Puttering through life

The kids have been busy working with containers of water in the backyard all summer. They fill recycled containers with grass, leaves, berries, chalk or whatever they can find. Then they top up the containers with water. After a few days, we have ketchup bottles, pop cans, and jars filled with a yellowy coloured water. They set up a grocery store, restaurant or department store on a table or in the playhouse and sell this water. Now the kids are 5 & 8 years old and find humor in basic bodily functions. The yellow water was therefore called "pee pee water". Today the youngest (who is almost 6) came outside with a bucket to present to the eldest. While I should have guessed something was up. She was being coy and avoiding both my husband and me. She even had a mischievous grin on her face. I finally clued in when my son asked if she peed in the bucket. I finished hanging the laundry and asked her to show me the bucket. I sniffed and it was pee. She had come inside the house, peed in a bucket and took it outside! I was a bit shocked and flabbergasted. I started into a spiel that this wasn't a wise idea. She sheepishly asked if she should dump the contents in the toilet and surprised when I said yes. We washed it out but she asked me not to tell dad. I said I wouldn't tell dad because she was going to talk to him. I found out that he had inquired into what she was doing but had been told it was just water for outside. We didn't lose our cool but shared a smirk and puzzled look. I tried to focus the conversation on the importance of telling the truth and not peeing in buckets. Aaagh. This was not in any parenting book I have come across. My daughter...loving, insecure, sneaky, smart and funny. Gotta love her.

My folks arrived last night...just in time to take care of the kids while we toddle off to Boston. Weather prediction is good, only commitment is our concert on Friday night, no specific plans...things are looking good. We are sitting in the Porter lounge waiting for our connecting flight. Btw Porter rocks. They serve coffee, tea, cookies, pop all in a very comfortable setting. Plus they actually serve real food on the flights and even offer free glasses of wine. I think I have glimpsed a little bit of fine living.

J & I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary today and I discovered he can still surprise me. He grabbed lunch for us and we ate the sandwiches outside by the river at work (it is nice to work at the same place). He presented me with a large manila envelope that contained a cartoon that depicted J giving me tickets to see (enter the drum roll here) The National in (hold your breath and be as surprised as I was) Boston.

I was speechless. We are flying out of town for a weekend to see a band live in concert. I feel like a young jet setting couple!

I love J so much for all the support, patience, encouragement and love he gives me. He rocks my world!

Monkey boy is seven now. Seven years! Holy crap, seven years! I still remember holding his wee body, panicking about the cries, and patting his back for hours while we tried to have him return to sleep in his crib. I still relish that sweet feeling of having him nap on my chest or seeing him sprawled between J and I with one of his hands touching me and the other touching J.

We marveled at his ability to commando crawl, walk, use sign language and talk. There were endless treks around the bed with his cars, constant talk about cars and trucks, and demands to drive on the busy highway.

There were a few years of anxiety over transitions and although the anxiety can reappear he has learned to cope and become confident. He has traveled to Alberta (several times), Mexico, Rome, and Montreal. He continues to snuggle with us but these occasions are fewer and farther between than in the past. He still needs his baby Clarence (stuffed monkey) and Pipsqueak (stuffed dog) along with a clock and night light in order to sleep. He has fallen in love with sports especially soccer. He loves the outdoors and being active. He is obsessed with playing electronic games (Xbox Kinect and Leapworld). He enjoys playing with his sister even if he has a lot of rules.

He is kind, loving, silly, and creative.

He is my monkey boy and I love him so.

Someone reminded me that I should write down some of the cool things my lil bug says before I forget. In the last two weeks, my girlie has said the following:

Lil bug: Momma, I'm falling in love with you right now.
Me: How come?
Lil bug: I don't know, I just am

Lil bug: Why do we have weather? (asked at 7:30am while looking at the rainy day)
Me: (brief explanation about how this is earth and that we have temperature and pressure changes, yadda, yadda)
Lil bug: I know how it rains. The clouds puff together, they puff and puff and puff, then they get dark and it rains.

Lil bug: Let's horsey wrestle
Me: What is horse wrestling?
Lil bug: We are horses that wrestle.
Me: Okay
Lil bug: I'll be pink pony and you be red bird. I'm going to get you.

