Drinking the American Girl Kool-Aid

Look, for the record: I still think that, wholesome as they are, American Girl dolls might actually be Material Girl dolls. I still think $90 for a doll, $28 for her outfits and $75 for her horse is ridiculous. Then why did I capitulate? Why does The Pea have 2 American Girl dolls -- and why do I find myself looking longingly at the soon-to-be-archived Nellie doll and wishing that 3 American Girl dolls for one little girl weren't way too extravagant (no, really it is -- I swear, she's not getting another one)?

Damn you, American Girl! I'm hooked! Your dolls and all their stuff are just so cute and so well made.... your storybooks are so wholesome and enjoyable (I sobbed my way through the whole Addy series).... That first free-shipping coupon was like starter crack to me. It looks like I'm not just eating a slice of humble pie, I'm scarfing down the whole thing.


Case in point: The Pea and I went to our second American Girl Fashion show this weekend. The event wasn't quite the lavish affair that we attended in April, but it was still a sold-out event.



The venue was simpler, but just as festive. How could it not be with all those excited little girls and their dolls, all dressed up?


I'll admit the food was a disappointment. Dry carrots and dry sandwiches? I gave up a juicy In-N-Out burger for this? Bleh. I did like their goody bag, though -- they had little bracelets and hairclips for dolls and a scrapbook for the girls.


The format of the show was identical -- little girls parading around in historical and contemporary American Girl fashions. The only difference was the fashions being modeled (the focus this time was on winter and holiday clothing). I was happy to see a bit more diversity in the models this time, including one little girl in a wheelchair.

This was one of my favorite outfits, featuring Kirsten's beautiful holiday sweater.

Outside the main hall, they had a variety of American Girl products for sale -- way better than the April show -- including souvenir shirts for dolls and girls, American Girl posters (a great deal at $2! I bought the last Samantha poster right off the wall) and an assortment of American Girl books.




Yeah, yeah, it benefits the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and all... but --dare I say it? -- what brought the glow to my heart was really the fun mother-daughter girly time we had. No amount of crack could give me the high that I get when I see The Pea enjoying herself. And that look of happiness on her face is more addicting than any hard substance in the world. So pass me a glass of that $30 American Girl lemonade, please -- I'll enjoy it while we have the money and while The Pea is young enough to enjoy it with me.

Join my latest giveaway!

Hey, moms! Would you like a chance to win this cute Playskool toy for your little one? I'm hosting a giveaway over at my review site, Bonggamom Finds -- the winner receives a Playskool Busy Ball-tivity Center!

As they say in all the magazine contests, No purchase necessary to win..... all you have to do is comment on the giveaway post.

Now playing in the kitchen, Nov. 16 episode

I'm buying loads of green beans tomorrow because it's appearing at least twice on this week's menu. Actually, my kids could probably eat it every day. They love crunching on the crisp, green stalks, lightly steamed with just a hint of salt. They dip it in mayonnaise, ranch dressing, hummus, ketchup or enjoy it au naturel.

* Chicken adobo with green beans and rice
A traditional Filipino dish where chicken is simmered in soy sauce, white vinegar, black peppercorns and a bay leaf. It totally stinks up the house but it's totally worth it. The sauce goes so well with white rice that if the chicken runs out, you can still enjoy just the sauce and rice for leftover night.

* Mac-n-cheese (homemade, not out of the box!)

* Broccoli and ham quiche

* Spareribs, green beans and cornbread

The signs of our times

Home-made signs ruled at today's No on 8 rally at San Jose City Hall. Sure, there lots of the familiar, glossy "Vote No on Prop 8" signs. But the home-made ones were way better. Some were funny. Some were angry. Some were touching. All reflected the diversity of the people who attended the rally, and the real passion behind the cause.

My top three favorites:

(BTW, the "parents" in this little boy's sign happen to be two men. They were absolutely doting on him, just like any other parents, anywhere. With two loving parents, I'd say that little boy is going to do just fine).

