If it aint broke why keep changing it??

Since my son was born I have come to learn that many things are done differently than when I was a child. Most of the time I would do what I felt was best for my child, even if the Dr said otherwise. There have, however been a few times where I did what the Dr suggested just simply because I was not sure how I felt about my way v their way.  I know that I am 20 years older than Booger and things do change over the years, but the amount of changes has always seemed crazy to me. Boogers main pediatrician is mine from 18mo-16yr so when I don't agree with one of her colleagues I ask what she feels and she almost always goes old school. She is partially retired and I will most likely cry when she completely retires, I just need her to wait until Booger thinks he is too old for a 'baby' Dr.

CHANGE NUMBER ONE: Putting a small amount of baby cereal in the formula to help fill the baby up so they are not taking a bottle every hour as opposed to the typical 2 hours. 
When I was little this was something my mom did with me and my brother. We were both well over 10lbs at birth and were HUNGRY. So she would cut the nipple hole a little bigger, but a very small amount of baby cereal in the formula and feed us. It would keep us full longer and made up happy babies. While Booger was a healthy 8.9lbs compared to my almost 11lbs he had a healthy appetite and it took quite a bit to make his tummy happy. So I did what my mom did with me and my brother. While at a 3mo check up my sons Dr (not his primary one) over heard me talking about it to my mom and about chewed my head off. Something about how I was going to hurt his immune system, make him allergic to everything under the sun, and his stomach couldn't handle it. Of course after talking to his primary pediatrician she told me I was fine with what I was doing and her colleagues are younger and follow the newer practices.

CHANGE NUMBER TWO: Feeding more than one type of baby food in a day.
When me and my brother were little my mom would give us a variety of baby food. For lunch we would have one thing, dinner would be another, so on and so forth. Which is what I did with Booger. His favorites were the nasty smelling green ones, but he LOVED his fruits as well. So when I fed him he would typically get half a jar of gross green (made the diaper look amazing by the way) and half a jar of the fruits. Sometimes he would still be full so he would top off with some formula. Pediatrician (younger ones) were not happy with this either. Again, I was risking my child growing up with severe food allergies. Really? Every child before 2000-whatever was fed like that and they turned out fine.

CHANGE NUMBER THREE: Spanking and time outs
When I was younger it was nothing to see a kid who was acting like a asshat get a swat on the ass, get stuck nose first into the nearest corner, or told to go eat soap when the swore. Now if you do something like that you are abusing your child and everyone who witnesses it will call 241-kids and tell the world that you are a horrible parents because you actually teach your kid that being a jerk or not listening or cursing to your parents face has consequences. Is it any wonder why some children today are total buttholes? Now I read about how being a helicopter parents is a positive thing and instead of grounding your child or giving them a time out you are supposed to smother them with love because that is the only way your child will know you love them and not grow up emotionally scared because they were punished. Bet your butt when I swore in front of my mom I was given the option of bar soap or liquid soap-- you want liquid btw because bar will totally stick to your teeth no matter would much you try to rinse your mouth out. I got time out more times than I can count. My ass got busted numerous times. I don't feel unloved, I am not emotionally scared, I deserved that shizz man! Booger gets grounded, he gets a quick swat when absolutely needed. Thankfully he gets upset enough with himself when he curses that I don't need to do anything about that.

CHANGE NUMBER FOUR: Using dots and dashes to do math
I don't have much to say about this except why is my 8 year old still being taught to do addition and subtraction with dots and dashes? To figure out 20+16 I see dots and dashes all over the paper instead of writing it with the 20 on top and 16 below it. If I try to help him with his math and write it that way he goes "That's not how we do it, I can't write it like that!" Um ok!

CHANGE NUMBER FIVE: Kids under the age of 14 with cell phones.
In the 90s when I wanted to know if my friend was busy or wanted to play I would GO TO THEIR HOUSE AND ASK THEM or call them from a landline. Now I am seeing kids as young as 6 with their own cell phone! Seriously? You child has that huge of a social life and that busy of a calender to need their own personal phone? I get it if you are in a split family and you want to make sure your child can call you in a serious situation but why do they need one other than that? Booger has been asking for a phone since he was 5 and my answer is always "When you are 14, have a a social life where you are gone with friends most of the time, and can help with enough chores around the house to pay for it. Plus you better have straight As" The ONLY way he gets a phone before that is if he ever spends more time with his dad so I can call him because his dad ignores me when he is with Booger. Then when he is with me the phone gets put up till he is with his dad again.

