Ahhh... One Of The Things I've Been Waiting For :)

At the moment, my six year old is reading to my five year old. My son's relentless queries of "What does that spell? What does that spell?" are being answered by his sister, while I sit in (relative ;) peace and type this.

They're even laughing together! Reading and laughing, and having fun. (Is there a full moon?). Oh my goodness... A just told J to go get another book to read!

w00000000t !!!! (happy mommy dance).

Off to start dinner... post ya later :)
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My Denial

What happened to Grade One?

Seriously! Didn't it just begin? What do you mean there's only four weeks left? That can't be right!! What about... Christmas and Valentine's Day and Easter and Mother's Day, and... (oh). OMG.

Hang on, though... my son was JUST BORN. What do you mean he starts Kindergarten in 102 DAYS???!!!

(And yet... I'm not getting any older ;) Heh heh
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Hannah Montana And YouTube

... or should I say my daughter, Hannah Montana, and YouTube. At the moment, I'm being assulted by a strange and unpalatable blend of "Best of Both Worlds" (Alyssa) and the Wii Fit tightrope music (Joseph). Ahhhh. (sigh)

We've spent a lot of time outdoors lately, so that's good at least. As the spring and then summer establish themselves and the weather gets better and better, hopefully Alyssa will be distracted enough from her latest kick: "Mommy, can you tape me singing and then put it on YouTube?"

Um, NO. (Are you kidding me? I don't even put pictures of you on my blog - you think I'm going to put vids on YouTube??).

I admit I may be a little more privacy oriented than some, but she's SIX, and she doesn't comprehend the far reaches of the internet. When she's TWENTY six, if she still wants to video tape herself singing and broadcast it for the world to see, she'll have my full support (although it won't be nearly at cute then ;)

Meanwhile I get to listen as she belts out Hannah Montana songs along with the video. Over and over and over and... oh wait. I used to do the same thing. As my Mom would say, it's payback time ;)
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Bad Mommy

Aw, lookit that Gerber Graduates commercial mom playing dragon slayer with her little boy!!!

I suck.

OK I'm not that bad, but I'm definitely not the FUN parent. No Barbies or Hot Wheels for me. If it doesn't have some kind of educational component to it, then I'm not interested. Hmmph. So there.

Whaaat? I feed you, don't I? I teach you stuff, read to you, hug you ALL the time, clothe and bath you, find your bedroom floors when you cannot, would give life and limb for you, wipe your snot and poop, tickle you, brush your hair, floss and brush your teeth, among half a million other things. MUST I play with you too?

Of COURSE I love you, but I honestly don't feel the same way about Polly Pocket. And no, brushing Rainbow Dash's mane is NOT fun for me.

(Nor is playing Wii tanks for the 10,000th time - are you listening too, lil' bro?)

But... Huh.

Hmmm... last night we played Disney Princess Bingo, and tonight we played Trouble!! And I did Wii Table Tilt so you could watch.

I DO play after all!! I'M OK!!!

(Guess I didn't need to write this post ;)

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Keeping Them Safe

This morning I was thinking about Victoria Stafford, the eight year old Ontario girl who went missing after she left school on Wednesday, last seen walking with an unidentified woman.

Who is this woman? What was Victoria doing walking with her? This got me thinking about my 6 year old girl, who's finally gotten over the paralyzing shyness that was the signature of her toddler years. I decided to talk to her about it.

Me: "Hey... listen. What would you do if a grownup you'd never met before came to talk to you after school, and she was really nice, and she said that I told her to come pick you up?"

Alyssa: (shrugs) "I'd go with her?"

OH.MY.GOD.

What followed was a lengthy, and a bit repetitive, discussion about how you NEVER EVER EVER go ANYWHERE with a grown up you don't know, NO MATTER HOW NICE THEY ARE.

Both my kids know about "bad strangers". The only problem is, is that I don't think they understand the concept of "bad strangers" playing nice to try and trick people.

I just pray to God that she got it. We may have to talk about this again (and again, and again).

Scary stuff.
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How Do You Answer That?

Here are three that stumped me, as asked by my daughter. There are some things that a six year old just doesn't need to know!!

How would you have answered?

"Mommy are (army) tanks real? What do they do?"

