An irreverent, inclusive, alternative parenting community
New Year Roll Call!
Alright kids. it's time again for the annual New Year Roll Call. At least, i think it's annual. i recall doing this before a few times.
I'm especially looking at you lurkers. O_O tell us a little about yourself and your family. For us seasoned veterans, let's refresh my memory 'cause it sucks. Tell us how old the kid/kiddos are now. What are the kids into? What is your latest thing? Any big changes coming your way this year? Or if you prefer, tell us something else.
I'm just trying to get this board a little more active. Since so many of us are friends on FB, I feel like OS has gotten a little slow. I miss it here. I check in all the time, but I don't comment enough. I'll work on that.
So, I'll start. I'm mom to 2 boys. The Dictator, who will be 7 in a few days; and RoRo who is 2 and some change. The Dictator is really into Doctor Who right now (and yeah, so am I), puzzles, and activity books. RoRo is all about books, his new play kitchen, and music. specifically, theme songs to Doctor Who, and whatever Star Trek my husband is watching. It's so funny to see him run into the room when the closing credits start and sing along. :)
As far as big changes go, we're going to be 2 years out of bankruptcy come March and so we will attempt to buy a house. The good news is, because my husband is a cop we qualify for the Good Neighbor program through HUD and if approved we will be able to buy a house for 50% of the price if we stay for 3 years. yes, 50%. the housing market is still so depressed here in CA it is possible that we could get a great house with some land for about $200k or less. here's to hoping!!
also, I think I might give quitting smoking another go. it scares me shitless for some reason, but I can't keep this up. I'd like to be around long enough to retire part of the year in Scotland. of course, I'll actually have to have a job to retire from... but that's just a technicality.
ready, set, GO!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kat on -
Hey, I'm Kat. I am a almost-single mom to two boys, They have different dads (the shame!). Older Son, who is from my first marriage to Husband 1, is almost 15, and Younger Son, from Husband 2, is 9 going on 19. I have been separated from an abusive relationship with Husband 2 now for about 18 months I guess, not quite divorced. Older Son has high-functioning autism, so that's an issue sometimes. HE is great, the system sucks and really gets me down sometimes. Younger Son is a handful and his father's parenting (or lack thereof) doesn't help. But he's my angel. In 2012 I'm hoping to be less of a recluse (I used to be really social but then sort of withdrew). This may or may not involve online dating (ugh, the horror). I'm an extreme advocate for both my boys. I Write Letters. I get on my soapbox. I speak up when no one else does. This gets me in a lot of trouble but I think is the right thing to do. I work as a technical editor for a big corporation. Its a good job, but its a grind. Older Son is on swim team, Younger Son is a soccer fanatic. I'm a reluctant Catholic. I knit. I nap too much. I'm a lazy housekeeper. That's me in a nutshell. I used to visit OS a lot, then somehow slipped away a bit.
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Permalink Reply by Herasmus B. Dragon on
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Hey, I'm HBD. I'm an Executive Assistant, and my here-and-there stolen minutes with my online friends are my lifesavers because my job is very stressful. I used to be a band teacher, but had to go elsewhere to make our lives work. Hubby is a composer/conductor/New Music Curator at a Washington DC theater, which allows for a flexible enough schedule to wrangle the kids during the day but throws the evenings and weekends every few weeks into absolute chaos.
Big O will be 10 next month, and she ultra-sensitive, friendly, a math whiz, creative and artistic, immune to peer pressure about anything faddish, doing piano, guitar, and ballet in the evenings. Ebay is 4 1/2, full of Preemie Power! and is taking a lot of our energy right now while we get her therapy for Selective Mutism (an anxiety disorder which renders her virtually unable to speak or otherwise interact with anyone outside of our home). This will continue to be our major hurdle until she begins Kindergarten, probably in the fall of 2013. There are so many hoops to jump through and therapies to research and practices to use and ways to discipline that cause quite a bit of frustrations in our house, but we know it will be worth it when we hear her teachers report that she talked in class! Also, the disorder causes major sleep disturbances for her, which causes major sleep disturbances for us. You'll hear me bitch about this a LOT.
Mostly I just try to get through the day. I pop into OS every couple days or so, where we can talk about things away from our Facebook friends. It's easier to be anonymous here and open up.
