Silicon Valley Moms Blog

Celebrating Jedi Training

My-5 year-old is really into Star Wars. No. Really. He says he is growing up to be a Jedi. And who can blame him? Jedis are pretty cool. Defenders of peace and justice in the galaxy, they use the force for defense, never for attack (that is straight from the Jedi training oath, by the way). We knew about Jedi training at Disneyland when we took a trip last year, but he was a bit young then at 4 years old. He did pick out a Jedi Training t-shirt and has been talking about it....since then.

This year, when we went for a family trip and for me to attend the Celebrate Mom's event put on by Macy's and Disney, he was ready. Well...sort of. Ben is not a big fan of the limelight sometimes. You just never know how it will go. When we arrived for the 3:30 show in Tomorrowland, he was pumped though. He jumped up and down, signifying his readiness for training. The show was really cool and really dramatic - the Jedis come out in hooded cloaks (think Obi-Wan Kenobi from the first Star Wars...well, the 4th Star Wars actually. Yes, I'm old school. Star Wars: A New Hope was the first movie I ever saw as a kid in the movie theaters). They are very serious, they scan the crowd for those strong in the force, select about 20 kids, invite them to don Padawan robes, and give them (training) light sabers. Sadly, Ben wasn't selected...but he was fine with it. He sat down and watched while the little Jedis were put through the moves with their light sabers. There was a "disturbance in the force," storm troopers came running out and the whole stage floor rose up to reveal Darth Vader and Darth Maul, who the kids then had to fight to complete their training. Pretty intimidating stuff. 

My-5 year-old is really into Star Wars. No. Really. He says he is growing up to be a Jedi. And who can blame him? Jedis are pretty cool. Defenders of peace and justice in the galaxy, they use the force for defense, never for attack (that is straight from the Jedi training oath, by the way). We knew about Jedi training at Disneyland when we took a trip last year, but he was a bit young then at 4 years old. He did pick out a Jedi Training t-shirt and has been talking about it....since then.

This year, when we went for a family trip and for me to attend the Celebrate Mom's event put on by Macy's and Disney, he was ready. Well...sort of. Ben is not a big fan of the limelight sometimes. You just never know how it will go. When we arrived for the 3:30 show in Tomorrowland, he was pumped though. He jumped up and down, signifying his readiness for training. The show was really cool and really dramatic - the Jedis come out in hooded cloaks (think Obi-Wan Kenobi from the first Star Wars...well, the 4th Star Wars actually. Yes, I'm old school. Star Wars: A New Hope was the first movie I ever saw as a kid in the movie theaters). They are very serious, they scan the crowd for those strong in the force, select about 20 kids, invite them to don Padawan robes, and give them (training) light sabers. Sadly, Ben wasn't selected...but he was fine with it. He sat down and watched while the little Jedis were put through the moves with their light sabers. There was a "disturbance in the force," storm troopers came running out and the whole stage floor rose up to reveal Darth Vader and Darth Maul, who the kids then had to fight to complete their training. Pretty intimidating stuff. 

A Sick Mommy Blogger Lie

Watch a video report of this story from ABC.

In the mommy blogger circles, many of us are sickened by the recent news of Beccah Beushausen, a blogger who was caught faking her baby's death. Aside from the disgust and pity I feel for Beushausen, it is extremely disappointing because, although in some senses I feel sorry for this woman who must be so messed up in order to do something like this, this kind of thing is so incredibly hurtful to those who are truly going through such awful tragedies. Perhaps these types of lies are inevitable in a virtual world, where readers must simply take things as truth without having much in the way of verification, where people are looking for and finding support, where anyone can hide behind a computer and pretend. And this site reportedly got a lot of hits. A lot of hits.

It brings me back to a sharp memory of

The Big Day: Graduation...from preschool

The big day is looming large. This Wednesday, my twins will graduate from preschool. I know it must seem so incredibly lame to be tearing up over this and to be thinking so much about the closure of their time at the school where circle time and peeing in the potty sometime seem to be the big challenges. But, really, those weren't the true challenges. It is amazing to see how much they have grown in the past 2 years at their school. And I have grown a lot as a parent too. So I get emotional - very quickly - when I make their memory book pages and their culmination projects. And when I think about them touring their outdoor school at Vasona Park this Wedensday and saying goodbye to their creek and their grouptime tree and their ball field and their snack and art tables and their bridge and their parking lot where they have all been playing Star Wars and picking flowers and chasing each other around with their backbacks on while us moms try to apply that last bit of subscreen.

