Shanna’s Family Dinner That Turned Berserk – Ep. 303

Shanna

Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, Loose Ends, where we find out, am I still doing Botox? And is Augie still having lots of meltdowns? We wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 303. We like the sound of that number. Hi, Laura. Hello, Shanna. Hi. How are you all doing? What is the hot goss in your household this week?

Laura

Well, this week I have two little check-ins, just some things that have been going on around the house. The first one's with Sebastian, my three-year-old, who about two weeks ago potty trained, if you recall.

Shanna

Yes, very exciting.

Laura

Yes, it was very exciting. And it went fairly smoothly at the beginning, not a lot of misses or accidents. So I was very grateful for that. So as everyone knows, potty training isn't really a one and done situation. It's an ongoing process, sort of a gradual move away from diapers. So I wanted to give a bit of an update for everyone.

Shanna

Sorry if you hear some sounds in the background. Steve's moving furniture around in the other room at the moment, I think. Oh, OK.

Laura

It's a choice. It's a choice while we're recording, Steve. Our producer is moving furniture while we record everyone.

Shanna

Well, you know what? I'll get to that in my check-in.

Laura

Interesting. Okay. So anyway, potty training update. Here we go. It's going great. I have to say we are having a great run with the potty training. And I just wanted to say that like at the beginning, we were doing a lot of reminding, a lot of sort of regular visits to the potty, a lot of like, Oh, don't you want to go potty? Like, let's give it a try. Let's just like sit and give it a try, that sort of thing.

Shanna

Right.

Laura

But I'm happy to say that two and a half to three weeks later, he is now self initiating so much more. And it's really cool to watch. It's been really fun to watch the progress of it because I feel like the first time around with Augie, well, we had like two, you know, quote unquote potty trained back before Sebastian was born and then it regressed and it was like this whole thing and then The second time around, I don't know if you'd even call that potty training because he had already once been potty trained. You know what I mean? It was not as clear of a situation. So this time I've been paying a lot more attention and it's been very cool to see how it's progressed from him needing more support, more scaffolding to very quickly getting to the point where he's able to recognize, oh, I need to go, you know, within just a couple of weeks for him. And I think it's different for every kid.

Shanna

Oh, okay. A little premature pop up from the potty.

Laura

Yeah, it's this thing where I'm like, Why don't we count to three? After we're done, let's practice counting to three because there have been a couple incidents. Thankfully, most of them were with pee, although there was one with poop where he thought he was done and he stood up and there was just a little extra coming out. He'd be like, uh-oh, I miss. I'm like, well, yeah, you just stood up too fast, kiddo. Let's cool it. So that is something we are working on. But otherwise, we're doing great with potty training. That's good. Is he night trained? You know what? We are still putting him in diapers because we feel like it's too early to completely take them away. But this child, he's actually been waking up dry for like a year, Shanna. Oh my gosh.

Shanna

So we're not jumping the gun on that Good point good point You know one thing our pediatrician said is that it also has to do with biology like the literal size of their bladder like a child for smaller bladder Just takes longer to do that kind of thing which reminds me Laura when you and I hang out Now, I'm peeing constantly. You don't. And I'm always envious of whatever you've got going on in your bladder. I think you've passed it on to your kids and they can hold it all night.

Laura

Must be. I have always been known for my large bladder capacity. My best friend growing up, Danielle, she had a tiny bladder and they'd have to pee every five minutes on like road trips and stuff. And they'd be like, Laura, don't you have to pee? I'm like, oh, I'm fine. And then, you know, I go to the bathroom and it's like five solid minutes of pee.

Shanna

Man, I want like a surgery to enhance the size of my bladder so that can be my life. I'm sick of pee constantly.

Laura

You know, some of us are blessed. Hashtag blessed. I guess I have passed it on because these kids can pee. Shut up. Like, oh my god.

Shanna

Ooh, okay.

Laura

Yes, that's it for me this week. I want to know, Shanna, what's been going on with you this week?

Shanna

Well, Laura, it was a pretty uneventful week for us, and I didn't even know if I was going to how much to talk about. A little something happened last night, and that has led to Steve and I spending hours cleaning a fine layer of soot off of everything in our home. No, what happened? Okay. Last night, it was a cold, rainy night. I'm sure it was in your neighborhood too. No, it's so weird. It was sunny and hot down here. Just kidding.

