Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids

Subject: Unashamed gloating /moaning about kids
From: Freddie Fox
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 05:07 PM

There is nothing so boring than parents who are always either complaining about their kids or bragging about how wonderful they are. Unfortunately, the temptation is often irresistable. So I've started this thread to give me and the other parents out their a chance to get it all off their chest without boring the socks off everyone else. No parents / child haters read no further.

Gloat; How many other twins of three and a half can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in close harmony and get most of the words right to boot? Mine can - I just wish they wouldn't do it right outside my bedroom door at five in the morning.

Moan; We have just replaced our fridge/freezer with separates, wich means that the fridge is now in reach. This morning, they helped themselves to spaghetti rings, cheese dip and fromage frais out of the fridge, accompanied by coconut biscuits from the cupboard [which they reached by forming a pyramid]. Then they wouldn't eat their breakfasts.

Someone else's trun - I'll save the rest for later.

Freddie

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 05:16 PM

Freddie, nice idea!

Gloat & Moan: my oldest daughter called me at about 1230am her tme, 1030pm mine, to ask for advice on how to get one of her 17 month twins to stop crying and go to sleep. Dad was trying to be tough. She took the phone in to their cribs so I could hear the certain cry. It was trouble, congestion, etc. Gloating that she followed my advice, gave him a decongestant and baby tylenol, took him to bed with her, got him to sleep, then put him back in his own bed, with the classical music they've heard since birth playing in the room. Called me back this a.m. to let me they both slept well.

Gloat: my son just bought his second house and is on his way to being a land tycoon. :-)

Moan: my youngest daughter, at 22, still thinks she's a lot smarter than mom and dad and knows all of the msyteries of life.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Bert
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 05:22 PM

Moan & gloat at 19 our daughter couldn't hold a job for more than 6 weeks and was continually fighting with her mother. She moved out to Colorado Springs, got a job and an apartment. She has held her job for well over 18 months. Now at age 20 she is buying her own house and closes on the 28th. of this Month.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Magpie
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 06:24 PM

Moan/gloat??

You tell me!

My (then) four-year-old asked me if I didn't think it was time to make him a baby. I tried to tell him that we'd, or rather I'd need a man for that, as you can't buy baby seeds in the supermarket. Upon which he gives me the oh-I-can't-believe-how-stupid-you-are look, and says: But Ma, I've got those testicle-things! I can help you with that!

I cracked completely, and tried, amidst fits of uncontrollable laughter, to get him to understand the concept of incest. To no avail. So I just told him that he was a little too young."Oh, you mean that they aren't ripe yet!"

Magpie

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 06:37 PM

Moan: my kids never come home on time - "they can't see dark," as James Still overheard once in a general store.

Neil

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: MMario
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 08:31 PM

Gloat: My "bestest" niece (first and oldest niece - after three nephews....)is back safe and sound in London, where she is doing a semesters studies...after touring Venice, Florence,Bologna and Rome during a break last week....and when she finished in London she will be studying drama at the National Theatre Institute in Connecticut this spring....(not an easy place to get into) MOAN: she isn't home and she doesn't e-mail...

MMario

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: DonMeixner
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 09:29 PM

Gloat: I have identical twin sons who, when know one is watching, will sing with harmony that rivals The Everly Brothers.

Moan: They won't sing on request, ever.

Gloat: My daughter will graduate with a degree in Technical Theatre Arts and a second major in Phylosophy from SUNY Oswego this year, Magna Cum Laude.

Moan: She isn't little anymore.

Kids, can't eat them, can't legally sell them.

Don

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: harpgirl
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 09:32 PM

...I've been moaning for seventeen years and now I have something to gloat about! My son's birthday (17th) is today and he is on the Honor Roll at his alternative high school for the first time ever! He is six two and weighs 230lbs....my bodyguard! harpgirl

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: alison
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 01:50 AM

neither moan or gloat... just an amusing story.....

