Baby Talk

I'm nearly certain I've posted about this before, so I apologize for the repetition.

As some of you know (and others will know once the pictures post next week), we went camping last weekend. Over all it was a huge success.

But, in spending a couple of days with Nana and Grandpa, it became apparent to me that we really do not talk to Ellie using baby talk. Sure, we change the tone of our voice to adapt to her, but the words themselves are grown-up words. The grammar itself is grown-up grammar (at least to the best of my ability... lol).

Both of the grandparents (and I'm sure they're not alone in this) had the habit of repeating Ellie's cute, but incorrect way of saying things. It's great that they understand her and it's great that they engage her.

I'm just saying that I definitely noticed that when Daddy or I talk to her, we confirm what she wants by using correct words and grammar. Not everyone does this.

I wonder if that's why she does, and always has, spoken so well. I wonder if many parents, without really thinking about it, just confirm incorrect words when they repeat what their kids say.

Growing is over-rated

It's all about personal and professional growth, right?

Without wanting to go into details, I just found out that it's my decision whether or not to terminate out technician's employment. Ugh. No one wants to have that burden hanging on their shoulders. I don't think anyone wants to be responsible for putting someone on the unemployment list, let alone doing so during this recession.

Ugh.

I can help you spend your money!

For my birthday, I recently decided to make the offer to match my friends' charity donations. Since it was a spur of the moment decision for me, it's actually lingering longer than I originally intended. That being said, I am having a lot of fun seeing the things that call out to my friends and make their hearts yearn to do good.

Before I continue, I will say that I know my mom has good intentions. Really, she's just trying to help. However, I still feel like this is one of those examples that left me thinking "Who does that?"

When I made my offer, I did not originally include my mom in what I envisioned being the dollar commitment that might be required by making such an offer. My mom instilled in me my passion for donating, and so to include her on the list of people to "match" could potentially be quite the undertaking.

That being said, I didn't specifically not include her either. She found out about my offer and said she'd donate $x amount of money. Without giving specific numbers, this dollar figure was over twice the highest dollar figure any of my friends offered. Though I didn't expect to take her donations into account, I was ok with the dollar amount she requested. If everyone donated that amount of money, my money would go quickly, but who cares, right?

Moving on... then she found out that my company matches my donations. She emailed me and said "I'm going to up my donation to 4x $x!" Uh... Wow. Ok. Um... I'll have to wait to see what I have left over after my friends make their donations and I'll let you know if I can match that new 4x number.

Moving on... when I called her to discuss the above, she interrupted me and said "Oh, and I forwarded your offer to all my friends so you should be hearing from some of them soon."

This is where my real frustration comes in. I realize she thought that I was just trying to make the most of my donations, but still... who would forward an offer like that to people who don't even know me??? On top of that (and this is definitely an assumption I'm making), her friends are in Estes Park. People living in Estes Park only do so because they can afford to, right? Who knows what kind of money requests would come from these friends of hers?

Be honest... many of you received my offer to match your donations. Did you consider forwarding it to people I did not know?