Laura

Yes. It's been chilly, like legit chilly.

Shanna

Yeah, very cold. So we were eating dinner at the end of the day and we've got our gas fireplace going and everything is like nice and cozy. You know, our dining room table is kind of close to our fireplace. You know the layout of our house, right?

Laura

I do. So like for people who don't, meaning most everyone listening. You walk into your front door and there's like a sort of semi open concept, like living room with your fireplace. And then off to the left is your dining area with your dining table.

Shanna

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So as the kids dinner and we're sitting with them and eating, dinner's coming to an end. The girls are so jazzed up because it's a rainy day. They're so excited. And I'm like trying to get them to calm down. I'm like, girls, calm down. Let's calm down. You know, we're going to get to bed soon. Let's calm it down. We have one breath of calming things down when suddenly the fire in the fireplace, which is a gas fireplace surges, it goes, it sizzles, the flames grow, it hisses, and we

Laura

Oh my God, please tell me that your wise cams were running or whatever, please.

Shanna

No, I was like, oh my God, Steve, all the times I would show you had the wise cam up in the layer. So I am gobsmacked watching. I'm freaking out, I'm screaming, right? But also I'm watching these birds in disarray lying around my house, careening off of walls, leaving skid marks from all of the soot and char on their bodies. And I was like, oh my god, what's happening right now? And Steve, he's like, it's OK, everybody. The birds are just going to find their way outside. Here, I'll open the front door. They'll just fly out. And it is pure chaos. I am watching birds dive bomb into shelves and just like land lifeless. I'm like panicking because now all the doors open. I'm like, oh my God, where's Jasmine? And Cece is screaming. And so I'm like, OK, OK, let's take care of the child and make sure the cat is OK. So I pick up Cece and I'm comforting her and I'm like, honey, It's okay.

Laura

Meanwhile, Jasmine is jealous AF. Jasmine is like, this would be the most fun ever. Let me in there so I can get these birds. Exactly, right?

Shanna

Like, this is why I was meant to come live in this house. Here I am, the evil mom. Like, no, no, no. So we're in my office nice and safe and I hear Elle scream from the other side of the house and the family. Help, help, I'm trapped. And so I'm like, oh my God, Elle, come in here with us, come in here with us. And I open the door to the bathroom and there's like my office and I can go into the bathroom and that bathroom goes through to the kitchen, okay? So I open the bathroom door and then I peek my head out into the kitchen. I'm holding CECE and I'm like, Elle, come in here with us. And I glance in the kitchen and there are like 14, burned birds flapping ferociously trying to get out of the window in my kitchen. It's like one of those, I don't know, picture window things that I put plants in right. And they are flapping up against there.

Laura

Always the filmmaker, being like, oh my gosh, I wish I had had this on film. Better pictures.

Shanna

Okay, I just sent you the picture that Steve took of the bird. One of the birds.

Laura

Okay, aw, it is so little. Okay, I'm sending this to my brother right now. I just looked at his find my friend's location and he's home, so hopefully he can respond. shortly. If anyone knows, it'll be him.

Shanna

Okay. I'm curious to hear. Oh my gosh. Okay. So I'm telling the girls like why I think birds like came into our house at dinner time. And we managed to kind of calm down and like read to the girls, like get them in bed. They're both nervous. Like Elle doesn't want to turn the light off and sleep, you know, but I convinced them that like there's no birds on the side of the house and that the birds are okay. They're just scared and that they're trapped and that daddy's helping them. Like I'm just imagining he's I don't know, got magazines and like fluttering them out the doors. I honestly, I don't know. I don't know what he's up to out there.

Laura

I'm just envisioning the squirrel scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the squirrel comes in on the Christmas tree and they're like chasing it around the house. That's all I can think about.

Shanna

Oh my God. So crazy. So I get them in bed and I go out there and Steve comes out of the kitchen with his bird in his hands and opens the door and like opens his palms and it's like it flies away. He's like, oh my gosh, I cut like 20 birds. He's been catching them by hand with gloves on and releasing them out into the wild. I look around our house and it is bananas. There is soot and ash and char covering our fireplace, our mantel, the piano, the piano keys, whatever this mass exodus was, it was like an explosion of soot. And plus it was all over their bodies, right? I mean, the number of like these skid marks, I don't even, I gotta go and clean my ceiling now because there's, It's like these burn char marks. There's like a little feather stuck in one of them on my ceiling. They are everywhere. So, oh my god.