Plus a few other things, but guess what I forgot already. These special years are going by too fast.

Bedtime with my lil bug is the best part of the day. Books have been read, lights are out and she asks me to snuggle with her for "let me count first,one, two, three...eleven. Oh that is too much, so ten minutes". Now snuggle time is not necessarily filled with sweet, endearing cuddles. It usually starts out with a litany of words. This is the time she rewinds her mind, spills her little heart out and figures out her next day. It is a great time to find out how she feels about things and what is bothering her. I often have to cut her off with a stern "okay we only have 5 minutes left". This is usually followed by kisses (now don't kiss me mom, I'm going to kiss you on the forehead)and huggies. Then all of a sudden she stops, she often puts her wee face directly into mine, flings her arm around my neck or uses my arm as a snuggle toy and then she starts snoring. It really is hilarious and wonderful.

The other night her litany words worked there way into telling me the following:

Lil bug: Momma you are almost the best
Me: I'm almost the best
Lil bug: Not quite momma but almost, I still love you though
Me: I love you too and you are the best to me
Lil bug: I'm the best, bester than my daddy
Me: Daddy is my best husband
Lil bug: Am I the best more than my brother?
Me: Your brother is my best son and you are my best daughter
Lil bug: Oh well you are almost the best

Now I did not worry about being almost the best as I knew I had been downgraded for the injustice I imposed earlier in the day. I said no to getting her more paints after I just finished letting her paint and told her I needed some time to sit and finish my tea. Well that no must have been devastating considering the meltdown she had and the ultimatum she had imposed "I won't stop crying until you get me more paint". I will give her credit she managed to pour out the tears for 30 minutes. It was a bad moment but she did manage to apologize later in the day saying I'm sorry I didn't stop crying but I was angry with you.

Aah the joys of being almost the best.

This blog does not receive enough attention. It is a good indicator about how I treat myself. I do not give myself enough time and care. For instance, this winter has been a crappy one health wise for me. I have had either a head cold or flu at least once a month starting in October. Two colds turned into strep throat with the second case requiring a stronger antibiotic one week after I finished the first round of antibiotics. This week to my joy and denial my monthly head cold became walking pneumonia. I feel okay other than achy shoulders, a wicked cough and lungs that feel like they are being squeezed in a very gentle but annoying way.

Today I'm grumpy and feeling sorry for myself. My body is telling me to slow down and smell the flowers. My head keeps spinning. I feel driven to run the treadmill of life because I want some form of control, some benefits. Well those benefits result in colds and a stupid self imposed schedule:
5:45am haul butt out of bed
7:00am board bus for the best half hour of my day...I read or knit and watch the sun rise or fill the sky
7:35am start work
4:00pm run to catch 4:06 bus (only to find bus full of university students who feel that their 10 minute ride must mean they have the limited number of seats). Note some days J is working at the university too...we can drive home together...I can breath
4:45pm I am home (if J not at university, he has picked up the kids cuz as usual I'm running late)
5:45pm food enters belly
6:00pm dishes (no dishwasher in our house...egad I live in the dark ages)
6:30pm play time with the kids.
8:00pm kids in bed but guilty mom still snuggles with her lil bug
8:30pm lunches and one household chore to keep up with things (Monday dust living room, Tuesday scrub kitchen floor and front hall, Wednesday laundry, Thursday garbage and dust bedroom, Friday no chores)
9:45pm flicking channels (nothing on as TV programs kind of suck lately and we don't have cable)
10:30pm bed and book
11:00pm or later sleep
hit repeat times 5 until Saturday where life is slightly more leisurely once you clean the bathrooms, do the laundry, go for groceries and vacuum.

Yet there is reason for optimism. Spring is here. My bike is ready to start being my "bus" to and from work (just have to get rid of my pneumonia first). The kids, J and I are loving the outdoors. Backyard is racked and holds promise (though in reality we need to overhaul it and plant some grass...but there is something rustic and natural about packed dirt and weeds). My monkey boy is turning 7 very soon, we are going to Fredericton NB pretty soon, and our annual trip to Alberta is booked.

