Teenage boys, coming off the Field. My four year old son and I, walking home.
We had the stroller with us. Why the bleep not. It's good up to 60 lbs (50 for child and 10 in the basket), and J is about 40 1/2 pounds. Most of the time he walks anyway, which is what I want, but I am ALLERGIC to carrying crap, and this way I can toss his back pack in the stroller basket. On the odd occasion when he isn't in the mood to walk, I don't have to deal with a cranky kid. Hop in, and Mommy'll push ya.
Today I had the canopy covering the seat and the rain cover over the stroller because it had rained a bit earlier. J was up to his favourite activity of pushing it, head down, and fighting the impulse to run.
"Easy Buddy - watch where you're going. Slow down! Keep the stroller on the path."
Curved brick wall, right in his path. Running slowly, not enough to really damage the stroller, but enough to stop him and it suddenly in his tracks.
"Wall!!! Wall!!! Wall!!!" (shouts from the Field Hockey players) "Looook oooouuut!!!"
It occurred to me after the fact, after J and his pushing toy went BOUNCE off the wall, that the teenage boys had no idea that the stroller was empty....
(oops ;)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
2.22.2009
My Son Is A Click-a-holic
Husband: "Hey, can he (4 yr old) play at the computer while you're in the shower? I have to leave for work."
Me: "Um, NO!! He clicks on stuff he's not supposed to!!"
Husband: (laughing) "Whatever. Computers are bullet proof these days."
You can see why I drink wine.
(anyway)
He (the 4 yr old, not the 44 yr old), cannot be trusted unsupervised with a mouse (computer, not rodent). Take today, for example: he started off at the kid safe site www.totlol.com and somehow, in a mere 14.2 seconds, ended up about to click "play" on a YouTube video of a man eating scorpions (and right before lunch, no less ;)
BLECH.
He has printed stuff he's not supposed to, Googled 30+ random character "words", come really close to e-mailing gibberish to people, deleted stuff, CRANKED up the PC volume... you get the idea. I could go on, but I won't.
What? Parental controls? Hmm. Hey, you know what? Maybe I should look into that.
(now I get it)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
Me: "Um, NO!! He clicks on stuff he's not supposed to!!"
Husband: (laughing) "Whatever. Computers are bullet proof these days."
You can see why I drink wine.
(anyway)
He (the 4 yr old, not the 44 yr old), cannot be trusted unsupervised with a mouse (computer, not rodent). Take today, for example: he started off at the kid safe site www.totlol.com and somehow, in a mere 14.2 seconds, ended up about to click "play" on a YouTube video of a man eating scorpions (and right before lunch, no less ;)
BLECH.
He has printed stuff he's not supposed to, Googled 30+ random character "words", come really close to e-mailing gibberish to people, deleted stuff, CRANKED up the PC volume... you get the idea. I could go on, but I won't.
What? Parental controls? Hmm. Hey, you know what? Maybe I should look into that.
(now I get it)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
2.21.2009
Movin' On Up
'K, done. The computer has been moved upstairs. We went shopping last night for a desk and here's what we ended up buying:
I LOVE it, although it was a little more than what I was hoping to pay (we bought ours at Staples for $199 CDN). The reason I went with this particular one was because it is more decorative than "office functional", which is important because it's sitting in a corner of our living room.
As I type this, the kids are both in front of the computer and I can see their screen (plus hear the repetitive drone of "we need to catch up to the Sillysaurus!!" courtesy of Nick Jr... oh my aching head). If they need help I can simply walk across the room, rather than hollering "JUST A SECOND!!" down to the bowels of the basement, where they were up to goodness only knows what.
Ah yes, this is much better, Sillysaurus and all ;)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
I LOVE it, although it was a little more than what I was hoping to pay (we bought ours at Staples for $199 CDN). The reason I went with this particular one was because it is more decorative than "office functional", which is important because it's sitting in a corner of our living room.
As I type this, the kids are both in front of the computer and I can see their screen (plus hear the repetitive drone of "we need to catch up to the Sillysaurus!!" courtesy of Nick Jr... oh my aching head). If they need help I can simply walk across the room, rather than hollering "JUST A SECOND!!" down to the bowels of the basement, where they were up to goodness only knows what.
Ah yes, this is much better, Sillysaurus and all ;)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
2.19.2009
Wow! A Blog Post ;)
(The "change Mii" music drones on in the background as I sit here. For the uninitiated, a "Mii" is your player on Wii, which you can customize. My four year old thinks this is as amusing as any of the games, and spends a lot of time changing his Mii. Hence the music. I hear it in my sleep these days.)
