Mama Knows Best

Working in the nursing home setting can be rewarding for several reasons.  You can learn so much history from resident’s and lessons about life, love, family and money.  Every day that I walk into work, I am eager to learn something new.  For those of you who are scared of the elderly, I promise you that their words will move you.  Being of a young age, it really is a blessing.  Some of these people have done amazing things for our country and now I am able to pay them my respects my taking care of them.

Another thing I love about working as a CENA is seeing the generational gap.  Some of the older ladies I care for are still very much the same as I imagine they were in their younger years.  They wear skirts and blouses, refusing to give into pants for women.  In fact, one of  our resident’s explained her disgust for the way today’s generation dressed.  She finds it appalling.  Some of the men even have stuck to their khakis, dress shirts and Fedora Hat.

It does my heart good to see a generation still stuck in their ways.  Very prim, proper, traditional and respectful.   Today’s generation could learn a lot from the older generation.

One my favorite things to tell Gazelle is that I hate him a little more every day.  When I saw the above design on a t-shirt, I could not help but get a good laugh.  I thought about purchasing this t-shirt, along with a handful of other funny tshirts that I have found that are symbolic of my feelings towards so many causes, events and people.  But honestly, this one just hit the nail on the head about my relationship with Gazelle.

About two months ago, I began making a list of things to purchase for Ethan’s kindergarten year.  We would need school clothes, supplies, a book bag, etc.  What I didn’t anticipate for was the fact that my oldest child was suddenly becoming a big kid in front of my very eyes.  When did he have time to grow up?  And then it beca7me more real to me while school clothes shopping that this was it.  He was becoming a big kid, with or without me.  Watching him walk through the class room door without hesitation filled me with pride.  But then his chubby little legs wandered back into the hallway to say, “I got this mom.. I’m a man now. “  It would not have been a “true” Ethan moment without his commentary.

So back to school shopping…  I have had several people tell me I am insane for purchasing new clothes for E this school year.  Am I the only parent who goes back to school shopping with a child his age?  It’s not as though I purchased a ton of things for him.. we purchased a couple of hoodies, “mens t shirts” (he calls them his men shirts), and some jeans.  He also got a new pair of z-strap tennis shoes.  The hoodie in the picture is one of my favorites..  My son is an absolute doll in his new clothes.

In September, I will officially be the mama to kindergartner.  He past his “test” with flying colors, we filled out all of our paper work and put in our request for his teacher.  Waiting to go school clothes shopping was beginning to drive me completely batty, hence the reason for a little therapeutic clothes shopping this past weekend.  I was limited on time, so I quickly ran down to the Children’s Place at our local outlet mall (one of my all-time favorite children’s stores).

Ethan was not with me, but because we frequent the store so often, he was able to sort of “list” items that he would/would not like me to pick up for him.  My grandmother was sort of shocked that I was taking E’s opinion into consideration and let me hear all about it on the car ride there.  In her eyes, children should not have a lot of say at his age and I believe that a child should have some opinion in the matter. After all, they will be the ones wearing these clothing over the course of several weeks/months.  Am I the only parent with this perspective?

Despite our clashing of opinions, the shopping trip was well worth my time.  I was able to snag up several good deals for both kids and save a bundle of money (as usual).  I was able to snag up several tops, shoes and accessories for both of the kids for under $90. It’s no wonder I love shopping this store, plus they seem to be the best fitting clothing for my oddly shaped children!