Nutty Notes

Introducing....

2007-11-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

Javaline

This is my new blog over at Wordpress!

I have graduated from the Nutty Notes.
A new life has begun.

Our newborn daughter Sonja B has joined our family, our toddler will be moving into the preschool CASA program at his Montessori daycare in January, hubby has settled into his new job, we have steps we can actually use at our front door, and the drywalling will beging in our basement in mid November.

Sonja is already a month old, and so it was time for me to get back to my blogging. I missed it.

So grab a cup of java, some chocolate, and come on over to Javaline!

Wordpress update

2007-11-03T17:04:00.001-04:00

I have a blog at Wordpress called Wacky Parent. It is because at the time I felt kind of wacky.

I no longer like the name much.

BUT, I did move all the Nutty Notes from Blogger to Wacky Parent. Until I come up with a new, better name, and get back into blogging.

So come over and have a look. http://wackyparent.wordpress.com/

PS I don't like the header much but haven't had a chance to fool around with the presentation.

Posting again

2007-11-02T14:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I like wordpress, but I don't like the blog name I gave myself, so I'll post here again until my fried brain can think of something better than Wacky Parent.

Benjamin has been really funny. He says things like "very good mommy" when I sprinkle Parmesan cheese on my spaghetti, without spilling some of it on the table.

Sonja is sleeping and eating better too. I feel somewhat rested, although the slump still hits me in midafternoon. But today, both kids are napping together, and instead of napping myself, what do I do? I blog. I should be cleaning the livingroom before I commit myself to the looney bin, what with the rest of the house spic and span (burst of energy yesterday)...but that computer was beckoning me. My friend in Germany calls it a "Mistding"...ha. That is my commentary to that name.

So I'll be back. Either here or there. I'll let you know. You know who you are.

WordPress

2007-10-26T12:18:00.000-04:00

I went to WordPress.
I opened a new blog.
I tried all day today to access it.
It won't let me.
I'm cranky.

Wacky Parenting

2007-10-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

I have a label called Wacky Parenting.

I am seriously considering renaming, or starting from scratch, a new blog.

I feel like I have graduated from writting nutty notes.

Maybe I will.

But not now.

Now, I'm busy containing leaky breasts with either a baby or a pump attached to me.

The essence of Fall in Ontario

2007-10-23T14:38:00.001-04:00

How not to overdue it after a c-section

2007-10-20T15:31:00.000-04:00

Once you return home, you simply cannot take up your life in its usual format. You must let others help you out so that the incision, and the underlying tissue, has an opportunity to heal properly.

It's the simple things, not the obvious things, that one forgets about though. Most of us know well enough that vacuuming, carrying full laundry baskets up and down steps, or lifting toddlers are a no-no.

But when it comes to reaching for a cup on a higher shelf in the cupboard, that is something one does automatically without analyzing ahead of time whether it would be counterproductive to the incision healing.

Or bending down to put a pot away on a lower shelf. The simple act of bending down, pot in one hand, and balancing your somewhat unsteady body with the other, is quite an acrobatic feat given what you've just been through.

So suggest to someone else that you're more than happy to put the cuttery away, since that requires little bending and stretching, and leave those other items for someone else to deal with.

Keeping toddlers from climbing on you or kicking you is a matter of anticipation. Rules must be enforced, with clear consequences outlined in toddler lingo.

For example, if you allow your toddler to visit you in bed, he must understand that jumping, kicking, roughousing, or any other similar activity is 'verboten'. Give one warning, state what the consequent is, and then follow through.

Benjamin, if you want to stay on mommy's bed, you can't kick your feet like that. You lie still. If you do it again, you can go back to Benjamin's bed.

Then, if he does do it again, and being a toddler, chances are he will, you get up and go with him back to his own bed.

This method has worked for us during pregnancy, and will continue working for us post-partum. Because it has to.

Not that it's necessarily smooth sailing. Sometimes there's crying or carrying on. Sometimes not. Either way, you have to persevere.

This doesn't have to be about punishment. It's simply a rule that has to be observed, whether he understand the full implications or not.

Get rest. Even if people tell you to rest when the baby is resting, and you feel annoyed by the sheer stupidity of that comment, you have to find a moment when you can do exactly that.

For me, that leaves out mornings. It does not matter how little I slept throughout the night. I am a morning person, and mornings are not for resting. My body isn't used to it. So instead, I have to find creative ways to rest in the afternoon.

There are several options available here, but many depend on things like who is here to watch the toddler, is the toddler still napping, how does quiet time work if he doesn't nap, and can the baby be placed someplace safe in the toddler's quiet time area while mommy rests on the toddler bed.

THAT, I think, will be the biggest challenge starting next week.

Day off

2007-10-08T08:10:00.000-04:00

This is what I'm eating for breakfast right now.
Brought back all the way from Switzerland by my mom.
I'm eating it in bed.
With the laptop on my lap.
And a coffee on the shelf beside me.

Grosmami took Benjamin home last night, for two days. He gets to, as so aptly put by my friend in Germany, be a "real little boy" there.

It has been hard here for him. I try to keep him busy and occupied but it's been difficult with the big belly, the fatigue, the stress, the renos, the dirt, and the need and want to get ready for the new baby.

He will have fun with grandma and nonno. They play with him, they take him to the park, the woods, the store, the neighbours.

They get to bond with him. He is their only grandchild who lives in the same general vicinity; the other two live on the west coast of this grand continent.

And I had a great night. A long night, with minimal pee breaks.

So today I can muster up enough energy to get some more cleaning done, laundry, and packing up crap to take to the storage.

And plan some fun activities for Ben for the remainder of the week.

This will be our last week alone together.
A new baby will be here next week.
In some ways, I'm kind of sad that this phase is ending...

Summary

2007-10-04T12:19:00.001-04:00

In light of all my recent complaining, I have summarized the good stuff for a change:

I am 9.5 months pregnant, and looking forward to ending this thing once and for all
I peed less and slept more last night than I have in the past month
My basement is gutted and unfinished but my contractors are showing up to work
My steps at the front door look unfinished but seem to be progressing as well
My plumber is coming tonight to install the dishwasher and fix the kitchen sink
My husband is getting paid from his new job
Our extended health care coverage is kicking in today, which means I could technically speaking have access to things like drugs, vision care, hearing care, hospital care etc as of right now
The new washer and dryer are in house, just need to be hooked up
The crib, which was missing a screw, will be put together today since I went out and bought a screw today
My cold is still here but better (or so I tell myself)
I got my eyebrows waxed today
Benjamin tried (TRIED) to poop in the potty today but didn't. Trying is all we ask.

Sniff

2007-10-03T08:12:00.000-04:00

Of course this had to happen now too...

Crashing through the ceiling

2007-10-02T16:00:00.000-04:00

It is very possible that the next heavy person may put their foot through the ceiling if they walk on a weak spot in our livingroom.

Because of course the renovations in the basement are not going as smoothly as they should.

Seems there's a joist that has a knot in the wood that has developed into a crack.

I guess the good news is that the basement ceiling is still gutted, not drywalled, so that it can be fixed.

I think the term hubby used was to "sister it".

I use the term good news loosely. Since THAT is a matter of perspective. Some people may consider a non-drywalled, gutted, open, unfinished basement a good thing in this situation. Even though one of us is having a baby in less than two weeks.

Oh, and I get to go to another ultrasound next week. To see what the baby's size and weight may be. Since a couple of weeks ago she was only in the 30th percentile...a little on the small size.

I LOVE going to ultrasounds.
They are ALWAYS on time.
There are NEVER any delays.
I'm ALWAYS scheduled to avoid rushhour.

NOT

Oh, how I could rant and rave...but I won't. I'm way too tired.

BLAH.

I got a dishwasher...

2007-09-29T15:30:00.001-04:00

It's still in its box, and sitting in the middle of my livingroom floor, but

I DON'T CARE!

I got a dishwasher!

AND...

There is framing going on in the basement today.

The plumber is coming to fix the sink in the kitchen, attach the dishwasher, and finalize all the plumbing on Wed/Thurs this week.

The mason is here doing the steps and he's assured us they will be done BY THE TIME THE BABY COMES IN TWO WEEKS.

Maybe, just maybe, things are finally looking up.

More paper...

2007-09-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

I wrote about the amount of paper that comes into this house before.

Yesterday in my car that hubby drives more than I do, I open the glove box to look for something.

It was JAM PACKED FULL of receipts.

Gas receipts.
Restaurant and deli receipts from places in the US that he accumulated while still an airline pilot.
Candy bar receipts.

That kind of thing.

I think there were maybe a 100 little pieces of paper in there...and I'm NOT exaggerating.

Why does he keep those?

Even if he needed them at some point ever again, how long would it take him to find a particular one?

Especially since there are several places in the house that look similar to the glove box.

Running around first thing in the morning

2007-09-29T08:54:00.000-04:00

I was hoping I didn't have to run around this morning, first thing.

I had to run around this morning first thing.

Why?

Oh....I could go on.

The gist is the difference between men and women. Or more precisely, between him and me.

I am the kind of person who wants things to run smoothly, and without stress or the potential for delay.

He is the kind of person who either relies on someone else to deal with the details, or then waits until the last minute to get something organized or done.

The fact that less stress would appear in both of our lives with a little bit of advanced planning seems lost on him.

Case in point.

Nick, our duct guy, said on Thursday he was coming by Saturday morning early, like 8 am, to finish up a couple of things and to collect the money.

He's been on time and proactive in getting the work done, and I believed him.

Besides, I like early.

So Friday afternoon arrives and there is a big fat last paycheck sitting in our mailbox from hubby's previous job. Attached to the paystub there is a printout of how the calculations were arrived at.

I ask hubby to give it a read through so I can deposit the check and take some cash out to pay Nick on Saturday morning.

I even open the paperwork for him and leave it in a place where it is not likely to be misplaced.

For some reason, between that moment and the moment we leave for a dinner invitation, there was no time to deal with it. Although I suggested that getting it done prior to leaving for dinner might be the proactive thing to do since the bank is on the way to their house.

But it didn't work out that way.

We come back from dinner and I handle the toddler's bedtime. I remind hubby, prior to turning in myself, that maybe he could review the paperwork prior to going to bed so that one of us can do the bank run and have enough cash on hand for when Nick shows up.

At least sign the check so I can deposit it first thing.

Nick did say he would get here early.

Saturday morning, I notice the paperwork still in the same place.

While hubby's priority is to figure out why the newspaper wasn't delivered on time, I ask him to review the paperwork since Nick is coming early.

Hubby isn't too interested, but reluctantly starts reviewing the papers.

I'm standing in front of him with my jacket on, keys in hand, and he says "I'd be surprised if he shows up at 8".

Hm.

Apparently hubby's plan is to go to the appliance store at 9 when they open and do the bank run at the same time. He is convinced that Nick won't show up at 8.

At this time it's ten to eight.

I say "we need X amount of cash to make up the difference, and if you are not ready to deposit the check, I need to move money from the line of credit into the account so we'll have enough to withdraw for Nick".

Whatever. He's not stressed about it.

I'm getting stressed about it.

I take off my jacket, continue feeding the incessantly noisy child breakfast, and pour a second cup of coffee.

I'm just about to sit down with my own breakfast when the dog starts barking like a maniac.

Can you guess who's here?

So hubby goes down to talk to Nick in the basement, and I run around looking for the check, follow hubby downstairs, make him sign the back of it, run back upstairs, pile more food on Ben's plate, order him to stay seated while I run to the bank, yell downstairs to hubby that the toddler is alone upstairs, drive 3 minutes to the bank, do the banking, come back, count out the total amount of cash we need to pay Nick and make notes as to who got paid what amount on what date.

Then I leave the envelope at the side door and come to the computer to blog about this.

My question to myself is this: WHY does it have to be this way?? Who exactly is stressed now? Me, or hubby?

It frustrates me to no end.

But, I have to keep telling myself that this is how it's been for eight years, and likely it will not ever change.

But neither will I.

Toddler's say the funniest things

2007-09-29T08:46:00.001-04:00

Scenario
Mommy stands in the doorway of toddler's room. Toddler is in room emptying out baskets of toys.

Mommy: What are you doing?
Toddler: I'm making a big mess.
Mommy: Oh no!
Toddler: Don't worry mommy, I'll clean it up.

Scenario
Daddy is working on something on the laptop. Toddler is playing with something he shouldn't be.

Daddy: Don't touch that, it's not a toy.
Toddler: Don't worry daddy, it's ok.

Scenario
Mommy is sitting in the driveway on a plastic chair, watching toddler play with sidewalk chalk. Toddler sees a ball.

Toddler: Wanna play ball mommy?
Mommy: Ok.
Toddler: You stand right here mommy.
Mommy: Ok.
Toddler kicks the ball in mommy's direction.
Mommy kicks the ball back in the toddler's direction.
Toddler: Very good, mommy!

Good, better....getting better...

2007-09-21T09:19:00.000-04:00

Pooping has come to a complete halt. That is, unless it ends up in the diaper. AND, he then wants to flush the poops down the toilet. AND, before the flushing happens, he wants to PEE in the potty and then have ME pour it in the toilet so he can flush AGAIN.

He is absolutely terrified of pooping in the potty. Doesn't matter that he's done it before.

Rationalizing that the poops end up in the toilet whether he makes it in the toilet, the potty or the diaper is completely irrelevant to him.

So we let him poop in the diaper.

At least he allows us to watch again.

***

There was a guy in my basement yesterday. He was supposed to come today when hubby specifically booked the morning off. Took a bit of panic about what was said to whom and why he's coming now instead of when it was scheduled, but at least the guy came and moved the gas pipe.

Hubby also manages to show up prior to the basement guy leaving. They talked, and MORE progress happened. We now have a hole in our livingroom floor where the new vent/duct will go.
See it? between the randomly placed pieces of furniture that WILL EVENTUALLY end up in the basement?

Trust me, this is progress.

