One thing I left out yesterday was that Bohdin has mastered rhyming. Sometimes he just makes up a rhyming word but it does indeed rhyme. When Bohdin started doing this last week he usually replaced the first letter of the word with "f" to make it rhyme. Buddy and I knew that a particular word would be inevitable and sure enough he was thinking of a rhyme with truck. He found one. I supressed a giggle well enough that he hasn't said it since. He's also really good with his shapes now. That Meet the Shapes video worked. He checked out Meet the Letters yesterday. He knows all of his letters but I heard him say during part of it that "H" is 2 lines down and one across. Maybe it will help him write better. I don't know. It must be more educational than Thomas.
One of the employees in Bloom (grocery store) nearby cornered me yesterdy and was telling me about his granddaughter. He was talking about how expensive it was compared to when he was raising his daughters in the late 70s and early 80s. He mentioned a stroller is over $100. He said the working class is being left behind. I couldn't agree with him. I think people feel entitled now to a lifestyle they can't afford. Sure there are strollers that cost $100. Some cost much much more but there are perfectly fine strollers that cost less or can be bought used. I don't think babies have to be as expensive as people make them. There are thrift stores and garage sales full of hardly used baby items. If I made millions of dollars Bohdin and Nyla would be dressed as cutely as the babies of Hollywood celebreties but we don't so each have to make do with one pair of shoes and no designer tees. With the exception of carseats, there are a lot more unnecessry must have items compared to thirty years ago.
On a lighter note, Bohdin loves to run. He is like our own little personl trainer because when we go outside he'll say "Let's run" or "On the count of 3 start running" or "Let's see who's faster". When we do start running all we hear is "Keep running", "Come on", "Don't stop", "Run faster". It is a little sad tht my 3 year old can outdistance me. I'm still faster though at lest for a little while.
2 comments:
The biggest price shock for me is skiing. In the 70s it cost around $3 for a lift ticket which means that an average person making minimum wage ($2.00 in 1976) would need to work 1.5 hours for a lift ticket.
Fast forward to today. A lift ticket today cost around $80 while the minimum wage is only $5.85 meaning that same person will need to work 13 hours for the same lift ticket. Some activities are now only enjoyed by the rich and it is strange that having kids is one of them.
I do think the working class is hurting. My dad makes about the same dollar amount as a diesel mechanic now as he did in 1983...but the price of everything else has gone up dramatically. My parents have always been frugal, which is good. On the flip side, they haven't volunteered to make the hour-long drive up once this summer to visit, and I'm sure the price of gas has everything to do with it.
At the same time, the constant barrage of marketing doesn't help because its sole purpose is to convince us we need things we don't need--and the more stressed we are, the more we want that "reward" that the commercials have convinced us we deserve.
I wish there were better models out there besides what we encounter on TV/newspapers/magazines. Maybe you should start a second blog: living frugally for today. :D
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