There’s a lot of great things happening on Thursday. It’s National Cereal Day AND it’s the ever-hilarious and quick-witted Wanda Sykes' birthday.
The actress and stand-up comedian powerhouse has had HBO comedy specials, starred alongside Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda in “Monster-In-Law,” and appeared in many other comedic and dramatic roles.
Despite spending seven years married to a man, Sykes came out as a lesbian in 2008 and married her wife, Alex, in October of that year, CNN reports.
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In 2009, Sykes revealed another surprise: Alex gave birth to the couple's first children: twins. Lucas and Olivia were born on April 27, 2009. Since then, Sykes has had plenty to say about what she’s learned about parenting along the way, what same-sex parenting is like for her family, and more in a myriad of funny-but-true ways.
Despite being a Virginia native, Sykes and her family split time between their home in Los Angeles and her home in Media, Delaware County, where she reportedly votes.
On Thursday, Huffington Post recognized Sykes' 55th birthday with some of her best, brightest and funniest parenting tips. We share a few of our favorites here:
THERE'S A LEARNING CURVE
“Parenting really is a job. It’s on-the-job training ... You cannot give your kids options, choices. I learned that the hard way, big mistake. I’m on the phone with my mother, really sweet woman. And my daughter walks by, and I say, ‘Olivia, you wanna talk to Grandma?’ And she goes, ‘No thank you.’”
HANDLE EVERYTHING WITH A SMILE …
“It is truly a blessing. But I’m going to be tired for the rest of my life. When you’re up at 3 o’clock in the morning, and they pee on you, you just have to smile.”
IT'S A NUMBERS GAME …
“Oh hell no. You don’t let them outnumber you. There’s two of us, there’s two of them. That’s it!”
SOMETIMES, KIDS HAVE TWO MOMS …
“I am a fan of ‘Doc McStuffins,’ my kids watch the show. With this episode, they will see a family that looks like our family. We’re two moms, and we have a boy and a girl, and it’s going to be very exciting for them to see our family represented. We’re a family, and families stick together.”
AND SOMETIMES, YOU HAVE WHITE KIDS …
“White kids were not my first choice. It’s all they had left ... Madonna and Angelina Jolie, they got here before you. Sandra Bullock took the last one ... ‘OK, gimme those two. Somebody’s got to take care of the white babies.’ I love my white babies. They’re cool ― for white babies.”
HuffPo has plenty of other humorous advice from Sykes here.