Wordless Wednesday

Monday night soapbox: It takes a village…

I’m a big believer in the “It takes a Village” parenting philosophy. Even if you’re not a Hilary fan, it’s hard to argue that kids are not influenced heavily by the people around them – both those with whom they have familial ties and those they interact with on a regular basis outside of the family bonds.

I know I am a product of lots of great influences in my life – a group of older couples who became surrogate grandparents to me, the adults in my neighborhood, my teachers, my youth pastors. I can think back and name dozens of people that shaped the person (good and bad parts) that I am now.

That’s why I’m thankful for the relationships my kids have with people outside of our family. It’s great that we have so many family members close by (a relatively rare case for a Vegas family), but we’re dually blessed to have lots of friends around to be positive role models for our kids.

We’re also really blessed to have a great group of teachers guiding our kids each day at school. Every once in awhile, I get grief from a well-meaning SAHM friend or two who inadvertently gives me the “I don’t know how you can let someone else raise your kids” guilt trip – or at least tries to.

Sorry. I don’t take that guilt trip.

Here’s how I see it. It’s a big world. Homer and my perspectives and opinions are just two sets in a giant pool of ideas that our kids can draw from as they grow up. We want them to go to school with people who aren’t like us. We want them to go to school with kids who don’t look like them. We want them to go to school and be different and learn that it’s okay and that they can learn from others instead of being afraid or judgmental of those differences.

Are we going to let them loose to wander aimlessly through the forest of confusion? No. Are we going to let them get caught up in some sort of wacko cult because we’re taking a laissez-faire approach? Of course not. With these influences will come critical thinking skills. You can appreciate other perspectives and cultures without adopting them as your own.

So, if you’re a member of our “village,” thanks for keeping your “hut” nearby.

Vegas Mom Myths – Nip Tuck?

One of the most hilarious myths about Vegas moms is that we all have plastic surgery as soon as we pop our kids out. While, I would agree that it does seem easier to get an appointment with a plastic surgeon than an OB/GYN in Vegas these days, I would say that 95% of the moms I know are silicone-free.

Granted, after two kids, the thought of a mommy job sounds somewhat tempting – not because Homer wants me to – but just for my own self-image. Who wants to hear parodies of childhood silly songs tailored to your body parts? (see below)

It’s frightening to know that the private publishing world has anticipated my need to explain my potential boob inflation and tummy tuck with this literary gem.

Coming home to Horton and Homer

I’ve been at a professional conference for the last few days. Homer picked me up from the airport, where I was told that instead of taking a nap this afternoon, Boo had decided to crack open the Tinkerbell makeup that she got last Christmas. Needless to say, Homer arrived on the scene after the damage was done. Rather than cleaning her up, he decided to leave her in full makeup for the trip to the airport. I was greeted by a sleeping (with full fly-catching, mouth openness) version of this. I had anticipated Boo being a bit strung out by my absence. She often gets a bit wound when one of us is away and her routines are shifted a bit for solo parent sanity. So, I had made plans to take her and my mom and Homer’s mom to dinner and a movie tonight. As it turned out, my planning was a bit off, so we missed dinner and made our meal of popcorn at the show. We saw Horton Hears a Who. It was a cute movie. Fabulous voices. Incredible animation. A neat adaptation of one of our family’s favorite books. That said, there were a few moments that, as a parent made me cringe. Here they are. I’ll try not to spoil the ending.

1. The head of the town council calls the Mayor a “boob” and it becomes a regular dialogue banter point throughout the film. As if the poop and butt cracks (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist) jokes in my life weren’t enough fun. Now I’m going to get get boob jokes. Thanks Jim Carrey. You’re a peach.

2. The Mayor’s harrowing trip to the dentist will leave any slightly dental-phobic child in complete terror over their next cleaning.

3.The Wickersham brothers strategic use of bananas as weapons. If my child so much as puts a banana near her armpit, she’s in big trouble.

4. I can’t wait for Boo to tell me she wants to eat rainbows for breakfast and poop butterflies.

5. I will never listen to a Journey song quite the same again. And I thought it was just the Simpsons and South Park who could ruin music for me.

Consider yourself warned. Enjoy the movie.

Best Vegas (and Brooklyn) Pizza

Back in 2002, Homer and I traveled to the Big Apple as a part of the post 9-11 tourism recovery campaign, While we were strolling about the Statue of Liberty (which was on lockdown due to security issues), we wrangled a park ranger into giving us her recommendation for good cheap eats in the city. She was quick to recommend Grimaldi’s – a great mom and pop place with coal-fired ovens underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (on the Brooklyn side – not in the water, silly).

A few days later, we made our way over there and had a great lunch with Mayor Bloomberg (he was actually a few tables away with his full security detail). The pizza was fabulous – homemade sauces, great crust and fresh ingredients. We’ve been talking about it for years since.

A few months ago, one of Homer’s colleagues alerted us to the fact the Grimaldi family was opening up a shop in the Vegas area. We couldn’t believe it. Could it be the same place? Why in the world would they come here?

The answer to that question is still a bit of a mystery, but we’re awfully glad they did. We met some friends there last week for a date night and we were thrilled that this was the same great pizza we had years ago.

The R-J’s Heidi Knapp Rinella wrote a review in today’s edition sharing our love for the taste. Apparently the service left her with a bad taste in her mouth.

We had a great waiter on our visit. George recommended the pesto pizza with sausage, roasted peppers, ricotta, and mozzarella. I took him up on it – only in a personal size. We each ordered custom creations and none of us were disappointed and, after tasting each other’s pies, George’s special won.

I highly recommend Grimaldi’s for a casual date night, or even a night out with the kids. Boo and Doodle would be enthralled by watching the kitchen crew toss dough back and forth. Fortunately, we live across town, otherwise I’d double my body mass in a month!