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Permalink Reply by ruth on -
I could cut and paste most of Kat's self-summary, except for the two different fathers for my boys (you slut, you) and the reluctant Catholic. I was raised Catholic but never identified with any higher power sort of thing, and have recently come out of the closet as an atheist.
Divorced 9 years, boys are 14 and 11. My older son has Asperger's and my younger son has moderate-severe autism. I'm a speech-language pathologist in early intervention and I LOVE MY JOB, even though I will occasionally complain about the driving or the occasional house with roaches.
OS was truly a savior for me at one point in my life when I felt so isolated I thought I would die. As Andromeda says many of us old-timers migrated to FB but it would be an absolute shame if this board fell apart, and if it stopped attracting new members, because parents who have a little quirk to them need a place to go.
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
As my name implies, I am mighty. Sort of. I'm a SAHM to two kiddos, Little B who is 10, and the Little Miss who is 7.
Life for me consists of holding down the fort for AlphaGeek (who is my workaholic-computer-systems-engineer hubby), wrangling my kids, and managing my chronic liver disease. I'm thinking of starting to learn herbalism, since it's pretty much right up my alley, what with being a filthy hippie.
I would say my kids were normal if I believed such a thing existing. So far we have encountered few really stressful problems with them, so I continue to cross my fingers and hope it stays that way. B is now at a level of math where I can no longer help him with his homework. He can finish a 400 page book in a week. He gets himself out of bed and gets ready for school in the morning without any prompting from me. But he still calls me 'mommy'. Aw. Little Miss is flakier than breakfast cereal at home, but apparently morphs into a completely different child at school, and performs as expected for her age range. She's not as good at certain subjects as B, but she handles a fork and knife better, and learned to tie her shoes, just by watching B struggle with it. She was born in the Year of the Monkey, and it shows.
As for myself, I like to play violent video games, bake bread, and have severe allergies to pretty much everything I live near (I'm a north-to-south transplant). Sadly, 98% of my friends live in different states, making my OS and facebook the easiest access I have to being social.
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Permalink Reply by MamatothaMax on -
Hi I'm MTTM. My husband is SailortothaMama (though he rarely visits OS anymore). We have four kids. Four!
Mojo is 9.5 and loves Dr.Who, riding his bike, and reading everything he can get his hands on. He was diagnosed ADHD a few years ago and it's been a struggle but things are much better now for everyone.
Max is 6 (can you believe he was just 18 mo when I joined OS?!) He is my character. He loves Godzilla and all his friends, he is the neighborhood social butterfly and everyone knows his name, and he loves going to the beach (we live in Norfolk where my husband's ship is stationed.)
Finn will be 2 on the 22nd of this month. He is my man of few words. He is an imp who loves cars and dancing and books.
Rosie is 8 months old. Yep I have two babies 16 months apart. (not planned but hey) Rosie is into whatever Finn is into really. She plays with cars and chews on stuff. She's a very chatty, smiley baby.
I am a doula in training. My certification should be done in April, I'm so hooked and love love love my job.
OS has been there for me through the good and the bad these past years. When my husband joined the Navy, I graduated from college, through the fertility problems we had and all the heartbreak of our miscarriage, and with the joy and surprise of the births of Rosie and Finn, and through my sister drama, and changing my career.
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Permalink Reply by ks on -
Hi, I'm ks. I teach introductory physics and astronomy at a medium-sized state university and I'm working on my PhD in science education. I also have two kids, 2 cats, a husband, and a house. I joined up with OS pretty close to the beginning, so I've been here for a good, long while. I like to cook and bake, and I read cheesy historical romance novels when I have time (which I don't very often, what with work and school and kids).
N will be 10 next month and he's my little nerd. He's in 5th grade, he does kempo (his next belt will be black), plays piano, and just started cello in September. He loves all things science, especially space related, and he can put my intro astronomy students to shame with some of the stuff he knows. He loves to read and begs me regularly to let him stay up late with a book. He's also a complete smart-ass and hilarious, but a little bit shy with new people. And he still will cuddle with me, so long as none of his little friends are looking.
