Early Pregnancy Memories: First Trimester Flashbacks – Ep. 99
May 25, 2020
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In this week’s special segment, “Gripe Water,” Laura and Shanna vent about ridiculously inappropriate nursery rhymes, toddler eating habits and more. Also, Laura reports on her toddler’s recent development in gross motor skills, including spinning and dancing, and Shanna talks about her toddler’s recent development in fine motor skills, including sorting shapes and fastening buckles. Finally, they reveal their BFPs and BFNs for the week. Shanna’s toddler is 16 months old, and Laura’s toddler is 15 months old.
This episode’s show notes – https://bigfatpositivepodcast.com/ep-99/ | Get social – Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bfppodcast/ | Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigfatpositivepodcast/ | Email – [email protected] | Our mom-tested ultimate baby registry list – https://bigfatpositivepodcast.com/registry/
Show Notes:
- Poison Control You can get help quickly online or by phone.
- TOMY Toomies Squeak Toy, Hide & Squeak Eggs* Shanna loves this fun toy for her toddler.
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Episode Transcript
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, GRIPE WATER, where we talk about questionable kids' stories and questionable kids' food choices. We wrap it up with our BFPs and BFMs. Let's get started! Hey everyone, welcome to episode 99. Laura, we've done 99 of these. I cannot believe that.
Laura
It really blows my mind. I know. I remember at the beginning, every episode, we're like 15, 16. Oh my gosh, you've done 25 episodes and then we'd stopped caring. But this makes me feel very accomplished.
Shanna
I know. It's so exciting. So anyway, on this 99th episode, what are you up to? How old's your toddler and what's going on?
Laura
My toddler is 15 months and two weeks. And we had a big milestone this week, which was we finally did his first haircut.
Shanna
Oh, that's so awesome. I don't think Elle got her first haircut until she was three. Oh, really? Three and a half. So this is exciting, a baby haircut. A baby haircut. Who did it?
Laura
Where did you go? Nowhere, because we're still under quarantine.
So thankfully, one of my friends from mommy and me class is a hairstylist. And I was asking her for tips. I was like, I think we have to do it. OK, full disclosure, his agent asked us. Oh my God. He needs new photos and they like not so subtle. She was just like, you need to trim the hair around his ears. And I was like, she means all of it. And then I started looking at the photos because we took like a whole batch of DIY headshots to try to send in and they were like, none of these work, you need to fix this hair basically. Really oh we had been putting it off because I kind of liked the shaggy he had gotten these like wings like Farrah faucet wings of blonde hair coming out like everywhere and he had a little bit of like a wave a curl in it and I was just like I don't want to cut his beautiful hair.
But we had been sort of tossing the idea around for a little while and it started getting in his eyes pretty badly. He doesn't quite understand to brush them out of his face yet. It was sort of getting in his eyes and... You don't want to give him a man bun? You know, I tried one day to put like a little... I had those little itty-bitty hair ties, you know? I tried putting them in his hair and that did not go well. Yeah, babies don't love those. Because I was like, gender is a construct. I can put his hair in a ponytail if I want, but it did not work. So it just became clear like it was time so my friend who is a hairstylist I was messaging her and was like I think it's time to cut his hair like can you give me some tips how should we do this because she had also cut her kid's hair who's the same age like her boy.
And so she recommended I use this little like straight razor thing with a guard. Do you know what I'm talking about? I don't even know what they're called.
Shanna
Yeah, I use one for my dogs. Yeah, exactly.
Laura
When I used to groom my dogs before I had kids, now they just go to the groomer. Yeah. So it's just like a straight razor. It has a guard on it, so you're not going to cut it. It's pretty safe. And she recommended that because you can just grab the section you want and poke at it, essentially, and it comes off. And you don't have to worry about scissors. Faces or anything dangerous and smart so and she offered to drop one off at my door the contact list drop off so she did that and it was really nice and then we held on to them for like three weeks. And then finally one day I was like okay just has to be done and I knew that I would need backup so it had to be like on the weekend when Corey could help. And so I sat him in his high chair, and we set up the iPad to play some Sesame Street, and I just went at it. And actually, I think looks really good.
Shanna
Awesome.