AND, today, another guy is coming to move the AC unit outside away from underneath the porch to the side of the house. That is, his boss said he was coming. He's not here yet, but he will come, dammit.

AND, Bob is coming all next week to put walls up. AND, a couple of other guys are coming to finish the duct work downstairs that yesterday's guy started.

Could this be happening? Am I dreaming? Will the bulk of the dirty, dusty work be done prior to the baby's arrival?

Sure would be nice.

***

Took my crockpot out. I LOVE MY CROCKPOT! It's so easy, what with all the interruptions and toddler not napping and the dog freaking out at every noise coming out of the basement and what not. I stick the food in, I turn it on, and I forgetaboutit.

Made enough spaghetti sauce to freeze two jars for afterbabytime AND have enough for supper for all three of us.

YUM.

Positive karma

2007-09-19T09:03:00.001-04:00

I'm TRYING to stay positive. Really I am. But it's not easy.

So here I'm going to attempt to rationalize my complaints in a different way, instead if just listing the issues:

- no activity in basement renos
+ but the mason showed up in late afternoon, after his union-job, to continue with the steps

- contractor/friend called to ask what the scoop is about the basement while not coming to work on some of the simple things that could have been done
+ contractor/friend shows up at 8 pm with the electrician to get an update from hubby, promises to be around next week

- no duct work is confirmed
+ hubby took morning off on Friday to meet yet another guy who will come to move the gas line and discuss our wish list re the ducts/vents etc

- hubby is still working long days and continues working when he gets home
+ hubby made attempt to not only be home for dinner yesterday, but he stopped off at the butcher to pick up meat, AND did all the dishes after supper on his own accord

- baby in womb is still hickupping regularly, causing me insomnia between 3 and 5 am.
+ I'm beginning to feel a bit more excited about the reality of this baby being born in less than a month

- toilet training the toddler is an on-again/off-again saga
+ he makes an effort which is all I can ask

- my friend's baby was born recently but swallowed some meconium which was in the amniotic fluid, which ended him up in the intensive care for a little while
+ my friend's baby was born, one week overdue, which means both our second babies will be less than a month apart in age!

So how's that for a start?

Traumatized

2007-09-19T08:55:00.000-04:00

He whined and absolutely insisted on a diaper this morning. Especially after I took the soaking wet one off.

Then he hid behind the doorframe, while I lay in bed with my first cup of coffee, and peeked around the corner every few seconds to see if I'm watching.

He was pooping.
Into the diaper.
He insisted.On.Wearing.

Trust me, I tried. I offered him a Smartie if he peed in the potty. Peeing doesn't seem to be the issue. Although it was one today. He ate the Smartie and didn't pee in the potty.

So I showed him the other Smartie and said that he could have it after he made poops in the potty.

No poops.

So I put the Smartie on the shelf, and he wandered around whining.

Insisted on having the green Smartie.

I stayed firm and said no.

He then wanted me to put it in a little bowl, which I did.

The single Smartie in the bowl went on the shelf. Where it will remain for now.

Perhaps he's traumatized from the trail of poops that happened yesterday?

Who.
Knows.

Pooping and peeing update

2007-09-18T12:34:00.000-04:00

This morning we took off his wet diaper and let him run around until he at least peed in the potty.

This is fairly standard, normal procedure these days.

We ask him if he has to make poops and he always says no. But of course most of the time he does have to poop in the morning. It's just a matter of being proactive and having an eye on him during that inevitable time.

He continues to pee into the potty fairly regularly. If he is wearing no pants or diapers.

The pooping is a hit-and-miss situation.

Although he pooped in the potty before...

So anyway, I go about my morning, as does daddy, and Benjamin is running around with his bare bottom.

At one point, he approaches me and says "I made poops on soor". (He can't seem to say floor)

I walk into the kitchen and notice several things:

a big pile of poop near his chair
a somewhat ripped piece of paper towel next to it
a smaller pile of poop a little further away toward the hallway
a yet smaller pile of poop close to the potty which is in the hallway opposite the bathroom door
and several smears of poop along the potty

He seemed a little perplexed when he told me about "poops on the soor".

I however, despite the mess, encouraged him and praised him for at least trying to make it to the potty, and on top of it all, try to clean up the mess himself (papertowel!!) before even telling me about it.

What a smart boy!

I'm not sure how he felt about the poops on the floor though. We talked a bit about where the poops go (in the potty mommy!) and despite my efforts to praise him for trying, he did harp a bit on the fact that most of the poops were not in the potty.

We had a little shower to wash off the smears on his legs and bum, put on a diaper, empty the pee out of the potty (that part worked fine!), and then we cleaned up the mess together (well, sort of, I did most of the work).

So how am I supposed to analyze this? Is this progress?

* * *

A few days ago I decided to get back into the whole Curious George underwear thing. It was summery and we were outside, and I figured if he pees through the clothes, at least there won't be much to clean up.

He did pee. He just can't seem to figure out that when he wears something on his bottom, and feels the urge to go, he has to either say something or go to the potty and pull the pants down.

I only noticed the wet spot when I wanted to move the car a couple of meters back on the driveway. Ben, being car-crazy, wanted to sit in the seat next to me while I backed up, which I only allow while moving the car within the limits of the driveway.

Scott, our mason, and I noticed that he was all wet. I said "What happened? You're all wet?"

He said "I peed on Curious George".

So he KNOWS that he did it. I wonder if he KNEW he was about to do it though...

Gosh...

Confusion

2007-09-17T15:46:00.001-04:00

I'm confused.

I thought that when the furnace guy was here, he said that we could move the ducts closer to the beam. That was one of the options.

Apparently I misunderstood.

Hubby spoke to the guy on the phone today and now the Wed-Fri work is no longer happening. Since what they spoke about is different from what I thought I understood.

Now the only thing that's happening is that the gas line will be moved.

We were supposed to have a whole shitload of other stuff happen, like a new vent, a plugged vent to accommodate a new built-in dishwasher, and the consolidation of the rest of the duct work.

I don't understand why nothing is happening.

I don't understand what has changed.

I don't understand why I have to talk to people and make decisions if they just get changed later.

I refuse to deal with any renos anymore. The baby is due in less than a month and I'm simply not in the mood.

* * *

And while we're on the subject of confusion, I made granola today. Used what looked like a fairly simple recipe from a Parenting magazine.

The granola tastes ok, but it looks crumbly, and doesn't stick properly.

Not sure what the problem was. Not enough honey maybe?

Will have to try again.

No more junk mail or flyers

2007-09-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

Yes, that is the note I have placed on the mailbox.

I hope the mail person respects my wish and does not drop off the crap she has to carry around with her on a regular basis.

Like today. The mailbox contained two preordered magazines (Today's Parent and Harrowsmith Countrylife), one flyer (Mark's Work Warehouse), a quarterly newsletter by a local real estate person, and about six or seven pieces of junkmail which I barely glanced at.

The only thing I really looked at was the two magazines, and the flyer and newsletter. But if I had not received the flyer or newsletter I would not have missed it. The Mark's flyer sometimes shows up with a newspaper (duplicate) and the newsletter by the real estate person is nice and well done, but I have her website and can visit the identical information anytime I want without generating more paper-garbage.

I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of paper that has accumulated in our livingroom:

receipts, some as old as 2003
notes, from personal ones to phone numbers to messages taken by someone
printed stuff from the computer that was once used but now either needs filing or chucking out
flyers, some duplicates
paperwork generated by hubby's new job
paperwork generated by hospital for impending birth
bills, paid and unpaid ones (most of our bills are now electronic, but not all)
papers in binders, mostly for hubby's job
newsletters and forms from the daycare
old pay stubs
newspapers (daily National Post, semi-weekly local Gardian)
clippings of recipes or articles I saved for some reason or another

Given that the filing cabinet had to be moved during the renos downstairs, I have a pile of crap that needs filing up here in the livingroom. It gives me hives to see it grow. And misplaced. And blown about by the wind coming in from the window.

So enter the shredder. This is my big plan for this afternoon: shred stuff. Get rid of it. Out of my sight.

And hopefully I won't get any more junk delivered by Canada Post personnel.

Morning routine

2007-09-12T09:58:00.001-04:00

I have a very thoughtful toddler.

Most mornings, when he wakes up, he gathers up his two Bellos, his lamb and his baby lamb, and wanders over to my bedroom.

First, he drops his toys on daddy's side of the bed, then wanders over to my side.

He then places imposter Bello (aka mommy's Bello) on me and whispers "here you go mommy".

He then tiptoes back over to the other side of the bed, climbs in, and snuggles for a bit.

Depending on how early it is (anytime after 6 am is not considered early by him), after several sessions of tossing, turning, twitching, sucking on soother, and other acrobatic activities, he gets up again, and wanders into the kitchen.

He then returns with an empty bottle which he tosses at me. He stares at me until I stir or open my eyes, and proclaims: "I want milk".

If I don't get up right away he says "Time to get up now mommy, time to wake up."

That is my cue to get up and get him his milk ready, which he likes lukewarm.

When I return to where he wants his milk (could be in my bed, in his bed, or on the couch in the livingroom) he removes his soother, Bello and whatever other toy(s) he's gathered in the process and starts giggling out loud. I hand him his milk and he smacks his lips JUST SO, then commences drinking.

Some days I try to snuggle back with him on the bed, with a coffee in hand, and I get one of two responses:

1. no mommy, go away
2. giggle, smile, smack smack smack the lips

Immediately after the bottle is finished, one of three things can happen. Either he hands me the bottle and says "put it on shelf". This happens if I'm with him at the time.

If I'm not with him, he either whines loudly "I'm aaaaaaalllllll finished mommy!" and the repeats this refrain until either I, or daddy, get fed up and tell him to put the bottle down or get up and take it into the kitchen but to STOP WHINING ALREADY WE HEARD YOU THE FIRST SIX TIMES!

Or, he gets up, wanders back into the kitchen, and drops the bottle into the sink which he can just barely reach if he stands on his tippytoes.

Then we have to play.

"Mommy, do you want cars?"

Depending on what day of the week it is, (he's in daycare three mornings a week), he may bring me a specific car, and then proceeds to direct my play. Although he pronounces the car to be "this is mommy's car", I can NOT play with MY car the way I want. No no no.

"You park it here, no mommy, put your car here now."
"Move your car now mommy."
"I'm going to work, your car is going to vacation".

Sometimes he decides that my car has more fun, and he switches, without my permission, the cars. I try to argue: "this is mommy's car, you play with your car, didn't you say this was mommy's car?" but it's in vain. Eventually he manages to take the car he wants, and continues with his instructions to me.

He's very particular.

He's also very gentle. He does not smack the cars together violently, or throw things around, although sometimes he jumps up and down or has limbs flying around resulting in kicks in my belly or what not.

But for the most part, this morning routine is actually quite relaxing.

Portable dishwasher

2007-09-11T06:53:00.000-04:00

We are seriously considering a portable dishwasher.

Theoretically it would be better to have an installed one, but the kitchen would require some remodeling. Since there's aleady construction going on downstairs in the basement, and the baby is coming in a month, and a toddler lives here, and the husband has a new job, and I would go INSANE at the sheer suggestion to have another room in the house disrupted, we're considering the portable option.

But for now, we continue washing by hand. Just like both of our mothers did for all these years...

Rearranging furniture and associated dilemmas

2007-09-10T10:39:00.001-04:00

I measured the crib today. And the dresser that fuctions as both storage for kid(s) clothes and diapers and change table.

Benjamin accompanied me to the basement to measure the crib where we are currently storing it, amongst all the construction down there. He has his own measuring tape. Afterwards, he imitated me as I used painter's tape to mark down where I want to place stuff up in his room.

The kids will have to share the only other bedroom in the house. Since that room presently functions as both Ben's bedroom and playroom, I would like to have minimal disruption to this arrangement. Meaning that when the crib goes back in there, I would still like for him to have access to some of this stuff that he uses fairly regularly (as during naptime when he doesn't nap). Like books, cars, some other toys. Keeping it organized and clutter free will be the challenge.

Hopefully people will respect my wishes to not bring the baby, or the toddler, any more stuffed toys. I may have to shove those up their uknowhats if they do...

Theoretically, it should work. If I keep decluttering, getting rid of outgrown things quickly, focusing on cleaning up before taking out more stuff...seems a prevalant theme in the MomBlogWorld out there.

Trying to keep it together is going to be interesting considering that the basement is nowhere near complete.

I'm sick of complaining about this. So I will stop here. For now.

Gypped?

2007-09-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

The guy with the truck tried to gyp me.

How do you spell gyp?

Anyway, when hubby talked to him about what rubbish there was to pick up on our driveway he was quoted about 250 smakeroos. He said it goes by weight at the depo where he dumps the stuff, they charge by the tonne, and we knew that already.

Actually, I knew there was a charge by weight, I didn't know what the charge was. Would have been nice to know this info prior to the guy showing up here. Hubby knew the amount...

We had a lot of crap piling on the driveway. Basement floor, drywall, old wood, and a bunch of cement blocks from the ripped out porch. Seems he told my hubby that he can take it all.

Good news was the guy was available to come that same day, between 3 and 4 pm.
Bad news was that hubby was at his job at an afternoon shift, leaving me to deal with it.

So I had to run around and get some cash into the house.
Stay awake myself during nap-time so I can direct and supervise the clean-up. (Didn't end up being a problem since some people who shall remain nameless didn't feel like napping that day.)

Ok, so around 3:30 pm Ben and I go outside to hang around, watching and talking with our mason, and waited for the truck.

Ben's excited. He has his loader and shovel handy and wants to help.

Suddenly, my neighbour appears on the driveway. Her hubby is stuck in traffic, her preschooler's stuck in school, her toddler's napping, could she borrow the car....

Yes. She took the car, I took my child, stayed in her house sitting with her toddler who was still napping, and waited for the truck.

She comes back 20 minutes later, all is well, but there is still no truck on my driveway.

By 5:30 pm I have to do two things: stick the overtired toddler in the bath and get supper prepared for the eventual return of hubby from new job.

