Banned Bluey Episodes and the Grandmother Hypothesis – Ep. 311

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, Today I Learned, where we explore the questions, why was Bluey banned? And why is your grandma more important than you think? And we wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 311. Hi Laura. I feel like we should sing some 311 songs. Did you remember that band?

Laura

I could not pull up like the melody to a 311 song, but I remember they existed. Yes.

Shanna

Isn't it like all mixed up?

Laura

Was that them? Oh my gosh.

Shanna

We are really aging ourselves here. Sorry about that, friend.

Laura

I just remember thinking I was too cool for them, but definitely humming along to the lyrics, you know?

Shanna

Yeah, they got a lot of radio play, so I think they jumped the shark on coolness, but it was catchy. Anyway, we're not here to talk about an old band. We're here to talk about you and your parenting journey this week. So why don't you give us your check in?

Laura

Okay, so the big news this week is that there's been an update to the parkour situation.

Shanna

Ooh, is it that you joined parkour too, Laura? Have you been bouncing off walls lately?

Laura

No, I can barely bounce off my desk chair when it's the end of the day. Okay, okay. Give us the real update. The real update is that if you recall, a few weeks ago, Augie started his parkour classes, but there wasn't any availability for Sebastian, right? Like they didn't have any openings for his age group. And this made him a very, very sad little three-year-old.

Laura

Parkour! Parkour! He sobbed parkour all the way to and from Costco when Augie was in class. Well, the good news is that this week, Corey got an email saying there was an opening. He's like, we have one hour to accept or reject. I was like, accept, accept!

Shanna

Oh, my God, the stakes.

Laura

Thank goodness you were available. I know. I was like, thank goodness he was checking his email. He does not always check his email. I can vouch for this because I send him emails. And I'm like, did you see the email? He's like, oh, no, I'm not looking. I don't blame him. I don't always check my email either. But so he got the email. We jumped on the class, much like he would jump onto a wall in Parkour. Right. And Sebastian had his very first Parkour class this week.

Shanna

My god, I cannot even imagine how cute this was. Tell me everything. Well, unfortunately, I did not get to see it. Why?

Laura

Because I had a mom's brunch that I was supposed to be going to at the exact same time that had taken me and my mom friends from preschool like six months to coordinate.

Shanna

Okay, okay.

Laura

We got together before Christmas last year and we're like, let's do this every month. And now we just got to do it. So you can see how hard that is to coordinate. So I was like, I can't miss this. But Corey said it was fine. He would take them. The nice thing about the class too is that it's at 10 a.m. and August is at 11. So you can kind of just like do both of them at once. You know, the other kid can kind of either wait around or there's a park on the corner and They don't mind if you leave the kids so you know like you don't have to sit there and watch so it worked out Corey took him he did send videos thankfully and it is extremely cute but what it reminded us all of that we've forgotten was that Sebastian has a fear of heights. He does all buddy it's such an interesting thing to me because it's just highlighting to me.

Shanna

Oh, yes.

Laura

It has one of those play structures that has ramps and stuff that like slowly get you up to the higher levels. And then the it's metal with holes in it, right? So the rainwater can drain and all that good stuff, right? He was happily running around Pirate Park, going up and down the ramps. And then all of a sudden, he froze in his spot, looked down and started shaking and going, Mama, Mama. This has hit him a couple of times. It's so interesting to me because it's not like he doesn't avoid going on to the play structures, but he just like will get gripped with fear when he's up there every once in a while. It's not always. And it's so different from Augie, who like maybe to a fault has never been afraid of heights.

Shanna

Like there's times where I'm like, oh. It's like have some fear, kid. Save yourself.

Laura

Yeah. But it was a good reminder that my kids are different and I need to pay attention to that and remember that.

Shanna

Yes.

Laura

Because, you know, I'm thinking, oh, he's just going to go into parkour class and freaking love it and throw myself against every surface like Augie. And, you know, that wasn't the case.

Shanna

Right. Right. Well, yeah, a similar thing with my girls, right? I signed them both up for tumbling because I was like, oh, my gosh, L is like so high energy and is going to love this and CECE will love it too. And it's like, hmm. Not so much. She was like, kind of bored, checked out, didn't want to go half the time. And it's like, oh, OK, I guess I need to get you your own thing and figure out what you like. Because it makes life easier too when your kids like the same things, right? It's like, I'm kind of working for that. It's like, please, please, please, please. And then it's like, ah, darn it. But yes, we have to respect and honor their differences. And it's awesome that you're paying attention to that.