I walked into the living room one morning to find my 3 year old sitting nude (as usual)on the settee, being VERY quiet, (not like her at all)..... I asked her what she was doing... "I'm being a bird, mummy."... with that she reached underneath herself and pulled out an egg. ... she had gone to the fridge taken out half a dozen eggs and was trying to hatch them ("the rescuers down under" has a lot to answer for!!). To her credit she had managed to hatch 3 of them..... but was most annoyed that there weren't any baby birds in them!!!

slaine

alison

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: roopoo
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 03:28 AM

Gloat: I have 2 kids at university! Moan: They are costing me a fortune! Gloat: My non-academic son got his HND in Business Information Systems (one of only 4 that year to do so) and is now on his Information Systems degree. Moan: He never comes home for the weekend, and with my husband away as well I miss having someone to carry the heavy stuff. Gloat: He's now a qualified scuba diver. Moan: I'm not. Gloat: My older daughter, who IS academic, has started to study Pharmacy. Moan: She keeps coming back, and just when the house was STAYING clean and tidy! Gloat: Bought me a present because I was down after some sad news. Moan: She purloined my car to go off with her boyfriend, expected me to be ready to feed him as well, and then I found she'd helped herself to my portable cd player without asking. Gloat: Her younger sister is wonderful company. Likes museums and interesting stuff like that. Moan: She's just got her first boyfriend and this weekend I have my husband coming home, older daughter and possibly her boyfriend, younger daughter and her new boyfriend (who at the age of 14 is sending my 13 year old love poems!).

HELP!!!!!

mouldy

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Freddie Fox
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 08:41 AM

I love it!! Non-parents have no idea how wonderful it is to share these things, 'cos they must ring bells for all of us. I hope non-one minds - I'm going to transcribe it [without ID] and pass it onto the other parents at church.

Further Gloat; At two and a half, my twins could recognise all the names, numbers and colours of the entire cast of Thoma the Tank Engine.

Further Moan; I made the mistake of showing them the Thoma web site a couple of days ago, and came down the following morning to find that they'd turned the computer on *and* somehow managed to find the internet button. Fortunately, they hadn't logged on because they didn't know the password...

I know what you mean, Alison, about three year olds and nudity - my cousin wouldn't wear clothes until she was about four, and if you had to dress her to take her shopping, you couldn't leave go of her hand to put something in the trolley because they'd suddenly be this little trail of garments and a smiling child dressed only in one sock...

Keep them coming!

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Roger the skiffler
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 09:50 AM

No kids of our own but two grown nephews who've always been tolerant to the old fart and now I get birthday & Xmas presents in bottles, usually a better quality than I'd buy myself,so no complaints!

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 10:37 AM

5 kids, many gloats and moans. The most current gloat is that daughter number two (Rosie) is now at university and all my underwear and make up is at last safe.....mind you daughter three (Sophie) is twelve perhaps I'd better make the most of it for now, as I'm sure she will start "borrowing things" soon Another gloat son two (Patrick) had a loose tooth last night, woke up this morning without it, can't find it in his bed, must have swallowed it. Ah shame no tooth - no tooth fairy. I'm not really that mean or am I...??

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: bbc
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 11:35 AM

Gloat 1-Both of my (teenaged) sons hug me if I am crying. If they caused it, they do their utmost to "make nice w/ Mom."

Gloat 2-One of my sons has the admirable personality trait of being able to (sometimes) benefit from the experiences of others. He will listen attentively & then decide the right course of action for himself.

I love them both to pieces!

bbc

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Bert
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 03:56 PM

Aw! that's MEAN Patrish.

Now she's not at home, I kinda miss my daughter stealing belts, shirts and sweaters and things.

bbc, I don't believe your gloat number 2, I just don't believe it.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: MMario
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 04:12 PM

bert - she DID say "(sometimes)", or I would have to accuse her of harbouring a "pod person".

Gloat:my nephew is working!!! and seems to be successful. Moan:he flunked 3.75 years of college to become a phone solicitor?

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: bbc
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 04:43 PM

I *did* say "sometimes" & I *did* say only one son. I try to be accurate, but I stand by my gloat,Bert. (You might have met him!)

with love & accuracy in NY,

bbc

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Bert
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 05:01 PM

Actually, bbc, it was my way of saying I'm very impressed.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 05:55 PM

Magpie - I love it !

When I told my 4-yr old daughter I was pregnant, I unfortunately phrased it as "Kiera, you're going to have a little sister". SHe spent the next three weeks telling people her stomach was getting really big and a baby was growing in her uterus, before I set her straight. Lesson - kids are VERY literal.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: roopoo
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 03:15 AM

Patrish- I got my knickers back too when she decamped. (She only used to borrow the black ones though)! If you make it down to the Jug we can get our heads together and have a REAL moan and gloat!

mouldy ps- as we all know, the tooth will appear in the due course of time. He doesn't still want it, does he?

