Toddler's First Plane Flight: Flight Attendants Prepare for Take Off

Purely for my convenience my brother transferred back from China to sunny San Diego, California. No, he is not in the military. He is the vice president of product design for Motorola, or some important long complicated job title like that. Basically he is high on the company totem pole and he has spent the last four years overseeing the Asian department, first in Korea and then in China. I selfishly would not make the fourteen hour trek to Beijing, China with a toddler in tow in order to visit him, so he and his family moved back to the States and bought a house right outside of San Diego. Oh, sure there was my nephew starting high school, some job changes, and my sister in law's completely understandable disenchantment with living in a different culture for another several years, but mostly it was my traveling convenience that solidified the decision. Sisters and aunts are important, you know.

Anyway, the relatively manageable four hour flight from Chicago to San Diego was Aiden's first time on an airplane, or in an airport for that matter. Now I am a chronic over packer and I thought traveling for a day required a lot of preparation. Never mind the fact that the weather in San Diego is beautiful during the day, but requiring at least a sweat shirt at night. I managed to stuff the three of us in two suitcases, but my main concern was the carry on items. I am just glad Aiden is potty trained. Instead of diapers I packed on bag full of exciting toys such as paint dots, play dough, Aiden's Leapster computer (or as he calls it, "pactor"), books, and stickers. I packed another bag full of snacks and an empty sippy cup since apparently diluted apple juice can now be used as a nuclear weapon. We also dragged around Aiden's car seat on this ingenious cart thing that my mother in law sent to us. However, the most important carry on item of all - drum roll, please - the portable DVD player and Clifford and Thomas DVDs. That big red dog has never let me down - until now...

Other than Aiden's concern that the X-ray machine would eat his stuffed Clifford, things went smoothly. Aiden thought the people movers were great fun (oh, to be a kid again) and he thought takeoff was pretty fun as well. About an hour into the flight after exhausting all aforementioned facets of toddler entertainment. I broke out the DVD player in hopes that I could get a nap. I had fully charged the battery the night before but I had neglected to test out or bring backup for my ten year old portable DVD player, which showed no signs of life. I need Clifford, the big red dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fortunately for us Aiden was kept entertained by making several visits to the miniscule bathroom (have you ever tried fitting two people in an airplane bathroom - wait, don't answer that) trying to kick the seat in front of him, opening and closing the plastic window shade, eating and finally falling asleep. Cliofford's absence being considered, the flight could not have gone better. The flight home passed similarly, minus the sleeping unless you count Aiden's three minute nap during takeoff. Considering our five thirty wake up time this was a little disappointing to me, the furthest thing from a morning person. Still, it could have been much, much worse. It was a successful first trip for Aiden and a great visit for all of us. I believe the flight attendants, my husband, and I all breathed a sigh of relief when the flight arrived with minimal turbulence. I am glad I convinced my brother to move back to San Diego.

Thanksgiving and My Breakup With My Kitchen

Ahhh, I am thankful that Thanksgiving is over. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed catching up with family and shamelessly dressing Aiden in a button down dress shirt and yellow sweater vest. I also enjoyed the food and the wine. I may have enjoyed the wine a little too much. Nonetheless I am glad it is over and if it is possible I am still tired! I thought I would never get out of the kitchen. Like many moms, or I guess women in general, I spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen. My dream house will have an enormous kitchen with cherry cabinets, granite counter tops, and oven that is actually big enough to accomadate the cast iron turkey pan we received for our wedding shower, a fully stocked coffee bar, an island, and self cleaning tile. I will also have one of those flat screen TVs that people were trampling each other and spraying mase for on Black Friday. Imagine how much TV watching I could get done if I had a TV in the kitchen! I would never have to Tvo Dr Oz again! You may laugh, but people have TVs in their bathrooms. I don't know about you, but I haven't spent a lot of alone time in my bathroom in the past two and a half years. Then again, I am usually not alone in the kitchen either. It seems as though the moment I turn on the over or retrieve a pot my son decides to remove every piece of Tupperware from the cabinet and play in the middle of the kitchen floor, my husband wanders in in search of a snack to eat while leaning against the sink, and the cats plop themselves in front of the refrigerator. I trip over Tupperware, nudge the cats out of the way and try to make my way to the sink for awhile before yelling, "Get OUT of the KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!"

At a holiday party all of the guests like to congregate in the kitchen and my son likes to cling to me like Velcro. Anyway, my first time hosting Thanksgiving was a success in that the there was enough turkey to go around and then some, everyone seemed to have a good time, and I didn't spill red wine on anything. After two days of cooking I was sick and tired of my kitchen and in no shape for the Black Friday shopping I had planned with a friend. In case you think I forgot the true reason for Thanksgiving in the midst of my cooking, cleaning, drinking, and complaining I will assure you that I have not. I am thankful for my faith, my son, my husband, family, friends, a roof over my head, my double oven and wine. I am also thankful that I can start eating something besides turkey again. Actually, if no one mentions the word "turkey" again before Christmas that would be great.

