Dear Kid Saturday - My Hyper Tired Baby

Dear Cass, my poor, sweet, hyper tired baby,

I should have known when I had to wake you up earlier than usual this morning that today was not going to be the day that we would win the "Peaceful, Organized Family" award. Did the absence of carbs that were kept to a bare minimum at breakfast make you feel deprived? You seemed to enjoy the turkey bacon and scrambled eggs so much that missing a bowl of your favorite cereal should not have been an issue. My hopes were that what I cooked would stabilize your and your sisters' energy levels so that our day would be easy going and pleasant even with the shortage of sleep last night. But lack of energy has not been your problem today has it?

I'm so very sorry that you are having a difficult time enjoying your day. Your sisters are honestly not trying to be aggravating, at least no more than usual. And you should know better than expect me to allow you to break rules just because you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. You know that all rules are there for a reason and a bad mood is no excuse to rethink or to bend them.

Maybe after naptime, my hyper tired baby will be in a better humor and I will see your sunny smile once again. My apologies for passing on my genetic predisposition towards grumpiness due to lack of sleep. I wish I could tell you that you will outgrow it but your mommy never has. This is just another one of those instances where we must learn to play the hand we've been dealt. And there will be an earlier than usual bedtime tonight.

Love, Mommy

HOW TO CLEAN GLASS SHOWER DOORS

Can somebody please tell me how to clean glass shower doors the quick and easy way? If you can share a tip or two and tell me how to KEEP them from getting covered in spots caused by hard water that would be ever so helpful as well.

The story behind my dilemma goes like this. A few months ago we went house shopping and after looking at over a hundred or so homes on the market we narrowed it down and bought a home that had many positive features (which you will probably get to hear about in the coming days, months or even years as the mortgage stretches before me for quite a way) one of which was the very roomy custom glass shower.

There are shower heads coming at you every which way (I’ll probably need advice on how to clean a clogged shower head before too long) and it was so modern looking with three walls of white (manmade) marble and one long wall of, at the time of purchase, squeaky clean glass. A few wash jobs later, I now see that I better learn how to clean glass shower doors FAST or they are going to look like an old coffee pot pretty quick.

I had some spray cleaner but my mom tells me that she heard it will pit the glass, so I barely escaped doing some irreparable damage by the skin of my teeth. Always believing it’s best to use recipes for green household cleaners and pesticides whenever possible, I’m going to start with vinegar and go from there. I’m off to fill my trusty spray bottle I will keep you posted on how the vinegar does on cutting the build-up using a soft cloth.

Meanwhile, if any of you have ideas on how to clean glass shower doors without scratching them and how to keep them from getting water spots immediately after said cleaning will you please return to hit the comments section below and help me out?

KIDS and SPORTS INJURIES

Kids and sports injuries have always fit like a hand in glove. In my neighborhood there is always a child getting hit by a ball, breaking an arm at football practice or spraining an ankle. As the mother of four girls who love to play cheerleader and tumble, the news that school gym injuries are jumping in numbers gives me cause for concern. The reason given for the increase is that schools are pushing kids to get up off their butts and get some exercise in an effort to DECREASE the numbers of obese children. And I’m all for getting kids off the couch and away from too much television not to mention preventing them from wearing out their little hands playing video games but get a load of these numbers and wait for it because there’s a shocker in the numbers.


In a recent study the numbers from a study on kids and sports injuries from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (is that a mouthful?) were the big tip off. For the period that covered eleven years, over four hundred thousand kids were injured during PE (physical education or Phys ed as we used to call it in the dark ages) and taken for treatment at the emergency room. This number increased 150% over the course of the study. The largest number of injuries was associated with six school activities. Not surprisingly, the usual contact sports were culprits. Of course, football and basketball are on the list and I would have been amazed if they were absent. And there were a few of the less physical sports on the list like soccer, gymnastics and volleyball. But then, hold on… RUNNING is on the list.


I ran junior high track and then went on to high school so I paid my dues as did many of my friends and frankly I can’t remember an injury or sprain that couldn’t be iced down on the spot with the athlete sent limping to the sidelines to rest up. My question is this, have kids gotten so out of shape that they can’t even run without having to hit the ER?

Please leave your comments or experiences regarding Parenting Kids and Sports Injuries before my oldest leaves for kindergarten!