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 03:42 AM

Mouldy, Patrick - the toothless one, is aware what is going to happen to the tooth and where it will end up. I'm glad to say that he is not investigating that side of things too closely. He is confident that at some point in the next day or so that the tooth fairy will come up with the goods. I happen to know that our particular tooth fairy is a soft touch - (me) See - I am not really mean

regards

Patrish

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Llanfair
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 04:15 AM

Can't resist this one!!
Moan--- Both sons had a stormy adolescence, one having had a hard time with his new stepmother.( They were apart for 10 years, eldest lived with his dad) They spent the next few years catching up on all the fighting they had missed, and both left school at 16 with no qualifications.
Gloat.... David the youngest, got married 2 weeks ago. Both are doing what they want in life, and both have what I never had, and that is self-confidence, and I was the one that made sure that they knew (and know) that they are loved and valued.
I am so proud of my sons. Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 07:59 AM

My favourite from my daughter (when she was a little younger!):

"Daddy....did people see in black and white back when you were alive...?"

What we call a double whammy.

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 10:51 AM

Gloat: my kids are good company. The way they are as people make me want to be around them.

Neil

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 10:52 AM

Gloat: my kids are enjoyable company. The way they are as people make me want to be around them.

Neil

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 10:55 AM

I clicked "Submit" and then "Stop" after deciding to clarify ....thought it hadn't gone through yet...sorry.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: kendall
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 01:19 PM

There is a family story which says, that when I was 4 or 5, someone had told me that if you pour salt on a birds tail, you could catch it. I asked my mother for some salt, told her why I wanted it, she said she didnt have any, so, I said "Then give me an onion, and I'll squirt the juice into its eyes." I really wanted that bird. Years later as she was leaving, my wife gave me one.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: selby
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 01:32 PM

Gloat:- A 11 year old who is for his age a mighty fine fiddler A 9 year old who is getting there on the melodeon both of which I am very proud. Moan :- Why do they both have to be so full of energy and LOUD when I am on nights Keith

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Freddie Fox
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 06:30 PM

I've been away for 48 hours, or rather my computer has, so I hope this is going to work. I'm so encouraged by the fact that the gloats well outnumber the moans [haven't quite worked out the statistics yet] - often, I get the impression that everyone really hates their kids. Are mudcatters different, or does it make it easier gloating about them with people you can't physically see ie. you don't have to pretend. My two little ones have spent the last day and a half going around saying 'See tom Tank on 'pooter when it's mended'. My eldest comes back on Friday - I WILL HAVE A BABYSITTER AGAIN!!!

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: kendall
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 08:56 AM

when my grand daughter was 8, she was reading "Great Expectations" scary...

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: alison
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 09:07 AM

Freddy...... get them "Noddy" for the 'puter... it is wonderful for young kids. "Blinky Bill" is great too..

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 10:32 AM

Haven't posted to the forum for a long time, the reason ......little "Rebecca of the swamps" born Jan. 25 1999.

Gloat... I work nights, Momma works days, minimal need for babysitters, I play with 'Becca every day.

Moan......Guess who gives up sleep??

'Nother Moan... she took her first big fall yesterday, bloodied her nose by landing face first, I couldn't get it out of my mind and missed out on the little sleep I do get.

Nother Gloat....She can clap & whistle, not very well, but we're working on "We're coming Arkansas".

Frank in the Swampy, Swampy, Swamps.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: MMario
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 10:41 AM

Frank - you got a babygirl 'gator? Congratulations....late, but heartfelt

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Freddie Fox
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 12:54 PM

Thanks for the tip re Noddy - I've thought about it, but prob is, we only have one computer and I'm working on it most of the time. I have to fight my kids for the bathroom, the phone, the biscuit tin, my side of the bed in the mornings... no, no, not my 'pooter as well!!!

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: alison
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 02:39 AM

Welcome back Frank we missed you.... and congratulations

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Jack (Who is called Jack)
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 06:38 PM

My son Adam, born 6-2-92, has imagination to burn. Hw was 'making up books' at age 3-4. He'd staple a bunch a pages together draw pictures in them, and then tell us the captions to put below them. I saved my favorite one. The first page has a primitive stick figure next to a window, and a caption that reads, 'A boy stood by the window wishing the wind was his'. He has invented 'The Boys of the Hidden Temple', a group of boys with heroic powers, with there own secret hide out, and a series of adventures that he created in his head. Once he extemporised a story while we were driving somewhere for 45 straight minutes. It was amazing. He has that creativity drive, and likes to perform. He's sung solo's at church and been in pageants and plays at summer camps, church and school. He puts thought into how his character will act and sound.

