When Grandma Lives Next Door – Ep. 337

Shanna

Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins, our special segment, Stump the Mom, where Laura and I grill each other with holiday-themed trivia, and we wrap it up with our BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started.

Laura

I will oblige. So this week, it's been a pretty chill week. The kids have been in school and I've been working, but it hasn't been as intense as previous weeks. So that's been good. But what I wanted to check in this week about was the fact that my mom has been in town for two weeks now. She's been in town for the past two weeks. And she's actually going to be in town indefinitely right now because there's an incident in Portland. Uh-oh. It's everyone's okay. But there was a fire in the basement of my stepdad's house in Portland. And the house filled with smoke. Everyone's okay. Even the bird survived. But the house is covered in soot and needs remediation. And so about two weeks ago, my mom and Neil packed up what they could of what wasn't smoke covered and came down to Glendale for an indeterminate length of time.

Shanna

Oh my gosh.

Laura

Yes. Apparently, Sydney was the talk of the plane, right? Though everyone wanted to see Sydney.

Shanna

Well, sure. I mean, I've never seen a bird on a plane. I don't know about you.

Laura

Have you ever seen like a six foot seven man being wheeled through an airport while holding a little bird?

Shanna

Oh my gosh, with the Scottish accent, no less.

Laura

Oh, adorable. Oh my gosh, I know. It's like if Gandalf was on your plane with a tiny little exotic bird.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

A little tweety bird. So cute. So cute. So anyway, they've been in town and we've kind of fallen into a rhythm of like what life would be like if my mom lived next door all the time because as of right now, she kind of does live next door all the time. And it's kind of great, I guess I admit. I was going to say that sounds awesome. It's nice because She has her own space and she doesn't actually even come over every night for dinner. It's not like she has to be with us all the time, which is usually the case when you have a guest, right? When she comes for a short visit, you have to like maximize your time together. But with her right next door, you know, we kind of come and go. But what's been really interesting from a parenting point of view is that she's really trying to take the load off of me because she sees how hard I've been working and She's not working this week like this week.

Shanna

That sounds dreamy.

Laura

It is dreamy. And they're finally old enough that I can be okay with that. You know, obviously, Augie has been for a while, but Sebastian, you know, he was younger. He was really clingy. He was nursing more, his nap schedule, blah, blah, blah. But now that he's older and I'm not worried about him like finding a hearing aid battery and putting it in his mouth, for example, over there, you know, I can feel a little better about them going over there and I mean, it's not that they're unsupervised, but we both know with young kids, you turn your back to do something and then you turn back around and they've gotten into something, you know? But they're finally at the age where it's not that big of a deal if they've gotten into something, right? Like they're okay. So I've been sending them off to grandma's every day after school this week. It's been so great. Did they love it?

Shanna

That's awesome.

Laura

They don't even want to come in our house when they get home. They'll basically come through the back door and be like, bye, and go straight over to grandma's. I mean, it doesn't hurt that she lets them watch a YouTube and eat candy. I'll text her at 4.45 and be like, oh, are you OK with doing dinner over there? And she's like, well, yeah, but they just ate a candy bar. So I'm not sure if they'll be hungry for dinner.

Shanna

classic grandma.

Laura

And I'm just like, well, you know what? Like they're in your care. I don't want to micromanage. I don't care about the candy bar. Like go for it. You know, if they don't eat dinner, that's on you. You get to make a whole dinner that they don't eat. Exactly. Oh, that's awesome. But the other nice thing is that my mom's apartment Complex has this like big grassy area out front that's kind of fenced in by like a boxwood hedge basically and or some kind of hedge. I don't know if it's boxwood exactly, but it's a hedge that acts as a fence which technically in Glendale you're not allowed to have a fence in your front yard, which is part of the reason we got rid of the grass on our front yard. Yeah, it's If you next time you come to our neighborhood, you'll notice, you'll be like, oh, there's no fences. You could have a plant barrier up to a certain height, and I think this is at the height.

Shanna

All right, let's see here. Ooh, that is a very nice grassy air. I'm sorry, are they riding around in Grand Doodle's wheelchair, electronic wheelchair, and low rascal scooter? O-M-G, that is so cute. And it does look fun. I would 100% want to do that if I were their age.