Laura

He's amazing. All right. Funkle Jeff came back with the answer right away. Oh my gosh. Yes. Oh, he's typing more. This is what he says. Here's what I said. I said, very simply, I didn't give him the whole story because it's amazing, but it's too long to type. I said, can you ID this bird? Approximately 20 flew into Shanna's house yesterday through the chimney. So it may be soot covered. She lives in the north San Fernando Valley. And he said, that is amazing. So freaking cool. Vox's Swift. And he says they roost in chimneys during migration. The eastern species is very similar and it's called a chimney swift. Likely not soot covered. Well, they were soot covered, but not so they're black anyway, apparently.

Shanna

Oh, okay. I wondered about that because they wore black. Every single one I saw was black, but I was like, my God, could they really have gotten that dirty? So it's a combo, apparently. Okay, so a chimney swift. This is fascinating.

Laura

He says, that's our normal color. Why is this one being handled? I would have to write back. I'll tell you later.

Shanna

Oh my gosh, these poor birds.

Laura

Here's what I'm writing him back. I'm saying I'm recording, but I'll tell you later. Long story. Fireplace was on. Thank you.

Shanna

Oh my gosh. You know, I would love to know from him if they like actually make nests in there or something because I'm actually L had this idea. that maybe the burgeoning of the fire, the, you know, the real increase of fire, maybe it was like the nest catching on fire as opposed to a bird catching on fire, which I thought at first. Oh, you're back. What's up? Did you hurt your thumb? No, you're just sad about something. I know you miss me. Do you want to talk in the microphone and say what you thought about the birds coming in the house? You want to do a little recording? So what happened while we were eating dinner last night?

Speaker 1

They were birds and mama thought they were bats and the fire got bigger and bigger and back.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah. And then what flew out of our fireplace? So much birds. Yeah. And what did we see them doing? Fly. Mm-hmm. Were they flying outside?

Speaker 1

Nope. They were flying inside and somewhere and more were flying inside. Yeah, that's right. Oh my gosh. Was it kind of scary? Yes way. Yeah.

Shanna

You were brave, though, huh?

Speaker 1

Yeah. And the mama saw one face and it was so cute.

Shanna

Yeah. It was really cute.

Speaker 1

Yeah. It was like as big as a circle.

Shanna

Wow. Yeah. Wow. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. OK, one second, Laura. I'm going to take CeCe back and get her settled with a snack.

Laura

Okay, I'm gonna keep chatting with my brother then. Okay, here's what I'm typing Jeff everyone while we wait for Shanna. I said, I guess the fireplace had been on all day, but suddenly started sparking and fluttering and whatnot. So Shanna quickly turned it off and they saw one bird on the grate, but then when they removed the grate about 20 flooded into the house.

Shanna

Okay, I'm back. She has a rice roller snack thing.

Laura

Nice. Okay, so I've been talking to my brother via text while we've been waiting. And I've asked him a few questions. I gave him a little more info. So I asked him if they nest in chimneys because I thought maybe that's what caused the flare up, right? Like you did.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

And he said, well, first of all, he said, dang, that's insane. I'll share that with my birding friends. This is not a normal thing. He's very into this story, by the way. You might be getting a call. Interesting. OK. And then he said, they nest in hollow tree cavities, not a nest, most likely, just a stopover spot. They're probably just fine if they flew away. And then I told him that we had had really rainy weather. I imagine this is in the evening. And down here, we had huge, really heavy rain that came in all of a sudden in the evening. And to that, he responded, ah, fallout. I'm like, OK, yes, fallout, of course. And here's something interesting. He said, they probably aren't the only ones that experienced this then.

Shanna

Oh my gosh, I should post in my neighborhood mom's group and see if anyone else had this happen.

Laura

You should, but he did reiterate that they'll probably be fine if they flew away. That means that they're just fine. And apparently you experienced something ornithologists would have been very jealous to witness.

Shanna

Yeah, we were screaming our heads off and they would have been there with their pens and pens of paper taking notes.

Laura

Oh my gosh, Shanna, I do feel like you started this check and being like, nothing much happened this week, except this one little thing. It's like, this is a thing you are going to remember and your children and your husband are going to remember for your entire lives.

