Trick or Treat

I haven't really liked Halloween in my adult life.  I LOVE Thanksgiving.  I LOVE Christmas.  I love holidays where you cook and families come together and you give thanks.  I don't like dressing up. And, I will eat whatever candy is in the house so there is no reason to have it here and Halloween brings lots of candy.

I haven't been a fan of Halloween since I was a child and I am not even sure that I liked it then.  When Jackson was born, I think everyone expected us to put him in a costume for whatever reason and take him someplace or at least take his picture. He was 3 months old for his first Halloween.  We didn't dress him up.  We just didn't feel that it was necessary and where would we have gone with him?

Last year, he was 15 months old.  Nope.  We still didn't dress him up.  He wasn't allowed any candy at that time and again, we didn't see any reason to dress him up and parade him around.

This year was a little different.  I had a change of heart.  I researched costumes and the least intrusive outfit that I could find was a Thomas the Train outfit.  Basically, a shirt and a cute hat.  He wore the hat for 45 seconds.  Total.  He actually wore the shirt for our entire trip to the Zoo and for the first part of our train ride last weekend.  I am pretty sure he didn't wear it at all for school trick or treating.

Now, we have a ridiculous amount of candy in our house and I have a toddler who has taken to swinging his pumpkin around while yelling "TRICK OR TREAT!"  He now asks for candy every hour.  Awesome.

Jackson's allergy to peanuts makes the whole trick or treating thing a little more complicated for us.  We have to read every single label and we must remove any item stating that it was made with peanuts, may contain peanuts, processed in a plant with peanuts, generally around peanuts, or if the people making the product have ever seen peanuts.  You get the idea.  The allergy rules out about 80% of the candy he has picked up.

Now, Jason and I have ample candy supply.  And, we have had fun seeing what kind of candy Jackson likes. He doesn't really like anything chewy.  He isn't a big fan of taffy or candy that is similar.  Of course, Hershey's chocolate bars and M&M's don't have a warnings on the labels and he really, really likes those.  He likes suckers.  He ate two candy corns yesterday.

I had fun this year.  Halloween wasn't bad at all.  I will admit that Boo at the Zoo was fun.  Really fun.  The Eerie Express was a great time.  Jackson had fun and Jason and I had fun with him.  So, Halloween can be about togetherness.  It can be about a family going out together for Trick or Treating and sharing memories.  Just one question, can we please just give out apples or fruit next year?

Unsolicited Stranger Advice

It was bound to happen.  I have a child so at some point, some stranger was going to tell me how to raise my kid.  After 2 years and 3 months, this past Saturday was that point in time.

Back story starts with waking Jackson up at 6:45 am.  That is at least an hour before he gets up normally.  We went to Pigeon Forge so I could run a race.  While I raced, he and Jason raced through the halls of the high school, across the parking lot, down the road, and back countless times.

If he wasn't overstimulated enough, we took him to the kiddie ride place where he rode the train, the swings, and Thomas.  He was now past his nap time but he was also hungry and so were we.  We asked him what he wanted to eat and as usual, he replied, "Mac and Cheese."

We stopped at the Cracker Barrel.  The food is fast and there is a lot that will keep a toddler occupied.  We were called to be seated almost immediately.  Jackson was not pumped to sit in the high chair.  He started crying and kicking and was not at all happy.  Wouldn't you be mad?  Think about being tired and hungry with someone trying to strap you into a chair?  At least he doesn't know any foul words yet....

At this point, everyone in the Cracker Barrel had turned their heads to take a look.

To soothe him, I asked Jason to give him the paci.  For everyone that just gasped, yes, he still uses his pacifier for sleeping only.  Judge if you want but if this is the worst thing we do as parents then I will take it!  The only reason it was with us was because we intended for him to sleep in the car on the way home.  Each morning, he immediately puts the paci in the play kitchen (his place to hold it this week) and he gets it back only when it is time to sleep.  He does the same thing for nap time at home and the same rules apply at pre-school.  As soon as he wakes up, the paci goes into the back pack.

Back to the story...he immediately calmed down.  He started coloring and playing and everyone in the restaurant could eat in peace.