Laura
I thankfully had seen other people's haircuts go wrong before this. Notably one of my friends in Portland, she has a daughter about the same age as my kid and she, they did a haircut recently and then posted photos and I don't think she'd be upset with me saying this because like she was like, outwardly admitting that it just went terribly wrong like the bangs are way too short and they're all like jagged and it was I mean it's kind of cute you know how bad it is but uh-huh so I saw that and I was like okay I'm gonna go really conservative you know like I'm going to cut off the like shortest amount that I think is possible and just start there and you can always cut more but you can't take back what you've cut and so that helped so yeah I am We took a little video of it, so I made a time lapse of it. Maybe we'll put it on the Insta. Oh, that's so cute.
But yeah, now he looks, and I have to say, he looks really cute with his little trimmed up. It's still a little bit messy, and you can still see a little wave in it, but it's just cleaned up. So did you run out and take more pictures right away? Well, we've been working on it. We have to go next weekend and take more. It's hard to do because There's not a lot of places we can go right now because we're still in the quarantine lockdown period. And it's also hard because it's just me and Corey. And so Corey's taking the pictures and I have to wrangle the baby, but also somehow be out of the frame. So we have to go try and do that next week. It was hard getting that first batch of pictures. So then when they were like, oh, you're going to need to cut his hair. I was just like, ah.
Shanna
Oh my god. Next time, just take one snap and be like, this is what he looks like right now. Any suggestions before we do our session? Like let you know before you go to all that trouble.
Laura
I hope so anyway, so so that was fun though It was nice. He didn't love it like he was definitely upset during some of the haircut Yeah, he got through it. It wasn't like he was crying or throwing a fit He was just kind of getting wiggly and wanting to go do other stuff and
Shanna
But we got it done, so. So cute. Did you save a lock of hair, tape it to a certificate that announces his first haircut? Because that's what all the salons do. A certificate?
Laura
No. I have it in a plastic baggie in my bedside table. I'll probably find it in five years and be like, what? Oh.
Shanna
And that along with all his baby teeth that fall out.
Laura
Oh, I'm not keeping those. No way. Oh, you say that now. You say that now. We'll see. I think that's where I draw the line. I have a weird, like I hated when my teeth fell out. I don't think I will want to hold on to those. We'll see, though. But anyway, so the other quick updates this week are that he is getting really like fast and agile. Like he's basically fully running these days, which is scary to me. And then he's also spinning. Oh my god, how cute. He's figured out how to spin, which is very cute. And on command too, you can say, like, do you want to spin? And he's like, OK. And he doesn't say, OK, he just goes and does it. Oh my god, I got to teach CECE this trick. It's very cute. I don't know where he got it. So the other fun stuff is that he is dancing to any music that comes on now. It's just like a squat. Like, he has his arms bent and he's just squats and dance.
And the other thing he's been doing is that he says beep now whenever like an electronic beeps. So like if you put something in the microwave and you press the buttons, he goes beep.
Shanna
That's so cute.
Laura
So that's like the quick rundown of the new developments. But there's one final development I want to talk about, which is he is climbing on everything. Oh, yeah. And he has figured out how to get on top of the coffee table by himself. And this is a problem that I would like help with from you or our listeners. I don't know what to do about it because He, I tried not, not react, not give it power, but you know, I have to, I have to kind of get over there quickly because he will start spinning on top of the table and then try to fall off. Yeah, he stands on it and dances and spins. And so I try to say like very calmly, like you need to get down from there. And I'm trying to teach him to get down by himself. Right. That's what I was going to suggest. But he doesn't really want to do it. And he, you know, he just, I try not to react. And I really think I'm doing a good job not reacting.
But every time he gets up there, he gets up and he just smiles, you know, like this big smile. He knows he's doing something, if not bad, like special and different. So he's, he loves doing it. It's just like, oh man.
Shanna
I don't know, can you put some pillows down around the coffee table? So if he does fall off, he'll be safe. Yeah, that's probably just what I'm gonna have to do. I mean, yeah, aside from like when you're there right next to him, just taking him off, say off limits, no, whatever you say, you know, whatever language you use, and just repeatedly doing that.
Laura
Yeah, I don't know. I've considered just like taking it out of the living room for now, just because like, but then we don't have a coffee table. That's annoying. But you haven't had a coffee table for years, right?
Shanna
I had a coffee table for a little while when CeCe was born and then the leg broke. And I was like, you know what? It's in the way anyway. And like, so no, we don't have one right now.
Laura
Yeah, I might just have to come to that. Anyway, so that's what's going on in our world. It's a fun time though. He's really, really funny. He's really cute. And I just, I don't know how they just keep getting cuter. I know, I know.
Shanna
Cuter, smarter, funnier.
Beep.
Shanna
Beep is like a cute ass word anyway. I can hardly think of a cuter word than beep and then like boop. Boop. Oh boop.