A is 6 and is very much a drama queen. He's in first grade and drives his poor teacher crazy because he has some issues with daydreaming and staying focused. He isn't as good academically as his brother, but he's working at grade level and he's a total charmer and is loved by just about everybody who knows him. He also loves to dance and act silly, so long as he doesn't think he's being watched, and he just got his purple belt in kempo and is very proud of himself. He's also very sensitive and has some mild anxiety issues that drive me a little bit crazy, since I have very little patience for that sort of thing (I'm very much a suck it up kind of mom), but we're figuring it out and making it work.
My cats are Zoe and Tigger. Zoe is 12, fat, and an attention whore who thinks she's a dog. She's my avatar pic here. Tigger is 15 and a grumpy old man. He just recently got put on thyroid meds, so Mr. S and I have to deal with the joy of feeding a pill to a bitchy cat twice a day. But he's Mr. S's baby, so I guess that's just how it is going to be.
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on -
I have been in OS - what - three years now? I am married - happily again, I might add, as I move through therapy and realize that the cause of my problems is constantly in my mirror. Anyway, I'm the father of two boys, now 13 and 11. Both clearly know more than I do about everything, and they can barey contain their frustration at having to live under my roof with my pre-cambrian rules. FWIW I am 46 and my wife is 48. We still identify as Jewish and are raising our kids as such, but there are some days when I just want to chuck the whole thing. But then, I say, where would I go?
I love my entire, and my sometimes dramatic over-the-top rants should not be construed as anything but working through difficult feelings. The unwritten assumption is going to be that I want to work through difficult spots rather than run and cut bait. Not that an occasional break wouldn't be nice. Both kids are in middle school now, and going through big changes. My older son is smarter than he thinks he is, but needs to get his act together a bit. Both have strong emotional integrity. They can express themselves clearly, and refuse to be manipulated. Sometimes, I find this stubborn and frustrating, but usually I respect them afterwards.
My goal this year is to learn new ways to talk and listen to the kids, and to soften the culture in my house. Although the males in the house don't mind being blunt with one another, it does lead to a household that is too argumentative. My other goal is to learn to pay attention to what is going on, and not project my fears onto a situation. Despite this being 2012, it's not the end of the world.
My own dad was already remarried when I was 13, the age of my oldest son. In fact, he had already had a new baby for two years. So, I have no model for successful fatherhood through the teenage years. My own dad, hardly a deadbeat, was conscientious & attentive during our visits. But it's still very different than 7-day a week fatherhood. He didn't have to put up with me seven days a week!
I met some of you while my wife was in surgery for a tumor. She so far is showing no signs of remission, although some aspects of our lives are permanently changed. She can't do all the things she used to do,and we have to be cautious of her physical limits sometimes. But I'm grateful she's alive and her personality is basically the same as when I met her (adjusting for new experiences, of course). She had a rough couple of years after the surgery, owing to two separate layoffs that shook her confidence in the career lifestyle. Nonetheless, she is employed again full time, although in a new specialty.
And I can't make the "She needs X like she needs a hole in her head" figure of speech anymore. I don't make a huge secret of my identity, except that I don't want employers mining my posts or making a connection with my other web activities.
I'm also in a new position, after a frightening power play being used against me in my old one, but that's another story. I work two miles from my house, so I'm very lucky.
This roll call has been helpful, as I have sometimes forgotten the connection between people's OS names and FB names. Part of getting old I guess. Good thing I have FB to remember my entire social life for me. It will come in handy when I'm an old man with Alzheimer's.
While I'm at it:
Older one: Name=D - primary interest is everything sports, and still plays soccer actively. Outside of soccer, he's glued to either ESPN or sports simulations on the XBox.Younger: Name=A - primarily interest is animals and the natural world. Small and light; he likes to climb anything, anywhere, and he hates competitive sports.
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Permalink Reply by bap2 on
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I joined OS when I was pregnant with my first son, who is now going to be 4 years old this month.
Me: I am a middle school teacher at a private school. I've taught all manner of subjects, and I hope to continue this for many years to come (that remains to be seen with my current health issues). I have been married for nearly 7 years to my husband who works in information security (computer stuff, don't worry about it).