Laura

Oh yeah, they're just using his mobility devices and riding around this lawn area. My mom is the background observing with her plate of snacks and water glass.

Shanna

Oh, my God, I love it. Who needs those motorized kids' toy cars, you know, those ones they've got, like the jeans and stuff?

Laura

Oh, yeah. I know because Sherry is so sweet, she's been wanting to buy us some of those for years, and I keep vetoing it for a couple reasons. One is, like, I foresee one of them running the other one over, you know?

Shanna

Oh, that's so cute.

Laura

But yeah, that's my check-in, basically. I've got a next-door grandma full-time for the time being, and I'm utilizing her.

Shanna

You are, as you should. She loves it, I'm sure.

Laura

Oh, yeah. She's so happy. And she loves being useful, you know? She loves telling me, oh, they had so much fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. But anyway, that is my check-in for this week. Shanna, I'm curious what you've been up to. Please dish.

Shanna

Well, over here in my world, I am deep in birthday party planning mode because CeCe's birthday is coming up. Oh yeah, and we get to go this year. Yay! So Cece, she's so cute and funny. This kid gets ideas in her head, knows exactly what she wants, and never lets go of them. It is what it seems like because... Over a year ago, she decided that her sixth birthday party was going to be at our house. It was going to be super kiddies themed. And she was going to invite such and such people and made a list. And you know, with kids, you're like, I don't know, you're going to change your mind. We'll see what happens. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. In fact, she's already planned her seventh birthday party is going to be at the zoo. And her eighth birthday party I think is going to be at the trampoline park. Wow. Yes. Yes. I believe her. I believe her.

Laura

I mean, I feel like you're living your best life, truly. This is like, if you didn't have any other obligations, think of the party you could throw. Yeah.

Shanna

It would be. And the budget, if I had an unlimited budget, oh baby. Oh my gosh. I do love to throw a party, a kid's party in particular.

Laura

I think it's so fun. Yeah. So Super Kitties is an unusual theme. Are you able to find stuff that's Super Kitty themed or are you going to have to DIY everything?

Shanna

There is not a lot of stuff out there for Super Kitties. Even though it is a Disney show that's in like season two, I think there are not a lot of options. I did order like a party decoration kit from Amazon and it just literally never shipped. So I don't know if it ever even existed. So I canceled that order. And now it's Project DIY for making some decorations. I already made a pinata.

Laura

Nice. Did you use scotch tape this time or like masking tape because I remember Elle's indestructible pinata from a few years ago.

Shanna

Oh my gosh, at Elle's birthday party, I made that basketball pinata and I think I used a duct tape. I honestly don't know, but it was so indestructible. I remembered that and I used a lot of techniques to make this more breakable. Okay. I think it should be breakable. And if it's not, I did the thing where it has a trap door on the bottom with a bunch of ribbons and the kids can pull ribbons until the candy falls out.

Laura

Smart. Smart smart. Okay.

Shanna

Do you want a picture? Do you want a picture to see a sneak peek of the pinata? Of course I do. Okay. Okay. Holy shit, Shanna. This thing is huge. I know it's like almost as big as CECE.

Laura

This is not what I was envisioning. Okay. So did you get this picture of the super kitty printed out somewhere?

Shanna

You gave me the idea, Laura, because you had told me that for the trunk retreat that you made for the Nightmare Buffer Christmas, you printed those huge character cutouts at Walgreens. And I was like, ooh, I could do that for some super kiddies stuff. So yeah, I printed a huge super kitty.

Laura

Looks great. Looks so good. And then so you have this picture of the super kitty on a backdrop of the teal, our favorite color. You and me, we love this color. Love it. Is it like crepe paper you just cut up like what's the process.

Shanna

Great question. There's a few different ways to do it. This one I took a roll of crepe paper and I took an exacto knife and cut all around it to make little fringe. And then I took a glue stick, more than one glue stick, lots of glue sticks.

Laura

I was gonna say, this is like a glue stick situation.

Shanna

Yeah, I think it went through like eight glue sticks and then you just like do a line of glue and then put down a line of great paper with fringe.

Laura

I love it. It looks so good.

