First, I have to apologize for the hiatus. I didn’t mean to take over 2 weeks off from the blog, but the holidays came, and it just happened that way. But I’m back on track now!

Second, happy New Year! I hope you all will have a wonderful 2012!

Ok, now back to blogging

As most of you know, I live in Virginia. While it doesn’t generally feel like “the South” to me, at times it does feel distinctly different than Pennsylvania, where I grew up. One thing that I’ve found different here is the way in which adults are introduced to children. My friends introduce me as “Miss Jen,” and then their kids call me that. When I grew up, I called all of my parents’ friends Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Johnson. Or, in rare cases of a super-cool adult, I would simply call them by their first name (i.e. Linda or Susan). This whole “Miss Firstname” thing has caught me off guard.

Not that I mind it, really, but if a child wants to call me by my first name, they are welcome to do so without adding the “Miss” in front. Maybe some adults feel that’s not respectful enough. Also, it seems that no one is introduced as “Mrs. Brown” or “Mrs. Drake” anymore. Is that reserved only for more formal settings (like teachers in a classroom)?

What do you think of this convention? I’m assuming it’s a Southern thing, but maybe it’s just a modern way of introducing adults to children. Do you introduce your friends as “Miss Firstname” to your kids or do you just opt for their first name? And when do you introduce an adult as “Mrs. Lastname”? Which do you prefer?

So far, my husband and I have been very lucky that every time we needed a babysitter, my parents would swoop in and do the job. (My son is their only grandchild, and they would move heaven and earth to be with him!) But, they live 4 hours away, so we don’t want to ask them to come down too often. Plus, we are getting the itch to go out on more spur-of-the-moment date nights, so we need to find babysitters who are local. (I know some of you are probably thinking that we are crazy to have gone 21 months without using a babysitter, but we really haven’t needed one on very many occasions. Plus, we are first-time parents, so I think we are probably a little more apprehensive about babysitters than we need to be!)

Since I started doing my community theater show, I’ve met lots of 11 and 12-year-old girls who ADORE my son and beg me to babysit him. They are such sweet girls, and I would love to have them babysit, but I’m concerned that they might be too young for the job. In particular, we need someone to babysit for an upcoming Saturday night, which would mean the babysitter would have to handle both dinnertime and bedtime—neither of which is easy, especially considering Pudge is in a very clingy-to-mommy-and-daddy phase.

What should we do? Try to find a babysitter who is older and more experienced even if we don’t know him/her personally? Let one of the 12-year-olds babysit? Wait until Pudge is a little older to use non-family babysitters? I’m wondering what is the ideal age of a babysitter (I’d say 16 or 17, but at that age, kids are too involved in their own things and often don’t want to babysit anymore). When did you start using babysitters? Did it go well the first time?

Over the past few days, my husband and I have finally started our Christmas shopping (which is about 4 months later than we usually start!). Since we are out shopping with the masses this year, we’re spending more time perusing store aisles and standing in lines. Spending more time in stores means doing more diaper changes there, too, and I’ve been frustrated by restroom amenities (or, in this case, lack thereof) at many stores. I’m lucky to have a great husband who is more than willing to split diaper change duty with me. Unfortunately, I end up doing far more changes than he does because many mens’ rooms don’t have baby changing tables. So, he will take our son into the bathroom only to come out a few seconds later because there’s no changing table there. Grrr!

In my unscientific estimation, I’d say about 75% of women’s rooms have changing tables but only about 50% of mens’ rooms do. Have you noticed that? What do men do when they are out alone with their kids?!

This seems like a subtle example of the antiquated belief that women should do the bulk of the parenting. Dads can change diapers, too! From now on, if I notice a store that has a changing table in the women’s room but not the men’s, I’m going to mention it to the store manager. Time to stick up for dads (and give moms a break)!