Seconds later, a lady diagonal from me motioned for me to come over.  Of course I looked around and she she shook her head yes indicating that she wanted to talk to me.  She promptly told me that her daughter had used the "Binky Fairy" and that she had great success weaning her granddaughter from the paci using the ol' Binky Fairy.  She said that we should maybe consider trying the same thing since he seemed so attached to the binky.

For those of you who know me, you know that I am hardly ever at a loss for words.  Ever.  In those 15 seconds before I spoke, I wasn't really sure how to proceed.  Dump her tea on her?  Probably not appropriate.  Talk to her like I used to talk to line cooks in my restaurant days?  Again, probably not appropriate. I thanked her for her advice and told her that he was tired and that we gave him the paci so that everyone else in the restaurant could enjoy their food.  I smiled and walked back to the table.  I tried not to make disgusting faces at her while telling Jason what had just happened.

Seriously?  It was bound to happen at some point and now, it has happened.  Ironically, all of the people who have heard the story have had their own advice on how to handle someone like this!

If you ever get the urge to tell a stranger how to raise their child, just don't do it.  They are not going to thank you and mean it.  My kid is not your grand kid.  My kid isn't your kid.  If I am lucky enough to have another kid someday, that kid isn't going to be Jackson.  Very simple.

Did she mean well?  Probably.  But, If I want your advice strange lady, I will ask you for it.

Today's lesson:  Watch out for strangers who want to talk to you...........which makes me turn that around and into the old saying, "Never talk to strangers."   Hmmm.

Why are you in such a hurry?

Why are you in such a hurry?  Why didn't you leave your house 10 minutes earlier?  Are you really that much more important than every other human out this morning/afternoon/evening?  Do you not have any respect for those around you?  You realize that the vehicle you are driving is a big piece of machinery that could very well kill you and everyone else around you?

These are things that I ask myself daily in the car.  I read somewhere a few weeks ago that Knoxville is ranked high for safe driving and if I had been taking a sip of anything to drink then I would have spit it across the room.  Drivers here are terrible.  Nope, we aren't Atlanta but we do have some pretty hostile drivers that always seem to be running late and in a hurry to get where they are going.

I found out two days last week that I should not drive during morning rush hour.  Ever.  Trying to merge onto I-640 from Western Avenue is apparently the most insulting thing a person could do to all of those other people already on I-640.  And, once you actually merge onto I-640, getting into the far left lane to go downtown is a nightmare.  People hate you for that.  I don't understand.  If you are in the middle lane then what is so wrong with letting someone pass in front of you to make their way to the left lane?  Obviously no one works in downtown Knoxville anymore and they are all heading to West Knoxville.  Who knew?

I work from home so I am fortunate enough not to have to fight the rush hour traffic with everyone else every day.  If I did, then I would probably have really high blood pressure and would be close to stroke or heart attack even though I am a really healthy person.

Today is Sunday, after a fun afternoon at Mead's Quarry walking the choo choo tracks and throwing rocks into the water, we headed home to make dinner.  At 6 pm, we had a guy almost hit us from behind so that he could get in the left turn lane where the light was red and he wasn't going anywhere fast.  Then, there was a dude in such a hurry that he was weaving in and out of traffic on a four lane road and proceeded to cut off two cars only to find himself having to let a motorcyle in front of him when the lanes merged from four to two.  Then, he proceeds to tailgate the guy on the motorcyle.  So, I had to ask out loud, "where the heck is this guy going in such a hurry on a Sunday at 6 pm?"  Really?  Where was he going?

Why is everyone in such a hurry?  Can't you leave 10 minutes prior to whatever time you left?  Did I miss the part where every road in Knoxville is actually the Indy 500 track and we should all drive like a bunch of maniacs?

I certainly am not the best driver in the world but if I see you coming and you are weaving in and out of traffic then I am going to let you roll on because I am not that important and whoever I am meeting will understand if I am 5 minutes late.  I was taught that early is on time.  Simple.  I always leave early and 90+ percent of the time, I am going to be early or right on time to appointments, meetings, etc.  If I am late, it is because of something that I could not control but I don't stress and drive like a crazy person.  I apologize for being late and move right along with the task at hand. 

Maybe everyone could just take a deep breath and try to be gracious to one another on the roads.  It may not save the worlds problems but heck it may save some lives and definitely save some folks from blood pressure medicine/