What's for dinner, Alfie?

One of the few household chores that Alfie does not offer to help me with is cooking dinner. I don't mind; I like cooking and he doesn't. Besides, he usually gets home too late to cook. But there are times when I do ask for help with dinner, and he steps up to the plate magnificently. There are only 3 things that Alfie cooks.......

Grilled food: Hamburgers, hotdogs, sausages or grilled chicken. For some reason, any time we decide to get the grill out and have a barbie, Alfie takes charge. He says it's a Man Thing. I don't mind. I let him do it because he does such a great job of cleaning the grill afterwards.

Heinz baked beans with fried eggs and toast. He never lets me fry eggs for him because I can't get the hang of flipping the egg with a runny yolk. (I refuse to cook eggs sunny-side up because all can see when I look at it are the millions of salmonella partying in that runny yolk).

Pasta with tomatoes, onions, garlic and canned tunas sauteed in olive oil. He insists on the fresh garlic and tomatoes, so the final result is simple but deeeeevine.

..... and I must admit, he does all 3 so well that I don't even offer to help.

Photo Hunt: Ruin(ed)

We tried out our new Creativity for Kids Pottery Studio yesterday; here is Jammy's work of art. It was supposed to be a teacup, but somewhere along the way the edges grew lopsided and the sides fell flat. Ruined? Not according to him. He set to work embellishing it and turned it into a plate. I guess it will look better once it's painted. But to him -- and to me -- it looks pretty good just the way it is.


For more ruins, click here.

And one more thing: Come and stop by my review blog, Bonggamom Finds! I'm giving away fun toys all month long, including a Russ Seapals stuffed toy, I-Dog Clip toy, and more!

Second looks, second chances

From afar, it's just an ugly old wall of ivy. You have to get up close to see the hearts. See? Sometimes you can't rely on your first impression; you have to give things a chance.


For more images of love, click here.

Am I a White Trash Mom?

Recently I read the White Trash Mom Handbook, a witty, feel-good, perspective on motherhood written along the lines of Erma Bombeck. Even before I finished chapter one, I could see that the book rails against the unrealistic standards of perfection for moms.

But.... but.....I'm a Type A personality. I like to set the bar high. In fact, that's why I named my blog Finding Bonggamom -- because I'm looking for that bit of Bette Midler, Nicole Kidman and Martha Stewart that exists in all moms. Does that mean I'm striving to be..... gasp! -- a Muffia? A mean, snobby sanctimommy who looks down at people who don't meet some unrealistic standard of perfection?

No, no, no! I had to take the White Trash Mom Quiz in chapter 2. As I suspected, like so many other moms who follow the author's blog, I can totally relate to being a White Trash Mom. For example:

* My kids do think Velveeta is cheese -- along with Cheez Whiz and cheese in a can.
* My kids read People magainze more than oce a year.
* I feign ignorance when my husband points out rips in my jeans (even though I first noticed them two years ago). Ditto on stains.
* I sent the Pea to school without lunch twice in a single week.
* I've forgotten to pick up my kid from school several times (and I'm frequently the last mom there)

And to my delight, on page 21 I found: "WT Moms still hold on to a flicker of that light they had before they had kids. They can still laugh about some of the same things, still remember who they were before they were mothers........ you can't let the kids take over your life and personality".

That is exactly what being a Bongga Mom is about! It's not about being the perfect Martha Stewart, it's about having her creativity and her fighting spirit. It's about being a mom, but keeping that glam, fab, spark -- the outrageousness of Bette Midler, the elegance of Nicole Kidman -- in you.

Yes, I want to be a Bongga Mom, but I'm happy and proud to be a White Trash Mom. Yes, I do wish my house looked like a Real Simple magazine feature spread. And every day you'll find me on my hands and knees picking up crud from the kitchen floor (before my son eats it first), trying to get it that way. But I know it never will, because I have 3 lovable kids who mess up the floor as fast as I can clean it, and I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

So.... are you a White Trash Mom too?

