Thrips

You like to think that Nicole Kidman left Tom Cruise, because she’s actually some what normal, and wanted nothing to do with a nut job. You don’t really see her linked to scandals, and she puts out well received, yet very boring movies. She appeared to be just about normal, minus the fame, beauty and money.

Then she named her kid “Sunday Rose Kidman Urban” and officially re-entered the looney bin. What the hell gives with celebs giving their kids names, which appear to have one purpose? Getting their kid made fun of. Maybe they were all so tortured growing up, and having a kid who can use the “I’m richer than you” retort is some sort of slap in the face of all those who harassed them as kids. Although, I’m pretty sure making millions accomplished that theoretic-slap years ago.

I hope their kids don’t turn to entertaining as a career move 20 years from now. I refuse to go see a movie staring Suri, Brooklyn, Lourdes, Apple or Sunday.

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I want to be an honest parent, I think that’s the only way to have a good relationship with anyone. But I don’t want to be so honest that we scare the shit out of the Kyd. Not that we haven’t faced tough decisions before, when/how to tell her we’re getting married and G is moving in, how to react when she relays a comment her dad made that doesn’t sit well with us, among others. But we have a much more sensitive situation now. See we have new neighbors, pretty nice people on the surface. But living in an apartment complex, you can sometimes get a perspective that’s hard to get if you life in a subdivision or “neighborhood.”

Their story has been very public around the pool, as they seem to tell everyone how their house caught fire. Sitting poolside I’ve been directly told, and overheard the story at least six times. And it’s a sad tale. But we also see the family on their patio often, and we see the drinks get downed, and have heard some comments tossed back between the parents. Basically, it isn’t “nice” and we really don’t want to expose the Kyd to that. But they also have a child who is her age, and she’s a very sweet kid.

She was over the other night, and the Kyd let her borrow some and keep some other toys, because she lost so many in the fire. Unbelievably sweet and genuine kyd we have, but we’re stuck. We don’t want her going to their house to play. We’ve seen their child at the pool, without an adult right there (he was in the clubhouse, unacceptable) and we see her awake and outside at 11pm.

Not that we’re perfect parents, or can really judge (although we all do) the parenting styles or choices of others. But we can absolutely decide what will go down in our corner of the woods. The problem is, we have no clue how or what to tell the Kyd. We don’t want to say too much, and let her say something to her friend, which could quickly end their budding friendship. We don’t want to scare her, she’ll be cynical soon enough. But we won’t let her go play there. It’s just not safe, not physically or emotionally. We’re more than happy for them to play at our house, they can have a sleep over and speak in pitches only dogs can understand. That sounds fantastic, and I look forward to all that.

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So this is funny to me, I saw a headline on a TV I was walking by about President Bush urging leaders to do something or other with Zimbabwe. The Pres isn’t real happy about the violence used to “influence” voters. I guess he would be the expert on how to take an election without violence. Maybe he’ll get a nice consulting gig when his term is up.