Laura

Yeah. And the other thing that dawned on me was that a lot of the things I'm seeing that are different in Sebastian than they are in Augie are things that make him more like me. Oh, that's interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it because like I was thinking about it. The sphere of heights, I also have like, it's interesting. I'm not afraid of being up high. I'm afraid of seeing someone else fall from up high. Like if I'm on a high cliff or something, I'm okay, but I'm not okay if someone is in front of me and closer to the edge.

Shanna

That freaks me out. Yeah. Yeah. That is nerve wracking.

Laura

But it all just goes back to the fact that I have, you know, a fair amount of anxiety about things in general. And another thing that I do that's maybe not the best habit is I bite my nails. You know, who also bites his nails now? What? He's biting his nails? Yeah, I realized it because when I was trimming Augie's nails recently, I thought, oh, I should trim Sebastian's nails. And I look at them and I'm like, wait, he doesn't need trimming. And I started paying attention. And I saw he would walk around and he'd just sort of self trim. He's not biting them down to the quick or anything. He's just sort of maintaining them.

Shanna

Yeah, he's grooming, self-grooming. Maybe he learned it from the cats in a way.

Laura

No, 100% he learned it from me and that's why I feel weird and kind of conflicted about it because I'm like, oh, okay, cool. He's like me in a lot of ways, which you think would make you feel warm and fuzzy and like, oh, I understand him. But the things he's like me in are things that maybe I don't love about myself.

Shanna

So how did you address it?

Laura

I haven't yet. I mean, the height the teachers were great about. I saw it on the video. You know, they were helping him on the high things and that that was fine. The rest of the stuff I haven't addressed. I mean, I feel hypocritical saying anything about the nail biting, because what am I supposed to say? Like, you shouldn't bite your nails. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Yeah.

Shanna

I don't know what to say. Let's do as I say, not as I do. Exactly. Yeah, that's tricky.

Laura

Yeah, but it's something that's now on my radar, not just the nail, not the nail biting, whatever. That's not a big deal in life, but the anxiety and just the differences in personality. I'm now sort of honing in on it and seeing what else I observe.

Shanna

Yeah. Well, did he like the parkour class? Does he want to go back?

Laura

Oh, yeah. He loved it. Oh, good. which is really encouraging because I was afraid he was going to be like, oh, it was too scary. But no, he actually really likes the challenge. He likes working through challenge, which is so cool. It's so cool to watch. So yeah, he can't wait to go back. He's super excited. We're going to have a little while where we have parkour and gymnastics class because I, you know, I signed him up for this gymnastics class as a consolation prize for not being able to be in parkour. But like. All these places you have to do a month minimum, right? And give notice for leaving the program. So we're going to have a good month of crossover. So I'm kind of hoping he starts getting bored of the gymnastics class. It's not going to be a hard thing to cut off.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

But yeah, it's fun. And I can't wait to see what kind of parkour he's going to do.

Shanna

Amazing. I love it.

Laura

All right, Shada. So that's it for me this week. What have you been up to this week?

Shanna

All right, Laura, so here is my current parenting dilemma. I feel like I have a moody teenager on my hands already, and it's stressing me out.

Laura

Elle's too young to be a moody teenager. Come on, that can't be starting already.

Shanna

Oh, you're right. You're right. No, no, no, no. It's not Elle. Cece? Nope, nope. It's not even child-related. It's another creature in the house. I'm a parent, too. It's Jasmine. It's my cat, Laura. Oh. Jasmine's a moody teenager. She was your little baby kitty. I know. I know. I don't know. She's like nine months old now, and she's growing up. I guess she's in an adolescent phase, but she's like more aloof. She is... Not as cuddly as she was before. And listen, the whole reason I got a kitten is because I was having baby fever for human babies, right? I was like, I need more babies, but I don't need more babies. So I'll get a kitten, right? And she filled that role perfectly. I do. I love her. She's she's independent. She's beautiful, sleek. I just love her. But she is in a real like pet me with your eyes face.

Laura

Okay, well first of all that that hit me in the heart immediately when you said that because I have this anxiety too that my boys one day are just not gonna want to hug me and cuddle with me and like I know you're not supposed to project these anxieties from the future You're supposed to live in the moment and not worry about it, but I do like I think about oh, but I'm gonna miss their hugs so much And now your cat is making you go through that before you were even going to go through that.