Shanna

Thank you CECE loves it.

Laura

Yeah. This picture of CECE looking so excited next to it. She's already thinking of how she's going to break this one open. I can tell.

Shanna

Yep. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So, you know, it brings me joy to do all this kind of stuff for the kiddos. I told Steve, once these girls like age out of wanting cutesy little birthday parties, I'm not gonna have any hobbies left because making cutesy cakes and pinatas and decorations, I just, I love doing all that stuff. It is really a hobby.

Laura

Well, maybe they'll just be like older teens who still like cutesy things. Like adults love Hello Kitty. So, you know. True, true, true. Well, I can't wait to see what else you've spun up for this party, but I think you have to wait a couple weeks.

Shanna

Yes, you do, but you will see. But yeah, that's it for me. Should we move on to our special segment? I think we should.

Laura

We are back in our special segment this week is Stump the Mom, where Shanna and I play a little trivia game with each other, see if we can best each other in trivial knowledge. This is one of my favorite things to do. I'm known as a person who's good at trivia, and yet I think you stump me most of the time, Shanna. Let's see if it holds up this time. If my reputation is unfounded.

Shanna

I think you'll get me on this one. So I was inspired by the holiday season and all of my questions have to do with holiday-y things.

Laura

Okay.

Shanna

So here we go. Number one, the holiday movie Elf stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, the human who grew up an elf at the North Pole. Which actor was originally attached to the film to play this role? A. Steve Carell B. Jim Carrey C. Ben Stiller

Laura

Ooh, that's a tough one. I feel like half of the joke in Elf is that he's big, you know? Like he's tall. It's not just any old person. It's Will Ferrell, who's like a super tall guy. And it's hard for me to think of Steve Carell and Ben Stiller, who I don't think are particularly tall comedians. But maybe I'm wrong because they're both very funny people. Um, back when this was made, I'm like, is Steve Carell even a big enough name for it? I feel like people drop out because they're too big for their britches, right? Like, they get attached to a movie, it gets into development, and then they're like, actually, I don't want to do this. And I feel like that's something Jim Carrey would do. And it's also such a goofy role. I feel like that's very much up Jim Carrey's alley. So I'm going to go with B, Jim Carrey.

Shanna

Ding, ding, ding! Very good. I love how you logicked that out. I had no idea what route you were going to take with the logic, and I didn't see that coming. So very good. Apparently, the script first emerged in 1993, which is like 10 years before it was actually made. Yeah. And so Jim Carrey was before the Ace Ventura, Pet Detective era, and he was attached to Star as Buddy. But it took another 10 years to get the project in motion. And he dropped out and Will Ferrell had exploded and he became attached. So there you go.

Laura

Amazing. We just went to Home Depot and we went and looked at all the Christmas decorations and they have a life-size talking elf there that you could like step on the little button and it just said lines from the movie.

Shanna

It looks like Buddy, right? The Will Ferrell character? Yeah, I've seen that.

Laura

I mean, it looks like Uncanny Valley Buddy. It's a little sneaky. Yeah, but the kids loved it because they just watched Elle for the first time recently and they were like, so into it.

Shanna

Oh, that's hilarious. My kids love that movie. That's a fun one for us to watch every holiday season. All right, Laura, good job. Thank you. You're one up on me. So what you got for me?

Laura

Well, you haven't heard my first question. OK, so I was similarly inspired by the season, say that 10 times fast. And I decided to make all my questions about classic toys. OK, since we're in the gift giving season. All right. So question one, a Greek vase from 440 BC has a painting on it that shows a boy playing with what familiar modern day toy, building blocks, Frisbee or yo-yo.

Shanna

Oh, man. When I was picturing this vase, immediately Yo-Yo came to mind. But those other options are real good. Building blocks are so simple. It seems like something primitive humans might have used. I don't know if those humans at that age are considered primitive, but you know what I mean, old-timey.

Laura

Probably not. Yeah, old-timey. The dawn of democracy.

Shanna

I think that's the official word. Okay, so blocks, what was the other one? Building blocks, Frisbee or Yo-Yo? Frisbee. Ooh, I feel like Frisbee could be good. Like maybe they took a bunch of leaves and put it around a clay disc and like tossed it in the air. It's a vase, which is made out of clay. So maybe they made a Frisbee out of clay. You know what, for some reason I'm just gonna go Frisbee.