Laura
Boop. You got to teach him to say boop, okay? He has booped my cat, Magnus, but he doesn't say boop, so maybe I need to teach him how to do that because he walks up and he takes his little index finger and he just like lightly boops him, you know? So I do need to teach him that word. Anyway, what's going on with you this week? How old is your toddler?
Shanna
We're good. CECE is 16 months and two weeks. And a fun thing with her is she has gotten really interested in putting things together.
Laura
Oh, for a second, I thought you said she's gotten really interested in pudding. Pudding.
Shanna
She just downs pudding like nobody's business.
Laura
Like me too, but putting things together.
Shanna
Pudding things together. So clips, you know, like on her swing, like the little buckle on her swing, she just like, puts it like snaps it together and then it's like because she wants me to undo it so she's doing it over and over in her high chair stroller all those little buckly things and she's very diligent like she will sit and poke and try and keep trying until she gets it. So I really love her perseverance. And then blocks, we have like the big, like giant toddler Legos, they're called mega blocks. And she's gotten really interested in putting those together and pulling them apart. And it's so cute. She puts them together and like holds her hand up and goes, mama! And like is so proud of herself. That's so cute. Yeah. So like her play is developing again, you know, it's becoming more intentional and
like the little shapes, you know, I don't know if your guy has one, like a little shapes bucket with the shapes cut out at the top.
Laura
Oh yeah, we've got the shapes bucket. It's got the star, the triangle, the square. and the circle and the weird cross thing.
Shanna
Yeah, we have one that has a heart. There's always different things. Yeah. So she's like super into that and getting really good at it. Yeah, I'm just not looking forward to the day that she starts unbuckling her high chair belt and stuff like that, because that's going to be a little scary, but. Not yet, only buckling in. Yeah, clicking in.
Laura
Yeah, that's really cute though. It's so interesting to see them make the connections too. Like, I can do this. And I think it makes them feel really proud and like in control to be able to do at least something themselves.
Shanna
Yeah, I think so too. And it's cute because it's not something anyone specifically taught her, right? She just saw us doing it all the time in all these different places and became curious about it. So it's so cute to just like see what they're curious about and what they find interesting and want to explore. So it's all about the buckles right now for us. The buckles, yes. Buckles. As for me, I have a little update about myself. This week was a massive heat wave in LA. And our AC was broken. What? You didn't tell me that? I didn't. No, that's terrible. Probably because I was just like miserably suffering and like not speaking to anyone because I was so mad. I just, I hate having broken AC. Like I knew ours was kind of on the fritz and I kept being like, we gotta fix this because I know a heat wave's coming. I know a heat wave's coming. There's always a heat wave coming. There always is.
So anyway, long story short, it was out for a few days while we were waiting for someone to come fix it. And the house got muggy and warm. And it triggered some massive flashback nausea of me being in my first trimester. However, many times I was in the first trimester, but just something about, I don't know if I even talked about this on the podcast, like way back in the beginning, but one of my biggest triggers for nausea was the smell of my own house. Like it was like I would walk into my house at the end of a day and just be like, I mean, so disgusting. So it's like, I'm walking around for days, just like the smell of every room, like this kind of like warm, humid and humidity. I'm just like, and to the point where I'm like, I think I might need to take a pregnancy test because I am nauseous all day and night.
It's like how the game Candy Crush, you know, I played that in my first trimester. And then from here on out, I can't play it anymore because it triggers nauseous. I'm like, am I being triggered or is something going on? I don't know. But I'm like super nauseous. So fun times. So did you take a pregnancy test? We're all dying to find out. I did. And of course, I didn't have any on hand. So I did like a four hour pickup from Target, right? Nice. And sent Steve out to get that and some other whatever. And it was negative.
Laura
I don't know how I feel about that. Like, Parkini wants you to have another baby.
Shanna
I mean, if I really wanted to have another baby, it probably wouldn't be that hard since I have a bunch of embryos still on ice.
Laura
That's true. That's true. But yeah, I was just like... It's just the heat. Being in your stuffy house makes anyone feel nauseated, I think.
Shanna
Yeah, I think so. So, yeah, that was not fun. And, you know, the girls had trouble sleeping in the heat and blah, blah, blah. But it's it's fixed now. Oh, good. God, hallelujah. I'm happy.
Laura
You had a bad run with AC. There was that time you guys like stayed with us, right? Remember that? Because your AC was out.
Shanna
That was like a hundred and six degree day. That was in just crazy.