You see, it has been a very special class, this one, the 4Day class at Explorer Preschool. It has been a unique experience, one that they will never have again. They have played and learned in nature, in the real world. They have put on a Nutcracker performance and a circus and have visited about 50 million museums and parks and taken hikes. They have studied bugs and butterflies and birds that live in their creek at Vasona. They have fallen down and tasted that creek water and gotten back up again. They have learned how to count to over 100 and all of their letters and how to write, and no they have never done a single worksheet or been drilled on anything. They have made such good friends. I have learned - and I keep learning, believe me it is a challenge with 3 kids under 5 years old - how to be a better parent, how to listen to them, how to encourage their independence, how to build a connection with them so that later in life they will trust me enough to come to me with their problems. I have been very lucky to experience preschool with them.

Mommy Bloggers' Liability for Product Reviews - Will It Cause a Chilling Effect?

Mommy bloggers are some of the most active participants in social marketing. Companies have been tapping into the social media power of mommy (and daddy) bloggers, because there is a certain authenticity and trusting relationship that develops between moms and their audiences...oh, and there is purchasing power too. After all, moms control the pursestrings in many households. It is not uncommon for marketers to reach out to moms in a very active way, sending them products for free to review and discuss - honestly and openly - on their blogs.

It is not news that social media - blogs, twitter, facebook - still lives in the real world and that defamation law and trademark rights and copyright protections and, yes, false advertising law still apply to these types of communicaitons. But there are many untested applications of law to social media. One of the newest facets of social media law is the consideration by the Federal Trade Commission of guidelines that would hold not only companies, but individual bloggers, liable for false statements made in connection with product reviews. There is a fear by advertisers that there will be a chilling effect on what bloggers write about products. And rightly so - false advertising is false advertising, wherever it takes place. However, don't forget that bloggers are very vocal. Writing is What. They. Do. I'm not so sure this business is going away. 

The Inevitable Birth Stories Discussion

Whenever a group of mothers get together, eventually the topic of childbirth comes up. I don't know what guys talk about as a group, especially in an overnight getaway type of situation - probably sports or Myth Busters and not the day his child was born - but for women, well, mothers, it inevitably comes around to our birth stories. Where your water broke and, before that, your obsession with grabbing a jar of pickles whenever you were at the grocery store so that, in the event that your water broke there in the frozen food aisle, you could accidentally drop the jar on the floor to avoid the embarrassment felt upon fluid gathering in a puddle at your feet. Not that you ever had the opportunity to do that, because your water broke, predictably, at home on your new white Pottery Barn (non-leather) couch, the one time, of course, that you neglected to put that towel down to protect it, just in case. How you had two failed induction attempts (pursued because your baby was so big), followed by a c-section, for which your husband was the one freaking out the night before, being squeemish and fearful of the sight of blood, while you - the one who was actually going to go under the knife and have the major surgery the next morning - calmed him down and then laughed when the nurses took one look at him, said "we've got one of those," and hailed a wheelchair...for HIM. Why all three of your babies - twins first who were born 9 weeks early and then a single baby who was on time, but born very ill with pulmonary hypertension - spent a month in the NICU and how you spent the dark nights during that month at home, pumping milk and, once the bottle was in the freezer for the day that your babies could actually drink that "liquid gold," calling the NICU night nurse and asking "how are they/is she doing?"

The Kindergarten Crazies

Just when I thought I had preschool all figured out, it is time to start over - my twins just turned 5 last week and will be headed to the big K next year. Kindergarten. It is the talk of my preschool class, my playgroup, my table at my twins club's moms holiday dinner last week...and it probably will be the big subject at my parent-teacher conference which is scheduled for tomorrow. Are they ready? Should I separate them or not? And, the main thing at this point, where will they go? Open houses, intra-district transfers, inter-district transfers, lotteries. I *think* my twins are ready.

But am I?