Tomorrow the cable guy is coming to move one of our outlets, so that we can move our computer from the basement office into the living room. This doesn't apply to my laptop, of course, which is connected to the internet via a wireless router, but rather our desktop PC, which is the one the kids are allowed to use. This is for two reasons:
a) it is in keeping with my policy that kids shouldn't have access to the internet behind closed doors (i.e. no internet in their bedroom. EVER.)
b) it will allow Lil' J to finally start to use the computer. Up until now he's only been allowed to watch his sister while she played in my office, on Webkinz, or whatever shortcut I had set up for her. Now he'll be able to have his own turns without watching her.
The only glitch in my plan so far is that we haven't had a chance to get a computer desk for the living room (the one that's in my office is too big, and uh, too ugly).
Hmmm. Either they come in the morning to move the outlet and we get a desk in the afternoon, or they come in the afternoon and we set the computer up on the floor (or I could get off this computer and find a spare end table somewhere just in case).
Maybe that's what I'll do. Blog ya later ;)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
Tomorrow the cable guy is coming to move one of our outlets, so that we can move our computer from the basement office into the living room. This doesn't apply to my laptop, of course, which is connected to the internet via a wireless router, but rather our desktop PC, which is the one the kids are allowed to use. This is for two reasons:
a) it is in keeping with my policy that kids shouldn't have access to the internet behind closed doors (i.e. no internet in their bedroom. EVER.)
b) it will allow Lil' J to finally start to use the computer. Up until now he's only been allowed to watch his sister while she played in my office, on Webkinz, or whatever shortcut I had set up for her. Now he'll be able to have his own turns without watching her.
The only glitch in my plan so far is that we haven't had a chance to get a computer desk for the living room (the one that's in my office is too big, and uh, too ugly).
Hmmm. Either they come in the morning to move the outlet and we get a desk in the afternoon, or they come in the afternoon and we set the computer up on the floor (or I could get off this computer and find a spare end table somewhere just in case).
Maybe that's what I'll do. Blog ya later ;)
____________________
Return to Fine Grind
2.08.2009
Maybe They Can Learn From Each Other
The occasion: a friend's birthday party. The competition: musical chairs. Let the child personality analysis begin!
Lil' J got knocked out about half way through, and obediently sat out for the rest of the game, along with the other early departees. His mellow response in the face of rejection was in keeping with his "whatever, it's just a game" temperament. Live and let live. Peace, man. Have a great day. Z z z z z.
Alyssa, on the other hand, was NOT happy with coming in second. Second!! HMMPH!! "I HATE that game! I'm GLAD it's over!" Seething words, that luckily were spoken under her breath and only loud enough for me to hear, or she would have been sent away for the longest time-out in the history of all things child related.
There's an upside to the Diva dramatics - she's very achievement oriented, and barely bats an eyelash at working her butt off to attain mastery or success at something. The downside is that she's, uh, a little tightly wound.
Lil' Bro, on the other hand, will try something for awhile, and if it's too hard will make peace with the idea of NOT doing it, and move on to something else. "Mama, I'm all done wid dat." Z z z z z. He's super fun at parties though, and will never embarrass his mother. TERrific.
I've tried helping them both with varying degrees of no success. I'm not going to say I've thrown in the towel completely, but let's just say I have embraced a new strategy: hoping they can learn from each other!
____________________
Return to Blog Scene By Jeanne
Lil' J got knocked out about half way through, and obediently sat out for the rest of the game, along with the other early departees. His mellow response in the face of rejection was in keeping with his "whatever, it's just a game" temperament. Live and let live. Peace, man. Have a great day. Z z z z z.
Alyssa, on the other hand, was NOT happy with coming in second. Second!! HMMPH!! "I HATE that game! I'm GLAD it's over!" Seething words, that luckily were spoken under her breath and only loud enough for me to hear, or she would have been sent away for the longest time-out in the history of all things child related.
There's an upside to the Diva dramatics - she's very achievement oriented, and barely bats an eyelash at working her butt off to attain mastery or success at something. The downside is that she's, uh, a little tightly wound.
Lil' Bro, on the other hand, will try something for awhile, and if it's too hard will make peace with the idea of NOT doing it, and move on to something else. "Mama, I'm all done wid dat." Z z z z z. He's super fun at parties though, and will never embarrass his mother. TERrific.
I've tried helping them both with varying degrees of no success. I'm not going to say I've thrown in the towel completely, but let's just say I have embraced a new strategy: hoping they can learn from each other!
____________________
Return to Blog Scene By Jeanne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Feeds
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Posts