Laura
And L was a little baby, right? Mm hmm.
Shanna
Yeah. Six months old. Yeah, it was too hot. Yeah, so it wasn't too bad. It was only like 95 here, but still gross. So yeah, that's pretty much us this week. Shall we take a break and come back with our special segment? I think we should. Okay.
Laura
And we are back with our special segment, which is gripe water, where we get to have a free pass to complain about all the things that are bugging us. Shanna, what are you griping about today?
Shanna
Oh, do I have a gripe? Okay. So since I became a mom and started kind of, you know, singing old nursery rhymes and stuff like that, it just crossed my mind like, God, some of these are pretty fucked up, right? Like Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, had a great fall, like no one put them together. It's like, why are we singing this tour? Yeah. And like rock-a-bye baby, right? And the bow breaks, the cradle falls. Like, okay. So I rewrote the words to that, like this rock-a-bye baby that my girls know has the crib flying through the air and waving at people in town and stuff. Cause I just can't hear it. Like why would I sing about like,
Laura
Crashing from yeah, you know I when my guy was a little baby I rewrote or wrote them to something about like how the cradle might fall but mommy and daddy will protect you all or something like that That's good. I don't remember the exact rhyme, but yeah, cuz that's that should start
Shanna
It really is dark and so I've always just been like those old stupid nursery rhyme so annoying, right? And then it just really came to the forefront of my mind recently because Elle has a nursery rhyme book. colorful pictures, adorable. It has like 150 pages of tons of nursery rhymes. And a lot of them are totally ordinary, you know, blah, blah, black sheep, Mary had a little lamb, all the familiar, like fine ones that we're used to. And then they just start to verge on disturbing. And then they go into just straight fucked up. And I need to share some of these and I need to vent about how bananas this is. Yep, go forth. Okay, so this book was published in 2016. So this is not like some book from another era where we didn't really like. I don't know, care about children's needs or anything like that. This is 2016.
And these are just, I'm going to start you out with just some like odd ones like, because they're full of weird little nursery rhymes I've never even heard before. And some of them are fine. They're just weird and different. So this one's called, I'm a dingley dangly scarecrow. Okay.
I'm a dangly dangly scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat. I can shake my hands like this. I can shake my feet like that. So it's like, okay, that's not disturbing, right? It's just weird. Like, yeah, what is this nursery rhyme? I don't know. So then they start getting just like slightly disturbing, maybe a little sexist, right? Okay, this is a little Tommy Tucker. Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper. What shall we give him? White bread and butter. How shall he cut it without any knife? How will he marry without any wife? Where did that took a turn? I know, right? Like, what? And why are people writing this?
Laura
How will you marry without any wife? Yeah. Like, you get a wife when you marry. No one marries with a wife, I guess, except for polygamists. Yeah, there you go. Maybe that's what this one's all about.
Shanna
Yeah. I don't know. So then we start to get a little bit weirder. This one's like nice and subtly weird. Like I read this one to Elle not knowing what was coming and like she didn't really get it. But I was just like, okay, this is called three wise men. Three wise men of Gotham went to sea in a bowl. If the bowl had been stronger, my song would have been longer. What? And there's a picture of three dudes in a bowl in the ocean and the bowl is like cracking. Oh, okay. If the bowl had been stronger, my song would have been longer. They all drowned? Yeah, I think that's what that's about. Cute. Okay. Okay. This one is called goosey goosey gander.
Sounds cute. I mean goose. Oh, right. Cute goosey goosey goosey gander with or shall I wander upstairs and downstairs and in my lady's chamber. There I met an old man who would not say his prayers. I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs. And it's accompanied by a big illustration of a goose at the top of the staircase and an old man with a cane falling down the stairs on his back.
Laura
So this goose is committing elder abuse. Yeah. Because he wouldn't say his prayers. Wow.
Shanna
Yes. Why is this in a kids book? It just makes me so mad. I don't even really read this book with her anymore, because like. Well, yeah, I would get rid of it. I don't know what's coming. Half the time she'll be like, read that one. What's that one? Read that one. And I just make stuff up. I'm like, oh, the goose and the old man were best friends forever.
Alright, I got a couple more here if you don't mind. I need to know what you think. This one's called Girls Are Dandy.
Laura
Okay.
Shanna
Girls are dandy, made of candy. That's what little girls are made of. Boys are rotten, made of cotton. That's what little boys are made of.
Laura
Okay, there's a lot of things wrong with that. Obviously, all the gendered shit, but also cotton is not rotten. It's just a lazy rhyme.