CHANGE NUMBER SIX: Addiction to the internet.
My house didn't have the internet until I was 13. When we did finally get it I was only allowed to use it to help with homework. I didn't get a MySpace until I was 17 and I didn't have Facebook until I was 23. Now its almost impossible to meet a child who doesn't spend a great deal of time on a computer, smart phone, or tablet. Booger is almost 9 and plays WoW (World of Warcraft for those not in the know) and Minecraft. When he gets grounded and loses computer time he acts like the world is over. He knows how to do internet searches better than I do and I have 16 years experience over his little behind. There have been so many time where I have witnessed someone under the age of 24 being asked a question they should know the answer to and they have to look it up before they can answer. I had a full encyclopedia set not Google. The internet is breeding zombie children and so many people act like it is completely normal! At the first sign of Booger turning into a zombie I am throwing away all computers and will just have to do all my homework while I am at school!

I miss (and don't miss some of) the small things

There are some things that I miss from when Booger was younger, as many parents do. I always thought my parents were full of it when they said me and my brother were growing up to quick, but now that I am a mom I completely understand where my parents were coming from. In just 47 short days (yes I said short because it will go so fast) Booger will be 9 years old. NINE!! Omg! He will be 9! He will be in 4th grade in August, he is 6 years away from being old enough to get his learner permit. I am not ready for this!
So here is a list of things I miss from him being a witty bitty baby and a few things I dont!

1. When Booger was an itty bitty widdle baby my favorite thing was to have him in bed with me when I took a nap. There were times when he was so tired he couldn't sleep and we made a game. Well, it was a game for him (at three months old) and just adorable for me! I noticed that every time I would blink Booger would blink. He would watch my face so intently and copy everything I was doing. So I would blink, he would blink, then as it went on I would keep my eyes closed a bit longer each time I blinked. After about 3 minutes Booger would be out like a light. It relaxed him so much that by the time he would hold his eyes closed for a couple seconds he would just fall asleep. I really miss being able to do that with him!
2. First time he crawled.. for reals.. When he started crawling he was around 4 months old, he started early. But it was more of a bunny hop than an actual crawl. He would get on his hands and knees then maneuver his hands as far in from of him as her could then rock back and forth. After a few seconds of rocking back and forth he would get this look of determination on his face then shoot his knees forward as fast as he could. He would get this little grin on his face, try one more time, then poop out. This only lasted for about 3 weeks then he figured out how to crawl crawl and that was all it took. He was ALL OVER the house! Then he proved that he is as impatient as me because within another few weeks he was lifting himself up and trying to walk hanging onto things.
3. His first steps. Like crawling he started a bit early. He was walking on his own around 7 1/2 or 8 months. He started at 5 1/2 months with holding onto furniture and making it two to four steps then falling on his butt. Instead of crying when he fell on his butt he would give the biggest belly laugh, look at you like "that was not cool," then get back up and try again. He upgraded from that to pushing his walker through the house and walking behind it, then walking next to it while holding on with one hand, to taking 6 steps without holding onto anything. He refused to give up and within a week and a half he was trying to run. Once Booger could walk at a brisk, chubby legged, stomping, pigeon toed, pace he was all over the house and always trying to get outside to run in the grass.
4. Thankfully my brother didn't get his way with Boogers first word! From the time that Booger went from incoherent babbling to trying to make words my brother spent a lot of time trying to get 'boobies' to be Boogers first word. Every time he walked past Booger my brother would go-- "Say 'boobies'! You know you want to say 'boobies'! 'boooobbiiieeessss' 'boobies'! That never caught on, thank God! I would love to say that his first word was "Mommy" or even "Daddy" for that matter, even though his dad wouldn't have deserved it at that point. Sadly, though, Booger's first word was "no" and let me tell you.. he said it A LOT! No matter what you asked him, 'no.' No matter what you said to him, 'no.' You want to play outside-no. You want chocolate until you can't see straight-no. Do you love mommy-no. Are you funny-no. Why does your butt smell so bad when I just changed your diaper-no. Sumbitch! I just stubbed my toe on your swing-no. I heard no from him so much I was dreaming about the word 'no' dancing around my head.
5. Potty training was not much of a struggle, but Booger had no interest in it at all! He hated the fold-able seat I had for when we were out, he hated the plush seat to go over the big seat, he hated the little potties you set on the floor. However, even though he hated them he would sit on them. He had no interest in pushing his pee-pee down and would pee on the front of the seat. He got better at it and would tell us when he had to go, he would sit and make sure his pee went IN the potty and not ON it. He was able to wear big boy pants during the day, but needed a pull-up at night because he slept so deeply he wouldn't wake up when he needed to go. I remember when he was around 3 1/2 his dads, best friends, son's mother (try saying that 5 times fast) was watching Booger, since we lived across the street from her she was our babysitter for a little bit, and on day he was just over there playing with her 5 year old son. As I am sitting outside I see him come walking across he street (very little traffic, maybe 5 cars in 30 minutes, and me or the other mom was always outside watching when he crossed) and he comes right up to me, looks me dead in the eyes, and says "I pee like big boy now! I not sit no more!" That was all it took, he peed standing up and never wet the bed at night again after that.
6. I remember his first day of Pre-K like it was yesterday. He got to ride what he called "big boy bus" to Head Start. He was only gone for 4 hours, but it felt like forever when he was only 3 and 4. He would get on a bus, I would help strap him into the belts, give him a kiss, and watch the bus pull away with my baby praying he would come home safe. Booger LOVED it! He thought he was so big and grown up because he was on a bus. His last year of Pre-K he asked the driver to teach him how to put the belts on so he could do it himself. He told her "only babies need help wiff deez (that is how he said it)! He has always loved school and I think the positive start with Pre-K is the reason for that. Whenever he had problems with another kid his teacher was always there to help him. Booger would actually get mad on the weekends because he wouldn't have school. Any day he didn't have school he was a big grump. He still likes school but not like he did back then.

