The battle to find a good doc

When Lil J was first born we chose our family practice doc to be Lil J's doc.  He came to the hospital when he was born & examined him, etc.  We were happy with our doc & happy that he would care for Lil J. 

But he never wanted to do a well baby exam on Lil J after the initial exam at birth.  And when we did have issues & take Lil J in he would always just brush us off & never listen to us or do anything at all.  He offered no support at all in selecting a formula.  In fact the formula Lil J was on was causing issues & the doc had insisted the formula wasn't the cause.  When I finally trusted my instinct & switched formulas the problem went away.

In those early days, when I couldn't get help from our family practice doc, I took him to an office of alternative medicine doctors.  There was a woman doctor there that we liked a lot & she also saw children & agreed to see Joseph.  But a few months later we received a letter in the mail saying she had left the practice.

Somewhere along the way hubby & I also weren't happy with the care at our family practice office.  It was a husband & wife team (the wife was a PA) & I had always preferred the wife & she had started only doing cosmetic procedures & not taking care of patients anymore, that was a big part of the problem. 

So we went on a search & found a new doc.  We loved the doc & the PA at the office.  Our one issue (that I don't think will ever be resolved) is that they don't get back to us with results of tests.  But I suppose nothing is ever perfect. 

Hubby has always seen the male doc that owns the practice.  I have seen him, but I prefer the PA, a female.  And I also preferred the PA for Lil J.  She was so great with Lil J & she totally understood my preference for natural & alternative treatments for things.  She even recommended that I try raw milk for Lil J when I told her he couldn't drink cow milk & said that she only gives her own children (preschool twins) raw milk.  She also always did very thorough exams on Lil J, which although not necessary, is comforting to know that all is well & he is on track for his age.  She was extremely polite about my not wanting to vaccinate Lil J.  She even filled out a form & we both signed it, which she said legally covered that we had discussed the issue & that way she wasn't legally required to ever bring it up again, which was wonderful.  It's always such a touchy issue & I hear such horror stories from other parents that don't vaccinate.  Thankfully I have never been in a situation that bad. 

Alas now we find that she has left the practice.  She left to be a stay at home mom & to homeschool her twins.  I am happy for her, that she gets to do that.  I can understand it as a mother.  But I am sad to have lost such a great doctor. 

For now they are trying to replace her & I am praying that we like the replacement.  We shall see.......

31 month updates on Lil J

Lil J is now 31 months old.  We are now officially past the 2 1/2 year mark. 

He now weighs 32.8 lbs ( 75-90%), is still 36" tall (25-50%), & has a head circumference of 21.5" (>95%).

Not a lot of changes at this point.  But I did decide to write a blog because he is much more verbal.  He is really good at verbalizing his needs at this point.  At least moreso than he ever has so far.  He is also really good at repeating what he we ask him to, & also sometimes he repeats what we say even when we don't ask him to, LOL. 

Another big change is that he is much more interested in books.  I am hopeful that he will be a bookworm, like myself.  Of course I know there are no guarantees on anything with a child, but I am hopeful & I will do what I can to encourage it, without forcing it of course.  A few weeks ago, at Costco, I picked up 2 books.  They are both early reader books.  And they both contain 6 short stories in them.  One is Thomas the Train & the other is Disney's Cars.  I bought them to use for bedtime stories.  I had planned on not leaving them accessible to him, since he is very destructive.  I was just going to pull them out for bedtime, for bedtime stories.  But he liked them SO MUCH that he kept asking for them.  I decided to just let him have full access to them, since he is showing such an interest in them. 

It's not that he hasn't shown an interest in books in the past.  He has enjoyed looking at his books.  But he is just so much more interested in these books.  I chose them for bedtime stories because A) he loves trains & cars & B) I really liked the illustrations in them.  As a child I had some big book of bedtime stories & the illustrations in these books really reminded me of those in the book I had.  I have to wonder if the reason Lil J likes these books SO MUCH is because of the illustrations.  He REALLY enjoys looking the pictures & talking about them & asing me about them.  But what I love even more is the fact that he WANTS me to read to him out of them.  I have tried many times to read him stories & his response ranged from not being interested to downright throwing a tantrum about it.  There are times when I insist & I win the battle & I read to him.  Our daily Bible study we do, for example.  And our nightly devotion we do.  But aside from that, reading to him has always been a challenge. 