Laura

That is not correct, but I am gonna send you the picture so you can see.

Shanna

Damn it. It was the yo-yo.

Laura

Why didn't I go with my gut? You know, you got to go with your first instinct. Yeah. Yeah. So the word yo-yo probably comes from the Ilocano language in the Philippines, and it first showed up in like the 1920s. A Filipino immigrant to the U.S. like made a yo-yo and was selling it. They've been around since at least 440 BC, right? It's been around a long time. And apparently in like the 1700s, they were called bandalores. So there you go.

Shanna

Very interesting. And it still persists today as a very frustrating toy for young children.

Laura

Jeff got into a yo-yo phase when we were kids, like he did all the tricks and stuff and had the fancy yo-yos. Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely a phase, but I could do a little bit. I could do the one where you like put your finger in the middle and it landed on the little bridge you make. That's the extent of my yo-yo tricks.

Shanna

That's, I mean, that's impressive. I can get it to go up and down a few times and. That's the extent of my abilities.

Laura

I'm afraid to get it for my kids. I don't think they have this like motor skills to do it yet, but also it would just become a projectile, I feel like.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. We have some around, you know, kids get little trinkets and stuff here and there. And it's never been a success.

Laura

Well, those cheap ones are hard to use anyway, you know, like it has to be weighted properly.

Shanna

Oh yeah, so that's right.

Laura

We need a properly weighted yo-yo. Anyway, speaking of being snooty, I am winning so far.

Shanna

Okay, good, good, good job. All right, you might know this. Okay. I did not.

Laura

I do think I know this. Okay, let me hear the options.

Shanna

All right, Ari. A, Pizza Hut. B, KFC. C, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

Laura

The Colonel is calling. It's KFC, Shanna.

Shanna

Yes. Yes. It's a huge thing there. These party buckets that come with eight pieces of chicken, a shrimp gratin, and a chocolate cake are sold around this time of year and orders begin being placed in early November. You have to wait in huge lines to pick up your order kind of like a honey baked ham or right probably more intense. And apparently a third of KFC's yearly income is generated during this time of year, this one month.

Laura

Global income or just, I mean, it must just be Japanese income, not global income.

Shanna

It has to be Japanese. Yeah, you're right. It's not global because we are not rushing out to eat KFC for Christmas in the U.S. as far as I know. But the question is why? Why is this such a big thing there where Christmas isn't even like a big huge holiday? It's all because of marketing, Laura. What? I know. You don't say. Shocking. It's traced back to the 1970s when the manager of the first KFC in Japan decided that it was his dream to sell a party bucket full of chicken to boost sales. Apparently he overheard an expat saying that they missed eating turkey on Christmas and he was like, I sell chicken. Chicken is the next best thing to turkey. So let's make this a thing. So it was a huge marketing campaign. You can see pictures. of the buckets just like decked out in Christmas colors. It doesn't hurt that Colonel Sanders looks an awful lot like Santa Claus. So they really lean into that.

Laura

And yeah, it's a big thing. Oh my gosh. So my kids have recently discovered KFC. We have one that's on the drive home from their schools. And I don't know what happened. Sebastian just like got it in his head one day. This was a couple of months ago that he wanted that for dinner. He had never been there, but he would ask like, what's that? What's that? I'd be like, oh, it's KFC. It's a fast food restaurant with fried chicken, you know, just just in passing. And then this one day he was like, I want KFC for dinner. I'm like, really? Why? He's like, I want KFC. And I was like, OK, Augie did not want it. He was really mad and did not want it. So I had to say, OK, fine. I'm going to drop Augie back off at home. And I will drive you to KFC because he was losing his shit because he wanted KFC so bad. who had never had it before. It was so interesting.

Shanna

What? Hold up. Hold up. Look that up real quick.

Laura

Now you can't unsee it, so. Never.

Shanna

This is making me want KFC. We never eat it, because there's not around, but I loved it as a kid. I mean, who doesn't love fried chicken? So good.