Shanna

Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Steve was like, this is one of the craziest things that has ever happened. And really, he is such a hero. I have to reiterate, and he's doing so much of the cleaning because there's other things I've had to do, kid stuff and recording and he's like mopping. And that's why he was moving furniture earlier because he's like moving shit around and mopping. And he's just like my hero this week. And always, but especially this week.

Laura

I also have to give Steve credit for thinking to put on gloves. Like I know bird flu is in the news right now. So I guess that was on his mind. I should ask Jeff if they carry bird flu.

Shanna

But yes, that was exactly on his mind.

Laura

And he was a little worried about that. He's I'm sure he's quite fine. I think you have to like kiss the birds. You're fine. I'm sure he's fine. Good. You know what, Steve is also my hero. Amazing to go around the house and gather up these little birds. They really are very small and very cute and get them out of the way. I am so disappointed this is not on video, Shanna. I know. Endlessly, but your description of it makes up for it because that was the funniest story I've heard in a long time. Oh my God. Me and you and our bird stories on BFPA. That's a good point. You just wanted to one up my bird story.

Shanna

No, no, no, no. God, no. I would much rather this have not happened. Although I will say that living room is more clean than it has been in ages.

Laura

Yeah, when's the last time you cleaned the ceiling of the living room?

Shanna

Never. Oh, what a day. What a day. Anyway.

Laura

Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for telling me that story. I also respect your restraint for not telling me about this right away, because if this had happened to me, I would have been texting everyone I know. I'd be like, oh my God.

Shanna

I know. I know. I wanted to save it to tell you on the podcast.

Laura

Amazing. Oh my God. All right. Well, speaking of podcasts, I do think we need to move on to our special segment. What do you think? I think we should.

Shanna

That's right, yep, I think that's what we do.

Laura

So we've gone through, since our last Loose Ends episode was, gosh, before Thanksgiving, I want to say, something like that.

Shanna

Yes, I think episode 285.

Laura

So we've got some catching up to do.

Shanna

We do indeed, so let's get right to it. Laura, I have a question for you. Okay. In episode 286, you talked about having a really fun spontaneous play date, like a group play date at your house where the mom's like prepped for Thanksgiving and the kids played and you talked about how wonderful it was. So I'm very curious if you've had the opportunity to do any more of these types of group play dates.

Laura

Unfortunately we have not this particular group of friends we are trying so hard to get together and we all have such disparate. Schedules that it's been really really tricky but we have gotten together like the moms got together for dinner and drinks. at one point, that was great. Awesome. We've gotten together with like each other individually, I think almost all of them, but we haven't done a group play date. But I did want to talk about this one thing that we have been doing regularly with one of the moms in the group. My friend Kate, her son is in Kinder at the school that Augie goes to and we have been friends since they were both in the same preschool classroom Gosh three years ago, and I absolutely love Kate. She's just awesome and she's so supportive and sweet and just always there for you.

Shanna

Wow, that sounds amazing. I am so jealous. I remember being jealous when I heard about your spontaneous group play date. I was like, oh my God, I want that in my life. And now you tell me about this, and I'm like, oh my God, I want that in my life, too. It just reminds me I need good mom friends in my neighborhood because that's part of the ease of it, right? It's like you live close to each other. It's like easy to pop on over.

Laura

Yeah, we all live within 10, 15 minutes of each other, you know, but in the same close geographic region. I think the benefit of this was the preschool friends, right? Like we all met through the same preschool and people aren't driving too far other way for preschool. So we're all kind of right around each other. And we also got to know each other over a long period of time. You know what I mean? It's not like we started doing this right away. You know, we've all been in the same preschool class, you know, like starting three years ago basically now. So it took, you know, it takes a while to warm up to friendship and get to the point where you can be like, okay, now let's trade day nights. But also the key thing there is that our kids know the other parents.

Shanna

Right. So you're saying I shouldn't put an ad on Facebook marketplace looking for someone to do the swap with.

Laura

I mean, you could, you could do, you could go on Tinder if you want. The folks would be so disappointed. I mean, now that your house is completely soiled by the sooty wings of a thousand swifts, maybe it's time to move down to our area.

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, all right. That's the selling factor, yes.

Laura

All right, so yeah, that was my first loose end, but I've got a question for you, Shanna. Okay. Okay, in the bonus Ask Us Anything episode from December 20th, 2023, you revealed that you were getting Botox for your migraines. And we all want to know, like, are you still doing it? How's it working? Like, what's going on with that botulism toxin in your brain? Not in your brain. That would be a bad idea.