NOW, at bedtime he asks me to read him a story.  And sometimes during the day he'll bring me the book & ask me to read him a story.  Most of the time he wants me to read to him from Thomas & he likes to look at Cars off & on while I'm reading from Thomas.  He gets sooo excited about the cars that he can't seem to sit calmly & listen it seems.  And he often likes to look at the same page/picture in the Cars book for a really long time.  So when I start reading & need to turn the page he gets upset. 

I think that's all the updates I have for now: more verbal & more interest in books.  To be continued....whenever there is more to report........

A touchy subject (hemorrhoids & varicose veins)

It's one of those subjects that no one wants to talk about. 
Hemorrhoids: painful dilation of blood vessels in the anus
Varicose Vein: swollen, twisted, & sometimes painful veins that have filled with an abnormal collection of  blood.

The problem is, when no one talks about it no one gets help.  You can go to a doctor & they can tell you to buy OTC treatments.  Or you can have surgery.  The surgery has plenty of risks involved & is pretty painful I must say.  (I haven't had it, but for those that don't know, I'm a nurse & have known plenty of people who have had it)

When I do have someone brave enough to ask me (because I'm a nurse) what to do for these things I am always happy.  I am happy because I do know of an OTC natural product that is extremely effective.  Hubby & I even had a friend of our family who suffered for YEARS & was finally told they had to have surgery.  They called hubby (knowing that hubby & I are into natural treatments) & we shared this with the person & a couple of weeks later they called back & couldn't thank us enough. 

Based on the feedback I've gotten from several people you don't have to take it forever, but you should take it for a little while after symptoms disappear.  And then sometimes you need to take it again, like a year or two later.  But for the most part the problem is healed completely. 

I cannot recommend this highly enough.  I hope this will help some people who can't bring themselves to ask for help or don't know who to ask.

The Duggars

This seems to have become a hot topic recently.  But I find it very odd, I must say.

Until VERY recently I had never heard of this family.  One day recently I received the new copy of Mom Sense magazine (a leftover from my MOPS scholarship last year) & it featured the Duggar family, with an interview with Michelle Duggar.

Now I guess they have a reality TV show, but I must say that I've never seen it.  I truly rarely watch TV & am not even aware of such a show existing. 

Just in case someone else out there has never heard of this family & is reading this they are a family with 19 kids & now pregnant with #20.

When I read the interview with Michelle I was fascinated.  Now I will say that I have no desire whatsoever to have that large of a family.  But at the same time I was very impressed with them.  The next day or so I showed the magazine to my hubby & at first he was saying it wasn't normal, etc.  But then I stopped him & started sharing my view on it & he stopped & listened & found that he totally agreed with me.  But he still had to make it known that he also has no desire to have that large of a family, LOL.  I have to say that it's a good thing that we're both on the same page when it comes to that, LOL.

The very next day as I'm browsing Facebook I see LOTS of people bad=mouthing the Duggars because they announced the pregnancy with child #20.  I was so shocked.  At first I just ignored the comments people were making.  But later on I went back & responded, as politely as I could. 

In all honesty, some of the comments were REALLY out of line, talking about her body parts & sex life.  Just rude & crude put=downs.  The Bible commands that we don't speak badly about ANYONE.  And such things as this are truly no one's business, it's their personal life.  Of course there are people arguing that since they put themselves on TV that they've actually ASKED for the criticism & judgment.  Once again, that is totally Biblically incorrect. 

As for me, here's the way I see it: This family is not on welfare (I am actually very curious what the husband does for a living to support such a large family) or other assistance.  They are Christians, sending out many to spread the gospel.  The kids are all very well behaved. 

I've seen several people saying that they can't have enough one on time with their kids.  First of all I don't think it's anyone's business.  Someone could have only one or two kids & not have enought one on one time, that doesn't dictate whether or not they can or should have kids or how many kids.

And I've seen people criticizing that the older siblings are helping out.  I see nothing wrong with this.  Being part of a family is all about team work.  And what a great way to teach that & incorporate that.  And then those older siblings are so much more prepared once they have their own kids.  I've seen some say that they should be allowed to "just be a teenager" during those years.  I really disagree & don't like the whole modern day "teenager" deal.  First of all it isn't Biblical & secondly it's teaching selfishness rather than teamwork within the family unit.

I must also add that I've known several people from large families (not 20 kids large, but still large).  There is a very different dynamic in a large family, it just isn't the same as the typical sized family.  But that doesn't make it wrong or that it shouldn't be done.  And not one of the people I've known has said that they hated being part of a large family, they all LOVE it.