Laura

Their fries are really good, I've rediscovered, I should say.

Shanna

I like their weird mashed potatoes. I don't know if they've changed since childhood, but...

Laura

Oh, dang. Okay. Well, you better think fast. Okay. So Gen Z is always talking about Nepo babies in Hollywood, right? Like people who get jobs because their parents are famous, right? But which Nepo baby invented Lincoln logs in 1916? Okay.

Shanna

Ooh. Okay, I have absolutely no clue, but these are great choices. Lincoln seems like an obvious choice because they're called Lincoln Logs. I'm not going to be suckered in by that choice, Laura. Franklin Wright's scion makes sense because it has to do with building. So I'm really leaning towards that. Andrew Carnegie, what? He was just a billionaire railroad guy. Like, what did he do? I don't remember.

Laura

I think he's like steel and they call him a philanthropist. I feel like that's very, I don't know. He was an industrialist and a philanthropist. He was a steel guy. So I also feel like is there an ethical way to become one of the richest Americans in history? Probably not. So, but he gave a lot of money to foundations and stuff. So.

Shanna

Okay.

Laura

But yeah, that's who that guy is. Steel. Steel Magnate.

Shanna

Steel. Steel. Um, Frank Lloyd Wright was he? Oh, gosh, I don't know why I didn't think he was alive. Back then, I don't know. I'm just going to go with that one. Frank Lloyd Wright's son.

Laura

Ding, ding, ding. You are correct. Yay! John Lloyd Wright, who was born in 1892 and died in 1972, he was an American architect and toy inventor. So he followed in his dad's footsteps and became an architect, but he had some falling outs with his dad and like got back together and then had a falling out again to the point where then he decided to quit architecture and just focus on making toys. And the most successful of these toys was the Lincoln Logs, which he invented in 1916. And yeah, he's still known for it today. You know, obviously he's an architect, right? So making Lincoln Logs makes a lot of sense. They are named after Abraham Lincoln. I was when I was a kid, I thought they were like Lincoln like they linked together like Lincoln Park. But but no, they're actually named after Abraham Lincoln because he lived in a log cabin.

Shanna

So yeah, modernized Lincoln logs for this generation. Or do they still look like those little logs?

Laura

I don't. No, I don't know if you can still buy them. Let's look. Oh yeah, you can. They're real wood. There's a 111 piece set that's branded Lincoln logs for $45 on Amazon that can be here in two days.

Shanna

That's so cute. I wonder if my kids would like this for more than 30 minutes.

Laura

Good question.

Shanna

Good question.

Laura

But the other good thing about this question is that you got it right. You're still in the game, Shanna.

Shanna

All right, well, here's my last one. According to legend, what is the origin of candy canes? A, they were invented to keep kids quiet during church. B, they were invented to hang securely inside children's pockets. C, they were invented to dissuade kids from playing with fishing hooks.

Laura

What? That one is very left field. Um. Look, I think the most logical answer, even if it's not right, is to keep kids quiet during church because we all know kids don't like to stay quiet. And in the past, people were a lot more strict about that. So I feel like, yeah, I'm going to go with the keeping quiet in church thing. Ding, ding, ding.

Shanna

Yay. Oh my gosh, three for three. OK, so the story goes that the candy cane dates back to 1670. When a choir master at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany handed out sugar sticks to the children in his choir to keep them quiet during services. But the board of the church was like, that's not appropriate to have kids eating sugar during church service. So the choir master was not dissuaded by this setback. He went to the sweet shop and was like, can we put a hook shape onto this candy stick? So it looks like a shepherd's hook and thus looks religious. And the answer is yes, yes, we can. I guess sugar pulling, sugar shaping was all the rage at that time. So this was something that came. from that. And apparently everyone was fine with the children eating candy if it was shaped like a shepherd's hook. And there you go.

Laura

That's really funny, the shape thing. I love watching candy makers on TikTok. Do you ever watch those videos? No, but it sounds like something I would like. I watched them with the kids the other day and we watched a bunch of them just the whole process of them like taking the molten sugar and putting it on their marble slab and putting the flavors and the colors in and it's just oh it's so satisfying to watch Shanna.

