Today in the car home from the Caffe Lena Poetry Festival, Nadia suddenly took exception to being in her car seat and began demanding to be out of it. After we reiterated all the reasons why she knows full well that won't happen in a moving car, she resorted to "eh eh eh" whining.

In an attempt at distraction, Robin said "Is there a monkey in the car?"

She replied, with full-tilt melodrama, "No, it's your Nani, struggling and struggling to get out of her seat."

It doesn't translate to print so well, but Robin and I laughed for a full five minutes.

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Also, the most hysterically cute thing I've seen for months was Nadia and Zack sharing one of the chairs outside of the Ultraviolet Cafe, looking deep into each other's eyes while Zack murmured at her, "Playground. Plaaayground."

Seeking funny stories of the most bizarre/trivial reasons for a toddler tantrum...

Nadia: "Milk!"

Robin: "I think you just want milk because you're bored."

Nadia (wails): "Noooooooooo!"

Robin: "OK. It was a theory."

Nadia (cheerfully): "No, it was a yell."

For all of lunchtime, through nap, Nadia declared that she was pretend Zack, Becca was Zack's mama, and I was Zack's mommy.

Becca asked what that would make Daddy when he came home.

With no pause, Nadia said cheerily, "A cow!!!"

(Um, kombu, yip95  is there something we should know?)

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Someday your friends will find this: Toddlers in Love

(It should be noted that I originally pitched this for their "bad parent" column and thought I was writing it for that, so my concerns are probably a bit overstated. Also, I wrote it several months ago and Babble decided to hold it for V-day. Those of you know know them will be able to tell it's a bit out of date.)

Nadia (as a non-sequitor to the ongoing conversation): Maybe it's because you didn't want to read the dinosaur book!

Becca: I didn't know the dinosaur book was on the table.

Nadia: It's not! It's on the couch.

Becca: (attempts to explain phrase "on the table," which probably goes over Nadia's head)

a minute or two later...

Nadia (muttering under her breath to herself). I'm hungry. Maybe a real table would help.

Nadia, waking up in bed: "I'm chilly!"

Me: "OK, come here under the comforter."

Nadia: "No, I want raisins!"

Me: "That's not going to help with being chilly."

Nadia: "It will if you put them in the microwave!"


(We tried it. It didn't help. We moved on to slippers and had more success.)

Nadia, stirring after we'd thought she'd fallen asleep: "I want you to carry me somewhere!"

Me: "Where?"

Nadia: "Somewhere out of this room!"

Me: "Well, it's sleeping time, so we're going to stay in the bed. But you can go somewhere in your dreams. How about you pick a place, and close your eyes and think about what it looks like and what you'll do there?"

Nadia: (brief pause in which I foolishly think she's taking my advice)

Nadia: (Howl of protest)

Me: What's wrong?

Nadia: I want to dream about CATERPILLARS!!

At least that's my guess given the other errors in the piece. But I found this one funny:

I just posted one side of a point-counterpoint debate over on Babble.com.

My "side" is I Don't Care If My Daughter Has Sex as a Teen.

I expected to be vilified and hung in effigy by my toenails. I wasn't. At least not yet. Maybe Morality in the Media will find it. But so far, in fact I've gotten an overwhelmingly positive response.

What's particularly interesting to me is that the commenters are not just saying they agree with me, but thanking me profusely for being willing to say it. Guess I hit a nerve. (It is worth noting that most of these are regular Babble commenters, not people who came to the post because they were searching on "sex" or something.)

I also think it's pretty neat that the opposing view is not a religious, pro-abstinence ed, anti-sex one, but rather a more moderate "I think it would be better for their self-esteem to wait" point of view. I still disagree with her, but I think it's pretty neat to be able to have an exchange like this one, where the center is shifted so far away from the anti-sex extreme that's usually assumed to be the starting point.

From the guy at the Citizen Action inauguration party who spoke to the room after they finished replaying the inauguration speech:

"When you follow Barack Obama, you don't make a speech. You make announcements."

