When Tragedy Strikes, Who Gets Your Most Precious Cargo? (Modern Family)
On last night's absolutely hilarious episode of 'Modern Family' ("Someone to Watch Over Lily"), Cameron and Mitchell spied on Mitchell's family members in order to determine who would get their daughter, Lily, in the event they were both deceased ("God forbid!"). First, Mitchell and Cam went over the Mitchell's sister's Claire house. After Claire's husband, Phil, set the kitchen on fire, her daughter Haley called her "the worst mom in the world," and her daughter Alex barges in the kitchen wondering why no one heard her screaming while she was locked in the garage for the past 20 minutes, it was pretty clear that the Dunphys were out of the running as Lily's potential guardians. Mitchell was set on his father and young step-mother Gloria, but Cameron had his reservations about Papa Jay. Eventually, the pair settled on Jay and Gloria, leading Gloria to shout with glee that Lily was finally hers and taking Lily upstairs to see her "new room."
In addition to making my husband and I laugh until our sides hurt and we had tears coming out of our eyes, it got us thinking: we have not yet written our wills or issued directives on what would happen to our children in the event something happened to us. Sure, we've discussed it plenty of times, but we've never come to a final conclusion. We have someone in mind who would be the perfect guardian, but we've never finalized that decision with each other, let alone talked to the family to see how they feel about the situation.
Considering I'm a lawyer and have done pro bono work putting together wills and powers of attorney for others, it's really sloppy of me to not have drafted wills for my Pop Culture Dad and myself. Honestly, I started the drafts nearly three years ago, when I was pregnant with Pop Culture Toddler. However, here I am pregnant with Pop Culture Kid #2, and we have yet to put anything final on paper. Shame, shame!
This weekend is a long holiday weekend, and as they say, "There's no time like the present." In between cleaning out the guest room to transform it into a princess paradise for Pop Culture Toddler and otherwise just getting our house in order, Pop Culture Dad and I need to spend the weekend getting our affairs in order. I plan on making sure we carve out some time to do our wills (which, honestly, shouldn't take very long) and then, once we declare with certainty that we do in fact want the guardians we originally discussed, give them a call to see how they feel about the subject. There's really no reason we shouldn't have done this sooner, and there is no good reason to delay it any further.
So how about the rest of you -- are your affairs in order? If not, what's holding you back? Is it a sense of laziness/disorganization, like what happened with us? Or is it more of an issue of really not knowing who you would trust with your children? Or is it something else entirely?
(image courtesy of ABC.com)
Toddler Sleep Training – I’m a Mother Bear
Earlier in the season, Modern Family did an episode entitled "Up All Night," which included a storyline involving toddler sleep training. Mitchell and Cameron had decided to "Ferberize" their daughter, Lily. Actually, I should say, Mitchell wanted to try toddler sleep training via the Ferber method (from the book How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber). Here's how Cameron felt about the idea:
Cameron: Well, Mitchell really wanted to Ferberize the baby.Throughout the episode, as Mitchell attempts to stick with the "Ferberizing" method of toddler sleep training, Cameron continues to derail the program, sneaking into Lily's room when she cries. At one point, Mitchell even catches Cameron holding Lily in the middle of the night as they watch Scarface [apparently the colors and the sound of gunfire soothe Lily]. Mitchell is so worried about Cameron ruining the toddler sleep training program that he even stays home from work one day so that he can prevent Cameron from holding Lily while she takes her afternoon nap, and he puts a nanny cam on Cameron, so that he can see if Cameron is sneaking into Lily's room to comfort her. Eventually, it ends in a tussle as Cameron tries to "rescue" Lily from her crib while Mitchell hold steadfast. Cameron, a former football player, takes Mitchell out. In Cameron's own words, "I'm like a mother bear. When I hear my cub crying, I have to run to her."
Mitchell: Ferberize… It is a method of getting the baby to sleep through the night by, yes, basically letting her cry herself to sleep.
Cameron: Torture.
Mitchell: It's not torture, Cam.
Cameron: It's just hard if you happen to be a person who hates to hear another person suffer.
Mitchell: Or… two people suffer [cut to video of Cameron listening to Lily crying on the baby monitor while he cries along with her].
When it comes to toddler sleep training, I'm the Cameron [though I probably couldn't take my husband out unless my adrenaline was really pumping]. I'm the mother bear who can't bear (no pun intended) to hear my cub crying herself to sleep. I have nothing against people who cry it out or use the Ferber method [which, in all honesty, if you read How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, is not the same as the "Babywise" method of crying it out]. It's just not for me. My husband is a little bit of a Cameron, too, but he's more in the camp of telling me to let her cry it out, while he searches Amazon.com for ear plugs so he doesn't have to hear a peep.
Yes, I realize that sometimes babies have to cry and that toddler sleep training at some point becomes a necessity. But for me, while we have a toddler sleep schedule that works perfectly and everyone's getting a full night of sleep, it's not that important. So for now, I remain a mother bear à la Cameron Tucker, and I don't care who knows it!
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