So that's my opinion on that topic.  A good NaBloPoMo topic if I do say so myself.  :)

Toddlers

So today I went to visit my mom & sister in law.  I haven't been to my mom's house in quite a while.  I was pretty excited to go.  And Lil J has been well behaved lately, for the most part.  I think on some level you just get used to toddler misbehavior & it starts to seem fairly well behaved even though to an outsider it doesn't look well behaved AT ALL.  But he hasn't done anything extremely bad for quite a while now.  So I was hopeful that all would go well.

Sigh........

It's not that he did anything horrible, but he was pretty roudy.  When we first got there he was being a shy guy & wanted me right by his side, but soon enough he was ready to be Mr. Roudy.  Why is it that he can play nicely here at home, but when I go to someone else's house he gets all crazy & roudy & has to be touching everything & grabbing everything & trying to play with everything.

It's so exhausting. 

On a positive note I guess all that roudiness wore him out cuz he fell asleep on the drive home.  So now I at least get a little break.  I honestly can't recall the last time he actually took a nap.

I would love to know if other toddlers do the same thing.

Unthankfulness

Far too many of us are guilty of the sin of unthankfulness.

God, in His great mercy & love, reached out to us & gave us spiritual life (Eph 2:1-5).  He forgave us our sins through the death of His Son & covered us with the spotless righteousness of Jesus Himself.

Yet how often do we give thanks for our slavaton?  And if you have given thanks, was it in a mere nomimal way, much like some people give thanks at a meal, or was it an expression of heartfelt gratitude for what God has done for you in Christ?

The truth is, our whole lives should be lives of continual thanksgiving.  Every breath we draw is a gift from God.  Everything we are & everything we have is a gift from Him.

Beware lest you say in your heart, "My power & the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth".  You shall remeber the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.

Do you ever physcially or mentally go through your house, look at your furnishings & various items of home decoration, & say to God, "Everything in the house & the food in the cupboard & the car (or cars) in the driveway are gifts from You.  Thank You for Your gracious & generous provision"?

When you give thanks at mealtime, is it routine & perfunctory, or is it a heartfelt expression of your gratitude to God for His continual provision of all your physical needs?

Taking for granted all the temporal provisions & spiritual blessings that God has so richly bestowed on us, & so failing to continually give Him thanks, is one of our "acceptable" sins. 

Giving thanks to God is not just a nice thing to do--it is the moral will of God.  And if, as Jesus so clearly stated, loving God with all our heart, soul, & mind is the great & first commandment, then failure to give thanks to God as a habit of life is a violation of the greatest commandment.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul writes, "Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, & their foolish hearts were darkened". 

So their ever-increasing wickedness actually began with their ungodliness (failure to honor God as God).  Unthankfulness is a serious matter.

We may be more guility because as believers we should know better.  Part of our obedience is giving thanks to God always & for everything.

So we should give thanks always & for everything.  We should espeically give thanks when we have experienced an unusual provision from God or deliverance from some difficult circumstance. 

Life is full of events that delay us, inconvencience us, or obstruct or block some plan or ours.  In the midst of these events, we should fight against anxiety & frustration.  But when God does bring relief, or when we see Him deliver us from the possibility of such an event, we should make it a special point to give Him thanks. 

So the question is, "Are we to give God thanks when the circumstances do not turn out as we had hoped?"  The answer is YES, but for a different reason.  In 1 Thes 5:1 Paul writes "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you".

Paul is exhorting us to develp a habit of continual thanksgiving for all the blessings God so graciously pours out on us.

Is Paul asking us to give thanks through gritted teeth by sheer willpower when in our heart of hearts we are truly disappointed?  The answer to the question lies in the promises of God found in Rom 8:28-29 & 38-39.

God directs the outcome of those circumstances for our good.  God intends all our circumstances, both good & bad, especially the bad, to be instruments of sanctification, of growing us more & more into the likeness of Jesus. 

We are to give God thanks that He will use the situation in some way to develop our Christian character.  Nothing, including the situation we are in, can separte us from the love of God.  First, by faith we believe God is using or will use the particular difficulty to conform us more to Jesus.  Second, we have the assurance that even in the midst of the difficulty we are enveloped in God's love.

The giving of thanks in a disappointing or difficult situaton is always to be done by faith in the promises of God.  It is not a matter of doing it by sheer willpower.  If we do that, we are giving thanks with our lips but not with our hears.