Shanna

Yeah that sounds like meditative maybe a little ASMR I like that.

Laura

Yeah, so highly recommend. And it's good for the kids too. And then, you know, they want to eat candy after. But when don't they want to eat candy?

Shanna

Oh, my gosh. OK, Laura, you have bested me, but I still want to hear the last question. But should we do it after the break?

Laura

Yes, let's make the people wait and see if you will lose or if you'll lose. I'm rubbing it in now. We'll be back.

Shanna

We are back and the mystery of remains. Will I lose this game or will I lose this game? I don't know. We shall find out. Laura, what is your last question for me?

Laura

Okay, final toy related question. So the slinky was originally invented by Richard T. James in 1943 as a toy to be used as a toy and it's always been a toy, except when it's been used for other purposes. Which of these is a real thing slinkies have been used for? Prison fencing, a radio antenna during wartime, or to replace coils in mattresses. Ooh, okay.

Shanna

I don't know that they are strong enough to be a spring in a mattress. You think of a real strong coil that's got space between the pieces. A slinky just slinks down on itself. Yes, one might say it's slinky. Yes, you might. Okay, being used as an antenna during wartime, I can see that as a very probable impromptu use of this item. But you said it was invented in the 40s. And you know, this segment always belies my ignorance of history, because I'm like, were there any wars around then? I don't know. I'm not sure. The top of a prison fence, I think we're going for like that barbed wire, spinny, Look, but that has barbed wire. Like it has barbs on it. So I don't see them attaching barbs to it. I don't know. I'm gonna go with the antenna thing because I think that could be a good impromptu use of a slinky.

Laura

You are correct.

Shanna

Yes. And it's compact, right? And like slinks down to a small, compact thing that you can carry easily. Very smart.

Laura

Yes. The other thing I really appreciated when I was reading about the Slinky is that it was first invented by the guy I mentioned, Richard T. James, and developed by him and his wife, Betty. And it was originally priced at $1, but apparently a lot of people were paying more because it was a bit of a fad. And, you know, like anything, people are going to be getting charged extra to get the things that's In short supply but apparently it's remained modestly priced according to Wikipedia throughout its history because Betty James wanted to make sure it was accessible to everyone. Oh yeah and so she wanted to make sure it was affordable for anyone to get to the toy and so let's see what it costs right now.

Shanna

Let me guess a regular sized metal slinky.

Laura

I'm going to guess three ninety nine pretty close three fifty nine, which is honestly like what a great stalking suffer. I think I'm going to get some for the kids.

Shanna

Yeah. Yes, they are fun, especially if you have stairs. You've got those stairs that can slink down the stairs.

Laura

When I was a kid, I could never get that to work. It was the bane of my existence, but we also had carpeted stairs. So maybe I should get them in seat.

Shanna

Oh. Yeah, maybe it'll be better on the wood. Yeah.

Laura

But anyway, that is it. That was my last question. Shanna, you really came back. You were worried there at the beginning, but you got two out of three right. That's pretty darn good.

Shanna

It's pretty good, but good game, my friend. You got 100%. Thank you. And I extend my hand in a shake of good sportsmanship, unlike my five-year-old, who gets pissed when she loses.

Laura

Yeah. I hate you. Yeah, Augie is like, stupid game. The game is stupid. We're like, OK. It's losing. We got to work on losing. You got to talk to him, maybe, Shanna. But in the meantime, should we move on to our BFPs and BFNs?

Shanna

Oh, yes.

Laura

All right. Which is that we got Sebastian and Augie into the same exact parkour class this week. which marks the first time that they are doing an activity together in the same class at the same time. And it is so wonderful.

Shanna

Yay. That's so nice. No more waiting around for one to end and the other one to begin. How did this happen? A space came available or he got old enough to join it? the next level of class or what?

Laura

Well, so he's technically not old enough to join the next level, but I think at four he will be. So it's one of those things where it's like, it's just a couple months, right? So technically, he's too young for this class, but I had gone to the Saturday morning class with Augie and noticed that there was another three and a half year old in it, like all of a sudden. And I was like, oh, wait, why is this three and a half year old able to be in this class but not Sebastian? And I'm such a rule follower. Like it never occurred to me to even ask, right?