Of course the minute the kid is in the bath, we hear the beep beep beep of the pickup truck backing into our driveway.

Out of the tub comes the child, back on go the dirty clothes along with some pull-ups, and we go meet the little Caribbean man.

The truck looks suspiciously small.

The pile he has to take looks suspiciously big.

First thing he says is "I don't take the concrete, you have to get a bin".

I say "fine". Just take the wood. At this point, any reduction of rubbish is a relief to me. Let hubby hash out the details later.

We do some small talk while Ben hovers nearby with his loader and shovel, and eventually I tell the guy I gotta get inside to start cooking.

I can see him and the truck from the kitchen window.

I stick the overtired child back in the bath, throw some organic chicken, potatos and tomatos in a casserole dish, work on some dishes, and bring the guy out there a glass of water. It was a stifling day out there.

He ask me "do you have cash in the house".

I say "yes. How much do you think this will cost?"

He tells me - are you sitting down? - $450.

I must have hidden my dismay but I'll tell you, I was not impressed. What is he, Jamacian or something? Back in my flight attendant days, the Jamacian's were the ones that tried everything to get what they wanted, including haggling over prices that are quite obviously completely insane. $450 for a pile of wood? We got a construction bin filled with heavier items for less than that before....

Geez.

Luckily, hubby calls from the college. Not that I had a) a phone number to contact him. Or b) where it's deserted and the phones weren't manned by anyone anyway. And c) he misplaced his cell phone. Again. Fine time for him to be unreachable what with me 8+ months pregnant.

More grief.

Anyway, he called and I answered. I tell him the guy outside wants $450 and I am inclined to give him what he quoted originally ($250) and deal with whatever consequence that may come up.

We agree to give him $350 cash, since he was labouring himself that huge pile in that heatwave.

Hubby refuses to talk to the guy on the phone. I'm not impressed.

So I go back out and tell the guy "my husband left me $350 cash, can you manage with that?" expecting him to take the $ and leave part of the pile.

I excused myself to go check on the wet kid and promise to come back out in a few minutes.

Shortly after, I noticed that he's climbing all over his truck, tying all the loose boards up.

I go back out and tell him in my nicest voice "you are a miracle worker, I didn't think you'd be able to fit all of it on your truck"!

He smiles, and hands me 50 bucks back.

He says "the wood won't weigh that much".

Now...what was that? Was he feeling guilty? Was he afraid that we would complain to Tony, the electrician, who recommended this guy to us?

Or did he just feel like I saw through him and decided that hey, I'm a nice lady with a huge belly and a cute toddler, I shouldn't try to gyp them?

Either way, we parted professionally.

Frankly, I still think he made a good profit on the $300 he got from us, but at least now the weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Took a meltdown in front of hubby and a long argument to get him to arrange it to begin with and then I still didn't have all the info I needed to make an educated decision about the situation...which is why I would prefer he handle it alltogether...

Whatever. It's done now.

The saga continues.

Better day

2007-09-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

Sick and tired...

2007-09-05T06:11:00.001-04:00

...of all this whining.

Mine, although I don't whine to THEM about anything. I do blog about it though...

HIS (mostly hubby) for various reasons lately. New job, allergies, crappy afternoon shifts, studying, chaos due to stalled renos, pregnant wife, active toddler...

Insomnia is preparing me for the days of night-waking that are sure to occur when newborn arrives. Might as well get used to it.

Stress....is likely to remain for the forseeable future. Renos are the main source of stress for me right now mostly because I have no place to LIVE in this house without seeing lack of progress in every single flippin' corner.

Like I said....sick. and. tired.

This and that

2007-09-04T14:22:00.000-04:00

I cleaned. Disinfected. I just couldn't take it anymore.

This is not a big house. It is a two-bedroom bungalow with a HUGE basement that is bare down to the studs due to renovations.

But the dirt that migrates upstairs, or through the windows from the dismantled porch at the front door (an extension of the basement) has finally reached the point of no return.

Cleaning and mopping and dusting with a big pregnant belly isn't very fun.

But I do feel better today. Sort of.

Tomorrow Benjamin starts daycare again. I will have a few toddler-free hours for the first time in a long time, and I have a long list of things I want to accomplish, most of which probably won't get done. I may just end up sitting on this couch blogging, or doing email, or something of that sort.

* * *

We applied for short-term health insurance since hubby's new insurance won't kick in till October.

Problem #1 - we can only apply for two months, not one, since we have to pay first and last, like rent.
Problem #2 - entire process requires 5-7 weeks to be complete, something I found out today in an email. Nowhere on the application did in mention that this was the case. We thought it worked like travel insurance, you know?
Problem #3 - I can't cancel it because the guy at Customer Service said I need the new ID numbers to cancel the policy. I said I didn't want them to go to the trouble of even processing the policy. He insisted on explaining to me how it works anyway, which I didn't really care about, and then, when I suggested that in 5-7 weeks I'll be in the hospital busy giving birth and I won't have an opportunity to deal with "welcome packages" and "ID numbers" and what have you, he said there was nothing he could do.

I'm debating if I should write a letter, or drop the whole thing on hubby who will not be impressed to have another thing on his list of things to do to deal with.

* * *

Pregnant people can be quite clumsy.

Last night, when I dropped, for the upteenth time, something I was washing at the sink, I got so pissed off I threw the salad spinner on the floor. It broke.

This morning, when I was looking for the 2% milk for the toddler, I had to move some stuff around to get at the container. As I reached for the milk, which is in a bag, I dropped the entire thing on the floor and the milk spilled all over the kitchen. Including beneath the fridge, which then required hubby to get up out of bed on his first day of his new job, wipe up the spilled milk, move the refridgerator, wipe up the milk there, then open the door and wipe the inside of it as well.

I stood there with the toddler, not enjoying my first cup of coffee, listening to Benjamin repeat over and over again "the milk is soaking wet!".

* * *

I hope things are looking up tomorrow.

The difference between boys and girls

2007-09-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

My toddler boy accompanies his toddler girl friend up to her bedroom to look at her toys.

The boy starts rummaging in her toy box, and the girl starts rummaging in her dresser drawers.

All is quiet.

At one point, the toddler girl's daddy goes up there to check on them, and notices that his daughter is standing in the middle of her room, stark naked. She is in the middle of changing her outfit (for the upteenth time that day).

Both kids look up to him.

The girl says "I'm changing my outfit".

The boy says "look, I found tractor".

Countdown

2007-09-03T08:06:00.000-04:00

There is 1 day left before my hubby starts his new job in the world of Aviation Academia tomorrow.

There are 2 day left before my toddler starts his second year of daycare on Wednesday.

There are 43 days left until the birth of my second child.

There are 83094884737283929430249302483284 days left until the renovations are anywhere near complete.

Thank you.

When I'm not pregnant...

2007-09-01T11:23:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have wine with my meals...regularly...

I'm going to bend over and pick up stuff that I've been sick of looking at for weeks/months now...

I'm going to pee less...(ha)

I'm going to sleep more... (double ha)

I'm going to sleep on my stomach again...

I'm going to stay up past the toddler's bedtime to encourage him to fall asleep in his own bed as opposed to mine...

I'm going back to my routine of sweeping, swiffering, and mopping my floors at least every week once...

I'm going to brush the dog...

I'm going to walk the dog more than 20 minutes per day, on new (old) routes through parks and trails and mini-forests, as opposed to flat sidewalks around the block and back...

I'm going to not be irritated and annoyed at every little thing as of 4 pm every afternoon...(ha?)

I'm going to keep my garden in better shape...

I'm going to stop panting everytime I walk up or down the stairs, hallway, driveway...

I'm going to clean underneath the toilet...

I'm going to paint the ceiling in the bathroom that has been chipping paint off which has provided an endless source of bitchiness everytime I visit the bathroom, which is too numerous to count...

Blah.

Poops

2007-08-31T13:54:00.001-04:00

There seems to be a prevalant theme going on in some of the mommy blogs where poop is a popular topic. I saw it here, and here. We too have our own potty training anecdotes here.

My approach to toddler pooping has been kind of wishy-washy lax lately. Being 8 months pregnant, my whole outlook on life these days has been about prevention of various things that require acrobatic movements on my part, like picking up stuff that falls down, wiping spills, or cleaning up pee puddles and poop piles.

Yet with it still being summer, and there being little carpeting in our home, those pants/diapers/pull-ups/underwear do stay off his cute little butt more often than not. Especially during his regular pooping time, which is usually mornings and evenings.

So yesterday, he wore nothing except a t-shirt until after lunch. But for some reason, he didn't poop. He peed four times though, twice in the potty on his own accord, and twice "on the grass like Rusty".

Then my mother came. And he wanted to put a diaper on. Into which he immediately pooped. Which was ok since he insisted that "Grosmami" change him. Fine by me!

Today, after his milk and before his breakfast, and with daddy home as well, we left that diaper off again. Every once in a while he would bring us a diaper or a pull-up (what IS the difference in those anyway other than price?), and we both said "sure, after you make poops in the potty or toilet you can have your pull-up on".

While slupring coffee, checking email, chatting, hubby and I aren't paying particular attention to what his happening with the toddler.

Suddenly we hear this little voice squeaking from the back hallway.

"I made pipi and poops in potty!".

We go see....and there it is!!

The expression on Benjamin's face was just priceless. He looked a mixture of disgusted, surprised and eventually, after mommy and daddy clapped and praised him, proud.

I'm not sure what went through his little mind when he saw that big brown pile of poops sitting in a pool of yellow pee.

Daddy showed him how to wipe his bum, and wash the hands (bonus as that would require more acrobatics on my part), and then Ben wanted a diaper on.

I debated whether we should keep the momentum going and offered him a Curious George underwear to put on, which seemed to make him happy. As long as it was the one with the firetruck on it. Of course.

He also mention that "Mrs. A" at school is going to be "so happy"...she had helped him pee on the toilet at school a few times prior to summer vacation, and since he's going back to her next week, I agreed that she would be very happy too!

So then he dragged the lego out, placed the big fluffy pillow on the floor, and invited me to come play with him.

How could I resist THAT temptation? What with all the peeing and pooping and even the pillow! What a sweet boy to remember the pillow for mommy!

Anyway, we play a while, and at one point I got up to prepare some breakfast. Suddenly he comes into the kitchen to announce that "there is a big wet mess on mat" and "we need towel to clean it up".

He peed all over Curious George, and left a wet spot on the mat.

See? If he wears anything on this bottom, and he doesn't understand that he can simply pull it down and sit on the potty and pee.

I didn't say much. I just explained that we don't pee on Curious George, that we pee in the potty like earlier today, and would he like to help clean it up.

Which he did.

Then he brought me a diaper and I figured he has had enough for a while, and put it on him. I don't want to push too far, or discourage him, or make it a chore or unpleasant. He's not even two-and-a-half yet...

For the rest of the day, everytime there was a diaper change, I would encourage him to go pee in the potty first and he always did.

Maybe a few more wet Curious Georges will finally flip that switch in his brain. Problem is, he's having trouble pulling his pull-ups or underwear, or any pants for that matter, up. That is, he knows how to pull them up in the front but gets whiny and lazy when he can't get it up from behind. He has shown little, if any interest, in dressing or undressing himself. Which is another thing that I'm encouraging him to do everytime we have a clothes change. I would think that goes hand in hand with the toilet training, at least the pants part.

So we'll see. If leaving the pants off for part of the day will keep things moving along, then all the better for me.

Would be nice to get rid of the daytime diapers prior to baby's arrival...

Mutant sunflower

2007-08-30T14:45:00.001-04:00

There is something weird happening to one of my sunflowers...

End of summer ramblings

2007-08-30T07:18:00.000-04:00

Yes. I'm here.

No. I'm not posting much.

I'm a post-neglector. A blog-neglector. A bad blogging-mommy.

I have no time.

I have lots to say though....so I'll keep this short.

Hubby went for first staff meeting today. New job officially starts after Labourday, which is on Monday.

Renovations are well under way and progressing at a rapid speed. This makes up for the lack of progress for the past three weeks...

Tot has been soooo good. He likes the guys with the tools...go figure. He's such a boy!

Pregnancy is starting to impede me in ways that I find a tad annoying. I can't move fast, I get winded fast, I have this freakshow going on in my belly whenever the babe stretches...it looks like she's still breech, but when she moves, or stretches, her head moves a lot slower now than it did even just a few short weeks ago. It's getting crowded in there...

Grandmother is coming with Rusty today...he's been staying at their house for a few days. Benjamin will love visiting with her, and Rusty will be nice and stressed surrounded by all the noise and debris from the construction...but, c'est la vie.

Joined Facebook. I have a love-hate relationship with that thing...

Later.

Chaos

2007-08-29T08:16:00.000-04:00

In some ways it's amazing that while THIS is going on....

I can still make THAT for dinner...

We're on again!

2007-08-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Bang bang bang...

Smack smack smack...

Drill drill drill...

These are the sounds that are coming out of my basement...

2007-08-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

Today, the stone mason showed up, without notice, to measure our crumbling front porch. Sign of things to come in terms of basement progress?

Today, the tot decides to not only nap, but has done so an hour prior to the normally scheduled naptime, and he is still napping several hours later. Goes to show that he DOES still need those naps. Darned kid.

Course, he and I were up for how many hours last night tossing and turning and whining and squirming? Can't remember...too tired.

Had a powernap myself and feel less tired than I did this morning.

Tomorrow is hubby's second interview.

Friday we leave for luxurious cottage in Haliburton for 4 days.

Bought a new air mattress for child to use at luxurious cottage today. Paid 50 cents because the rest was covered by money on Mastercard. LOVE Canadian Tire Mastercard!

No action on basement what.so.ever.

Almost 8 months pregnant. Getting a little fed up with that...

Oct. 15 c-section date still a go after panicky phonecall to OB to get explanation about my 3 possible due dates. Feel less panicky now.