(If only the woman following him had understood that too.)

From the lid of a container of Breugger's plain cream cheese:

Um... Are you telling me you left something out of the ingredients list?

Nadia (after a day of playing a lot with her doctor kit and making Becca and me come for appointments under the dining room table):

"I a doctor, you a doctor, Daddy a doctor. When Mama has a baby and I have a baby, you and Daddy will take care of my baby and I'll take care of Mama's baby."

This woman needs help getting participants for her study. I figure a bunch of you all would be interested. Pass it along!

--
My name is Lorin Basden Arnold.  I’m a professor of communication studies, with a focus in family communication at Rowan University.  I’m also the author of the textbook, Family Communication: Theory and Research. I’m currently seeking participants in a research project involving mothers and I would love to have your help. 

Here is the formal description of the study:  This study investigates the process of gender socialization and the effects of gender patterns on family communication processes (including mothering) in order to provide a situated discussion of the embodied experience of a group of mothers.  Adult female participants will be interviewed via email/phone/in-person regarding their family of procreation (current family), mothering in that family, relationship patterns that exist within that family, processes of gender role socialization that occur within the family, and communication phenomenon in the family. Follow-up interviews will be conducted as warranted. The participants will chose pseudonyms to be identified with in the research (for self and family members) and personal details will be altered as necessary to protect confidentiality.

Now, here is a more “casual” take on this:  I would like to talk to some mothers about their experiences in mothering, with a focus on issues related to gender and gender socialization.  There is no requirement for age (other than being an adult), number or sex of children, marital status, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation, etc.  All mothers are welcome to participate. The initial survey can be completed via the method of your choice.  You may be interviewed in person (if you are local to the Philadelphia area) and elect to do so.  You may be interviewed by phone.  Or, you can complete the survey via email.  Follow-up questions can also be completed in the style you select, and not all participants will be asked to provide follow-up answers.  You can stop participating at any time.  You can decline to answer any question that you don’t want to answer.  You will select names for yourself and all family members, and any demographic data will be altered in the final report so that you cannot be identified.  If you complete the survey on the phone or in person, I will send you the transcription after I finish it for your review and editing.  Any participant who would like a copy of the final report can get one in print or email version.

If you think you may be interested in participating, have questions about the study, or would like to see my vitae before committing, you can contact me at Arnold@rowan.edu.  If you know anyone else who may be interested, feel free to pass the information along!

"I'm going to put a jingle in your butt!"


(What she meant was "I'm going to put this jingle bell in your back pocket.")

Anyone out there using Stumble Upon? I was skeptical, but I've found it has led me to some great stuff that I feel like I ought to have known about or come across in my regular browsing/reading. It seems to be working better than Digg and the like too in terms of generating traffic for its top sites. (Though Digg may still win in terms of the verb that moves into the vernacular for the whole phenomenon.)

If you're using it, friend me there? I'm MiriamJoyce.

For a blog post, I'm collecting examples of funny/embarrassing/obscure ways verbal kids who nurse ask to do so. It will be lighthearted, but in a pro-extended-breastfeeding way. What have your kids (or others you've known) come up with?

Also, here's a round up of some of my recent Babble posts.

• 5 Nature Facts Kids' Authors Should Tattoo on their Forearms (Thanks to everyone who responded when I was gathering info on this long ago. Sadly it didn't make it into a full-fledged article.)
• Woman Induces to Beat Health Insurance Cancellation Date, Fails
• Pre-Term Elective C-Sections Are Dangerous: So Why Insure Them?
• The Problem with "Orgasmic Birth"
• Police Called on 10-Year-Old Riding Train Alone

that choosing to go without electric light (except for the Christmas tree) as a solstice observance would have made a severely underslept toddler sleepy and mellow. You would, of course, be quite wrong. But we had a lot of fun, right up until the meltdown. She's got the makings of clergy that one.