Son 1: He's certainly had an interesting life. He's always been right on that cusp of needing several accommodations (speech, occupational, physical therapy), but eventually manages to make it right to the middle of the pack. My husband worries about ADHD, but he's 4, time will tell. The one thing that is spooky is his memorization skills. That little nut remembers *everything* I've ever read or said. Which means you can't skip lines in books if you've read them before, or you can't tell him he can do something then forget. I'm not sure you can make a life around that.
Son 2: He'll be 9 months old next week. What's to say? He crawls, eats finger foods, and does generally things 9 month olds do. I guess expectations on your second child are *much* less:).
I just want the boys to make it through this year in daycare without too many more sick days (I can ill afford it) and just continue on their merry way. However, I have recently relapsed with my IBS. I realize it's an "imaginary" condition that is mostly due to "my mind." (At least that's what I get told *constantly*) But it doesn't help that I can barely leave the house save for work, and then maybe not even that much longer. This happened 10 years ago--but I don't remember what I did exactly to make it go away! I won't bore you with the bitter details, but I fear life as I know it may very well be over soon. We shall see.
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Permalink Reply by wookie on -
I've been with OS for at least 4 years, maybe longer. I'm a Canadian web programmer/analyst/minion with 1 dog, 3 kids (9, 6 and 3) and was born under the star "may you live in interesting times".
I'm married (usually happily, sometimes grumpily), eat more and exercise less than I should, and am really appalled at this grey hair that is starting to be really prevalent in my hair. I am not admitting to how old I am or how long it's been since I was a student.
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Permalink Reply by bethany on -
I joined OS when I was pregnant with my first child who just turned 3.
I'm Bethany; mom to three: Danielle (Dani) 3, Victoria (Tori) 20 mos., and Thomas (Tommy) 4.5 months. I have my own law practice and my husband is a police lieutenant who works nights so he can be home during the day with the kiddos. Mass chaos here. Less active on OS these days because I'm too busy changing diapers and trying to get some sleep!
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Permalink Reply by rommie on -
Hi, I'm Rommie. I would've been Andromeda, but someone else had already taken it. (poke, poke, thwack!) I joined OS back in...what, '07? '08?...when I was getting rather frantic after having tried unsuccessfully for over a year to get pregnant. Eventually, I had my Mini-Moose (not so "mini" anymore) in October 2009. I studied biology in school and love genetics, but I ended up working as an engineering technician so I wouldn't have a 2+ hour commute. My husband's a mechanical engineer, and while he's a great guy, he refuses to move. We live in the middle of nowhere; there are few opportunities and I don't really have any friends locally. It's one of my ongoing complaints. I stay at home with the kid now and have since I was laid off when he was 7 months old. I've never met a field of science I didn't like, and I enjoy sci-fi/fantasy, books, Christian hardcore music, living history (primarily 14th-century England), and gardening. Also, I like parantheses, maybe a little too much.
Mini-moose is 2 now. He's an adorable, affectionate kid. He also has severe food allergies, though he's already outgrown most of the minor ones. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and have taught myself to cook, though I still prefer to bake. Moose likes to help, though it tends to make a big mess, which is bad since I'm the world's crappiest housekeeper. He eats more than your average grown man, but he's skinny as a rail like his daddy. He loves trains, cars, and has lately gone on a helicopter (appacoppa!) kick. He also loves babies and animals, which makes him sound like a politician, but not one of the sleazy ones. He doesn't have enough hair yet to slick back properly for that. Unfortunately, he's allergic to cats and dogs, so we're hoping he's not allergic to any future kids that come along.
The Engineer is my husband. We've been married 6 years, and while sometimes I wonder what I was thinking (giving up my dream school to move back to a town I hate for a guy?), I don't regret it for a moment. He plays every instrument known to man, and when I met him, he was playing keyboard with a band. Yeah, I was a roadie turned groupie who married at 19. It's not as bad as it sounds. At least my offspring knows how to play air guitar and headbang.
That's us. I like this place. It's comfy, people get my Firefly references, and no one throws rotten fruit at me.
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Permalink Reply by Andromeda on -
If I recall Rommie, I joined very shortly before you. and i think it had to be back in '07. yeah, because D was about 2. so kinda sorry about already having your handle. but it just goes to show how great of friends we could be IRL. :)
rommie said:Hi, I'm Rommie. I would've been Andromeda, but someone else had already taken it. (poke, poke, thwack!)
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