Beverly Hills 90210...My Guilty Pleasure

I've been watching reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 for about six months now and have really been enjoying them. Every Tuesday four episodes are played on the Pop channel and I've recorded each one to watch as I have time. The show originally aired from 1990-2000, and I watched the first part of the series first-hand. In the fall of 1990 I was in sixth grade, so was 11 years old. Watching these episodes now as an adult I can't believe that I watched them as a kid! Of course, I probably was told not to watch them by my Mom, but who wants to listen to what Mom says?!

The episodes are quite comical now watching as an adult. Each episode, especially those in the latter half of the series, seems to focus on a social issue that was popular at the time. And very cutting-edge, I'd imagine. Topics such as...unprotected sex, teen pregnancy, underage drinking, suicide, gambling, drinking and driving, date rape, date rape drugs, animal rights, racial conflicts, cutting, affairs, cheating as in on partners and on school work, pornography, gay marriage, gay couples adopting babies, body image, divorce, AIDS...you get the picture! In a way you could think of some of the episodes as an R-rated version of an after school special. R-rated because of all the sleeping around on the show! It's amazing how easily the characters swapped partners with each other!

It's also amazing all the things the characters had been through at their young ages. Take Dylan McKay for example. When the series began, I believe Dylan was 16 years old. He was 16 and living on his own, as in living completely by himself in a very well-furnished house and drove a Porshe. He was also a recovering alcoholic. At age 16......I guess I need to remember the series is set in Beverly Hills, California, and perhaps some people do have a lifestyle like that.

I've enjoyed watching the series even with all the cheesy storylines and horrible acting, and will be sad when it starts over at season one. I don't think I'll watch the episodes again so will need to find some other blast from my past to watch.

Perspective From The Eyes Of A Thirteen-Year-Old Boy

I've written two blog posts about something funny my nephew, Trevor, said. You can read about them here. Trevor is now 13 and going to be in eighth grade this fall. We were at Gumma and Poppy's last week and he was there, too. When it came time for lunch Gumma said he could get whatever he wanted from Sonic. He was excited about this and said he wanted a grilled cheese. He was also very quick to add that he was 13 now so didn't need to get the grilled cheese from the kid's menu, but rather from the adult menu.

This was funny to me! I remember being little and eating something from the kid's menu but wanting to eat from the adult menu instead, especially around age 11 and 12. It's kind of funny how that goes because now I wish I could order from the kid's menu for my meals. The portions are smaller and usually leave me full and they are also cheaper!

Stay tuned for more perspectives from Trevor!

Parenting Fail Part 2

I've written about a Mommy Fail and a Parenting Fail before and now I have another Parenting Fail to write about. This one is actually funny, but so sad as far as Lucy is concerned.

Lucy loves to watch Daniel Tiger shows on the PBS channel. Daniel Tiger is "an American-Canadian animated children's television series produced by The Fred Rogers Company, 9 Story Media Group and Out of the Blue Enterprises. It debuted on most PBS stations on September 3, 2012. The program, which is targeted at preschool-aged children, is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the long-running children's television series created and hosted by Fred Rogers."

Lucy usually watches Daniel Tiger in the morning while eating breakfast or getting ready to go for the day. She's really enjoyed it and knows all the characters and even some of the episodes very well. She likes to pretend play like Daniel does. It's a great "teaching" show and each episode has a lesson so I don't mind her watching it. The show has a red trolley that takes everyone around the neighborhood and Lucy really likes the trolley. She even has her own toy trolley and a plush Daniel Tiger doll to play with.

One morning we needed to head out the door to the gym and I was having trouble getting Lucy to the van. She was just not cooperating so I had the great idea, so I thought at the time, to pretend like our van was the trolley from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. I figured for sure that would get her excited to leave. 

So I told her that we needed to go get in the trolley so it could take us to the gym. Ross was still home and he heard me say this and played along, too. I didn't realize at the time how literal two-year-olds are! As I carried her out to the van and put her into her seat, all the while talking about getting in the trolley, she started crying and tried to look out to the street for the trolley. It was then that I realized her little two-year-old brain believed that we would be getting on the actual trolley from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

Oh I felt so bad about this! I never thought that she would think the real trolley was coming for us! I felt so bad about this that I let her watch a DVD in the van for the five-minute car ride to the gym. We only let her watch a DVD in the van when we're going on a long trip, which isn't very often, so I hoped that this would make up for my trolley mistake.

Ross and I felt so bad about this, but we had (and continue to have) a good laugh about her sweet innocence and belief that we would be riding the trolley. I love the age she is at right now, but from now on, I will think twice about the things I tell her making sure she understands it's make believe and not real!

The Man On The Flying Trapeze

For the past 1 1/2 years we've been listening to nursery rhymes while driving in the car. Lucy loves listening to them and has gotten pretty good at singing them, too. I actually find myself singing along with the cd and even know which song is coming up next.

One of my favorite songs we listen to is "The Man On The Flying Trapeze." It took me a few times of hearing it before I actually listened to the words and then I got a great laugh out of it. I still laugh at the song when it comes on. It is just so funny that I had to share it with you!

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease
The daring young man on the flying trapeze
His movements are graceful, the girls he does please
That man on the flying trapeze.

One night as he swung on the flying trapeze
He covered his mouth as he started to sneeze
And then without warning he suddenly fell
And now there's no story to tell

They buried the man on the flying trapeze
The clowns and the elephants, how they did grieve
They told of his daring, the tears did abound
Cause you can't swing when you're underground
 

Back To Reality, Again

One night last week while taking the trash out I momentarily felt like I was stepping into the most perfect summer evening. It had been raining earlier that day but had cleared off to be a pretty nice night. The sun was almost completely set and it just felt like summer. I started thinking about how nice it would be for Ross and I to sit on our deck together and enjoy the perfect summer night. I also remembered the times we had done that (before kids) with our friends. Fun times, fun memories.

But it didn't last long. I was completely and very quickly removed from my oh so sweet walk down memory lane and soaking up the summertime evening and brought back to reality when I opened up the trash can. But how can one not be brought back to reality when throwing away dirty diapers and getting a whiff of all the other dirty diapers that had been sitting in the trash can, in the hot summer sun, for the past week?

So I threw my trash out and laughed to myself at how much my life has changed over the past two years and went back inside to put my two-year-old and four-month-old to bed. And such is parenthood.