Grandmother back at her home in Switzerland after two strokes. She is anxiously awaiting my mother's arrival in mid September.

Blah.

More progress

2007-08-19T09:48:00.001-04:00

Basement tear-out on other side has begun. I helped, along with tot and hubby, to move some stuff around to facilitate the destruction.

Hopefully B will come by next week and continue while hubby is back at work (or away fishing...his annual trip that was planned a year ago). B's cushy city job doesn't make him tired or stressed, and he's done at 3, and his commute is something like 3 minutes, so that will keep things moving for us.

After a 2+ week "break" I am looking foward to the continuation down there. Getting fed up with living among boxes and crap piling up everywhere I look.

* * *

Toilet training is continuing but I've slacked a bit. If he's without pants, it's practically done. He feels it coming, runs upstairs or to the potty, and does his business. Although, the new habit now is to "go pipi in the grass like Rusty". Yesterday, he ran to the neighbour's yard and peed on her grass....

Pooping on the potty/toilet has ceased mainly because I'm not coherent enough in the morning to keep up with him. Couple of cuppas a little earlier may bring that back on track.

Of course, since he's completely changed his pooping schedule, that has become a little bit more difficult. Once in the morning and once at night was a great schedule for me to keep up to date on...now, three times prior to lunch?? It makes things a tad more challenging.

Of course, he's eating like he's starving. His appetite is HUGE! And he's eating things like cous cous salad, lentil salad, potatoes, chicken, knackwurst with mustard, kashi cereal, berries, yoghurt...definitely good eating habits!

* * *

Second interview for hubby is scheduled for Wed. He's unofficially been hired by the dean of the program, conditional on getting his class 1 instructor rating back (aviation stuff). He's held it before, let it lapse when he joined the airlines, and now needs to get it back since he's returning to the world of aviation academics.

He anticipates a month and a half of getting it, and the flight test, completed prior to being able to give notice at the airline.

His company superiors are ecstatic for him, they all gave him glowing references. Career move is about to begin...right at the same time as the impending birth of our second child.

* * *

My 90-year old grandmother in Europe is in the hospital. She's suffered two semi-mild strokes. My mom is supposed to visit her soon, she may go earlier than planned.

* * *

There is something wrong with our toddler's sleep schedule. Not only did he give up naps, which does not please me in the least, but quiet time that is supposed to replace the nap is rather noisy.

Despite the lack of napping, he doesn't go to bed until 10 pm.

Or insists on falling asleep in my bed, preferably with me in it.

Without naps, I am done closer to 7:30 pm than 9ish...so do I go to my bed with him in it and encourage him to fall asleep earlier? Or do I sit up and listen to the noise until he learns to go to bed at a decent time in his own bed?

He's done it before, but now, two weeks before school starts, may be a good time to re-introduce a more normal, child-friendly bedtime.

Must remain up later at night, and force quiet time to happen, to preserve my sanity.

Or else, I'll just check myself into the looney bin now and be done with it.

My child is amazing

2007-08-17T16:11:00.000-04:00

Warning: some serious bragging about to take place!

I am amazed beyond belief these days.

After the potty training (pooping) has regressed and caused me to feel a little bit disappointed, he one morning decides, while playing bare-bottomed in his room, to simply walk to his potty and poop in it.

He has NEVER pooped anywhere except the diaper and accidentally on the floor once or twice.

Today, again, he's walking around with no pants on. In the midst of playing, he walks to the potty and pees in it.

Just. Like. That.

So - pressure is off. If he wants pants on, diapers on, they go on without question. If he doesn't ask, I don't push.

Maybe we're on our way....

THEN, today, he dumps his round box full of wodden blocks on the floor and plays for a while. He invites me to play, so I do for a bit.

After a while, I tell him that I have to go make supper and leave him to play on his own.

At some point, out of the corner of my eye I notice he's playing with some lego. In the remote corner of my still partially functioning brain, I think to myself "that'll require some crawling around later to clean up all the pieces", referring to not just the lego, but also the wooden blocks.

A few minutes later he comes to me and asks for help to attach some wheels to some contraption he made.

(Everything requires wheels in his world).

I go into his room, sit down on the mat with him, and notice the COMPLETE ABSENCE OF WOODEN BLOCKS.

He put all his blocks away into the correct container, placed the container onto its rightful spot on the shelf, and only then took out the blue bin with the lego.

Completely on his own accord. Just like the pooping the other day.

We had lots of hugs and happy happy today, what with the peeing and the putting stuff away on his own.

What a smart boy!

(Considering he didn't nap at all today for the third day in a row, this is nothing short of a minor miracle!)

Progress - I think

2007-08-14T17:56:00.000-04:00

So things are moving along, somewhat:

electrician and B are here to do the switches, RIGHT NOW
c-section date booked (can change it if I change my mind) for Oct 15
hubby's interview went well today, and if/when they want a second interview he'll know by friday. THAT'S THIS WEEK.
new chick at bank who didn't know how to do our mortgage adjustment not only figured it out (had a snarky remark for her when she called, maybe that helped a bit), but she sent the documents in the mail to prevent us from having to trek up to timbuktoo to sign the papers, and we signed them and put them in the mail today
my blood pressure is normal, and the baby's heart beat is still normal too
received a copy of the magazine in the mail a couple of days ago with my first published article in it! It's weird to see your name in print like that...

Let's hope we can keep the momentum going...

Transition dilemma

2007-08-12T14:54:00.000-04:00

So when exactly am I supposed to start the transition of going to bed earlier, what with the school year looming...uh, I mean, hovering?

He is such a night hawk. Naptime seems to affect bedtime. Naptime used to be from 1ish to 3ish - sigh.... the good old days. Somewhere along the line he switched the naptime to 2ish...and if I try to wake him up at 4, 4ish, 4:30, 4:30ish...well. Let's just say that he is usually awake at 5. Ish.

Unless I bribe him with smarties or chips.

Either of which we now have in the house on a regular basis.

So back to the dilemma: how am I supposed to stick a kid to bed at 8 pm when:
1) it's still light out
2) he can hear lots of outdoor noises, like ice cream trucks driving by blaring music at 8:30 pm
3) he slept three hours at naptime, which he obviously still needs at 29 months?

Some days he won't nap at all. I'm sure I've ~~complained~~ blogged about this before somewhere along the line.

It has crossed my mind to keep him up at naptime for a few days in a row to move the night time bed time up a bit...but then I have to deal with crankiness and accidents and at least one minor crisis in the pre-supper-bedtime hours and that does not appeal to me at all.

So the plan, at least for now, is to wake him a little earlier each day, and hope he will go to have his nap a little earlier each day, until September.

I'm new at this, I have no idea if it'll work.

Pipi on the toilet - progress

2007-08-12T14:26:00.000-04:00

Pipi on the toilet with the potty seat on = success...sort of. Took the potty apart and placed the top part on the toilet for easier access.

He liked the potty the way it was, but seems to like the idea of stepping on a step to get on top of the toilet...not surprising given the monkey that he is.

He even went on there himself last night before bathtime; I walked by and there he was sitting and saying "I'm making pipi on toilet"...well. Progress I guess.

Pooping....uh, no.

He is asking for a diaper more now than ever....

Is this regressing? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

But the pride when he pees in the toilet....makes it worth it.

Cutting paper - homeschooling 101

2007-08-10T07:11:00.000-04:00

What exactly is it with scissors and toddlers?

I specifically bought my two year old some safety scissors so he can learn to manipulate them at will.

He's left-handed. They are plastic and don't fit right. He uses both hands and guess what, the scissors don't really cut. Which is probably the whole point.

So yesterday, as we were waiting for one of the planned visitors to show up, I gave him a small pair of the real scissors, and a flyer from the recycle bin, and showed him how to cut paper.

Delivered a little lecture too:

These scissors are only available to you when mommy is here.
Scissors only cut THIS paper.
Do not walk/run/play with the scissors.

He took them into both hands, and after a couple of trial and errors, he managed to make a nice, clean cut into the flyer. Right through the model's face.

The pride in his face, and the little giggle that followed, was priceless!

We cut paper for half an hour.

Then we put the scissors in a safe spot and the bits of paper in the recycle bin.

Reno woes

2007-08-10T06:56:00.000-04:00

The electrician didn't show.

The wife of the contractor/friend called me to specifically say that he called THEM to say "hey', I know it's been two weeks but I've been busy, we could head over to finish the switches tonight"...

The wife of the contractor told me that she laid a little guilt trip on him.

She said that we had been waiting patiently for two weeks and HEY THEY'VE GOT A BABY COMING IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS.

I told her to tell her husband, our friend, to take the electrician over to our place at will, since that is the whole premise of why I gave him a key to the side door. She promised to pass the message on.

We had all kinds of visitors, some surprise, some planned, but no electrician.

We don't even care anymore. We are getting ready to tear out the other side. THEN, we'll need him to stay longer and do ALL of it at the same time.

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by...

Pregnant brain?

2007-08-08T16:28:00.001-04:00

I think I'm losing it with all this construction crap going on.

Why?

Because when I was alone the other day, I needed an extension cord so I could shred bank statements in comfort in front of the tv.

So I take the orange one hanging off this outlet near the furnace that looks like it ends nowhere.

Well. It did end somewhere.

I noticed today, as I put some stuff into the extra freezer down there, that the box of Eggos is all soggy.

And so is the fish.

And the other box of pizza.

I'm so pissed off at myself.

I unplugged the freezer to shred bank statements.

How idiotic is that?

I'm tired.

Pregnancy ramble

2007-08-07T15:53:00.000-04:00

Went to hospital today for the glucose test.
Having had issues with low blood sugar for most of my adult life, I know I do not have gestational diabetes.
Must have the test anyway.
Drink the drink and sit for an hour.
Am soooo not impressed with the blood lab at hospital.
They got confused.
Mixed up names.
Forgot times.
Finally got blood taken after 1 hour wait (actually, it was more 1 hour 10 min because they confused me with someone else).
After displaying ALL my paperwork and ALL my various health and hospital cards numerous times, confusion about patient's name (me) still abounds.
Had to be extra alert, which isn't my thing after only one cup of coffee and a drink full of glucose, to make sure my name appeared on the blood vials.
Finally left blood lab.
Went to Tim's.
Had a coffee and a sugary doghnut.
Didn't enjoy it much.
Went back upstairs at prescribed time (1 hour later) to get Rhogam shot.
Sit and wait.
Pee.
Wait some more.
Hear the guy speak to the blood lab that "it's been 30, then 20 minutes, put a hussle on it".
Wait a little more.
Get up and start walking around.
Read useless advertisement.
Pee again, not because I really have to, although I always have to, just to kill some time.
Wait.
At almost lunchtime, we (hubby accompanied me) had been at that hospital for nearly 4 hours. Entire procedure (diabetes test and rhogam) should have taken less than 2 hours.
Finally get called.
Nurse comes in and asks why the long look.
Tell her we'd been here for 4 hours to get a 20 second shot.
She asks us about lunch.
We ask her what she recommends.
She recommends cool street with fantastic restaurants within walking distance to hospital.
She administers shot in my butt.
We leave.
Got to authentic Mexican Restaurant.
Eat fast, very good lunch.
Go shopping at MEC.
Go home.
Read a blog or two.
Listen to hubby rant about possible rain and help him get laundry inside.
Listen to hubby rant some more about mess in basement.
Send him out with the dog.
Feel like having a nice, cool, alcoholic drink that will lull me to sleep before toddler arrives back home from grandparents.
Have tall glass of soda water with lemon and ice instead.
Blog.
Blah.

Toddler lingo continued

2007-08-06T11:24:00.000-04:00

At 28 months, his language skills are ever expanding. He's talking very well, has a big vocabulary, speaks more or less gramatically correct, babbles non-stop, and comes up with words and sentences that make us smile!

My do it - I want to do it.

I wanna wash his hands - I want to wash my hands.

I'm eating water-lemon - I'm eating watermelon.

Hush my dawing - "hush my darling", one of the lines in "the lion sleeps tonight".

This feet - when he puts his crocs on he asks if he puts the right foot in the right shoe. Most of the time he puts them on backwards although he's starting to figure it out.

Conbertible - convertible car, train, anything without a roof on it

I like popcorn - I like corn on the cob.

Pasghetti - Spaghetti.

I admit it

2007-08-05T19:42:00.001-04:00

Ok.

As much as I hate to admit it out loud, there is one thing that I know I will miss tonight. And it is the nightly bedtime routine with my toddler.

Benjamin is sleeping at his grandparents' house tonight and tomorrow night.
Hubby is out of town overnight someplace in the northeastern USA.

Only Rusty is here keeping me company.

So tonight I will have no toddler to tend to.

Which is the strange part...I get to sit in front of the tv and eat dinner, watch a useless tv show, take as long as I want to finish eating, leave the dishes as long as I feel like it, have a leisurely shower at my convenience, go to bed as early or late as I wish, read any book or magazine whose target audience is not pint-sized or features trucks with big wheels, and eventually fall asleep without having to remember to carry the sleeping child lying next to me back to his own bed.

But I know that the bed will feel empty without Benjamin there. There is something about snuggling with my clean-smelling, Nuggi-suckling, Bello-clutching toddler boy at night time looking at books of his choice and listening to his never-ending babbling of ever-expanding knowledge about various construction equipment.

It will feel strange not feeling the little pudgy footsies touch the small of my back after I turn off the light and try to get my pregnant belly comfy wedged in between several pillows.

I will miss the feeling of a warm little hand reaching for mine so he can fall asleep holding my hand.

And I will miss the flood of relief when I return from carrying a 27 pound kid into his own bed at 11:30 pm-ish. (This fortunately does not happen every night, but it happens often enough that I can honestly say it is one of those catch-22, love-it/dislike-it situations.)

And tomorrow, I will miss hearing the little noises his chubby feet make when he tiptoes to my side of the bed at 7 (ok 6ish) in the morning. I especially will miss that part because he shows up with an armful of stuffed toys (Bello, Imposter Bello, Lamb and Baby Lamb), drops them on "his" side of the bed, walks over to my side, places Imposter Bello in my arms, walks back to the other side, and snuggles up against me until I wake up.