Shanna
Right? I mean, rotten, made out of dog shit or something. Come on, cotton is... Cotton, cotton, cotton. It's the fabric of our lives. It is. I don't get it. And it's like, if you have a boy and you're reading this, like, well, you don't want to read that. I don't even want to read it to my girls. Of course not. Boys are not rotten.
Laura
Boys are not rotten.
Shanna
I hate this book. OK, I only have a couple more.
Laura
You need to throw this book away.
Shanna
Well, yes, I do. I really do. But not until I've finished reading you this shit. Okay, this one. This one, the old classic nursery rhyme, little Nancy Eddycoat. Little Nancy Eddycoat with a white petticoat and a red nose. She has no feet or hands.
The longer she stands, the shorter she grows.
Laura
Someone, someone like dark got a book deal. Like is that really a thing? Like I feel like I've never in my life heard of that. All right.
Shanna
I know me neither. I don't know. Let me see. I think it's just a collection of old nursery rhymes. I don't think like someone wrote this like it doesn't have an author or anything.
Laura
Huh, because they want to say anonymous because they don't want to be accused of hurting young children.
Shanna
Okay, so this one, this is what brought the book to my attention because Elle was looking at it flipping through the other day. And you know, she can't read so she can't really be disturbed by these nursery rhymes. But she turns to this page and it's a picture of a house with flames coming out the window and smoke everywhere. And a little ladybug is hiding underneath a frying pan, a giant frying pan, and then like a big mom ladybug looks worried and is flying towards the house. And so I was like- Already disturbing. Right, the image is disturbing. And Elle kind of has a thing with fire. Like, she's like, scaredly obsessed with it. We've had to evacuate our house because of fires, you know, in the neighborhood.
Laura
I was going to say, like, it's not a surprise considering her freaking window blew in because their next-door neighbor's apartment complex caught on fire. I mean, that would make anyone afraid of fire.
Shanna
So yeah, she's got this thing. And she's like, mama, why is that house on fire? And I'm like, oh, I don't know. Let me see. And I read the little rhyme that goes with it to myself. And I was like, what the fuck is this? And I was like, oh, yeah, I don't know. I guess it's just the fire. And then snatched the book away and instantly Instagrammed this because I'm just like, what is happening? So this rhyme is called Ladybug. Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are all alone.
Nightmare fuel it is Literally I mean she already has a thing about fire and then if I read her a rhyme about like being alone trapped in a house on fire with Jesus Christ, it's so So messed up so yeah, and this is the last one I'm gonna read okay, all right, and this one's the the old classic Solomon Grundy I
Salomon Grundy, born on a Monday, christened on a Tuesday, married on a Wednesday, took ill on a Thursday, worse on a Friday, died on Saturday, buried on Sunday. This is the end of Salomon Grundy. Okay. He lived a week, but he lived a full life, you know, got married. Yeah. He did it all. The picture that goes with it shows him through life, right? So there's pictures of him as a baby, illustrations, him blowing his nose, you know, on Thursday because he's ill and then like very sick and bad and then his gravestone.
Laura
Wait, does this date got married on, like, does this date like on a Monday or on a Monday or just Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?
Shanna
Uh, well, it starts out born on a Monday, christened on Tuesday, married on Wednesday, took ill on Thursday. So it makes it seem like it's all the same week.
Laura
It does. Although now I realize they probably just mean like, you know, much, many weeks later, these things happen. But I imagine it's supposed to be Solomon Grundy. It's like, yeah.
Shanna
But there's, there's no, there's no A in Grundy, right? It's just GRUNDY. So it's bad rhyming. It's bad. everything.
Laura
Yeah. This book needs to go. I know. It really does. It reminds me of all the fairy tales. They all have like really, really dark origins, you know, like Hansel and Gretel is freaking dark. Oh, totally going in the oven.
Shanna
Like, oh my God.
Laura
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I'm all about exposing kids to things that are challenging, like not necessarily, you know, what is this snow plow parenting where you like keep everything, you know, keep all the danger out of their path and whatnot, but you don't need to intentionally confuse and distress them with these stupid nursery rhymes.
Shanna
Yeah, exactly.
Laura
Just go back to Baba.
Shanna
Ba ba black sheep, that's what we're gonna stick with. All right, well, I feel better. Thank you for letting me share those and get that off my chest, because that is some major bullshit. And now get it out of your house. And get it out of my house. Maybe I'll set it on fire and give it to the ladybugs. I don't know. What about you? What's your gripe?