"Mommy, I understand why bums are private 'cause poop is yucky, but why are boobs private?"

"But Mommy, how does the sperm get to the egg to make the baby?"

For the tanks question I clumsily stammered some inappropriate response about shooting something or other and then quickly changed the subject, and for the boobs and babies question I told her she wasn't old enough to know. What would you have said?
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Bangs!!

When our little girl, a.k.a. The Hair Diva, announced that she wanted bangs "like everyone else in the family", DH and I were skeptical but agreed that at age 6 she could certainly decide something like that for herself. I made an appointment, and we chopped about 4 inches off the back (it was down past her waist, and yes it's been cut before! Hence the nickname), and cut bangs.

She has a beautiful forehead (no Mommy bias there ;) and looked exquisite without bangs, so I held my breath as the hairdressers scissors did their stuff.

OH MY. I thought she was cute before, but now, stand back, world!! Bangs really work for her. Even DH had to admit that it was a great idea.

(Sorry, no pictures... you'll just have to take my word for it ;) I wished now that I had taken a pic of the hair clippings pile on the floor, but I didn't think of it at the time. Such is life. Next time.

Next comes the bang trims. I almost put this post in my Saving Money blog, because my mind was engaged in the conflict between $$$ and vanity... Hmmm, longer bangs look cuter, but have to be trimmed more often. Shorter bangs are harder to pull off (although some lil' girls look adorable in them) but are lest costly to maintain.

We went with long. They come down juuuust past her eyebrows. AND ohhhh... her hazel eyes just JUMP right out. SO CUTE. (Btw, she has auburn hair, and the prettiest little nose, covered with a sprinkle of freckles :) No bias.

We got home, I showed her my scrabbooking scissors (very very very sharp), and explained to her the concept of Bang Trims by Mommy, while she leans over the bathroom sink.

Hmmm. We'll see. I'll let you know how that goes!
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Report Cards And Their Influence On Parenting

I never got bad grades so I never feared report card days, but I can see where it would cause stress for some kids. I say this because even with Alyssa's near perfect report card (on Friday the 13th ;) I still felt myself transform from Calm Mommy (ahhhhhh) to Type A Mommy.

Now in my own defense, I don't think it's a bad thing to examine your child's area of weakness (in her case "oral", as in: speaking French in class), and try to help her improve. However if it weren't for the report card, I more than likely would have left it alone and given her a chance to grow into more confidence.

Here's the dilemma: kids are individuals, with their own rates of progress in various subjects. There is a certain amount of benefit in catering to that, and letting a child grow into areas of aptitude (as in, they'll learn when they're ready). If they're ready on their own terms, learning is faster, more likely to stick, and a lot less stressful.

On the other hand, real life just isn't like that! There is equal value in gently nudging (shove! ;) a child out of his/her comfort zone and stretching their learning boundaries, so that they're better equipped to deal with the demands of reality once they leave the safety of the nest.

(Sigh! Reality at the age of 6? Sheesh)

In the end, I did the "shove" thing with Alyssa and her oral shortcomings. I pressured her and forced her (specifically: we did some reading out loud). I struggled with the question of am I helping her, or creating a bad experience? After her initial resistance, she gushed with excitement about how easy it is once you try, and how much better she felt.

phew

What about you - how do you handle a teacher's critique of your child? This is such an open ended question because every scenario is slightly different, and no single response is appropriate all the time. It's a case by case judgement call, and as parents we simply do the best we can.
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Learning About The F Word Part Two

More Wii, and shouting. This time the offender is Alyssa, but instead of the Big F Nasty, she is saying "darn" (or should I say shouting it with enough force to shatter our relatively new windows).

Lil J, not wanting anything his sister does to be swept under the rug, defiantly says:

"Maw-mee!!! Lyssa said the F word!!!!"

He hasn't said the word since his time out yesterday, and clearly he remembers our conversation about it. I'm just not sure if he remembers which word we were talking about...
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Room Cleaning Chaos

I just cleaned my 6 year old's room, and am still recovering (never mind a "thanks, Mom!" - I deserve a two week vacation in the Bahamas for that).

There were some things I was able to get rid of, and some things I was able to move downstairs, but for the most part, I did a lot of rearranging. She has the larger of the two kids' rooms, and by FAR the most stuff.