Then there are a few of the things I do NOT miss from when he was little!

1. Over night feedings! Who actually enjoys going to bed around 9 then waking up at 12am, 2am, 4am, 6am, then 8am?  I loved holding him while he ate, and rocking him back to sleep, but I am not the easiest to wake up, by far! I got lucky, if you want to see it that way, with the fact that I was only 19 when I got pregnant with him and living at home. My dad worked the late shift and would be home from work by 4am and up till 6am on his off days. So on the nights where I was having a hard time functioning he would feed Booger and get him back to sleep for me. 
2. Screaming for no reason at all. Nothing is more pleasant to hear than a young child screaming bloody murder while their face turns red just because they are bored or not getting what they want. Happy he grew out of that one quick!
3. Exorcist poop! Yeah I said it! There was one day where I had him in his crib, I put the side all the way down to change his diaper, and the SECOND I took his diaper off a stream of poo came out with such force it hit the wall on the other side of the room 10' away! Not only that, I had a nice trail going straight down my leg! I screamed, to keep from puking, and when my dad came in I just yelled "He pooped on me!" and my dad burst out laughing, to the point where I thought he was going to fall on the floor. Booger never peed on me, but he pooped on me quite a bit!
4. A child getting shots is never an easy thing, unless you are lucky and have an easy going child. I am was not, and still am not, that lucky. For as long as I can remember Booger would freak out the second the nurse walked in with needles for his shots. When he was younger it was easy, I put him on my lap and held his arm/leg still while he got his shot. But the child felt the need to keep getting bigger which made it harder. At almost 9 years old he still freaks and I have to take my dad or his dad with me on shot day. It takes either dad or papaw, depending on who is with us, holding his legs down, me holding his arms down while trying to get him to focus on me, one nurse holding the arm that is getting the shot down along with me for reinforcement, and the nurse giving the shot trying to give him his shot as quick as possible without hurting him. Shots have never bothered me, I am not afraid of needles, and I will watch when I get a shot/tattoo/IV and used to give myself my allergy shots. It breaks my heart when its time for Booger to get a shot because I just know that he thinks I am the most horrible person in the world for letting people scare/hurt him like that!

I know as he gets older there will be more things that I miss and don't miss as well as more things that I can't wait to experience. I just wish he could slow it down a little bit! I am not even 30 yet and feel like I am raising a pre-teen already!