Laura
Okay, this is my major gripe, and it's about my son. And you know, I love him. Ooh. Do you? I do. I love him so much. Okay. This baby
will not eat a vegetable. Like he will put anything green, he might put it in his mouth, but like spit it out. However, he will eat any leaf, stick, piece of like dirt on the floor, like anything he finds outside of like dinner time.
Shanna
Ah, hilarious. Clearly you just got to start sprinkling the vegetables just on the ground throughout the house.
Laura
I guess. I mean like I've seen him pick up like little pieces of dirt that like haven't been swept up on the ground in the mouth and I have to like chase him to get him out of his mouth and I'm sure that makes it more fun for him but I'm not gonna be like I'm gonna wait quietly until you come here with like what might be cat pooping you know. Oh yeah. But this specifically is on my mind this week because we got to have our first call to poison control. No, is that why you joined that Facebook mushroom group? No, actually, I didn't get to use them because I already knew what the plant was that he had ingested. I would have used that group that we talked about in the last episode if I didn't know. But I already knew that these were the berries. They're like seed pods from my China berry tree that I have in my front yard.
They're like little, they look like little cherry sized little orange balls and they're, you know, they're semi hard, almost like a like a garbanzo bean.
Shanna
Yeah. Right.
Laura
And they're at the end of long sticks and we've been playing in our front yard. And I, you know, he likes to pick them up and I try to keep a very close eye on him. And he's, as I said, he's very fast and agile now. So he's like running around. And it's the time of year where all of them are falling to the ground. And also we have parrots in Pasadena. It's like feral parrot flocks fly around. And the parrots are hanging out in our tree like all day eating these Chita berries. And so like half of them drop on the ground too. Like I know when the parrots are in there because I see they're just dropping. I'm like, oh, the parrots are in there. So the whole like front yard is just like littered with these China berries. And so the other day we're just playing out front and he had a like one of the branches, you know, like a really, really thin flexible branch.
So I wasn't worried about it with two berries on the end of it. And he's like running around and I'm watching him and close him really closely. I look away for a second and look back and he still has the stick, but the two berries are gone. And I hear him go. Oh.
And I was like, did you just eat that? And he looked at me and he made like smiled in his way. And he's kind of like smacking his lips. I'm like, you just ate that, didn't you? They can't taste good. You know that piece of zucchini I gave you yesterday? Yeah. No, no go. But China Berries, and so I Googled poison control and I used their little web portal. I don't know if you've ever had to use it, but you can actually go through and do a little triage and see if you know what it was they ingested and how you put in their age and all this stuff, and then they tell you what to do. And so the web portal said you should call. Oh no. So I called and the lady looked it up and said, okay, you know, it might be like mild toxicity. And it's like she said, usually we wouldn't expect anything really bad with two, you know, ingestion of this two, but they are mildly toxic. So look out for like,
Tommy upset or lethargy and it can occur anywhere from three hours to three days. I'm like great. Oh, no But she did reassure us that it would probably be mild so mm-hmm, but yeah, my gripe is The child he puts rocks in his mouth. I'm like
And then it's not, sometimes it's not even vegetables. Like, what did I try to give him the other day? Oh, I tried to give him bowtie pasta, Shanna. Uh-huh, delish. No, no, no. It was in a bowtie shape and it was not okay. Oh my goodness. She's not interested. Has to be penne, apparently. So I'm like, it's pasta and it has cheese on it. And he would go cheese, cheese and like point to the fridge. And I was like, no, there's cheese on it. And he just like tried to throw it on the ground.
But two poisonous hard berries that probably don't taste good at all, just fine. Down the hatch.
Shanna
Have you seen any effects from the berries yet?
Laura
No, no, no. He was fine. There was nothing. She said, like, if there's anything, it would be very mild. And he didn't seem to have any problems. So that was good. That's good. Yeah. I've been lately trying to, I have an herb garden. So now I'm trying to just pick herbs from the garden and give it to him. Because usually if he has something in his hand already, He doesn't like pick new stuff up. And I'm like, I'm going to give him some cilantro and basil. You know, and he, he's just going to think it's like the other cool stuff from the yard, but it's actually edible. Does he eat that? He does put it in his mouth. Yeah. Yeah. Although I think he put the cilantro in his mouth and he did kind of make a face. Oh, well, a lot of people do hate cilantro. It's true. It's true. Okay. So I don't want to just completely do all my griping about my toddler, who I love dearly.