I just need tell myself to step off the treadmill, stop making to do lists at 5am in the morning and find some flowers to smell (crocus' look out!).

While walking home from the care provider we passed a house with their Christmas light display on and this prompted the following two conversations which occurred at the same time:

Lil bug: How does Santa get into our house? Monkey Boy: Do reindeer really fly?

Me: I like to think that Santa's reindeer can fly.

Monkey: How do they fly? Are there people with metal poles pushing them up?

Me(slightly puzzled and distracted by the conversation with lil bug): Umm, I don't think there are poles. I'm sure they can really fly because of magic...what were you saying bug...

lil bug: I bet Santa will come down the chimney to get to our house but I hope he doesn't get all dirty

Me: I don't think he will to get dirty. He is magical.

lil bug: maybe, maybe we can ask him to clean the chimney when he visits so he doesn't get dirty and we can have a clean chimney...that's a good idea right

Monkey: yah that is a good idea we should leave him a note and some apples for the reindeer

Me (going back to the flying reindeer conversation as it dawned on me that metal poles and people pushing reindeer sounded a little odd): monkey, how do you think reindeer fly...with poles?

Monkey: maybe there are people who have metal poles attached to the reindeer and they push them up while running or they drive in their cars to go faster.

Me (seeing some weird dr. suess sculpture picture in my mind's eye): do you mean that the reindeer are wood or metal statutes?

Monkey: no, they are real but people hold them up...or maybe they have tiny wings that help them fly ... or no jet engines that come out of there bodies and send them flying

Me: wow those are great ideas. I'm not sure what really happens though. I think only Santa knows.

Monkey: when we write a letter to Santa this year I'm going to ask him how the reindeer fly and then he will write me back with the answer.

Me: good idea, can we go inside now and make supper.

Monkey and bug: YAH!

Annual trip to an apple orchard was a success. We went with some dear friends, picked lots of apples, and enjoyed this weekends' one day of sunshine in the countryside. We tried a different orchard this year. Although we like Mountain Orchards (in particular their apple cider donuts), we decided to try Kilmarnock Orchard. It is just outside the quaint village of Merrickville. It was a good orchard - clean, healthy trees, and equipped with a couple of kubotas pulling wagons. I missed the donuts and the larger selection of trees tall enough for ladders. However I would go again as the crowds were minimal, the location was great (right on the river, we even had to cross a swing bridge over the Rideau canal), and the apples are good (Bug ate a good portion of five).

We capped the day off at the local chip wagon for a family-sized container of fries. We also squeezed in a trip to the ice cream store in Merrickville. I had Indian Chai Latte, J had Key Lime Passionfruit, Monkey had vanilla with sprinkles and Bug ate a whole Crazy Kids (vanilla with oreo cookies, sprinkles, etc).

The only thing left to do is use the apples. I see apple crisp, apple pie, apple sauce, butternut squash and apple soup, apple muffins, etc in my near future. Good thing my bug was helping me this morning with the peeling and coring.

My monkey boy has started grade one. It was a grand day of firsts. First time on the school bus, first time at a proper school, first time taking a lunch, first recess, first school desk, first great day.

Our evening conversation (one of many):
Monkey Boy (MB): School wasn't like what I dreamed.
Me: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
MB: Good. It was better than I thought it would be.
Me: What did you like the best?
MB: Recess, I found my friends M (cool neighbour girl who is one grade higher) and R (neighbour boy and care provider's son who is also in grade one but a different class). We played together. I wasn't alone.
Me: Wow, was there anything else you liked?
MB: Everything. I'm so excited about going to school tomorrow.

Nonetheless I am one thrilled momma. I was worried that his anxieties would override his enjoyment, that he would feel out of his element, that he would spend the day trying to keep his fear pushed down under the surface. I didn't need to worry. He was nervous and jittery. Yet he had such great moments that made it a great day for him.

His kindergarten teacher (who taught him at his daycare last year) took the time to insure his new teacher understood his potential anxieties and to impart to her that Nevan is a great kid to teach. His previous teacher even came over to him to greet him, wish him luck and enjoy one of his hugs.