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

And the class is pretty empty. There were only like four kids in the class. So they got a lot of time to run their, you know, different, they call them routes, right? Like they go their different paths and just do a lot of jumping and get a lot of energy out. The next day I had taken Sebastian to his class and it was packed and it was chaos. It was just like too many kids and the people at the parkour class, like they were like, we know like we're working on reshuffling the classes. We know this is too many kids like They had enough teachers but there's only there's like a critical mass at some point of three year olds in a class right so they're like look we were trying to work on it but it was just it was pointless like he wouldn't participate there were kids who are being like aggressive and there were enough teachers you know but it just it was bad news.

Shanna

Oh, that's awesome. So is Sebastian participating in class now? Is he excited about it?

Laura

Yeah, they were both just super happy to do it. It's a lot quieter. It's a much chiller class. There's only a few kids in the class.

Shanna

Yes.

Laura

And there's this brother thing, right? Like they're not seeing that their brother is often the sidelines talking to mom, right? There's no jealousy there. They're both doing it. So I'm just really hoping we can do more stuff like this as they get older and into the same like age bracket of things. So I don't have to constantly split them up and do separate things. I've seen the light about like how it's going to be when they both go to the same school next year. I'm like, ah, one pick up one drop off like this is going to be amazing.

Shanna

Oh, that's nice. And that's the benefit of having them two years apart is that that age gap is more likely to be inclusive of both ages. Like I'm trying to find a few things that the girls can do together. And it's like, oh, six to eight and then eight to 12. And there's not a lot of overlap because they have a three year age gap. They really want to do something together.

Laura

Yeah. But you know, your choir inspired me when you told me that they're in the same group. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. Like that sounds great. Like we should try to get the kids in the same activity. So yeah. So yeah, that's my BFP. Awesome. So Shanna, it's your turn. Do you have a BFP or a BFN?

Shanna

I have a BFP. Yay. This is so random, but it occurred to me yesterday as I was doing the dishes that as a parent of young children, having tiny plates is really awesome. Like, I mean, like little sushi soy sauce type plates. You know what I'm talking about? Little dishes. We love going to Daiso, which is a Japanese-owned dollar store type of thing here in Los Angeles. And my absolute favorite aisle is the aisle with all of the little sake cups and mini bowls and plates and all of the little soy sauce dishes and stuff. And I always stock up. The girls love them. We get these little rice bowls and little plates. And I've accumulated quite a few.

Laura

You know, I need more of these things and you're inspiring me to go get some because I have a few like we have these little bowls I got from Target that are perfect for like throwing a bunch of raspberries in or whatever. And we try to do family style meals at home to try to encourage Augie to eat more of whatever. And I use the little like Pyrex. I don't know whether they are ramekins, I guess. You know, those little pinch bowls or whatever. for everything in my life. And I think having a few other like shallower ones would be useful. I love this. I'm going to take a trip. I've actually never been in a Daiso, believe it or not.

Shanna

Oh, you should. It's fun. It's really cute. There's a lot of cute stuff. And the other thing I like about these types of little dishes is that they are cute. They are, they come in a lot of different designs. Like we have some Pyrex glass little bowls and I always use them last because I'm like, they're not as cute as the other ones. Yeah. You go get yourself some cute little plates and bowls and improve your life, mama.

Laura

I will, mama.

Shanna

I think it is. Listeners, if you want to help support the show, please do us a favor. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Leave us a five star review. Say a few things you love about the show. We might read your review on an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe or follow the show wherever you listen so that you get our fresh content every Monday morning or when we release bonus episodes. and share one of your favorite episodes with a friend. Let's bring more people into the BFP family. If you have any questions or comments or feedback on this week's episode or anything else, please reach out. We love hearing from you. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

Here on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at BFP Podcasts, we have a website, BigBatPositivePodcast.com, and if you want to send us an email, just send it to contact at BigBatPositivePodcast.com. Finally, if you want to join the coolest group of people on the internet, hands down, just search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community It is a private group, so you gotta answer those two membership questions so we know you're not a robot or a jerk, you know? You gotta do it so we know to let you into the cool group. But once you do that, you will be sent straight through to all the amazing conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

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