Shanna

Oh, I mean, maybe it was meant to be. Maybe I was meant to get her so she could train me emotionally ahead of time. I don't know.

Laura

Oh, man. I just feel like cats are going to cat, you know? I feel like one of the real hallmarks of catatude is that they do what they want to do and they kind of know exactly what you want and do the opposite.

Shanna

Oh, damn. Yeah, she is so like that.

Laura

She's like, this girl's too needy.

Shanna

Yes, I must be projecting needy vibes. And she is not here for it. The cats I had when I was younger were all over me constantly. And it was like, I was at the point, I was like, get off. I'm trying to do my math homework. So I think back then I was less needy. And the cats were like, whew. And it's the opposite now.

Laura

That said, like, my cats are so needy. They are all over me. I just like made a TikTok. It really went viral. I got like 600 views, Shanna.

Shanna

Oh, I want a lap cat.

Laura

I'm so jealous. It's so hard because you don't know if you're gonna get a lap cat, you know? Yeah. Unless you foster, which is what I did with Magnus, and I knew he was a lap cat. He was a foster fail.

Shanna

Interesting. You know what I've been doing lately when I should be doing other things this week? What? Combing through kitten adoption pages, thinking to myself, the solution here is to get another kitten. Then Jasmine will have a friend and I'll have another snuggle buddy baby. I'm like the rat at the bar, like pushing, right? Like, more babies, more babies.

Laura

Yeah, instead of cocaine, you want more kittens. More kittens.

Shanna

More kittens. More kittens. I don't know. I don't know. Nothing has been done about it yet. But yeah, that's where I am.

Laura

Do you think you have the capacity for another kitten?

Shanna

I don't know. I don't know. I never think with my head on this kind of stuff. It's all heart. It's just like, mama wants snuggles, heartbreaking, because mama needs snuggles. You know, it's not like. Hmm, but I have to have a couple litter boxes and do I have this? No, it's never like that. So I don't know, Laura. I refuse to entertain that question. Here's a question.

Laura

What about fostering?

Shanna

Yeah, maybe that's what I'll do.

Laura

How do you know when you found the right one? I don't know. I mean, how did you know when you found the right one with Steve? You just know, right? Just know.

Shanna

True. It just clicks. All right. Well, maybe that's what I'll do because then I'll definitely get some kitten energy and kitten snuggles in my life, right? Yeah.

Laura

If you foster, you can just have perpetual kittens. They don't grow old on you. They get adopted and you get another kitten.

Shanna

Oh, my gosh. You may have come to the solution that I needed in my life. I love this.

Laura

Now, will you talk to Cory because I really want to foster kittens and he's like, we do not need another stress in our life.

Shanna

And I'm like, but, but. Really? Oh, Cory, come on.

Laura

Let's foster kittens together, Laura. Oh, that'd be so fun. I don't think he's on board. I feel like maybe I have to get on top of like cleaning my existing cats litter box on a more regular basis before he'll agree to adding more critters to the house.

Shanna

Fine. I'll get a robot litter box, right? Doesn't AI do that kind of stuff for us these days?

Laura

Apparently, people like the robot litter boxes. I just do not see my cats using it. They will be the cats who be like, no, thank you. But yeah, thankfully, Corey, who was not responsible for adopting Magnus that was pre-Corey takes care of them very well. So he scoops it when I can't.

Shanna

That's nice. Good job.

Laura

Yes. Well, Shanna, I'm planting the seed because I would very much like to be a kitten enabler on your part. And yeah, you better keep us posted.

Shanna

All right. All right. I'll run this by Steven. I'll keep you updated.

Laura

OK.

Shanna

All right, this is something I actually learned about a few months ago, but I've kind of been saving to talk about. I think a lot of people might know about this already, but I wanna do a little bit of a deeper dive, and I'm curious if you know anything about this, Laura.

Laura

Okay.

Shanna

Okay, you know how Bluey streams on Disney Plus, right?

Laura

Yes, I do. I am very aware of that.

Shanna

Yes. As am I. I've watched hundreds of hours of Bluie on there. There's like 52 episodes. The new one, the sign is almost like a movie. It's so long. It's amazing. I found out that there's one episode of Bluie that Disney will not stream. They have censored this episode of Bluie. It does not appear on their platform. And I am shook.