His confident well-spoken gal pal from next door sought him out before and during school. Their friendship might change as they age and become entrenched in other friendships but right now it enables him to find a place in the playground. They even spent their time jumping on the trampoline tonight talking about working on their playfort at school.

He liked having lunch and snack at school. He is already talking about the fun "play day" scheduled in the near future. He liked having a desk all to himself.

My monkey boy has started on his journey to knowledge and independance. He is truly excited. I love him. I love having a six year old boy.

Crisp air, cool temperature, hints of sunlight, happy kids ... rising early to watch the hot air balloons take flight was so worth it.

"You are the bestest mother ever momma" as declared by monkey boy today.

Might have something to do with taking him and his sister out of care early to do the following:
visit to new school prior to classes starting tuesday sept7
dairy queen treats
swim at local public pool
long tv night viewing
cookie dough
non-yelling mom!

My monkey boy lost his first tooth today. Holy crap we are entering a new phase in his life! Now to come up with something clever from the tooth fairy.

FYI I haven't gone postal at my workplace despite the tone of my last post of many months ago.

I've been busy with the regular stuff of life...work, kids, house, and the juggling act these elements of life require. Our renos are done (more or less). A post with the details on this event is forthcoming. As a teaser though I must say our colour choice rocks, our flooring is awesome and we now have a very livable space.

Today's post though is about family and Easter. We are not an overly religious household. We observe the holidays but in a fairly secular way. The focus today was the Easter bunny. There wasn't too much pomp or fanfare but it was a nice day, especially since we are experiencing warm temperatures (around 20 degrees celsius).



My folks are in town which is a real treat. It is the first Easter they have spent with our kids. Monkey boy and lil bug woke at their usual 7am time (our boy has a very defined inner clock). I had placed gifts from our siblings and the cards from our parents out on the dining table. They had a hoot checking out the loot they received...pez dispensers, books, bracelet and clothes were quickly viewed and checked out. It was enough to keep them in check until the grandparents emerged from our luxurious basement (again a teaser for a future post).




They received cards from both sets of grandparents containing money (which my little shoppers always like to have in their clutches...Monkey can save and budget but lil bug will spend quickly). Then it was on to the treasure hunt. I love this part. I created easter bunny faces, commissioned J and my folks to decorate them and I wrote a clue on the back. It was so much fun watching them run around the house finding clues and then the treasure from the Easter bunny. This year I gave them a basket filled with a book, clothing and outdoor toy purchased on my line of credit at a consignment store (I love boom kids here in Ottawa). I also gave them each some much needed socks, activity sticker book and a chocolate Easter egg perched inside a egg cup from Laura Secord. Yup I spoil them and there was even more to come.



I forced the kids to eat a bran muffin and some fruit before they could venture into the backyard to find all of the colourful eggs the Easter bunny left behind. This too was a hoot to do for them. This was such a fun part of the morning that I wished I had more eggs to hide just to see the pleasure on their faces when they discovered a hiding spot. Thanks to my mom, who stuffed lil bug's eggs with mini-Oreo cookies and monkey's with licorice and then labelled them with their first initial, this event went smoothly without a single child bickering or crying.



The adults were finally given a turn to have breakfast and the children relaxed in the house enjoying way too much junk and a little t.v. time. After the dishes were done my mom took the kids out biking. You would think this would be an ideal time for the rest of us to relax. Well that wasn't in the agenda. J worked on putting marmoleum (again this eludes to my future reno project post) down in our front entrance area. This meant cutting the marmoleum to the right size and removing the existing 1960's lino from the entrance. A bigger job than anyone expected especially considering he still isn't done removing the paper backing from the floor.

My dad and I spent the better part of the day assembling a treat J and I have been wanting to get the kids since last summer. We bought a trampoline (a springfree trampoline). I purchased the oval (8'x13') sized trampoline. I tried to find a second hand one but it seems like that I wasn't the only one wanting one. There were 10 wanted postings last time I checked on usedottawa and not a single large sized safe tramp for sale. So I decided to try Costco. This particular brand has typically been carried by Costco but when I checked with them they did not have any on order.