Shanna

Yeah, the needles don't go that deep. Thank goodness. Okay, but have you done it again? It only lasts a couple months, right? It only lasts three months, and then you have to go in and get it done again. They scheduled me for three months to the date. I think people get antsy, like, oh, I need my Botox, you know? So I did. I got a second dose. No, the first time I got it, I think we recorded a couple days after I got it, right? And I was like, oh my gosh, I can't tell anything. My face looks totally the same. And I think a couple of listeners wrote in and were like, well, you might need to wait a few days. Like it kind of takes like 10 days to set in or something. I swear it was like 10 days to the minute. I looked in the mirror and was like, whoa, my face looks weird. It was like, obviously my forehead was like frozen kind of, right?

Laura

And by that math, you basically had a headache all the time.

Shanna

Yeah, kind of. I feel like I really, it's some degree of headache, whether it be mild or severe. Like it was just felt like all the time. So it has helped tremendously. When I do get a headache now, it's more moderate. And when I take medication, it actually helps. Like I am taking Tylenol now when I get a headache. And you know, if you listen to this podcast in the first few episodes, I was like, I hate Tylenol. It doesn't do anything.

Laura

I know Tylenol will never sponsor us because we have slandered it.

Shanna

But I don't know because I'm changing my tune. I love it. My doctor was like, you got to stop taking ibuprofen and naproxen. It's terrible for your stomach because of how much I was taking it. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah.

Laura

I've had to stop taking most NSAIDs as well because of my, I had like weird kidney numbers. And so they said stop taking NSAIDs. I also have heartburn. So yeah, I've kind of switched to Tylenol too. Yeah. So Tylenol, you know, if you're looking for new sponsors, maybe come our way. We've changed our tune. I've changed our tune.

Shanna

The second round was unbelievably expensive for me though because I got my last one in like November and I had already met my out-of-pocket Max because of whatever. So it didn't cost me much. And I got the bill for this one. I was like, holy shit. So I don't know, Laura. I'm like looking forward. I'm like. Gosh, do I keep paying so much for this? I don't know. I don't know. But have you now hit your max? You know what? I think if I pay for this one and then like half of another treatment, then I will. So I guess maybe the rest of them the rest of the year won't be as much. And also Steve recently got his appendix taken out, you know, it burst back in December and he just had a surgery to have it removed. So that's going to increase our out of pocket max as well. So I might be okay for the rest of the year with Botox. Ooh, there you go.

Laura

Yeah, see, yeah, it's like when you have a baby in January or February, like I did, and you did too, and you're like the rest of the year, you're like, I have hit my maximums. I can go to the dermatologist. Yes, I did so many appointments that year after Elle was born. Oh man, right now all of our listeners in any other country are just like, what are you talking about?

Shanna

I know, it is so convoluted. Anyway, so that's my Botox journey. All right, have another question for you. In episode 287, you were talking about how Augie's behavior has been really dysregulated lately, and he's been having some issues at school and at home. And I'm just curious about an update on that and how he's been doing.

Laura

Yeah, I mean, it's been up and down. I think he's a little better in general. I think there's a couple of things we've been doing to try to get ahead of major meltdowns and whatnot, not that you can always preempt them, nor should you, right? The kids have to have their meltdowns every once in a while. But the ones that really just seem to affect his life terribly, we're trying to like at least help him regulate through them. And there's a couple of things that I've been sort of doubling down on. One thing I saw that's been working really well actually is something I can't remember if I saw it on TikTok or what, but it was a mom saying that when her kids have been getting really angry about stuff lately, like turning off the TV or whatever it is that they're angry about, one thing she does is she goes, yeah, you're angry. Okay, let's push it out. Let's push it out.

Shanna

So we've been doing a lot of that. I'm assuming you're not doing this one out in public, like you're at Target. It has not come up in public, no.

Laura

What's interesting is that the public meltdowns have not been there as much, like I can't think of the last time I've had a serious public meltdown with him other than I think the last time I talked about it. You know, the last one I can think of is when we had to carry him out of that birthday party, kicking and screaming, which was what we talked about on that episode, I think. But of course, they're saved for home, which just goes to show like he can do it in a safe space, right? But one thing I've also noticed is that he has this sequin shirt, you know, one of those like two directional sequin shirts. Oh, yeah. And I have noticed that he is in a better mood on the days he wears that shirt. Yeah, it's like a little built-in fidget toy. Precisely, Shanna. I think it's a built-in fidget toy. It allows him to self-soothe.