Laura

Whoa, I think I heard some rumblings about this, but since my kids are new bluey fans, they've only recently started to agree to watch it. Gee, twisting their arm. I don't know anything about it. All I know is that there was something Disney didn't like, but I didn't think it was a whole episode. OK, so immediately all you want to do is watch that episode.

Shanna

Of course, of course, I did exactly that.

Laura

Thank goodness for the internet.

Shanna

Thank goodness. I found out that it's on sale at Apple TV for like $1.99. So I went straight to my TV and bought this episode.

Laura

Okay, so please tell us all about it.

Shanna

So I just got wind that there was a censored, bluey episode. And so I was like, oh, I'm curious. What is it? What's it about? And why is it censored? Can you take a guess what the topic of this episode is that was censored?

Laura

Hmm, if Disney doesn't like it, maybe they are defaming Mickey Mouse, you know? Like, they're saying bad things about Walt Disney. Gotta keep it off the air.

Shanna

Yeah, the episode title is just Bluey Hates Mickey. It's just the whole episode. Fuck Mickey Mouse.

Laura

Okay, that seems to be the topic of our podcast.

Shanna

Sorry. Yeah, so it's about pregnancy and childbirth. Specifically, it's an episode called Dad Baby. And in the episode Bingo, the little sister finds a carrier, you know, like a little infant carrier type thing that she used when she was a baby. And she gives it to her dad, Bandit, aka my crush, my bae. And Bandit puts it on the front of his body and Bingo climbs in to like play around, right? And then it's like, dad pretend that you're pregnant with me. And so the whole episode is Bandit wearing Bingo on his front as if he's pregnant with her. And there's lots of funny pregnancy jokes. He turns around and waxings off tables. And I mean, you know, it's like pregnancy tropes, but it's just cute and funny. Ben, it can't bend over. His back is achy and like chilly. The mom has like given him a hard time for being such a whiner while he's pregnant and whatever, whatever.

Laura

Okay, it's just fascinating to me why like I guess I can extrapolate I guess some reasoning right like maybe this would anger some people. Because it has some vague implications of what transgender issues, like I don't even know. Or like, is it the enactment of a birth is too graphic? Like, did you find out why it's banned?

Shanna

No, no, they haven't made a statement about it. And when I was reading about it before I watched the episode, I was like, oh, gosh, that birth scene must be. graphic, right? Or there must be something offensive about it. And like literally, no, it's a cartoon dog in a swimming pool in the backyard. Like from the side, he's just like, you know, pretending to push and stuff. There's nothing. There is nothing graphic about it. But yes, I think like that kind of gender swapping stuff that has, you know, it's a man pretending to be pregnant might, you know, really ruffle some feathers.

Laura

Happy Pride Month, everyone. Just not on Disney Plus.

Shanna

Oh, and at one point, one of the characters uses the term pregnant people, you know, so.

Laura

We all know how well that goes over. Actually, I have to say, so we use the term pregnant people on this show. We try to use inclusive language as much as possible. It turns out that if you are a pregnant woman, you are also a pregnant person because women are people breaking news. But we haven't gotten any negative feedback about it. And I feel actually really good about that, about our listeners. Like, thank you listeners. This just makes me kind of sad, the whole thing, because it's like, first of all, kids have younger siblings. Kids are around other people. When you're a small child, you're around a lot of pregnant people in general, right? Because that's just the age that all your peers' parents are having kids and stuff. And it's like, this is not a taboo topic. It's just basic human biology. It's so weird that this would be the controversial episode, you know?

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, so apparently I don't know if this is true or not But the rumor mill says that apparently Disney also tried to scrub an episode called family meeting Which is all about farting they call it fluffing in the episode But it's basically like who fluffed and who you know who farted and stuff and But that would meet the cut Laura eventually they were fine with that one.

Laura

I mean farts are funny. We all know that always it's empirically true so

Shanna

But seem that controversial. I agree. You know, I don't know what kind of backlash there was, but what I do know is that about two days after I purchased this episode on Apple TV, the Bluey franchise decided to make it available for free on their YouTube page. So if you want to watch Dad Baby or any of our listeners want to, you can go there and watch it for free. I immediately showed it to my kids, right? As soon as they got home, I was like, hey, guess who found a new episode of Bluey? And they were cracking up. They loved it.