Can I share one more with you? Okay. That's not about him. That's not about him. It's about someone else.
Shanna
Oh, yes. Let's do it after the break. Okay.
We're back. And Lori, you're going to share one more gripe with us. Yes. What is it?
Laura
OK. So I got invited to a mom's networking event. A friend of mine forwarded this to me. And it was called Lifting Up Moms. And it was supposed to be like a networking event for working moms to meet each other and working creative moms, something like that. And I was like, oh, this seems cool. That seems like something that maybe I should go and talk about the podcast, you know? That seems great. And then I looked at the details. And not only was it on the West side, which I was like, that's hard pass. But this is, I should say, this is before the quarantine. So like this was before. This was back when we all met in groups, didn't even wear masks. Amazing. But then I looked at the fine print and it was on like a Tuesday from 6.30 to 9.
What?
Laura
And I was just like, you know what? If you are holding events for moms and have absolutely no concept of bedtime, Yeah. You need to re-examine what you're doing.
Shanna
Is it just some single dude that's organizing this thing or something?
Laura
I mean, it seems like it would be because I don't know any mom who I would say to you, like, oh, the event's from 6.30 to 9. And you'd be like, oh, cool. That should be no problem. Perfect. Do you know any parents? I mean, maybe occasionally, right? Like if there was the occasional really important meeting you had to go to.
Shanna
Yeah, like if I had to go accept my Oscar. Yes. Yeah.
Laura
My Pulitzer Prize ceremony was only between 6.30 and nine on a weeknight.
Shanna
I would ditch bedtime for that. Exactly.
Laura
But who in the world? So the thing that I'm griping about is not only that like you would organize an event during bedtime, which is already like bad enough. I feel like there's so much in the world. that conflicts with bedtime, like any concerts or dinner reservations or anything like when you're a parent, you just know all that stuff is sort of off limits. brunch becomes a great option. But also the idea that you're supposed to be like lifting up moms by making them stay away from their children. I mean maybe some moms would be into that but it's like if you're working mom and you're like oh yeah you know what's really gonna help support me in my life having to get childcare again because I'm working late and going to this networking event like Yeah. I'm really curious if they got anyone to show.
Shanna
I am too. Well, did your friend go?
Laura
No, no, I realized so she sent it to me and I was like afraid to criticize it because I thought she was like involved in some way. But then I was just like, yeah, I don't think the West Side at bedtime is going to work out for me. And then I realized she sent it to us like if she sent it to me and my friend, Carrie, she was like, she sent it to make fun of it. She was like, what were they thinking? But she sent it with no comment, you know? So I was worried like she was organizing it or something, but now it was like, she was like, yeah, hard pass. Hard pass. I'd be curious if our listeners have experienced any problems with this bedtime conflict. Like if there's any interesting, funny stories that people have about things that are scheduled around bedtime.
Shanna
Yeah, let us know for sure.
Laura
Yeah. Okay, so I feel much lighter. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. But of course. Should we move on to our BFPs and BFNs? Yeah.
Shanna
All right, it's time for our BFPs and BFNs. Laura, what do you got for us this week?
Laura
I got a BFP, which I talked about in my gripe water segment, which is poison control. Oh, yes. I had never called them before and I knew that they were a thing. I knew that it was a resource that you were supposedly supposed to have on. speed dial as a mom parent of toddlers. I don't know. People, one of the very gendered things I got a lot when I would tell people that I was having a boy is they were like, make sure you have poison control on speed dial. And I was like, ha, ha, ha. And now I'm like, hmm. Maybe they were on to something. Maybe they were. But I was really impressed with the service. And it's a completely free service. And I didn't know that they had this web tool where you could like triage the situation. It's really well built. It works very well. You can look up all kinds of substances and it asks relevant questions and gives you really like clear advice on what to do.
And, you know, the advice I got in this situation was you need to call and talk to someone and get more information, basically. And so when I called, it's a really nice calm lady. picked up the phone and talked me through it. And you know, I wasn't freaked out because I was like, you know, I know that these, I had looked up this tree before and I knew that it was like mildly toxic, but I didn't know like how toxic and that's why I was trying to sort of be safe and call poison control. So I wasn't panicked, but I can imagine if you were like, oh my God, my baby just got into like the cleaning cabinet and drink, whatever, you know, if you're freaking out how having like a very calm, knowledgeable person on the other line would be just so reassuring. And, you know, she said, she looked it up and she said, you know, I'm going to need a little more information. Can you go on hold?
