Telling it like it is

I will be honest.  I hate this time of year.  Yeah, so negative right?  Well, it is always such a let down for me after Christmas. What I really miss in January is my family!  For two blissful weeks in December I get to spend time with my favorite people whenever I want and then – poof – they all disappear off to their various states and activities not to be seen again for 4-6 months.  I know, I am a whiner.  Everyone misses their family after the Holidays, I should get over it.

The other reason January isn’t for me is that I am not into New Year’s resolutions.  Although, I did make one last year to loose 10 pounds and I was able to accomplish that.  But I gained five pounds last month since Scott and I gave up running because of the cold (okay, we were too busy eating and partying with family)…a weird stubborn part of me wants to refuse to start running again until February.  That makes it seem less like a New Year’s resolution.  Since it isn’t one. 

The other part of January that stinks is that it is so long.  What I meant to say is that I don’t like the part where Scott has to start school again.  Life is so much nicer when he doesn’t have to be gone so often and be bogged down with homework.  There is so much more stress in our lives when he is in school.

Okay, here it is: a combined confession and, ahem, resolution. 

Confession:  Our old habit was for Stephen roll out of bed, turn on the TV and vegetate the entire morning.  He did play with toys as well, kind of as a side thing but yes, that’s right, I let my four year old rot his brains watching PBS Kids and Disney Channel for hours on end every day.  I depended on that TV to sedate him so he would stop bugging me and let me get stuff done around the house.  This has been a huge issue since he was about two.  Yes, it is very sad but true.  Just so you know, Boston does not have any interest in watching TV.

Resolution:  Kick. The. TV. Habit. To. The. Curb.

So far, it has been very hard for me.  We hide the remote and when Stephen asks for it first thing in the morning, I tell him to go play with his toys.  There is often whining…from both of us (though mine is mostly inside my head).  Although there is more bored whining around here, but there has also been more brain stretching, (MUCH) more tower building, more screaming and wrestling among brothers, more trips to the park,  more play dough, painting, more trips to Grandma’s house to play in the yard, and more bike ridding.  And more messes.  A LOT more messes. 

Are we perfect?  Absolutely not!  Do we revert?  YES.  But I will tell you my first success story:  I let Stephen watch ONE TV show while I was in the shower the other day and I could hear that the TV was still on when I got out so I called out for him to turn it off.  When I came out of my room, the TV was off and he was playing in his room.  I was so PROUD of my boy!  Seriously, it is bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

I think TV has its place.  (Everything Stephen knows – which is a lot - about letters and numbers he learned almost entirely from watching PBS Kids).  We are still going to watch TV at my house but way, way, way less!  (The other day we had ZERO hours!  Woot Woot!)  I think that kids need to learn to turn it off for themselves and learn to pick and choose what they want to watch instead of vegetating mindlessly for hours.  They also need to learn how to walk away or turn it off when something is inappropriate.  This isn’t an issue for us YET since Stephen only knows the existence of three channels but it will be soon.  I do not think elimination of it altogether is an option in today’s world.  If he doesn’t watch it here at our house it will be at a friend’s house.  If he already has good habits in place (only formed by practicing at home), he will have a much easier time resisting the bad stuff.

One other resolution:  Reserve pacifier use for naps and bedtime only.  Boston calls it his “fire” which is adorably pronounced “fyeor.”

Shoot.  This one is almost harder than the TV thing.  Boston is not so thrilled with this one but mostly it has been hard for Mommy and Daddy.  We like the ease and convenience of putting in the plug when the little one gets feisty.  I never knew what a noisy child Boston was until we gave up the pacifier during the day.  Goodness.  He jabbers and jabbers and makes (incredibly loud) monkey and other animal noises.  His vocabulary has increased dramatically and he even sings some songs.  Not all the noises are happy however and sometimes he gets stuck in a crying “rut” for long periods of time and so we go to “time out,” which for him is sitting in the crib with his pacifier.  After a few minutes I ask if he is ready to come out and he knows that he has to put his “fire” on the ledge first.  It works like a charm!  Yeah, I don’t think “fire” going away permanently anytime soon.  Maybe next year….

So there you have it: the Smith Family, just telling it like it is in the New Year.