Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me?

One thing that irks me more than anything is when people overly politicize issues. A prime example of this can be found in the Boston Globe: Turf wars heat up: grass vs. synthetic. All the rage right now is about global warming. Given, Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" is a pretty compelling documentary. However, I'm not ready to hold my breath and ask all humans to do so when walking outside so we don't exhale greenhouse gases. This story is about a battle between local high schools and opponents regarding the field on which sports teams will play their games. The high schools want to switch to the trendy sports turf that so many other pro/college/high schools/ and Texas grade schools are switching to.

The opponents, obviously not getting enough traction or support have brought in the 10 ton guerrilla to the argument...Global Warming...dun dun dunnnnnnn. They claim that artificial fields will actually lead to global warming because the temperatures on artificial fields are much warmer than grass fields, thus deflecting higher temps into the atmosphere! Now I do not need to overstate my opinion here as I know most of my readers are on the same page (recycled paper, just to clarify) with me. What the heck does global warming have to do with playing high school football? Where will its reach end? If the sacred grid iron isn't safe neither are we. O.k. talk amongst yourselves...

New pictures

There are new pics in the album to your left. Check out the great park we found for Caleb. It is all just his size and he loves it! Caleb is now standing by himself and stringing a few steps together, but still not walking. He prefers to crawl and we are happy about that, because once he walks we will have to get a leash! :) Less than two weeks and he will be 1. Crazy!

Last month as a 0

Caleb turned 11 months this week. One month to go and he will have a real number for an age. Pretty crazy how fast this year has gone! A few months ago, Caleb wasn't too much into books, but within the past 4 weeks, he LOVES them. Every night we read at least 5 board books to him before bed. He really likes them. What is crazy is that he already has books he likes and doesn't like. AND pages he likes and doesn't like. We skip over those pages so he doesn't get too distracted. The book I'm reading in this picture is one of the ones he doesn't like. We only read it once a week.

New pictures are in the album on the left. Make sure to check them out. This one is a favorite as he fell asleep while eating! I don't really know how you can do that, but when nap time comes, it comes with authority! He is finally beginning to sleep better. He is only waking once a night now and sleeping in 5-6 hour stints! Much improvement from his 2-3 hour times for the past 10 months. Also, he is taking longer naps and more closely on schedule. This is helpful as we plan our days. Knowing when he needs a nap is good because before, there wasn't a schedule so we couldn't do much.

Soon there will be some pictures of Caleb at the park. We have discovered a super park through the canyon about 15 minutes from our house. It has a whole play area just for one year olds. Basically everything is shrunk down to his size and he LOVES it! We plan to go there often now, and I'm sure we'll get some great pics.

Some things don't need much description

I got this picture forwarded to me with the heading, "This Year's 'Not My Job' Award". I find it pretty funny because how common this is in life. This picture simply is a great visual of how many times people simply go around problems rather than fix them. Don't get me wrong, I am not an enabler and technically this isn't the striper's job, but sometimes you have to stop what you are doing and move the plank before going on. Hmm, removing the plank...I've heard that somewhere before.

Progressive isn't always better

Having a child leads one to notice things once overlooked. Like today's story on MSN about child care centers receiving low grades. I understand that in many areas the midwest, and the mideast get the short end of the stick. The progressive states on the coasts often get the publicity and therefore are often thought of as better.

When it comes to child care, there really isn't a standard as the map above shows. My home state of OK graded out well, while my home state of CA didn't do so well. Now I know that part of that comes with numbers and the criteria, but the fact is that progressive states, aren't always better, but also, smaller states who are often thought of as 'family oriented' are better either. Look at Kansas and Nebraska for instance.

I am happy that currently we are able to juggle work, with a few college babysitters, friends and family and not have to send Caleb to daycare. That is one huge blessing! The idea of daycare has never really sat right with me, but for a large majority out there, there is no other choice. Our economy has moved, like it or not to a dual income model, particularly in the 'progressive' coastal cities. I wonder just how progressive dual income families really are in the end.