Laura

Yeah. And I'm sure none of them were like, wait, this is so weird. This is messing with my worldview because Bandit's the one being pregnant. Bandit couldn't be. They're just like, they know it's freaking talking dogs. That's also not real. They understand play. Yes. All right. Well, now I know about this, and I do want to go watch it. I'll show it to the kids and see what they think.

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, you should. So yeah, that's my today. I learned, Laura, you're up next. What is your today I learned?

Laura

Okay. So I thought I learned something recently, and then I went down the rabbit hole researching it and realized that I had learned something false. So I'm going to take you on the journey with me.

Shanna

Oh, no. Okay. Well, good on you for doing your research because a lot of people on the internet take things at face value.

Laura

Yes, they do. So my first instinct whenever I learn anything on TikTok, well, my first instinct is to say, oh, cool. And my second instinct is to like verify, right?

Shanna

Okay.

Laura

I would like to know. Yeah. I mean, like, I think a lot of times as people who go through menopause, I think the question is like, why? Right? Like, not so much like, why? What was the- Yes, exactly. What's going on here? But they were trying to understand the academic reason why menopause even happens. Because apparently, we're really unique. Like, other mammals do not go through menopause. And scientists were trying to figure out like why do human women stop menstruating, like have stop ovulating, but then continue to live on for decades, right? If our whole evolutionary purpose is to pass on our DNA, then what's the deal with menopause? Because once a woman is done having kids, in theory, you shouldn't be living another 30 years like that, just taking up resources. And what benefit is there? There must be some kind of evolutionary benefit if that happens, right? Right.

Shanna

Meanwhile, the grandpas are sitting around drinking beers and watching ESPN and not factoring into this equation.

Laura

Well, that is actually one of the main criticisms of this is like, okay, so what about the grandpas? They're still around. And that is one of the cracks in the facade of the grandmother hypothesis. thing that they suggested about the grandfathers is that there's this concept of paternal uncertainty that you can never be sure as a father if your kid is yours, right? Like mothers know that their kids are theirs. And so these people who support the grandmother hypothesis say, Well, it's paternal uncertainty. The grandpa's aren't helping because they don't know if that's their DNA that they're helping, right? So they're not involved, right? But that doesn't really... You're just sort of like, okay, that doesn't really seem like it holds water. And it turns out it does not. Okay, okay.

Shanna

Oh, right, right, right. We did a stomp the mom on this one time. There's one other creature on earth that has periods, right?

Laura

Yeah, I don't even remember what animal it was, but most mammals don't menstruate. So they don't go through menopause because there's nothing to pause, right? There's no bleeding.

Shanna

But aren't they ovulating on a regular basis?

Laura

Well, that's the question, right? Because it's not as easy to test wild animals ovulation. They can test captive animals ovulation, but they're captive and they act differently and they live longer and do all that, you know, or maybe they live less. They don't behave the same so for the longest time it was a matter of like we can't know because there's no way I can't go into this chimpanzee colony and find out whether these female chimps are ovulating like how exactly am I going to do that because there's no external like easy external signs right you have to do actual like blood testing or urine testing or something.

Shanna

Just have a pee on that, what is that stick you use to have your babies? The clear blue. Clear blue, yeah, just give them a clear blue every day.

Laura

Well, actually, apparently that's how a lot of scientists are doing this studying now because they're like running up, like they're waiting for animals to pee and then running up to like collect the pee off the ground.

Shanna

What a job. What a job.

Laura

Go into science. It's very fancy. Yes. But what they have found is that while other mammals don't go through a menopause because they can't because they're not actually menstruating, they do go through something called reproductive senescence, which is they stop ovulating. They have now seen that, yeah, it turns out we're not special or unique like all the mammals for the most part. I don't want to say all but many mammals do it and that means that this whole grandmother hypothesis for like why humans are so different and why grandmas are important. Right. It doesn't mean that grandmas aren't important. It's just not specifically for this reason because all the mammals are doing it.

Shanna

Yeah, exactly. And you know, the thing I can't stop thinking about is we used to live shorter life spans. I mean, way back in the day, it was like we lived to our 40s or whatever. And you know, people are still ovulating at that point. So I don't know who's the grandma's were still ovulating at that point in time.

