The Pet Peeve To Beat All Other Peeves

    One-upmanship of kids: that has always struck me as exceedingly wrong. Not bragging that your kid has reached a milestone, because as moms, we all deserve the right to brag that our baby just took a first step, or our kid got their first A on a test. Moms have the right to brag. What I am talking about is when someone says, "Oh, I got my kid potty trained!" And then someone else says, "Really? You waited so long? Little Suzy was potty trained when she turned one." Really? Good for you and little Suzy.
   Most of you moms have been the victim of this one-upmanship between moms, whether the issue at hand is potty training, or the first word, or learning to read, or whatever. Babies do hundreds of new things, but the thing is, they are going to do them at their own pace. You can't force them to do something that they are not ready to do.
   I used potty training as an example, because that was the one that I was hit with the most. My daughter had a cousin on her father's side, who actually was using the potty at one. And my daughter wasn't even close to being potty trained. And I tried everything to get that kid to pee on the pot. My favorite attempt was following the suggestion that I put my girl in 'big girl ' panties. All the time, 24/7. Except, for some reason, my daughter was fascinated by watching pee drip down her leg. Don't ask me why, okay? I don't understand the inner workings of a two year old's mind. All I know is that when she went to pee, she would bend over like she was gonna touch her toes and watch her pee flow down her leg. Wherever she stood, that was were she peed, right through those 'big girl' panties. And someone honestly suggested that if I took her out in public and let her do that she would be so embarrassed that she would stop. Are you kidding me? Someone would be embarrassed alright, but that person wouldn't be the little hot mess; that someone would be the little hot mess's mom: I'll pass.
   Finally I just ignored all the people shoving their little prodigal children in my face, and let things happen how they were going to happen. My daughter was four when she finally graduated from pull-ups to 'big girl' panties, but on the bright side, she never had an accident after finally being potty trained. Just let this happen, trust me, your kid is not going to be still wearing diapers when they are sixteen.
  The thing about playing the one-up card with kids is that they understand. I don't know why people think that kids don't understand what you are saying. They are kids, not furniture -- of course they understand you. And you're sitting there, possibly making some kid feel bad because she or he didn't do something as fast as another kid. Or you are making the parent feel bad about their kid and their parenting style, and there is no one right way. And kids don't develop in one same way. They march to their own drum. Let them; stop messing up their beat. Who cares who did what first? If your kid was first, fine, but all of your friends listened to you brag, so can't you listen to them brag without trying to take something from their accomplishment? 

She Keeps On Growing Up!!!

   For the twentieth time this evening alone, my daughter has walked into our living room and asked, "You remember that tomorrow is my fifth grade graduation, right?"
   Because I could forget? Every day my own eyes confirm the fact that she is not my little chubby toddler anymore. She is growing like a weed, and there is no denying this fact. But the fifth grade graduation is something that is new to me. I never had a fifth grade graduation; when did they start this? Of course, this is not the shocker that her kindergarten graduation was; that was a real shocker. Celebrate getting through kindergarten? If that is difficult, let me tell you kid, life is gonna be a rude awakening.
   Of course, kindergarten is not what it used to be. I remember kindergarten, and we used to get praised if we just managed to color in the lines. When my daughter started kindergarten she was already expected to know the entire alphabet on entrance and how to count to ten. On exit; she had learned to read and to count to 100. I was like "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???" So I guess that the graduation of kindergarten does deserve comment, because those kids learn A LOT.
    So I knew that this graduation was coming. I've been expecting it. Of course, getting the date was an accomplishment in and of itself. Doesn't the school system realize that a lot of parents have to work and need these dates in advance so that they can make arrangements at work? But we have had all of this worked out, so it's a little insulting that my daughter feels the need to remind me twenty times in one evening. I go to every school function, so it's not like she is worried because I have a habit of skipping out. I think that mostly nerves are causing this questioning. She's so excited to be a middle school student next year! And she has worked really hard to get there. Learning standards in the classroom have gone up from my own school days. I'm sure some of the work I have seen her with is because she is in the HCP class. (Highly Capable Programming, formerly called GATE, which stood for Gifted and Talented Education; why did they change the title? It's a mystery...) But I have seen her bringing home algebra, and then I'm all like !!??!! because I didn't touch algebra until I was in the 6th or 7th grade, and she started bringing it home in 3rd grade. And I know that all the classes take timed math tests. She had tests where she was supposed to answer 100
multiplication questions in 10 minutes. That is amazing to me. Sure, they are not complicated multiplication questions, but nevertheless, I couldn't do it. So I guess that these fifth graders, they deserve their graduation. Because they have already worked so hard to get where they are at, and frankly, we need to do these things if this will encourage them to stay in school. I never felt encouraged, and I was a  high school drop-out. If keeping my daughter from doing the same means that I go celebrate every single day she goes to school at all, then this is what I will do. (It's a good thing that so far, my daughter loves school, because celebrating is expensive. I would need another job.)
   So anyway, this long, rambling post is simply my way of working up to saying:

Congratulations Baby Girl!!! Mom is so proud of you!