I decided to go directly to the company. I spoke with some very informed customer service people. One told me about the product and let me know that Costco hadn't ordered any this year. She then passed me onto the order department. I was willing to fork over some money for the product depending on the shipping costs. The kind person on the other end asked which ones I was looking at and then recommended I not purchase through them but order them through Sears.ca or Canadian Tire. She said not only were they cheaper than their pricing but I could also avoid shipping costs. Now that is true customer service. I put one of the few remaining trampolines on hold at our nearby crabby tire (I say this cuz the service although not unpleasant is so agonizingly slow). Dad and I started the assembly process around 10am, took a break at 12:30, resumed at 2pm and finished by 3pm. Yup not exactly a quick process considering my mom and J both helped with the rod installation while I fed the kids and prepared an adult lunch from 11:45-12:30.

Despite the cost and long set up time, the trampoline is terrific. Both kids loved it. Monkey boy has already figured out how to seat and stand up in a bounce (quite a feat for a kid who hasn't spent much time on a trampoline). Our neighbours also joined in the fun. They have two girls. One is a year older than monkey and the other is the same age as bug. We cut a hole in the fence between our yards so they could play more. So far it is working out, even though our youngest both tend to be strong-willed.



All in all a great but exhausting day. I love family and creating memories.

Okay I am at work and I should not be blogging. I hardly blog cuz I don't have time even at home. But I am mad. No, that is understated. This requires upper case: I AM MAD!!!! Why are some people such bitches?!!!!! Perhaps some people should be required to partake in a basic course on how to be civil and diplomatic when approaching you with problems. I don't need confrontation or rudeness. Frack, I am probably one of the nicest goddamn people around but that does not mean you can walk over me. She frackin knows that I will bend over backwards to make things work right. BITCH!!!

Okay that feels better. Must go cuz as I said I am way too busy.

I cheated. I feel a tad guilty. I really am a good baker. I have no time anymore. This sucks. I must confess to using (gulp)pre-made gingerbread dough to make gingerbread people and other Christmas decorations.

I can make the stuff, honest! My excuse is two-fold. I've been busy trying to keep two children fed, happy and entertained. I've also been busy prepping the house for renovations (which started today...YAH...super exciting...you should see the mess...aaagh...renos are for another post...don't have time here...MUST FOCUS!).

Anyway I bought some Pillsbury cookie dough in roll. To be honest it worked fine for my purposes. The kids adore baking but we needed some instant results tonight, especially considering we didn't get home until 5:45pm and our supper of left-overs didn't fully reach our bellies until 6:30 pm. We rolled and cut the dough. We even found a few pieces of raw dough making it to our mouths (always a secret pleasure of mine). The cookies took minutes to bake and kept their shape. When we went to decorate them, I realized I was out of icing sugar (used it all for the icing of my mocha frosted drops that I took to a cookie exchange on Friday...again here is another blog worthy topic...I need more time!!). I remembered I had some leftover tubes of icing from a birthday a year or so ago (good thing these bought products have a shelf life that seems to last an eternity). We decorated and devoured the cookies. The event worked but in hindsight it was too rushed and caused too much anxiety. I will have to amend future weekday events to easier projects or activities.

The worst part was that I think the joy of baking was lost tonight, especially when you factor in monkey boy's tears and my anger. Monkey boy decided he didn't like gingerbread cookies and wanted a candy cane instead. I told him I didn't think that was a great idea. He melted down and started crying, moaning and whining. He filled his mind with worry and anxiety over the thought he would have to eat a cookie he didn't like. I told him he could have some candy cane but not much. In his desire to please he said he wouldn't have anything. I became exasperated. I started moaning and whining too. It made him laugh (which is good) but I was done in (perhaps I should also get more than 4 hours of sleep the night before I take on baking, even in its abbreviated form). After what seemed like hours (but in reality was only 5 minutes), we compromised. He decided to decorate a cookie but have some candy cane if he didn't like it. Well he liked the cookie...so did my girl. In the end, they enjoyed rolling and cutting out cookies as well as decorating their one cookie. I hope to have more time to create a better cookie decorating experience in the near future. Usually it is a fun affair but I think I need to be in a better frame of mind and with more than a half an hour to complete the task.