On the other hand he has pretty serious attention and organization problems, and the flip side of that creative drive is that sometimes you can't tell him anything. What is in his mind is the higher reality. An example. I once made the mistake of telling Adam how we picked his name. Specifically I told him that when expecting we had originally picked out Simon as the name for a boy, and then changed it just a few weeks before he was born. There was a ten minute pause as he mulled this over, followed by a declaration that Simon was a 'cooler'name and he wanted his changed to that. I kindly explained that since he was 5 and had been and was Adam to everyone and to every legal document, and since its the parents that get to name the kid, that he was going to have to accept Adam. He argued and lobbied me relentlessly for 9 months. Not a day passed but that he raised the issue. He would not be distracted, he would not let it go. Eventually it got to be to much and I had to order him not to bring it up again. He complied but...its been about 2 years since then, and just recently, out of the blue, we were driving somewhere and he asked me, 'Dad, when your a grown up can you change your name?' The idea was still in his head.

And if you substitute his creative drive with an interest in science, he is just like his father. Is that a gloat or a moan? I'm working on the answer to that one.

My daughter Claire is 10 months old, even tempered, smiles instantly on eye contact, and is physically as strong as an ox, and in constant motion. We have a running joke--Greco Roman Diaper Changing, from the physical ordeal of battling the contortions and escape moves she pulls. Most babies you can hold their legs and keep them fairly under control. Not Claire, she pulls and twists so hard, that to keep her under control you'd have to squeeze hard enought to hurt her. And she's fast.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Nov 99 - 11:54 PM

Just had to bring this back to the top to quote the 13 yr old daughter: "When I get older, Mom, I want to be a cheerleader, either that or on the football team."
You're going to have to figure out for yourself what part's moan and what's gloat ( and if, in fact, both are represented).
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: sophocleese
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 12:29 AM

I liked it when my three year old son, standing in line beside me at the supermarket, asked what the big jugs were. "The sign says ' Spring water'," I reply. Pause. "What's winter water?"

Made my day.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Magpie
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 03:25 PM

Just came back from spending a weekend with my boyfriend. Saturday was spent tidying the garden, and "putting it to bed" for the winter. Jørgen, my son, went berserk helping cutting off dead branches, and ended up cutting away two entire black-currant bushes, a rose bush and a lilac.

Good thing my boyfriend is a patient man (with no great passion for gardening).

Magpie

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 06:00 PM

My little darling could dress herself at 2, unfortunately, as soon as she learnt that, she learnt undressing and will run around naked in all weathers....

Last November, she was helping me in the garden, it was frosty, windy and dusk, I was in shirt, sweat shirt, coat and thick sock (OK, trousers as well), she was in a small crocheted cap and a pair of teletubbie wellingtons....

Ho hum.

LTS7

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Freddie Fox
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 06:32 PM

This last rings a bell - see Ludricous sights - but I don't know how to do a clicky thing.

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Ferrara
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 05:35 PM

harpgirl and llanfair, you both give me hope. Our son is 17, looking at colleges, has a 2.2 GPA but a SAT score of 1310... Bright, but rebellious...

He recently discovered there are advantages to coming from a community of folksingers.... It means he can sing along with the Pirates Royale at the RenFest and even knows the correct etiquette for "Why Were They Born So Beautiful."

He's up at Fairleigh Dickinson U tonight for an overnight dorm visit and interview. The school put on an all-day learning simulation that really got his attention and it's wonderful to see him motivated and excited about a school. However it works out, the trip is bound to be good for him. But here's mama fretting just a teensy bit anyway...

But your posts were so encouraging. Kids who hate school do end up with satisfying lives, lots and lots of times.

Am really enjoying this thread. - Rita Ferrara

Subject: RE: Unashamed gloating /complaing about kids
From: Eric the viking
Date: 09 Nov 99 - 01:17 PM

If Mouldy and Patrish are going to discuss knickers at the Jug(Thats panties in USA) Then I might play a mouth harp!! 2nd Our Matthew (Yorkshire saying for my son!) age 11 has just really got into performing arts. He's done scout gang shows here and in Warrington, he's in the local amateur operatic society doing King and I and NOW just passed the audition to sing in Joseph and his t'colour dreamcoat at Bradford Alhambra with the London cast next month. He only gets A' and B' in his school reports.He loves Folk and heavy metal! Every one thinks the sun shines out of his backside- His mum and me know different!! His sister Freja (7) gets 20 out of 20 spellings each week at school and sings like an angel