(Imposter Bello is "mommy's Bello", aka "stinky Bello". His Bello is "other Bello" or plain and simple Bello.)

I will miss all of the above.

But not so much that I won't enjoy the peace and quiet tonight will bring. Maybe I won't even do the dishes tonight. I know I'll regret it in the morning but I have no kid to tend to then either.

I'm just too tired tonight to care.

So....good night.

I'm all alone

2007-08-05T19:32:00.000-04:00

Just sitting here. Thinking about how silent the house is. Although I'm surrounded by silent clutter...every single thing that we had in the basement, save a few items in the still-standing cedar closets, are now in my livingroom. Or at my parents' place. Or at the storage which is mostly full now. But mostly in my livingroom.

There is a single bed in the livingroom where the couch used to be.

The couch is next to the desk where I had my laptop.

The laptop is now on the coffee table because the desktop computer from downstairs is on the desk.

There is a huge bin of stuff that needs to be sorted and brought to the storage in front of the desk. Stuff like winter boots, photo frames, odds and ends we can't/won't get rid of now are in it. I can't move the bin because it's too heavy, and hubby hasn't moved it because I keep telling him I have to sort through it first. I haven't. Sorted. It. Yet.

There is an extra bookshelf in the livingroom housing the goldfish we didn't want but had to accept as a pet for our 2-year old. Guess who cares for the fish?

Then, there is still all the other stuff that actually belongs in the livingroom, like the huge Billy bookcases filled with books, the tv and associated technology, the fan to help circulate airconditioned air that doesn't reach this room very well due to inefficiently placed furnace ducts, the brand-spanking-new shredder which he insisted on getting but only used once since its purchase, and two chairs which I prefer not to have in this room but are here anyway.

The plans I have for this room.

Ideally, this room will be emptied completely so I can repaint it, reshine the hardwood floor, and then redecorate it as our main dining area. I already have a fantastic table picked out that I want to situate in front of the bay window.

Of course this is going to get done before the baby is born. We have about two months left...

Ha.

Child-less

2007-08-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

Mom is kidnapping my baby tomorrow. For 2 nights.

It's going to be strange. But I have plans....the floors desperately need mopping. Will I do it when he's gone?

That is the ultimate question. Oh...the plans I have.

But I will miss him. I am endlessly entertained by this toddler, and with him gone for that long, and hubby out of town, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Which is why I say I should take advantage of all these absences and mop.the.floors.

Too hot to do anything

2007-08-01T16:22:00.000-04:00

Really. Getting a few cherry tomatos from the garden with the tot in tow, carrying his little basket, was enough to send me back inside. And I like summer! But I can't bear it today...been up since 3 am. The baby is a ferocious kicker and had no intensions of slowing down it seems. Sign of things to come??

Good thing my toddler is a good kid...

* * *

So I harvested my second zucchini. Two the size of bats. Ok, I thought, we'll have some zucchini cake. Make them into little muffins so we can enjoy them from the freezer in the months to come. Except...my little swiss recipe asked for 300 g of shredded zucchini. 300 g is the approximately equivalent of about a cup or so. Got a lotta zucchini left now...

* * *

The basement is stalled. Electrician hasn't come. Furnace guys haven't come. We're heading into a long weekend...hubby has been playing with his new heavy-duty shredder. His plan is to lighten the useless paper in the 4-drawer file cabinet in the basement to ease its move while we tear out the other side down there...currently he's napping. So much for that. He's got one more day off before going back to work...don't see much progress happening down there between now and then. Hm.

The saga continues

2007-07-31T15:47:00.000-04:00

Electrical, insulation and vapour barrier on most walls = DONE!

The renos are continuing. Our friend has done as much as he can but is now stalled until two things happen:

1. the furnace guys need to move some ducts and the gas line so we can proceed with the insulating , ceiling electricals, and drywalling

2. the electrician has to finish up the last little bit of wiring (mostly 3- and 4-way switches)

So while we wait for them to show up, which they keep promising they will and then they don't, we can do one of two things:

1. wait and do nothing else

2. start tearing out the other side of the basement

I can't help much, especially lately. Having now entered the 7th month with this pregnancy, and experiencing some rather uncomfortable discomforts, I tend to have to spend a lot of time lying down with my legs elevated. I don't really need a premie in my life right now....

So...the saga continues.

Pasta dish

2007-07-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

Grilled veggies from the garden, add pasta, and there's your dinner!

See recipe on quick Slow Food link.

Sleeping paradox

2007-07-29T07:53:00.000-04:00

When our toddler doesn't nap at all, he falls asleep a little earlier than usual at night. But he doesn't sleep through the night. He wanders into our room after about 4 or 5 hours of sleeping and wishes to continue the rest of his night in our bed. If he is allowed in (too tired to get up and put him back) he normally falls asleep immediately. And sleeps till morning.

If however he does nap at the standard nap time, odds are he will sleep through the entire night without once waking up.

Now isn't that strange?

You would think that if you're overtired you would sleep more....but not this kid.

* * * *

My brother and his wife have a 5-day old newborn. They presently have a system in place while my brother is on leave that he will stay up the first part of the night, while she will stay up the second part of the night.

They use sentences like "when the baby sleeps through the night...etc"....

If. Only.

* * *

My kid was a fantastic sleeper after the initial 6-8 week screaming fits at night. He slept from 8 pm to 8 am, consistently. That is, until the teething started.

The teething interrupted his every attempt to sleep. Or nap. He was just miserable.

Some kids react to the teething with ear infections, diaper rashes, digestive issues. My kid had none of that.

BUT.HE.DID.NOT.SLEEP.

* * *

I do not use sentences like "when he will sleep through the night". What's the point? He'll do it when he'll do it.

Blah.

People are idiots

2007-07-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

So this morning we hear something beeping incessantly.

I check to see if it's a car alarm (no), our phone (no), or my senior citizen neighbour's smoke detector (again, no). My husband notices it's coming from the low-rise apartment building across the street, and calls the landlord to tell him that it's been beeping for a while.

Husband leaves to pick something up at the hardware store, comes back, and the thing is still beeping.

He walks over and realizes the beeping is coming from the garbage bags.

???

The bags should actually be placed in rigid, closed containers as per the bi-law. Not to mention for hygiene reasons. We live close to the lake and there is plenty of wildlife that likes to go sample the goodies in the garbage bags.

But of course the renters in that apartment building do not use the containers. Even though they containers are there, right beside the building.

But I digress.

So my husband decides to actually go through the bags to find out what the heck is in there making this racket.

He digs out a smoke detector.

With the batteries intact.

???

Most of us know that batteries are hazardous materials and should not be thrown in the garbage. I know that people do it anyway, hence the title of my post.

But to leave the batteries in the smoke detector and then to throw the entire thing out along with your food waste....again, hence the title of this post.

(Apartment buildings do not compost their food wastes).

The food waste emitted some sort of odour, which attracted the wildlife, who ripped open the bags and made a mess, which inevitably set off the detector.

Hence. The. Title. Of. This. Post.

Aren't smoke detectors radio-active? At the very least, they're hazardous and are supposed to be disposed of appropriately.

My husband repacks the garbage in new garbage bags (ours) and then proceeds to continue with his day.

And I debate on what to do. I'm already all worked up about the noise and idiocy of some people, for various other reasons I won't get into now, so I know I have to do something.

I decide to leave a message on the side door of the building explaining what has happened. Hopefully this will alert the offenders, or at least their neighbours.

I would think someone in that building would care.

But probably not.

Reading labels

2007-07-27T12:23:00.000-04:00

I take my little toddler to the newly renovated Toys R Us this morning. We see the whole Thomas the Tank Engine set up and I thought I'll buy him a new train for his wooden train set.

We select Gordon with a trailer and pick up a video as well (VHS).

We get home and unpack Gordon.

Gordon doesn't fit on the wooden train tracks.

The package has a little blurb on the back, which I neglected to read. It says:

Not compatible with Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway or Erti Diecast.

So we're back to reading labels.
___

I have issues with labels.

We are living in a society of label-readers.

- No food should be purchased without the reading of labels. (Never mind teaching people to eat whole foods)
- No food should be consumed without the memorization of nutritional information. (Never mind about the additives and flavour enhancers)

- Apparently, no toys should be bought without reading the compatibility disclaimer.

I could rant, but I have to go back to Toys R Us and return Gordon.

I'm an idiot

2007-07-24T19:56:00.001-04:00

The whole time I'm posting my toilet training sagas into blogger, I completely miss his pooping.

Naturally we had a mess to clean up.

Lesson Number 1 for mommy:

NO BLOGGING DURING POOPING TIME.

Toilet training saga Part II

2007-07-24T19:10:00.000-04:00

Later. (see previous post)

He wakes up from his nap.

Insists on putting 'cur gors' on (Curious George underwear).

I tell him that it's underwear, not pull-ups or diapers, and that he has to go make pipi in the potty.

He tries but nothing comes out. Fine. Sometimes you just don't have to go.
(I actually don't know what that feels like. Even when I'm not pregnant, I always manage to make at least a little tinkle. But he's a boy. What do I know about boys...)

He stays dry forEVER. For hours. During the walk with the dog. While at home as I'm preparing dinner. Hm.

Every once in a while I say "do you want to make pipi in the potty" or something to that effect. I'm getting tired of hearing myself talk potty talk.

He doesn't pee.

He does ask to sit on the potty in front of the tv.

So now that's what we do now. Watch Treehouse and sit with Curious George underwear at his ankles on the potty. Along with Nuggi-Bello (soother and dog he sleeps with).

Fine.

He sits there while I make dinner, then ask him to come have dinner.

I remind him again that he is not wearing a diaper and that we don't want to pee on Curious George.

He sits at the table and eats his dinner. DRY.

Afterwards, while he's still sitting there, I remind him that he's not wearing a diaper (etc, see above).

He gets up and as he's putting his bib on the back of the chair, he looks down and says

I'm all wet.
So this is accident number 1.

PS we go through the whole song and dance again and I leave him bare-bottomed. He's not impressed though and wants to wear his underwear again.

PPS he hasn't pooped yet. Usually he poops twice a day....

PPSS this should be an interesting evening.

Toilet training updates Part I

2007-07-24T14:11:00.000-04:00

This morning, he's walking around with no pants on.

I ask him to make poops in the potty or toilet.

He doesn't.

Poop.

At all.

Whether in the diaper or anywhere else.

BUT.

He announces "pipi is coming" and runs to the potty and pees in it.

He's been doing this for a while. Months.

But usually only if he doesn't wear any pants.

He doesn't go to the potty when he's wearing diapers or pull-ups unless I tell him to go, and then he does.

Point is he should go before the pipi comes out. Regardless of what type of contraption he's wearing around his bottom.

Reason why today is memorable is because I moved the potty in front of Curious George this morning at 8 am.

Yes.

I let him watch tv at 8 am.

So sue me.

I'm trying to catch the poops in the potty.

He even picked out some Curious George underwear yesterday at Zellers.

We'll try those as soon as they're laundered.

We're on our way. Continued with Part II here.

Toddler safety schmafty

2007-07-23T14:30:00.000-04:00

There are so many safety concerns these days to keep in mind that I sometimes just get confused, tired, fed-up or pissed-off.

Keeping an eye on a toddler at all times is an unpaid, full-time, 24/7 job that requires more energy than anything else I've ever done.

Yet sometimes, I just don't have the energy to stop the play and give him a lecture about safety.

So, I have been known to let him:

play with long rope
watch the 5-year old neighbour play with rope and then copy her ideas, like tying buckets to one end of the rope and the wrapping the rope around a tree to hang up the bucket
climb onto his stroller without opening the cupholder thingy at the front
play with the vacuum cleaner cables
play with loose coins
play in the bathtub with more than an inch of water in it by himself while I get a drink of water, a towel, the phone, etc.
cross the street without holding my hand (although I speak incessantly about cars coming and not stopping to admire dog poop in the middle of the street and walking quickly to the sidewalk and not loitering, bladibla)
climb into the driver's seat of the station wagon from the open trunk
close the car door all by himself (along with a lecture about never putting fingers in certain locations)

There are probably other things that elude me right now which would likely make me cringe if I were to think about them too long.

But so far, he hasn't required any stiches, casts, or visits to the emerg. Although there was that one incident where daddy slammed the car door on the toddler's thumb....and where daddy and mommy got into a huge, useless fight about whether or not we should go to the emerg, ending with daddy stomping off after mommy insisted we wait and see, and mommy spending a sleepless night worrying about her baby's thumb having to be ambutated....

PS The thumb is fine. He wanted a bandaid on it, and fell asleep with some Montrin in his system.

Ramblings

2007-07-22T07:43:00.000-04:00

Lost pants

Stress of the morning:

He's getting ready to go fly his airplane.
He's putting on his uniform.
He's all stressed out.
He can't find the second pair of pants.
Apparently, he saw me wash them.
Weeks ago.
But he can't find them.
They are ripped at some spot and need to be fixed.

What I wonder is why he can't find the pants.
It's not like this is a big house.
Or there is a lot of closet space.
Where do I normally put the washed pants?

So my list of things to do today includes the entry:
-find his pants

* * * * *

No pipi no poops

This is what the little guy says whenever I suggest we
change the diaper
or
go sit on the potty.

No matter if there are yellow streaks of liquid dripping down his leg.
No matter how offensive the odour surrounding him.

It's always:

no pippi no poops

Wall is gone

2007-07-21T07:38:00.000-04:00

The wall to the left that is hiding the steps is now gone. The wall behind the white freezer, which will be relocated to someplace else, will be torn out as well.
This will give us a big opening...

Picture below shows the steps, with the wall removed.
The wall alongside the steps, going up to the side door, is not insulated. The little closet beside the steps on the right will be removed and shelving for coats and wet boots will likely go in its spot.