We should seek to develop the habit of continually giving thanks to God.  Thank Him for our salvation & for the opportunities we have for spiritual growth & ministry.  Thank Him frequently for the abundance of material blessings He has provided.  By faith thank Him for what He is doing in the circumstances to transform us more & more into the likeness of His Son.

Memorize Eph 5:20 & 1 Thes 5:18

To help us honestly confront the subtle sins we tolerate in our own lives so that we will tend to walk more humbly before God & with respect to the unbelievers tward whom we may be so judgmental.  Prayerfully examine our hearts & lives before God, asking Him to show us our own subtle sins.

God does want to work in you & with you to deal with your sins, but He does so as your Father, not your Judge.





These are excerpts from "Respectable Sins" by Jerry Bridges

Ungodliness

Ungodliness is at the root of all other sins. 

Ungodliness & wickedness are not the same.  In the Bible Paul distinguishes ungodliness from unrighteousness.  Ungodliness describes an attitude toward God, while unrighteousness refers to sinful actions in thought, word, or deed.

Someone can lead a respectable life & still be ungodly in the sense that God is essentially irrelevant in his or her life.  They may even attend church for an hour or so each week but then live the remainder of the week as if God doesn't exist.  They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly.

Now, the sad fact is that many of us who are believers tend to live our daily lives with little or not thought of God.  We may even read our Bibles & pray for a few minutes at the beginning of each day, but then we go out into the day's activities & basically live as though God doesn't exist.  We seldom think of our dependence on God or our responsibility to Him.  We might go for hours with no thought of God at all.  In that sense, we are hardly different from our nice, decent, but unbelieving neighbor. 

James (James 4:13-15) condemns their planning that does not acknowledgte their dependence on God.  We, too, make our plans without recongizing our utter dependence on God to carry them out.

Expressions of ungodliness:
*we make our plans without reognizing our utter dependence on God to carry them out
*we seldom think about the will of God &, for the most part, are content to avoid obvious sins

Do our prayers reflect a concern for God's will & God's glory & a desire that our lives will be pleasing to God?

We are not only to eat to the glory of God, we are to drive to the glory of God, we are to shop to the glory of God, & we are to engage in our social relationships to the glory of God.  Everything we do is to be done to the glory of God.  That is the mark of a godly person.

To do all to the glory of God is a twofold goal.  First, desire that all you do is pleasing to God.  So pray prospectively over the day, asking that the Holy Spirit will so direct thoughts, words, & actions that they will be pleasing to God.  Secondly, desire that all activities of an ordinary day will honor God before other people.  If everone you interact with in the course of an ordinary day knows that you trust in Christ as Savior & Lord, would your words & actions glorify God before them?  Or would you prehaps be like the father of whom one of his children said, "If God is like my father, I want nothing to do with God"?



Do we consciously & prayerfully seek His glory in all we say & do in our most ordinary activites of the day?  Or do we actually go about those activities with little or not thought of God?

Is our meager desire to develop an intimate relationship with God?

A person may be moral & upright, or even busy in Christian service, yet have little or no desire to develop an intimate relationship with God.  This is a mark of ungodliness.

God is the center & focal point of the godly person's life.  A God-centeredness can be developed only in the context of an ever-growing intimate relationship with God. 

No Christian is totally godly.  But how ungodly are we?  How much of our life do we live without any regard for God?  How much of our daily activites do we go through without any reference to God?

It's not that we consciously or deliberately put God out of our minds.  We just ignore Him.  He is seldom in our thoughts.

Think how it would curb our life, for example, if we consciously lived every day in the awareness that all we are, all we have, & all we accomplish is by the grace of God.  "there but for the grace of God go we"  Self-righteous pride, one of the more common of our acceptable sins, is a direct product of our ungodly thinking.

Sins of the tongue, such as gossip, sarcasm, & other unkind words to or about another person, cannot thrive in an awareness that God hears every word we speak.

I believe that all our other acceptable sins can ultimately be traced to this root sin of ungoliness.  To use a tree as an illustration, we can think of all our sins, big & small, growing out of the trunk of pride.  But that which sustains the life of the tree is the root system, in this case the root of ungodliness. 

"Train yourself for godliness" (I Timothy 4:7)  The word "train" comes from the athletic culture of that day & refers to the pracitive athletes went through daily to prepare themselves to compete in their athletic contests.  It implies, among other things, commitment, consistency, & discipline in training.