And that was reassuring to me, too, because I was like, you're not just guessing, you know, they're getting the right information. And they're great. And also they send you follow ups. by email to check up on how they're doing. And I know it's for their information as well, but I don't know, I thought that was nice too, sort of remind you, oh yeah. And they do it like one hour, three hours, and I don't know, a day later or something like that. But yeah, I was very impressed with Poison Control. And the URL is just poison.org. So it's really easy to remember.
Shanna
Is it a nonprofit organization or a federal program? What is Poison Control?
Laura
It's the National Capital Poison Center, and I know that they do take donations, so the mission of the National Capital Poison Center is to prevent poisoning safe lives and limit injury from poisoning. In addition to saving lives, poison control decreases health care costs of poisoning cases, which is true, right? Because if we didn't know, we might go to the ER and waste time and money and resources, right? Right. Oh, and they have a $5.5 million annual budget supported through grants and contributions. So, yeah, yeah. Very cool. It is out of Washington, D.C., but it seems like it's a non-profit. great, great resource, really just very grateful it's there. Poison.org.
Shanna
Poison.org. Thanks for sharing. No, it's good. Good to know.
Laura
I mean, I hope you don't have to call it, but I think I was nervous to call because I didn't want to bother them and I thought it wasn't going to be a big deal. Really, it seems like you should just call if you have any doubt because they were really, really helpful. Also, I think I've had to call poison control for my cats before. Oh. And that you have to pay for. Oh, really? I think I had paid $65 to get a consultation for when my cat, my old girl cat who has since passed and got into some lilies. That's right, yeah. Yeah, so free service, folks. I love it. Good to know. OK, Sean, did you have a BFP or a BFN?
Shanna
I have a BFP and it's a toy that CeCe really loves now that she's into putting things together. It's called the hide and squeak eggs. Oh. I guess it's a brand called Tommy's or no, Toomies. You know, when you read it, When you read a product name on Amazon, it's just like a clusterfuck of keywords so many times. So it's like, tell me. Toomies, hide and squeak eggs, Easter egg, Toiletoy, blah, blah, blah. But I think really it's called hide and squeak eggs. And it's a little yellow egg carton, plastic egg carton that opens and closes. And inside are these little eggs that the top of the shell comes off. and on, but it's like a zigzag perforated cut between the sides of the egg. So she has to twist it to get it to go on quite right. And then each egg has a little shape on the bottom of it, heart, triangle, blah, blah. And it corresponds to their position in the egg carton.
So she has to put it in the right spot. And the egg squeaks. when you push down on their little heads, you take the top off and it has like a little chick, you know, cheap, cheap inside and you push on it. So it's just cute and fun in a lot of different ways. And she likes opening the case. She likes putting the lids on, she like squeaking them. And it was a hit with Elle too when she was a baby. So if anyone's looking for a new toy for their toddler, this is a fun one. And I've got it because a lot of people in my mom's group recommended it. I remember that back in the day. I was like, oh, okay, I'll try that out. And it's been around for a few years now and it's resurfaced with my new baby and she loves it.
Laura
It's good to know that it lasted that long, because I always worry about the longevity of toys, not just from an interest point of view, but from a toddler destroying it point of view.
Shanna
Well, the only thing is we have lost, I think, at least one of the eggs, or one of the tops of one of the eggs. That'll happen. Yeah, that happens. But it's still fun. You know, she doesn't care that it's not a complete set. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. So yeah, that's really all I have for that. Well, let's wrap it up then. OK. Listeners, if you have any gripes that you want to share with us, you know we want to hear them. Laura, where can they reach us?
Laura
We are on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at BFPpodcast. We also have an email address. You can send a voice memo or just plain old email to contact at bigfatpositivepodcast.com or you can join our Facebook community group. Just search Big Fat Positive Community, request to join. It's a closed group, but then I will add you and you can join in on our amazing conversations we're having in there. We also have a website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com.
Shanna
If you love our show, please spread the word, let your friends know about Big Fat Positive, and if you haven't done so yet, please leave us a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts that helps us so much get discovered by other listeners. Big Fat Positive is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Bye. Thank you. Bye.
We're good. CECE is 16 months in two weeks.
Is that you typing furious?
Laura
No, it was me trying to scoot in a little bit. Oh, OK. The closet door just shudders when I do that.
Shanna
I just, for some reason, pictured you like that cat meme, like the cat paws just like pounding on the keyboard. Like I just pictured you just like pounding on the keyboard with your hands.
Laura
That's how I type, yeah.
Shanna
Oh, god, OK.