The new approach to sleep in own bed

2007-07-21T06:54:00.001-04:00

So far he's slept in his own bed through the night for several nights in a row.

The usual "I want mommy's bed" to fall asleep at night has been getting a little annoying for me. On the days that I'm tired and want to go lie down at the same time as him, the last thing I want is a bouncy, jumpy, twitchy toddler next to me.

But lately I'm abound with energy (I still slump after 4 pm but I seem to get a second wind at 8 pm) so now the new approach seems to be working. So far.

By 9 pm (ish) he's bathed, in pjs, teeth brushed, and with Nuggi-Bello.
He climbs in mommy's bed and rolls around in anticipation for me to join him.
I fold laundry in that room and put it away, keeping the lights dim and the conversation and eye contact to a minimum.
I head back to the kitchen after turning the bedroom light off to finish dishes or otherwise putter around. The kitchen is directly off his bedroom and he can see and hear me if he were in his bed as opposed to mine.
At some point I mention I'm putting the gate up to his room (he doesn't mind the gate at naptime), and that "mommy will be lonely in here all alone without Benjamin".
He comes to the gate and wants into his room.
I lift him in.
He says "mommy wanna come too?"
I say "yes, after the dishes I'll come tuck you in".
I keep puttering around and he lies on this bed. If he's really tired he rolls around with a stuffed toy or two, if he's less tired he may take a toy car and play with it on his bed.
He falls asleep without me present.
If he doesn't, I sometimes go join him for a few minutes to calm him down.

If the above doesn't happen and I get fed up I either

encourage him to play in his room quietly as it is NIGHT TIME NOW AND TIME TO SLEEP and then to to my own room. This may or may not work. I adjust whatever is necessary.
or, I go to my own room and slam the door and leave the screeching toddler with daddy if he's home.

Luckily the second option hasn't happened too often.

Does this mean I'll never let him fall asleep with me again? No. I like it when we snuggle together sometimes. There are times when he's just too agitated that he needs his mommy to calm down and fall asleep.

But I'm happy that he's adjusted back to the normal routine so easily. So far. If I can keep it up until he starts school again in September, this will make my life easier. I'll be 8 months pregnant by then and likely more interested in earlier bedtimes anyway, for him and for me.

Yay.

Unfortunate

2007-07-21T06:32:00.000-04:00

It is rather unfortunate that there are only 24 hours in a day, and that during some of those hours you have to do things like sleep and eat.

We have the construction bin until Tues. Hubby was on reserve today at his airline and had several less senior guys below him in the schedule. He was hoping that he would not have to go in so he could tear out a little bit more wall on the one side where the furnace is located.

I wish we could tear out all of the other side, including that stupid raised floor. Then we wouldn't have to get another bin later.

This will now not happen. Hubby has to work on Sun to Mon again. Out of town and away over night.

It's not like I can go tear out stuff in my pregnant condition, with a toddler running around.

This sucks.

Especially on the financial front...there is only so much cash we have access to. We are not the Gates for crying out loud.

Or the Spellings.

Blah.

Annoyed

2007-07-19T06:44:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's true. I'm annoyed a lot. Seems Chris over in the trenches talks about it as well...she chalks it up to PMS.

Well, I don't have PMS, I'm 6 months pregnant. And as hubby, as much as I hate to admit it, mentioned correctly yesterday, I seem to rarely be completely happy. Something always annoys me.

Especially after 4 pm. That notorious time of:

-toddler wake-up time from nap
-toddler cranky-time because of no nap
-dinner hour approaching
-cooking, which means dirty dishes (I like cooking, I hate cleanup)
-that natural slumpy feeling adults get around this time of day
-hubby coming home from somewhere and bringing with him all his clutter
-the general mess of the day's activities looming to be cleaned up

We're also renovating. In the basement, not upstairs, but since a lot of the bulky stuff from downstairs is now upstairs in our not big house, the place feels even more cluttered. And confining. Suffocating.

Did I mention clutter annoys me?
And dust?
Dog hair?
And why does the dog shed so much? Why does he shake at the door? Can he not wait 5 seconds with the shaking until he steps outside?

I have to work on this. I hate being in a bad mood.

Perhaps using nap time to my advantage and getting some of the dinner hour activites prepared will help keep the after 4 pm time slot a little more manageable. I do this sometimes, and everytime I do I intend to do it again tomorrow.

But some days I want to sit on the couch and watch Frasier. Or some soap. Or read. Or sit. Or doze. Or eat.

Better get in the habit before the second kid comes along.

Blah.

PS As I type this, it's early morning and no one is up yet. It's dark and gloomy and rainy. The renos downstairs haven't started yet. It's quiet. I have coffee and peace. I am currently in a VERY good mood.

Toodler library fines

2007-07-18T13:53:00.000-04:00

Clearly, my toddler must get his act together.

He has his own library card, knows how to pick out books and videos, stand in line, wait his turn, hand over the card, wait for the items to be scanned without impatient commentary, then carry items home.

So why is it that he can't remember to bring them back on time?

It's not like mommy doesn't write it on the calendar, or keep the nifty little receipt posted on the bulletin board.

Today, he owes over a buck.

A BUCK!

Clearly, we have to have a chat.

Day 2 - Framing has begun

2007-07-18T13:15:00.000-04:00

Things are moving along nicely. Framing the wall where the new flat screen TV will go has begun. And hubby is painting a water sealer on the brick where the stone mason will not have to do any patching.

Lollipop

2007-07-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

He said, excuuuse me, whined, for 25 minutes straight:

I want lollipop!

In that super-whiny voice that he has mastered recently. With the associated scrunched up face and watery eyes.

Music to my ears, I tell you.

Day 1 - Naked basement

2007-07-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

Panels, ceiling, crap from basement...

The raised area next to the dresser is where the old oil tank used to be (before our time). It used to have panels around it, and we used to store our wine there.

This is the middle section that could turn into closet space, or a fire place...the indented area is due to the bay window upstairs. This wall faces the front of the house. Behind the lamp in this picture (on the right) is a storage room. It used to have a door on there. The storage is actually directly underneath our front steps. We have to do something creative with it because it is the only area in the entire basement that has mold (due to water leakage from the steps in the winter time). But it's a big enough place to function as a great storage room for things like fishing gear, camping gear, outdoor seasonal toys, stuff like that. Duct work hanging off the middle of the ceiling is just lovely, isn't it.

This is the side facing the driveway, and the electrical panel with room to spare is on that wall too.

That window faces our other neighbour, and her driveway. The drywall (the back of it) leads to the office/bedroom near the back of the hosue. It has a raised floor which will come out once this side has been done. More ducts hanging everywhere, lovely isn't it.

The junk and closet you see in this picture leads to a space below the steps that lead upstairs. It is useless space. You can't do anything with this space bec the furnace takes up room and can't be blocked in case of maintenance requirements. So, the steps are behind the wall to the left and lead first to the side door (driveway), then to the right upstairs into the hallway. See how the furnace is right next to the freezer there? Right in the middle of the entire basement? Duh. It's moving to someplace against a wall. Along with the ducts, and the white gas line. And that black pole? Is that holding up the kitchen floor? I don't know what it is for.

The rest of the basement isn't photographable bec of the mess. There is a laundryroom with a toilet direclty ahead of the last picture, a spacious, bright office and bedroom combination to the right of it. The water tank in the laundryroom is in the middle of the room as well and if we take it out (to insulate the wall behind it) we may find a new spot for it to give us more room (and hopefully closet space).

Did I mention we need closet space?

Shove it up your ...

2007-07-15T16:27:00.001-04:00

If he asks me "where do you want this?" one more time, I'm going to finish the sentence with a not-so-nice word.

Storage tips:

Pamper boxes are GREAT for storing outgrown baby clothes you can't/won't get rid of yet. Or toys. Or board books.

The boxes are great for stacking, easy for carrying because of the nifty handles on the side, and not too heavy for pregnant people to schlep around.

Don't ask me why he wants to keep his old vinyls.

Social lesson

2007-07-14T16:18:00.000-04:00

So we're at Chapters the other day, because I wanted a Starbucks tall latte.

Near the kids section there was a big table set up full of Thomas the Tank Engine railroad toys.

Benjamin likes Thomas. It's one of few, branded toys he recognized and even has a shirt-pant set he likes to wear.

Anyway, he quietly starts playing with the trains. He's so relaxed and so gentle with the toys that I can actually venture about a bit and browse some of the book shelves.

After a while, I sit in a chair nearby and watch my toddler play. A girl of about 6 or 7 comes by and starts playing alongside with him, rather aggressively. At one point, Benjamin's train, which by this time is rather long, falls off the table and he sits down on the floor and tries to put it back together before putting it back on the table.

The girl skips over him and generally ignores him.

Ben is intrigued. He watches her with wide eyes and continues about his business.

I turn to my latte and my book and keep half an eye and half an ear on him.

Suddenly, through my peripheral vision, I see her grab one toy out of Ben's hands and start playing with it.

Ben stares at me and almost, but not quite, starts to cry. His huge brown eyes are filled with tears but he's very brave.

He doesn't reach back for the toy or show any aggression whatsoever.

I say very quietly to the girl, who is standing with her back to me about 3 feet away, "did you just take that toy out of his hand"?

She turns, gives me the most vile stare, and throws the toy back at Ben and runs off to find her mom.

All returns to normal.

A little while later a fat woman comes back carrying the same girl. She glances in my general direction, notices the size of the kid at the table, realizes he's only 2, and says loudly enough for the rest of us to hear that "we all have to share toys". Then she marches her fat self off carrying her vile girl with her.

This situation makes me reflect back on the zoo woman who snatched her son's bottle out of his hands. Did the girl at the Chapters take the toy from Ben because that is what her mother does to her? Or is it just because that is how she is, or how she was taught? That aggression gets you what you want?

At Ben's Montessori daycare they teach the children to not take materials away from each other, but to exercise patience and wait until the material has been put back in its original place. The teachers' prime responsibility there is to protect the engrossed child from such aggressive behaviour in order to encourage prime learning and concentration.

At home, we teach and make every effort to set examples in "my turn, your turn" exercises. We ask for help or encourage sharing.

It's not without challenge, but the kind of behaviour that girl at the store demonstrated is what scares me for Ben. Will this be what he will encounter on a regular basis as soon as he joins the 'public' system?

I hope to be able to keep him in the Montessori environment until he's old enough to start school. If not, well, we'll have to cross that bridge when it happens.

Interestingly, after the girl left the store, a mother and her 2 and a half year old boy showed up. The boy wanted to play with Benjamin's train set, and since Ben had managed to put almost all the trains together to form a really long one, I interrupted my relaxation pose and helped Ben share his train with the boy.

The boy wasn't interested in obtaining half of Ben's toys.

He wanted the one that Ben had.

His mother tried to talk to him and reason with him, but the boy started screaming, so she gave up right away.

I tried to show the two kids how to do an exchange, "you play with this one, he plays with that one, we'll take turns", and although Ben wasn't totally on board, he tolerated it, and even handed over his trains. The boy however was very loud, very obnoxious, and absolutely not interested in any sharing. The mother just laughed it off and wandered away....as if the entire ordeal wasn't her concern.

She was clearly frustrated at her boy's inability to listen to reason. She chalked it up to "boys will be boys", and "you know how toddlers are".

Well. My toddler wasn't behaving that way, and I was very proud of him. I told him that he was a good boy for sharing, or trying to share, even though the other kids weren't interested.

I praised him for being brave, not crying, and not making a fuss.

He certainly knows how to make a fuss, but so far he's exhibited that kind of behaviour mostly for our own benefit, in the comforts of our home/neighbourhood/family setting. Rarely in public.

Since it was impossible to do anything with the little boy, or his mother, and since Benjamin had spent more than half an hour playing by himself, I was able to distract him enough to wander over to the book shelf filled with truck books. And fire engine books. And tractor books.

We sat and looked at books for a good 15 minutes, then I had to pee.

That was the end of our day.

And probably a very interesting lesson for Ben, socially speaking.

Monkey's and acrobats

2007-07-11T14:27:00.001-04:00

I gave birth to a monkey. The monkey is now 2 years old.

I will be giving birth to an acrobat. She is 6 months pre-birthday old.

Give it back!

2007-07-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

I remember a situation I witnessed at the zoo that has me be more alert to similar situations at home.

There was a woman talking with another adult. While she was talking she wanted to take her about 8 year old son's bottle to take a swig.

I couldn't tell if the drink was the woman's bottle, or if it was the boy's bottle.

However, she asked him once to give it to her and he said no. She then continued talking with the other adult and simply used her size and force to tear the bottle out of the boy's hands.

The boy wasn't impressed, and shortly after that we moved on, so I don't know what happened next. I have a feeling the boy just gave up since it was obvious that he couldn't win this fight against a bigger and stronger person.

What made me think about this is how often I find myself in a similar situation with my toddler.

A toddler finds adult things very enticing (my glass with straw in it, scissors, small tools, felt pens, etc). Often, he may reach for it and proceed to play with it, and then I have to come up with a way to get the item back, particularly if it's a dangerous item for a toddler to have.

I could do what the woman did and just snatch it out of Benjamin's hands.
Or yell.
Or give a long-winded explanation that likely would just go over his head anyway.

But everytime this happens, I have a fleeting moment where I think of the woman at the zoo.

Kids copy adults, particularly adults whom they love and trust.

What are the odds that her 8 year old does the same thing his mother demonstrated to another child at school or the playground?

I want Benjamin to know the difference between what's mommy's or daddy's and what's not. Or what mommy and daddy consider safe to share with him. I also want him to understand about sharing, and "your turn, my turn".

It's not that hard, but it takes time and diligence to not use force and size to retrieve an item back from chubby hands.

I give short reasons like "no, this is mommy's drink", offer him another item "this is Ben's cup".
Or, "put mommy's drink on this table, thank you".
Or, "you can drink from mommy's straw if I hold it".

Sometimes I get close to taking the item away from him, particularly if it's scissors or a knife. But I never take it without a comment to him directly.