Laura

Yeah, to think of it as some kind of evolutionary advantage seems misguided. But I will leave you with one thing I learned. I feel like I've heard this term before, so it's possible we've talked about it, but it's been a while. Have you ever heard of the term alo parenting? No. A-L-L-O parenting? So after all this research and going on this journey and thinking the grandmother hypothesis is great and then realizing that it's flawed, I came to the conclusion that aloe parenting, which is defined as the act of parenting a child that's not your own. So a grandmother can aloe parent because it's not their child. An aunt can be an aloe parent. It's kind of this, it takes a village concept, right? That there's it can be an extended parenting group beyond just your two parents. that aloe parenting has a big benefit.

Shanna

Well, Laura, I guess what you need to do is hop on TikTok and make aloe parenting go as a viral as grandma parenting.

Laura

I guess I can. I have a real good track record of making hit TikToks that just go mega viral. So I will add that to my 600 view cat video and just see where it goes. All right. You're changing the world for the better, my friend.

Shanna

We are back and we wrap up every episode with our weekly big fat positives or big fat negatives and Laura, you're up first. So I want to know, give a BFP or a BFN. I have a BFP.

Laura

And it's also Sebastian related. This has been a very Sebastian heavy episode, but he's just so cute. And I just love sharing his cuteness with the world.

Shanna

He is cute.

Laura

He is cute. I don't post a lot of videos of him or photos online. You know, I'm trying to protect his identity a little bit. You know, I'm trying to not overshare on social media, but also I'm like, it's freaking adorable. I need to share. So I need to share this cute thing he's been saying lately. I've noticed that I don't know if your kids did this, but like, He's three, he's three and a quarter at the same point. And he gets on these like repeated ideas. Like he asked me the same questions over and over and over again until he's satisfied. And then he like stops, right? And I'm talking about like over the course of weeks. So one thing he's been doing a lot lately is, Mama, what's your favorite color? What's your favorite color?

Speaker 1

Okay, I can't wait. Oh, a star one. Maybe I got an idea.

Laura

What's your idea?

Speaker 1

Maybe read them by that one.

Laura

Is that your idea? Yeah. A star one. This is Lego Ninjago Sora's Elemental Tech.

Speaker 1

No, I want a different one. Yeah, yes, but actually I got an idea.

Laura

What's your idea?

Speaker 1

Let's play a different one. Okay. Let's play. What about, do you think they have Duplo Ninjagos? No, I don't like new worlds. Why not? I don't like Duplo. Maybe I got an idea. What's your idea? Maybe we should buy a regular one.

Laura

Yeah, I guess they don't make Duplo.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Laura

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Noah, mommy got an idea. What's your idea? Maybe we got a cool idea.

Shanna

His little voice is so cute. Are you guys looking at a toy catalog or something? What is he's got all these ideas of what to buy?

Laura

We are looking at Amazon on my phone. It was maybe a little bit of a bribe to convince him to stop playing and sit on the potty before bedtime. Nothing like staring at the phone what like scrolling Amazon toys to calm you down for bedtime great sleep hygiene But he did poop in the potty so But yeah, I just there's just so much joy in the things he's saying and watching your kids come up with these new phrases and I'm just enjoying this. I got an idea. I got an idea. Phase. So I had to share. I cut that down from a much longer voice memo. I swear he said it probably 10, 20 times in that one voice memo. So cute. And his negotiation skills are really, they're getting harder. Harder to deny. No kidding. So did you buy him a Lego Ninjago set? Not at that time. No. I made it very clear we were not buying any new sets, but he has acquired a new one.

Shanna

Yeah, I guess we've discovered the real evolutionary purpose of grandma's, right? The fire kid's toys.

Laura

Yes, yeah. Unfortunately, I feel like that's what my boys are taking away from it. And I have to talk to them about like, when grandma comes, it's not just about toys. But yeah, that is my BFP. And Shanna, I'm dying to know if you have a BFP or BFN for us this week.

Shanna

I have a BFP.

Shanna

All right. Look, I know I talk a lot about softball on this show because it's an activity that I did when I was younger and like my girls did it and stuff. And CECE's softball season has wrapped up. It's done. And I thought to myself, this might be the last time I ever watch my girls play, right? Because I don't know if they're going to want to continue. And I felt sad. The next day, I randomly got a text message from one of my friends, and she said, this is completely random, Shanna, but would you be interested in substituting on our softball team tonight? In Burbank, we're down some players. And I was like, what? What? Um, yeah. Yeah. Why not? Let's do it. So I spontaneously said yes to playing in a softball game. Now, I have not played in years. I've done a lot of leagues like slow pitch softball here in Los Angeles before I had kids and stuff, but it's been a long time.