I bought 2x2 cube organizers (see pic below) - one for each room. I got mine at Superstore and they came in colours - I used blue and green for Joseph's and red and yellow for Alyssa. The four cube space (plus the top, which is like another shelf) made a tremendous difference in J's room, but in A's? It just cleared enough floor space to get to her dresser.

Hey at least she can get to her pajamas now without complaining ;)



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Ear Piercing Advice?

Alyssa wants her ears pierced. She's asked several times now, and other than the fact that it's a teeny peek ahead to her young adulthood when she'll leave me (sob), I'm pretty much OK with it.

Now that this subject is on my mind, I'm curious as to what your experience is/was? Do you have a child with pierced ears, and if so, how old was she (or he :) and where did you get it done? Do you have any advice that might be of use?

I've created a poll (on the right) for ear piercing age, and any other info you might have to share could be left as a comment to this post? (Hint hint ;)

Thanks!!
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Don't Ya Just Love It When...

So I'm singing "Deck The Halls" (yes I know it's February 24Th) and Alyssa says to me:

"Hey, how do you know that song!!"

Aw, aren't you the cutest thing.

Just like the time you came home from school and told me about Remembrance Day, like it was something brand new from this year. Never before heard of, must tell Mommy. Or the time you informed me what the school library was for (just in case I didn't know).

It kind of reminds me of that moment in my childhood when it dawned on me that my parents had lives before I was born ("woah!!! holy cow..."), that I was indeed not the entire universe, and the things that I was learning about weren't brand new to everyone else as well.

Now I get to relive those moments through my kids :)

Gotta love it!

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The Joys Of The Flu

I was awoken this morning at about 4:30 by my son.

"Mama look what's on my pillow!"

He's prone to nightmares, night terrors, sleep walking (to the toilet and then back to bed, thank goodness ;) and any and all assortments of sleep disruptions imaginable. He has even had night terrors about things on his pillow (poor lil' dude).

So when he referred to said pillow, I was reluctant to get out from under the warm covers. Been there done that. I called out to him in a voice that was hopefully loud enough for him to hear down the hall but not loud enough to wake my husband sleeping next to me.

Ya right.

"MAMA!"

Ok, ok, ok, I'm up. (sigh)

There was indeed something on his pillow - vomit! Awww... poor little guy. (And EW BLECH). I changed his sheets, changed his jammies, gave him some hugs, and tucked him back in again. Ahhh!! Back to my warm cozy bed.

Not for long - round two happened about ten minutes later. So far that's been all, but now I'm faced with that scenario where the younger child is too sick to accompany the older child to school. Of course big sister is at the age where a) she LOVES school and will be mad to miss it, and b) is too young to walk the three blocks herself (some parents might allow this, but um, not this parent).

As I'm typing this, my "get the kids up" timer is ringing. What to do??

a) I could just let them both sleep, and tell her the truth when she eventually wakes up.

PROS: it's the truth.
CONS: ooh-eee she be MAAAD at me, and her brother ("But Mommy I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!")

b) I could go into her room and take her temperature, and tell her she has a fever.

PROS: She'd roll back over and go to sleep.
CONS: It's lying (which I'm not keen on, except for fun stuff like Santa & the Tooth Fairy)

Hmmm. But then again, she might really, actually and truly have a fever (ohhh, wouldn't that be handy ;)

Parenting is weird sometimes.

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Goodie Bag Tip

A friend of mine used Oriental Trading for the goodie bags for a theme party she threw for her daughter last year. She was very happy - they were affordable, and very prompt with their shipping. She said she'd use them again.

Just thought I'd pass that on...

(Hey, this is my 100th post!! Wahoo!!)

More On Goodie Bags

So Hubby is off work and was able to stay with Lil' J and A while I ran up to the dollar store on my quest for goodie bag stuff...

I like to give something that will last, and fill that with trinkets. I think I mentioned in my last post some of the things I've used (i.e. fanny packs, etc.).

Today my trusty ol' dollar store came up short. They had tube shaped pencil cases that I liked - Disney Princess for girls and Batman/Spiderman etc. for boys, but guess what? Not enough. So far I have 11 girls and 7 boys, and there were only nine girl cases (about 30 for boys - go figure).