Even dangerous objects can be replaced with "Ben's scissors" or "here's a plastic knife", or, "where is your tool box, this is mommy's screwdriver".

But so far it has worked. He's accepted, sometimes with protest, which is ok, that certain items he simply can't have.

I hope to keep this in mind as he grows.

PS I have tolerated protests in various forms and volume, including temper tantrums. That's inevitable. How I deal with these is another post.

Futon be gone!

2007-07-10T16:05:00.000-04:00

Our contractor/friend called. His wife's nephew is moving here from somewhere and will take our futon.

This will be a BIG load off. The futon is gone! More space in the basement!! And our c/f has a truck...he's taking it to his garage so our basement will be ready quicker for him to start doing work on it on Monday!

It's nice to have good friends.

* * * * *

The little guy is napping today. I'm surprised, we did next to nothing this morning. He seems surprisingly calm for a guy who wants to get exercised twice a day on a regular basis.

I didn't take him swimming, although it was the perfect day for it. SOOOOO HOOOOTTTTT!!

But I'm so tired. The humidity is making us all schlapp.

Schlapp is German for, um, lazy. Or something. Schlapp is a wet washcloth. That's what we all feel like.

Anyway, he kept bugging me to go somewhere in the car. So I loaded up some of the lighter boxes filled with baby clothes and toys, hubby's two guitars, and the hockey bag and some winter gear and took it to the storage.

Benjamin loved helping with the trolley. And lugging the boxes. And hearing his loud voice echo in the maze-like storage building.

We're on our way.

Storage

2007-07-10T09:21:00.001-04:00

We have off-site storage.

Contractor starts Monday.

I'm tired.

First reno dilemma, one of many to come

2007-07-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Our contractor/friend/neighbour told us last Thursday that he is available as of Monday for our basement.

All we need to do is clean out the basement.

We started.
We are not finished.
Hubby is working as an airline pilot.
He's being recruited for two new jobs.
We have a toddler.
I am almost 6 months pregnant.
We are on a very tight budget.

Because of our budget, hubby wants to do most of the tearing apart himself. To save on cost. But that can't be done till we finish cleaning out the basement.

We thought we could fit all the stuff in our garage/shed, but we were wrong.

We have to get some sort of temporary storage. Which isn't a problem as there are many local ones nearby.

But it will take time to transport the stuff there. We have a station wagon, not a truck, so that limits what we can bring with us.

It being Sunday today, and as I guessed correctly, hubby not having called our contractor/friend to confirm we won't be ready for tomorrow, he emails me from some destination. Could I please call our friend and tell him that we're not quite ready.

I called.

His wife answered.

Her first question was "how goes the basement cleaning?".

I told her we're not ready for Monday.

She told me they're going away on Thursday for the weekend.

I'm thinking in my head 'great, that will give us the rest of the week to prepare and demolish, get a bin, storage, etc'.

But she suggested that our friend will be ready to start on Tuesday and continue a bit more on Wednesday, before going on their vacation.

My feeling is that she wants to keep him working. Everyone needs a paycheck.

For some reason I couldn't stop her though process. She talked and I listened. Then the call was suddently over.

Maybe I'm a pushover, maybe part of me is hoping we can start on Tuesday. But realistically, that puts a lot of stress on our family life.

I do not need stress.

It's not like I could help out today during hubby's absence. Toddler didn't nap, and although he was in a great mood, I wasn't really able to put a dent into the basement while keeping an eye on him at the same time.

Besides, it was raining on and off, and since the garage is full, and we don't have the storage confirmed yet, where should I have put the stuff?

Better to wait for hubby to come home.

The contractor will probably not mind having a bit of time off. He's just finished a basement last Friday...but I never spoke to him. Didn't even ask if he was home.

Duh.

I feel like she made our decision for us.

Been trying to get ahold of hubby at his destination but all I get is voicemail.

So...he'll have to deal with it when he gets home tomorrow.

Except, I expect delays since there are a lot of thunderstorms in the area, and that always means red alerts at airports, and delays....

Blah.

Note to self: this is only the first challenge I will inevitably encounter on this long and winding road to a new basement.

Too bad I can't drown my sorrows in Riesling.

Environment day

2007-07-07T14:40:00.000-04:00

We live in the most western part of Toronto, a burb called Etobicoke. Etobicoke is known as one of the most environmentally-conscious parts of the city, although different areas within the city are more so than others. And it's catching on to the rest of Toronto as well.

Toronto, or the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) as it is known in these parts, consists of many so-called little neighbourhoods. Each neighbourhood used to be a town (I don't know how accurate my historical analysis is, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), and a revitalization of town-functions and town-living has occurred in many of these neighbourhoods.

I noticed for example that city people eat more organic, and better food in general, than most people who live in the suburbs. I also notice that city people walk. Suburban people seem to prefer the car, probably most likely because many suburbs in these areas have nothing to walk to. I also notice that when I'm at my most frustrated because of my small house with my lack of
storage or closest space, I inevitably bump into another person living in the neighbourhood who has come across similar problems and overcame their challenges through some creative renovating or rearranging. And in general, we city folks seem to want to live with less, not more.

In my neighbourood, I can honestly say that if I had no car, I could survive quite well. I may not be able to frequent big box stores or malls as often (although they are accessible by transit from where I live), but then I don't frequent them that much anyway. I much prefer the little delis, butchers, mom-and-pop shops anyway, which are all within walking distance from my house.

Having said that, I do NOT in any way discredit my access to the car. In fact, I am often glad I can count my fortune to be able to say at a moment's notice: "let's go here", pack up the toddler and/or dog, and then go there.

But I digress.

While living in Etobicoke, first as renters and then as home owners, we have participated in all environmentally proactive functions that we could. We had a compost bin in our little backyard well before they introduced the green bin, a city composting service where they pick up not only food waste, but also diapers and dog poop! We grew veggies and herbs, we re-use water from the salad spinner to water the plants, and we recycle. Despite of our limited storage capacity in our little home, we have a designated spot for dead batteries which we keep until the community environment days occur during the summer. Then we make the effort to dispose of them in an environmentally effective manner.

This year we took our 2-year old child to our local Environment Day Community Event.

The child who knows the difference between the garbage in our house, and the compost bin.
The child who knows the difference between which compost bin the diapers go into (the city one), and which bin the potato peels go into (the one in the backyard).
The child who points out dog poop on the sidewalk and says "people should pick up dog poop".
The child who has learned to point at graffity and say "that's not nice".

He got to carry the batteries in a baggie and give them to the guy at the Hazardous Waste Zone.
He watches us deposit several bags and boxes of stuff we no longer use to the Goodwill Truck.
He helped us exchange the broken compost and recycling bins with new ones.
He helped us carry empty paint cans to the Hazardous Waste Zone.
He carried a remote while I carried the old VCR to the Electronics Section.

This Environment Day in our area was the most visited, best organized one I have seen since living in the area.

This makes me happy.

And encourages me to continue recycling and composting.

Less is more!

Renovation project

2007-07-06T14:56:00.000-04:00

Oy.

That's all I can say right now about that topic.

BUT, the baby is due in the fall, and it's mid summer, so if not now, when?

Oy.

Auntie Ingrid

2007-07-02T05:59:00.001-04:00

Well, Auntie Ing came for a visit. We sat outside on the steps and waited for her to come. We had a spray bottle and some bubbles to keep ourselves amused as we waited for her Subaru to drive down the street and into our driveway.

She finally came. She was a little late. But she arrived with a surprise.

A glass bowl with two guppy fish in it.

Benjamin's first pet(s).

Unfortunately this morning, I noticed one of them floating. Not sure if my little guy will notice that there's only one fish left. Or even ask.

Not sure what killed it either. Might be the fact that Ben dumped a rather large amount of food into the bowl last night after we demonstrated how to sprinkle a tiny bit in the bowl.

Wonder how long the other fish will live.

* * *

We had a nice visit till daddy came home.

Then the crying started. Auntie Ing, who is hubby's sister, talked about how Uncle John has been dealing (or not dealing) with this recent diagnosis of ALS.

Benjamin was exhausted but unable to go to bed while the visit was going on. He was a little confused about the crying and laughing that seemed to happen with regular occurrance (how can one not laugh when a toddler is around!), and he managed to flood the entire bathroom with water during bathtime.

He finally fell asleep against me, sitting outside on the deck, while the neighbour's fired off fireworks for Canada Day.

* * *

Can't sleep. Been up since 5 am. Trying to research about John's condition. Not much there that I don't already know.

Men, toddlers, routine and households

2007-06-28T07:37:00.000-04:00

The purpose of this blog is not really to turn it into a bitch session about certain annoying habits other people exhibit.

But sometimes, when someone within the household does something that extracts annoyance in me, and I wait a day or so to digest and "get over it", I try to see a certain sense of humour in it.

Or at least, it helps me to reflect on things.

It's also funny in some ways when other people, like for example a certain neighbour, shares the almost identical experience with her own household member.

Then I came across this post which further inspires me to jot down some nutty notes about the following situation.

Heck, why not? This blog is my dairy and therefore, in some ways, my outlet, my sanity saver.

So here is what happened:

Mommy's scenario

Morning. Get up. Change diaper. Serve toddler bottle of milk, then breakfast.
Allow child to sit on potty, praise when peeing in potty, dress child.
Get out of house by at the latest 10 am so as to get the daily dose of exercise, mostly for toddler.
Get back sometime around lunch, offer lunch, and then wind down.
Start and inisist on quiet time to lead (hopefully) into naptime.
Enjoy naptime while it lasts. It does not happen every day and is considered precious time.
Exercise child after naptime in some way or another and make it back for suppertime in time to offer food.
Since it's summer, let child burn more energy after supper and metamorphose slowly, so as not to evoke temper tantrums, into bathtime and bedtime.
Bedtime.

Daddy's scenario

Daddy has this annoying habit of HAVING to read the paper during breakfast time. For some reason, certain sections of the paper cannot be read after breakfast. Like, say, during naptime.

He does remember to give child a bottle of milk.
Child will drink milk on couch or bed and then begin to play.
Daddy will pour milk on his cereal, make tea or coffee, and then immerse himself into the newspaper.

By 10 am I'm wondering why
a) child's diaper is dripping/smells/leaving streaks
b) child has not been fed breakfast
c) child is not dressed
d) daddy is nowhere near ready to get out of the house with child to exercise child
e) daddy is annoyed when mommy suggests that diaper needs changing since now his cereal is getting soggy.

By this time, mommy wonders how this delay will affect:
1) lunchtime
2) naptime
3) playtime
4) dinnertime
5) bath/bedtime

Let it be said that daddy is just as much a fan of naptime as mommy is.
Let it also be said that most of the time, daddy is not only willing, but capable of doing mommy's scenario according to the loosely indicated schedule.

Only trouble is that mommy has to turn into some form of a dictator in order to assure the smooth running of the household.

I do not want to be the dictator.

And I do know that if I'm, say, on vacation in the Bahamas by myself for a week, that the child and the daddy will not only manage to survive, they will have fun along the way.

But, for the purpose of mommy's sanity, mommy's scenario just keeps things running smoother than daddy's scenario. Especially because when toddler becomes overtired or over/understimulated, he whines and cries "mommy do it". Thereby leading daddy to (mistakingly) believe that he is now relieved of his duty.

It's not like mommy's scenario is a strict, clock-watching regiment. There is lots of room for flexibility.

If mommy has to pick up the pieces because of a daddy's scenario, the rest of the day is wasted, unpleasant and a pain in the ass.

And mommy gets resentful.

Mommy threatends to hide/burn/throw the newspaper away until naptime. Or cancel the subscription.

I think mommy is entitled to her opinion if only for the fact that she is almost 6 months pregnant.

Thank you.

Fish can swim!

2007-06-24T15:21:00.001-04:00

I think my toddler is on his way to becoming a fish!

I've been taking him to the pool since he was 6 months old, but mostly in the summer. Now he's just over two, and it's been about a year since he's been in a pool.

At first we walked in and used the shallow steps. We also walked up and down the ramp but the teenie lifeguard said that we can't do that anymore.

Didn't ask why.

I get irritated when young kids tell me what to do, or not to do, for so-called "safety" reasons. Safety issues have become a topic I shun because I happen to disagree with most, but that's another day's rant.

Yes, I realize they're qualified life guards but walking up the down the ramp with a toddler? What is unsafe about that?

Anyway. I'll rant about it another time.

Then we saw some boys we met at babyclub over a year ago, and they were jumping from the ledge into their mother's arms.

I kept waiting for some young lifeguard to say "can't do that" but they didn't, so I went over to say hi and Ben wanted to copy Aiden and Cooper. (sorry, ranted again)

He jumped and jumped and I was almost glad when the whistle went for everyone to get out and go home. Lugging pregnancy and toddler around is hard work!

But the jumping...it's cool! He dropped his apprehension and trusted me completely to catch him.

No wings.
No life vest.
Water in the eyes.
And up his nose.

No crying. Only "more" and "again"!

We'll see what the rest of the summer brings. I definitely want him to be a swimmer, so it looks like we're on our way.

Gifts and presents galore

2007-06-22T10:34:00.000-04:00

It's like every special day throughout the school year (Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's day, Easter) - everyone gives presents to everyone. I'm so not used to this...

Today was Benjamin's last day of daycare. Not only did people bring presents for the teachers, but Ben's cubbyhole was filled with treats and toys and things from his playmates!

I prepared a basket of fresh, Ontario-grown strawberries and a thank-you card for the teachers. But I didn't go out and get gifts for the kids...

I'm astonished. It's like the birthday parties...almost all the kids who turned 2 or 3 in his class throughout the school year had an organized party event for which the classmates were invited to.

I thought this stuff would start happening in grade school.

Guess I was wrong.

* * * * *

The Montessori school where Ben attended this past year did some special things for the kids during their last week.

Yesterday they had a jumping castle.

