Weeble Wobbles

I ran into an issue today that made me think (once again) that I am an over protective parent. I have a special needs child that, upon birth, was deathly allergic to milk and soy products. He was our first and he was born two months early which meant that mom's breasts had not yet prepared for breast feeding, though we tried every method possible to stimulate production. We tried manual pumps, vacuum pumps, the daddy pump and the Rainbow Water Filter Vacuum cleaner that always produced great suction on a water bong and was the equivalent of a Marijuana CPAP respirator machine. Not true, but funny as hell if you think about it. If you have ever had a child, you know that the only formulas that are available, if you can't breast feed, are milk based or soy based. The only option we had for a formula for an infant was Neocate. A Product based in Australia that costs $128 for 4 - 14 oz containers. You think formula is expensive... try feeding your kid liquid gold.

After a couple of accidents as a toddler where he go hold of his younger brother's sippy cup of milk when we weren't watching, and mad rushes by ambulance to the ER... he finally outgrew this disorder and now can handle milk and soy. But now he has developed epilepsy, with several attacks a week and as much as several attacks a day that make us nervous if he ever gets a strange look in his eyes.

It is because of my first child's challenges that I have become an overbearing parent that strictly restricts both of my boys activities to mild play... though they rarely subscribe to my theory. We recently found out that my oldest has a large gap in his upper spinal discs that could cause permanent paralysis if he were to be involved in a contact sport impact. This is due to the fact that he was born two months premature and this portion of the spinal column did not completely develop. So rough play is discouraged yet once again.... rarely followed.

I said all that to say this... and I'm not sure why... I forbid toy guns in my home and, though I was raised with a serious respect for firearms, do not own a gun. I will however gladly accept my dad's cache of firearms that he owns as my inheritance since there is so much history involved with them. This includes hunting trips and even the gun he gave me when I was 13 years old... our toughest year after the oil bust. We had no money and the only thing my father could think to give me was the gun that was mentioned in Malind777's blog. This meant so very much to me, but was quickly yanked back when I showed irresponsible behavior in the use of the same gun. To this day, I believe that my dad did the right thing. He doesn't know how close I came to death myself from such behavior, but when he did see a clue to poor gunmanship, he took the .22 rifle and removed the bolt. That rendered the gun useless and to this day, it resides in his gun cache 20 years later.

I started this entire rant to announce that I have realized that I am an overprotective parent that has restricted many of my children’s activities to "safe play" I have so sterilized my home from anything that can hurt my oldest son to the point that balls or anything round that can be stepped on and cause a fall has not been allowed. But today I introduced Weeble Wobbles. The boys looked at them like they were alien beings and asked me what they do. They don't have buttons that make them make noise or zoom off in a cloud of smoke like some of their electronic remote control cars do. They were just simple Weeble Wobbles... They weeble and they wobble but they don't fall down... NOW... all this was said to say this....

Imagine the picture when the boys ask what they do and you respond in this manner...

"It's a game... you both try to knock over your Weeble Wobble... if you're the first one to knock over your Weeble Wobble and it stays knocked over... You WIN....

Two hours later, my wife and I had a cigarette... proud of the fact that we had the best "un-interrupted" sex in a long time.

Weeble Wobbles... They Weeble and they Wobble... and Mama's always happy.