Shanna

Oh, right. There was just so much commotion and excitement at that time. Yeah. Yeah. So, but thank you for asking. Yeah, I think it has been better. Good. That sounds great. And I love those sequined things too. Stuffed animals, shirt, whatever it is, I'll sit there and go for ages.

Laura

I even see them on TV and have this visceral urge to shoot them. I know.

Shanna

It's so satisfying.

Laura

I was watching Married at First Sight and they had, for whatever reason, a silver sequined tablecloth. And it was clearly one of those two A1s because they had actually brushed against it and messed it up. And I'm watching Mary to First Sight. I'm supposed to be paying attention to this very predictable television show, but I'm distracted because I want to swish the sequence the right direction.

Shanna

That's amazing.

Laura

All right. So speaking of children who have big feelings, in episode 293, you talked about your ongoing issue with Cece being afraid of the dark and how your compromise that you came to one night of putting a sweatshirt over her lamp has turned into an every night thing where you have to put that exact same sweatshirt over that exact same lamp in the exact same way or she can't sleep. And my question is, is that still going on? Is that sweatshirt now completely stretched out to the shape of the lamp? Like what's going on?

Shanna

It definitely took on the shape of the lamp for a bit. I wanted to get beyond this. I don't know. I didn't love having that sweatshirt on there when I would have to go into a room in the middle of the night and lie down with her, which I do occasionally. It was just too bright. And I was like, there's got to be a better solution. Well, I found an old nightlight, which I think used to be L's. It's kind of like this really soft silicone bunny nightlight. It's like hollow in the middle, and it's made of silicone. You can squish it. You can tap it. And it's a nightlight. It has different colors. It can cycle through colors. It's really, really cute. And so my plan was to introduce this to her. And maybe it could be an alternative to the sweatshirt over the lamp. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Good thinking. And, phew, it was, of course, because she thought it was so cute. And she loved it.

Laura

Well, that's good to hear. I have to admit, I was still a little freaked out about like a fire hazard with that, even though you said it was not a light bulb that gets hot. I am a paranoid person who has anxiety. So I'm glad the buddy nightlight has taken over me too.

Shanna

I was I was worried about that too.

Laura

So because, you know, when you said you had soot all over your house, I immediately thought like what caught fire?

Shanna

Oh, yes. Yes. No fire hazards in the Yager house. All right. We have a couple more questions, but I think we should take a quick break and come back with them. What do you think? Oh, good idea.

Laura

Yeah, so he is still in tennis. We signed up for the next session. It was like two six-week sessions, I want to say, but then there were some eight weeks off and it got delayed. So anyway, we're in the middle of the second session. I did get to go to one class at some point. I got to watch like half of it because Sebastian kept running off to the playground and Augie was very distracted by me being there, but it looked like he was enjoying it. So yeah, I mean, he's enjoying it, but he's also kind of reluctant to go. And it's not like he hates it, but I also don't know, like, exactly if it's like his passion at the moment. So we're kind of debating whether to do the next session or not. Right now, we're in a debate over whether we do the next session or we sign him up for parkour classes.

Shanna

Parkour sounds up his alley, and it's amazing that they have that class for five-year-olds.

Laura

This place I found in Atwater Village has parkour classes for 12 months and up. I have no idea what you do in a 12-month-old parkour class, but I'd like to see it. I'd like to see it.

Shanna

Can you toss your baby against a padded wall?

Laura

Oh my God, I need to see this. That's amazing. The parkour classes are significantly more expensive than the tennis classes though, so I don't know. We'll see. But yeah, he's still in tennis, and we'll see if we take a break or not. OK. OK, so one more question for you, Shanna, from the same episode, 293. You talked about how CeCe was helping you make dinner and how it was like a nice bonding moment for you, too. Is that still going on? Is she still into cooking with mama?

Shanna

surprisingly she is she really loves it she not every night but quite often she'll say can I help with dinner don't start without me she really loves picking like the vegetables to eat she really loves like peeling things and chopping and. She has even come around to saying that when she grows up, she wants to be a chef. And I'm just like, wow, that's really cool. So I'm trying to include her, incorporate her more into that. And like I mentioned on that previous episode, it's kind of nice because I'm teaching her the things and she's really receptive to it and stuff. But yeah, it's really been kind of blowing my mind that she's continued an interest in that. That's so cool.