Today they're having a "funky hair day". We gelled and spritzed his hair into spikes at the kitchen table and loh and behold, he didn't mind!

Now summer if officially here.

Dog days of summer

2007-06-20T14:42:00.000-04:00

Fresh ingredient supper

2007-06-17T20:48:00.001-04:00

I used some of these...

...and all of these...

...plus some fresh oregano from the garden...

...to end up with this!

Recipe and instructions available here.

Saturday morning ramblings

2007-06-16T08:14:00.000-04:00

This morning we woke to the "beep, beep, beep" of a truck going backwards.

We heard it because the window was open to allow the cool night air to flood the house.

Luckily they didn't start till 7 am (on a Saturday!), but daddy was a little peeved and once tot and I got up, he slammed the door. I hate when he does that.

Seems the neighbours are asphalting their driveway on a Saturday...well, it IS free entertainment for the little guy! Show him any truck and he's captivated.

So while he's standing on a little chair gazing out to watch the various equipment doing their thing, I got to drink a cup and a half of coffee in peace.

*****

The toilet training is still going strong. He pees in the potty regularly, and even occasionally on the toilet (at home or at school, albeit only with me present).

The pooping...well. It'll take a while. But he announces when it comes, or when he wants the bum changed.

My new thing now with the poops is this: if it's not sticky and messy but well contained, I carry the diaper to the toilet and we dump it into the toilet in front of Benjamin who then is allowed to flush it away.

Appropriate dialogue accompanies this little event.

Will it help? Will it progress? Only the potty gods know.

But it is summer and he does run around without pants or diapers on in the backyard occasionally. I take the potty out with us, and encourage him to use it when he feels the urge, but he prefers to pee how Rusty does it.

Made pipi in grass like Wusty!

Well, at least he announces it. We'll keep at it.

*****

The plan is to go see a firetruck today.

The Kingsway up on Bloor is having a big Father's Day Sidewalk Sale and they're doing it like a little festival. Apparently a firetruck will be on display, and since the tot got gipped the last time I promised him a viewing of a firetruck, we figured today is as good as any day to come clean on that promise.

He LOVES firetrucks.

It starts at 11, so I hope to be back in time for naptime at 2-ish.

My belly is growing daily it seems, at 5 and a half months pregnant, so a few hours of uninterrupted rest has become a favorite acitivty of late.

Besides, daddy has a midterm to study for.

Should be a nice day. Weather promises to cooperate with sun and heat...summer is FINALLY here!!

Experimenting with cooking and photography

2007-06-15T09:47:00.000-04:00

I made two salads yesterday:

Quinoa salad

Potato salad with mustard vinaigrette

Recipes will be posted over at Quick Slow Food.

School picnic

2007-06-14T12:53:00.001-04:00

This is what my little two-year old looks like now! He is exactly 27 months old here.

We went to the end of year school picnic on a hot but breeze day, and had pizza and salads, fruit and cupcakes. There were older kids who sang songs in a choir, a puppet show, and the playground was open for business. It was fun!

Tired

2007-06-13T09:42:00.000-04:00

Had a lovely night of twitching toddler in bed, and kicking baby in tummy.

Mommy will need a nap later (too much caffein in system now). Feel like shopping. May go do that now.

Or, I may go down to the cool basement and look for the lost bin with the summer dresses in it. WHERE IS IT?? It's a two-bedroom bungalow for god's sake. There isn't much space. WHERE could I have put it? AND WHY isn't it where the other bins are? Could I have mislabeled it with baby gear?

Shopping sounds more fun.

Here's a quick little recipe idea for a hot day.

Summer

2007-06-11T08:48:00.000-04:00

It's a new day with prospects of summer, sunny weather, and other happy things.

Despite that some of my own family members think I look "sick" and "horrible", I feel fine and good and healthy.

So today I have a small list of things to accomplish in this nice, summery weather, with tot in tow, and the rest of the day will be spent thinking happy thoughts.

Alone...continued

2007-06-10T14:05:00.000-04:00

To be alone is my sincerest wish.

I've been counting the hours, the minutes, until they would all leave.

They're still here.

I'm slowly moving from the simmering to the errupting phase...really have to keep it together till they go away.

Then maybe I'll have a shower. Or a nap.

* * * * *

All day I wondered if he'll remember to pack all the stuff a toddler needs.

Like diapers.
Wipes.
A toy or two. (Relatives don't keep toys at their house.)
Bottle. He likes his milk in a bottle when he's tired.
Sun hat.
Nuggi Bello.
Change of clothes in case these ones get wet. (It's hot today.)
Guitar books for niece.
Photos of Ben for extended family.
Birthday gift and card.

Of course, he asked me to prep the bag since he wanted to take a shower.

I knew he was going to ask me to do that. I figured however that if I didn't do that, maybe it'll take longer to get them

out
of
the
house.

So I did it.

And just in the nick of time the child, who was wearing some shoes of mine, bumped his lip or teeth or mouth or something on the furniture and increased the volume of the whining to maximum.

REALLY had to make a big effort to keep it together.

What toddler needed was a nap.

Maybe he'll nap in the car.

But it's not my problem because

I'm
not
there
to
deal
with
it

Ha.

Food

2007-06-08T10:42:00.000-04:00

I'm currently in a food photo taking mood. Check out our salad from last night.

Continued...

2007-06-07T13:50:00.000-04:00

And since I'm on a rampage about the clutter:

I never realized just how much time I would be spending in the kitchen once the child grew into an eating (as opposed to nursing) person.

Look, I always did a lot of cooking. We like good, wholesome, homecooked meals, and that means

planning
buying
cooking

food and then the inevitable cleaning up.

But with a small child who is growing like a weed mealtimes are not only important, they are never-ending it seems. Adults can open the fridge and grab something, and rinse the dish out themselves, but toddlers? They need their stuff cut up, placed on little plates, bladibla. After all, you want them to develop decent eating habits, not to mention some manners.

Perhaps a dishwasher would help my situation, perhaps not.

I just get tired sometimes. It seems that no matter what I do all day, each time I go through any part of the house, somthing food-related is bound to cross my path.

So...instead of sitting here bitching about the dishes, I should just go and do them, because in less than two hours the little cutie will want his snack, mommy will need her chocolate fix, and daddy will be starting his treck home for supper.

And since we made unofficial plans with the neighbours to have the kids burn energy together after naptime, I should be proactive NOW and not just do the breakfast and lunch dishes (including putting them away) but also get at least part of the supper prepared, maybe have the salad ready to go....perhaps I could have a casserole ready to shove in the oven...

Ok. Dishes. On my way.

Clutter Schmutter

2007-06-07T13:36:00.000-04:00

I have come to the conclusion that a clean and clutter-free house is not going to be a part of my immediate future.

Well, clean maybe, but definitely not clutter-free.

The problem with cleaning, which is inevitable, is that I have to clear the clutter first. And it's not even the toys. There aren't that many toys that need to be picked up.

It's the books. The laptop. The newspapers. The note pads. The loose pieces of paper. The business magazines. The pilot luggage. The clothes. The unfolded blankets on the couch. The dishes. It doesn't seem to end.

But as a stay-at-home mom, I'm destined to either clean up daily or to accept the clutter as inevitable.

I have visions of the basement being finished (we're in the midst of planning a renovation) and having him use the side door and deposit most of his crap in the basement. But we'll see if that happens.

In the meantime, he's out of the house for the day giving me a chance to pick up a few things, and if the toddler naps today, maybe even do some sweeping. Then, hubby leaves for 2 days on some trip and hopefully I can reorganize a few things and maybe maintain what little sanity I have left in me.

Then we can start tackling the basement. Gosh, how

We're having a girl

2007-06-06T09:44:00.000-04:00

I suspected it all along.

Now we have the zoomed-in, enlarged proof from the ultrasound.

I am going to be the mother of a daughter...

I have so many questions:

How will I mother a daughter? I'm used to mothering a son.
How will I keep the frilly, pastelly pink stuff from invading my house?
How long will the two siblings be able to room together?
Will we have to move so each can have their own room?
Will she be as easy and easy-going as my little boy?
Will she have better sleeping habits than Benjamin does?

She didn't cooperate fully during the ultrasound. We have to go back to re-do some of the spine shots. But the report so far says all is normal.

What is normal?

I am going to need some time to get used to this news...

Short-term homeschooling

2007-06-02T15:16:00.001-04:00

Contrary to what many might believe, not only devoted Christians with multiple children living in rural environments in America's Bible Belt consider homeschooling.

I certainly am none of the above, but have done a lot of reading about homeschooling.

Today, I found an article with a completely fresh perspective about this topic of homeschooling in this blog. It discusses short-term homeschooling.

Who would have thought that was possible?

I know of someone who does part-time homeschooling, not because that's her primary wish, but because she is not left with any other choice. The country where she lives prohibits people from homeschooling their children, and has been known to even throw the parents in jail for keeping their kids at home during the obligatory school days. And no, this is not a middle eastern country, nor a communist one. It is Germany.

To emphasize, I have not considered homeschooling my child(ren) at this time. Partly because I only have one, and he's only 2, and partly because I currently do not believe that I have what it takes to do it full-time. But the above article emphasizes something important to me: if your child learns to hate learning, if your child is hiding in closets to avoid homework, if your child is so extremely emotionally stressed out for social, peer or even abusive reasons, then at least there are options here (in Canada, or the USA for that matter).

The article talks about middle school being the worst part of an American child's educational time spent in the public school system.

Only time will tell how my child(ren) will handle that, or any part, of the public school system here in hogtown.

Not napping. Again.

2007-06-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

He's so tired.

He even managed to cuddle with me for a bit on his narrow single bed until he bumped his head against mine.

I now have a headache.

He now is wide awake.

So now I'm going to do what any other normal, pregnant, stay-at-home mom of a toddler would do:

EAT. I have some frozen organic ground beef, some spicy salsa, and some flax whole wheat wraps. Just add cheese...

Frankly, this is not-napping all fine and dandy NOW since I am

a) not sleep deprived
b) have no newborn to tend to

I'm REALLY looking forward to the next phase, when all that insanity will begin.

Especially since it'll also be cold and wintery. We'll all be stuck indoors.

Yay.

I wanna hold your hand

2007-06-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

♪ I wanna hold your hand ♪

I didn't know all the words to the Beatles song "I wanna hold your hand" except that sentence.

So when Benjamin wants to walk on elevated structures, he often asks me to "hold my hand".

Sometimes I sing the tune, the little bit I know, and then I enducate him that that's a Beatles' song.

Now, everytime he asks me to hold his hand, he says "mommy sing" and "it's Beatles".

This morning, I looked for the CD at the library (online) and put it on hold when I found it. Turns out, the Beatles are still very popular these days, as I am number 134 on the list. May be a while until I get a hold of that CD.

Which is where YouTube comes in.

Enjoy! I know Ben will!

More on e-post

2007-05-31T20:22:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'm losing it. Could be because I haven't "worked" outside the home surrounded by adults in years.

Maybe all this baby-talk/toddler-talk that I thought I was enjoying is making my brain to MUSH.

But after attempting to make my life easier what with all the paper statements and bills coming into this house, and e-post not working as well as I had expected, we (he and I) had a, um, loud discussion.

I may have used a couple of phrases in my uproar that my little toddler now repeats occasionally. Out on the porch for the neighbours to hear.

Not good.

Maybe I should go back to hurling spoons at him (the hubby, not the toddler).

Anyway. I had tried to make the water bill paperless. It wouldn't let me. It wasn't until after our "loud discussion" that I realized I selected the wrong Hydro title of the bill from the pull-down selection.

Duh.

AND, although I did succeed in making one of the bank statements paperless, I read in the agreement fine print that a $2 charge would apply. I figured, since it will make my life easier having one less statement to file (or place on a pile in a room to be filed at some point later in life) I could live with the fee.

Well, hubby had a fit.

"Another two bucks? They already charge us an arm and a leg in fees" etc.

He had a point but I was so pissed off at a) my oversight, b) the fact that he didn't appreciate that this would make my life, and therefore his life by default, easier, and c) that he was right, sort of, that I just lost it.

Like I said, I could have handled it better. Throwing spoons when the little guy wasn't looking or hurling insults when he wasn't in the house, for example.

He ended up picking up the phone and calling the bank, and here's what's getting me even more:

I misread that fine print too! The charge I was referring to was applicable to people who update their bank books at the machine.

I can't even remember the last time I had a bank book, much less update it at a bank machine.

So the chick at the bank told him that there was no additional charge, and the paperless statement remains paperless.

The good news is, I got some of the bills moved to e-post.

The bad news is that Ben now knows certain phrases which I hope he won't repeat at daycare.

Crap.

e-post continued

2007-05-31T15:30:00.000-04:00

I succeeded in adding one, single, lonely bill.

What a bunch of crap.

We're co-joint on all the bills, but HE is the primary one, so HE has to answer all these idiotic questions on the forms.

You ever tried to ask mundane questions about bills to a husband who's so not interested in stuff like that?

I'd rather have a root canal.

I did manage to make one of the bank statements paperless. Although they (the bank, not e-post) charge 2 bucks for the service.

So now the only bill I won't be receiving in paper form anymore is Bell Canada.

BFD

e-post

2007-05-31T14:40:00.000-04:00

I have decided that I need to eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, the amount of paper that comes into this house.

Ok. The paper is a necessity for some people, and I admit, I like flipping through it when I have a moment to procrastinate. Or rather, take a moment.

But almost every single day the mail person delivers envelopes of statements, most of which say the same thing every time, and most of which I check regularly on the web anyway.

So...why am I typing this post?

Because I'm procrastinating. That's why.

Too many steps to figure out how to go about this.

Although A has an account already.
And I know his sign on and pass word.
But I'd have to go to the pile of papers distributed evenly throughout the livingroom and find pertinent information in order to fill out the online forms that inevitably must be filled out.
Which means I'd have to get up off this chair.

Maybe when I have to pee, which is about every 20 minutes or so, I'll make the effort.

Until then....

blah.