Silicon Valley Moms Blog

The Teacher Gift Dilemma

Last year, I was spared the disgrace of neglecting my son’s preschool teachers at holiday time by another mom who kindly organized a group gift card.  She collected money, picked up the gift cards, and even wrote a cute note to enclose in each one.  As a first time school mom, December had crept up quickly, and I so grateful that someone else had her wits about her.

We’re at a new preschool this year and I don’t know the moms as well, so I knew I was on my own for holiday gifts.  What to do?  I wanted to express our appreciation for the three teachers’ hard work in making a happy learning environment, but not so much that it looked like a bribe for special treatment.  Something personal, yet professional. Homemade, so that it doesn’t cost a fortune?  But also not a knick-knack that would just collect dust or worse, go straight into the trash.

It’s the Kind of Diversity that Matters

I was reading a picture book to the baby this morning and after a few pages, noticed that the photographs of the children had been very carefully selected.  There were a pair of African-American girls with two ice cream cones, a Caucasian boy with three finger puppets, an Asian-American girl with four bells, a Caucasian girl with five telephones, and so on, all very cheerfully and professionally put together.

Someone took the time to gather models and props and make a plan to be inclusive.  Simply put, it makes sense to appeal to the whole audience of book buyers out there, and they did a good job.  In contrast, a “Baby Talk” book we were given for our older son hadn’t been planned so well.

The Peekaboo baby, the Yum-Yum baby, the Hee-Hee baby, the Mama! Baby, and the Night-Night baby were all blue-eyed blonds.  Guess which baby was African-American?  The Boo-Hoo baby.

Back to the drawing board.

This is an original post to Silicon Valley Moms Blog. Monica writes about life, dance, and adventures with a toddler and newborn at Lady M. Her reading list includes a lot of very short books these days.

Early Voter? Not Me

Another election, another procrastination.  I had the best intentions to finish evaluating all choices and popping that absentee ballot in the mail.  No need to haul the whole family to the polling place.  Well, between work and making a preschooler-sized Darth Maul Halloween costume, I didn’t quite get through the ballot.

I made up my mind on the big ticket candidates a long time ago, but the more obscure Propositions and Measures need a little more research.  There are some that I think can’t possibly make sense to anyone.  Once again, my husband and I will be comparing notes until the last day, when we’ll make the trek to the local high school.  At least our three year old already has a good opinion of voting.  “They give you stickers!”

Next time, I swear I’ll get the ballot done in time to mail.

This is an original post to Silicon Valley Moms Blog.  Monica writes about life, dance, and adventures with a toddler and newborn at Lady M. She has three more Measures and two more Propositions to read.

Steve Jobs Couldn’t Ask For a Better Pitchman

As far as preschooler bedtime routines go, ours is pretty average.  After the usual hygiene related activities like potty, washing hands, and brushing teeth, we choose a song and story.  My husband usually reads a book to our preschooler while I put the baby to sleep - pretty traditional stuff.  The song, however, has become a YouTube selection.

A few nights ago, I was putting both kids to bed, so I got to help with the music choice.

“Let’s go to my computer,” I said.
“Do you have an iPhone, Mama?” asked the little dude.
“No, I don’t have an iPhone, honey.”

He paused a moment gravely, to contemplate the shocking inconvenience of not having his bedtime song played on a wireless device from the comfort of his bed.

Something Old, Something New, and A Little Botox Too

As I reach my tenth wedding anniversary, I often think that we got married in the dark ages.  Our wedding pictures were taken on film, for heaven’s sake!  The other big change seems to be how the bride treats her bridesmaids. We had a small wedding party, so the only two ladies subjected to my dictates were my sister and my husband’s sister.  My sister added a few embellishments to her bridesmaid gown and wore it as a Victorian dance costume, making her one of the few women in the world to actually experience the promise, “Sure, you can wear it again later.” 

However, even if they secretly found the vintage style or lavender color intolerable, they suffered nothing compared to the latest trends.  Botox!  Facelifts!  Not only do they bridesmaids wear matching shoes, they can have matching boob jobs.

One Handed Computer Users- The PG Rated Kind

In advance of the baby’s birth, I changed my passwords to be easily typed with one hand, but I’ve discovered that’s not the only adjustment to make when using the computer as a mother of a newborn.  I need to coin a new phrase.  This phrase may be particularly useful for the local community of computer and gadget-obsessed parents, so please bear with me a moment while I provide an example.

In Neal Stephenson’s fabulous historical/techie novel Cryptonomicon, the protagonist opens his laptop and starts writing. "The memo begins with the word "carpal" which is a little code that they have developed to explain why the following text seems unnaturally terse and devoid of capital letters."

I need an equivalent code to explain that I’m holding a baby with one arm and therefore I only have the remaining hand free to tap out the email, comment, or IM.

What Part of Nursing Mother Makes You Say "Dry Clean Only?

Since it seems like I spend half my waking hours feeding my newborn, I’m in the market for some nursing-friendly shirts.  There’s no expectation of anything fashionable, mind you, just anything that doesn’t make me look like a total dork.  Exhibit 1 - the pair of shirts I got after my first pregnancy.  The ones with the flapping vents that might as well have neon signs advertising 'meals served here,' purchased with the remnants of gift certificates at Motherhood Maternity.

I’d had some luck online with the Topless Undershirt, a sort of tube top worn under a regular shirt, so that the belly isn’t exposed when the overshirt is pulled up to nurse.    It's a tricky process, finding flattering clothing for the postpartum body. After some less than successful forays, I headed to Maternal Connections, the ‘mom and baby’ shop operating under the roof of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View. 

From Disaster to Disaster Relief

Disasters were fascinating as a child.  I remember poring over my parents' National Geographic issue on the Mount St. Helens eruption, comparing pictures of the mountain before and after, and learning how people had escaped.  Next, there was the Titanic phase, followed by reading all about forest fires. 

It's all different now.  I became a mom.  Instead of considering how infrastructure should be repaired or how best to pack an emergency kit, my thoughts immediately go to the families.  Especially now, with a brand new baby in the house, it's been impossible for me to think about the recent earthquake in China without feeling overwhelmed with sadness.  The suffering of the parents who lost children, often their only child, is unimaginable. How can I help them from so far away?