One adult chair in an otherwise chaotic house

Having three kids aged almost 5 and under and living in a very small house (under 1200 square feet for a family of 5) in Silicon Valley, our living room/dining room/kitchen (it is all one room - a"great room" concept, if you will) has been overrun with kid stuff for the last 5 years. First it was a pack-n-play, 2 swings, 2 bouncy seats, an exersaucer, etc. when we had the twins. Then it was less baby equipment, but more toys - blocks and tents and play houses and stuffed animals and.... After that came the coloring table and the train table. Now we're at a place where we're ready to take back our adult space to some degree. Not that the kids won't still have their stuff in the living room - the coloring/activity table will stay. And they have a kids computer table now that will stay. But all the toys are going in their rooms. The toys have been scaled back too - there are just less of them.

Our Daily Bread: Making it fun for kids to give throughout the year

I grew up with parents who gave back to their community on a very regular basis - food drives, volunteering at the recycling center, serving dinner at the homeless shelter, doing the heavy lifting to help set up whatever, whenever. I remember being toted around with my sister to this place and that, to lend a little help...and sometimes to do something big. My mom and dad have both sat on the board of many a non-profit over the years. Volunteering was just the norm for them. The standard they have set is too high for me to ever possibly match, but I do believe there is something that every person can give. And that helping others is not just a holiday event. Sharing this with our kids can set the stage for how they will conduct themselves as they become contributing adults of our society.

Living 3 miles away from my parents, my kids spend a lot of time with their grandparents and they are now experiencing the same thing I did. Every Thursday, my 71-year-old dad meets "the guys" (his fellow volunteers) for breakfast. After they fuel up, they head over to Trader Joe's to load up whatever food the store is donating that day (usually meat, fruit and veggies, bakery items - think things that are getting close to their spoilage date. Trader Joe's is VERY generous - another reason to love that store - I mean, besides the fact that they give balloons and stickers to the kids and have great healthy food that kids will actually eat!) and they take it over to Santa Maria Urban Ministries in downtown San Jose, a facility that aids needy families with emergency food, clothing, education and more. A couple of weeks ago, my 3 little kids and I accompanied my dad on his trip to Santa Maria. My dad and I had been talking about the food needs getting larger while the aid gets smaller. And, especially since I have been talking with my kids a lot about (as we call it) The Money Problem, I thought it would be a good time to start giving the kids a real in-person taste of lending a helping hand.

Sleepover Central

Ah, Thanksgiving. 7 kids and 7 adults are packed like sardines in my sister's house on Thanksgiving Eve. Oh, actually there are only 5 adults in the house, as my parents brought their "honeymoon suite," their RV which is a haven of quiet and space. Inside the house, it is a sea of Aero beds and sleeping bags. The Mommies are up and down, being kicked out of beds, taking wee ones to the bathroom, searching for lost special pillows and pet friends in the middle of the night. We have time zone issues with some of the kids just arriving and still adjusting. When morning comes, our littlest (2.5 yrs old) asks "Can I go to the slumber party now?" As if she has been waiting for the party to happen all night long. Honey, I hate to tell you, but that WAS the party. And we get to do it again tonight! Joy.

Valuable lessons: I don't really need All That

Since starting to spend less money over the past month, my husband and I have been very pleased to rediscover that we really don't need All That. Stuff. Dining Out. New Shiny Things. Extra Things. More, More, More. We can actually get by just fine on what we have. We've gone back to basics and are both happier for it. (Mostly...I confess that I am missing my The Dailey Method class and the stress relief that affords...must try to fit that back in somehow.)

The kids? Well, one day a few weeks ago, on the way to preschool I was listening to some of NPR's analysis of the financial crisis. It is hard for kids NOT to hear about it, right? News of this is everywhere. They asked what it was about and I said "We all have a money problem. Everyone in the United States...and in the world, has a money problem right now. And that's why Mommy and Daddy aren't spending a lot of money right now. We are only buying the things we need and are only spending as much money as we have." I tried to keep it simple. Some questions were asked. Like can't you just go get some more? They offered to help make some more credit cards for us (no thanks!). It is hard to explain such abstract concepts to 4-year-olds - after all, they see us using credit cards (well, debit cards) all the time and rarely do they see the physical limit of cash. When we do need cash, we go to the bank and push buttons to get some out. Simple, right? How can there be a problem?