Visiting Grandma

Thanks for the article from Isaiah Gaines

I went to visit my grandmother for Thanksgiving this year. She had just installed a Kansas City home security, which she still doesn’t know how to use. She kept talking about seeing people on television having robbers break in and people getting hurt. I think maybe she was watching too much of Home Alone because the neighborhood she lives in doesn’t really have a high burglary or break-in rate. I know she is just thinking of her other grandchildren and me. She has lived in her house for so long and definitely knows nearly every person that lives on her street. I think there may have been one occasion when we were walking her dog that she did not know a person’s name that passed us. My parents definitely feel better knowing she is taking steps to make herself safer, but I know my grandma. She has such a great house and it goes without saying that her cooking is delicious and she will do whatever it takes to keep the people she loves around

Two Pink Lines

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kat Clark, a stay at home mom living outside Chicago with my husband, Jim, my three cats, Picasso, Scarlett, and Gabi, and the star of my blog - drum roll please - my two and a half year old son, Aiden. Everything else you need to know you will learn over time if you stick with me. I am not going to bore you with my parents' wedding day, their "Oops, oh my God you have got to be kidding me" moment when they found out I would be turning their world upside down nearly fifteen years after the arrival of their first child, Scott. If you want to know about my education I will tell you that I graduated with a degree in clinical psychology, a degree I have yet to use for anything other than completing an unpaid (but nonetheless rewarding) internship, taking a year of graduate classes, and raising a child. I am not saying you need a psychology degree to parent (although it doesn't hurt), but I was kind of a bookish party avoiding geek in college and I would like to think my hard work is paying off somewhere. Here is the paradox about me: I am your boring, average suburban housewife who is more comfortable at story time or parent-child art class than I am at parties or dive bars, but I can also be a bit of a hell raiser, I have been accused of being opinionated, and I sometimes piss people off without meaning to. So if you happen to be one of those people I apologize in advance. But enough about me. This blog is about Aiden and all things parenting, but it is also about what is going on in the world as it pertains to parenting and the impact on future generations. Hey, we stay at home moms can discuss things other than toddler eating habits and Dr. Suess.

Anyway, becoming parents was a surprise for us, but a very pleasant surprise. Like my mom I have Polycystic Ovaries, which basically makes it difficult to ovulate. I was put on birth control at the age of eighteen, not because I was at any risk for pregnancy (I was too busy studying at the time) but because I was still only pretending to need tampons as a senior in high school. This may seem lie a weird thing to fake, but in a queen bee run all girls high school admitting you still hadn't gotten your period (or gotten to second base) by senior year was on par with admitting that you had leprosy. So I carried tampos in my person and randomly interrupted the lunch table conversation about Billy Bob Such and Such being sooooo hot with, "OMG, does anyone have a Tampon?!?! I realize I am still talking about me but I am trying to set a stage. This is just an intro, give me a chance and it will get much more interesting. At twenty-four I got married. I also realized that having a bachelor's degree in psychology was about as effective as smoking grass clippings, so I got a job at a local animal shelter. Granted, I did not expect to be cleaning litter boxes with my hard earned college degree, but such is life. John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans" and I couldn't say it better. Despite the low pay and less than glamorous working conditions, I love animals (particularly cats) and I loved my job. Around this same time I got a new gynecologist due to having moved and subsequently decided that my current gyno was a tool. Anyhow this woman was agast at the fact that I had been on birth control for seven years for reasons other than preventing pregnancy. She immediately took me off the birth control to find out what my cycle would do on its own. This plan was fine with me considering that my drug induced cycle usually liked to hang around for about three weeks out of every month. Another very true quote: "Be careful what you wish for". As she sat the with an ultra sound wand and a stack of files from previous gynecologists, she patted my knee and said, "Well, you won't be able to get pregnant without help, but don't worry, most people with this type of problem do very well on Clomid". Well, I had only been married a year so I wasn't thinking about fertility drugs, although I had always wanted to be a mother. For once I left the doctor's office with less prescription medications. Three months later I was staring at two pink lines on a pregnancy test. It just goes to show you that the experts don't know everything. Only God knows everything. You don't have to worry about getting unsolicited parenting advice here. I am no expert. Parenting is a learn on the job type thing. If you can gain some wisdom from my experience, great. If you conclude that I am a few limes short of a margarita, well at least you will get some laughs. Either way I hope you stick with me because as we all know about those pink lines: that's only the beginning.