Laura

Augie does come and help me in the kitchen here and there, but not every night. That's for sure.

Shanna

But yeah, that's it. That's just a quick little loose-end tie-up right there. OK, shall we move on to our BFPs and move heads? Oh, I think we should.

Laura

Okay. So this BFP happened in Costco. Everyone knows I love Costco and I'm trying to pass my love of Costco onto the children. I think it's working. You talk about how much they love it. I think it is working. I think so too because this is what happened this week. We went and it was a weekend and it was crowded and busy, but that meant there were a lot of samples available. And we rolled up to the frozen food section and there was someone giving out samples of fish sticks. Love fish sticks. I mean, they're delicious, right? And I turned to the boy and I was like, do you guys want to try fish sticks? And Sebastian was like, yes, yes. And Augie was like, no. I was like, OK, that's totally fair. Like I assumed he would want to try fish sticks because fish, right? It was kind of out of his realm. And then he goes, actually, yes. I'm like, OK, cool. So I go and I grab them.

Shanna

Aw, that's exciting. Does he like to dip them in anything? I always liked a tartar sauce when I was a kid. I know. We got some tartar sauce.

Laura

I like tartar sauce. He's been doing ranch or ketchup, which... Okay, fair enough. That's good. Those are safe for him. So yeah, again. Yum. And it reminds me of this food bridging concept. Have we talked about that? I don't think so. It's a thing that I read about in a book about picky eaters helping your child with extreme picky eating, which by the way is a great book. We'll link to it in the show notes where they talk about how you take a food that's safe. So like say chicken nuggets, right? And you just change one variable. So It's chicken nuggets, but with panko breading. And then you change one more variable. So they like the panko breaded chicken nuggets at that point. Then you change it to fish sticks with panko breading, right?

Shanna

That is very exciting. And the fact that it's just a little stick and not shaped like a dinosaur. I mean, right?

Laura

No shapes, no dinosaur, not shaped like a fish or a dinosaur, just a stick as advertised.

Shanna

Good point, good point. Although, I feel like that could be our next million-dollar idea, Laura, is object-shaped fish sticks for kids.

Laura

I mean, yeah, probably. They've got to exist, right? Come on.

Shanna

I don't know. Maybe.

Laura

Maybe. So yeah, that's my BFP. Love it. Shanna, how about you? Do you have a BFP or a BFN? I have a BFP. Oh, good.

Shanna

Yeah. This week in Elle's homework packet, she had a page that was a writing assignment. And the prompt was, who is the bravest person you know? Describe them. And I saw this page in her homework packet on Monday and just thought of it briefly. And I was like, who in the heck is she going to write about? You know, with kids you just never know. I was like, maybe it might be a Paw Patrol character. I mean, really, I don't have no idea what she's going to write. Come Thursday, I come in after she's wrapped up some homework with daddy. And she's like, mama, do you want to read this? And I was like, yeah, sure. And I pick up her page of who is the bravest person you know and describe them. And I started reading it. And can I read it to you? Yeah, please. OK. All right. The bravest person I know is my mom. Aw. Because she saved me from a fire.

Laura

That is the sweetest thing ever. I kind of saw it coming because I figured you were probably the person she mentioned, you know, otherwise it would have been a BFN. The bravest person I know is my neighbor who hates us.

Shanna

Yes. Well, I took a picture of it, so maybe I'll print it up and frame it. Very sweet. Very sweet. But yeah, that's it for me, and that's it for our show, I think. Listeners, if you have any thoughts, comments, reactions, feedback on this week's episode, you know we would love to hear from you. Laura, where can everyone find us? We are on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at BFP Podcast.

Laura

We also have a website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com. And if you want to send us an email, you can always throw a voice memo in there. We love those. Just send it to contact at BigBatPositivePodcast.com. And finally, if you want to get some exclusive content from me and Shanna, and you want to join the absolute coolest group of people on the entire internet, just search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It is a private group, so you have to request to join. But when you do that, you'll be asked two questions. Please answer those questions so we know you're not a robot. And once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to all the wonderful conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a big, fat, positive week. Bye. Bye.