess you did.”

And we laughed and all was right again.

I guess I hadn’t planned on his sentence to be my consequence for my decision to send him to his room!

About Tiffany

Tiffany is the mother of a curly haired six year old boy who wants to be Batman when he grows up! When she is not engaged in an intense light saber battle, watching Transformers (cartoons and movies), asking her child not to jump from the top step or being told, “you’re playing action figures the wrong way, mom” she contemplates how wonderful it would be if her child were a twin or triplet.  Tiffany is the Human Resources Manager for Step2.

Written by Sharon

Like Tena’s husband, my son is also a stay at home dad during the day while his wife works. Since his regular job is in the evenings, it makes sense for him to care for my granddaughter while he is home and save on childcare costs. I couldn’t be a prouder mother! I think it is wonderful how dads today are taking charge and being such an instrumental part of their children’s lives.

In my day, if dad stayed with the kids (even for a short time), it was referred to as “babysitting.” As a result, my son has a much closer relationship with his daughter while nourishing his care giving side.

Although he knows firsthand how tiring it is, he considers himself lucky that he gets to spend so much time with his daughter and cherishes every minute of it. And of course aside from his daily childcare, he is doing the laundry, cleaning and whatever else needs to be done.

They are out and about town everyday for fresh air and visiting with neighbors and friends. My granddaughter is a big hit at the local coffee shop (it’s not unusual to find her behind the counter with the owner) and they can’t miss a stop at the newspaper stand to say “hi!” Even the mail lady knows my granddaughter. As a result, at 15 months old, her social skills are already developing as she doesn’t hesitate to approach children at the playground for a baby talk chat.

Living the urban life in San Francisco brings to mind an ancient African Proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.”  My son, who is very outgoing, takes his daughter everywhere and enjoys all of the attention she receives.  To say he was a proud dad would be an understatement.

And just a quick note about our latest Skyping adventures – grandma got to see her precious granddaughter walking. Yippeee!!!

About Sharon

Sharon became a first time grandma in February of 2011 and had the pleasure of celebrating her granddaughter’s first birthday in San Francisco where she lives with her oldest son and his wife.  Sharon welcomes the opportunity to spoil her granddaughter after having raised two boys.  Sharon is an avid lover of the arts and has dabbled with oil painting and enjoys interior decorating as a hobby.  She is the Customer Service Manager for Step2.