Written by a fellow SV Mom, Michelle Lamar, The White Trash Mom Handbook reminds us all that perfection is a myth and moms everywhere should go a bit easier on themselves. For more info on the White Trash Mom, head on over to the SV Moms Book Club discussion, or read my review over at Bonggamom Finds.

I want to get off the Straight Talk Express when it stops at the Sex Ed station

The other night, Jammy turned to me, pointed to his testicles (I was giving him a shower) and said, "Mama, I don't understand what this part of my winky is for. What does it do and what's inside it?"

Oooooookaaaaay....... let's run through all the possible things I could have said:

1) Well, that's called a scrotum. It holds your testicles.
If I say this, I'll need to answer all the inevitable follow-up questions ("What are testicles? What is sperm? etc.. etc...). I wasn't quite ready to follow the Straight Talk Express to its (pardon the pun) sticky conclusion, especially to a 4-year-old boy.


2) Ask your daddy, he's a boy like you so he knows.
If I say this, I'll look stupid and he'll think mama doesn't know anything. No thank you.


3) You don't worry about that, you'll find out when you're old enough.
It's a bit like Sarah Palin hiding from the press, isn't it? How easy it would be to just refuse to take questions -- but I'm not Sarah Palin and I couldn't do it. We've always been pretty open about our bodies and I'm happy that my kids are comfortable enough to ask me any kind of question. No, it's too much of a copout -- I have to give some kind of answer.


4) I don't really know, let's get on the internet and find out.
It's also tempting to say this, because I figure but it makes it less easier for me if I read someone else's words to the kids. Of course, it's still a cop-out (or a delaying tactic, at best).


In the end, I blurted out a combination of #1 and #4: "Those are your testicles, honey, and you know how your veins hold blood? Well, your testicles hold some kind of liquid that makes boys boys. Hmmm, I'm not really doing a good job of explaining it, am I? So let's go borrow a book about the body from the library and we'll look this up."

Boy, am I a loooooser. An incomprehensible answer and a delaying tactic (because of course, after the shower, Jammy forgot all about it). I need to get better at answering these kinds of questions because they're coming at me faster and faster. I don't have any experience in parent-child sex talk (as a parent and as a child) but I do know that I want to answer their questions honestly, in an age-appropriate manner. I'm bookmarking this post because I love the way Sarah E. answered her sons' questions -- direct, brief, humorous, in a way they could understand. Sarah, I might have to quote you directly the next time my kids ask me about this stuff.

Celebrating Bella

Bella was one of 3Po and Jammy's very first friends. They first met when they were about 15 months old, at childcare, when 3Po bit Bella's arm. Fortunately, Bella's mom, the Divine Miss B, is the wisest of women. Instead of huffily carting her child away from my son's sharp teeth, she laughed it off and figured that either 3Po would grow out of it or Bella would learn to defend herself. She was right. The biting stopped, and a friendship -- between kids and moms -- started.

Even though Miss B moved to Texas a couple of years ago, she is still a kindred spirit and I still count her as a good friend. She never ceases to amaze me. She's a lawyer, wife, volunteer, long-distance walker and homeschooling mother to three girls under six. Now she's adding author to her long list of accomplishments. Scheduled for publication sometime in 2009, Celebrating Bella , is intended to be a resource for parents struggling to understand and help a child with autism spectrum disorders. That is so like Miss B; in chronicling her own experiences with Bella, she has come up with a way to help other parents avoid having to go through what she did. You go, girl.



Miss B is currently in the midst of research for the book and would love to hear from people with personal experiences with autism spectrum disorders: as a parent, teacher or young adult dealing with these issues. If you are interested in sharing your experiences, please head over to her website, Celebrating Bella, and fill out a brief questionnaire.