Crafts are a fan favorite in our household. We can't seem to get enough of them. Today's advent event was naturally a hit. We made paper snowflakes, both blue and white. It was fun watching my boy figure out how patterns were being made and duplicated when you cut a folded piece of paper. Lil bug even had fun with the project but required a little assistance getting her scissors through the thick paper.

My plan is to hang them from ribbon around the house. Haven't actually done that yet but the intention is good.

After an early and chaotic supper, we piled into the car to make our way over to OC Transpo's Park and Ride. We hopped onto the 95 route. Several stops later and in a bus crammed full of other families and regular passengers, we arrived downtown. We pushed our stroller (much easier to put lil bug in this contraption versus carrying her 36 pounds and snowsuit clad body around on my hip) down Bay St to Wellington. We conveniently parked ourselves on the North side of the street in front of Library and Archives Canada. Then we waited and waited. Finally we heard the sounds and saw the lights of the Santa Claus Parade.

Monkey boy loved looking at the floats. His favorites were antique fire trucks, and anything with lots of Christmas lights. Both kids thought it was fun to receive candy canes (which they were giving out in copious amounts). Monkey covets candy canes so it was interesting to overhear him say no thanks to one of the firefighters. He told me that he was only suppose to get one so that there were enough for other kids. Cool kid!!!

Unfortunately I neglected to haul the charity gifts we had picked up for the occasion. The kids handle the disappointment well though. We decided it would be okay to just take the toys to toy mountain next time we were at a mall. I did give them some money to put in a stocking that all the firefighters were carrying. It was fun to observe a couple of families approach to the charity aspect of the event. One mother had provided her son with a sock full of change. He seemed to enjoy being able to give to as many firefighters as he could.

The highlight of the parade was Santa of course. Both kids seem to really get the idea this year. Monkey is full of questions about the whole concept. I'm trying to create a mystical feel for him and the girl. Monkey decided that Santa had brought his real sleigh with him and put it on the float. He was a little disappointed that the reindeer weren't there but thankfully a young girl (of about 8 years) had already filled him in on the fact that they were home napping to get ready for Christmas eve. Aaah the falsehoods we tell our children. For some odd reason I can live with this one.

We filled our home with different renditions of traditional and not so traditional Christmas music. We have a limited selection of Christmas music. Here is the list of titles we own on CD:

»Barenaked Ladies. Barenaked for the Holidays.
»"A Charlie Brown Christmas" featuring the famous PEANUTS characters. Original sound track Vince Guaraldi.
»Bruce Cockburn. Christmas.
»The Edge of Christmas. (compilation including Pretenders Pat Benatar, Queen, Kate Bush, Pogues, Ramones)
»David Francey. Carols for a Christmas Eve.
»How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
»Loreena McKennitt. To Drive the Cold Winter Away.
»Sarah McLachlan. Wintersong
»The Promise of Ages : a Christmas Collection. Andrew Parrott, Taverner Consort & Choir.

David Francey, Barenaked Ladies, and Bruce Cockburn get the most air time in our home. The kids tend to favour tunes like jingle bells. Jingle Bells can be an annoying little tune when you hear your children repetitively singing it.

We enjoyed listening, singing, dancing and rocking to the music. It definitely put us in the Christmas mood. Though I think we need to invest in acquiring a broader selection of tunes.

We worked on letters to Santa tonight. They started by decorating a card. My bug who is quite prolific when it comes to crafts, was on card number three by the time I encouraged her to tell me what to write.


Monkey boy on the other hand has become quite thoughtful in his craft design. He even decorated the inside margins. He chose to write his own letter this year. I said the words, he attempted to figure out the spelling and when stuck I gave him the letters. I wrote one word as I needed to speed up the process as the clock was striking 8:15pm.


Both the kids and I are enjoying our Christmas countdown though I am finding it hard to work in activities during the short period of time we have in the evenings. Oh well, it gives our evenings a little more focus and before you know it we are off to bed.