Laura

Interesting. Yes. Speaking of noticing personality traits in our kids that are our own. Their projecting is happening, I see. Yeah.

Shanna

So the game was at 6 30, which is kind of late for our family, right? We tried to go to bed early and stuff, but I was so jazzed up. I was like, Steve, do you and the girls want to come to Burbank at 6 30 and watch me play softball? Like, I've spent enough time sitting on my butt watching them play softball. Like, let's get on the table's turn here. And he was like, yeah, sure, why not? So we all went out for a nice evening at the softball field. And it was so fun, like, to play a sport. It all came back to me like immediately. It felt like I never stopped. I didn't have any cleats. So when I tried to run, I almost slipped on my face. Oh, no. Because, yeah, I don't really have any equipment anymore other than a glove. But yeah, it was so fun and I was like, I should try to find a team to join regularly because I realize I'm the one that likes to play softball.

Laura

And you should. I mean, I think you've been upfront since the beginning saying that, you know, I love to play softball, so that's why I'm putting my girls in softball. But it's so funny that we haven't made the leap of like, maybe you should just find your own softball league.

Shanna

Yes, exactly. Maybe mama should be the one.

Laura

One that will not schedule games on Mother's Day, probably.

Shanna

Yes, exactly. Right. Low key, low stakes. I love this team. Their name is The Grass Stains, which I was like, amazing. They're like, come 10 minutes beforehand to warm up. I was like, what? Not an hour before to like warm up in the batting cages? I mean, it was just like super casual. Everyone was really nice and just like, they took it easy and had a good time. So that's the vibe I'm looking for.

Laura

All that can envision though is that picture of you from like elementary school with your big old glasses and the softball like that you posted to her and said at some point. I like can just see you showing up to the softball game with your hair and a high pony and big glasses.

Shanna

Huge bubble bangs like curled over my visor. Oh, yes. Yes, that is. Well, that was me. That was my childhood. All right. Well, that's so fun. Have you looked into stuff in your area? Oh, no, no. No follow through yet. I'm just reporting on the emotions of it at this point.

Laura

Okay. Well, I'm going to keep asking about it because I think you should do this. I think it's really good for you. I think you need to have it in your life. And also maybe your girls will be like, phew, mom's got her softball thing out of her system.

Shanna

Yes, I think, well, I'll be better for it. All right, so that's it for me, and that's it for our show. Unless, Laura, do you have a five-star review to read?

Laura

Oh, Shanna, you know I do. Yeah. This one is from PNWMAMA82. I imagine they're in the Pacific Northwest, so hello. Okay, or it could be their initials. That's true.

Shanna

Peggy at Naomi Watson.

Laura

Well, either way, the review title is like talking with your gal pals, five stars. I love this podcast because the hosts are just real moms and talk about real issues, the good, the bad and the messy. Their episodes are segmented thoughtfully so you never get tired listening and it's great balance of hard, joys and great recommendations. I started listening to them when I found out I was pregnant but got way ahead of my pregnancy timeline, so re-listen to be on the same track. I've never re-listened to a podcast, but the info has been so helpful. Laura and Shanna are intelligent moms with personalities outside of their mom roles as well. They are friends, yet they have different personalities, so you can relate to one or the other at any given time. They don't try to make it seem like they are perfect super moms either.

Shanna

Yes. I'm not just a ventriloquist doing Laura's voice. Could you imagine? No, no. I could never come up with this much content. It would be too much work. I wouldn't do it. I need you, Laura. I need you. I know, and I need you too, Shanna. Oh, man. That was such a great review. Thank you so much for leaving that. And listeners, if you haven't had a chance yet, could you please do us a favor and head on over to Apple Podcasts, leave us five stars, say a few things you love about the show, and we might read it on an upcoming episode. And if you have anything that you've learned recently that you wanna share with us, hit us up. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

We're on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at BFP Podcast. We have a website, BigBatPositivePodcast.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 join the coolest group of people on the internet, And you want to see some exclusive content from me and Shanna. Just search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It is a private group, so you do have to request to join. And we make you answer two membership questions so we know you're not a robot. But once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to all the amazing, supportive, 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.