Prayerfully consider the message of this chapter & honestly ask yourself how much of your life is lived with little or not thought of God.

Identify specific areas of life where you tend to live without regard to God.  Work? Hobbies? Playing or watching sports?  Driving? 

Scriptures to ponder: I Tim 4:7-8, I Cor 10:31, Col 1:9-10 & 3:23, Pslm 42: 1-2; 63:1; 27:4

Above all, pray that God will make you more conscious of the fact that you live every moment of very day under His all-seeing eye.




These are excerpts from "Respectable Sins" by Jerry Bridges

50 things about me

50 Things About Me.


A friend of mine shared this on her blog & I thought it was fun. If you decide to fill them out too, leave a comment here for me so I can check it out.  :)



1# Where were you 3 hours ago? - Cleaning floors & bathrooms



2# Who are you in love with? - My husband. My kids.



3# Have you ever eaten a crayon? - Can't say that I have



4# Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you? - My pink Hummer tshirt I'm wearing



5# When is the last time you went to the mall? - Yesterday.  Funny, I VERY RARELY go there, but we did go yesterday to the Apple store for hubby's phone



6# Are you wearing socks right now? - Yep, it's chilly



7# Do you have a car worth over $2000? - Although I can't tell you it's exact value (hubby sure could, off the top of his head at that) I am quite positive that my Hummer is worth more than that, even with the gas prices the way they are



8# When was the last time you drove out of town? - A week ago Saturday, we took Lil J to the San Diego Zoo for the first time (it's about 2 hours South of us for those who don't know my area)





9# Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days? - Nope. The last movie I saw in the theater was the Book of Eli, whenever that was out.  I remember my stepdaughter saw it & she wanted me & hubby to see it so she babysat Lil J so we could go see it.  Aside from that we haven't been to the movies since way before Lil J was born.  Probably somewhere in 2007 I'd guess.





10# Are you hot? - It's low 70s here today, quite a perfect temperature actually



11# What was the last thing you had to drink? - Water & protein shake



12# What are you wearing right now? - Jeans & a pink Hummer tshirt



13# Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it? - I used to always do it myself, but then I had a baby (takes waaaaay too long to do while keeping baby entertained!), so these days usually my hubby does it, though occasionally we take it to a car wash; it's definitely due for a good detail job though





14# Last food you ate? - my home made nachos



15# Where were you last week at this time? - I think I was out running errands


16# Have you bought any clothing items in the last week? - not for myself, but did buy undershirts & socks for my stepson



17# When was the last time you ran? - this morning, on the treadmill



18# What's the last sporting event you watched? - hubby & stepson are constantly watching boxing so I guess that would be it, although I'm really not a boxing fan



19# What's your fave animal? - whales



20# Your dream vacation? - to return to Sequoia, a place we visited often when I was a kid; I also dream of flying to either Maine or Florida & renting a motorhome & travelling the whole eastern coast.



21# Last person's house you were in? - my own



22# Worst injury you've ever had? - wow, I've had quite a few, but I guess my neck injury from one of my many times I've been rear ended has been the worst because I have to live with the pain every single day for the rest of my life



23# Have you been in love - Yep yep



24# Do you miss anyone right now? - my hubby cuz he's at work



25# Last play you saw? - back in the mid-90s, it's been a while, that's for sure





26# What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex? - I've always vowed to not play games & never have played games.  However, my non-commital hubby sure got interested fast when I started to see someone else, though I surely didn't plan it that way



27# What are you plans for tonight? - nothing aside from the usual family dinner



28# Who is the last person you sent a myspace message or comment to? - I haven't been on MySpace in YEARS



29# Next trip you are going to take? - No clue, I want to take one to Sequoia & I want to take one to Wisconsin, but nothing in the works as of yet



30# Ever go to camp? - Nope, never.



31# Were you an honor roll student in school? - In college I could've been, but I never filled out the application for it, I was only out to impress myself (& God), so why bother



32# What do you want to know about the future? - I don't think I want to know anything about the future, it would just be one more thing to worry about



33# Are you wearing any perfume now? - Nope.



34# Are you due sometime this year for a doctor visit? - I am, yes. But the doc I've been seeing left the practive to be a SAHM & homeschool her kids.  So I'm waiting for them to replace her & then I'll schedule my physical



35# Where is your best friend? - At work



36# How is your best friend? - limping a little, but aside from that doing very well



37# Do you have a tan? - nope, it only leads to wrinkles & possible skin cancer





38# What are you listening to right now? - Lil J playing with his toys



39# Do you collect anything? - I like to collect whale figurines.  When we go somewhere travelling we usually get a magnet &/or coffee mug



40# Who is the biggest gossiper you know? - no clue..........



41# Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over? - Fall 2003 I believe



42# Have you ever drank soda from a straw? - I most certainly have



43# What does your last text message say? - sent: "He sure does!" received: "I'm glad to hear that!  You are very welcome!"



44# Do you like hot sauce? - sometimes, depends on what I'm eating & depends on how my bladder is feeling



45# Last time you took a shower? - this morning after I got off the treadmill



46# Do you need to do laundry? - I'm washing the throw rugs right now.  Tuesday & Wednesday are my usual laundry days these days.  And on Thursday this week I have to do our bedding & stepson's bedding



47# What is your heritage? - My father was German.  To my knowledge my mother is Irish, Dutch, & Native American, but I'm pretty sure there's more in there than that for my mom



48# Are you someone's best friend? - I am.



49# Are you rich? - I pray that I am acquiring wealth in Heaven, that's the only one that matters in the end





50# What were you doing at 12 am last night? - Sound asleep

Directions for Dealing With Sins

To honestly face our subtle sins a quite humbling manner.

While there may be particular helps for certain sins, there are general directions that apply to all our subtle sins.

Steps for dealing with our sins:

1) always address our sin in teh context of the gospel
2) we must learn to rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit
3) while depending on the Holy Spirit, we must at the same time recognize our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sin
4) we must identify specific areas of acceptable sins
5) we should bring to bear specific applicable scriptures to each of our subtle sins
6) we should cultivate the practice of prayer over the sins we tolerate
7) we should involve one or more other believers with us in our struggles against our subtle sins

Remember that your heart is a battleground between the flesh & the Spirit.  The flesh will sometimes get the upper hand.  Your situation may get worse before it gets better.  The Holy Spirit will use these times of disobedience & defeat to help you see how deeply rooted your subtle sins are & how totally dependent you are on His power to help you.

Parental observation

It seems that everywhere I go parents don't want to watch their children.  I've been observing this since before Lil J was even mobile.  I kept wondering about it.  When I ask hubby (who has 2 grown kids already, so he has plenty of experience) he would agree with me & say that he felt it was wrong.

I can remember being at someone's house & no one watching the kids & one of the kids was sharing their desert with the dog!!  (eeecccckkkkk!!!)  It was one bite for the kid & one bite for the dog (yes, the same spoon!) & on & on it went. 

I've been to houses where kids are pushing other kids around (both where it's been done with bad intentions & where it's been done just because the smaller & slower child is in the way, no bad intentions, but still not nice).

Yesterday was Friday.  Every Friday I go to Bible study in the morning at my church & then I take Lil J to a park.  So far I go to a different park each time, seeing what each park has to offer.  So yesterday we went to a park.  There were 2 couples there & 4 kids.  The kids were around 4-7 years old I'd say.  Much bigger than Lil J.  Now ok, maybe they know their own kids & feel comfortable with not watching, just chatting away.  But when someone new shows up I would think they would want to pay more attention.  But no, they just keep on chatting & ignoring their kids.  Now mind you the one kid had a bag of chocolate bunny crackers.  He was offering them to Lil J.  I had to ask him several times to not do that before the father told him to stop.  I explained politely that my son has a lot of food allergies.  However, this kid was burying the crackers in the sand at the park & THEN eating them.  I suppose maybe the parents are ok with this, but I kinda doubt it.  They just aren't paying attention.  After being there an hour I was truly exhausted.  I didn't go there to watch FIVE kids, I went their to watch my kid.  And so I left.

I told Lil J that if the playground at our community club house wasn't crowded we could go & play there for a little while.  When we got there there was no one there.  Later on a woman came with a 6 year old son.  She was the same as me, very attentive to what her son was doing.  Her son was very well behaved & was very considerate of Lil J, being that he's so much younger.  He even played ball with Lil J for a little while.  Thn he moved to the basketball courts with his mom & me & Lil J were alone again for a while & then we headed home.

But I keep wondering why people don't want to watch their kids.  While watching Lil J I am teaching him manners & good behavior & what's right & wrong, especially with other kids.  These are really important things in my opinion.  I'm not at all saying I'm right & others are wrong, but I am wondering WHY they choose to not pay attention to what their kids are doing.

I would love to hear other's thoughts on this.  Comment away folk, please.