There is another dollar store close by that I'm going to check out tomorrow, but Hubby will be at work so Lil' J will have to come with me while A is at school. Oh well, such is life. If that's my biggest problem, things aren't so bad, lol.

Does It Get Any Easier?

Ah yes. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

For those parents out there dealing with the perils of "age four" for the first time, take heart in knowing that it does get easier. Alyssa is turning six in a few weeks, and is soooo much easier than when she was Lil' J's age (4 1/2). At the moment he is a holy terror ;-)

I remember back when A was that age, I thought to myself "she's difficult because she'll be an easy teenager". As it turns out I'm getting my rewards sooner than I thought :-)

Hmmm. I wonder, then, what her adolescence will be like???? Ahhhhhh!!!

lol

Inspiration, GI Jane, and My Daughter

Demi Moore really kicked some serious, um, butt in the movie GI Jane. (I loved that show - I watched it about ten times.)

The training scenes were particularly impressive. The determination and relentlessness with which she pursued her goal of Navy Seals acceptance was inspiring. She was like a snarling dog with a bone - seemingly unable to release her obsessive grip.

Kind of like... like... oh let me see here... my 5 year old daughter and the monkey bars!!! Day in!! Day out!! Up, down, backwards, forwards.... flipping!! Hanging!! You name it - she'll try it and she won't quit until she's conquered it.

Why just as I was writing this (in a notebook to be blogged later) she tripped in the gravel while running from one play structure to the next. She fell palms open, slapping the sharp stones with all her 39 pounds behind her.

"Owwwwww!!!!" she cried.

I put down my notebook and went over to her, but by the time I'd crossed the 30 or so feet between us, she'd brushed the jagged rocks off her palms and said:

"It's OK Mommy - it doesn't hurt that much. Not enough to stop playing on the monkey bars!"

Which leads me to the realization that I don't need some high budget Hollywood creation for inspiration. My very own long haired, pint sized spitfire provides plenty of it.

Oh CanYouStop...

...singing?

OK, not forever.... but... maybe just for a few minutes??

You KNOW I love you, and you're the best kid in the world, and I'm SO proud of how you sing "Oh Canada", but maybe you should rest your voice? Just for a few minutes?

Please?

(Mommy loves you!!!)

Pass The Honey, Honey!!

My niece and I were talking one day about natural alternatives to OTC meds, and she told me that her Mom always used honey whenever she and her sisters (all adults now) had sore throats. So when I saw this article in the Vancouver Sun detailing the antiseptic properties of honey I read it with interest.

An amusing aside is my own daughter's ploys to get more of the sweet stuff:

A: "Mommy I have a sore throat!! I think I need more honey!!"

Uh-huh.

Me: "Would you like some ice water? You can gargle with salt and warm water, too, if you like."

A: "Um, no, it's ok - it feels ok actually"

RIGHT. Sore throat, or sweet tooth??

Raising My Type A Child

Sports day bike parade...

(First of all let me reiterate that Alyssa is 5 1/2, and in Kindergarten. She is the youngest in her class, but has more than enough attitude and spunk to compensate.)

So we're moving around the back field of the school in the bike parade. Picture bumpy grass, and a long hill. The older kids are not really having any problems, but many of the younger ones are having to get off their bikes and push.

ME: "Darlin', just get off and push, ok? We're going to be left behind."

A: "No Mommy I want to pedal! I can DO it!"

She's pedalling furiously as the back wheel of her bike spins without gaining any traction, because, of course, her training wheels are hung up on lumps of grass.

I grab her handle bars in an attempt to help her along, only to be vehemently chastised:

"MOMMY!!! I want to DO IT MYSELF!!"

She won't let me pull, she won't get off and push, and she's stuck in the grass. I can feel my blood boiling out my ears as my own Type A control freak tendencies are being grossly stressed. I finally resort to threats:

"Do you want to go home??!!"

(oh the joys. Isn't sports day a hoot.)

We eventually make it to the gym, where the bikes are stored during the events, but not without her teacher having to hunt us down because we were so late.

All was well in the end, and we didn't miss any of the events. We even ended the day on a good note, with minimal head butting between us.

One of these days I'll figure out how to handle her in a way that is not as confrontational. Meanwhile I just take it day by day...